Currentaffairsnews (Headlines)

Turkey hit targets in northern Syria, responding to shelling by Syrian government forces that killed at least eight Turkish soldiers and civilian contractors, Turkey's president said Monday. A Syrian war monitor said 13 Syrian troops were also killed. The exchange of fire inside Syria between Ankara and Damascus came hours after a large Turkish military convoy entered the northwestern province of Idlib, the last rebel stronghold in Syria.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/394L9Mu

(Bloomberg) -- Top advisers to Joe Biden sought to temper expectations for his performance in Monday’s Iowa caucuses, projecting a close result and insisting that any outcome won’t doom the former vice president’s campaign.“Joe Biden is anything but doomed,” former Senator Chris Dodd of Connecticut, a longtime Biden friend who has endorsed his former colleague, said Sunday at a Bloomberg News reporter roundtable in Des Moines.Biden’s team has long played down the importance of Iowa to its strategy, arguing that contests later in February in Nevada and South Carolina, followed quickly by Super Tuesday on March 3, are critical to demonstrate that a candidate is capable of defeating President Donald Trump.“We have been taking incoming since before Vice President Biden got into this race, since before April 25, people have been writing our campaign’s obituary. Tuesday morning will be no different,” Biden senior adviser Symone Sanders said at the roundtable.It’s in the states after Iowa that Biden’s advisers say he’ll be able to show his true electoral strength because of their higher concentrations of non-white voters and because their Democratic primary electorates are more moderate than Iowa’s.‘Not the End’“I think it’s important to know that we view Iowa as the beginning, not the end” of the nominating process, Sanders, the Biden adviser, said. “I think it will be a gross mistake on the part of reporters, voters or anyone else to view whatever happens on Monday – we think it’s going to be close – but view whatever happens as the end and not give credence and space for New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina.”Senator Bernie Sanders leads Biden by 3.6 percentage points in the Real Clear Politics average of Iowa caucus polls, but one key data point that typically helps set expectations in the final 48 hours before Iowans go to their caucuses is missing: The Des Moines Register/CNN poll’s Saturday night release was canceled because of problems with its questioning, leaving journalists, analysts and voters grasping for data to anticipate Monday’s results.“I certainly will concede that the poll, the Register poll, could add or detract energy from a campaign,” said Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller, who has endorsed Biden. “It’s important for the expectations-setting. But I sort of think Democrats don’t just go to someone because they’re ahead.”A central tenet of Biden’s Democratic primary argument is that he’s the candidate perceived as most electable, a contention opponents have argued would be diminished by a poor showing in Iowa. But Miller insisted that a disappointing finish for Biden in his state doesn’t change the overall picture for Biden.“When we say he’s electable in the general election, we’re not saying he’s going to win every state in the caucus and primary system. That only happens with an incumbent president running for re-election,” Miller said. “I think that’s a false standard that he should win every state.”(Disclaimer: Michael Bloomberg is seeking the Democratic presidential nomination. He is the founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP, the parent company of Bloomberg News.)To contact the reporter on this story: Jennifer Epstein in Des Moines, Iowa at jepstein32@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Wendy Benjaminson at wbenjaminson@bloomberg.net, Larry LiebertFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/36Rcfp4

Wherever the wagon full of phones went, Google Maps showed a traffic jam, displaying a red line and routing people around the area.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/39fH48H

The Syrian Civil War will give us an example.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2RSItMq

BEIJING/MANILA (Reuters) - The first death from the coronavirus outside of China was reported on Sunday and the Beijing government took steps to shore up an economy hit by travel curbs and business shut-downs because of the epidemic. A 44-year-old Chinese man from the city of Wuhan in Hubei province, the epicenter of the epidemic, traveled to the Philippines and died there on Saturday, the Philippines' Department of Health said. The vice governor of China's Hubei province, Xiao Juhua, said the virus outbreak was still "severe and complicated".

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/393o2SS

President Trump really doesn't think the Democratic National Committee should let billionaire and former New York City Michael Bloomberg stand on a box during future Democratic primary debates. There's no evidence Bloomberg is trying to do that, but the president seems quite bothered by the possibility anyway.In a preview clip from Fox News' Sean Hannity's Super Bowl interview with the president set to air Sunday, Trump is asked about Bloomberg. He said the only word he can think about when he ponders the man he's dubbed "Mini Mike" is "little." The president then went all in on a conspiracy theory he's developed -- and tweeted -- about Bloomberg negotiating with the DNC about standing on a platform so the Democratic presidential candidate appears taller during televised debates. Trump reportedly thinks that would be very unfair. "Does that mean everyone else gets a box?," he asked.Trump did say, however, that it's okay to "be short."> the conspiracy Trump has landed on about Bloomberg is that he likes to stand on a box https://t.co/3ViMleyTm4> > -- Edward-Isaac Dovere (@IsaacDovere) February 2, 2020The Bloomberg campaign said there's no basis to Trump's claim. > Bloomberg spox @juliewood responds to Trump:> > "The president is lying. He is a pathological liar who lies about everything: his fake hair, his obesity, and his spray-on tan."> > -- Alex Burns (@alexburnsNYT) February 2, 2020More stories from theweek.com Mitch McConnell's rare blunder John Bolton just vindicated Nancy Pelosi All the president's turncoats

