It's official: At least one more candidate is making a last-minute entrance into the 2020 Democratic presidential primary, though he acknowledges a tough road ahead.
Former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick announced Thursday he's running for president, jumping into a crowded Democratic field with less than three months to go until the Iowa caucuses.
Patrick in his announcement video said that "I admire and respect the candidates in the Democratic field," but "if the character of the candidates is an issue in every election, this time is about the character of the country." He adds, "This won't be easy, and it shouldn't be."
The former governor also told The Boston Globe that "I recognize running for president is a Hail Mary under any circumstances," but "this is a Hail Mary from two stadiums over." Patrick, who says he spoke with former President Obama ahead of his announcement, is set to file for the New Hampshire primary on Thursday.
The New York Times reports that Patrick has "received encouragement from some in the party who believe the race remains unsettled" and that he has told advisers he aims for a campaign similar to Obama's in 2008, "focusing more on bringing people together and healing the country than making a particular ideological case."
This might not be the last late entry into the Democratic race, with former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg eying a run. Brendan Morrow
Not long after Jeff Bezos' phone was allegedly hacked via a link sent by a WhatsApp account believed to belong to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, a New York Times journalist was reportedly targeted by Saudi-linked spyware.
Ben Hubbard, who has covered the kingdom extensively, wrote Tuesday that he received a "fishy" looking link in June 2018, which researchers from Citizen Lab determined contained software sold by the Israeli NSO Group and deployed by Saudi hackers. NSO Group denied its technology was responsible, and the Saudi government didn't provide comment, but Riyadh has denied any involvement in the alleged Bezos infiltration.
Hubbard didn't click on the link, which proved to be the right call, since it appears his phone wasn't compromised. But the mere fact that he received a harmful link is another example of Saudi's possible targeting of journalists and dissidents, which has been magnified since the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018.
Per Hubbard, human rights experts think hacking technologies have reached the point where they require enhanced government regulation. Read more at The New York Times. Tim O'Donnell
A tsunami threat message was issued Tuesday after a 7.7 magnitude earthquake struck near Jamaica and Cuba, CNN reports.
The International Tsunami Information Center said Tuesday "hazardous tsunami waves are forecast for some coasts," per Reuters, and CNN writes there was a "threat of tsunami waves reaching 0.3 to 1 meter (about 1 to 3 feet) above tide level for the coasts of Jamaica, Belize, Cuba, Honduras, Mexico and the Cayman Islands."
The earthquake, which struck shortly after 2:00 p.m. Eastern, was felt in Miami and caused "very strong to severe shaking in far western Jamaica," The Weather Channel reports, citing the U.S. Geological Survey. The Associated Press also reports it could be felt "strongly" in Santiago, where a witness said, "We were all sitting and we felt the chairs move. We heard the noise of everything moving around."
There have not been reports of any casualties, and according to the National Tsunami Warning Center, there is no tsunami threat for the eastern United States or the Gulf of Mexico. The Washington Post reports, though, this "appeared to be one of the biggest [earthquakes] on record in the Caribbean, and the largest since 1946." Brendan Morrow