New Hampshire votes; Hong Kong battles and North Korea screws up. It’s Tuesday, and here are the five things you need to know to Get Up to Speed and Out the Door.
CAMPAIGN 2016
Live free or die trying: Little ole’ Dixville Notch kicked off the first vote in the first-in-the-nation primary this morning. Bernie Sanders beat Hillary Clinton; and John Kasich trumped Donald Trump. Oh if only this New Hampshire hamlet was any good at predicting winners (it’s not!). Meanwhile, billionaire media mogul and ex-NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg said once again he’s thinking of running. Says he finds the level of discourse “distressingly banal” and an “outrage” and “an insult to the voters.” Tell us how you really feel!
HONG KONG RIOTS
New Year’s retribution: Fireworks in the air, clashes on the streets. That’s how Hong Kong rang in the Chinese New Year in the city’s Mong Kok district yesterday. When cops tried to kick out unlicensed street vendors, the PO’d vendors resorted to usual protester fare: bricks, bottles and burning rubbish. Police responded with pepper spray and warning shots. Fires were still burning in the area this morning and about 100 folks were there — ripping up bricks from the sidewalk to presumably throw at police later.
NORTH KOREA ROCKET
Sputnik, it ain’t: Maybe North Korea isn’t as good at this space stuff as we once feared. Just weeks after that alleged hydrogen bomb test, the North put up a satellite that triggered a lot of global teeth-gnashing. Well, guess what? The satellite is just “tumbling in orbit” incapable of doing anything useful, a senior U.S. defense official says. Back to the drawing board, boys.
FLINT WATER CRISIS
Hard pass: House Democrats wanted Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder to come up to Capitol Hill and testify why Flint’s water is so contaminated and how it’s affecting the city’s kid. The governor’s response? Thanks but no thanks. He said he’s got a budget presentation. The House committee doesn’t have subpoena powers. So, that’s that.
TAIWAN EARTHQUAKE
‘We refuse to give up hope’: Families in quake-shaken Tainan, Taiwan are keeping a grim vigil: awaiting news on their loved ones who may be trapped under tons of debris. At least 40 are dead and more than 100 remain missing. Families also want answers to why a newish high-rise tower collapsed while older buildings in the area did not. Does it have anything to do with pictures of tin cans — believed to have been used in the tower’s construction — that recently surfaced?