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/392elE1

He's a changed candidate from even a month ago.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2RPrg6A

BEIJING/MANILA (Reuters) - The first death from the coronavirus outside of China was reported on Sunday and the Beijing government took steps to shore up an economy hit by travel curbs and business shut-downs because of the epidemic. A 44-year-old Chinese man from the city of Wuhan in Hubei province, the epicenter of the epidemic, traveled to the Philippines and died there on Saturday, the Philippines' Department of Health said. The vice governor of China's Hubei province, Xiao Juhua, said the virus outbreak was still "severe and complicated".

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/393o2SS

Democrats will need to get through Super Bowl half time, hoping the facts of their case can fare better with voters than they did in the Senate.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2uTW2Ce

Doctors, nurses, and other hospital workers voted to strike if the Hong Kong government did not close its border with China.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2uRJdIA

"In this instance, I allowed my disappointment with Secretary Clinton's latest comments about Senator Sanders and his supporters get the best of me."

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2RNmFl7

Seven other cases of the virus have been already reported throughout the US, in Arizona, California, and Washington.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/36QNhpE

(Bloomberg) -- Michael Bloomberg said Saturday he would raise taxes on the wealthy, increase the corporate tax rate, and curb tax-free inheritances of large estates, elements of a tax plan that he says would raise $5 trillion over a decade.Tax rates on low-income and middle-class Americans set by the 2017 Republican tax law would remain the same.Bloomberg’s plan serves to show how he’d pay for an array of proposed new spending initiatives, which so far top $3 trillion. But his campaign cautioned that the tax plan could still change as the former New York mayor rolls out even more policy plans in the near future.The tax overhaul would also close loopholes that the rich can exploit, according to a summary of the plan, which would allow for more spending on education, job training, infrastructure and in other areas and fight income inequality, Bloomberg said.“My tax plan will make the tax code more progressive,” Bloomberg said during a campaign event Saturday in Denver. “I’m a wealthy guy, and I didn’t need a tax cut.”“Right now, I give nearly all of my company’s profits to charity,” Bloomberg said in a statement. “Under my plan, I’ll continue doing that -- but I will also pay more in taxes to make sure all Americans have the same opportunities I did. That’s only right.”Bloomberg is the founder and majority owner of Bloomberg, LP, the parent company of Bloomberg News.Democratic ThemesBloomberg’s plan touches many of the same themes that his Democratic competitors have embraced, including raising income taxes on the wealthy, taxing capital gains at the same rate as wages, increasing corporate tax rates, and bolstering the Internal Revenue Service’s ability to audit.The 2020 presidential hopefuls and Democrats in Congress have seized on popular sentiment for increased taxes, particularly for the wealthy and corporations, after the 2017 Republican tax law failed to gain the public’s backing and partially contributed to Democrats winning the House majority in the 2018 midterms.The Bloomberg campaign said it hasn’t finalized the details of his plan, including what the threshold would be for taxing estates, because it hasn’t yet designed all of Bloomberg’s policy proposals and tallied their costs.$3 TrillionBloomberg has released more than 20 proposals covering health care, the economy, climate and other issues since joining the race on Nov. 24, but he hasn’t provided cost estimates in most cases. The estimates he did release exceed $3 trillion over 10 years, including spending $1.2 trillion over 10 years for infrastructure and $1.5 trillion for health care. But there are dozens of other policy elements in the plans released so far, with no price-tags attached.The plan released on Saturday adopts several of the policy ideas that Bloomberg’s moderate competitors, including Joe Biden and Pete Buttigieg, have touted. It stops short of some of the more progressive ideas -- such as a wealth tax or financial transaction tax -- floated by Senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders, who’ve proposed tens of trillions of dollars in tax increases to pay for universal health care.​Instead of a wealth tax, the Bloomberg campaign said it’s looking to increase taxes on the wealthy with a 5% surtax on all income -- both wage and capital gain -- above $5 million a year. The idea is a pared-back version of an idea getting consideration in Congress that would put a 10% surtax on income greater than $2 million. This type of plan is seen as a way to raise revenue from rich taxpayers without the political and legal problems associated with a wealth tax.Bloomberg proposes reversing some of the central elements of the $1.5 trillion GOP tax law championed by President Donald Trump. He would raise the top individual tax rate to 39.6% from 37%, increase the corporate tax rate to 28% from 21%, and repeal a 20% deduction for so-called pass-through income from limited liability companies and partnerships. Bloomberg has said the corporate rate needed to be lowered in the 2017 measure for competitive reasons, but went too far.The campaign said it’s planning to design a mechanism so that small businesses and low-income people wouldn’t be harmed by the elimination of the 20% write-off. The tax benefit helps companies ranging from small mom-and-pop businesses to large investment funds, so a full repeal of the 20% tax break would face some political opposition from both Republicans and Democrats.‘Basis Step Up’The plan also would also tax capital gains income for those earning more than $1 million at the same rate as wage income -- 39.6%, according to the plan. The campaign didn’t specify what happens to those below the threshold, who now pay the current long-term capital gains rate of 23.8% on the proceeds selling stocks, bonds or real estate.It would end so-called “basis step up” which allows heirs to avoid paying taxes on appreciated assets. The campaign said it would seek to prevent wealthy investors from deferring taxes on their capital-gains income, but the proposal didn’t specify how it would do that.The plan also looks to restrict corporations’ ability to dodge taxes offshore and would apply diplomatic pressure to tax haven countries that help companies harbor profits. It will also call for lowering the threshold at which the estate tax applies, but hasn’t yet set that amount.Bloomberg would ideally want a Democratically-controlled Congress to pass a tax bill if elected, but thinks there are elements of the plan that Republicans could support, the campaign said.Bloomberg has also said that while he knows tax increases are unpopular, the public can be convinced they’re necessary to pay for needed public services. As New York mayor, Bloomberg increased property taxes by 18.5% in 2003, the largest hike in city history, to generate $837 million to plug budget deficits. Bloomberg said that while his poll numbers suffered as a result, he was re-elected in 2005.“I probably had the worst polls any mayor in America has ever had, and then I came back and won going away because people said, ‘I didn’t like spending more money, but he needed it,”’ Bloomberg said in a Jan. 11 interview.(Updates with Bloomberg comment in fifth paragraph)To contact the reporters on this story: Laura Davison in Washington at ldavison4@bloomberg.net;Mark Niquette in Columbus at mniquette@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Wendy Benjaminson at wbenjaminson@bloomberg.net, Ros KrasnyFor 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.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2tnYPDo

