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• Senators blast Trump administration for coronavirus response -

  Top officials in the Trump administration struggled on Tuesday morning to justify their response to the growing threat of the coronavirus, which has sickened at least 80,423 people around the world and killed at least 2,712. 

  
  

• Sanders gets hit early and often at Democratic presidential debate -

  At the start of Tuesday?s Democratic presidential debate in South Carolina, frontrunner Bernie Sanders came under fire from his rivals.

  
  

• Mom of missing toddler accused of filing false police report -

  The teen mother of a 15-month-old Tennessee girl who is the subject of an Amber Alert is now accused of filing a false police report. Megan Boswell, who has said the toddler?s grandmother took the little girl to Mendota, Virginia, is being held at the Sullivan County jail on a false report charge, according to the Sullivan County Sheriff's Office. The 18-year-old is accused of providing detectives and and agents with a number of conflicting statements during the investigation, The Bristol Herald Courier reported Tuesday night.

  
  

• Firefighter who found brother in rubble dies of 9/11-linked cancer -

  Daniel Foley, who helped find the remains of his firefighter brother in the rubble of the World Trade Center, died at the age of 46 after a battle with pancreatic cancer, officials said.

  
  

• A rare, 'cryptic' rainbow snake was spotted in a Florida forest for the first time since 1969 -

  A rainbow snake, also known as an "eel moccasin," was spotted in Florida's Ocala National Forest for the first time in five decades.

  
  

• Coronavirus pandemic inevitable, U.S. warns as disease spreads across globe -

  SHANGHAI/SEOUL (Reuters) - Asia reported hundreds of new coronavirus cases on Wednesday, including the first U.S. soldier to be infected, as the United States warned of an inevitable pandemic, and outbreaks in Italy and Iran spread to more countries. Asian shares fell on Wednesday as the U.S. warning to Americans to prepare for a likely coronavirus pandemic jolted Wall Street again and pushed yields on safe-haven Treasuries to record lows. The disease is believed to have originated in a market selling wildlife in the Chinese city of Wuhan late last year and has infected about 80,000 people and killed more than 2,700, the vast majority in China.

  
  

• New cases of coronavirus in other countries exceeded those in China for the first time on Tuesday -

  The coronavirus may be slowing down in China, but World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Wednesday that it's no time for complacency.In a weekly briefing, Gehbreyesus had some good news about China, especially beyond the Hubei province, where the virus originated. There were reportedly only 10 new cases detected outside of Hubei on Tuesday. On the other hand, Tuesday was the first day in which the number of new cases in other countries exceeded the number in China, in large part because of rapid increases in countries like Iran, Italy, and South Korea. Outside of China, there are now 2,790 reported cases in 37 countries, and 44 deaths.Still, Gehbreyesus pointed out there's been progress in containing the virus' spread, as 14 of those countries haven't reported a new case in more than a week and nine haven't reported a new case in more than two weeks. Of course, that doesn't mean those countries are out of the woods, since more cases could eventually seep their way in, but it does signal the cases that had already made it to those countries have been contained. Read the rest of Gehbreyesus' address here.More stories from theweek.com Harvard scientist predicts coronavirus will infect up to 70 percent of humanity Trump misspells coronavirus in tweet accusing media of making it 'look as bad as possible' Trump's 2014 Ebola freakout was the polar opposite of his coronavirus response

  
  

