Two more NBC News/Marist polls paint a mixed picture for Democrats in the race for the Senate, with a tie in one state, and a strong Democratic lead in another over a one-time Republican star.
In Iowa, where longtime Democratic Sen. Tom Harkin is retiring, Democratic Rep. Bruce Braley and Republican state Sen. Joni Ernst are tied at 43 percent each. The poll was conducted from July 7-13, and has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.5 percentage points.
Meanwhile in New Hampshire, Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen leads former Sen. Scott Brown — who moved to New Hampshire and has launched a comeback bid, after he lost re-election in Massachusetts in 2012 — by a solid margin of 50 percent to 42 percent. The poll was also conducted from July 7-13, and has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.7 percentage points.
The polls show that in Iowa, Braley leads among women by a margin of 45 percent to 37 percent, while Ernst leads among men by a similar 48 percent to 40 percent. In New Hampshire, though, Shaheen leads among women by a huge 59 percent to 34 percent, more than balancing out Brown's lead among men of 51 percent to 42 percent. From NBC's analysis: "In this current environment, successful Democratic campaigns are going to need to win female voters by double digits; single digits probably won't cut it."
Former Texas governor Rick Perry took to CNN on Sunday, raising questions in an interview with Dana Bash about Hillary Clinton's ethical judgment. Reports last week showed that the Clinton Foundation accepted donations from seven foreign governments — at least one of which reportedly violated an ethics agreement between the Obama administration and Clinton while she was secretary of state, The Washington Post notes.
"Are you going to trust an individual who has taken that much money from a foreign source?" Perry asked. "Where's your loyalty? I'm really concerned, not just going forward, but what has been received at the Clinton Foundation over the course of years and how that affects this individual's judgement."
Watch Perry's full response in the video, below. —Sarah Eberspacher
Texas nurse Nina Pham survived her encounter with the Ebola virus, but the 26 year old told The Dallas Morning News in an exclusive interview that she still suffers nightmares, body aches, and insomnia following her fight against the disease.
Pham contracted Ebola while caring for patient Thomas Eric Duncan at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas. Now, she is suing the hospital's parent company, Texas Health Resources, for what she says was inadequate training and protection for hospital workers. Pham is asking for unspecified damages for turning her into "a symbol of corporate neglect," she said.
"I wanted to believe that they would have my back and take care of me, but they just haven't risen to the occasion," Pham said.
Read the full interview over at The Dallas Morning News.
A poll conducted by NBC News and The Wall Street Journal found that 48 percent of American voters believe congressional Republicans should not have invited Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to address Congress, without first consulting President Barack Obama. Thirty percent said the invitation was fine, and 22 percent had no opinion.
The issue was overwhelmingly a partisan one; 66 percent of Democrats disagreed with the decision, while just 28 percent of Republicans were against the upcoming address.
Netanyahu will address Congress on Tuesday, calling himself an "emissary" of the Jewish people. The Israeli prime minister is expected to voice his disagreement with a potential deal on Iran's nuclear program. While both Israel and the U.S. oppose Iran's building of a nuclear bomb, Israel wants the country to shutter all nuclear activity, while President Barack Obama has seemed more willing to allow Iran to continue some parts of its program, with implemented safeguards.
Dakota Johnson can be seen right now in Fifty Shades of Grey, but her most controversial moment of the weekend may have come in a pre-recorded sketch for Saturday Night Live.
In it, the host of this weekend's episode says goodbye to her dad, played by Taran Killam, in what appears to be a typical father-daughter moment before leaving for college. The reveal is that Johnson is not headed off to university for four years, but rather to join ISIS.
The reaction on social media found the skit to be in poor taste — decide for yourself and check it out, below. —Sarah Eberspacher
Samuel Sam-Sumana, vice president of Sierra Leone, announced on Saturday that he would "lead by example," and spend 21 days in voluntary quarantine, following the death of his bodyguard from Ebola last week, BBC News reports.
While the number of reported cases in Sierra Leone had been on the decline, a recent uptick was cause for concern, according to government officials. More than 23,500 Ebola cases have been reported in Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Guinea since the outbreak began in December 2013; nearly 10,000 people have died from the disease.
Carrying signs declaring "I am not afraid," and portraits of murdered Russian politician Boris Nemtsov, thousands marched through Moscow on Sunday, Reuters reports.
(AP Photo/Dmitry Lovetsky)
The demonstrators walked in honor of Nemtsov, who was shot four times on Friday while walking across a bridge near the Kremlin. The harsh critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin had served as deputy prime minister under Russia's first post-Soviet President, Boris Yeltsin, in the 1990s. He became a popular figure in opposition politics after Yeltsin's successor, Putin, came to power.
(AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin)
"If we can stop the campaign of hate that's being directed at the opposition, then we have a chance to change Russia," Gennady Gudkov, an opposition leader, told Reuters before the march. "If not, then we face the prospect of mass civil conflict."
(AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin)
Putin has condemned Nemtsov’s murder as a "provocation," and Kremlin investigators say they are pursuing several leads. In interviews before his death, Nemtsov said he feared Putin might want him dead because of his involvement with the opposition.
Ronda Rousey needed just 14 seconds on Saturday night to defend her UFC bantamweight title against Cat Zingano, ESPN reports.
It was Rousey's (11-0) fifth UFC title defense; her last three have lasted just 66 seconds, 16 seconds, and now 14 seconds — the latter being the fastest finish of her career thus far and a UFC record for fastest ever in a title fight.
Rousey submitted Zingano with a straight armlock after Zingano rushed Rousey on the opening bell; Zingano quickly tapped out of the hold.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro condemned what he says are moves by the United States to unseat him at a rally on Saturday, Reuters reports.
"We have captured some U.S. citizens in undercover activities, espionage, trying to win over people in towns along the Venezuelan coast," Maduro said. "In Tachira, we captured a pilot of a U.S. plane (who is) of Latin origin (carrying) all kinds of documentation."
A U.S. embassy spokesman in Caracas declined to comment on Maduro's statements, saying that there had not been any official, diplomatic communication on the charges with the Venezuelan government. But an Obama administration official dismissed the accusations, calling them "baseless and false."
Maduro also said he would institute visa fees for Americans who want to enter Venezeula, reduce the number of U.S. embassy officials allowed in Caracas, and bar certain U.S. citizens from entering the country, including former President George W. Bush and former Vice President Dick Cheney.
Rand Paul may have been feeling a bit of good deja vu on Saturday — the Kentucky senator won the straw poll yet again at Saturday's Conservative Political Action Conference, The Washington Post reports.
Gov. Scott Walker (R-Wis.) finished just behind Paul in second place, in the last round of CPAC nods before primary voting for the 2016 presidential election begins. While Paul entered the weekend event as the prohibitive favorite in this year's balloting, his percentage of the vote actually dropped, from 31 percent in 2014 to 25.7 percent in 2015.
Voting attendees increased by nearly 20 percent from 2014, but organizers were quick to note that the results show “how fluid and open the race is.”
Silence is golden, according to the World Health Organization.
WHO figures say 43 million people ages 12-35 have suffered hearing loss, and another 1.1 billion teenagers and young adults risk damaging their hearing. The culprit? Listening to music "too much, too loudly," BBC News reports.
And it's not just your laptop or office earbuds that could be doing damage. WHO warns that concerts and bars are a "serious threat" as they too expose people to unsafe sound levels. The organization recommends taking "listening breaks" if you must frequent such venues, and limiting daily music listening to one hour, max.
