| Pompeo appeared to coordinate with Giuliani on Ukraine, new documents show Posted: 24 Feb 2020 11:28 AM PST  While the impeachment proceedings are now over, ongoing lawsuits and upcoming books are expected to reveal still more details about the campaign to have Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky pursue the investigations Trump wanted.
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| Supreme Court to decide whether faith-based foster-care agencies can reject same-sex couples Posted: 24 Feb 2020 07:03 AM PST  The case could lead the court to reconsider its 30-year-old decision that said citing religious beliefs does not provide an exemption from general laws that apply to everyone.
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| Bloomberg pays $2,500 a month to grassroots campaigners Posted: 24 Feb 2020 07:26 AM PST  Democratic presidential hopeful Mike Bloomberg's efforts to take social media by storm by paying people to post about him may not be working out, according to the L.A. Times.
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| Trump Admin. Considers Booting Chinese Reporters in Response to ‘Egregious’ Expulsion of WSJ Journalists: Report Posted: 24 Feb 2020 01:09 PM PST  The Trump administration is considering whether to expel Chinese journalists in response to China's own expulsion of three Wall Street Journal reporters, Bloomberg News reported on Monday.A meeting will be held at the White House on Monday to discuss the administration's options. The meeting will be led by deputy national security adviser Matt Pottinger, who himself was a Journal reporter based in Beijing.According to Bloomberg, administration officials are debating whether to expel up to hundreds of Chinese journalists in its response, or whether such a move would even be legal, seeming to contradict American values regarding freedom of the press."This expulsion is yet another attempt to control the press, and prevent the world's readers as well as investors from reading important stories about China," said John Ullyot, a spokesman for the National Security Council, in comments on the situation on Friday. Ullyot called China's expulsion of the Journal reporters an "egregious act."China expelled the three reporters after the Journal refused to apologize for a headline China deemed "racist." The headline, "China is the Real Sick Man of Asia," was chosen for a column by Bard College professor Walter Russell Mead on China's difficulty in coping with the Wuhan coronavirus and the shaky financial foundations of its economy.The phrase "sick man of Asia" was used in the late 1800's to describe a China that had lost a string of wars and feared conquering by the western colonial powers. Dozens of reporters from the paper's China bureau have called on the Journal's publisher to change the headline.
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| Tom Steyer has paid more than $40,000 to rent a property owned by Jim Clyburn's daughter Posted: 24 Feb 2020 06:49 AM PST  Billionaire Tom Steyer is facing some criticism over his spending in South Carolina, a state where his Democratic presidential campaign is making some legitimate headway.Some people have even accused him of trying to buy votes from the state's African-American voters, which Steyer and many others have adamantly denied, The New York Times reports. One thing that's been particularly scrutinized is the Steyer campaign's rental agreement with a company owned by Jennifer Clyburn Reed, the daughter of Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.), the highest-ranking African American in Congress whose endorsement is considered key in South Carolina. Since October, the Steyer campaign has paid more than $40,000 to the company to rent one of its properties as its state headquarters in Columbia, South Carolina. A California-based bank founded by Steyer, meanwhile, has loaned $1 million to a Columbia-based bank that has one of Clyburn's sons-in-laws on its board.The campaign has brushed off the accusations of trying to procure political favor from the Clyburn family, arguing Steyer is simply committed to hiring local organizers and investing in local businesses to get his grassroots operations running. "The question isn't why Tom is doing this," Steyer spokesman Benjamin Gerdes said in a statement. "The real question is why isn't every other candidate doing it?"The politically-active Reed called the accusations of vote-buying "disturbing" and seemed a bit annoyed that people think she merely serves as a surrogate for her father. "I'm an adult," she told the Times. "There is no connection. My father has his business and I have mine. We do not vote the same way."Besides, it's probably all a moot point — both Reed and Clyburn seem likely to back former Vice President Joe Biden. Read more at The New York Times.More stories from theweek.com The coronavirus recession? The real third way in 2020 Top member of Trump's coronavirus task force asks Twitter for help accessing map of virus
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| Nine of the World’s Most Beautiful Outdoor Saunas Posted: 24 Feb 2020 08:25 AM PST |
| Iran Prepares to Suffer the Wrath of the Coronavirus Posted: 24 Feb 2020 01:01 PM PST  Iran has sought to deny that the coronavirus is spreading within its borders. Now, the Middle East is facing a new type of crisis—one that could further exacerbate tension in the region.
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| China said it would relax its lockdown of Wuhan's 11 million residents, only to immediately reintroduce it Posted: 24 Feb 2020 03:25 AM PST  Wuhan announced that some people could leave the locked-down city, only to reverse the announcement hours later as the coronavirus spreads.
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| ‘I have never seen him eat a vegetable’: With steak off the menu, officials scramble to feed fussy eater Trump in India Posted: 24 Feb 2020 07:24 AM PST  Donald Trump has embarked on his first presidential visit to India, the world's largest democracy – and home to the world's largest population of vegetarians. Since Mr Trump is a noted beef-eater, in particular a lover of steak and burgers, gastronomically speaking, the visit will prove one of his most challenging.It's not all bad news for Mr Trump. India's reputation for overwhelming vegetarianism is overstated, and it's thought that more families eat beef at home than generally admit it.
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| Probe into abuse at America's oldest deaf school finds 'appalling truths' Posted: 23 Feb 2020 08:21 PM PST  Officials apologized for the "inexcusable actions" of staff and faculty members and the "fact that the school did not prevent or stop them."