• ?The View? Warns Warren About Going After Bloomberg: ?Be Very Careful? -

  The View?s Whoopi Goldberg and Joy Behar appeared to rally to Michael Bloomberg?s defense on Wednesday, telling his rival Democratic candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren to be ?very careful? when attacking the ex-mayor because he could easily use the ?Pocahontas thing? against her.Discussing Tuesday night?s chaotic Democratic primary in which Warren confronted the former mayor on his company?s treatment of women and comments he allegedly made to a pregnant female employee, Goldberg seemed to side with Bloomberg?s longtime partner Diana Taylor saying people need to ?get over it? as it was just part of ?bro culture? and happened a long time ago.?What are people expecting to happen?? Goldberg asked before referencing Bloomberg?s release of three ex-employees from non-disclosure agreements. ?They said you need to release this, I thought he did. Is it taking too long for people to read it, or what is it??Goldberg went on to say that she doesn?t think Taylor is trying to excuse Bloomberg?s past behavior before wondering aloud why people are ?upset? about this.Conservative co-host Meghan McCain, meanwhile, said she believes ?people want you to fall on the sword with these issues,? noting that she appeared to be standing by her partner and explaining that ?he?s atoned for that.?Behar then stepped in to credit Bloomberg for apologizing for his past behavior, invoking the public apology he made just before entering the presidential race over his much-maligned stop-and-frisk policy.?Think that he has actually learned?as opposed to a lot of people in politics, who never apologize or backed off,? she declared. ?I think he has really learned from that stop and frisk thing, I think.??And he?s atoned for it, I think, to Meghan?s point,? co-host Sunny Hostin added.After Hostin said that not all men embraced ?bro culture? in the workplace decades ago, Goldberg jumped in to note that there was a ?whole TV show? that proved ?it happened??referencing Mad Men?before asking: ?What do you have to do to prove that you?re sorry??McCain replied that Bloomberg?s team needs to get their ?talking points straight? on this issue because Warren is going to keep ?going for the jugular? on it.?Elizabeth Warren needs to be careful,? Goldberg responded. ?She needs to be very careful with this.??To his credit, he didn?t turn around and say 'what about that ?Pocahontas? thing?' He did not,? Behar added, referencing President Donald Trump?s favorite slur against Warren.The liberal co-host went on to say she was a bit miffed that Bloomberg had donated money to Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) in the past, prompting Goldberg to say he was a ?different guy? back then.?When you have a lot of money I think you have to see who appeals to what you believe in,? she stated. ?As most people know, in reality, no one is one thing.??To that point, if you want somebody who reaches across the aisle, Bloomberg?s your guy,? Behar concluded.Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.

  
  

• Italian hikers rescued in Alaska after visiting infamous bus -

  An Italian man suffering from frostbite and four other tourists were rescued in the Alaska wilderness after visiting an abandoned bus that has become a lure for adventurers since it was featured in the ?Into the Wild? book and movie. Alaska State Troopers say the five Italians were rescued Saturday from a camp they set up after visiting the dilapidated bus on the Stampede Trail near the interior town of Healy. The hikers were found 13 miles from the trailhead, Trooper spokesman Tim DeSpain said.

  
  

• Beijing?s Handling of Coronavirus Has Undermined Chinese Public?s Trust in State Media -

  China's government is facing widespread criticism from its own citizens over its handling of the outbreak of the Wuhan coronavirus.Beijing has launched a massive propaganda campaign with stories of Chinese heroism in the struggle to contain the coronavirus, meant to unify the country's citizens behind the government. However, the government's efforts have faced scorn on Chinese social media, where citizens are openly complaining about the government's response to the crisis, New York Times reported Wednesday.The Times cited a blog post by a lawyer, Deng Xueping, excoriating the government over the coronavirus. Deng mentioned a story circulated on state media about a woman who was treated at a Wuhan hospital, but liked staying in the hospital so much that she didn't want to leave."When many patients in Wuhan were struggling to get treatment, our TV camera chose to turn to one happy outpatient," Deng wrote in the post. "By magnifying one individual?s happiness while hiding the sufferings of most people there, it?s hard to say such coverage was truthful about the epidemic."Some stories put out by state media are completely unbelievable. A newspaper in the city of Xi'an in central China was forced to retract a story detailing how a nurse's newborn twins asked their father where their mother had gone. The Times cited another Chinese newspaper which reported that another nurse's husband, who has been in a vegetative state since 2014, would smile whenever he "heard" his wife's name, "as if he knew that his wife was engaged in a great endeavor."There is also widespread anger over the government's initial condemnation of eight doctors who tried to warn others about the outbreak of the SARS-like illness in Wuhan in late December-early January, before the outbreak took hold in earnest. One of those doctors, Li Wenliang, tried to warn medical school friends of the illness.After Li was reprimanded by the local Wuhan government for spreading "rumors," he contracted the virus from a patient he did not know was infected. Li has since died.China has also changed its diagnostic criteria for the coronavirus multiple times, leading to confusion over the number of confirmed cases in the country. A health official from Hubei Provice, the epicenter of the outbreak, has accused the government of a lack of transparency and accuracy regarding its reporting of cases.

