Politics

Financial links between Cherie Blair’s law firm and the corrupt dictator of a tax haven with an appalling record on human rights have been revealed. Mrs Blair, who trumpets her human rights work, faces a corruption probe over a £420,000 deal with the autocratic Maldives President and despot Abdulla Yameen RT reports: Omina Strategy, the law firm founded by former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair’s wife, earned more than £2,000 (US$2,850) a day working for Yameen in various capacities, including managing his administration’s PR.

Tim Alberta reports on how South Carolina Gov. Haley’s endorsement of Rubio is being spun by his opponents:

This is smart spin, aimed at inflating Rubio’s expectations in the run-up to Saturday’s primary. It’s also an entirely fair observation.

While there was never any expectation of a production "cut" from Saudi Arabia, hope still remained that "discussions of a 'freeze'" could be extrapolated to an 'in-the-end' cut down the line... That is over...

AFP has just reported that...

#BREAKING AFP EXCLUSIVE: Saudi will not cut oil production: FM

— AFP news agency (@AFP) February 18, 2016

In the simplest possible terms, NBC seems to be suffering from a rather acute bout of schizophrenia when it comes to assessing the race for the GOP nomination.

If was just 2 days ago that NBC, in conjunction with Survey Monkey, released the results of a national poll which showed that Donald Trump was a 20 point national favorite among registered Republicans going into the South Carolina primary.

The same poll showed Trump holding a commanding 9 point lead in the race to secure the white evangelical vote.

The president will visit Cuba as part of a Latin American tour next month:

The US president confirmed his Cuba trip in a post on Twitter, saying: “Next month, I’ll travel to Cuba to advance our progress and efforts that can improve the lives of the Cuban people.”