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| Pacific NW winds shut interstate, fell tree that crushes man Posted: 23 Feb 2020 02:34 PM PST  High winds wreaked havoc on the Pacific Northwest on Sunday, closing a stretch of an interstate freeway in Oregon and toppling a large tree that crushed a man sleeping in an apartment complex in Washington state. The man was critically injured in Renton, Washington, after a tree fell on a six-unit apartment building during a morning of high winds and heavy rain. Elsewhere, Interstate 84 was closed in both directions between Pendleton and La Grande in northeast Oregon, about 200 miles (320 kilometers) east of Portland, because of a downer power line.
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| ‘Senator Sanders, I’m Sorry’: Chris Matthews Apologizes for Nazi Analogy Posted: 24 Feb 2020 04:36 PM PST  Facing outrage over comparing Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders' Nevada Democratic caucus victory to France falling to the Nazis in World War II, Chris Matthews addressed the controversy at the top of his Monday night broadcast."As I watched one-sided results of the caucus in Nevada, I reached for a historical analogy and used a bad one," the veteran MSNBC personality said. "I was wrong to refer to an event from the last days, or actually the first days, of World War II.""Senator Sanders, I'm sorry for comparing anything from that tragic era in which so many suffered, especially the Jewish people, to an elected result in which you were a well-deserved winner," Matthews continued. "This is going to be a hard-fought, heated campaign of ideas."The Hardball host concluded his apology by saying he would "strive to do a better job" of "elevating the political discussion" in the coming weeks and months before congratulating the Democratic presidential hopeful on his "tremendous win down in Nevada."Matthews then welcomed on New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, who recently endorsed Sanders, to make the case for the Vermont senator's candidacy.MSNBC has come under fire for its increasingly negative and critical coverage of the Democratic socialist lawmaker as the primary has heated up. Even before Matthews made his unfortunate analogy, the longtime host had been blasted over his unhinged reactions to Sanders' rise.Prior to Monday's mea culpa, Matthews received criticism from his own colleagues for his remarks, with MSNBC analyst Anand Giridharadas slamming Matthews on Sunday for likening Sanders' win to a Nazi invasion, noting that Sanders had relatives "murdered in the Holocaust."Following Matthews' on-air apology, Sanders campaign manager Faiz Shakir told the Washington Examiner that the campaign appreciates "some of the steps MSNBC has taken, and we hope to get fairer coverage going forward."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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| 'It's my guilty pleasure': Sen. Chuck Schumer confirms spending $8,600 on Junior's cheesecake Posted: 24 Feb 2020 02:29 PM PST  Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer admitted he has dropped almost $9,000 on his favorite cheesecake over the years. "Guilty as charged," he said.
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| Senate FISA Abuse Investigation to Focus on Mystery Source Who Contradicted Steele Dossier Posted: 24 Feb 2020 06:04 AM PST  Senator Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.) on Sunday told Fox News the Senate's investigation into FBI abuse of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act will focus on interviews the agency conducted with a Russian source who contradicted much of the information in the Steele dossier."The first thing I want to do is call the people who heard from Russian sub-source that this dossier is a bunch of bar talk and hearsay," Graham said on Fox's Sunday Morning Futures. "I want to find out when did [former FBI director James] Comey and [former FBI deputy director Andrew] McCabe understand it was not reliable and start from there."The source, known in the Justice Department Inspector General's report as "Primary Sub-Source," was former British intelligence agent Christopher Steele's only direct contact in Russia for the allegations contained in the dossier. However, the IG report states that the primary sub-source told the FBI and Justice Department that Steele's allegations were false or misleading, including the assertion of Page's involvement in what the dossier terms a "well-developed conspiracy of cooperation" between the Trump campaign and Russian government."The Primary Sub-source made statements during his/her January 2017 FBI interview that were inconsistent with multiple sections of the Steele reports, including some that were relied upon in the FISA applications," the IG report states.Following the publication of the IG report, prominent Republicans called for an overhaul of the FISA system to prevent future abuses. On Monday, the Wall Street Journal reported the Trump administration is considering doing just that before FISA legislation is set to expire in March.
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| Harvard scientist predicts coronavirus will infect up to 70 percent of humanity Posted: 24 Feb 2020 11:58 AM PST  Harvard University epidemiologist Marc Lipsitch is predicting the coronavirus "will ultimately not be containable" and, within a year, will infect somewhere between 40 and 70 percent of humanity, The Atlantic reports. But don't be too alarmed. Many of those people, Lipsitch clarifies, won't have severe illnesses or even show symptoms at all, which is already the case for many people who have tested positive for the virus.That's precisely why he doesn't think the virus can be stopped. Viruses like SARS, MERS, and the avian flu were eventually contained in part because they were more intense and had a higher fatality rate. In other words, if you were infected by the virus that caused SARS, chances were you weren't out and about. But because the current coronavirus, known as COVID-19, can be asymptomatic, or at least very mild, there's a better chance people will likely go about their day as normal. The down side, though, is that it becomes harder to trace and prevent. In that sense it's similar to the flu, which can also be deadly, but often passes without the infected person seeking medical care.The Atlantic reports Lipsitch is definitely not alone in his prediction. There's an emerging consensus that the outbreak will eventually morph into a new seasonal disease, which, per The Atlantic, could one day turn "cold and flu season" into "cold and flu and COVID-19 season." Read more at The Atlantic.More stories from theweek.com The coronavirus recession? The real third way in 2020 Top member of Trump's coronavirus task force asks Twitter for help accessing map of virus
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| As Conflict in Idlib Escalates, Turkey's Balancing Act Is Tested Posted: 23 Feb 2020 08:00 PM PST  What happens next?
