| Bloomberg 'weathered the storm' during fiery Democratic debate, his campaign says Posted: 19 Feb 2020 10:02 PM PST  Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg came under heavy fire from his rivals during Wednesday's Democratic presidential debate at the Paris Casino but "weathered the storm," his senior adviser Howard Wolfson said.
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| A Google manager has been arrested and charged with murder after his wife was reported missing in Hawaii Posted: 20 Feb 2020 02:11 PM PST  His wife, a Microsoft business program manager, was reported missing Tuesday while the Seattle couple was vacationing in Hawaii.
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| Trump's pardon of Bernie Kerik also apparently wiped out Kerik's $103,300 debt to taxpayers Posted: 18 Feb 2020 10:43 PM PST  President Trump granted a full pardon to former New York City Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik on Tuesday, clearing him of his eight counts of tax fraud, lying to federal investigators, and other crimes that accompanied his downfall. Kerik had already served his three years in prison for his crimes, but the pardon wipes out more than his criminal record, the New York Daily News reports. "The pardon cancels out $103,300 in restitution that Kerik still owed the Internal Revenue Service as part of his sentence, according to a spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office in Manhattan."The White House credited Kerik's friend and former boss in New York City, Rudy Giuliani — now Trump's personal lawyer and Ukraine fixer — for helping persuade Trump to pardon Kerik. Another friend of both Kerik and Trump, Newsmax chief executive Christopher Ruddy, told the Daily News that Trump's pardon was "a just decision" in light of Kerik's "minor stuff" crimes.One of Kerik's former colleagues in the Giuliani administration, NYC Parks Commissioner Henry Stern, recalled Kerik's multifaceted downfall from heroic 9/11 figure to flamed-out reject for Homeland Security secretary slightly differently back in late 2004, The New Yorker recounted: "Officials have gotten into trouble for sexual misconduct, abusing their authority, personal bankruptcy, failure to file documents, waste of public funds, receiving substantial unrecorded gifts, and association with organized crime figures. It is rare for anyone to be under fire on all seven of the above issues."More stories from theweek.com Mike Bloomberg is not the lesser of two evils Buttigieg hits Bloomberg and Sanders in 1 swoop: 'Let's put forth someone who is actually a Democrat' Elizabeth Warren defends Amy Klobuchar for forgetting the name of Mexico's president
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| Warren Reverses Pledge to Refuse PAC Money, Implies She’s Been Held to Sexist Double Standard Posted: 20 Feb 2020 12:19 PM PST  Senator Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.) changed her tune on the nefarious influence of super PACs just days after receiving the backing of a newly formed PAC, telling reporters on Thursday that because "all of the men" in the race refused to rely entirely on individual donors, she shouldn't be expected to either."It can't be the case that a bunch of people keep them and only one or two don't," she said.Warren, speaking to reporters in Nevada, tried to square her past disavowals of super PAC funding with her refusal to disavow a new PAC that made a $1 million television ad buy on her behalf this week. She argued that because she failed to convince other candidates to commit to her proposal of no PAC funding, she was forced to accept PAC support."The first day I got in this race, over a year ago, I said 'I hope every presidential candidate who comes in will agree — no Super PACs for any of us," Warren explained. "I renewed that call dozens of times, and I couldn't get a single Democrat to go along with me."The pro-Warren "Persist" PAC filed with the Federal Election Commission on Tuesday and booked $800,000 in television ads to run in Nevada, despite Warren's previous criticisms of PAC money. During the New Hampshire Democratic Debate, she touted her lack of PAC support, saying "everyone on this stage except Amy [Klobuchar] and me is either a billionaire or is receiving help from PACs that can do unlimited spending."The day of the New Hampshire primary last week, Warren tweeted that she "won't take a dime of PAC money in this campaign."> Let's be clear: I won't take a dime of PAC money in this campaign. I won't take a single check from a federal lobbyist, or billionaires who want to run a Super PAC on my behalf. > > And I challenge every other candidate who asks for your vote in this primary to do the same.