🇮🇷 **Iranian lawmaker announces a $3 million cash reward for 'whoever kills Trump'**
*Fox News* - <https://archive.md/FdLUN>

An Iranian lawmaker apparently has placed a $3 million bounty on President Trump’s head.

Ahmad Hamzeh made the declaration Tuesday during a speech to parliament in Tehran, although it’s unclear whether it has any backing from Iran’s top leaders, Reuters reported, citing the ISNA news agency.

“On behalf of the people of Kerman province, we will pay a $3 million reward in cash to whoever kills Trump,” Hamzeh was quoted as saying.

During his speech, Hamzeh also addressed Iran’s nuclear program, vowing that “if we had nuclear weapons today, we would be protected from threats.”

“We should put the production of long-range missiles capable of carrying unconventional warheads on our agenda,” ISNA quoted him as saying. “This is our natural right.”
⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻

🇨🇳**China virus spreads to U.S., curbing travel plans and spooking markets**
*Reuters* - <https://archive.md/05x8p>

The toll from the Wuhan coronavirus in China rose to six deaths on Tuesday and the first case was reported in the United States, sending markets tumbling on fears of economic damage as tourists canceled
travel plans and airports stepped up screening.

The virus struck as millions of Chinese prepared to travel for the Lunar New Year, heightening contagion risks. Many in China scrambled to buy face masks to protect themselves from the previously unknown, flu-like infection.

The outbreak, which began in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, also worried financial markets as investors recalled China’s Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) epidemic in 2002-2003, a coronavirus outbreak that killed nearly 800 people.

“We’ll stay at home during the holiday. I’m scared as I remember SARS very well,” said Zhang Xinyuan, who had been bound from Beijing for the Thai resort of Phuket before she and her husband decided to cancel their air tickets.

A traveler from China was diagnosed in Seattle with the Wuhan coronavirus, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said, the first case identified in the United States. The patient was in good condition, the CDC said.

The agency said it expected to see more cases in the United States, had developed a new test to identify the virus and was in talks with the National Institutes of Health about developing a vaccine.

Authorities have confirmed more than 300 cases of the virus in China, mostly in Wuhan. Wuhan Mayor Zhou Xianwang told Chinese state television on Tuesday that six people had died in his city.

The disease is spreading around other parts of China, including five cases in capital Beijing.
⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻

🇺🇸🇬🇧 **Prince Andrew has provided 'zero cooperation' in Epstein probe**
*NBC News* - <https://archive.ph/Otzpi>

Prince Andrew has provided "zero cooperation" in the investigation of Jeffrey Epstein's network of enablers, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York said Monday.

Andrew, who has been accused of having sex with a teenage girl trafficked by Epstein, has publicly indicated that he would be willing to assist in any investigation related to the case.

But U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman, speaking outside the late financier's mansion in New York City, said the FBI and New York prosecutors have reached out to the prince and his attorneys but have yet to receive any assistance from him.

"To date, Prince Andrew has provided zero cooperation," Berman said.

Buckingham Palace did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
--------------

🇺🇸 **Trump leaps into Middle East fray with plan that favors Israel, upsets Palestinians**
*Reuters* - <https://archive.fo/tLhuc>

U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday proposed creating a Palestinian state as part of a Middle East peace solution, drawing Palestinian condemnation for imposing strict conditions
and for agreeing to let Israel maintain control of long-contested West Bank settlements.

Trump announced his plan for Israeli-Palestinian peace at a White House event with embattled Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu standing at his side. It includes what Trump called a four-year
freeze by Israel on new settlement activity.

Although Trump’s stated aim was to end decades of conflict, the plan he advanced favored Israel, underscored by the absence of Palestinians from Trump’s announcement.

It seemed unlikely to immediately advance Israeli-Palestinian talks that broke down in 2014, but the plan was called “an important starting point for a return to negotiations” by the United Arab Emirates.
Egypt also offered an encouraging statement.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, however, mocked what Trump has called the “deal of the century,” describing it as the “slap of the century.”

Palestinians have refused to deal with the Trump administration in protest at pro-Israel policies such as moving the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, the eastern part of which is sought by the Palestinians.

Trump set in motion a four-year timeline for Palestinians to agree to a security arrangement with Israel, halt attacks by the Islamist militant group Hamas and set up governing institutions in order to establish a
Palestinian state with its capital in Abu Dis, a part of east Jerusalem.

This too poses a potential problem for Palestinians.
⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻

🇵🇸 **Palestinians cut ties with Israel, U.S. after rejecting peace plan**
*Reuters* - <https://archive.fo/Z4eBc>

The Palestinian Authority has cut all ties with the United States and Israel, including those relating to security, after rejecting a Middle East peace plan presented by U.S. President Donald Trump,
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said on Saturday.

