1. Rand Paul wins CPAC straw poll for third year in a row
Kentucky Senator Rand Paul won the straw poll yet again at Saturday's Conservative Political Action Conference, and Gov. Scott Walker (R-Wis.) finished just behind Paul in second place. Saturday's balloting was 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, his percentage of the vote actually dropped, from 31 percent in 2014 to 25.7 percent in 2015.
The Washington Post
2. Thousands march in Moscow in honor of murdered politician Boris Nemtsov
Carrying signs declaring "I am not afraid," and portraits of murdered Russian politician Boris Nemtsov, thousands marched through Moscow on Sunday. 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. "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."
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Reuters
3. Venezuelan president claims country has detained U.S. citizens for 'espionage'
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro condemned what he says are moves by the United States to unseat him at a rally on Saturday, adding that Venezuelan officials have captured some U.S. citizens in "undercover activities, espionage." 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 Venezuela, 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.
Reuters
4. Iraq's national museum reopens, 12 years after looting following U.S.-led invasion
Twelve years after thousands of artifacts were looted in the aftermath of the U.S.-led invasion, Iraq's national museum in Baghdad reopened on Saturday. Iraqi officials have worked for more than a decade to recover some 15,000 stolen artifacts. So far, about 4,300 pieces have been recovered. The grand reopening was moved up, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said, as a message of defiance to Islamic State militants. Recent video showed purported ISIS members breaking statues at a museum in Mosul.
The Washington Post
5. Sierra Leone's vice president puts himself in quarantine after bodyguard dies of Ebola
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. 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.
BBC News
6. Egyptian court declares Hamas a terrorist organization
President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi's administration continued its crackdown on Islamist groups on Saturday, as an Egyptian court declared the Muslim Brotherhood-offshoot Hamas a "terrorist" organization. The verdict stemmed from two private suits filed by attorneys against the Gaza Strip group, and came just days after Egypt implemented a strict new anti-terrorism law. Egyptian authorities outlawed the Muslim Brotherhood after the 2013 military coup, and they have since blamed Hamas for aiding rebel militants in Egypt — allegations Hamas denies.
Al Jazeera English
7. WHO recommends cutting music listening to no more than one hour per day
The World Health Organization says 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." And it's not just your laptop or office earbuds. 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.
BBC News
8. Parts of the Northeast just weathered the coldest February on record
Several Northeastern cities just suffered through the coldest February since reliable records began, thanks to a slow-moving jet stream that funneled cold air down into the eastern United States, refusing to budge. On the ice block: Bangor, Maine; Syracuse, Buffalo, and Islip, New York; Hartford and Bridgeport, Connecticut. "Usually these patterns last for a week or so. In this case it’s been the whole month," Corey Bogel, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service, said.
NBC News
9. Uber reports months-old data breach affected 50,000 drivers
Car-hailing service Uber announced on Friday that a data breach left the personal information of about 50,000 drivers vulnerable. While the company said it discovered the hack in September, it waited nearly five months to report the breach, an amount of time one data-breach expert called "an unusual delay." Most states leave the exact amount of notification time vague, but the maximum among those that do offer specifics is 60 days. Uber said it has not received any misuse reports from drivers, and noted that the 50,000 affected make up a small percentage of the hundreds of thousands of drivers working with the company.
The Wall Street Journal
10. Ronda Rousey wins UFC title fight in record 14 seconds
Ronda Rousey needed just 14 seconds on Saturday night to defend her UFC bantamweight title against Cat Zingano. 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.
ESPN
