Chris Paul calls out female referee following Clippers’ meltdown – USA TODAY

USA TODAYChris Paul calls out female referee following Clippers' meltdownUSA TODAYChris Paul and the Los Angeles Clippers had a horrendous night against the Cleveland Cavaliers. The morning might be worse for Paul. After the Clippers were dinged with five technical fouls during the game, including one on Paul from rookie …

Abbreviated pundit roundup: Vaccines, Obamacare, net neutrality and more

We begin today’s roundup with Ryan Cooper at The Week who analyzes what may happen if the Supreme Court rules to gut the Affordable Care Act: What happens if the Obama administration loses? Millions may lose their insurance — of those, many thousands may die of preventable medical conditions. But…

US Steps Up Aid to Iraq to Fight Islamic State – Newsweek

NewsweekUS Steps Up Aid to Iraq to Fight Islamic StateNewsweekIraqi Kurdish regional President Masoud Barzani (R) meets with Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, U.S. Army General Martin Dempsey in Arbil, north of Baghdad, November 15, 2014. Dempsey was visiting Iraq for the first time since President Barack Obama …Lawmakers Urge Britain …

No 10 rejects ‘bit player’ claim over Ukraine crisis – BBC News

BBC NewsNo 10 rejects 'bit player' claim over Ukraine crisisBBC NewsDowning Street has rejected claims by a former senior army officer that the UK has become "irrelevant" in attempts to resolve the conflict in Ukraine. Sir Richard Shirreff, until last year a top Nato commander in Europe, suggested the …

Obama’s national security strategy – Version 2.0

By Roberta Rampton WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The White House is slated to release President Barack Obama's national security strategy on Friday, giving a broad outline for how he views his foreign policy priorities for the rest of his time in office. The release of the document, followed by a speech …

UK tribunal says intelligence-sharing with U.S. was unlawful

By Estelle Shirbon LONDON (Reuters) – A British tribunal ruled on Friday that some aspects of intelligence-sharing between security agencies in Britain and the United States were unlawful until December 2014, in a ground-breaking case brought by civil liberties groups. The Investigatory Powers Tribunal ruled that Britain's GCHQ had …

The mask of U.S.-Saudi friendship is finally slipping

New accusations, from a convicted 9/11 conspirator, that Saudi princes were among al-Qaeda’s key patrons is driving a new wedge into U.S.-Saudi relations, one that was already more of a public show than anything else, Neil Macdonald writes.

4th giant panda dies in China from canine distemper virus

The official Xinhua News Agency reported late Thursday that the 6-year-old panda, named Feng Feng, died after falling into a coma on Jan. 8. Xinhua did not say when the death occurred. Xinhua said an additional four pandas were diagnosed with canine distemper but recovered.

Dynamo performs a trick for the Prince of Wales

Magician Dynamo has thanked the Prince of Wales for believing in him when he was a “kid with crazy ideas”. The magic man, 32, was at The Prince’s Trust annual Invest In Futures gala dinner at the Savoy Hotel in central London.

Google Now Calculates Your Mortgage

Apparently it was created to capture those searching for a mortgage calculator because it shows up in the search results, much as its regular calculator does, according to Search Engine Land. From Google Plus : Preparing for homeownership just got a bit easier.