Abbas was in Cairo to address the Arab League, which backed the Palestinians in their opposition to Trump’s plan.

The blueprint, endorsed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, calls for the creation of a demilitarised Palestinian state that excludes Jewish settlements built in occupied territory and is under near-total Israeli security control.

“We’ve informed the Israeli side ... that there will be no relations at all with them and the United States including security ties,” Abbas told the one-day emergency meeting, called to discuss Trump’s plan.

Israeli officials had no immediate comment on his remarks.

Israel and the Palestinian Authority’s security forces have long cooperated in policing areas of the occupied West Bank that are under Palestinian control. The PA also has intelligence cooperation agreements with the CIA, which continued even after the Palestinians began boycotting the Trump administration’s peace efforts in 2017.

Abbas also said he had refused to discuss the plan by with Trump by phone, or to receive even a copy of it to study it.
⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻

🇲🇽 **In Mexico, "El Chapo's" daughter ties knot in state cathedral**
*Reuters* - <https://archive.fo/ylAas>

The daughter of Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman married another offspring of a drug empire in a lavish ceremony held in the
cathedral of Sinaloa’s state capital Culiacan, Mexican media reported, in a new display of her family’s prominence.

Alejandrina Gisselle Guzman married Edgar Cazares, the nephew of Blanca Margarita Cazares, Mexican newspaper Reforma reported on Saturday, in the heartland of Mexico’s powerful Sinaloa Cartel.

The wedding took place on Jan. 25, Reforma said. Photographs and videos, including performances of a popular Mexican band and singers, fireworks, and yellow tape around the cathedral, were shared on social media.

A source at the Roman Catholic Diocese of Culiacan, confirmed the wedding took place, but declined to give details. The couple could not be reached for comment.

Culiacan citizens living and working near the cathedral told Reuters on Saturday that they had noticed an extravagant wedding though they had been unaware of who the couple was.

“The church is for everyone,” Sofia, who declined to give her surname, said. “But the church shouldn’t give privileges to anyone.” Others agreed. “With money, you can close any building here,” Francisca added. “It’s unfair.”

Blanca Margarita Cazares was sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury in 2007 for her “sophisticated money laundering apparatus” and links to Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada Garcia and Victor Emilio Cazares of the Sinaloa Cartel.

Reuters could not determine charges against the couple.
⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻

🇯🇵 **Japan panel recommends ocean release for contaminated Fukushima water**
*Reuters* - <https://archive.ph/YOBqA>

A panel of experts advising Japan’s government on a disposal method for radioactive water from the destroyed Fukushima nuclear plant on Friday recommended releasing it into the ocean, a move likely to alarm neighboring countries.

The panel under the industry ministry came to the conclusion after narrowing the choice to either releasing the contaminated water into the Pacific Ocean or letting it evaporate - and opted for the former. Based on past practice it is likely the government will accept the recommendation.

The build-up of contaminated water at Fukushima has been a sticking point in the clean-up, which is likely to last decades, especially as the Olympics are due to be held in Tokyo this summer with some events less than 60 km (35 miles) from the wrecked plant.

Neighboring South Korea has retained a ban on imports of seafood from Japan’s Fukushima region imposed after the nuclear disaster and summoned a senior Japanese embassy official last year to explain how the Fukushima water would be dealt with.

Its athletes are planning to bring their own radiation detectors and food to the Games.

In 2018, Tokyo Electric apologized after admitting its filtration systems had not removed all dangerous material from the water - and the site is running out of room for storage tanks.

But it plans to remove all radioactive particles from the water except tritium, an isotope of hydrogen that is hard to separate and is considered to be relatively harmless.

“Compared to evaporation, ocean release can be done more securely,” the committee said, pointing to common practice around the world where normally operating nuclear stations release water that contains tritium into the sea.
--------------

🇺🇸 **Financial market website Zero Hedge knocked off Twitter over coronavirus story**
*Reuters* - <https://archive.ph/2cvqm>

Twitter Inc has banned financial market website Zero Hedge from the social media platform after it published an article linking a Chinese scientist to the outbreak of the fast-spreading coronavirus last week.

Zero Hedge said it received a notification from Twitter on Friday, accusing it of violating Twitter's "rules against abuse and harassment."

The move against the website came as the coronavirus has stoked a wave of anti-China sentiment around the globe. Hoaxes have spread widely online, promoted by conspiracy theorists and exacerbated by a dearth of information from the cordoned-off zone around China's central city of Wuhan, where the outbreak began.

