Новости за 17.02.2016

Donald Trump has held firm in his belief that ISIS would only become stronger if Syrian President Bashar al-Assad were to be removed from power — a stance Trump's campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, defended Wednesday, BuzzFeed reports. "[Assad] is a very, very bad individual but he is an individual who, in his country, is keeping things in check because he is such a bad guy they're afraid of him," Lewandowski said.

Republicans are accusing President Barack Obama of hypocrisy for criticizing their intransigence on an Antonin Scalia replacement since, as a senator in 2006, Obama himself sought to block a confirmation vote for Justice Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court. Now, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest says the president "regrets" that approach.

Vice President Joe Biden and his wife Jill Biden will be the only couple from the White House at Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia's funeral Saturday, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said Wednesday. While President Obama and first lady Michelle Obama will "pay their respects" to Scalia as he lies in repose in the Supreme Court's Great Hall Friday, Earnest says they do not plan to attend the funeral.

With just three days to go until Saturday's South Carolina Republican presidential primary, Donald Trump's lead shows no signs of shrinking. The latest Monmouth University poll out Wednesday shows the media mogul now nearly doubles second-place Sen. Ted Cruz's support in the Palmetto State, with 35 percent to Cruz's 19 percent. Sen. Marco Rubio is close behind Cruz with 17 percent, followed by Ohio Gov. John Kasich with 9 percent, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush with 8 percent, and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson with 7 percent. Читать дальше...

A group of highly respected liberal economists have written an open letter to Bernie Sanders and economist Gerald Friedman expressing concerns about circulating claims that Sanders' economic policies would create soaring growth and jobs. Friedman had backed Sanders' economic policy, suggesting that it would create 26 million jobs with unemployment falling to 3.8 percent and median income rising by more than $22,000. However, the economists wrote Wednesday that there is in fact "no credible economic... Читать дальше...

South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley will endorse Florida Sen. Marco Rubio for president on Wednesday during a 6 p.m. campaign event, The Post and Courier reports. Haley has held out until the last minute with her endorsement; her state's Republican primary will be held on Saturday.

Sen. Ted Cruz tore into fellow Republican presidential candidates Donald Trump and Sen. Marco Rubio at a South Carolina press conference Wednesday while simultaneously patting his own campaign on the back for taking "the high road."

Justice Antonin Scalia was staying at the luxurious Cibolo Creek Ranch over the weekend when he passed away — a relaxing getaway that is now raising some questions as to why he was in West Texas, and who had paid for the trip.

While there are some candidates who will wake up at the crack of dawn to hit the campaign trail, Sen. Ted Cruz is decidedly not one of them. Even as his opponents are rising-and-shining for 8 a.m. events across South Carolina, Cruz's earliest event this week began at 10 a.m. Instead, the Texas senator prefers evening events, eating his dinner typically around 10 or 11 p.m.

If Donald Trump wins the presidency, there's definitely one place out there that will be welcoming fleeing Americans with open arms: Canada's Cape Breton Island. The rural Nova Scotia island is angling to solve Americans' impending Trump problem by inviting anyone who wants to "get the hell out of there" to move to the island.

Americans' view of Iran hasn't changed much since the 1980s, and that's bad news for positive diplomatic relations between the two countries. Current favorable ratings of the Middle Eastern nation sit at just 14 percent, per new Gallup poll results released Wednesday.

Bernie Sanders made headlines during the New Hampshire primary when he was seen shooting baskets with his grandkids while waiting for the results to come in. Though the 74-year-old's apparent ease at getting the ball through the hoop impressed many watching, Sanders is in fact an old hand on the court, having spent many hours in the late 1970s playing basketball with a group of friends at the gym behind St. Anthony's Catholic Church in Burlington, The Guardian reports.

Senate Republicans' plan to save the new Supreme Court nomination for President Obama's successor stems from racism, Hillary Clinton claimed during a campaign speech in Harlem on Tuesday. She made the case that the GOP strategy is part of a broader right-wing, race-based opposition to Obama:

An estimated 9,110 Chinese villagers will soon be forced from their homes for the sake of finding extraterrestrial life. China's state news agency Xinhua reported Tuesday that the installation of what The New York Times reports to be "the world's biggest radio telescope" in Pingtang and Luodian Counties in the southwestern province of Guizhou necessitates that everyone in a three-mile radius relocate. The telescope, which measures 1,640 feet in diameter, is being installed to detect signs of alien... Читать дальше...