> > -- Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) February 9, 2019"Senator Warren is the best candidate to take on Donald Trump and win, and we're going to ensure primary voters and caucusgoers hear her message," Persist PAC spokesman Joshua Karp told The New York Times on the new venture. Warren's campaign released a statement on Wednesday in response, which said her stance was "unchanged" on PACs, but did not direct the newly formed PAC to stand down.Speaking Thursday, Warren went further, implying that she could not hold out any longer after "all of the men" still running against her "had either Super PACs, or they were multi-billionaires.""Finally, we reached the point a few weeks ago where all of the men who were still in this race and on the debate stage, all had either Super PACs, or they were multi-billionaires, and could just rummage around in their sock drawers and find enough money to be able to fund a campaign. And the only people who didn't have them were the two women," Warren argued.Warren signaled that after a pro-Klobuchar PAC sprang up earlier this week to support the Minnesota Senator, she was not going to stand in the way."At that point, there were some women around the country who said, 'you know, that's just not right.' So here's where I stand — if all the candidates want to get rid of super PACs, count me in. I'll lead the charge. But that's how it has to be. It can't be the case that a bunch of people keep them and only one or two don't," she stated.> NEW: Here is video of Warren declining to disavow the new super PAC supporting her:> > "If all the candidates want to get rid of super PACs, count me in. I'll lead the charge. But that's how it has to be. It can't be the case that a bunch of people keep them and only 1 or 2 don't." pic.twitter.com/byxQRjGMfs> > -- Shane Goldmacher (@ShaneGoldmacher) February 20, 2020The shift in tone comes after Warren slammed former New York City mayor Mike Bloomberg during Wednesday's Nevada debate for a history of sexist comments and non-disclosure agreements with female employees.
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| Germany's immigrant community in Hanau reeling after attack Posted: 20 Feb 2020 11:10 AM PST  In the German town of Hanau, a longtime immigrant destination with decades of coexistence between people of different origins, residents were left with the fear Thursday that their community was targeted after a gunman shot and killed nine people of foreign background. Residents shook their heads at a level of violence that is rare in Germany, and wondered at the degree of anti-foreigner hatred expressed by the attack in a place where Turks and ethnic Kurds patronize the same hookah bars, and where members of both groups were among the victims along with people with roots in Bulgaria, Bosniaand Romania, according to media reports. Among the dead was the owner of the Midnight Shisha Bar, an immigrant from Turkey who worked and saved to buy his own business, along with the gaming kiosk next door.
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| China says will help manage Mekong as report warns of dam danger Posted: 20 Feb 2020 06:35 AM PST  VIENTIANE/BANGKOK (Reuters) - China on Thursday said it was helping its downstream neighbors cope with a prolonged drought by releasing more water from its dams on the Mekong River, adding it would consider sharing information on hydrology to provide further assistance in the future. The statement came as a new economic report predicted that the building of dams to harness hydropower on the Mekong River would reshape the economies of five countries along the waterway, fuelling long-term inflation and dependence on China. The drought over the past year has severely hurt farming and fishing in Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar and Vietnam, and many blame China's 11 dams on the upper Mekong - which China calls the Lancang River - as well as climate change.
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| Don't Sleep on Russia's Super-Fast "Avangard" Hypersonic Missile Posted: 20 Feb 2020 01:00 PM PST  It'll keep you up at night.
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| Coronavirus updates: 2 passengers die after leaving 'chaotic' cruise ship Posted: 20 Feb 2020 03:09 PM PST  The death toll from the coronavirus outbreak climbed to 2,118 in China. Here is the latest for Thursday.
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| 'Cheap shot': Sanders fires back when Bloomberg goes after 'socialism' Posted: 19 Feb 2020 08:22 PM PST  Michael Bloomberg attacked Sen. Bernie Sanders at Wednesday's debate in Las Vegas, with the billionaire former New York City mayor claiming the self-described democratic socialist's ownership of multiple homes makes him a hypocrite.
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| Suspects in abduction, murder of 7-year-old Mexican girl detained Posted: 19 Feb 2020 09:52 PM PST  Mexican authorities arrested a couple believed to have kidnapped, tortured and murdered a seven year-old girl on Wednesday, days after the discovery of the victim's body sparked protests in the violence-wracked country. The suspects "were detained in a town in the State of Mexico," Mexico City mayor Claudia Sheinbaum tweeted, without giving more detail. Prosecutors on Tuesday released pictures of the two suspects -- identified as Giovana and Mario Alberto "N" -- after searching a house near the victim's home.
