TheDailyBlog.nz Top 5 News Headlines Monday 22nd February 2016

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5: Jeb Bush Drops Out After Fifth Place Finish in South Carolina

After months of lagging poll numbers and failing to place in the top tier in the South Carolina primary that Donald Trump is projected to win, Jeb Bush said a tearful goodbye to the presidential race Saturday night.

“The people of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina have spoken and I really respect their decision. So tonight, I am suspending my campaign,” said a visibly tearful Bush from his campaign’s headquarters in Columbia, South Carolina. “I congratulate my competitors who remain on the island and have fought hard in this race,” he added.

Bush ended his campaign after a disappointing finish in South Carolina. Despite months of campaigning, the aid of a well-funded super PAC and an appearance by his brother in South Carolina this week, he is currently slated to come in fifth place with just 8 percent of the vote, as the state continues tallying votes.

Although Bush was initially considered the frontrunner in 2016, his campaign has struggled to find traction throughout this election season. He failed to crack the top three in any state that has voted so far, despite high name recognition and having two former presidents as a father and older brother. Bush placed fourth place in New Hampshire and sixth in Iowa before that.

Vice News

4: Al Qaeda Has Seized Another City and Now Controls a Swath of Southern Yemen

Al Qaeda has reportedly consolidated its control over a swath of southern Yemen by seizing Ahwar, a strategic coastal city in Abyan province that, along with its surrounding district, is home to more than 30,000 people

Residents of Ahwar said on Saturday that dozens of al Qaeda fighters had taken control of the city. Ahwar is an important geographic link between the major port city of Mukalla to the east and the smaller town of Zinjibar, both of which al Qaeda seized months ago.

“At dawn this morning the al Qaeda gunmen clashed with the Popular Resistance forces, killing three of them,” one resident said. “They attacked the sheikh in charge of the area, and after he escaped set up street checkpoints and planted their black flag on government buildings.”

Separately, two gunmen riding a motorbike killed one of the most senior commanders in the Popular Resistance, a loose confederation of southern militias opposed to al Qaeda.

Vice News

3: Clinton regains momentum after win over Sanders in Nevada

Hillary Clinton defeated Bernie Sanders in the Nevada caucuses on Saturday, in a much-needed victory that nonetheless revealed vulnerabilities in her campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination.

With the majority of precincts reporting, Clinton had 52.7% of the vote, to Sanders’ 47.2%. After a race that initially appeared to be neck-and-neck, the result was called by the Associated Press shortly after 2.20pm local time.

The Guardian 

2: Edward Snowden would be willing to return to US for fair trial

Edward Snowden has told supporters he would be willing to return to the US if the government could guarantee a fair trial.

The former National Security Agency contractor, who has been living in Russia since June 2013, said he would present a public interest defence of his decision to leak thousands of classified intelligence documents if he appeared before a US jury. “I’ve told the government I would return if they would guarantee a fair trial where I can make a public interest defence of why this was done and allow a jury to decide,” Snowden told a libertarian conference, the New Hampshire Liberty Forum.

The Guardian

1: Syrian cities reel from deadly bombings

A series of blasts have hit near a Shia shrine in Syria’s capital Damascus, according to state TV, just hours after a twin bombing in the central city of Homs killed dozens of people.

State television on Sunday said “three terrorist attacks” near the Sayyida Zeinab shrine, located in a southern suburb of Damascus, had left at least 30 people dead, including several schoolchildren.

The attack was claimed via social media by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group, which has seized territory in Syria and Iraq.

At the end of January, bombings claimed by ISIL killed at least 70 people near the same shrine.

Sayyida Zeinab is believed to contain the grave of a granddaughter of Prophet Muhammad and is particularly revered as a pilgrimage site by Shia faithful.

Aljazeera