Beauty & Personal care

As Xi Tightens His Grip on China, U.S. Sees Conflict Ahead

By MARK LANDLER from NYT U.S. http://ift.tt/2BTTBkt

Hope Hicks Acknowledges She Sometimes Tells White Lies for Trump

By NICHOLAS FANDOS from NYT U.S. http://ift.tt/2Fdx6cB

11 Sickened by Hazardous Envelope Opened on Military Base

By THOMAS GIBBONS-NEFF from NYT U.S. http://ift.tt/2F9Q0AL

Judge Orders Tarps Removed From Confederate Statues in Charlottesville

By MATTHEW HAAG from NYT U.S. http://ift.tt/2BWXLs5

Quotation of the Day: N.R.A. Battle Pits Business Against G.O.P.

By Unknown Author from NYT Today’s Paper http://ift.tt/2EYl6MG

Review: ‘The Amateurs’ Takes On God, Noah’s Ark and the Plague. For Laughs.

By JESSE GREEN from NYT Theater http://ift.tt/2F86dXk

Flying Taxis May Be Years Away, but the Groundwork Is Accelerating

By DAISUKE WAKABAYASHI from NYT Technology http://ift.tt/2F7jbVj

Corrections: February 28, 2018

By Unknown Author from NYT Corrections http://ift.tt/2CO6N7j

What We’re Reading

By Compiled by ANDREA KANNAPELL from NYT Times Insider http://ift.tt/2GPr7aU

Marching Orders

By DEB AMLEN from NYT Crosswords & Games http://ift.tt/2FBKzZp

Steve Wynn Is Accused of Rape and Coercion in Police Reports

By ASSOCIATED PRESS from NYT Business Day http://ift.tt/2CMHqmz

The Life, Death and Career of Harper Lee

By THE NEW YORK TIMES from NYT Arts http://ift.tt/2owlmZ7

Rare blue ice stacks 'as high as a three-story building' form along Michigan's Great Lakes

In the middle of her work shift Sunday morning, Tori Burley received a text from her father that gave her a tingle of excitement: "The blue ice is back!"

from FOX News http://ift.tt/2CpEmAV

Discovery of giant hand axes suggest a prehistoric 'Game of Thrones' scenario in ancient Europe

Even our earliest human ancestors made and used technology — something we can look back on thanks to the lasting nature of stone tools.

from FOX News http://ift.tt/2oF3eLU

Israeli gardener discovers remarkable 700-year-old 'Santa Claus' ring

A gardener in Israel has unearthed a rare bronze ring bearing the image of St. Nicholas that dates back to the Middle Ages.

from FOX News http://ift.tt/2oALGjW

Extremely rare copy of the Declaration of Independence, once hidden behind wallpaper, surfaces

An extremely rare copy of the Declaration of Independence that was hidden behind wallpaper to protect it from ransacking Civil War troops, has surfaced.

from FOX News http://ift.tt/2F1Lhhy

Could methane on Saturn's moon Enceladus be a sign of life?

Some hardy Earth microbes could likely survive in the Saturn moon Enceladus' buried ocean, gobbling up hydrogen produced by interactions between seawater and rock, a new study suggests.

from FOX News http://ift.tt/2oBhoxz

Bugs found in the driest spot on Earth could indicate life on Mars

Freak rains in the driest part of the world have revealed hidden microbes that could point to what life on Mars might look like.

from FOX News http://ift.tt/2owfbE8

Water may be all over the Moon, giving new hope for sustained life

It may not be as widely available as say a bottle of Poland Spring, but the water on the Moon may be more widely available than first thought, giving new hope for its potential.

from FOX News http://ift.tt/2CMpp7A

The universe is expanding faster than we thought, Hubble data suggests

Recent Hubble Space Telescope findings suggest that the universe is expanding much faster than expected — and astronomers say the rules of physics may need to be rewritten in order to understand why.