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| Trump rape accuser’s lawyers says president is doing ‘everything he can’ to stop her case Posted: 19 Feb 2020 07:30 AM PST  Lawyers representing a writer who accuses Donald Trump of raping her in the 1990s have said Mr Trump is doing "everything he can to stop the truth from ever coming out".
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| The Mormon Church's secretive $100 billion fund revealed huge stakes in Apple, Google, and Microsoft. Here are its 10 biggest holdings. Posted: 19 Feb 2020 09:04 AM PST  Ensign Peak Advisors, the investing arm of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, spilled the beans on its $40 billion stock portfolio.
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| China reports uptick in new coronavirus cases though downward trend holds Posted: 20 Feb 2020 04:41 PM PST  China's Hubei province reported an uptick in new cases of coronavirus on Friday, reversing three days of declines, although the numbers still confirmed a downward trend which the World Health Organization (WHO) has called encouraging. The province at the center of the global health emergency said it had counted 411 new cases as of Feb. 20, up from 349 a day earlier but still the lowest since Jan. 26. The death toll in Hubei rose by 115 to 2,144, mostly in the provincial capital of Wuhan, a city of 11 million which remains under virtual lockdown.
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| Coronavirus: CDC issues new travel notices for Hong Kong, Japan Posted: 20 Feb 2020 07:53 AM PST  The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued new advisories on Wednesday for travelers going to Hong Kong and Japan due to coronavirus.
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| India's Military Is Quite Deadly (China and Pakistan Should Worry) Posted: 19 Feb 2020 04:44 AM PST  Missiles, carriers, and more.
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| Contested convention now most likely Democratic primary outcome, FiveThirtyEight predicts Posted: 20 Feb 2020 10:54 AM PST  And the winner is... no one.That's what FiveThirtyEight sees as the most likely outcome of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary, according to Thursday's update of its primary forecast. While Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) stays relatively flat with a one in three chance of securing the nomination, the possibility of a contested convention has a 42 percent chance of happening, FiveThirtyEight predicts.Sanders peaked in his nomination chances at close to 50 percent after winning both the New Hampshire primaries and Iowa caucuses. Those two contests also sent former Vice President Joe Biden from a close to one in two chance of winning down to just about one in nine. But polls in the days since have dropped Sanders back down to a 35 percent chance, seeing as he's earned only a slight advantage over a split field of more moderate candidates. In turn, those polls and split contests fueled a dramatic upswing in the chances for no candidate at all. Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg maintains a one in 10 chance of winning the primary, per FiveThirtyEight. But that doesn't take into account Wednesday night's debate, where Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) delivered a scorching rebuke of everything Bloomberg stands for.More stories from theweek.com House leaders reportedly learned Russia was trying to get Trump re-elected — and Trump was angry about it The growing crisis in cosmology Mike Bloomberg is not the lesser of two evils
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| Four things to know about Pope Pius XII's archives Posted: 20 Feb 2020 08:04 AM PST  The March 2 unsealing of the archives of Pope Pius XII, the controversial World War II-era pontiff, whose papacy lasted from 1939 to 1958, has been awaited for decades by Jewish groups and historians. The controversy over Pius XII hinges on whether the head of the Catholic Church, a former diplomat of the Holy See in Germany, remained too silent during the Holocaust, never publicly condemning the Nazis. The most sensitive archives, comprising the World War II period, have already been largely published by the Vatican.
