Новости за 18.02.2016

President Obama signed legislation Thursday to hit North Korea with strengthened and expanded sanctions over the nation's nuclear weapons program. The move comes two days after the U.S. sent four F-22 stealth fighters to South Korea in a show of force as tensions rise with North Korea, which recently carried out a nuclear test and rocket launch.

Pope Francis thinks the Roman Catholic Church should consider granting an exception to its prohibition of the use of contraception for women living in regions affected by the Zika virus. The Argentine pontiff told reporters Wednesday that, given the choice between children possibly being born with the birth defect microcephaly because their mother had contracted the mosquito-borne virus or allowing the use of artificial contraception, the latter was the "lesser of two evils."

Donald Trump has tried to paint himself as following in Ronald Reagan's footsteps, perhaps least subtly by copying his 1980 campaign slogan, "Make America Great Again." However, as it has been pointed out before, Trump was not always so warm on Reagan — there was a time, in fact, that he blasted the former president without reservation.

During a presser on the papal plane, Pope Francis skewered Donald Trump as being "not Christian" because of his promises to build a wall on the U.S.'s border with Mexico.

Hillary Clinton argued on Tuesday that racism is behind the GOP plan to save the new Supreme Court nomination for President Obama's successor — but CBS poll results released Thursday suggest simple partisanship may be an adequate explanation.

Both Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton have tax plans that extend the "middle class" classification up to those earning $250,000 a year — a number that some experts say is arbitrary and false.

Apple has received much applause from civil libertarian corners for its refusal to comply with an FBI demand to unlock the San Bernardino shooter's iPhone. "We feel we must speak up in the face of what we see as an overreach by the U.S. government," wrote CEO Tim Cook in his public letter explaining the decision.

Adele admitted Thursday on The Ellen DeGeneres Show that her private reaction to her botched performance at the Grammys Monday night was entirely different from the brave face she put on in public.

On Thursday morning, Angela "Big Ang" Raiola died at the age of 55 after a year-long battle with cancer.

Donald Trump got tripped up by a description of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) at a Wednesday night town hall in Charleston, South Carolina when he mistook the Democratic presidential candidate's defining traits for his own.

Lest anyone forget Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder's legacy in the Flint water crisis, artist Michael Dykehouse has painted a portrait of the governor, done completely in lead. In the portrait, Snyder looks weary and wan, depicted only in grays and tinges of yellow. The Ann Arbor, Michigan-based artist says that's all part of his mission to create a permanent reminder of the potential harm caused by the city drinking water's high lead levels, which were introduced after the city switched water sources in April 2014 as a cost-cutting measure. Читать дальше...

In a battle between extremes — Donald Trump on the right and Bernie Sanders on the left — one might expect a centrist independent to be able to nudge his way into the presidency. That was the hope of Michael Bloomberg, who has reportedly been flirting with the idea of jumping into the race.

1.

Oil prices extended a rally early Thursday, reaching $35 a barrel after Iran welcomed an oil output freeze proposed by Russia, Saudi Arabia, and other major oil producers. Iran has not yet agreed to join the effort to ease the global glut that has dragged down prices. It has vowed to ramp up production to levels seen before years of recently lifted sanctions over its controversial nuclear program. Iran's oil minister, however, said that after meeting with OPEC ministers Wednesday Tehran... Читать дальше...

On Thursday, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu blamed a deadly Wednesday night car bomb attack in Ankara, the capital, on a Syrian man with ties to Syrian Kurdish militias. The suspect, identified as Sahih Neccar, carried out the bombing with the help of Turkish Kurdish militant group the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), Davutoglu said, and 14 people have been detained in connection with the attack, which killed at least 28 people. Nobody has claimed responsibility for the attack, and the... Читать дальше...

1.

President Obama plans to travel to Cuba in March, administration officials familiar with the plan said Wednesday. The historic visit will be the first for a sitting U.S. president in 88 years. It comes more than a year after Obama started an effort to restore ties to the communist Caribbean island after a half-century of estrangement. Earlier this week, the U.S. and Cuba signed a deal to restore commercial flights between the two countries. The White House plans to officially announce the trip on Thursday. Читать дальше...

A Russian advertisement is warning citizens not to smoke — and taking a sharp jab at President Obama in the process. The sign, which popped up in a bus shelter in Moscow, shows a picture of the American president taking a drag, The Independent reports. "Smoking kills more people than Obama, although he kills lots and lots of people. Don't smoke, don't be like Obama," the text reads.

While Bernie Sanders has been applauded for breaking from the traditional campaign ad with his creative and moving TV spots, Hillary Clinton's team has begun to experiment with how to touch viewers, too. Specifically, her newest ad, "Brave," is an appeal to the Hispanic voters in Nevada, where a neck-and-neck race with Sanders appears to be brewing.

Gov. John Kasich (Ohio) came in second place in the New Hampshire Republican primary, and like the No. 3 finisher in Iowa, Marco Rubio, he declared victory. "How is losing winning?" Stephen Colbert asked Kasich on Wednesday's Late Show. Kasich laughed and said that now people know his name. The two men ended up having an interesting, lively, and fairly wide-ranging discussion.

I have planned and executed four bachelor parties in four different cities over the last decade. All four were drastically different in their size, scope, and location. And each groom emerged having had the time of his life.

Former Polish President Lech Walesa, whose Solidarity trade union federation is credited with hastening the fall of the Soviet Union, was a paid informant for the Communist-era secret police from 1970 to 1976, the head of Poland's Institute of National Remembrance said Thursday, citing recently seized documents from the home of the last interior minister of Communist Poland, the late Gen. Czeslaw Kiszczak. Lukasz Kaminsky, the head of the state history institute, said that the documents include... Читать дальше...

What's something you think is a good idea but you think is unconstitutional? Or, conversely, what's something you think is a bad idea but you think is constitutional?

Right now the political class is speculating about whether or not Senate Republicans will allow President Obama to place another justice on the Supreme Court. But look out slightly further: suppose a Democrat wins the presidency, but Republicans manage to hang on to the Senate. Would they agree to confirm any nominee of President Sanders or Clinton? Given their past history of extremist procedural obstruction, I'd say chances are pretty slim.

Tim Cook just gave the FBI the middle finger. Or something close to it.

Isn't it strange how George W. Bush has somehow become a reassuring presence?

Last April, Raymond Schwab and his wife Amelia planned to relocate their family to Colorado. A Gulf War veteran who has struggled with chronic pain and PTSD since his honorable discharge, Schwab wanted to move so he could legally obtain medical marijuana, the only effective remedy he'd found for his symptoms. As a Veterans Administration (VA) employee, Schwab was able to take his job with him to Denver, and all seemed good to go.