  
  

• McConnell warns Republicans speculation on Sanders as the nominee 'may be a bit foolish' -

  "I?ll leave it up to the Democrats to pick who they?d like to be their candidate," he says.

  
  

• Iran health minister falls ill on camera -

  Video shows Iran's deputy health minister suffering symptoms of the coronavirus at a press conference before being diagnosed.

  
  

• Trump news ? live: President's coronavirus response slammed as 'shameful' as he spends morning picking apart 'crazy' Democrat debate -

  Donald Trump?s White House is facing criticism for its ?insane and depressing? decision to hire 23-year-old college James Bacon for a post in its powerful Presidential Personnel Office under new director John McEntee.The president has just returned from his two-day visit to India where he set in place a lucrative arms deal with Narendra Modi and toured the country?s beauty spots while being shielded from the outbreak of anti-Muslim riots, which left at least 20 people dead in New Dehli.

  
  

• UCLA mom pleads guilty in college admissions case after spending 5 months in Spanish prison -

  Xiaoning Sui, a mother from Canada, pleaded guilty in the college admissions scandal after already spending more than five months in a Spanish prison.

  
  

• India's Modi appeals for calm as riot toll rises to 20 -

  Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi appealed for calm on Wednesday after days of clashes between Hindus and minority Muslims over a controversial citizenship law in some of the worst sectarian violence in the capital in decades. Twenty people were killed and nearly 200 wounded in the violence, a doctor said, with many suffering gunshot wounds amid looting and arson attacks that coincided with a visit to India by U.S. President Donald Trump. Modi's appeal came after a storm of criticism from opposition parties of the government's failure to control the violence, despite the use of tear gas, pellets and smoke grenades.

  
  

• Meet the "Koksan" Big Guns North Korea Has Aimed at South Korea -

  Let's hope it never happens.

  
  

• 30 of the Best Stainless Steel Kitchen Faucets -
• Pete Buttigieg called Mike Bloomberg's stop-and-frisk record 'racist' before admitting he had a 'lot of issues' with policing in South Bend -

  The two candidates have faced scrutiny over their records on policing and racial bias as mayors of New York and South Bend, Indiana.

  
  

• Cambodian refugee deported 2 years ago set to return to US -
• Bernie Sanders says he regrets vote protecting gun manufacturers from liability -

  Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), like everyone else, has some regrets.He let the country know about about one during Tuesday's Democratic primary debate in Charleston, South Carolina. Former Vice President Joe Biden went after Sanders for his past gun control record, which Biden doesn't think is strong enough.Sanders was then asked about previously voting for the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act which shields gun manufacturers from liability in shootings. Instead of immediately pushing back, he admitted he considers that one of the bad votes among the thousands of his votes he's cast during his time in Congress, adding that he now has a D-minus rating from the National Rifle Association.> Sanders, on his past record supporting gun rights: 'I have cast thousands of votes, including bad votes. That was a bad vote. I have today a D- rating from the NRA...30 years ago I supported a ban on assault weapons.' DemDebate pic.twitter.com/R5f5RE8iyK> > ? NowThis (@nowthisnews) February 26, 2020He then went on to point out that Biden also has what he considers bad votes under his belt, like his support for the Iraq War, which Sanders didn't back.More stories from theweek.com Harvard scientist predicts coronavirus will infect up to 70 percent of humanity Trump misspells coronavirus in tweet accusing media of making it 'look as bad as possible' Trump's 2014 Ebola freakout was the polar opposite of his coronavirus response

  
  

• Egypt executes eight men over church bombings: sources -

  Egypt has executed eight men sentenced to death over deadly attacks claimed by the Islamic State group on churches and a police checkpoint, judicial and medical sources said Tuesday. The convicts, whose final appeal against the death penalty was denied in May last year, were put to death at dawn on Monday, the sources said.

  
  

• Rush Limbaugh is under fire for claiming the coronavirus is a 'common cold' being 'weaponized' to bring down Trump -

  Limbaugh accused China of bioterrorism, claiming it was using the coronavirus to destroy the US economy.