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| Trump Stews Over McCabe But Is Wary of Driving Barr to Resign Posted: 20 Feb 2020 03:08 PM PST  (Bloomberg) -- Donald Trump was surprised and angered by the Justice Department's decision not to charge Andrew McCabe with crimes, but the president is wary of acting against the former deputy FBI director out of concern he might push Attorney General William Barr to resign, according to people familiar with the matter.The Justice Department gave the White House no advance notice of its decision on McCabe, meaning Trump found out along with the public when it was announced on Tuesday, three of the people said. That created fresh point of potential tension between Trump and Barr, who has publicly criticized Trump's tweets about criminal cases DOJ is pursuing and has privately told associates he may quit.The president is weighing his options to respond to the Justice Department's non-prosecution decision on McCabe, but it isn't clear he can do anything, the people said. He is aware that he should proceed delicately, given Barr's position, they said.The people asked not to be identified discussing the president's private deliberations. The White House and Justice Department communications staff declined to comment.Trump's frustration with McCabe's case is related to his concern about the Justice Department's prosecution of his friend and former associate Roger Stone, who was sentenced Thursday to more than three years in prison for lying to Congress and threatening a witness in the investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election. Trump believes the justice system is applying a double standard to political cases, with his allies receiving far harsher treatment than his opponents.Trump could order Barr or FBI Director Christopher Wray to open an investigation into McCabe, although they'd be under no obligation to comply. Such a move might force them to resign.Barr said in a Feb. 13 interview with ABC News that he wouldn't carry out such an order. "If he were to say go investigate somebody because -- and you sense it's because they're a political opponent -- then the attorney general shouldn't carry that out, wouldn't carry that out," he said.Wray recently testified before the House Judiciary Committee that he has never been asked to open an improper investigation.Trump publicly bemoaned the McCabe situation on Thursday, tweeting a remark from a Fox News guest that the decision to not prosecute was "utterly inexplicable." Shortly after, speaking in Las Vegas, he linked the cases of Stone and McCabe."What happened to him is unbelievable," Trump said of Stone. "They said he lied, but other people lied too." He went on to cite McCabe along with former FBI director James Comey."Comey lied, McCabe lied, Lisa Page lied, her lover, Strzok, Peter Strzok, lied," Trump said, referring to a former FBI attorney and agent. He left open the possibility of an eventual Stone pardon."I'm going to watch the process, I'm going to watch it very closely, and at some point I'll make a determination. But Roger Stone and everybody has to be treated fairly, and this has not been a fair process," Trump said."I'm here to make a fair system," Trump said.Barr complained in the ABC interview that Trump's public remarks on the cases made his job "impossible." But he has also ordered a review of the prosecution of former Trump adviser Michael Flynn, the latest politically sensitive intervention into a case with a defendant linked to the president."I do make his job harder, I do agree with that, I think that's true," Trump said earlier this week after he was asked about Barr's remarks. "He's a very straight shooter, we have a great attorney general, and he's working very hard. And he's working against a lot of people that don't want to see good things happen, in my opinion."But he said his social media posts would continue. "In the media, I don't get that voice. So I'm allowed to have a voice," he said.\--With assistance from Josh Wingrove.To contact the reporters on this story: Jennifer Jacobs in Washington at jjacobs68@bloomberg.net;Chris Strohm in Washington at cstrohm1@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Kevin Whitelaw at kwhitelaw@bloomberg.net, Justin BlumFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Turkey and Russia exchange warnings against operation in Syria Posted: 19 Feb 2020 10:35 AM PST  Turkey and Russia exchanged warnings on Wednesday after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened an "imminent" operation in Syria to end the regime's brutal assault on the last rebel enclave.
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| More than half of all coronavirus cases outside China are from the Diamond Princess, but the cruise ship is already planning to set sail again in April Posted: 20 Feb 2020 09:48 AM PST  An infectious-diseases expert said the hygiene conditions on the Diamond Princess were abysmal, making him "so scared" of contracting the coronavirus.
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| Coronavirus fears create ghost town in South Korea after church 'super-spreader' Posted: 19 Feb 2020 07:07 PM PST  SEOUL/BEIJING (Reuters) - The streets of South Korea's fourth-largest city were abandoned on Thursday, with residents holed up indoors after dozens of people caught the new coronavirus in what authorities described as a "super-spreading event" at a church. The deserted shopping malls and cinemas of Daegu, a city of 2.5 million people, became one of the most striking images outside China of an outbreak that international authorities are trying stop from becoming a global pandemic. In China, where the virus has killed more than 2,100 people and infected nearly 75,000, officials changed their methodology for reporting infections, creating new doubt about data they have cited as evidence their containment strategy is working.
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| US military truck caught on camera ramming Russian jeep off the road in Syria Posted: 20 Feb 2020 08:50 AM PST  A video circulating on Twitter shows US military forces in Syria running a Russian military vehicle off the road.
