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Trump wins South Carolina, easily beating Haley in her home state and closing in on GOP nomination
CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — Donald Trump won South Carolina’s Republican primary on Saturday, easily beating former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley in her home state and further consolidating his path to a third straight GOP nomination. Trump has now swept every contest that counted for Republican delegates, adding to previous wins in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Haley is facing growing pressure to leave the race but says she’s not going anywhere despite losing the state where she was governor from 2011 to 2017. A 2020 rematch between Trump and President Joe Biden is becoming increasingly inevitable. Haley has vowed to stay in the race through at least the batch of primaries on March 5, known as Super Tuesday, but was unable to dent Trump’s momentum in her home state despite holding far more campaign events and arguing that the indictments against Trump will hamstring him against Biden.
Takeaways from South Carolina primary: Donald Trump’s Republican home field advantage is everywhere
NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump trounced Nikki Haley on Saturday in the South Carolina primary, a victory that emphatically punctuated the depth and breadth of his support among Republican primary voters as he vanquished his lone remaining major opponent in her home state. Trump did not even have to mount a vigorous campaign, making few appearances and spending relatively little money. Haley has vowed to stay in the race and planned to visit Michigan, the site of the next primary, on Sunday. But the loss further eroded the rationale for her candidacy, barring something unforeseen that would derail the former president.
Israeli officials to meet on a proposed pause in Gaza while the Cabinet is set to OK a Rafah plan
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli officials will meet Saturday night on the next steps after the latest talks with the United States, Egypt and Qatar in search of a deal on pausing the fighting in Gaza, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said. But Netanyahu announced that he’ll convene the Cabinet early next week to “approve the operational plans for action in Rafah,” including the evacuation of civilians, despite widespread warnings from the international community about a military ground operation in the southern city where more than half of Gaza’s population shelters. “Only a combination of military pressure and firm negotiations” would achieve Israel’s aims in the war, he said.
US and British strikes on Houthi sites in Yemen answer militants’ surge in Red Sea attacks on ships
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. and Britain struck 18 Houthi targets in Yemen on Saturday, answering a recent surge in attacks by the Iran-backed militia group on ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, including a missile strike this past week that set fire to a cargo vessel. According to U.S. officials, American and British fighter jets hit sites in eight locations, targeting missiles, launchers, rockets, drones and air defense systems. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity in order to provide early details of an ongoing military operation. This is the fourth time that the U.S. and British militaries have conducted a combined operation against the Houthis since Jan.
The body of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has been handed over to his mother, aide says
The body of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has been handed over to his mother, a top aide to Navalny said Saturday on his social media account. Ivan Zhdanov, the director of Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation, made the announcement on his Telegram account and thanked “everyone” who had called on Russian authorities to return Navalny’s body to his mother. Earlier on Saturday, Yulia Navalnaya, Navalny’s widow, accused President Vladimir Putin of mocking Christianity by trying to force his mother to agree to a secret funeral after his death in an Arctic penal colony. “Thank you very much. Thanks to everyone who wrote and recorded video messages.
Western leaders rally around Kyiv to mark 2 years since Russia’s full-scale invasion
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — President Volodymyr Zelenskyy welcomed Western leaders to Kyiv Saturday to mark the second anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion, as Ukrainian forces run low on ammunition and foreign aid hangs in the balance. Allies from the EU and the Group of Seven wealthy democracies rallied around Kyiv to express solidarity, with Zelenskyy joining a virtual G7 meeting Saturday and four world leaders traveling to Ukraine’s war-weary capital. “Two years ago, here, we met enemy landing forces with fire; two years later, we meet our friends and our partners here,” Zelenskyy said as he met the dignitaries at Hostomel airfield just outside of Kyiv, which Russian paratroopers unsuccessfully tried to seize in the first days of the war.
‘Oppenheimer,’ Lily Gladstone win at 30th Screen Actors Guild Awards
“Oppenheimer” continued to steamroll through Hollywood’s awards season on Saturday, winning the top prize, for outstanding cast, along with awards for Cillian Murphy and Robert Downey Jr., at the 30th Screen Actors Guild Awards. As the Academy Awards draw closer, Christopher Nolan’s blockbuster biopic — already a winner at the Golden Globes and the BAFTAs — has increasingly looked like the run-away favorite. The SAG Awards, one of the most telling Oscar predictors, will only add to the momentum for “Oppenheimer,” the lead Academy Awards nominee with 13 nods. The SAG Awards were streamed live on Netflix, a first for a major Hollywood award show.
Biden and Utah’s governor call for less bitterness and more bipartisanship in the nation’s politics
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden and Utah Gov. Spencer Cox disagree on many issues but they were united Saturday in calling for less bitterness in politics and more bipartisanship. “Politics has gotten too personally bitter,” said Biden, who has practiced politics since he was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1972. “It’s just not like it was.” The Democratic president commented while delivering a toast to the nation’s governors and their spouses at a black-tie White House dinner in their honor. Biden said what makes him “feel good” about hosting the governors is “we have a tradition of doing things together.
Mexico president’s son, presidential candidate denounce leak of phone numbers, say threats received
MEXICO CITY (AP) — The eldest son of Mexico’s president and the governing party’s presidential candidate said Saturday that their telephone numbers were published on social media and that they have received threats and insults. Both denounced the action. The incident came a day after President Andrés Manuel López Obrador disclosed the phone number of a reporter for The New York Times, which published a story about a U.S. probe into claims that López took money from drug traffickers. López Obrador denied the allegations. The first to report the release of his phone number was the president’s oldest son, José Ramón López Beltrán, who wrote on the X platform that he considered the action “a kind of vengeance” and said it puts his family in danger.
Belarusians vote in tightly controlled election amid opposition calls for its boycott
TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — Belarusians will cast ballots Sunday in tightly controlled parliamentary and local elections that are set to cement the steely rule of the country’s authoritarian leader, despite calls for a boycott from the opposition that dismissed the balloting as a “senseless farce.” President Alexander Lukashenko, who has ruled Belarus with an iron hand for nearly 30 years, accuses the West of trying to use the vote to undermine his government and “destabilize” the nation of 9.5 million people. Most candidates belong to the four officially registered parties: Belaya Rus, the Communist Party, the Liberal Democratic Party, and the Party of Labor and Justice.