  
  

• Supreme Court denies Mexican family's damages claim for cross-border shooting -

  Hundreds of incidents involving deadly force occur along the U.S.-Mexican border every year. President Donald Trump has been trying to build a wall along the border and reduce both legal and illegal immigration.

  
  

• China to Russia: End discriminatory coronavirus measures against Chinese -

  China's embassy in Russia has demanded authorities in Moscow end what it said are discriminatory anti-coronavirus measures against Chinese nationals, saying they are damaging relations and alarming Chinese residents of the Russian capital. The complaint, detailed in an embassy letter to the city's authorities and published by Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta late on Tuesday, deplored what it called "ubiquitous monitoring" of Chinese nationals, including on public transport in Moscow. Russia, which enjoys strong political and military ties with Beijing, does not currently have any confirmed cases of coronavirus, but has temporarily barred many categories of Chinese nationals from entering the country.

  
  

• Valet accidentally shot in the face by Boston police at Brigham and Women's Hospital -

  Police were responding to a call of a person with a gun. The gun was later determined to be a replica and the suspect was fatally shot.

  
  

• Watch Out! Russian Submarines Are Prowling Off the U.S. Coast -

  The number of Russian submarines sailing in distant waters increased by half between the summers of 2018 and 2019, one U.S. general warned.

  
  

• 26 airlines have canceled flights beyond China amid fears coronavirus is spreading globally ? here's the full list -

  As coronavirus spreads across the globe, airlines are cutting services on routes that don't even touch Chinese territory.

  
  

• U.S. appeals court rules Trump 'gag rule' on abortion referral can be enforced -

  A sharply divided federal appeals court on Monday said the Trump administration may enforce a rule labeled by critics as a ?gag rule? that could deprive abortion providers of federal funding for family planning.

  
  

• AP FACT CHECK: Dems implore fact checkers to back them up -

  The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports about 413,000 gun deaths from 2007 to 2018, a far cry from 150 million, which equates to close to half the U.S. population. More than half of the gun deaths in 2018 were from suicide, says the CDC.

  
  

• Arizona congressional candidate suspends campaign after overdosing on heroin: 'I'm not going to hide from this' -

  A Republican running for Congress in Arizona announced on Monday he is suspending his campaign following a heroin overdose last week.Chris Taylor is an Army veteran who served two tours in Afghanistan and a member of the City Council in Safford. He has a history of opioid addiction dating back to his high school years. "I'm not going to hide from this," Taylor told The Arizona Republic. "I'm not ashamed of what happened. I wish to sincerely apologize to the amazing people who have supported me."Taylor told NBC News he is seeking treatment for substance abuse, having relapsed "after having so many solid years in sobriety. I have to figure out where I went wrong. Thankfully I have every resource available to me through the Veterans Affairs Administration and I have the strongest support system one could dream of. The only thing I can do is face this head on in complete humility and put one foot in front of the other so that I can get the help needed to be the father and husband that my family deserves."Taylor was running in Arizona's 1st Congressional District, hoping to unseat Rep. Tom O'Halleran (D). In his campaign ads, Taylor promised to support President Trump, cut taxes, and defend the Second Amendment.More stories from theweek.com Harvard scientist predicts coronavirus will infect up to 70 percent of humanity Democratic candidates yell, interrupt each other during most chaotic debate yet Bloomberg accidentally claims to have 'bought' the 2018 midterm results

  
  

• John Bolton tries to slam Bernie Sanders for Castro remarks, rams headlong into more recent history -

  Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) got some blowback Monday for comments he made on Sunday's 60 Minutes in favor of late Cuban leader Fidel Castro's literacy program. It's not clear many people outside of Florida or under age 70 have strong feelings about Castro anymore ? he died in 2016, after all, and Cuba is now mostly known as a hot vacation spot. And as Sanders also said on 60 Minutes, it's not like he thinks current, nuclear-armed despot "Kim Jong Un is a good friend," and unlike President Trump. "I don't trade love letters with a murdering dictator."Trump's former national security adviser John Bolton clearly did not pay attention to that last part of the interview when he jumped in to slam Sanders for "revealing the extent of his extremism" by suggesting "Castro's communist Cuba is not all bad." So Twitter reminded him.> pic.twitter.com/N3BVcFUKX5> > ? subscribe to my newsletter (@brianbeutler) February 24, 2020In any case, Sanders doesn't seem rattled by the criticism. "You know what? I think teaching people to read and write is a good thing," he said at a CNN town hall in Charleston, South Carolina, on Monday night. "I have been extremely consistent and critical of all authoritarian regimes all over the world ? including Cuba, including Nicaragua, including Saudi Arabia, including China, including Russia. I happen to believe in democracy, not authoritarianism." He still doubled-down on the not-all-bad motif, saying that China, while "becoming more an more authoritarian," has also clearly "taken more people out of extreme poverty than any country in history."More stories from theweek.com Harvard scientist predicts coronavirus will infect up to 70 percent of humanity Democratic candidates yell, interrupt each other during most chaotic debate yet Bloomberg accidentally claims to have 'bought' the 2018 midterm results

  
  

• Could a coronavirus pandemic be stopped? US warns of ?severe? disruptions -

  "Disruption to everyday life may be severe" and impact schools and jobs, a CDC expert says of the coronavirus becoming a pandemic.

  
  

• 'Fear and panic' as virus threatens Afghanistan, Pakistan -

  With porous borders, creaking hospitals and large illiterate populations, Afghanistan and Pakistan face a potentially devastating health crisis after the new coronavirus erupted in neighbouring Iran. Islamabad has closed official border crossings while Kabul has suspended all travel to the Islamic republic, which has reported 15 deaths out of nearly 100 infections -- making it one of the hardest hit countries outside the virus epicentre China. The virus has spread to more than 25 countries, killing over 2,700 and infecting 80,000, mostly in China.

  
  

• 'D.C. Sniper' Malvo can seek parole after change in Virginia law -

  Lee Boyd Malvo, who was 17 when he took part in the deadly 2002 "D.C. Sniper" shooting spree in the Washington area, will get a chance to seek parole in Virginia following a change in state law enacted on Monday, preempting a U.S. Supreme Court ruling on the matter. The change, signed by Democratic Governor Ralph Northam, allows people like Malvo, now 35, who were sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for offenses committed before age 18 to ask for release after 20 years. Malvo, who is incarcerated in a supermax state prison in Virginia's Wise County, and an older accomplice, John Allen Muhammad, were convicted in the shootings in which 10 people were killed.

  
  

• China's Military Is Stealing Its Way To Superpower Status -

  And America and Russia aren't happy.

  
  

• Coronavirus: latest developments worldwide -

  The situation improves in China while the list of countries hit globally grows and the WHO warns the world is "simply not ready". There are some 80,000 infections worldwide, including nearly 2,800 outside China and more than 2,700 deaths worldwide, according to the latest toll from the World Health Organization on Wednesday. The number of deaths in China has declined, with 52 deaths in the last 24 hours, the lowest count in more than three weeks.

  
  

• Trump hires college student as top White House official -

  A university student has been given a top role in the White House, according to three administration officials with knowledge of the matter.James Bacon, a 23-year-old student at George Washington University, will reportedly become the director of operations for the White House?s Presidential Personnel Office (PPO), Politico reported.

  
  

• Bloomberg girlfriend Diana Taylor on concerns over NDAs: 'Get over it...it was a bro culture' -

  The campaign later distanced itself from her comments after a "Women for Mike" rally in Texas.

  
  

• 1,000 tourists on a Spanish island are quarantined in their hotel after one of them tested positive for coronavirus -

  The Costa Adeje Palace is closed and its 1,000 guests stuck inside after an Italian guest was found to have the coronavirus in preliminary tests.

  
  

• Trump ignites backlash with demand Supreme Court justices recuse themselves from cases affecting him -

  President Trump has lashed out at two liberal Supreme Court justices and demanded they recuse themselves from cases related to his administration in an extraordinary attack on the judicial system.