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| Virus 'peaked' in China but could trigger global pandemic: WHO Posted: 24 Feb 2020 12:18 PM PST  The World Health Organization on Monday said the new coronavirus epidemic had "peaked" in China but warned that a surge in cases elsewhere was "deeply concerning" and all countries should prepare for a "potential pandemic". WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the peak in China occurred between January 23 and February 2 and the number of new cases there "has been declining steadily since then". "This virus can be contained," he told reporters in Geneva, praising China for helping to prevent an even bigger spread of the disease through unprecedented lockdowns and quarantines in or near the outbreak's epicentre.
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| U.S. judge rejects Roger Stone's request she be kicked off his case Posted: 23 Feb 2020 04:35 PM PST  A U.S. federal judge on Sunday denied a request by Roger Stone's lawyers that she be removed from the case in which she last week sentenced the long-time adviser to President Donald Trump to three years and four months in prison. U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson had been accused of bias by Stone's attorneys in a filing on Friday that called for her recusal. Stone, 67, was convicted on Nov. 15 of lying to Congress, obstruction of justice and witness tampering.
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| NASA space telescope spots a double star system with an alter ego Posted: 24 Feb 2020 07:53 AM PST  It's like a cosmic story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
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| Ginni Thomas: SCOTUS justice's wife leading right-wing effort to purge officials 'disloyal' to Trump Posted: 24 Feb 2020 11:28 AM PST  A group of pro-Trump activists led by Ginni Thomas has reportedly compiled lists of "disloyal" government officials it wants sacked.
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| Victims turn to media to expose sex abuse by college doctors Posted: 24 Feb 2020 11:26 AM PST  Robert Julian Stone was tired of waiting, afraid that complaints of sexual abuse at the hands of a former University of Michigan doctor would be covered up. The newspaper last week was the first to report Stone's allegations against the late Dr. Robert E. Anderson, triggering similar reports.
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| Virginia law makes 'D.C. sniper' Lee Boyd Malvo eligible for parole, ends Supreme Court case Posted: 24 Feb 2020 12:10 PM PST |
| Eleven-year-old girl with AR-15 rifle enters US statehouse to support concealed gun legislation Posted: 24 Feb 2020 02:29 PM PST  An 11-year-old girl has openly carried an AR-15 rifle into a gun legislation hearing in Idaho's capital.Bailey Nielsen – escorted by her grandfather – visited a House panel at the Idaho Statehouse to support legislation allowing visitors to the state who can legally posses firearms to carry concealed handguns in urban areas.
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| Photos show what Italy is like under lockdown as the country becomes Europe's epicenter of the coronavirus with more than 200 cases reported in 3 days Posted: 24 Feb 2020 10:22 AM PST  Authorities have closed down 12 Italian towns as they try to stop the virus from spreading. Photos show what it looks like on the ground.
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| Biden campaign runs South Carolina ad accusing Sanders of trying to undermine Obama's re-election Posted: 24 Feb 2020 02:25 PM PST  Former Vice President Joe Biden's campaign team is going after Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) for reportedly once going after Biden's old boss.The Biden campaign unveiled a new digital ad Monday that's tied to a story published The Atlantic last week that reported Sanders seriously considered launching a primary challenge against former President Barack Obama in 2012. When word got around to the Oval Office, it reportedly sent Obama's re-election campaign team into a panic.Sanders' camp quickly denied the senator ever contemplated trying to unseat Obama, but regardless, the Biden team is unleashing the story against the new national frontrunner in a state where the former vice president is still considered the favorite. In the ad, they accuse Sanders of trying to undermine Obama's re-election, and argue he "can't be trusted" to build upon the president's legacy. Watch the full ad below and read more at Politico. > I think Barack Obama was one hell of a President. I was proud to stand alongside him every step of the way -- and fought like hell to make sure he was re-elected.> > Bernie Sanders can't say the same. pic.twitter.com/7wM4PFUXDZ> > -- Joe Biden (Text Join to 30330) (@JoeBiden) February 24, 2020More stories from theweek.com The coronavirus recession? The real third way in 2020 Top member of Trump's coronavirus task force asks Twitter for help accessing map of virus
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| 30 of the Best Stainless Steel Kitchen Faucets Posted: 24 Feb 2020 03:28 PM PST |
| Susan Collins Breaks With Trump on Director of National Intelligence Pick Posted: 24 Feb 2020 04:13 PM PST  Republican Senator Susan Collins, a senior member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, on Monday rejected President Trump's pick to lead the intelligence community, saying Richard Grenell does not have the experience to serve as director of national intelligence."I would have much preferred that the president nominate the acting director Maguire for the post," Collins said, referring to the former director of national intelligence, Joseph Maguire."As one of the four authors of the law that created the DNI back in 2004, I care deeply about that position and believe the person needs experience in the intelligence community, which regrettably Ambassador Grenell does not have," Collins continued.The Maine Republican, who is up for reelection this year, is the first in Trump's party to raise concerns about his pick. Collins helped draft the 2004 law that established the office of director of national intelligence.Maguire was forced out on Thursday, his sudden departure causing consternation among the Intelligence Community, and replaced with Grenell, formerly the U.S. Ambassador to Germany.His departure came after Trump was reportedly irked about a classified briefing last Thursday during which Shelby Pierson, the intelligence community election threats executive, warned lawmakers that Russia is again interfering in the 2020 campaign and attempting to get Trump reelected.The president was said to be "out of joint with Maguire" on that process after hearing about the intelligence conclusion from a House Republican rather than from the intelligence community itself.Trump later pushed back on the narrative that he is the favorite candidate of Russia, calling it "another misinformation campaign" that was "launched by Democrats."
