WorldYahoo NewsPutin dodges question about Russian dissidents by pointing to U.S. unrest
Russian President Vladimir Putin declined to directly answer a question Wednesday about his authoritarian rule and the jailing and premature deaths of his political opponents. The list of your political opponents who are dead, imprisoned or jailed is long,” said ABC News reporter Rachel Scott during a press conference following Putin's meeting with President Biden in Switzerland. She then mentioned Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who has been in prison since January after surviving an attempted poisoning.
U.S.NBC NewsSt. Louis couple who flashed guns at protesters plead guilty, surrender firearms
The Missouri couple who were recorded last summer brandishing firearms at protesters outside their St. Louis home pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges Thursday as part of a plea deal. Mark and Patricia McCloskey were issued fines and ordered to surrender the firearms they were photographed with to be destroyed, according to NBC affiliate KSDK. Mark McCloskey, a St. Louis lawyer who announced he was running for Senate last month, was charged with unlawful use of a firearm and tampering with physical evidence.
PoliticsAxios"Same rotten core": McConnell rejects Manchin's voting rights compromise
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) announced Thursday that he opposes the compromise on Democrats' sweeping voting rights bill proposed by Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.). Why it matters: Voting legislation requires 60 votes to pass in the Senate. Without Republican support, it is unlikely to pass.
WorldBBCWhy cyber gangs won't worry about US-Russia talks
Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Joe Biden have agreed to develop a cyber-security arrangement between the two countries after discussing the issue of ransomware at their summit in Geneva. Mr Biden says he and Mr Putin will start consultations "to begin to bring some order" after recent high-profile attacks by criminal gangs on critical US companies. President Biden says he raised a recent attack which took a major US fuel pipeline offline with Mr Putin.
U.S.Idaho StatesmanPallets of cell phones were found at Idaho family’s homes. Feds set to argue conspiracy
Jury selection is scheduled to begin Monday in a Boise federal court surrounding accusations of an expansive, multimillion-dollar conspiracy to sell counterfeit Apple and Samsung cell phones and accessories. In August 2018, a federal grand jury indicted 10 people — Pavel, Gennady, Piotr, Timofey, Kristina and Natalya Babichenko, as well as David Bibikov, Anna Iyerusalimets, Mikhail Iyerusalimets and Artur Pupko — on dozens of counts of wire fraud, mail fraud, money laundering and trafficking in counterfeit goods. Prosecutors accused the group of a criminal conspiracy dating as far back as 2008.
U.S.The GuardianOfficer injured in Capitol attack says Republican ran from him ‘like a coward’
A Republican congressman “ran as quickly as he could, like a coward” when a police officer injured in the attack on Congress on 6 January saw him and tried to shake his hand, the officer said. I was very cordial,” Michael Fanone told CNN on Wednesday of his interaction with Andrew Clyde, in a Capitol elevator earlier that day. Fanone returned this week with a colleague from the US Capitol police, in an attempt to speak to Republicans including Clyde who voted against awarding the congressional gold medal to officers who defended the building.
PoliticsThe State‘We didn’t win.’ Trump appears to admit Biden won election in Fox News interview
More than seven months after the 2020 election, former President Donald Trump appeared to admit his defeat on Wednesday. In an interview with Sean Hannity on Fox News, Trump said the results of the 2020 election were “shocking.” President Joe Biden won the election with 306 electoral votes to Trump's 232, but the results continue to be disputed.
U.S.Lexington Herald-LeaderSimone Biles’ brother acquitted of triple murder — then chaos erupts in Ohio courtroom
Tevin Biles-Thomas, the brother of Olympic gymnast Simone Biles, was acquitted Tuesday of triple murder following a 2018 shooting in Cleveland. Seconds after Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Joan Synenberg cleared Biles-Thomas of his charges, the courtroom erupted in chaos as a woman charged at the man on trial. The woman, identified by WKYC as the mother of one of the victims, was grabbed by several deputies as she got close to Biles-Thomas.
WorldBBCApple Daily: Hong Kong sends 500 officers in pro-democracy paper raid
Some 500 policemen raided the offices of pro-democracy paper Apple Daily in Hong Kong, alleging its reports breached a national security law. Police also arrested the editor-in-chief and four other executives at their homes. It also froze HK$18m ($2.3m; £1.64m) of assets owned by three companies linked to Apple Daily.
PoliticsTheGrioBiden signs law making Juneteenth a federal holiday — but some remain unimpressed
President Joe Biden officially signed legislation on Thursday making Juneteenth a federal holiday in the White House East Room with America's first Black Vice President Kamala Harris standing by his side. Despite this historic moment, upset is spilling over as the question remains, how will both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue quell the disdain in the Black community about the new Juneteenth law when the passage of voting rights and police reform bills remain in jeopardy this year? Actor and humanitarian Billy Porter spoke exclusively to theGrio to convey his feelings about what the government is doing in the wrangling over voting rights.