from FOX News http://ift.tt/2FbFoBK

Copy of Declaration of Independence was hidden behind wallpaper

When John Quincy Adams was not yet president but secretary of state, he ordered that 200 copies of the Declaration of Independence be made, as the then-40-year-old calfskin document was already becoming tough to read.

from FOX News http://ift.tt/2otbCyE

'The left is creating a crisis': conservative activists respond to Florida shooting

CPAC – the annual conference for conservative activists, which is sponsored by the NRA – occurred less than two weeks after the Parkland school shooting. The Guardian spoke with attendees including Sebastian Gorka, Katie Hopkins and Mark Burns about gun ownership, Parkland conspiracy theories and policy reform in the wake of the massacre

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from US news | The Guardian http://ift.tt/2GOnmTa

Robert Mueller drops many charges against ex-Trump aide cooperating in Russia inquiry

Special counsel in Russia investigation drops almost two dozen fraud charges against former Paul Manafort associate Rick Gates

Trump-Russia investigation: the key questions answered

The special counsel investigating possible collusion between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin has dropped nearly two dozen criminal fraud charges against a key witness who has agreed to cooperate in the investigation.

A court filing on Tuesday showed that prosecutors working for Robert Mueller dropped some charges against Rick Gates, a former aide to the Trump campaign who previously worked as a lobbyist for pro-Russian interests, just days after he was indicted for participating in a conspiracy to hide millions of dollars in fees he was paid for lobbying work and evade US taxes.

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from US news | The Guardian http://ift.tt/2EWOuD3

'We got Bannoned': Trump aide Hope Hicks frustrates House panel on Russia

Communications director refuses to answer some questions
House intelligence committee is investigating Trump-Russian links

A member of the House intelligence committee said “We got Bannoned” on Tuesday, after a closed-door interview with Hope Hicks, a key aide to Donald Trump, as part of the panel’s Russia investigation.

Bloomberg reported that Denny Heck, a Washington Democrat, invoked Bannon, Trump’s former campaign manager and White House strategist, who refused to answer some questions in front of the panel.

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from US news | The Guardian http://ift.tt/2FzttuY

Could this 'military guy' Democrat find a magic formula to win back blue-collar voters?

Richard Ojeda is part of a wave of Democrats who have the ability to connect with working class white voters in districts where Trump won by double digits

When Richard Ojeda first comes into view, he barrels down the hallway like a bowling ball and with barely a pleasantry exchanged, he’s already on the attack.

“I’m fit’na light a fire today!” are nearly the first words out of the West Virginia state senator’s mouth. He’s animated about a state supreme court justice accused of bilking taxpayers with a lavish office redesign, including a $32,000 couch. “You’re gonna see how I roll, just wait.”

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from US news | The Guardian http://ift.tt/2GO5t6M

Monica Lewinsky says Bill Clinton affair was ‘gross abuse of power’

Former intern says she suffered from PTSD after relationship and praises #MeToo movement

The former White House intern Monica Lewinsky has said the affair that led to impeachment proceedings against Bill Clinton was not sexual assault, but “constituted a gross abuse of power”.

Writing in the March issue of Vanity Fair, Lewinsky also said she was in awe of the sheer courage of women who have been confronting entrenched beliefs and institutions.

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from US news | The Guardian http://ift.tt/2HPCNeV

Trump names Brad Parscale to manage 2020 re-election campaign

Parscale, an ally of Jared Kushner, worked for the Trump Organization and was the Trump campaign’s digital director in 2016

Donald Trump has named former digital adviser Brad Parscale as campaign manager of his 2020 re-election campaign.

In a statement, the Trump campaign said Parscale will lead “advanced planning” for the 2020 effort, and that the campaign will also be engaged in the 2018 midterm elections, which are shaping up to be a challenging environment for Republicans.

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from US news | The Guardian http://ift.tt/2FzWjvg

Bernie Sanders' son running for Congress in New Hampshire

Levi Sanders is joining seven other Democrats and three Republicans in the race for the 1st congressional district

Bernie Sanders’ son says he is running for Congress in New Hampshire.