  
  

• Buttigieg campaign lightens expectations for Super Tuesday, but suggests they're in it for the long haul -

  Former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg's campaign manager Mike Schmuhl wants to be realistic about Super Tuesday.In a memo sent Tuesday, Schmuhl said the goal for next week when voters in 14 states, including Texas and California, head to the polls is not to win, but "minimize" frontrunner Sen. Bernie Sanders' (I-Vt.) margin of victory. But, fear not, Buttigieg supporters, that doesn't mean the campaign is giving up. Schmuhl added that the subsequent Tuesdays on March 10 and 17 are where the mayor really has a chance to shine, pointing out that while Super Tuesday accounts for 34 percent of available delegates, those two voting slates account for 28 percent.> In donor memo, Buttigieg campaign manager Mike Schmuhl sets less-than-winning expectations even if they can raise $$: "Our goal is to minimize Sanders' margins on Super Tuesday and rack up delegates in the March 10 and > March 17 contests, which are much more favorable to us."> > -- Henry J. Gomez (@HenryJGomez) February 26, 2020FiveThirtyEight's Nate Silver thinks the memo is admirable in that it sets "realistic expectations," but he also argues it means Buttigieg might eventually have to rely on a contested convention to win the nomination, because without a healthy amount of delegates on Super Tuesday it will become incredibly difficult to win outright. > This is some fairly realistic expectations-setting as these things go, but what's left unsaid is that this makes it almost impossible for Buttigieg to win with a delegate *majority*. He'd need a plurality and/or contested convention. https://t.co/pbrLtjWkzU> > -- Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) February 26, 2020More stories from theweek.com Harvard scientist predicts coronavirus will infect up to 70 percent of humanity Trump misspells coronavirus in tweet accusing media of making it 'look as bad as possible' Trump's 2014 Ebola freakout was the polar opposite of his coronavirus response

  
  

• Beijing orders quarantine for foreign arrivals from virus-hit areas -

  Beijing announced Wednesday that people landing in the Chinese capital from countries hit by the new coronavirus epidemic will have to go into 14-day self-quarantine. A day earlier, more than 250 people arriving in eastern China from South Korea were placed in isolation after passengers on two flights were discovered to have fevers. Beijing had already ordered people returning to the capital to go into self-quarantine following the Lunar New Year holiday but exempted those arriving from abroad.

  
  

• 'People need to know what happened': Soldier fatally shot in domestic violence case -

  Angel Conner was shot six times. To raise awareness about domestic violence, her family had an open casket at her funeral.

  
  

• Time to End California?s Illegal Discrimination Against Pro-Lifers -

  It's time to end religious discrimination.

  
  

• A Wrongfully Convicted Kansas Man Who Spent 23 Years in Prison Is Awarded $1.5 Million -

  Lamonte McIntyre was convicted and sentenced to two terms of life in prison for the murder of Donald Ewing and Doniel Quinn back in 1994. The two victims had been shot in the middle of the day while they sat in their car

  
  

• Coronavirus: Four maps and charts that show how serious the deadly virus is -

  As coronavirus continues to spread to countries across the globe, health organisations are urging governments to prepare for the worst.Currently, there are 81,191 confirmed cases of coronavirus and 2,768 people have died from the respiratory virus.

  
  

• U.S. judge seems skeptical about giving Trump adviser Stone a new trial -

  A U.S. judge on Tuesday signaled skepticism toward a bid by Roger Stone, a longtime adviser to President Donald Trump, to win a new trial based on claims that the jury forewoman was biased, even as Trump assailed her again on Twitter. U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson, who on Thursday sentenced Stone to three years and four months in prison, called two jury members and the forewoman accused by Stone of bias to the witness stand to testify in a hearing that lasted more than four hours. Stone's attorney Seth Ginsberg questioned the forewoman about comments she posted on social media, her answers to a jury selection questionnaire and about whether she read media coverage of the case during the trial.

  
  

• The world's biggest iPhone maker has hired the scientist known as the 'SARS hero' to oversee its reopening as it resumes production -

  Apple's main manufacturing partner, Foxconn, just hired the head of China's coronavirus investigation as an adviser.

