5: Trump Kicks Off 2020 by Ripping into the Media
MELBOURNE, Fla. — Twenty-nine days after being sworn in, President Donald Trump kicked off his reelection campaign with a rally where he called the crowd his “friends” and framed the press as his enemy.
Speaking in a muggy airplane hangar in front of a crowd local officials pegged at 9,000-strong, Trump said he wanted to speak “without the filter of the fake news.”
“They’ve become a big part of the problem. They’re part of the corrupt system,” he said.
Trump promised: “When the media lies to the people I will never ever let them get away with it,” and warned the media “have their own agenda.”
It was an invigorated and in-control Trump that took the stage in front of a cheering crowd — a stark contrast to the Trump that’s stumbled during his first few weeks as president back in Washington. He delivered a largely standard stump speech, to a typically adoring crowd, and was introduced, unexpectedly, by his wife before taking the podium.
Vice News
4: UN says civilians at extreme risk as west Mosul offensive begins
Iraqi forces have launched a long-awaited offensive to retake west Mosul, making cautious advances towards the city’s airport ahead of a push into heavily populated residential areas, where up to 3,000 Islamic State fighters have vowed to defend their last urban stronghold in Iraq.
An estimated 650,000 civilians are trapped in the west of the city, and the UN said on Sunday that many people were “at extreme risk”, with fuel and food supplies dwindling and drinking water and electricity scarce.
Plumes of smoke were seen as US airstrikes supported the early advance, which met limited resistance as forces probed areas of south and south-west Mosul. More dogged clashes are expected when troops near the urban centre, which is known to have been fortified by members of Isis’s elite fighting units.
The Guardian
3: Images of new bleaching on Great Barrier Reef heighten fears of coral death
The embattled Great Barrier Reef could face yet more severe coral bleaching in the coming month, with areas badly hit by last year’s event at risk of death.
Images taken by local divers last week and shared exclusively with the Guardian by the Australian Marine Conservation Society show newly bleached corals discovered near Palm Island.
Most of the Great Barrier Reef has been placed on red alert for coral bleaching for the coming month by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Its satellite thermal maps have projected unusually warm waters off eastern Australia after an extreme heatwave just over a week ago saw land temperatures reach above 47C in parts of the country.
According to the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, sea surface temperatures from Cape Tribulation to Townsville have been up to 2C higher than normal for the time of year for more than a month.
The Guardian
2: Samuel Ronan: Democrats ignored working class for years
Voting for the head of the US Democratic National Committee (DNC) has come at a critical time for the party battling to define itself.
After the 2016 election, Republicans took control of US House of Representatives, Senate, presidency and two-thirds of state governments.
Debbie Wasserman Schultz resigned as the DNC chair last July last as leaks revealed the governing body of the Democratic Party favoured presidential candidate Hillary Clinton over Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders.
The vote for a new leader will take place on February 25; the race has thickened with several prominent candidates putting forth their candidacy.
Aljazeera
1: AS CONSTRUCTION NEAR STANDING ROCK RESTARTS, PIPELINE FIGHTS FLARE ACROSS THE U.S.
UNDER ORDERS FROM President Donald Trump, the Army Corps of Engineers on February 7 approved a final easement allowing Energy Transfer Partners to drill under the Missouri River near the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation in North Dakota. Construction has restarted, and lawyers for the company say it could take as little as 30 days for oil to flow through the Dakota Access pipeline.
While the Standing Rock Sioux and neighboring tribes attempt to halt the project in court, other opponents of the pipeline have launched what they’re calling a “last stand,” holding protests and disruptive actions across the U.S. In North Dakota, where it all began, a few hundred people continue to live at camps on the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation, using them as bases for prayer and for direct actions to block construction. Last week, camps were served eviction notices from Gov. Doug Burgum and from the Bureau of Indian Affairs, demanding that they clear the biggest camp, Oceti Sakowin, by Wednesday and a smaller camp, Sacred Stone, within 10 days.
The Intercept