Former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch is retiring from her role in the State Department, sources familiar with her decision confirmed.Yovanovitch enjoyed a 33-year career in the foreign service, but things took a turn for the worse for her under the Trump administration. She recently played a central role in President Trump's impeachment inquiry and provided testimony about Trump's dealings with Ukraine during the House's investigation last year.Yovanovitch accused the Trump administration, namely Trump's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, of launching a smear campaign against her because she disagreed with his efforts to reshape diplomacy with Kyiv through what she described as an "irregular channel." Secretary of State Mike Pompeo maintains Ukraine policy was carried out by the State Department.The ambassador also testified she was told to "watch my back" in the days before she was recalled from her post in May. Giuliani's associate Lev Parnas alleges Trump pushed for her firing on multiple occasions, as well, and Parnas provided Congress documents suggesting Yovanovitch may have been under surveillance at one point, though not from an administration official.Since her ouster, Yovanovitch had remained on State Department payroll as a fellow at Georgetown University. Read more at NPR and The Hill.More stories from theweek.com Mitch McConnell's rare blunder John Bolton just vindicated Nancy Pelosi All the president's turncoats

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/31mxXA7

Dainya Nida seeks the release of grand jury records that could explain why Jeffrey Epstein was not vigorously prosecuted as a serial child molester.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/31gZmUb

Former Secretary of State John Kerry is denying an NBC News report that said he was overheard discussing the possibility of running for president in 2020 -- even as he campaigns for Joe Biden. The report was based on an NBC political analyst hearing Kerry’s side of a telephone conversation as he sat in a Des Moines hotel lobby restaurant. Kerry tweeted after the report that he told the reporter he is “absolutely not running for President.” An initial tweet from Kerry was even more emphatic, using an expletive to push back on any reporting suggesting he was planning a campaign.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2RSg2yj

A claim by Chinese scientists that a liquid made with honeysuckle and flowering plants could help fight the deadly coronavirus has sparked frenzied buying of the traditional medicine, but doubts quickly emerged. The rush came after influential state media outlet Xinhua reported Friday that the esteemed Chinese Academy of Sciences had found the concoction "can inhibit" the virus. It quickly sold out both online and at brick-and-mortar stores, but responses to the remedy's supposed efficacy have ranged from enthusiasm to scepticism on Weibo, China's Twitter-like social media platform.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/3b45raZ

Al-Qaida's branch in Yemen claimed responsibility Sunday for last year's deadly shooting at the Naval Air Station Pensacola by an aviation student from Saudi Arabia. The shooter, 2nd Lt. Mohammed Saeed Alshamrani, was a member of the Saudi Air Force in training at the base. Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP, released a video claiming the attack.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/37PtIj6

BEIJING/MANILA (Reuters) - The first death from the coronavirus outside of China was reported on Sunday and the Beijing government took steps to shore up an economy hit by travel curbs and business shut-downs because of the epidemic. A 44-year-old Chinese man from the city of Wuhan in Hubei province, the epicenter of the epidemic, traveled to the Philippines and died there on Saturday, the Philippines' Department of Health said. The vice governor of China's Hubei province, Xiao Juhua, said the virus outbreak was still "severe and complicated".