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| Kill Shot: Did Elizabeth Warren Just Knock Michael Bloomberg Out of the Presidential Race? Posted: 20 Feb 2020 11:07 AM PST  Fighting words last night at the MSNBC debate: "So, I'd like to talk about who we're running against, a billionaire who calls women 'fat broads' and 'horse-faced lesbians.' And, no, I'm not talking about Donald Trump. I'm talking about Mayor Bloomberg," Warren said.
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| Married, off-duty cops interrupt 'date night' to stop armed robbery attempt at restaurant Posted: 19 Feb 2020 07:40 AM PST  Dramatic video shows a Kentucky man allegedly attempting to rob a Raising Cane's Chicken Fingers in Louisville. Then, two off-duty cops stepped in.
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| House leaders reportedly learned Russia was trying to get Trump re-elected — and Trump was angry about it Posted: 20 Feb 2020 02:41 PM PST  President Trump would rather keep the facts to himself.Last week, the House Intelligence Committee reportedly received a briefing detailing how Russia was once again interfering in the 2020 election. The next day, Trump attacked his outgoing national intelligence director for letting the briefing happen, people familiar with the exchange told The New York Times.The committee, led by Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), learned from intelligence official Shelby Pierson that Russia was working to get Trump re-elected this fall, five people familiar with the matter said. Pierson has a reputation for bluntness, and some officials who heard about the briefing suggested Pierson should've left out the bit on Russia to avoid riling up Republicans in the room. Trump's allies at the briefing "challenged the conclusions, arguing that Mr. Trump has been tough on Russia and strengthened European security," the Times writes.An even bigger uproar came the next day from Trump himself, who attacked Acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire for what was said in the briefing. This happened last Friday, and by Wednesday, Trump announced he was replacing Maguire with U.S. Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell, who's unabashedly loyal to the president. Read more at The New York Times.More stories from theweek.com The growing crisis in cosmology Mike Bloomberg is not the lesser of two evils The Democrats gave Mike Bloomberg what he deserved
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| Rare Ethiopian crown, hidden for 21 years in the Netherlands, returns home Posted: 20 Feb 2020 08:45 AM PST  Ethiopia's government on Thursday assumed custody of a priceless 18th-century crown that a former refugee had kept hidden in his apartment in the Netherlands for two decades. The handover took place at a ceremony in the capital, Addis Ababa, attended by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and Sigrid Kaag, the Dutch minister for foreign trade and development cooperation. Sirak Asfaw, the one-time refugee who is now a Dutch citizen, fled Ethiopia during the late 1970s during the so-called "Red Terror" purges.
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| Tennessee man gets electric chair for killing fellow inmate Posted: 19 Feb 2020 10:37 PM PST  A convicted murderer was put to death in Tennessee's electric chair Thursday, becoming the state's fifth prisoner over 16 months to choose electrocution over the state's preferred method of lethal injection. Nicholas Sutton, 58, was pronounced dead at 7:26 p.m. at the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville, the Tennessee Department of Correction said. Sutton was sentenced to death in 1986 for killing fellow inmate Carl Estep in a conflict over a drug deal while both were incarcerated in an East Tennessee prison, where Sutton had been serving time for killing his grandmother and two others when he was 18 years old.
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| 'We don't have a history of murdering our citizens': A Saudi official says reports that the Saudi Crown Prince is connected to the death of Jamal Khashoggi are 'ridiculous' Posted: 19 Feb 2020 02:04 PM PST  Saudi Arabia has made "great progress in terms of human rights," Adel al-Jubeir said, urging outsiders to educate themselves better on its state of affairs.
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| A Japanese disease expert who inspected the Diamond Princess said he was 'so scared' of catching the coronavirus because hygiene on the cruise ship was so bad Posted: 19 Feb 2020 06:07 AM PST  Kentaro Iwata said that while he had weathered the Ebola, SARS, and cholera crises, he was scared of catching COVID-19 on the quarantined cruise ship.
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| At least 5 people in China have disappeared, gotten arrested, or been silenced after speaking out about the coronavirus — here's what we know about them Posted: 20 Feb 2020 08:06 AM PST  Wuhan doctor Li Wenliang, who died of the new coronavirus, was initially censored by police. He wasn't the only whistleblower to go silent.