Hillary Clinton didn't always want to be a politician — there was a time she wanted to be an astronaut, a teacher, a physicist, a journalist, and a lawyer. In fact, it took her a long time to finally jump into politics, as a new profile in Vogue notes, and it may have all come down to a pivotal moment in a high school gym:

Hillary Clinton and Sen. Bernie Sanders are virtually tied in Nevada just three days ahead of the state's Democratic caucuses Saturday. A new poll out Wednesday by CNN/ORC shows Clinton just 1 point ahead of Sanders, with 48 percent to Sanders' 47 percent. Clinton's lead is well within the poll's margin of error of plus or minus 6 percentage points.

The Eagles of Death Metal returned to Paris on Tuesday, three months after terrorists opened fire on the crowd at their concert at the Bataclan. Around 900 survivors and relatives of survivors were in attendance of the sold-out show at the Olympia, with 30 psychologists on hand to help anyone feeling overwhelmed during the evening.

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Apple CEO Tim Cook published an open letter late Tuesday saying the company would fight a court order to help the FBI unlock the iPhone 5c of Syed Farook, one of the San Bernardino shooters. The FBI has been trying unsuccessfully for more than two months to access data on the smartphone, hoping to find crucial evidence about the Dec. 2 massacre, which killed 14 people and injured 22. Cook said Apple has tried to help the FBI "solve this horrible crime," but the court order asks for "something... Читать дальше...

California Journey, or C.J., won best in show and also top sporting dog Tuesday night at the 140th Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show in New York City. The 3-year-old male German shorthaired pointer is only the third of his breed to take the top prize — including his grandmother, Carlee, who won top honors in 2005 — at the oldest and most prestigious dog show in America.

If you're considering running for president, you might want to start buying related domain names now — and be sure to cover all your bases. The 2016 race abounds with sly redirects of website URLs that were overlooked by candidates.

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President Obama said Tuesday that he would pick someone for the Supreme Court who is "indisputably" qualified, and the "Constitution is pretty clear" that the Senate should consider the nominee. The Republican chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa, said that he was open to holding hearings on Obama's nominee to replace Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, who died Saturday. Other Republicans insist the next president should pick the new justice. Grassley... Читать дальше...

On Wednesday, the U.S. flew at least four F-22 "Raptor" stealth fighters over South Korea, using the high-tech aircraft to reiterate America's "ironclad commitment" to the defense of South Korea, U.S. Lt. Gen. Terrence O'Shaughnessy said in a statement from Seoul. "The F-22 'Raptor' is the most capable air superiority fighter in the world, and it represents one of many capabilities available for the defense of this great nation."

Soap operas, and especially Mexican telenovelas, are "so over-the top, no one would ever be that catty, that bitchy with each other," Stephen Colbert told actress Eva Longoria on Tuesday's Late Show. "Right, except in the primaries," she responded, setting up a soap opera created out of transcripts from this year's presidential debates — mostly, if not entirely, from the more entertaining Republican variety.

Military officials in the U.S. and Taiwan have confirmed that China has deployed advanced surface-to-air missile (SAM) systems on Woody Island, one of the Paracel Island chain controlled by China for more than 40 years but also claimed by Vietnam and Taiwan. The placement of the anti-aircraft batteries — believed to be China's HQ-9, with a range of 125 miles — was discovered by civilian satellite company ImageSat International as President Obama was wrapping up an Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit in Rancho Mirage... Читать дальше...

Dubya is back. George W. Bush has come to South Carolina, where 16 years ago he squashed John McCain like a bug, in an attempt to breathe some life into his little brother Jeb's limping presidential campaign. And while he can still draw a crowd — the event in North Charleston on Monday brought in an estimated 3,000 people, more than any rally Jeb has held in the campaign — Bush has largely been left behind by his party. Not only are today's Republicans ambivalent about his legacy, they've moved... Читать дальше...