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| 14 products dermatologists recommend for soothing redness and rosacea Posted: 24 Feb 2020 01:59 PM PST  These products help soothe skin, minimize redness and prevent flare-ups of rosacea.
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| US economy faces long-lasting damage from trade war: Fed official Posted: 24 Feb 2020 12:43 PM PST  The trade conflict of the past two years likely left a mark on the US economy, even with the recent agreement to defuse the situation, a Federal Reserve official said Monday. The outbreak of the new coronavirus in China adds another risk factor to the outlook, which otherwise seemed poised to provide steady growth, said Loretta Mester, president of the Federal Reserve's regional bank in Cleveland. With the partial agreement signed with China to call a truce in the dispute with Beijing -- despite leaving many tariffs in place -- as well as a new continental free trade pact with Canada and Mexico, Mester said the trade picture is "somewhat better" heading into 2020.
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| Indian women protest new citizenship laws, joining a global 'fourth wave' feminist movement Posted: 24 Feb 2020 05:47 AM PST  Women are among the strongest opponents of two new laws in India that threaten the citizenship rights of vulnerable groups like Muslims, poor women, oppressed castes and LGBTQ people.The Citizenship Amendment Act, passed in December 2019, fast-tracks Indian citizenship for undocumented refugees from Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Pakistan – but only those who are non-Muslim. Another law - the National Register of Citizens – will require all residents in India to furnish extensive legal documentation to prove their citizenship as soon as 2021. Critics see the two laws as part of the government's efforts to redefine the meaning of belonging in India and make this constitutionally secular country a Hindu nation. Since Dec. 4, 2019, Indians of all ages, ethnicities and religions have been protesting the new citizenship initiatives in scattered but complementary nationwide demonstrations. The uprisings have persisted through weeks of arrests, beatings and even killings across India by the police.But the most enduring pocket of resistance is an around-the-clock sit-in of mostly hijab-wearing women in a working-class Delhi neighborhood called Shaheen Bagh. Women take chargeSince Dec. 15, 2019, women of all ages – from students to 90-year-old grandmothers – have abandoned their daily duties and braved near-freezing temperatures to block a major highway in the Indian capital. This is a striking act of resistance in a patriarchal country where women – but particularly Muslim women – have historically had their rights denied.The Shaheen Bagh protests are as novel in their methods as they are in their makeup. Protesters are using artwork, book readings, lectures, poetry recitals, songs, interfaith prayers and communal cooking to explain their resistance to citizenship laws that, they say, will discriminate against not just Muslims but also women, who usually don't have state or property papers in their own names. On Jan. 11, women in the Indian city of Kolkata performed a Bengali-language version of a Chilean feminist anthem called "The Rapist is You." This choreographed public flash dance, first staged in Santiago, Chile in November 2019, calls out the police, judiciary and government for violating women's human rights. A dangerous place for womenIndia is the world's most dangerous country for women, according to the Thompson Reuters Foundation. One-third of married women are physically abused. Two-thirds of rapes go unpunished. Gender discrimination is so pervasive that around 1 million female fetuses are aborted each year. In some parts of India, there are 126 men for every 100 women.Indian women have come together in protest before, to speak out against these and other issues. But most prior women's protests were limited in scope and geography. The 2012 brutal gang rape and murder of a 23-year-old Delhi woman – which sparked nationwide protests – was a watershed moment. All at once, the country witnessed the power of women's rage. The current women-led anti-citizenship law demonstrations are even greater in number and power. Beyond Shaheen Bagh, Indian women across caste, religion and ethnicity are putting their bodies and reputations on the line. Female students are intervening to shield fellow students from police violence at campus protests. Actresses from Bollywood, India's film industry, are speaking out against gender violence, too. Women's secular agendaWith their non-violent tactics and inclusive strategy, the Shaheen Bagh women are proving to be effective critics of the government's Hindu-centric agenda. Their leaderless epicenter of resistance raises up national symbols like the Indian flag, the national anthem and the Indian Constitution as reminders that India is secular and plural – a place where people can be both Muslim and Indian. The Shaheen Bagh movement's novel and enduring strategy has triggered activism elsewhere in the country. Thousands of women in the northern Indian city of Lucknow started their own sit-in in late January. Similar "Shaheen Baghs" have sprung up since, in the cities of Patna and even Chennai, which is located 1,500 miles from Delhi. Global women's springIndia's Shaheen Bagh protests form part of a broader global trend in women's movements. Worldwide, female activists are combining attention to women's issues with a wider call for social justice across gender, class and geographic borders. In January 2019 alone, women in nearly 90 countries took to the streets demanding equal pay, reproductive rights and the end of violence. Young women were also at the forefront of the 2019 pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong, Lebanon, Sudan, Brazil and Colombia.As I write in my 2017 book, such inclusive activism is the defining characteristic of what's called "fourth wave feminism." There isn't a common definition of the first three feminist waves. In the United States, they generally refer to the early 20th century suffragette movement, the radical women's movement of the 1960s and 1970s and the more mainstream feminism of the 1990s and early 2000s. Fourth wave feminism appears to be more universal. Today's activists fully embrace the idea that women's freedom means little if other groups are still oppressed. With its economic critique, disavowal of caste oppression and solidarity across religious divides, India's Shaheen Bagh sit-in shares attributes with the women's uprisings in Chile, Lebanon, Hong Kong and beyond. The last time women came together in such numbers worldwide was the MeToo movement, a campaign against sexual harassment which emerged on social media in the United States in 2017 and quickly spread across the globe. Shaheen Bagh and similarly far-reaching women's uprisings underway in other countries take MeToo to the next level, moving from a purely feminist agenda to a wider call for social justice. Women protesters want rights – not just for themselves, but human rights for all.[Get the best of The Conversation, every weekend. Sign up for our weekly newsletter.]This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts.Read more: * India's plan to identify 'illegal immigrants' could get some Muslims declared 'foreign' * India has a sexual assault problem that only women can fixAlka Kurian has been awarded the 2020-2021 Fulbright U.S. Scholar award. She volunteers for Tasveer, a South Asian non-profit dedicated to social change through thought-provoking South Asian films, art and storytelling.