Twitter confirmed to Reuters on Sunday Zero Hedge's account on its platform had been permanently suspended for violating "platform manipulation policy."

Zero Hedge said it initially thought the suspension was triggered by an article it published on Friday about the makeup of the coronavirus. But it said it later learned Twitter had received a complaint from online news website BuzzFeed over a separate article.

BuzzFeed said Zero Hedge had released the personal information of a scientist from Wuhan in an article that made allegations about coronavirus having been concocted "as a bioweapon." The article was titled "Is This The Man Behind The Global Coronavirus Pandemic?"

BuzzFeed did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Last week, Twitter had said "those who engage in coordinated attempts to spread disinformation at scale about coronavirus issue will be removed from service."

Facebook Inc also said it would take down misinformation about the virus.

Zero Hedge, which covers mostly finance and economics, had more than 670,000 followers on Twitter as of its suspension.
--------------

🇺🇸 **Not Guilty: Senate acquits Trump of impeachment charges**
*AP* - <https://archive.ph/R8vVF>

President Donald Trump won impeachment acquittal Wednesday in the U.S. Senate, bringing to a close only the third presidential trial in American history with votes that split the country, tested civic norms and fed the tumultuous 2020 race for the White House.

With Chief Justice John Roberts presiding, senators sworn to do “impartial justice” stood at their desks to state their votes for the roll call — “guilty” or “not guilty” — in a swift tally almost exclusively along party lines. Visitors, including the president’s allies, watched from the crowded gallery. Roberts read the declaration that Trump “be, and is hereby, acquitted of the charges.”

The outcome followed months of remarkable impeachment proceedings, from Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s House to Mitch McConnell’s Senate, reflecting the nation’s unrelenting partisan divide three years into the Trump presidency.

What started as Trump’s request for Ukraine to “do us a favor” spun into a far-reaching, 28,000-page report compiled by House investigators accusing an American president of engaging in shadow diplomacy that threatened U.S. foreign relations for personal, political gain as he pressured the ally to investigate Democratic rival Joe Biden ahead of the next election.

No president has ever been removed by the Senate.

A politically emboldened Trump has eagerly predicted vindication, deploying the verdict as a political anthem in his reelection bid. The president claims he did nothing wrong, decrying the “witch hunt” and “hoax” as extensions of special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into Russian 2016 campaign interference by those out to get him from the start of his presidency.
--------------

🇺🇸 **YouTube, Venmo: AI firm must stop scraping faces from sites**
*AP* - <https://archive.ph/71Dee>

Payment service Venmo joined YouTube and Twitter on Wednesday in demanding that a facial recognition company stop harvesting user images to identify the people in them, which the startup does as part of its work with police.

Venmo said Wednesday it is sending a cease-and-desist letter to New York-based Clearview AI. The small firm has drawn scrutiny following investigative reports in January by the New York Times and Buzzfeed detailing its work with law enforcement agencies and its practice of scraping social media and other internet platforms for images.

“Scraping Venmo is a violation of our terms of service and we actively work to limit and block activity that violates these policies,” said Venmo spokesman Justin Higgs, who said the Paypal-owned mobile payment service is in the process of sending the letter.

Google-owned video service YouTube sent a similar letter to Clearview on Tuesday.

“YouTube’s Terms of Service explicitly forbid collecting data that can be used to identify a person,” YouTube spokesman Alex Joseph said in a statement Wednesday. “Clearview has publicly admitted to doing exactly that, and in response we sent them a cease and desist letter.”

Clearview CEO Hoan Ton-That told CBS in an interview that it has a First Amendment right to the roughly 3 billion images it has collected.

“The way we have built our system is to only take publicly available information and index it that way,” he told CBS.

He also said the technology is only used by law enforcement to identify potential criminals.
--------------

🇹🇭 **Thai forces believe shooter in mall basement as death toll hits 21**
*Reuters* - <http://archive.md/rNJcC>

A Thai soldier who has killed at least 21 people in a shooting rampage was thought to be holed up in the basement of a shopping mall in northeastern Thailand on Sunday and security forces were closing in on him, a police officer said.

The officer said nine civilians had been evacuated from the shopping mall and security forces were checking whether any remained there.

“The perpetrator is still in the basement and it doesn’t look as though he has hostages. We are getting close to him,” said the officer who did not give his name because he was not authorized to speak to media.

The killings began at around 3 p.m. (0800 GMT) on Saturday when the soldier opened fire in a house before moving to an army camp and then to the mall in Nakhon Ratchasima in northeastern Thailand, posting messages on Facebook as he went.

Police have identified the suspected shooter as 32-year-old Jakrapanth Thomma.

