Ukraine's crossroads

February 17, 2016 - Daily News Briefing

Reforming a corrupt political system takes time but it is the right path to follow.

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Almost three months after a gunman opened fire at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado, killing three and injuring nine, the facility reopened Monday. The facility is still punctured with bullet scars and other damage from the five-hour siege and police efforts to stop the shooter, Robert Lewis Dear. Only about one-third of the building was in use Monday, as work crews continued to repair the rest. But inside, the clinic was ready to receive numerous scheduled appointments across a range of health services. "We are opening today with our eyes to the future," said Vicki Cowart, president of Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains.

Antigovernment icon Cliven Bundy, who faces numerous charges from his 2014 standoff with federal land officials in Nevada, headed back to court on Tuesday in Oregon, where the rancher was arrested February 10 after arriving to help his sons with their own occupation of a federal refuge, which dominated headlines for weeks. Mr. Bundy was arrested in Portland on charges including conspiracy, assault on a federal officer, weapon use and possession, and extortion to interfere with commerce, all related to his 2014 standoff against Bureau of Land Management authorities sent to round-up cattle he had illegally grazed on federal land for years. If convicted of all six charges, he could face the rest of his life in prison.

Freshwater is a key part of our lives. We drink it, we bathe in it, and we grow crops with it. But many people across the globe don't have enough of it. Some scientific studies have suggested that between 1.7 and 3.1 billion people face freshwater scarcity. But a new study blows those estimates out of the proverbial water. Some 4 billion people, nearly two-thirds of the world's population of 7.125 billion, face severe freshwater scarcity, according to a new study published Friday in the journal Science Advances. Although 66 percent of the world's population sounds pretty bad, that number includes everyone who experiences freshwater scarcity for at least a month each year.

Alibaba has bought nearly 33 million shares of online daily deal service Groupon. Groupon Inc.'s stock jumped more than 16 percent in Tuesday premarket trading. The purchase gives the Chinese e-commerce powerhouse about a 5.6 percent stake in Groupon. The news comes shortly after Groupon reported a fourth-quarter adjusted profit and revenue that beat analysts' expectations.

The "Internet of things" seemed to take over American childhood this weekend as more than 1,000 toy industry reps descended on New York's 113th annual Toy Fair, displaying thousands of high-tech and collectible toys in a 422,000 square foot, kid-free space, with "traditional" toys making a brave stand for nostalgia's sake. "Drones, Robots, and Toys-to-Life" and "STEAM" (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math) were two of the top five trends identified by the Toy Industry Association (TIA), which holds the annual fair at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center. New products' main users, the under-18 set, are banned from the February 13-16 event, where toy producers try to catch the eyes of retail reps. TIA's members make up about 90 percent of the country's $22 billion toy industry, according to its website.

Kendrick Lamar, Taylor Swift, and Alabama Shakes were the biggest winners at a Grammy Awards ceremony that, due to the recent deaths of some seminal stars, felt as much a tribute to music's past as its present. Monday's ceremony included performances honoring David Bowie, Glenn Frey, B.B. King, Maurice White of Earth, Wind & Fire, and Lemmy Kilmister of Motorhead, along with an extended clip of Natalie Cole. All died within the past year.

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