Levi Sanders is joining seven other Democrats and three Republicans in the race for the 1st congressional district. Democratic representative Carol Shea-Porter is stepping down after her term ends.

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from US news | The Guardian http://ift.tt/2Crpe5W

'I was high as hell': Flea, Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist, attacks prescription of OxyContin

The musician wrote about his drug addiction in Time magazine, and argued ‘it’s hard to beat temptation’ when doctors prescribe opioids

Flea, the bassist in Red Hot Chili Peppers, has laid bare his struggles with addiction, and attacked the prescription of the controversial opioid painkiller OxyContin.

Flea, born Michael Balzary, wrote the revelations in an opinion piece for Time magazine called The Temptation of Drugs is a Bitch. In it he says he started smoking weed aged 11, before he “proceeded to snort, shoot, pop, smoke, drop and dragon chase my way through my teens and 20s.” He added that he had some “close calls” with death as a result of his drug-taking, which he “cut out forever” in 1993, aged 30.

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from US news | The Guardian http://ift.tt/2CMDcel

Pregnancy is a life experience I’d rather avoid. That doesn’t mean I’m selfish | Arwa Mahdawi

Society still frowns on women who don’t want to go through having children – despite the immense toll it can take on them. Why?

I recently conducted a very scientific study in the pub with some straight male friends. “Have you ever wanted to experience pregnancy?” I asked. The answer was an emphatic “absolutely not”. In the interests of methodological rigorousness, I rephrased my question. “Do you ever feel sad you aren’t able to experience what it’s like to grow a human inside you?” Again, 100% of respondents answered with some variation of, “Hell, no.”

My investigations were prompted by a scientific study published in the journal Human Reproduction. The official title of the study is Parity Associated With Telomere Length Among US Reproductive-Age Women, but a more accurate title would be Yet More Evidence That Pregnancy Is Torture. Not only does pregnancy mess with your hormones, it appears to mess up your DNA; giving birth may add the equivalent of 11 years to a woman’s biological age.

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from US news | The Guardian http://ift.tt/2FBTHgG

America's unions could be dismantled. Progressives must unite now | Tom Steyer

It is time to raise our unified voice for a positive agenda that puts the American people ahead of corporate profits

During the March on Washington in 1963, Dr Martin Luther King Jr spoke about “the fierce urgency of now”, underscoring the immediate and pressing need to take strong and immediate action to advance civil rights. It couldn’t wait. Today, communities across the country find themselves in a similar moment, fighting politicians who are hellbent on enacting Donald Trump’s noxious agenda of inequality and injustice.

The most recent incarnation: a supreme court case, Janus v AFSCME Council 31, intent on stripping away the rights of working people to join together in their unions, an attack on a basic American right.

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from US news | The Guardian http://ift.tt/2sYS1ed

Why we're psychologically hardwired to blame the victim

We want the world to be fair: the good will be rewarded, the evil punished. As a result, we blame the victims of misfortune

Outclassed: The Secret Life of Inequality is our column about class. Read all articles here

“Why I stayed” is the title of the blog entry.

In it, Jennifer Willoughby, the ex-wife of former White House staff secretary Rob Porter, lists abuses she says she endured, including being called a “fucking bitch”, and being physically prevented from leaving the house.

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from US news | The Guardian http://ift.tt/2HRo3wb

I was assaulted by a director. Now I'm giving up sex | Sarah Doyle

My assault is not the worst thing that has happened to me but it has made me confront my understanding of desire

#MeToo has kicked up the dust of some collective sexual pain. Sexuality itself is at battle. The French backlash against the semantically sinister #BalanceTonPorc (Call out your pig) fears a wave of puritanism, which has sparked some nods and some outrage. The movement continues its nuanced conversation.

I was assaulted by a Hollywood director and, in the wake of Weinstein, I have put in an incident report with LAPD. NYPD and Beverly Hills PD have since opened up an investigation against my abuser. Since reporting the assault, I have become part of a group of women who banded together on Twitter. We have met several times on either conference calls or meet-ups in LA streamed to others in other parts of the country, to further our mission for a safer society for women.