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/393o2SS

A rally in support of Bernie Sanders erupted in boos when a moderator mentioned Hillary Clinton’s name – and even Michigan representative Rashida Tlaib joined in from the stage.It came at the end of a panel discussion between Ms Tlaib and fellow representatives Ilhan Omar and Pramila Jayapal. All three have endorsed Sanders in the 2020 Democratic primary.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/31hPMk0

U.S. citizens from parts of China will undergo entry health screenings and will be monitored during a 14-day self-quarantine, officials said.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2GH4qaL

China has flown two planeloads of its citizens back home to Hubei, the locked-down province at the centre of the deadly coronavirus outbreak where they were greeted by authorities in full-body protective suits. A Xiamen Airlines charter flight from Bangkok touched down late Friday in the provincial capital Wuhan, where the infection is believed to have originated in a market that sold wild animals. Health authorities in white, full-body protective gear stood by the cabin door as the plane's 73 passengers disembarked, smiling through face masks and waving to news photographers.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/391gcZS

If confirmed, the New York City patient would be the ninth coronavirus patient in the United States.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/37KZLAB

Yemen's Huthi rebels are in possession of new weapons similar to those produced in Iran, according to a UN report obtained by AFP on Friday, in potential violation of a UN arms embargo. The crisis in Yemen pits the Iranian-backed Huthi rebels against government forces supported by a Saudi-led military coalition. Some of the new weapons, which the rebels have possessed since 2019, "have technical characteristics similar to arms manufactured in the Islamic Republic of Iran," said the report, which was compiled by a panel of UN experts tasked with monitoring the embargo.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2GEZYt8

A court filing late Friday night revealed the Justice Department has two dozen emails related to President Trump's involvement in freezing military aid to Ukraine, CNN reports.The filing was released just a few hours after the Senate voted against calling additional witnesses to testify during Trump's impeachment trial. The Trump administration is reportedly still blocking their content from the public and has kept them away from Congress, but the court filing is the first time the administration has publicly acknowledged the emails' existence.A lawyer for the Office of Management and Budget wrote to the court that the emails should remain private because they describe communication by Trump, Vice President Mike Pence, or Trump's immediate advisers "regarding presidential decision-making about the scope, duration, and purpose of the hold on military assistance to Ukraine."The aid freeze is the focal point of Trump's impeachment trial, which looks sure to end in an acquittal next week after the witness vote all but sealed the deal. Democrats allege he made the aid contingent upon Ukraine announcing investigations into Trump's domestic political rivals. Read more at CNN.More stories from theweek.com Mitch McConnell's rare blunder John Bolton just vindicated Nancy Pelosi All the president's turncoats

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2RQBx2l

"It appears a candidate's name was omitted in at least one interview," said the executive editor of the Des Moines Register.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/31hCDaq

Friday's proceedings come after The New York Times reported on another seismic bombshell from former national security adviser John Bolton.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2S8YGMj

The Arkansas Supreme Court has rejected the appeal of a man who fatally shot a U.S. Army soldier and wounded another outside a recruiting station in Little Rock. The ruling dated Thursday and first reported by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette said Abdulhakim Muhammad's appeal is without merit. Muhammad, 34, was sentenced to life without parole after pleading guilty to the 2009 fatal shooting of Pvt.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2OmV1cD

China’s death toll from a new virus rose to 259 on Saturday and a World Health Organization official said other governments need to prepare for“domestic outbreak control” if the disease spreads in their countries. Beijing criticized Washington’s order barring entry to most foreigners who visited China in the past two weeks. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced similar measures Saturday, following Japan and Singapore.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2uQQLv9

Clinton had previously said about Bernie Sanders: "Nobody likes him"

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2tov4lS

Three years after President Trump first signed an executive order barring entry to the U.S. for citizens of seven majority-Muslim countries, he’s adding six new countries to the so-called travel ban list. 