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| Mike Bloomberg’s Monumental Failure to Prepare Posted: 19 Feb 2020 09:04 PM PST  The mogul had a story to tell, and a few apologies to make. He managed neither.
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| Execution for a Facebook post? Why blasphemy is a capital offense in some Muslim countries Posted: 20 Feb 2020 01:08 PM PST  Junaid Hafeez, a university lecturer in Pakistan, had been imprisoned for six years when he was sentenced to death in December 2019. The charge: blasphemy, specifically insulting Prophet Muhammad on Facebook. Pakistan has the world's second strictest blasphemy laws after Iran, according to U.S. Commision on International Religious Freedom.Hafeez, whose death sentence is under appeal, is one of about 1,500 Pakistanis charged with blasphemy, or sacrilegious speech, over the last three decades. No executions have taken place. But since 1990 70 people have been murdered by mobs and vigilantes who accused them of insulting Islam. Several people who defend the accused have been killed, too, including one of Hafeez's lawyers and two high-level politicians who publicly opposed the death sentence of Asia Bibi, a Christian woman convicted for verbally insulting Prophet Muhammad. Though Bibi was acquitted in 2019, she fled Pakistan. Blasphemy and apostasyOf 71 countries that criminalize blasphemy, 32 are majority Muslim. Punishment and enforcement of these laws varies. Blasphemy is punishable by death in Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Brunei, Mauritania and Saudi Arabia. Among non-Muslim-majority cases, the harshest blasphemy laws are in Italy, where the maximum penalty is three years in prison.Half of the world's 49 Muslim-majority countries have additional laws banning apostasy, meaning people may be punished for leaving Islam. All countries with apostasy laws are Muslim-majority except India. Apostasy is often charged along with blasphemy. This class of religious laws is quite popular in some Muslim countries. According to a 2013 Pew survey, about 75% of respondents in Southeast Asia, the Middle East and North Africa, and South Asia favor making sharia, or Islamic law, the official law of the land. Among those who support sharia, around 25% in Southeast Asia, 50% in the Middle East and North Africa, and 75% in South Asia say they support "executing those who leave Islam" – that is, they support laws punishing apostasy with death. The ulema and the stateMy 2019 book "Islam, Authoritarianism, and Underdevelopment" traces the root of blasphemy and apostasy laws in the Muslim world back to a historic alliance between Islamic scholars and government.Starting around the year 1050, certain Sunni scholars of law and theology, called the "ulema," began working closely with political rulers to challenge what they considered to be the sacrilegious influence of Muslim philosophers on society. Muslim philosophers had for three centuries been making major contributions to mathematics, physics and medicine. They developed the Arabic number system used across the West today and invented a forerunner of the modern camera.The conservative ulema felt that these philosophers were inappropriately influenced by Greek philosophy and Shia Islam against Sunni beliefs. The most prominent in consolidating Sunni orthodoxy was the brilliant and respected Islamic scholar Ghazali, who died in the year 1111.In several influential books still widely read today, Ghazali declared two long-dead leading Muslim philosophers, Farabi and Ibn Sina, apostates for their unorthodox views on God's power and the nature of resurrection. Their followers, Ghazali wrote, could be punished with death. As modern-day historians Omid Safi and Frank Griffel assert, Ghazali's declaration provided justification to Muslim sultans from the 12th century onward who wished to persecute – even execute – thinkers seen as threats to conservative religious rule. This "ulema-state alliance," as I call it, began in the mid-11th century in Central Asia, Iran and Iraq and a century later spread to Syria, Egypt and North Africa. In these regimes, questioning religious orthodoxy and political authority wasn't merely dissent – it was apostasy. Wrong directionParts of Western Europe were ruled by a similar alliance between the Catholic Church and monarchs. These governments assaulted free thinking, too. During the Spanish Inquisition, between the 16th and 18th centuries, thousands of people were tortured and killed for apostasy.Blasphemy laws were also in place, if infrequently used, in various European countries until recently. Denmark, Ireland and Malta all recently repealed their laws.But they persist in many parts of the Muslim world. In Pakistan, the military dictator Zia ul Haq, who ruled the country from 1978 to 1988, is responsible for its harsh blasphemy laws. An ally of the ulema, Zia updated blasphemy laws – written by British colonizers to avoid interreligious conflict – to defend specifically Sunni Islam and increased the maximum punishment to death. From the 1920s until Zia, these laws had been applied only about a dozen times. Since then they have become a powerful tool for crushing dissent.Some dozen Muslim countries have