Buttigieg clings to narrow lead as Iowa results trickle in
NEW YORK — Pete Buttigieg clung to a slight lead over Bernie Sanders in a new batch of vote totals released by the Iowa Democratic Party on Wednesday, two days after the state hosted its first-in-the-nation presidential caucuses.
The race remained too early to call with 86% of precincts reporting. Buttigieg led Sanders by 1.3 percentage points in state delegate equivalents.
Much of the political world has already shifted its attention to next-up New Hampshire, which holds the first primary election in the Democrats’ 2020 nomination fight on Tuesday.
Iowa officials attributed their delay to technical problems. The chaos surrounding the reporting breakdown has undermined the impact of the Iowa’s election, which typically rewards winners with a surge of momentum heading into subsequent primary contests.
The two early leaders — Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, and Vermont Sen. Sanders — are separated by 40 years in age and conflicting ideology.
Japan quarantines cruise ship as toll of new virus grows
TOKYO — Large white sheets covering them head-to-knee, people infected with a new virus were led by gloved and masked officials Wednesday off a Japanese cruise ship, while the rest of the 3,700 people on board faced a two-week quarantine in their cabins. In Hong Kong, more than 3,600 people on another cruise ship were to be screened after it was banned by Taiwan amid growing worry about the spread of an outbreak.
The ships are caught up in a global health emergency that seems to worsen by the day. The little-understood coronavirus has killed nearly 500 people, mostly in mainland China, but it has also spread panic and anger around the world as the cases grow.
As thousands of hospital workers in Hong Kong went on strike to demand the border with mainland China be closed completely, the city announced that all people entering from the mainland, including Hong Kong residents, must be quarantined for 14 days. Tokyo Olympics organizers, meanwhile, said they are increasingly worried about the disruption the virus is causing ahead of the games, which open in less than six months.
The director-general of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, asked for $675 million to help countries address the expected spread of the virus. He acknowledged that the sum is a lot, but told a news briefing that “it’s much less than the bill we will face if we do not invest in preparedness now.”
From wire sources
Tedros said in the last 24 hours, the U.N. health agency has seen the biggest jump in cases since the start of the epidemic.
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Madoff seeks prison release, citing terminal kidney failure
NEW YORK — Epic Ponzi schemer Bernard Madoff asked a federal judge Wednesday to grant him a “compassionate release” from his 150-year prison sentence, saying he has terminal kidney failure and less than 18 months to live.
Madoff’s attorney filed court papers saying the 81-year-old has end-stage kidney disease and other “chronic, serious medical conditions,” including hypertension and cardiovascular disease.
“There’s no cure for my type of disease,” Madoff told The Washington Post in a phone interview, expressing remorse for orchestrating the largest Ponzi scheme in history.
After spending more than a decade behind bars, Madoff said his dying wish is to salvage his relationships with his grandchildren.
“I’ve served 11 years already,” he said, “and, quite frankly, I’ve suffered through it.”
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Weinstein accuser says he trapped her during hotel assault
NEW YORK — As Harvey Weinstein stripped off his clothes, pulled down her dress and groped her breast in a hotel bathroom in 2013, Lauren Marie Young says he also offered a chilling excuse for his lewd behavior: “This is what all actresses do to make it.”
Young’s account of her encounter with then-one of Hollywood’s most powerful movie makers came on Wednesday after she was called to the witness stand at Weinstein’s New York City rape trial in a final push by prosecutors to show there was a pattern to how he preyed on women.
Weinstein persisted by masturbating, despite her telling him, “‘No, no, no’ the whole time,” Young told jurors as the the last of six women to testify at the trial about alleged series of sexual assaults by the defendant.
The criminal charges are based on two allegations: that he raped a woman in March 2013 and forced oral sex on a TV and film production assistant in 2006.
Additional women, including Young, have been allowed to testify as prosecutors attempt to show there was a practiced method to Weinstein’s attacks, including inviting women to his hotel room to discuss business, then disrobing and demanding sexual favors.
Top heavy: Handful of elite programs hoard most top recruits
McKinnley Jackson, a huge and talented defensive tackle from Mississippi, was one of the few five-star recruits whose college choice was a mystery coming into signing day.
“I’ll keep this short, simple and sweet,” Jackson said during a news conference Wednesday at George County High School in Lucedale, Mississippi. “For the next three to four years, I’ll be attending Texas A&M.”
The five-star prospect picked the Aggies over Alabama and LSU, allowing one more school to break into a small group that landed the majority of the top available players. Signing day is typically about the rich getting richer, and this year the best classes were especially top heavy.
According to 247 Sports’ composite rankings, there were 31 five-star prospects in this year’s class. Six schools signed 22 of those players. Clemson led the way with five as part of the highest-rated class coach Dabo Swinney has ever signed. Alabama and Georgia each landed four five-star players. National champion LSU, Ohio State and Oregon each had three.
For the second time in three seasons, 247 Sports crowned Georgia the recruiting champion, with Alabama and Clemson close behind.