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| Putin Sent Her Activist Boyfriend to the Arctic Circle. Now She Wants to Go, Too. Posted: 24 Feb 2020 02:11 AM PST  MOSCOW—Few people are familiar with Novaya Zemlya, a very obscure archipelago above the Arctic Circle that is controlled by Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB), the successor to the infamous Soviet spy agency, the KGB. Even fewer people hope to travel to those thinly populated and thoroughly militarized islands, where the Russian army tests its Arctic missile systems, and where polar bears suffering the effects of climate change dig through garbage pits at impoverished settlements. Alexei Navalny on Standing Up to Putin and His Murderous MinionsIt sounds like hell frozen over, in fact—and it figures in what looks like a new tactic by President Vladimir Putin (a former KGB operative) to intimidate his most vocal critics. But Kira Yarmysh has a special reason to go there. She is desperate to see her partner, who became the first victim of such an operation last December."The FSB abducted my boyfriend, Ruslan Shaveddinov, and isolated him in Novaya Zemlya," Yarmysh told The Daily Beast. "The most outrageous truth is that several divisions of the state system, including military authorities, aviation, and secret services, are helping to hide Ruslan from us." This was hardly a random act. Yarmysh is a news presenter and spokesperson for Russia's top opposition leader, Aleksei Navalny, and his Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK). Shaveddinov is one of the group's star reporters and presenters as well.Russia still has a military draft, and 12 months of service are mandatory for all male citizens age 18 to 33. Shaveddinov, known as "Shav," has been famous for presenting vivid, well-documented corruption investigations on YouTube. But at 23 years old, he was vulnerable, and authorities claimed he was draft-dodging.The news agency TASS quotes Moscow's military commissar, Col. Maksim Loktev, claiming the conscription of Shaveddinov was perfectly ordinary: "He departed to the place of his military service on the draft." But the young activist's colleagues aren't buying it. It's not just the matter of conscription; it's the deployment that's suspicious."This is a unique example of how the FSB begins to use military service as a prison for politically active young men," Navalny told The Daily Beast. "I think the order was to isolate Shav."Viewers all over Russia recognize Yarmysh and Shaveddinov from YouTube, which is the main outlet for Navalny's reports. More than three million viewed their presentation last summer (while Navalny was in jail) about Moscow Deputy Mayor Natalia Sergunina. They reported she was making millions of dollars off property deals in the Russian capital for companies controlled by her relatives, an allegation that she has denied. There are frequent police raids on FBK offices, along with confiscations of computers, cellphones, and video cameras. On July 27, members of an armed special unit raided Yarmysh's home at dawn, woke the couple up, put Ruslan on the floor, and confiscated all of the digital equipment. After a tough 2019, Kira and Ruslan looked forward to celebrating the New Year's holiday together, without any people around. But on Dec. 23, Kira's boyfriend vanished and his cellphone was not answered. His friends found the door to his apartment broken. Nearly 24 hours later, Yarmysh discovered that her partner was more than 3,000 kilometers (some 2,000 miles) away, in a unit of what's called the 33rd Guards Rocket Army based in Rogachevo village on the Southern Island of Novaya Zemlya. Yarmysh had never heard much about the rules of the archipelago and the news came as a shock: there was an old nuclear testing ground near Ruslan's base; she could not visit his island without a special FSB permit. Then Ruslan called her, and what she heard broke her heart, she says."There were two army captains with him listening in our conversation, so every time I asked him how he was, he said, 'Let's talk about you," Yarmysh remembered. "He told me he was banned from using his cellphone, which is a violation—every Russian soldier can call home once a week! So I decided to sue his commander."Yarmysh wanted to be present during the court hearing last week, and, of course, to see Ruslan. She requested an FSB permit earlier this month, but days passed and there was no word back. The court hearing was scheduled for last Wednesday, but a Moscow judge on the case was not able to get to Novaya Zemlya, Yarmysh said—the flight got canceled due to harsh weather conditions. (This is not unusual given the brutal Arctic weather.) "They regularly cancel flights during the winter, so I am surprised that the army managed to transport Ruslan there so easily in December," Yarmysh said. "It is obvious that the weather is not an issue, if there is an order to bring the guy."Finally a hearing was held at the end of the week, and a lawyer from the Navalny team was able to make it there, but there was no satisfaction to be had and communications were spotty. At midday on Saturday, Yarmysh tweeted that she still had heard nothing about her boyfriend's fated. (A troll responded with pictures of polar bears eating a bloody corpse: "Found him. But no need to thank me.")The lawyer finally got in touch late Saturday, but only briefly. He reported that, officially, the court said Shaveddinov had no unusual restrictions. But in practical terms that was no consolation, and Yarmysh said she couldn't be sure what happened until the attorney made it back to Moscow. As of Monday, however, he was till stuck above the Arctic Circle because of the weather."Prisoners have more rights than Ruslan," Yarmysh told The Daily Beast. "He doesn't have any right to call, or even to send letters."Yarmysh grew up in Rostov-on-Don, a provincial southern town on the border with Ukraine's Donbas region. Her single mother brought her up dreaming that one day Kira would win The Clever Heads, a televised competition for high-schoolers that awards the winners with a chance to enroll