Overnight, one member of the security forces was killed and at least two others wounded in a raid into the Terminal 21 mall to try to stop the gunman.

More than 30 people have been wounded.

“We are doing our best. You can see that all our senior officers of the government have been assigned here,” Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul told reporters at the scene. “All steps are being taken with precautions so that we can minimize the damage as much as we can.”

Police closed off streets around the mall and kept journalists behind a security cordon.

Thai media said the suspected shooter had worked at an army base close to Nakhon Ratchasima, which is about 250 km (155 miles) from the capital Bangkok. Before the attack, Jakrapanth had posted on his Facebook account that he was out for vengeance — but he did not say for what.
--------------

🇷🇺 **'Are you real?' Putin quashes rumors he uses a body double**
*Reuters* - <https://archive.fo/Ue4yY>

Russian President Vladimir Putin has acknowledged he was offered the chance to use a body double to make appearances in public for security reasons, but said he declined the offer and never used one.

Putin, 67, who has dominated Russian politics for more than two decades, has long been the subject of conspiracy theories in Russia - all of them unsubstantiated - that he uses a body double or even a small army of them.

One of the more elaborate theories compares photographs of Putin over the years, claiming to have identified a number of different individuals posing as him.

But during an interview with TASS news agency aired on Thursday, Putin was shown a list of popular Internet searches purportedly associated with his name, one of which was entitled “Putin body double evidence”.

Asked “Are you real?” by the interviewer, Putin replied “Yes” before going on to deny that he uses a lookalike for public appearances for his own safety.

But he said he had been offered the opportunity.

“I declined these body doubles. This (the offer) was during the most difficult periods of the fight against terrorism,” Putin said, adding that he was referring to the beginning of the 2000s.

Russia fought a war in the southern Muslim majority region of Chechnya in the early years of Putin’s first term and was frequently targeted in attacks by Islamist militant groups.

Putin said in the same interview that he didn’t use a mobile phone. He had access to a special official phone, he said, that could connect with any number he wanted.
⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻

🇺🇸 **Mike Bloomberg drops out of 2020 presidential race, endorses Joe Biden**
*CNBC* - <https://archive.fo/IP64z>

Mike Bloomberg dropped out of the presidential race on Wednesday after a poor performance in the Super Tuesday primaries.

“Three months ago, I entered the race for President to defeat Donald Trump,” Bloomberg said in a statement. “Today, I am leaving the race for the same reason: to defeat Donald Trump – because it is clear to me that
staying in would make achieving that goal more difficult.”

Following his campaign departure, Bloomberg endorsed rival and former Vice President Joe Biden. “I’ve always believed that defeating Donald Trump starts with uniting behind the candidate with the best shot to do it.
After yesterday’s vote, it is clear that candidate is my friend and a great American, Joe Biden,” he said in the statement.

“I’ve known Joe for a very long time. I know his decency, his honesty, and his commitment to the issues that are so important to our country – including gun safety, health care, climate change, and good jobs.”

Bloomberg’s embarrassing finish Tuesday night marked the first time he was on the ballot. Had he continued in the race, his candidacy might have taken away votes from Biden, a fellow moderate who’s competing for the
nomination with Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont. With his departure, there are now only four candidates in the race, including Biden, Sanders, Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, and Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii.

The billionaire and former New York City mayor spent more than $500 million on campaign advertising, but of the 14 states and one territory at stake on March 3, Super Tuesday, he was only able to take American Samoa.

Bloomberg launched his bid with a $31 million TV ad blitz, breaking former President Barack Obama’s record campaign spending of $24 million on TV ads in one week. He ended up spending hundreds of millions of his own dollars on his campaign.
⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻

https://nationalfile.com/video-alex-jones-shaves-head-says-hes-in-war-mode/

__________

🇺🇸 **Elizabeth Warren ends 2020 Democratic White House bid, says 'we will persist'**
*Reuters* - <https://archive.ph/ARkDY>

Elizabeth Warren, the liberal firebrand who emerged as a top Democratic contender for the White House on the strength of an anti-corruption platform backed by a dizzying array of policy proposals, ended her campaign on Thursday.

A former bankruptcy law professor who forged a national reputation as a scourge of Wall Street even before entering politics, Warren had banked on a strong showing on Super Tuesday after a string of disappointing finishes in the early states.

But she trailed far behind front-runners Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden, placing third in her home state of Massachusetts, which she continues to represent in the U.S. Senate.

Warren held a call with her vast organizing staff on Thursday morning to break the news.

“I may not be in the race for president in 2020, but this fight - our fight - is not over,” she said. “The fight may take a new form, but I will be in that fight, and I want you in this fight with me. We will persist.”