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2S6qwce

(Bloomberg) -- The Trump administration on Friday declared a public health emergency and announced series of steps to halt the spread of the novel coronavirus, which has stricken China and spread to countries around the world.President Donald Trump signed an order temporarily barring entry to foreign nationals who have visited China and pose a risk of spreading the illness, unless they are immediate relatives of U.S. citizens or permanent residents. The administration also said flights from China would be funneled through just seven U.S. airports.“The risk of infection for Americans remains low,” Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, who is coordinating the federal response, told reporters at a White House news conference. “With these and our previous actions, we are working to keep the risk low.”U.S. citizens returning from China’s Hubei Province, the center of the outbreak, will face a mandatory quarantine. Americans traveling back to the U.S. from other areas of mainland China must undergo screening and monitored self-quarantine to ensure they are not at risk of spreading the virus.The measures, which take effect at 5 p.m. Washington time on Sunday, apply to visits in the past two weeks. The quarantines last 14 days.The White House’s announcement comes as the coronavirus continues to spread, triggering increasing alarm from health officials. The World Health Organization this week declared a global health emergency, giving the United Nations agency the power to coordinate response efforts.Almost 9,700 cases have been confirmed in China with more than 200 deaths, said Robert Redfield, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He added that six cases have been confirmed in the U.S. and that 191 people are being monitored.U.S. health officials have sought to reassure Americans the risk of contracting the virus remains low, but they have also said there is much they still do not know about the illness.“This is a significant global situation that continues to evolve,” Redfield said.Anthony Fauci, head of infectious diseases at the National Institutes of Health, said the U.S. decided to step up its efforts because of reports that a traveler from China spread the disease in Germany without showing any symptoms. He said that is different from the Ebola virus, which cannot be spread by people who are not very ill.Health officials added that tests to detect the virus haven’t been used enough times to assure they are reliable. Only one in six U.S. cases of coronavirus has been detected through airport screening, they said.All U.S.-bound flights from China will be routed to airports in New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Seattle, Atlanta, Honolulu and Los Angeles. More drastic flight restrictions are not currently being considered, according to Joel Szabat, a Transportation Department official.Limiting the number of airports where flights to China can land will allow the U.S. government to streamline screening and set up quarantine centers, officials said.The CDC announced earlier Friday it had issued a quarantine order of 14 days to 195 U.S. citizens evacuated from Wuhan, the capital of Hubei Province. It’s the first time in nearly a half century such an order was given.On Thursday, the State Department issued its highest level do-not-travel advisory for China, warning American citizens there they could be subject to travel restrictions with little to advance notice and urging them to “consider departing using commercial means.”The rapid outbreak of the virus has sent financial markets tumbling. The S&P 500 Index on Friday erased all of its 2020 gains and the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell more than 600 pointsas investors grow worried about how the illness could effect the world economy.Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said on Wednesday that the central bank is “very carefully monitoring the situation” and “there will clearly be implications at least in the near term for Chinese output.”\--With assistance from Justin Sink.To contact the reporter on this story: Jordan Fabian in Washington at jfabian6@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Alex Wayne at awayne3@bloomberg.net, Justin Blum, John HarneyFor 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.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2UpTJBN

All 195 US citizens that were repatriated from Wuhan, China, have been placed under a federal quarantine order in an attempt to stop the spread of the coronavirus.This is the first time the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has issued a quarantine order in 50 years.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/31mSxjR

(Bloomberg) -- Joe Biden’s campaign has added big-name Democratic fundraisers to the candidate’s national finance committee, including billionaire Penny Pritzker and Avenue Capital Croup’s Marc Lasry, as it braces for a protracted fight for the Democratic nomination.Muddied or close results in the first few contests paired with multiple candidates who have signaled plans to stay in the race indefinitely drag the nominating contest deep into the year, and Biden’s camp argued Friday that it’s ready for the fight.“The VP remains in a strong position to perform well in the first four states and on Super Tuesday, but we’re also planning for an extended process into the summer,” campaign manager Greg Schultz said in a memo to Biden supporters, hinting that the campaign expects Bernie Sanders will stay in the race at least until the end of the primary calendar, even if he doesn’t have a delegate advantage.“Monday’s contest begins the process, it doesn’t end it,” Schultz said. “And, it’s a process we are fully prepared and well-positioned to win.” After falling behind top opponents in raising money, January has been Biden’s “strongest month of fund raising since launch,” he said, with much of the growth coming online.Setting the BarWhile Schultz’s memo could be interpreted as an effort to lower expectations ahead of an uncertain showing on Monday, so he could tout the results if Biden does reasonably well, it could also be seen as an effort to head off panic among Biden’s supporters should he perform poorly.For months, Biden’s top aides have stressed that their strategy doesn’t rely upon wins in Iowa or New Hampshire as much as it does on strong performances later in February in Nevada and South Carolina, and on Super Tuesday, March 3. But before Biden began falling behind Sanders in a variety of national and key-state polls, they hadn’t acknowledged the possibility that the nomination fight would stay competitive deep into the primary calendar.Currently, Biden trails Sanders in the RealClearPolitics polling average.In Iowa, Biden and his team are expecting a close finish, the candidate insisted. “I think it’s going to be just a tossup here. It has been all the way along,” Biden told reporters in Mount Pleasant at the end of a day of campaigning that took him to small events in three towns in the southeastern corner of the state.Calendar Favorable?Still he projected optimism, even as operatives and pundits in Iowa have become more skeptical about his chances. “I’ve said from the beginning I expect to do well. I probably shouldn’t tell you that, but I expect to do well,” he said.However Monday night’s caucuses turn out, Biden said he doesn’t see those results defining the race – at least for him if he doesn’t win. “It’s not as consequential in one sense as it has been in years past,” he said. New Hampshire will be “a real uphill race as it always is for a non-New Englander.” Both Sanders and Warren are from neighboring states.The calendar becomes more favorable to him after that. “I feel very strongly that we have a great firewall in South Carolina. I think we’re in a position where we’ll do very well in Nevada,” he said.Big-Name FundraisersIn addition to teasing a strong fundraising announcement as January comes to a close, Schultz big-name Democratic fundraisers who have joined Biden’s finance committee, including Pritzker, the former U.S. Commerce Secretary; former Ambassadors Jane Hartley and Rufus Gifford; Lasry, chairman and CEO of Avenue; Mark Gallogly, managing principal and co-founder of private equity firm Centerbridge Partners; Blair Effron, co-founder of investment banking firm Centerview Partners; and Alex Heckler, founding and managing partner of LSN Partners, a Miami Beach-based consulting firm.Schultz said he anticipates there will be only a small difference between the number of delegates among the top candidates after the Iowa and New Hampshire contests. That will benefit Biden, who has led polls of South Carolina by double-digits for months. To help with delegate strategy, Biden’s campaign has hired David Huynh, a veteran of Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign and Kamala Harris’s campaign, as delegate adviser. Schultz said that having Huynh, a top expert on delegate strategy, on board will be an “enormous advantage.”(An earlier version corrected the affiliation of Blair Effron.)(DISCLAIMER: Michael Bloomberg is also seeking the Democratic nomination for president. Bloomberg is the founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP, the parent company of Bloomberg News.)(Recasts first paragraph.)To contact the reporter on this story: Jennifer Epstein in Mount Pleasant, Iowa at jepstein32@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Wendy Benjaminson at wbenjaminson@bloomberg.net, Magan CraneFor 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.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2uYuNX1