in Russia's most prestigious university for future diplomats, the MGIMO, or Moscow State Institute of International Relations. And, yes, Yarmysh won.While studying at MGIMO, she thought she would one day get a diplomat's position in Africa, far from the Russian political scene. But anti-Putin street protests in 2011-2012 changed her life, and she wound up on the front line of the opposition's constant fight with corrupt bureaucrats. Her mother has always been an Aleksey Navalny fan, Yarmysh said, so when she got her job at the FBK six years ago, her family supported her. "Kira Yarmysh is one of the brightest stars in Navalny's team. She is emerging to be even bigger but still stay in Navalny's shadow," Echo of Moscow Deputy Chief Editor Olga Bychkova told The Daily Beast. Yarmysh says that if she has to she will wait for her boyfriend for 12 months, as do millions of other Russian girls all over the country. "I hope this is going to be just one year," she says. For two months, Yarmysh has been worried, feeling "hurt," she says, wondering why out of all Russia's vast military bases, her boyfriend was isolated in the Arctic. "The authorities might think that Ruslan and I, if we come out to a street protest, might lead masses of people," Yarmysh said, then added: "I personally have no fear. If they raid our homes, if they detain us, I tell myself, we must be doing everything right." But for the moment that is, at best, cold comfort.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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| Trump's 'Big' China Trade Deal Has Some Really Big Problems Posted: 23 Feb 2020 09:30 AM PST  The remaining issues, such as cyber theft, cyber security, and standardization, are untouched by the Agreement and could be the source of tension in the future.
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| The coronavirus death toll is still rising, but US interest in the outbreak is plummeting Posted: 24 Feb 2020 01:39 PM PST  Serious outbreaks outside of China have been reported in Italy, Iran, and South Korea in the last week.
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| Coronavirus updates: 5 dead and 200 infected in Italy as Europe braces for COVID-19 Posted: 24 Feb 2020 06:44 AM PST  As new hotspots arise in South Korea, Italy and Iran, here is the latest for Monday, Feb. 24.
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| Climate change could be a 'catastrophic' national security threat, report warns Posted: 24 Feb 2020 09:04 AM PST  "Even at scenarios of low warming, each region of the world will face severe risks to national and global security in the next three decades," according to a report by the Center for Climate and Security.
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| Trump Was Furious That Cruise Ship Passengers With Coronavirus Were Brought Back to U.S. Posted: 23 Feb 2020 08:52 AM PST  WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump was infuriated that 14 U.S. citizens who had tested positive for coronavirus were permitted to return this week to the United States, said two senior administration officials. The decision took the president, a self-declared "germophobe," by surprise.Officials at the State Department decided to bring back the citizens, who had been quarantined on the Diamond Princess cruise ship in Japan, after consulting with a senior official at the Department of Health and Human Services. But officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention objected, concerned that the passengers, among hundreds of Americans being evacuated from the ship, could spread the virus. News organizations reported on the decision on Monday, and the passengers arrived in the United States that day.Trump, furious at not having been briefed on the Americans who had tested positive, relayed his anger to Alex Azar, the health and human services secretary, and other top officials. They then alerted the White House interagency task force on the coronavirus, which Azar oversees. One official said Trump views shutting the borders to infected people as critical to keeping the country safe and wants to be seen as managing a proper response.The top State Department official on the task force is Stephen Biegun, the deputy secretary of state.During the early legs of a four-day trip to the West Coast meant to bolster his reelection effort, Trump paid close attention to Fox News' coverage of the Diamond Princess that played aboard Air Force One.Word of Trump's anger had already begun circulating among officials on Tuesday morning. The Washington Post first reported on it on Friday.In 2014, during an Ebola crisis in Africa, Trump, who was then a private citizen, angrily demanded that the Obama administration cancel flights and bar anyone infected with the virus from entering the country -- including American medical workers who had gone to Africa to help. "KEEP THEM OUT OF HERE!" he wrote in a July 31 tweet after learning that one American medical worker would be evacuated to Atlanta from Liberia."The U.S. cannot allow EBOLA infected people back," Trump wrote on Twitter the next day, adding: "People that go to far away places to help out are great -- but must suffer the consequences!"There have been at least 634 infections and two deaths from the Diamond Princess, which Japanese officials kept in isolation for two weeks at a port in Yokohama. That effort at a quarantine contributed to the virus' rapid spread among passengers. The cluster from the ship is the largest concentration of coronavirus cases outside China, warranting its own category in data compiled by the World Health Organization.U.S. officials began a complex evacuation procedure for 328 passengers aboard the Diamond Princess on Sunday night. All had been examined by American medical experts and showed no symptoms of the coronavirus, Dr. William Walters, managing director of operational medicine at the State Department, and Dr. Robert Kadlec, assistant secretary for preparedness and response at the Department of Health and Human Services, said on Monday during a conference call with reporters.But