- DR. AMERICA
Bloomberg
1. Obama to Nominate Surgeon General
Say hello to the new caretaker of our nation's public health. President Obama plans to nominate Dr. Vivek Hallegere Murthy as the next surgeon general. Murthy is a Harvard Medical School physician and co-founder of the nonprofit Doctors for America, which was launched in 2008 as Doctors for Obama, and aims to bring affordable and high-quality health care to the nation. He will replace current acting Surgeon General Boris Lushniak if confirmed by the Senate.
- 'THE CARTEL'
Kris Connor/Getty
2. U.S. Investigates Bank Trading
A group of traders from the world's largest banks nicknamed "the cartel" have been forming alliances and trading for their own profits, according to the suspicions of federal investigators. They allege the traders planned to change the prices of foreign currencies to aid their banks' investments, but hurt clients. “The manipulation we’ve seen so far may just be the tip of the iceberg,” said U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder. The case includes employees of Barclays, the Royal Bank of Scotland, and Citigroup.
- THANK YOU, LORD
Nathan Denette/AP
3. Mayor Rob Ford Gets a TV Show
Drugs, sex, and politics all make for great TV, which means Toronto Mayor Rob Ford is already the breakout reality show star of the year. On Thursday, not long after a bizarre quip about oral sex, Canada's Sun News Network announced that Ford and his brother, a City Council member, will be hosting a TV show called Ford Nation, launching Monday. "Mayor Ford seems to be in a no-holds-barred mode," the network warned. "There is no filter. There is no careful treading." Ford has been under fire after admitting he smoked crack in a "drunken stupor," and has now faced a slew of allegations about drug use, drinking alcohol while driving, and bringing an alleged escort back to the office.
- MYSTERY SOLVED
AFP/Getty
4. Missing Pussy Riot Member Found
Missing Pussy Riot member Nadezhda Tolokonnikova has been found. The jailed Russian rocker and activist was located at a hospital in Siberia, having some tests done for symptoms related to her prison hunger strike. Tolokonnikova’s family had been searching for her for 24 days, after she was moved from her prison colony in Mordovia without the ability to contact anyone. Her husband, Peter Verzilov, told Rolling Stone that Tolokonnikova is in good health. “She said conditions and treatment were OK, but that the one thing was that she was in very strict isolation,” Verzilov said. Whether she will carry out the rest of her two year sentence for hooliganism is still unclear.
- TROUBLESHOOTING
Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty
5. President Plans to Fix Obamacare
Acknowledging his signature law's “rough” rollout, President Obama said today he had instituted a patch to the Affordable Care Act. The fix will save insurance policies that were supposed to dissolve at the end of this year. Insurance companies will be required, however, to inform customers if their plans don’t comply with Obamacare’s rules about minimum benefits. Obama specifically addressed complaints from people who were notified that they could not keep the insurance they already have, despite having reiterated the motto “if you like your health care, you can keep it,” in the lead-up to the law’s enactment. "You deserve better," he said.
- INTERNATIONAL OPERATION
CNN
6. 368 Kids Rescued in Porn Bust
An incredible 386 children across the globe were rescued in a massive child pornography investigation stemming out of Toronto, Canada, and 348 people were arrested in the operation. Those arrested—100 of whom were in Canada and 78 in America—included school teachers, doctors, and actors. The investigation began in 2010 with a Toronto man accused of running a child pornography video distribution company, which ended up operating in more than 50 countries.
- GRILLING
Alex Wong
7. Yellen Aces Senate Hearing
Looks like someone ate their Wheaties this morning. Janet Yellen, President Obama’s nominee to head the Federal Reserve, spoke freely and confidently Thursday at what looks poised to be a "cakewalk" confirmation hearing. "I don't think the Fed ever can be, or should be, a prisoner of the markets," Yellen said in response to a question about the Fed's reliance on the market. While the chairman of the committee, Sen. Tim Johnson, has already said he is “excited” to vote for Yellen, she faced tough questions from Republicans on the committee, specifically Bob Corker who voted against her Fed vice chair nomination in 2010.
- GUILTY
AP
8. Whitey Bulger Gets Two Life Terms
Boston mob boss James "Whitey" Bulger was sentenced to two consecutive life terms, plus five years, after being convicted of racketeering, extortion, money laundering, obstruction of justice, narcotics distribution, and participation in eleven murders. The 84-year-old mobster had been on the run for sixteen years before being arrested by the FBI in 2011. "Your crimes were all the more heinous because they were all about money," U.S. District Judge Denise Casper said. "You have, over time, become the face of this City. That is regrettable." On Wednesday, Bulger had refused to look at the victims during a sentence hearing.
- CRISIS AVERTED
9. Wisc. Shooting Suspect Arrested
Wanted felon Ashanti Hendricks, 22, has been arrested on suspicion of firing shots at the Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin Thursday afternoon. Police received a tip about a wanted suspect at around 11:11 a.m., but according to the hospital, the shooter wasn’t confirmed in the building until an hour later. The hospital was then put on lockdown. Police found the suspect in the neonatal unit holding a baby. When he was told he was under arrest, Hendricks put down the baby and ran. He reportedly pointed his gun at the officers but did not fire. One officer shot at Hendricks and hit him in the wrist, but no one else was hurt.