Warren’s exit comes one day after former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who also had a disappointing Super Tuesday, dropped out on Wednesday.
--------------

🇺🇸 **Mormon Church rebukes BYU students with letter stating homosexual behavior ‘not compatible’ with its principles**
*Fox News* - <https://archive.ph/3D30E>

Utah’s Brigham Young University on Wednesday clarified its stance on homosexuality, stating in a letter that “same-sex romantic behavior” is not allowed on campus, in a rebuke to LGTBQ students who perceived last month’s revision of the school’s code of conduct as a victory.

The university, owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, had removed a section of the code dedicated to “homosexual behavior.”

BYU officials said on Feb. 19 that questions about permitted behaviors by same-sex couples would be dealt with on a case-by-case basis.

LGBTQ students and allies celebrated the announcement. But their hopes were dashed after the university posted a letter online Wednesday saying it was clarifying that the revision doesn't change the "moral standards" of the church or the faith's opposition to same-sex marriage.

"Same-sex romantic behavior cannot lead to eternal marriage and is therefore not compatible with the principles included in the honor code," wrote Paul V. Johnson, commissioner of the church education system.

The clarification letter sparked an uproar. Addison Jenkins, a former BYU student and a past president of a campus support group for gay and lesbian students, called it "cruel" to LGBTQ students who thought the campus was becoming more welcoming.

"This says: We do not care and we are no longer embarrassed about not caring about queer people," Jenkins said.
--------------

🇨🇳 **Coronavirus: Ten dead in China quarantine hotel collapse**
*BBC* - <https://archive.fo/9Fpo5>

At least 10 people are dead and 23 remain missing after a hotel being used as a coronavirus quarantine facility in the Chinese city of Quanzhou collapsed on Saturday.

Rescue workers are still searching the rubble of the five-storey Xinjia Hotel in the southern province of Fujian.

Seventy-one people were in the building when it collapsed and dozens have been rescued, authorities say.

It is not clear what caused the collapse on Saturday evening.

State media say the hotel was being used as a quarantine facility monitoring people who had had close contact with coronavirus patients. It's reported 58 of the 71 people in the building were under quarantine.

The building's first floor had been undergoing renovation since before the Lunar New Year, the official Xinhua news agency said, adding that police had summoned the building's owner.

The hotel reportedly opened in 2018 and had 80 guest rooms.

The city of Quanzhou has recorded 47 cases of the virus, which first emerged in the city of Wuhan, about 1,000km away.
⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻

🇵🇰 **Islamists hurl stones and shoes at Women's Day marchers in Pakistan**
*Reuters* - <https://archive.fo/CdnoV>

Islamists pelted campaigners with stones, shoes and sticks as they marched through Pakistan’s capital on Sunday to mark International Women’s Day.

Women and men joined the event in Islamabad, one of several rallies across the country, for what is known in Pakistan as the Aurat March, using the Urdu word for women.

Hundreds of men and women from the Red Mosque brigade, consisting of several local militant groups, and a Taliban allied religious party staged a rival rally just across from the women’s march venue, District Deputy Commissioner Hamza Shafqaat said.

Police official Mazhar Niazi said the officers blocked the Islamists as they tried to break through a cordon to attack the marchers.

A Reuters witness and Niazi said the Islamists threw stones, bricks, sticks and shoes at the marchers. Niazi said no one was injured.

He said a criminal case would be registered against the Islamists for violating the law and attempting to attack the women’s march.

The event organizers said some of those marching hit by stones and bricks were injured.

One of the organizers Ammar Rashid posted a photo on Twitter of a secular woman leader Ismat Shahjahan with a head injury.

Police said they were investigating the claim.

There has been an uproar in conservative circles over slogans used at the past two such events, including “My body, my choice”, “My body is not your battleground” and “Stop being menstrual phobic”.
⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻

🇺🇸 ** Judge orders Chelsea Manning's release from jail in Virginia **
*The Guardian* - <https://archive.vn/mk6W1>

A federal judge has ordered that Chelsea Manning be released from jail in Virginia.

The former US army analyst who leaked hundreds of thousands of documents and diplomatic cables to WikiLeaks in 2010 had been held since May last year, when she was taken back into custody for refusing to testify to a grand jury investigating the pro-transparency organisation.

A hearing had been due on Friday.

Ordering Manning’s release, Judge Anthony J Trenga wrote: “The court finds Ms Manning’s appearance before the grand jury is no longer needed, in light of which her detention no longer serves any coercive purpose.”

Trenga rejected a request by Manning to cancel fines imposed for her refusal to testify, ordering instead that a judgment be entered against Manning for $256,000.

On Wednesday, representatives for Manning said she had attempted suicide at the Alexandria adult detention center.

In a statement, Manning’s representatives said she “has previously indicated that she will not betray her principles, even at risk of grave harm to herself.

“Her actions today evidence the strength of her convictions, as well as the profound harm she continues to suffer as a result of her ‘civil’ confinement.”

Dana Lawhorne, the Alexandria sheriff, said the incident “was handled appropriately by our professional staff and Ms Manning is safe”.

No further details were released.
--------------

🇺🇸🇮🇷🇮🇶 **US forces launch strikes targeting Iran-backed militias after deadly rocket attack, official says**
*Fox News* - <https://archive.vn/e2Q9Q>

The U.S. military launched multiple strikes using warplanes targeting multiple bases used by Iranian-backed Shia militias believed to be behind the rocket attack on Camp Taji, Iraq, the day before that killed two Americans and one British soldier, a senior U.S. military source told Fox News.

The U.S. military strike was “proportional,” according to the U.S. military source, and hit multiple bases used by the Kata’eb Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed militia that fired 30 Katyusha rockets yesterday at the Taji Base, which housed American and British troops. Of the 12 troops wounded yesterday, five are in serious condition.

“The U.S. does not want to escalate the conflict with Iran,” the U.S. military source told Fox News, but wanted to send a deterrent message, according to a message telegraphed by the Defense Secretary and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs during a briefing to Pentagon press earlier Thursday. President Trump authorized the strike earlier in the day.

The Pentagon released a statement following the strikes, confirming that they were conducted in response to the rocket attacks on Wednesday.

"Earlier this evening, the United States conducted defensive precision strikes against Kata’ib Hizbollah (KH) facilities across Iraq," the Defense Department said. "These strikes targeted five weapon storage facilities to significantly degrade their ability to conduct future attacks against Operation Inherent Resolve (OIR) coalition forces. These weapons storage facilities include facilities that housed weapons used to target U.S. and coalition troops."

"These strikes were defensive, proportional, and in direct response to the threat posed by Iranian-backed Shia militia groups (SMG) who continue to attack bases hosting OIR coalition forces," the Pentagon added.
--------------

🇯🇵 **Japan suicides at historic low in 2019 but more teens kill themselves**
*Reuters* - <https://archive.fo/0Wuzg>

Suicides in Japan in 2019 fell to a historic low, marking the tenth straight year of declines, but youth suicides continued to rise, police said on Tuesday.

Though suicide in Japan has a long history as a way of avoiding shame or dishonor, and its suicide rate still tops the Group of Seven nations, a national effort has brought suicides down by about 40% in roughly 15 years.

Suicides totaled 20,169 in 2019, 617 or 3.7% fewer than the previous year, and was the lowest since the compilation of data began in 1978.

The suicide rate edged down to 16% per 100,000, a dip of 0.5% from the previous year and also the lowest in history. By contrast, the suicide rate for the United States, which has more than twice Japan’s population and a growing suicide problem, was 14.2% in 2018.

The number of those under 20 who took their lives rose by 60 from the previous year to 659, the only age group to see a rise. Though suicides result from multiple causes, bullying has remained a persistent problem in Japanese schools.

Suicides peaked at 34,427 in 2003, alarming policy makers and drawing foreign attention.

Though the police did not give any reason for the decline, an improving economy has undoubtedly helped, and a suicide prevention program is apparently bearing fruit.
⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻

🇺🇸 **Bernie Sanders drops out of 2020 presidential race**
*USA TODAY* - <https://archive.fo/5fNH2>

Sen. Bernie Sanders, whose call for a political revolution attracted millions of ardent followers and galvanized a national movement for a progressive agenda, has dropped out of the presidential race, giving former Vice President Joe Biden a clean path to the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination.

Sanders' exit comes after a string of losses to Biden in the primary election.

The intensifying coronavirus pandemic also meant he could no longer hold the large rallies that came to define his grassroots movement, though he often pointed to the problems many Americans had getting tested and treated for the virus as a way to push his signature Medicare for All proposal.

Fiercely unapologetic, the Vermont independent senator's call for economic justice, universal health care and an end to the "billionaire class" was the loud refrain for two presidential campaigns that pulled the Democratic party to the left.

Ultimately, it fell short. For the second consecutive election, the self-described Democratic socialist was the runner up: finishing behind Hillary Clinton in 2016 and the former vice president this year.

He entered the 2020 campaign with high name recognition, experience and an army of supporters – some pejoratively known as "Bernie Bros" – that collectively propelled him into front-runner status after the first three states.

