TOP STORIES

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Tuesday, February 11

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NEW HAMPSHIRE: 5 THINGS TO WATCH FOR After disappointingly messy Iowa caucuses, the Democratic Party is hoping for a straightforward and clean election Tuesday in New Hampshire, the second state to vote in the 2020 presidential primary. The candidates have largely spent the past week up here, hoping to make it into the top three. [HuffPost]

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NORTH KOREA BREACHED NUCLEAR SANCTIONS North Korea continued to enhance its nuclear and ballistic missile programs last year in breach of United Nations sanctions, according to a confidential U.N. report. The country also illicitly imported refined petroleum and exported some $370 million worth of coal with the help of Chinese barges. [Reuters]

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WUHAN DEATH TOLL PASSES 1,000 2,478 new coronavirus cases were identified in mainland China on Monday, bringing the total number of infections there to 42,638. Worldwide, 43,090 people were infected. 108 people died from the virus in mainland China Monday, bringing the total death toll there to 1,016. Two people have died outside mainland China, in Hong Kong and the Philippines. [CNN]

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MERKEL'S SUCCESSOR TO QUIT AFTER VOTE FIASCO German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s designated successor will quit her role as head of Germany’s strongest party and won’t stand for the chancellorship following a debacle in a regional election. Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer informed the conservative Christian Democratic Union that she will begin organizing a leadership contest in the summer. [AP]

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IRISH ELECTION: SINN FEIN WINS BIGGEST VOTE SHARE Ireland’s political parties were scrambling to adjust to a new reality after an earth-shaking election that saw the left-wing nationalist party Sinn Fein win the biggest share of votes. Sinn Fein, historically linked to the Irish Republican Army and its violent struggle for a united Ireland, received 24.5% of the first-preference votes in Saturday’s election. [AP]

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TRUMP'S FIRST 3 YEARS CREATED 1.5 MILLION FEWER JOBS THAN OBAMA'S LAST 3 Newly revised figures from President Donald Trump’s own Department of Labor show that 6.6 million new jobs were created in the first 36 months of Trump’s tenure, compared with 8.1 million in the final 36 months of President Barack Obama’s ― a decline of 19% under Trump, according to a HuffPost analysis. [HuffPost]

WHAT'S BREWING

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TRUMP'S $4.8 BILLION BUDGET HITS FOOD STAMPS, MEDICAID Trump unveiled a $4.8 trillion election year budget plan that recycles deep, previously rejected cuts to domestic programs like food stamps, Medicaid, and housing as the recipe for trimming his soaring $1 trillion federal deficit. [AP]

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PROSECTORS SEEK UP TO 9 YEARS IN PRISON FOR TRUMP PAL ROGER STONE Federal prosecutors are asking a judge to sentence Trump confidant Roger Stone to serve between 7 years and 9 years in prison. Stone was convicted in November of lying to Congress, tampering with a witness and obstructing the House investigation into whether the Trump campaign coordinated with Russia to tip the 2016 election. [AP]

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1 DEAD, 2 COPS WOUNDED IN WALMART SHOOTOUT Two police officers were wounded and a gunman was killed in an exchange of gunfire at a Walmart store in eastern Arkansas. The officers were hospitalized soon after the shooting at the store in Forrest City, about 45 miles west of Memphis. [HuffPost]

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NEW CAMPUS SEXUAL MISCONDUCT RULES Education Secretary Betsy DeVos’s contentious regulations on sexual misconduct at schools will cement domestic and dating violence and stalking as forms of gender discrimination, in response to lethal attacks that have underscored the weakness of her current policies.

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TRUMP'S MUSLIM BAN BECOMES EVEN MORE RACIST Last week, Trump announced the expansion of his controversial travel ban, adding several more countries to the original 2017 list. Democrats and immigration advocates condemned the expanded policy, noting that the new order not only doubles down on targeting Muslims ― but it now explicitly targets Africans and Black African Muslims. [HuffPost]

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IT'S NOT GETTING BETTER FOR QUEER KIDS Despite decades of progress on cultural visibility and political rights, queer youth are still killing themselves at alarming rates. According to a study by The Trevor Project, lesbian, gay and bisexual young adults were over four times more likely to report planning or attempting suicide in the previous year. Nearly 50% of LGB high school students have considered suicide, compared with 13% of straight students. [HuffPost]

We Belong Here: Black History Month 2020

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