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from US news | The Guardian http://ift.tt/2GLF8Gt

LeBron James unsurprised by illegal payment claims around 'corrupt' NCAA

Cleveland Cavaliers star chose to skip college for NBA
Says colleges benefit more from players from amateur system

As college basketball finds itself mired in scandal, with allegations of illegal payments to student athletes flying around, one man who famously skipped the collegiate system has had his say.

LeBron James opted to go straight to the NBA after high school and said he wasn’t surprised to hear of the claims and had withering words for college sports’ governing body, the NCAA. “Kids getting paid is nothing new under the sun,” the three-time NBA champion told ESPN. “The NCAA is corrupt, we know that. Sorry, it’s going to make headlines, but it’s corrupt.”

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from US news | The Guardian http://ift.tt/2EXHVQs

NFL seeks $2m from Cowboys owner Jones after clashes over Elliott and Goodell

Jones wanted to derail NFL commissioner’s extension talks
Dallas team owner also fought suspension of star running back

The NFL is exploring options to get more than $2m in reimbursement for legal fees from Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones over his threat to derail Commissioner Roger Goodell’s contract extension, as well as court costs for running back Ezekiel Elliott’s fight to avoid a six-game suspension, said a person with knowledge of the situation.

Many NFL owners were consulted on seeking restitution, including members of the finance committee, according to AP’s source. Some of the finance committee members are on the compensation committee that was at the center of what became a legal back-and-forth over Goodell’s deal.

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from US news | The Guardian http://ift.tt/2BT1Ygc

Mark Cuban: NBA's populist billionaire hit hard as scandal envelops Mavericks

As allegations of sexual harassment and violence at the franchise, the Mavs owner appears to be either complicit or incompetent

This was how Mark Cuban fared last week: fined a colossal sum for being too honest, the day after a report of grotesque behaviour at his basketball team drew questions about his potential role in what amounts to a long-running sexual harassment cover-up.

He’s either complicit or incompetent: two very off-brand prospects for a man who has burnished a reputation as an entrepreneur-savant and an American dream embodiment, bartender to self-made billionaire. Of course, he wrote a self-help book. It was called How to Win at the Sport of Business - If I Can Do It, You Can Do It.

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from US news | The Guardian http://ift.tt/2CJD6Ex

Five years ago Stephen Curry's 54-point game helped redefine the NBA

LeBron James is this era’s best player, but the Warriors guard has become its defining one. In February 2013, we saw a glimpse of the league’s future

Whatever debate once existed has long since been put to rest: the NBA is a three-point league. Teams are hoisting them at a higher rate than ever before – 28.9 attempts per game, at the latest tally. If the season’s trends hold, the Houston Rockets will become the first team in history to take more threes than twos, but they surely will not be the last. Everywhere you look are players willing to hoist it, with the analytics to back them up.

If you were trying to pinpoint the start of this spacious, audacious, and wildly entertaining era of professional basketball, you could do worse than 27 February 2013. In a contest that evening between the Golden State Warriors and the New York Knicks in Madison Square Garden, the Warriors’ 24-year-old point guard, Stephen Curry, hit 11 of 13 shots from behind the arc en route to a 54-point performance. Statistically, the game wasn’t really all that different from the half-dozen or so similar outbursts that crop up every season, when a gifted player becomes unstoppable for a couple hours, and it didn’t end up perfectly, with the Warriors losing by four. But to revisit it now, five years later, is to see something singular: a statement of purpose for a different sport.

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from US news | The Guardian http://ift.tt/2EY2rQX

US housing department to spend $165,000 on own furniture as it faces $6.8bn budget cut

Spending is in addition to $31,000 dining set for Ben Carson’s office
Proposed budget cuts would affect poor and homeless Americans

The US Department of Housing and Urban Development (Hud) has agreed to spend $165,000 on “lounge furniture” for its Washington headquarters, in addition to a $31,000 dining set purchased for housing secretary Ben Carson’s office.