undergone a similar process over the past four decades, including Iran and Egypt. Dissenting voices in IslamThe conservative ulema base their case for blasphemy and apostasy laws on a few reported sayings of Prophet Muhammad, known as hadith, primarily: "Whoever changes his religion, kill him." But many Islamic scholars and Muslim intellectuals reject this view as radical. They argue that Prophet Muhammad never executed anyone for apostasy, nor encouraged his followers to do so.Nor is criminalizing sacrilege based on Islam's main sacred text, the Quran. It contains over 100 verses encouraging peace, freedom of conscience and religious tolerance. In chapter 2, verse 256, the Quran states, "There is no coercion in religion." Chapter 4, verse 140 urges Muslims to simply leave blasphemous conversations: "When you hear the verses of God being rejected and mocked, do not sit with them."By using their political connections and historical authority to interpret Islam, however, the conservative ulema have marginalized more moderate voices. Reaction to global IslamophobiaDebates about blasphemy and apostasy laws among Muslims are influenced by international affairs.Across the globe, Muslim minorities – including the Palestinians, Chechens of Russia, Kashmiris of India, Rohingya of Mymanmar and Uighurs of China – have experienced severe persecution. No other religion is so widely targeted in so many different countries. Alongside persecution are some Western policies that discriminate against Muslims, such as laws prohibiting headscarves in schools and the U.S. ban on travelers from several Muslim-majority countries.Such Islamaphobic laws and policies can create the impression that Muslims are under siege and provide an excuse that punishing sacrilege is a defense of the faith.Instead, I find, such harsh religious rules can contribute to anti-Muslim stereotypes. Some of my Turkish relatives even discourage my work on this topic, fearing it fuels Islamophobia. But my research shows that criminalizing blasphemy and apostasy is more political than it is religious. The Quran does not require punishing sacrilege: authoritarian politics do.[ Deep knowledge, daily. Sign up for The Conversation's newsletter. ]This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts.Read more: * Conservative Islamic views are gaining ground in secular Bangladesh and curbing freedom of expression * Imran Khan hopes to transform Pakistan but he'll have far less power than past leadersAhmet T. Kuru is a FORIS scholar at the Religious Freedom Institute.
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| Poll: Bernie Sanders surging ahead of the pack among California voters Posted: 20 Feb 2020 10:32 AM PST  Roughly a quarter of likely California voters have come out in support of Bernie Sanders, but as the primary creeps closer, many are still undecided.
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| Upon leaving prison, Rod Blagojevich announces his new party affiliation: 'I'm a Trumpocrat' Posted: 19 Feb 2020 06:04 AM PST  President Trump went from berating former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich for his lack of Harry Potter knowledge to commuting his prison sentence.In 2011, Blagojevich was convicted of wire fraud, attempted extortion, soliciting bribes, conspiracy to commit extortion, and conspiracy to solicit and accept bribes, and sentenced to 14 years in prison. The year before, he appeared on The Apprentice, where he bombed a Harry Potter-related task. Trump admonished him for sharing "inaccurate" facts about the boy wizard, and once Blagojevich began blathering about "Slithering and Hufflepuff and Ravencloth," it was all over.> Thinking about the time Donald Trump scolded Rod Blagojevich on the Celebrity Apprentice over inaccurate Harry Potter facts and inadequate Harry Potter research pic.twitter.com/rx7PH7qP4I> > -- Josh Billinson (@jbillinson) August 8, 2019On Tuesday, Trump announced he had commuted Blagojevich's sentence, but didn't mention anything about once firing him from his reality show. "He served eight years in jail, a long time," Trump said. "He seems like a very nice person -- don't know him."Reporters spotted Blagojevich on Tuesday night, as he prepared to board a flight from Denver to Chicago. Blagojevich shared that while in prison, he thought a lot about the "broken and unfair criminal justice system" and how there are "too many people who have too much power who don't have any accountability." He expressed his "most profound and everlasting gratitude to President Trump," adding that "he's a Republican president, I was a Democratic governor. My fellow Democrats have not been very kind to him -- in fact, they've been very unkind to him. If you're asking me what my party affiliation is, I'm a Trumpocrat."Blagojevich will hold a press conference at his home in Chicago on Wednesday, where he's expected to answer hard-hitting questions, like "Did you finally get around to reading Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban?" More stories from theweek.com Mike Bloomberg is not the lesser of two evils Warren supporters suspect the media is trying to erase her candidacy. This poll didn't help. Obama poked Trump on the economy. Trump took the bait.