- HE'S BACK
Alberto E Rodriguez
10. Chris Brown Leaves Rehab
Only time will tell if he stays off TMZ. Troubled singer Chris Brown has left his Los Angeles rehabilitation facility and is continuing his treatment for anger issues as an outpatient doing community service work. Brown voluntarily entered the facility after he was arrested in Washington D.C. for fighting with a man that left him with a misdemeanor assault charge.
- NO WAY
Lynne Sladky/AP
11. Beard Prevents Yankee Signing
How much is your facial hair worth to you? New York Yankees General Manager Brian Cashman had shown interest in Brian Wilson, the former Giants closer — known for his voluminous and unkempt beard— as a replacement for the recently retired Mariano Rivera. But there’s just one problem: The Yankees have a decades-old, very strict facial hair policy, which requires neatly groomed mustaches and no hair below the lip. According to Wilson’s agent, the bearded closer has stated that he won’t shave it off. Period. Cashman’s response? “Cross him off the list.”
- AWKWARD
Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press/AP
12. Ford: Sorry for Oral Sex Comments
When it rains it pours. After delivering jaw-dropping statementsabout oral sex on live TV Thursday morning, infamous Toronto Mayor Rob Ford apologized in a statement to the press. "The revelations yesterday of cocaine, escorts and prostitution has pushed me over the line and I used unforgivable language. These allegations are 100% lies," he said. Mayor “McCrack,” then confirmed that he’s receiving treatment from medical professionals. Meanwhile, Ford Motor Co. is still reeling after supporters of the mayor adopted the company’s $23.4 billion logo as their own, printing T-shirts with the words “Ford Nation.”
- BITTER
Matt Sayles/Invision/AP
13. Mariah Slams ‘American Idol’
Hindsight is always 20/20. In an interview with HOT 97 radio on Wednesday, star Mariah Carey sipped Champagne and dissed the Fox show American Idol. “Honestly, I hated it,” said Carey. “I thought it was going to be a three-person panel… But it wasn’t that. It was like going to work every day in hell with Satan.” Given her on-air feuding with singer Nicki Minaj, many have taken that comment to be about her. Carey will not be on the panel when the show returns in 2014, and says she has no plans to ever judge on reality-TV again.
- SAD
Genya Savilov/AFP/Getty
14. Ukraine Delays Freeing Ex-Leader
Ukraine’s parliament postponed on Wednesday consideration of a bill that would have freed Yulia V. Tymoshenko, the jailed former prime minister, and allowed her medical treatment in Germany. The release of Tymoshenko, whose jailing many in the West saw as illegitimate and motivated by her opponents, is a precondition for a series of political and trade deals between Ukraine and Western countries. In addition, two other bills required by the European Union for trade agreements were delayed by President Viktor F. Yanukovich’s party. Russia has threatened Ukraine financially and politically if it goes forward with agreements to align itself with the EU. Tymoshenko is allegedly suffering from extreme back pain.
- BURNED
Jae C. Hong/AP
15. Snapchat Rejects $3B Offer
In a sign of just how hot the tech market has gotten, Snapchat, the popular photo messaging service, has spurned an all-cash offer from Facebook for $3 billion. Snapchat, which allows people to take pictures, draw on them, and have them disappear after a certain amount of time, is run by its 23-year-old founder Evan Spiegel. Snapchat is also being pursued by Chinese tech giant Tencent Holdings, which offered an investment that would value the service at $4 billion. Spiegel reportedly will not consider any offers until 2014, as he believes Snapchat's continued rapid growth will engender an even higher valuation.
- GROSS
Will Oliver/AFP/Getty
16. ‘Fifty Shades’ Book Has Herpes
You’ve been a bad, bad book. Two professors in Belgium decided to perform toxicology and bacterial screenings on the 10 most popular books at the Antwerp library. The study came back with a couple of surprises. The popular erotic novel Fifty Shades of Grey tested positive for the herpes virus. Fear not Fifty Shades lovers, the professors say the concentrations of the virus were not high enough to create a public health risk or to contract it by touching the book. In addition, all 10 books contained traces of cocaine. The amounts are not enough that people would get high, but are enough that people might test positive for the drug.
- TOO SLOW
Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg, via Getty Images
17. 106,185 Enrolled in Obamacare
It's better than single digits. There are 106,185 people who signed up for health-care coverage using the federal and state-run online marketplaces in the first month, the Obama administration announced Wednesday. Of those, 79,391 used state-run exchanges, and 26,794 signed up on the problematic Healthcare.gov site. The total number is far below the predicted half-million expected to sign up this past month, and represents 1.5 percent of the estimated number of Americans who need to sign up by the March 31 deadline. On a conference call after the numbers were announced, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius declared to reporters, "Even with the issues we've had, the marketplace is working."
- WATCH OUT
Chung Sung-Jun/Getty
18. Putin Earns 9th Degree Black Belt
Your move, Obama. Already considered the most powerful person in the world by Forbes, Vladimir Putin added to his wins by being awarded an honorary ninth Dan ranking in tae kwon do. The martial-arts fanatic (he earned a black belt in judo) said, "I don't think I have earned such a high Dan," upon receiving the honorary title.
Here is what's happening at the Left leaning Daily Beast, the best of the Left:
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment