PRESIDENTIAL RACE
WASHINGTON — Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton are eyeing an opportunity to pull away from their rivals on Tuesday in multi-state contests across the U.S. that could accelerate their march toward the general election.
PRESIDENTIAL RACE-SANDERS-JEWS
NEW YORK — As Bernie Sanders headed toward victory in New Hampshire, observers noted the barrier he was about to break: Sanders would become the first Jewish candidate to win a major party presidential primary. But instead of the burst of communal pride that usually accompanies such milestones, the response from American Jews has been muted. One reason: The Vermont senator, the candidate who has come closer than any other Jew to being a major party presidential nominee, has mostly avoided discussing his Judaism.
APPLE ENCRYPTION
NEW YORK - The U.S. Justice Department cannot force Apple to provide the FBI with access to locked iPhone data in a routine Brooklyn drug case, a magistrate judge rules. U.S. Magistrate Judge James Orenstein's written decision gives support to the company's position in its fight against a California judge's order that it create specialized software to help the FBI hack into an iPhone linked to the San Bernardino terrorism investigation.
BRAZIL-ZIKA VIRUS
RIO DE JANEIRO — A majority of Brazilians oppose allowing pregnant women to abort fetuses diagnosed with microcephaly, the type of infant brain damage linked to the Zika virus, a poll says.
HAWAII-ZIKA FEARS
CAPTAIN COOK, Hawaii - On a farm in the heart of Hawaii's ongoing dengue outbreak, coffee grows wild among the ferns, and vanilla vines climb guava trees. It's hard to know where nature ends and the farm begins, and that's the way organic farmers there like it. But state efforts to combat the outbreak - and prevent the related Zika virus from making inroads on the island - could put these farmers out of business. Posting "no spray" signs on their properties, they're pushing back on the use of pesticides to kill the mosquitoes that transmit both infections.
VENEZUELA-LARGER BILLS
CARACAS, Venezuela — Venezuela's government will begin printing larger-denominated bank notes sometime this year, a top finance official says, as runaway inflation has eroded the value of the nation's biggest bill to less than a U.S. dime on the black market.
OSCAR-SPOTLIGHT ACTIVISTS
BOSTON - Victims of clergy sexual abuse are reveling in the Oscar won by "Spotlight" - the story of The Boston Globe's investigation into the scandal - but say they don't hold out much hope that the elevated status from the film's Best Picture award will prompt changes at the highest levels of the Roman Catholic church.
BRAZIL-POLITICS
RIO DE JANEIRO — Brazil's presidential palace announces that Justice Minister Jose Eduardo Cardozo is leaving his post, a change that comes after political allies criticized his handling of a big corruption scandal.
SALT LAKE CITY SHOOTING
SALT LAKE CITY — Questions about why police shot and critically wounded a 17-year-old Somali refugee in Salt Lake City grew Monday as civil rights groups called for answers and several hundred protesters took to the streets holdings signs that read, "Stop killer cops."
BOLIVIA-MORALES' CHILD
LA PAZ, Bolivia — Bolivian President Evo Morales wants to see a son he says he had long thought dead in a strange new twist to a scandal focused on his former girlfriend, who is under arrest in an influence-peddling probe into the Chinese firm where she worked.
from The Malta Independent http://ift.tt/1LsSh8q
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