U.S. Vice President Mike Pence and South Korea's President Moon Jae-in attend short track speed skating events at the Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympics. (REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson)
North and South Korea staged a remarkable show of unity as the 2018 Winter Olympics kicked off in Pyeongchang, South Korea, marching in the opening ceremony together under the same flag. You’d almost forget that a week before, U.S. President Donald Trump used a good chunk of his first State of the Union to blast Pyongyang as “depraved” amid reports that the White House is still mulling its “bloody nose” plan to launch a limited strike on the Hermit Kingdom.Trump’s words were not lost amid the Olympic cheer. “It’s a forewarning of how the Trump administration will handle the North Korean nuclear and missile issue in the future,” said Yoo Seung-min, chairperson of the center-right Bareun Party, at a recent parliamentary meeting. “War on the peninsula could be started by both North Korea and the United States.” Trump's "bloody nose" plan for North Korea could make a mess of the Olympics/ Max S. KimU.S. officials didn’t seem to share in the Games’ glow either. Vice President Mike Pence and his wife were reportedly the only ones in their VIP box who didn’t stand up when the unified Korean squad entered the stadium. Mike Pence and “Mother” score VIP seats next to Kim's little sister/ David Gilbert
Honduras: U.S. wades into a disputed election
President Juan Orlando Hernández’s controversial re-election in Honduras has thrown the fragile nation into crisis, and the U.S. has its fingerprints all over the situation. Despite widespread corruption scandals and political assassinations, the U.S. has stuck by Honduras’s military and police time and again. The result, critics say, is a government that now operates above the law.
That’s the level below which bitcoin fell at the lowest point of its volatile roller coaster ride last week, marking a stunning loss of over two-thirds of its value from a peak of more than $19,000 in December. Bitcoin just slid below $6000/ David Gilbert
Syria: “There is nowhere for them to escape”
A woman gestures as she walks on rubble of damaged buildings after an airstrike in the besieged town of Douma in eastern Ghouta in Damascus, Syria, February 7, 2018. REUTERS/ Bassam Khabieh
France: The #MeToo movement is growing despite backlash
Some Quotes
“I don’t want imprisonment. I beg of you to find a country where they execute.”
— Philippine strongman Rodrigo Duterte mocked the International Criminal Court for opening a probe into the wave of extrajudicial killings alleged to have taken place in his infamous war on drugs, saying he’d rather be shot by firing squad than face prison if found guilty. The day before, ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda announced a “preliminary investigation” into the claims that could, one day, lead to charges of crimes against humanity against Duterte in the Hague. Duterte says he’d rather die by firing squad than face prison over his drug war/ Greg Walters
“The simple truth: There is nothing."
— Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu protested his innocence on Facebook after local media said Israeli police will soon recommend his indictment for demanding an receiving gifts, including champagne and Cuban cigars, from businessmen in exchange for favors. Bibi is about to be indicted for corruption / Tim Hume
"Instinctively I turned around, I went home, I opened the safe and took the pistol and decided to kill them all."
— Luca Traini, 28, an Italian far-right extremist reportedly confessed to shooting six African immigrants after hearing a report about a local teen’s murder on the radio, then taking off on a two-hour shooting spree around town in his car. Italian fascist shooter targeted immigrants in "revenge" attack /Tim Hume
“Like a full-on Caligula orgy.”
—An unnamed source speaking to the Times describing video footage from a party thrown by senior aid workers for U.K. charity group Oxfam, who paid young Haitian girls for sex following the country’s devastating 2010 earthquake. Oxfam denied trying to cover up the incident. Top Oxfam staff paid survivors for sex after the 2010 earthquake /The Sunday Times
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