| THE BIG STORY
The full picture ahead of the New Hampshire primary
Tomorrow is the New Hampshire primary. After a week of chaos in Iowa, there is a lot of pressure on Democrats in New Hampshire to get the voting right. This shouldn’t be that hard, considering voting wasn’t invented yesterday.
Elsewhere, the pressure is mounting on the candidates themselves. Iowa produced no clear winners — both Sen. Bernie Sanders and Pete Buttigieg claimed victory, and the two were virtually tied based on the important state delegate count metric.
👉 Buttigieg is looking competitive in New Hampshire. That’s probably why he got the full frontrunner treatment at the debate on Friday: his rivals kept on targeting him in ways they hadn’t before.
👉Joe Biden is preparing for a hard reality in New Hampshire: this could be the end. His electability argument is now hanging by a thread.
👉As the rest of the pack focused on Iowa and New Hampshire, Mike Bloomberg was elsewhere. He was in places like Philadelphia and Norfolk, Virginia. The field is a mess, and he’s taking advantage of it.
STAYING ON TOP OF THIS Three scenarios for the coronavirus
It’s still unclear what’s next for the virus that has infected more than 40,000 people and killed nearly a thousand, mostly in China.
Here are the three possibilities:
👉 The virus stays in China: China applied unprecedented lockdowns and quarantines in Hubei province, where the virus originated, two weeks ago. The World Health Organization has praised the strategy, which managed to slow down the spread of the virus. On the other hand, a new lockdown in Guangzhou City, in the province of Guangdong, has raised questions about the effectiveness of the quarantines.
👉 Another seasonal flu: If the coronavirus does manage to spread widely outside of China, it isn’t necessarily catastrophic. It could turn out to have seasonal behavior, flaring up in winter like the flu. That pattern has been seen in at least two of the common coronaviruses that affect people.
👉Deadly global pandemic: This is the worst case scenario — the relatively few cases popping up in dozens of countries flare up worldwide in the coming months, with deadly consequences.
Experts don’t have enough information to predict which of these very different scenarios will come to pass.
SNAPSHOTS Parasite just made Oscars history, becoming the first film not in English to win Best Picture. The South Korean black comedy has been a huge word of mouth hit, and now it has triumphed. Janelle Monáe, Steve Martin and Chris Rock called out the Oscars’ diversity problem. Here are all the winners.
Inside Number 10’s war against the media on multiple fronts. UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson's aides warned of “consequences” against broadcasters and newspapers. They are making good on that threat.
Alexander Vindman, a key witness against Donald Trump in the impeachment inquiry, was removed from his White House job. And he’s not the only one: two days after the president was acquitted, Gordon Sondland, Ambassador to the European Union who testified in the impeachment inquiry, was also removed from his post.
Harvey Weinstein’s lawyer said her controversial interview with the New York Times was recorded “a long time ago.” The paper says it was last week. In the interview, Donna Rotunno said she was never sexually assaulted “because I would never put myself in that position.” Prosecutors argued it violated Judge James Burke's previous order directing lawyers to not discuss the case and the witnesses in public.
Jeenah Moon / Getty Images COOKING UP A STORM How Bon Appétit accidentally made YouTube’s most beloved stars What do you spend your YouTube time on? For millions of people, it’s watching the wholesome and unrehearsed magic of Bon Appétit’s test kitchen.
The posh Conde Nast magazine isn’t new, but its YouTube channel has dedicated fans and devotees. It boasts 5 million subscribers, and each video pulls in millions of views. A fandom has risen up and embraced its stars with memes, fan art, and TikToks. I’ll just say that again: people are creating fan art.
No one is more surprised about this than Bon Appétit’s chef stars themselves.
Lauren Strapagiel details the fascinating and accidental history of how the faces of a slick magazine brand became everyone’s YouTube best friends.
INSTANT ICONS These German teens made an iconic TikTok and they want you to learn their language
Every once in a while, a cultural artefact comes along that defies explanations. The TikTok made by these German teens is such an artefact.
So I won’t spend time recounting it to you, and tell you instead that it spread rapidly on Twitter — despite the language barrier, people couldn’t stop sharing it. We talked to the teens about their massive viral success.
Make an intentional space for being proud of yourself today, Elamin P.S. If you like this newsletter, help keep our reporting free for all. Support BuzzFeed News by becoming a member here. (Monthly memberships are available worldwide). 📝 This letter was edited and brought to you by Elamin Abdelmahmoud and BuzzFeed News. You can always reach us here.
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