The USS Detroit sailed into disputed waters near Venezuela's coast on a closely watched mission.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2OjQM1r

A Philippine religious group on Thursday denied allegations by American law enforcement agents that it was involved in a scheme to trick followers into becoming fundraisers and arrange sham marriages to keep them in the U.S. FBI agents raided the Kingdom of Jesus Christ church in Los Angeles on Wednesday in a human trafficking investigation that led to the arrests of three church leaders. “Their aim, therefore, is to exact revenge, extortion commingled with a brazen but shameless desire to put (Quiboloy) and the (church) as a whole into a quagmire of shame, blatant humiliation and defeat through trumped-up charges,” lawyer Israelito Torreon said in a statement issued to reporters in southern Philippines' Davao city.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/3b44U8Q

Vallow had until Thursday to turn her children over to the state of Idaho. She missed it and is believed to still be in Hawaii.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/38V69W1

It can take out multiple targets with ease.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/36OyxYk

House impeachment manager Adam Schiff called out President Trump's defense team lawyer Pat Cipollone Friday, saying he was “in the loop” in the effort to persuade Ukrainian officials to dig up dirt on former Vice President Joe Biden.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2RKyxUZ

Lori Vallow, 46, had until Thursday to present the two children to authorities in Idaho, but she, her new husband and her children were not present.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2GJfCnq

China’s communist system requires sycophancy, opaqueness, and an absence of information. Combatting coronavirus requires the opposite.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/37LDPp6

India on Friday banned the export of personal protection equipment such as masks and clothing amid a global coronavirus outbreak. It did not give a reason for the ban but it reported its first case of the new coronavirus on Thursday, a woman in Kerala who was a student of Wuhan University in China. The central Chinese city of Wuhan is the epicentre of the outbreak, and the virus has since spread to more than 9,800 people globally and killed 213 people in China.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2RNGitE

Two U.S. citizens stay behind in Wuhan and document a city on lockdown.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2OfCwqA