But his momentum began to fizzle after the South Carolina primary Feb. 29 when black voters backed Biden in large numbers, foreshadowing the struggles Sanders would have with a key Democratic constituency going forward into Super Tuesday three days later.
⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻

🇺🇸 🌎 **2nd coronavirus vaccine trial begins in US using 'skin-deep' shots**
*Fox News* - <http://archive.is/hknBh>

U.S. researchers have opened another safety test of an experimental COVID-19 vaccine, this one using a skin-deep shot instead of the usual deeper jab.

“It’s the most important trial that we’ve ever done,” Dr. John Ervin of the Center for Pharmaceutical Research told The Associated Press afterward. “People are beating down the door to get into this trial.”

The experiment, using a vaccine candidate developed by Inovio Pharmaceuticals, is part of a global hunt for much-needed protection against a virus that has triggered an economic shutdown and forced people indoors as countries try to stem the spread.

Inovio’s study is set to test two doses of its vaccine, code-named INO-4800, in 40 healthy volunteers at the Kansas City research lab and the University of Pennsylvania. Inovio is working with *Chinese researchers* <:strawman:372034857099984897> to also begin a similar study in that country soon.

These early-stage studies are a first step to see if a vaccine appears safe enough for larger tests needed to prove whether it will protect. Even if the research goes well, it is expected to take more than a year before any vaccine could be widely available.

Inovio researchers packaged a section of the virus’ genetic code inside a piece of synthetic DNA. Injected as a vaccine, the cells act as a mini-factory to produce harmless protein copies. The immune system makes protective antibodies against them — primed if the real virus ever comes along.

DNA vaccines are a new technology. But Inovio has experimental vaccines against other diseases that are made the same way that have passed initial safety testing. “The good thing is we’ve got a bunch of candidates,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, the NIH’s infectious diseases chief, said during a podcast for the Journal of the American Medical Association Wednesday.
----------------

🇷🇺🇺🇸 **F-22s intercept Russian maritime recon aircraft near Alaska**
*Military Times* - <https://archive.vn/zg3r8>

Two Russian IL-38 maritime reconnaissance aircraft were intercepted Wednesday near Alaska by F-22s supported by KC-135 and E-3 airborne early warning aircraft, according to North American Aerospace Defense Command.

NORAD said the Russian aircraft entered the Alaskan Air Defense Identification Zone and were intercepted in the Bering Sea north of the Aleutian Islands. The Russian maritime aircraft never entered U.S. or Canadian airspace.

“COVID-19 or not, NORAD continues actively watching for threats and defending the homelands 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year,”General Terrence J. O’Shaughnessy, the commander of NORAD said.

The Russian IL-38 maritime aircraft are also used to hunt submarines.

There have been a string of Russian patrol aircraft intercepts near Alaska over the last month.

In March, U.S. and Canadian jets intercepted Russian reconnaissance aircraft near Alaska spying on a U.S. submarine exercise known as ICEX.
--------------

🇯🇵 🇨🇳 **Japan Ditches China In Multi-Billion Dollar Coronavirus Shakeout**
*Forbes* - https://archive.fo/jJXzy

The supply chain will never be the same. Take that to the bank.

It’s not Donald “Tariff Man” Trump’s fault anymore. It’s the new SARS coronavirus’ fault for shaking things up. On Thursday, geopolitical watchdogs at The Spectator Index noted that Japan’s government would spend upwards of $2 billion helping its multinationals leave China.

Japan’s decision to help company’s source elsewhere, a timely and expensive endeavour after multinational corporations that have made China their go-to manufacturing hub for decades, comes at a time when U.S. companies are leaving, too, even though there is no official push to do so. Global manufacturing consulting firm Kearney released its seventh annual Reshoring Index on Tuesday, showing what it called a “dramatic reversal” of a five-year trend as domestic U.S. manufacturing in 2019 commanded a significantly greater share versus 14 Asian exporters tracked in the study. Manufacturing imports from China were the hardest hit.

“People have been talking about leaving China for many years now and that is why we started this research in the first place, to find real data, to get the math right on this,” says Patrick Van den Bossche, a partner at Kearney. “What we are seeing now is that companies are taking a hard look at it. Because of the pandemic and supply chain disruptions it caused, people will be able to put a number to this and when they can present their board with a nice mathematical equation about supply risk, they’ll do it and many will see that they must diversify away from China.”
Within the existing globalization framework, the question of dependence on supply chains from China for both European and U.S. companies needs to be addressed.

Of the world’s 10 largest ports, seven of them are in China.
----------------

🇨🇳 **Chinese dams held back Mekong waters during drought, study finds**
*Reuters* - <https://archive.fo/iydWP>

China’s Mekong River dams held back large amounts of water during a damaging drought in downstream countries last year despite China having higher-than-average water levels upstream, a U.S. research company said in a study.

