Elizabeth Warren's surprising closing argument  —  Elizabeth Warren is often portrayed in media as a figure of the left-wing, locked in a battle with Bernie Sanders for the progressive base of the party.  In fact, polling frequently shows she's the second choice not just of Sanders voters …

Iraq asks United States to set up mechanism for troop withdrawal  —  BEIRUT — In a phone call with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi asked the United States send a delegation to Iraq to set up a mechanism for U.S. troop withdrawal from the country …

Bloomberg to fund sizable campaign effort through November even if he loses Democratic nomination  —  Exclusive: The former New York City mayor plans to continue paying hundreds of staffers and funding his digital operation to defeat Trump even if he's not the nominee.

Impeachment Standoff May Be Near End With Pelosi Allies Stumped  —  (Bloomberg) — Lawmakers expect House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will soon end her delay of President Donald Trump's impeachment trial without any notable concessions from Senate Republicans, leaving her allies stumped about her strategy in the three-week standoff.

Justice Dept. winds down Clinton-related inquiry once championed by Trump.  It found nothing of consequence.  —  A Justice Department inquiry launched more than two years ago to mollify conservatives clamoring for more investigations of Hillary Clinton has effectively ended with no tangible results …

Trump Has Made Us All Stupid  —  The decline of discourse in the anti-Trump echo chamber.  —  Donald Trump is impulse-driven, ignorant, narcissistic and intellectually dishonest.  So you'd think that those of us in the anti-Trump camp would go out of our way to show we're not like him …

An Iranian general dies in U.S. attack, and innocents suffer  —  TORONTO (AP) — The worst had passed, it seemed, and the United States and Iran no longer appeared poised at the edge of war.  —  “All is well!”  President Donald Trump tweeted Tuesday night, days after a U.S. drone strike killed Iran's …

Boeing Employees Mocked F.A.A. and ‘Clowns’ Who Designed 737 Max  —  The company expressed regret at the embarrassing communications it sent to investigators on Thursday, which included a comment that “this airplane is designed by clowns, who are in turn supervised by monkeys.”

Black Britons Know Why Meghan Markle Wants Out  —  It's the racism.  —  Ms. Hirsch is the author of “Brit(ish): On Race, Identity and Belonging.”  —  The British press has succeeded in its apparent project of hounding Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, out of Britain.

Job market ends 2019 with disappointing 145,000 growth in payrolls  —  By Jeff Cox@JEFF.COX.7528@JEFFCOXCNBCCOM  — December's payroll and wage growth missed expectations, according to the Labor Department.  — Nonfarm payrolls increased by just 145,000 while the unemployment rate held steady at 3.5%.

College Professor Out After Joke Suggesting Iran List U.S. Cultural Targets  —  Asheen Phansey is no longer employed by Babson College after joking that Iran should target Minnesota's Mall of America and a home of the Kardashian family.  —  An adjunct professor is no longer on staff …

Colorado to deploy more teams to investigate mystery drones after close call with medical helicopter  —  The Viaero Wireless cameras in eastern Colorado captured the mysterious drones earlier this week.  —  DENVER - The Colorado Department of Public Safety will start using more ground-based teams …

Trump's New National Security Team Made Fast Work of Iran Strike  —  White House advisers were cohesive and less inclined than their predecessors to push back against the president's wishes  —  WASHINGTON—President Trump and his senior national-security advisers waited anxiously …

Army general denies request by officer pardoned by Trump to have his Special Forces tab reinstated  —  An Army general has denied a request by an officer pardoned in an open murder case by President Trump to have his Special Forces tab reinstated, setting up a potential showdown between senior defense officials and the White House.

Trump does not have a foreign policy.  He has a series of impulses.  —  Three months ago, President Trump suddenly withdrew U.S. forces from northern Syria that were, in part, thwarting Iran's efforts to dominate the country, declaring, “Going into the Middle East is one of the worst decisions ever made in the history of our country.

Kushner's Global Role Shrinks as He Tackles Another: The 2020 Election  —  Ivanka Trump's husband will now supervise her father's re-election campaign, but he continues to weigh in with advice to the president on a range of other matters.  —  WASHINGTON — When senior administration officials gathered …

Bill would ban cellphone use for those under 21  —  MONTPELIER — A bill has been introduced in the state Senate that would make it illegal for anyone under the age of 21 to use or possess a cellphone.  —  The bill, S.212, would make such possession or use a misdemeanor punishable by a maximum of a year behind bars and a $1,000 fine.

Record 158,803,000 Americans Employed; 1.85M Year-to-Year Increase  —  (CNSNews.com) - “As we begin this new year, our economy is booming,” President Trump told a rally in Toledo, Ohio Thursday night.  “Wages are soaring, workers are thriving, and America's future has never looked brighter.”

News Corp employee lashes climate ‘misinformation’ in bushfire coverage with blistering email  —  Emily Townsend's reply-all email to executive chairman calls the company's coverage ‘irresponsible’ and ‘dangerous’  —  A senior News Corp employee has accused the company of “misinformation” …

Surveillance video from Jeffrey Epstein's first apparent suicide attempt ‘no longer exists’  —  Officials at the federal jail housing Epstein preserved video from the wrong floor due to a clerical error.  —  The surveillance footage taken from outside Jeffrey Epstein's jail cell …

A company repossessed and returned a vet's prosthetic legs.  He still can't use them  —  Veteran says his prosthetic legs were taken, then returned, but he still can't use them ... and go home  —  COLLINS — A man walked into a nursing home for military veterans two days before Christmas, picked up Jerry Holliman's legs and left.

Strong winds create Australian ‘megablaze’  —  The catastrophic bushfires in Australia have killed at least 26 people and destroyed more than 2,000 homes  —  Gale-force winds in Australia merged two enormous fires into a megablaze spanning an area four times the size of Greater London on Friday …

Focus group: Pennsylvania swing voters stand with Trump on Iran  —  WILKES-BARRE, Pa. — Swing voters here are standing behind President Trump's decision to launch an airstrike that killed Iranian general Qasem Soleimani, but if it leads to all-out war they'd question the president's wisdom and handling of national security.

Video Shows Ukrainian Plane Being Hit Over Iran  —  The New York Times has obtained video that shows the moment a Ukrainian airliner was hit minutes after takeoff from Tehran.  —  Video verified by The New York Times appears to show an Iranian missile hitting a plane above Parand …

Dixville Notch Finds Enough People to Keep First-in-the-Nation Voting Title  —  After a crucial election official moved away, the tiny New Hampshire town had just four residents and needed to find one more person to fill a selectman vacancy  —  A tiny New Hampshire community whose tradition …