WASHINGTON -- More than two months before he asked Ukraine's president to investigate his political opponents, President Donald Trump directed John Bolton, then his national security adviser, to help with his pressure campaign to extract damaging information on Democrats from Ukrainian officials, according to an unpublished manuscript by Bolton.Trump gave the instruction, Bolton wrote, during an Oval Office conversation in early May that included the acting White House chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney; the president's personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani; and the White House counsel, Pat A. Cipollone, who is now leading the president's impeachment defense.Trump told Bolton to call Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who had recently won election as president of Ukraine, to ensure Zelenskiy would meet with Giuliani, who was planning a trip to Ukraine to discuss the investigations that the president sought, in Bolton's account. Bolton never made the call, he wrote.The previously undisclosed directive that Bolton describes would be the earliest known instance of Trump seeking to harness the power of the U.S. government to advance his pressure campaign against Ukraine, as he later did on the July call with Zelenskiy that triggered a whistleblower complaint and impeachment proceedings. House Democrats have accused him of abusing his authority and are arguing their case before senators in the impeachment trial of Trump, whose lawyers have said he did nothing wrong.The account in Bolton's manuscript portrays the most senior White House advisers as early witnesses in the effort that they have sought to distance the president from. And disclosure of the meeting underscores the kind of information Democrats were looking for in seeking testimony from his top advisers in their impeachment investigation, including Bolton and Mulvaney, only to be blocked by the White House.In a statement after this article was published, Trump denied the discussion that Bolton described."I never instructed John Bolton to set up a meeting for Rudy Giuliani, one of the greatest corruption fighters in America and by far the greatest mayor in the history of NYC, to meet with President Zelenskiy," Trump said. "That meeting never happened."In a brief interview, Giuliani denied that the conversation took place and said those discussions with the president were always kept separate. He was adamant that Cipollone and Mulvaney were never involved in meetings related to Ukraine."It is absolutely, categorically untrue," he said.Neither Bolton nor a representative for Mulvaney responded to requests for comment.Bolton described the roughly 10-minute conversation in drafts of his book, a memoir of his time as national security adviser that is to go on sale in March. Over several pages, Bolton laid out Trump's fixation on Ukraine and the president's belief, based on a mix of scattershot events, assertions and outright conspiracy theories, that Ukraine tried to undermine his chances of winning the presidency in 2016.As he began to realize the extent and aims of the pressure campaign, Bolton began to object, he wrote in the book, affirming the testimony of a former National Security Council aide, Fiona Hill, who had said that Bolton warned that Giuliani was "a hand grenade who's going to blow everybody up."Trump also repeatedly made national security decisions contrary to U.S. interests, Bolton wrote, describing a pervasive sense of alarm among top advisers about the president's choices. Bolton expressed concern to others in the administration that the president was effectively granting favors to autocratic leaders like Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey and Xi Jinping of China.The New York Times reported this week on another revelation from Bolton's book draft: that Trump told him in August that he wanted to continue freezing $391 million in security assistance to Ukraine until officials there helped with investigations into Democrats including former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter. That account undercuts a key element of the White House impeachment defense -- that the aid holdup was separate from his requests for inquiries. Trump has denied the conversation took place.Since that Times article, people who have reviewed the draft have further described its contents, including details of the May meeting. Bolton's manuscript was sent to the White House for a standard review process in late December.Its revelations galvanized the debate over whether to call witnesses in the impeachment trial, but late Thursday, Republicans appeared to have secured enough votes to keep any new testimony out of Trump's trial and to move toward a quick acquittal in the third presidential impeachment trial in U.S. history.The White House has sought to block the release of the book, contending that it contains classified information. The government reviews books by former officials who had access to secrets so they can excise the manuscripts of any classified information. Officials including Trump have described Bolton, who was often at odds with Mike Pompeo, the secretary of state, and Mulvaney, as a disgruntled former official with an ax to grind.Bolton has angered Democrats -- and some Republicans -- for remaining quiet during the House investigation, then announcing that he would comply with any subpoena to testify in the Senate and signaling that he is eager to share his story. Administration officials should "feel they're able to speak their minds without retribution," he said at a closed-door lunch in Austin, Texas, on Thursday, NBC affiliate KXAN reported, citing unnamed sources."The idea that somehow testifying to what you think is true is destructive to the system of government we have -- I think, is very nearly the reverse, the exact reverse of the truth," Bolton added.The Oval Office conversation that Bolton described came as the president and Giuliani were increasingly focusing on pushing the Ukrainian government to commit to investigations that could help Trump politically. At various points, Trump, Giuliani and their associates pressed Ukrainian officials under Zelenskiy and his predecessor to provide potentially damaging information on the president's rivals, including Biden and Ukrainians who Trump's allies believed tried to help Hillary Clinton in 2016.Giuliani had just successfully campaigned to have the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, Marie L. Yovanovitch, recalled, convinced that she was part of an effort to protect Trump's political rivals from scrutiny. Giuliani had argued she was impeding the investigations.At the time of the Oval Office conversation Bolton wrote about, Giuliani was planning a trip to Kyiv to push the incoming government to commit to the investigations. Giuliani asserted that the president had been wronged by the Justice Department's Russia investigation and told associates that the inquiry could be partly discredited by proving that parts of it originated with suspect documents produced and disseminated in Ukraine to undermine his onetime campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, whose work in Ukraine became a central focus of the Russia inquiry.Giuliani, a private consultant with a range of international clients, had said none were involved in the Ukraine effort, Bolton wrote, adding that he was skeptical and wanted to avoid involvement. At the time, Giuliani was working closely with two Soviet-born businessmen from Florida, Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, to carry out the shadow Ukraine effort.After pushing out Yovanovitch, Giuliani turned his attention to other U.S. diplomats responsible for Ukraine policy. During the Oval Office conversation, he also mentioned a State Department official with the last name of Kent, whom Bolton wrote he did not know. Giuliani said he was hostile to Trump and sympathetic to George Soros, the billionaire philanthropist who has long been a target of the far right.George P. Kent, a top State Department official who oversees Ukraine policy, went on to be a key witness in House Democrats' impeachment investigation, testifying that claims by Giuliani's allies of Soros' wide influence in Ukraine were used to smear Yovanovitch.Bolton left the Oval Office after 10 minutes and returned to his office, he wrote. Shortly after, two aides came into his office, saying Trump had sent them out of a separate meeting on trade to ask about Kent, Bolton wrote.The conversation that Bolton describes was separate from another one that Bolton wrote about, in which he observed Mulvaney and Trump talking on the phone with Giuliani about Ukraine matters. Mulvaney has told associates he would leave the room when Trump and Giuliani were talking to preserve their attorney-client privilege, and his lawyer said earlier this week that Mulvaney was never in meetings with Giuliani and has "no recollection" of the first discussion.Around the time of the May discussion, The Times revealed Giuliani's efforts and his planned trip to Ukraine. Giuliani said at the time that Trump was aware of his efforts in Ukraine but said nothing else about any involvement of Trump or other members of the administration. The disclosure created consternation in the White House, and Giuliani canceled his trip.A day after the Times article was published, Giuliani wrote a letter to Zelenskiy, saying he was representing Trump as a "private citizen" and, with Trump's "knowledge and consent," hoped to arrange a meeting with Zelenskiy in the ensuing days. That letter was among the evidence admitted during the House impeachment inquiry.This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2020 The New York Times Company

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2OgG4ZL

A good idea?