China’s government disputed the findings, saying there was low rainfall during last year’s monsoon season on its portion of the 4,350-km (2,700-mile) river.

The findings by Eyes on Earth Inc., a research and consulting company specialising in water, published in a U.S.-government funded study, could complicate tricky discussions between China and other Mekong countries on how to manage the river that supports 60 million people as it flows past Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and through Cambodia and Vietnam.

Last year's drought, which saw the Lower Mekong at its lowest levels in more than 50 years, devastated farmers and fishermen and saw the massive river recede to expose sandbanks along some stretches and at others turned from its usual murky brown to bright blue here because waters were so shallow and lacking in sediment.

“If the Chinese are stating that they were not contributing to the drought, the data does not support that position,” said Alan Basist, a meteorologist and president of Eyes on Earth, which conducted the study with funding from the U.S. State Department’s Lower Mekong Initiative.

Instead, satellite measurements of “surface wetness” in China’s Yunnan province, through which the Upper Mekong flows, suggest the region in 2019 actually had slightly above-average combined rainfall and snowmelt during the May to October wet season.

But water levels measured downstream from China along the Thai-Lao border were at times up to 3 metres (10 feet) lower than they should have been, the group said in the study.
⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻

🇩🇪 **Germany arrests four men from Tajikistan suspected of planning attack**
*Reuters* - <https://archive.fo/zGlRM>

German police arrested on Wednesday four suspected members of Islamic State, all from Tajikistan, believed to have been planning deadly attacks in Germany, prosecutors said.

Special forces in the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia made the arrests near the cities of Essen and Duesseldorf and raided properties in the area.

Prosecutors suspect the four men, with a fifth who has been in detention for the last year, of being in contact with leading members of Islamic State in Afghanistan and Syria and of receiving instructions from them.

“Targets for the attacks were supposed to be institutions of U.S forces in Germany or even individual people,” said prosecutors in their statement.

“In particular, they planned a murder attack on one person who had made public comments that they viewed as being critical of Islam,” the prosecutors added.

The prosecutors said they believed the suspects had already carried out surveillance of the targeted individual and were procuring weapons, ammunition and components for a bomb.

Prosecutors identified the suspects as Azizjon B., Muhammadali G., Farhodshoh K. and Sunatullokh K., in line with German privacy rules. The fifth man who is already in detention was identified as Ravsan B.
⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻

🇺🇸 **In unprecedented move, Treasury orders Trump’s name printed on stimulus checks**
The Washington Post - <https://archive.vn/7i3TZ>

The Treasury Department has ordered President Trump’s name be printed on stimulus checks the Internal Revenue Service is rushing to send to tens of millions of Americans, a process that could slow their delivery by a few days, senior IRS officials said.

The unprecedented decision, finalized late Monday, means that when recipients open the $1,200 paper checks the IRS is scheduled to begin sending to 70 million Americans in coming days, “President Donald J. Trump” will appear on the left side of the payment.

It will be the first time a president’s name appears on an IRS disbursement, whether a routine refund or one of the handful of checks the government has issued to taxpayers in recent decades either to stimulate a down economy or share the dividends of a strong one.

Treasury officials disputed that the checks would be delayed.
--------------

🇺🇸 **Analysts Can’t Explain Why Liberty TripAdvisor Shares Jumped 944%**
*Bloomberg* - <https://archive.vn/042NH>

Liberty TripAdvisor Holdings Inc.’s crazy week left analysts scratching their heads about what might have caused the stock to surge as much as 2,700% in one session.

The series B shares soared on unusually high volume, and Wednesday’s move was so inexplicable that the company issued a statement indicating it was “not aware of the reasons for the recent volatility in its stock price.”
The stock pared gains on Friday, trimming its weekly advance to 944%, still by far the biggest move in the company’s five-and-a-half year trading history.

“I don’t see any fundamental grounds for this sort of move,” said James Ratcliffe, managing director for communications services equity research at Evercore ISI.

It’s worth noting that on April 14, Liberty TripAdvisor received a notice from the Nasdaq Stock Market indicating that the market value of its series B shares for the past 30 days had fallen below the $1 million threshold for continued listing.
The company was given 180 days to regain compliance, according to a filing. Liberty TripAdvisor did not respond immediately to a request for comment.

Ratcliffe said it was unclear who exactly had bought the shares, or why, though he saw it mentioned on Twitter and Reddit communities dedicated to penny stocks. It’s possible that a slight move in the share price caught the attention of
those traders and persuaded others to pile in, ratcheting up the price, Ratcliffe said.
⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