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| Former Mexico President Pena Nieto investigated in corruption probe: report Posted: 19 Feb 2020 04:33 PM PST  Mexican law enforcement authorities are investigating a former president, Enrique Pena Nieto, as part of an inquiry into corruption, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday. Pena Nieto has become embroiled in the investigation of Emilio Lozoya, the former chief executive of Mexico's state oil firm Petróleos Mexicanos, or Pemex. Lozoya is accused of corruption related to a wide-ranging bribery and money-laundering case involving Brazilian construction firm Odebrecht SA. Lozoya, who was arrested in Spain last week, has denied wrongdoing.
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| 8 Statement-Making Cabinets to Make Any Room Posted: 20 Feb 2020 05:00 AM PST |
| New U.S. Navy Virginia-Class Attack Submarines Will Carry Hypersonic Missiles Posted: 19 Feb 2020 03:58 PM PST  The U.S. Navy has confirmed that the Block V version of its Virginia-class attack submarines will be the first vessels in the fleet to carry a new hypersonic missile the service is developing.
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| The 1,600-bed Wuhan coronavirus hospital that China panic-built in a few days is less than half full 11 days after it opened Posted: 19 Feb 2020 05:02 AM PST  Leishenshan hospital was hailed a modern marvel when it was built in just 12 days. However, its promise of 1,600 hospital beds is so far unfulfilled.
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| Coronavirus: Princess Cruises boss under fire for blowing kisses at ship where two have died and 3,000 have been quarantined for weeks Posted: 20 Feb 2020 01:18 PM PST  The president of Princess Cruises welcomed a coronavirus-quarantined ship by blowing kisses and making heart signs, captured on a video set to upbeat music and posted on social media the same day as reports of the deaths of two passengers had surfaced.In a video posted to the company's social media on Wednesday, Jan Swartz is seen wearing a surgical mask and forming heart hands over her head as the cruise ship finally begins to disembark after its passengers were forced to remain at a port in Yokohama, Japan for several weeks following a shipwide outbreak of the flu-like respiratory virus.
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| Stone’s sentencing to begin after judge refuses new trial request Posted: 20 Feb 2020 03:39 AM PST  Roger Stone, a longtime ally of President Trump and a self-described political dirty trickster, is set to be sentenced on Thursday for his attempts to sabotage a congressional investigation that posed a political threat to the president.
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| How did ex-con get away with living in his daughter's dorm? Posted: 19 Feb 2020 11:39 AM PST  It was the obvious question after news broke that a 50-year-old charged with forcing college students into prostitution met some of them while living with his daughter in campus housing. "Perhaps because the apartment in question was a small townhouse with its own entrance, students in other housing would not necessarily have been aware of the presence (and have told us they were not) of this student's father," President Cristle Collins Judd wrote the day after Ray's arrest last week. What is certain is that Ray's extended presence in his daughter's on-campus apartment was "a clear violation" of college policy, Collins Judd wrote, echoing what campus authorities said would be the case most everywhere.
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| Sanders 'socialism' represents a battle for the soul of the Democratic Party Posted: 20 Feb 2020 07:07 AM PST  If the election comes down to debating whether Sanders better fits the definition of a socialist or communist, Trump has nothing to worry about.
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| E. Jean Carroll, columnist who says Donald Trump raped her, fired from Elle Posted: 20 Feb 2020 12:49 PM PST  E. Jean Carroll, who helmed the "Ask E. Jean" column for Elle magazine since 1993, was fired in December, according to a court filing.
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| Here's What the Protesters Were Yelling to Joe Biden at the Nevada Democratic Debate Posted: 19 Feb 2020 08:38 PM PST  They seem to be referring to to Biden's role in the Obama administration, which deported over 3 million people
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