  
  

• In Iran, an Electoral Flop -

  What if you held a national election and no one turned out? That?s the situation currently confronting Iranian officials, who are grappling with the aftermath of a truly disastrous outcome in last week?s parliamentary elections.According to the official Fars News Agency, just 42 percent of Iranians voted in the country?s latest parliamentary elections, which took place on Friday. That?s the lowest percentage ever recorded in the 41-year history of the Islamic Republic. (By way of comparison: The turnout for Iran?s last parliamentary elections, in 2016, was approximately 60 percent.) Yet there?s good reason to believe that even those official numbers are inflated, and perhaps significantly so. Outside reports, relying on internal Iranian media sources, indicate that actual voting tallies fell far below the official 42 percent figure, forcing the regime to keep polling stations open longer than planned to scrape together even a minimum number of legitimate votes.If you?ve been paying attention to events in Iran, that lackluster showing shouldn?t come as much of a surprise. Over the past two years, persistent protests in practically every major Iranian city -- and at virtually every stratum of Iranian society -- have showcased a population that has become profoundly disaffected with the country?s clerical regime. These protests have flared anew in recent weeks, following the Iranian government?s accidental January 8 downing of a Ukrainian airliner amid heightened tensions with the United States. That event helped to convince many Iranians that their government is dangerously incompetent, and a real hazard to their own safety.The regime in Tehran responded in predictable fashion: by trying to tighten its hold on political power. Ahead of Friday?s parliamentary vote, Iran?s government disqualified more than 7,000 applicants from running. That in and of itself is hardly new; Iran?s religious institutions have long been used to weed out politicians deemed insufficiently loyal to the country?s governing religious ideology. But this time, the ranks of those disqualified included dozens of parliamentarians who had previously passed clerical muster and were now standing for reelection. Apparently, Iran?s ayatollahs are now unable to tolerate even a semblance of pluralism within the country?s secular institutions.The reasons for this tightening of the ideological screw have everything to do with the regime?s growing fragility.Economically, the Trump administration?s ?maximum pressure? strategy continues to have a pronounced impact on the Islamic Republic?s financial fortunes. Earlier this month, the official Statistical Center of Iran disclosed that Iran?s gross national product declined by nearly 8 percent between March and December of 2019. That assessment is consistent with an earlier estimate by the Washington-based International Institute of Economics, which in January outlined how persistent U.S. sanctions pressure was leading to plummeting foreign-exchange reserves and driving the Islamic Republic ?deeper into recession,? as reported by Reuters.Politically, meanwhile, Iran?s continued rogue behavior has left the country increasingly isolated. Iran?s botched handling of the diplomatic fallout from its accidental downing of the Ukrainian airliner last month has profoundly roiled Tehran?s relations with the world, robbing the Iranian regime of much-needed international support. In the aftermath, the Islamic Republic is slowly but surely turning once again into an international pariah. On Friday, for instance, the Financial Action Task Force, the world?s most important illicit-finance watchdog, formally blacklisted Iran for its failure to fall in line with international regulations designed to prevent the financing of terrorism.Amid these setbacks, the question of legitimacy has loomed larger than ever for Iran?s beleaguered ayatollahs. Last week?s elections represented an important moment to demonstrate to the world that their regime remains stable, secure, and firmly in control. Unfortunately for them, Friday?s vote ended up highlighting the exact opposite: that Iran?s regime, facing fresh setbacks abroad, is also exceedingly unpopular at home.

  
  

• Democratic debate viewers cannot escape Mike Bloomberg -

  If he didn't get his message across during the debate, all former New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg had to do was wait for the commercial break.During Tuesday night's Democratic debate in South Carolina, 60-second ads for Bloomberg aired during the first two commercial breaks. This didn't go over well on Twitter, where people, like former Labor Secretary Robert Reich, were upset at CBS for letting Bloomberg purchase the ad time:> What kind of rule allows the candidates to advertise *during* the debate? Or did Bloomberg just buy CBS?> > ? tad friend (@tadfriend) February 26, 2020> CBS taking a break from the debate so it can run a Mike Bloomberg ad> > ? Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) February 26, 2020> Am I the only one offended by the Mike Bloomberg ad that just aired during the break? Big money is destroying American democracy.DemDebate2020 DemDebate> > ? Robert Reich (@RBReich) February 26, 2020Over the last three months, Bloomberg has spent more than $500 million of his own money on campaign advertisements.More stories from theweek.com Harvard scientist predicts coronavirus will infect up to 70 percent of humanity Trump misspells coronavirus in tweet accusing media of making it 'look as bad as possible' Trump's 2014 Ebola freakout was the polar opposite of his coronavirus response