as those passengers were bused to Haneda Airport in Tokyo early Monday morning, Japanese officials told American counterparts that laboratory tests for 14 passengers had come back positive, Walters said. The tests had been conducted two to three days earlier, but U.S. officials, believing the timing of the results would be "unpredictable" because of the volume of testing being done in Japan, began the evacuation without having all results in hand.American passengers who had already tested positive or who had displayed symptoms had been sent to hospitals in Japan, Walters said.After they learned that 14 passengers had tested positive, U.S. officials decided that the entire group set to leave Japan should be treated according to protocols the officials had developed for evacuees, Walters said. That meant continuing to transport those who had tested positive but putting them in isolation -- behind sheets of plastic about 10-feet tall -- at the rear of the two planes flying them back to the United States.Walters said on Monday that he and Kadlec reviewed the possible options after learning of the test results."Then the question was simply this: Are these evacuees?" Walters said. "And do we follow our protocol? And the answer to that was yes on both accounts."Kadlec added, "We had additional expertise and experienced eyes on these people and monitoring through the flight."The planes landed at Travis Air Force Base in California and Lackland Air Force Base in Texas. Most of the 14 passengers who had tested positive were then flown to Omaha, Nebraska for treatment and monitoring by experts at the University of Nebraska.Since then, Japanese officials have informed U.S. officials that several other passengers among the 328 brought back had also tested positive for coronavirus. On Friday, U.S. officials said at least 34 people inside the United States have the virus -- 18 of them from the Diamond Princess. All of the 34 cases have been linked to overseas travel. There has been no sign yet of the virus spreading among communities in the United States.The State Department is closely monitoring U.S. citizens on board another cruise ship in Cambodia, the Westerdam, as well as Americans who have disembarked and are in hotels in Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia. Those Americans are expected to travel onward at some point. One 83-year-old American woman from the ship traveled to Malaysia and tested positive for coronavirus.Walters said Monday that 92 U.S. citizens were still on board the Westerdam, while another 260 were in hotels in the Cambodian capital. About 300 U.S. citizens had left the country, but "only after testing by the government of Cambodia's Ministry of Health," he said.When asked whether the United States was thinking about arranging evacuation flights for the hundreds of Americans in Cambodia or elsewhere, Walters did not offer a direct answer. He said the State Department was "following very closely" the situation of U.S. citizens in places where coronavirus is prevalent and of citizens who are "having difficulty in returning to the United States because of the disruptions in the international airline industry, and flights, and so forth."Separately, State Department officials say that thousands of Russia-linked social media accounts are spreading disinformation about the coronavirus, including a conspiracy theory that the United States is behind the outbreak.American monitors first identified the campaign in mid-January. Agence France-Presse reported the assessment on Saturday."Russia's intent is to sow discord and undermine U.S. institutions and alliances from within, including through covert and coercive malign influence campaigns," said Philip T. Reeker, the acting assistant secretary of state for Europe and Eurasia. "By spreading disinformation about coronavirus, Russian malign actors are once again choosing to threaten public safety by distracting from the global health response."This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2020 The New York Times Company
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| Israel targets Islamic Jihad in Syria and Gaza Posted: 24 Feb 2020 05:59 AM PST  The hostilities came after militants attempted to plant explosives next to Gaza border, and dozens of rockets were fired at Israel, military said.
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| Tennessee continues push for executions, setting 2 more Posted: 24 Feb 2020 02:27 PM PST  Tennessee on Monday set two new execution dates, days after putting to death its seventh inmate in the past year and a half. The Tennessee Supreme Court ordered an Oct. 8 execution date for Byron Black and a Dec. 3 execution date for Pervis Payne. Black was convicted by a Nashville court of murdering his girlfriend Angela Clay and her daughters Latoya, 9, and Lakesha, 6, at their home in 1988.
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| Idaho's governor says he's hoping to speed up the extradition of doomsday mom Lori Vallow so she can face charges connected to her 2 missing kids Posted: 24 Feb 2020 12:25 PM PST  Lori Vallow, who's two children have been missing since September, was arrested on charges related to their disappearance last week.
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| Daredevil 'Mad Mike' Hughes dies in crash of his homemade rocket in California Posted: 23 Feb 2020 02:07 PM PST  LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - "Mad Mike" Hughes, a self-styled explorer and daredevil bent on proving that the earth is flat was killed over the weekend when his homemade rocket crashed in the California desert over the weekend. "Michael 'Mad Mike' Hughes tragically passed away today during an attempt to launch his homemade rocket," the Science Channel, which was planning to feature him on an upcoming series called "Homemade Astronauts," said on Twitter. A videotape of the incident, in which the rocket appears to fail shortly after take-off in the Mojave Desert outside Barstow, California, was posted to Twitter by Justin Chapman, a freelance journalist who was filming the launch.