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2vzk85r

Migrants and refugees waiting by the French side of the English Channel say Brexit hasn't derailed their determination to cross over to pursue better lives in Britain. Mingled alongside police officers in the French port of Calais, hundreds of people live in squalid conditions and watch for a boat or truck to carry them to their dreams as stowaways. Many of them came to Calais from former French colonies such as Ivory Coast and Niger, only to have their asylum requests rejected by French authorities.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/3aYXBzk

During his 1972 gubernatorial run, Senator Bernie Sanders told high-school students that the U.S. had committed acts in its war with Vietnam that were "almost as bad as what Hitler did."An article in the Rutland, Vermont, newspaper, The Rutland Herald, reported on the comments, made while Sanders was campaigning for governor as a member of the Liberty Union party. The article was first unearthed by the Washington Free Beacon.The North Vietnamese "are not my enemy," Sanders told a class of ninth graders in Rutland while on the campaign trail. "They're a very, very poor people. Some of them don't have shoes. They eat rice when they can get it. And they have been fighting for the freedom of their country for 25 years. They can hardly fight back."The American death toll from the Vietnam War was over 58,000. The Herald reported that students pushed back against Sanders's support for amnesty for draft evaders, saying it wouldn't be fair to the parents of soldiers killed in the fighting.Sanders also outlined other positions that may sound familiar to today's voters, including increasing the minimum wage and availability of low-income housing, as well as increased access to dental care. He also charged that the Democratic Party was too beholden to large corporations.The Vermont senator received around one percent of the vote in that election. Sanders is currently the strongest presidential candidate from the progressive wing of the Democratic Party, and has polled ahead of moderate Joe Biden in various Iowa and New Hampshire surveys.Establishment Democrats have been worried by Sanders's rise and durability throughout the primary. The senator has relied on an enthusiastic base of younger progressive voters, and has received strong grassroots financial support.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2Ud1DOB

More than 75,000 people -- ten times the official tally of confirmed cases -- have been infected with the coronavirus in Wuhan, ground zero of a global health emergency, according to research published Friday. "We estimate that 75,815 individuals have been infected in Wuhan as of January 25, 2020," a team led by Gabriel Leung from the University of Hong Kong reported in The Lancet. As of January 31, the Chinese government said the number of confirmed cases had risen above 9,700 for all of China, including 213 deaths.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2uWkItF

A Michigan couple say they’ve been defamed by American Airlines’ continued statements that they were removed from a flight because of their smell.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/37J0t1a

(Bloomberg) -- Michael Bloomberg reaffirmed Thursday that he won’t be accepting contributions just to qualify for the Democratic presidential debates.The Democratic National Committee has required candidates to have a certain number of individual donors to qualify for debates, and Bloomberg is self-funding his campaign. The DNC has said candidates could make the Feb. 7 debate in New Hampshire by winning at least one pledged delegate in Monday’s Iowa caucuses, but the former New York mayor is not competing in the early nominating contests.“I always said I’d like to participate in the debates. But the rules are the rules, and it’s up to the Democratic Party to set those rules,” Bloomberg told reporters after a speech in Washington, according to The Hill.Some Democrats who believe that Bloomberg is avoiding scrutiny by not participating in televised debates with other candidates are pushing the party to allow the billionaire on stage. Adam Green, co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, a group that’s endorsed Elizabeth Warren, has said he’s proposed that the party add an exception for candidates who exceed some of the other criteria, such as doing very well in a number of recognized polls.Bloomberg is the founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP, the parent company of Bloomberg News.Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar told MSNBC this week that she would welcome Bloomberg to the debate stage.“I’d be fine with him being on the debate stage because I think that instead of just putting your money out there, he’s actually got to be on the stage, and be able to go back and forth so that voters can evaluate him in that way,” Klobuchar said.But Bloomberg has said he won’t accept even token $1 donations just to qualify for the debate stage because he’s never accepted contributions and doesn’t want the appearance he can be bought. He has said he made his fortune building a business that allows him to spend money on the race and issues he cares about, and that his rivals had the same opportunity but are using money from contributors who “expect something from them.”This post is part of Campaign Update, our live coverage from the 2020 campaign trail.To contact the reporter on this story: Mark Niquette in Columbus at mniquette@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Wendy Benjaminson at wbenjaminson@bloomberg.net, Max BerleyFor 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.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/319rkAZ