The revelations on Tuesday of Carson’s expensive decor spending come as Donald Trump’s administration has proposed a cut of $6.8bn to Hud’s annual budget, or roughly 14% of its total spending, which would lead to reductions in programs aimed at poor and homeless Americans.

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from US news | The Guardian http://ift.tt/2F0MV2T

What gun control proposals are being considered – and will they succeed?

Efforts to ban bump stocks, improve background checks and arm teachers are among ideas officials have recently floated

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from US news | The Guardian http://ift.tt/2F8AeGo

US official: I was demoted for rejecting Ben Carson's costly office revamp

Exclusive: Senior housing officer says she was replaced by a Trump appointee and told ‘$5,000 will not even buy a decent chair’

A senior career official in the US Department of Housing and Urban Development has alleged that she was demoted and replaced with a Donald Trump appointee after refusing to break the law by funding an expensive redecoration of Ben Carson’s office.

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from US news | The Guardian http://ift.tt/2CJCUVP

Federal Reserve chairman tells Congress US economy 'remains strong'

Jerome Powell indicates gradual increase in interest rates this year
New chairman avoids controversy in first congressional testimony

The US economy “remains strong”, the Federal Reserve chairman, Jerome Powell, told Congress on Tuesday as he signaled the central bank is on course to carry on gradually increasing interest rates in the coming months.

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from US news | The Guardian http://ift.tt/2FalkzC

Hawk or dove? Bitcoin is forcing central banks to take sides | Howard Davies

Love them or hate them it seems cryptocurrencies and the blockchain are too big to ignore

A few days ago, President Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela announced that his government had launched the petro, a new state-sponsored cryptocurrency. He claimed that $735m (£529m) worth of the new currency had already been sold, though observers are sceptical, unless state entities have been obliged to buy them. Even they will find it hard to do so, however, as the technology platform on which the petro will be traded has not yet been confirmed.

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from US news | The Guardian http://ift.tt/2COLJOg

Putin concludes 'no price to pay’ for Russia cyber attacks, says NSA chief – video

Adm Mike Rogers, director of the National Security Agency, tells lawmakers that Putin has concluded that Russia can pursue digital warfare against the US with impunity

NSA chief: Trump ‘has not ordered disruption of Russia election meddling’

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from US news | The Guardian http://ift.tt/2oAZ1IZ

Afghanistan's Ghani offers talks with Taliban 'without preconditions'

KABUL (Reuters) - Afghan President Ashraf Ghani offered recognition of the Taliban as a legitimate political group on Wednesday as part of a proposed political process that he said could lead to talks aimed at ending more than 16 years of war.

from Reuters: World News http://ift.tt/2sXfwUY

China's military flexes muscles for domestic objective: more funding

BEIJING (Reuters) - With stealth jets entering service, leaked pictures of new high-tech naval artillery and proud reports of maneuvers that "dare to shine the sword," China's armed forces are putting on a show of power as they lobby for greater defense spending.

from Reuters: World News http://ift.tt/2BXTLrk

Saudi crown prince says corruption purge supports budget: Washington Post

RIYADH (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia's powerful crown prince said the kingdom's anti-corruption crackdown was needed to meet budget targets, comparing the purge to chemotherapy in an interview with the Washington Post published on Wednesday.

from Reuters: World News http://ift.tt/2BXd2Jt

Jerusalem's Church of Holy Sepulchre reopens after protest

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Jerusalem's Church of the Holy Sepulchre, revered as the site of Jesus's crucifixion and burial, reopened on Wednesday after Israel backtracked on Tuesday from a tax plan and draft property legislation that triggered a three-day protest.

from Reuters: World News http://ift.tt/2FBA7kn

Canada gravely concerned by Myanmar's jailing of journalists

GENEVA (Reuters) - Canada is gravely concerned by the imprisonment of two Reuters journalists in Myanmar, Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland told the U.N. Human Rights Council on Tuesday, adding that ethnic cleansing had taken place in Myanmar's Rakhine state.

from Reuters: World News http://ift.tt/2oucd2Z