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| It's All Politics: The 1 Reason Bernie Sanders Loves the F-35 Stealth Fighter Posted: 24 Feb 2020 02:00 PM PST  Jobs and money.
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| An official leading South Korea's battle against COVID-19 says he's a member of a doomsday cult where a virus 'super-spreader' event occurred Posted: 24 Feb 2020 02:14 PM PST  "If we have another Daegu in this country, I can't imagine what would happen," a professor said since medical resources are being stretched thin.
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| China 'comprehensively bans' wildlife trade over virus Posted: 24 Feb 2020 02:14 AM PST  China on Monday declared an immediate and "comprehensive" ban on the trade and consumption of wild animals, a practice believed responsible for the deadly coronavirus outbreak. The country's top legislative committee approved a proposal "prohibiting the illegal wildlife trade, abolishing the bad habit of overconsumption of wildlife, and effectively protecting the lives and health of the people," state television reported. Previous temporary bans have been put in place, including after the SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) virus killed hundreds of people in China and Hong Kong in 2002-03 and was also traced to wild animal consumption.
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| Americans Show Fresh Signs of Panic as Coronavirus Cases Jump Again Posted: 24 Feb 2020 11:50 AM PST  The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said Monday that the number of 2019 novel coronavirus cases in the United States rose from 34 on Friday to 53 as more passengers from the Diamond Princess cruise ship tested positive for the disease. The virus quickly spread among 695 passengers aboard the Carnival cruise ship docked in Yokohama, Japan, and has since killed at least two and forced many of the rest into quarantine and isolation. The U.S. State Department eventually repatriated those Americans who wished to come home, though local officials across the United States have shown signs of resistance to housing the potentially infected in state or federal facilities. COVID-19, as the virus is officially known, has infected more than 79,000 people in two dozen countries and killed at least 2,600. Businesses across the world have responded by canceling conferences and restricting travel, especially to China. U.S. financial markets plunged Monday as the number of confirmed cases rose in South Korea, Italy, and Iran. Meanwhile, at least one man in Miami was facing a medical bill for up to thousands of dollars after a coronavirus scare. He was ultimately diagnosed with the flu, but the case showed the potential for people with high cost health plans to rack up fees as panic spreads in a country without universal health care.The Ticking Coronavirus Time Bomb: America's UninsuredEven as the petri dish of the Diamond Princess and the surge in cases in Europe and the Middle East have captured the world's attention, the vast majority of cases remain in China, where the virus was first documented in December.Still, the emergence of the virus has produced a range of emotional responses across American professions and demographic groups. The possibility of infection has previously caused panic among ride-share drivers, while teenagers have pretended to be infected with the virus to prompt others to share their videos. There have also been reports of bullying and discrimination against students of Asian descent.Now residents of Salt Lake City appear to be projecting their fears of the virus onto Shen Yun, a dance troupe known as much for its ubiquitous marketing as for its traditional Chinese performances. The group was slated to perform Feb. 25 and 26 in Salt Lake, and residents began calling the local and state public health departments to ask whether dancers might be contagious.Nicholas Rupp, a spokesman for the Salt Lake City health department, said his agency had received four calls since Friday from residents concerned over the risk of infection because of rumors they saw on social media. There is, he said, no basis for the rumors, as the group's North American branch only tours in North America and therefore would not be likely to come into contact with coronavirus patients."We've investigated, and we have no reason to believe that anyone associated with the troupe is ill," he told The Daily Beast.The Utah State Department of Health has also received calls about this week's Shen Yun performance and coronavirus, according to spokeswoman Charla Haley, though she said she did not know how many. She reiterated Rupp's point that the claims have no basis.One email to public health officials obtained by The Daily Beast describes a medical conspiracy by Shen Yun leadership, though the message offers no evidence. "A friend gave me news that this group just finished performing In Korea and a few of their members returned to the US with coronavirus symptoms but was prevented to seek medical help from their leader. They are suppressing their members to leak the news so no performing schedules will be interrupted," the email reads. The writer's name has been redacted. The emailer expressed doubts about the provenance of the information but decided acting on it was better than staying silent."A group of SL local people are asking the public to call Mitt Romney, SL mayor Office and the health department to stop them from coming. I don't know where this source is from. Too many fake news these days but if this one happens to be true I would do my share of citizen duties to call to the officials."Staffers at Shen Yun appear to be aware of the perception, however baseless, that dancers might be infected, as well. The group published an undated press release dispelling the whispers: "Shen Yun Is Not From China, Shows In No Way Affected By Coronavirus."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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| The 10th Democratic presidential debate: Everything you need to know Posted: 24 Feb 2020 11:17 AM PST  The lineup for the South Carolina debate will again include Mike Bloomberg, who will try to rebound from his widely panned performance in Las Vegas.
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| Court awards $1.5M to Kansas man wrongfully convicted Posted: 24 Feb 2020 02:04 PM PST |
| Trump says the stock market is 'starting to look very good' after the Dow plunged over 1,000 points amid coronavirus fears Posted: 24 Feb 2020 03:23 PM PST  The comments come as the Trump administration prepares to request an emergency funding package from Congress to combat the coronavirus.
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