CelebrityArchitectural DigestStill Need a Father’s Day Gift for Dad? Here Are Chip Gaines’s Suggestions
The Fixer Upper star shares five little ones with his wife, Joanna Gaines Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest
U.S.Charlotte ObserverMother made daughter, 13, help bury 4-year-old sister in NC backyard, warrant says
The mother of a 4-year-old girl whose remains were found at a north Charlotte home last month, forced her 13-year-old daughter to help bury her sister in the backyard, according to a search warrant. On May 21, Charlotte-Mecklenburg police found Miegellic “Jelli” Young's body buried outside her mother's home in the 3700 block of Braden Drive. Miegellic had lived with her mother, Malikah Bennett, her boyfriend and seven other children in the home since August, the search warrant says.
ScienceNational ReviewScientist Waited to Legitimize Lab-Leak Theory Out of Fear She Would Be ‘Associated with Trump’
A scientist who recently endorsed the possibility that COVID-19 originated in a Chinese lab has revealed that she and some of her colleagues waited to legitimize the hypothesis until President Trump left office so as not to be “associated” with him. Alina Chan and 18 fellow scientists published a letter in the journal Science last month demanding a thorough inquiry into the virus's origin, including the possibility that the virus leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology. The document was one of the catalysts that helped reinvigorate debate around the lab-leak theory, which was dismissed for more than a year as a conspiracy theory by much of the mainstream press and censored as disinformation by social media giants.
WorldBBCRyanair and Manchester Airports Group take action over travel lists
Ryanair and the owner of Manchester, London Stansted and East Midlands airports have launched a legal challenge against the government over the travel traffic light system. They are calling for more transparency about how the government decides which countries qualify for the green list of safe places to visit amid the pandemic. EasyJet, Tui and IAG, the owner of British Airways, have backed the case.
- WorldKCRA - Sacramento Videos
Early morning explosion forces evacuations in Sacramento neighborhood
Neighbors in the South Hagginwood area woke up Wednesday morning to the sight of flashing police lights and yellow tape. "I'm really shocked myself. It's kind of scary," said Janice Enriquez, who lives in the area.
U.S.NBC News'All the water's bad': In McDowell County, you have to get creative to find safe drinking water
Every week, Burlyn Cooper parks on the edge of a winding two-lane road, unloads a dozen plastic jugs from the trunk of his car, and uses a hose to fill them with the spring water that drips from a mountain's exposed rock face. For Cooper and many of his neighbors, the mountain's runoff is their most reliable, and trusted, source of drinking water. "I've got so used to it, I wouldn't know how to act, to turn the faucet on and have good water," he said.
U.S.The StateColumbia Council gives first nod to $20 million for more BullStreet parking
The city of Columbia has given initial approval to make way for the construction of up to two more parking garages at the BullStreet District and is set to once again borrow from a retiree benefits fund to make it happen. Columbia City Council on Tuesday unanimously passed a first vote on an ordinance that authorizes $20.4 million dollars for about 750 more parking garage spaces at the site. City special projects administrator Gregory Tucker said those spaces could come in one garage or be split into two garages.
U.S.INSIDERA murder suspect accused of stabbing and setting fire to his son cross-examined the 11-year-old in court
A Florida judge allowed a murder suspect to represent himself at trial and cross-examine witnesses. Ronnie Oneal III is charged with killing his girfriend and daughter and nearly killing his son. A murder suspect accused of shooting his girlfriend, axing his 9-year-old daughter in the head, then stabbing and lighting his son on fire cross-examined the 11-year-old survivor Wednesday in a jaw-dropping courtroom scene.
PoliticsBusiness InsiderVideo shows Osama bin Laden's niece waving a flag saying 'Trump won' on a lake outside the Biden-Putin summit
Bin Laden, who has denounced the 9/11 attacks, came out last year as a Trump supporter. Osama bin Laden's niece waved a flag that said "Trump won" on a lake outside the villa where President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin met Wednesday.
WorldBBCJohn Lewis boss says young staff lack basic numeracy skills
Young people starting work at John Lewis stores lack basic literacy and numeracy skills, the boss of the department store chain has said. Dame Sharon White's comments were reported in the Times after she spoke to a commission set up by the newspaper to look at the UK education system in the light of the Covid crisis. "To have done 10 years, 11, 12 years of education, and not having, in many cases, functional literacy, certainly, pretty typically not having functional numeracy beyond the age of, I'd say, 10, 11, means that they may then have fabulous people skills and fabulous skills in terms of operating in a team but that's almost outwith the education system," Dame Sharon told the Commission.
U.S.Kansas City StarDangerous heat expected in Kansas City as temperatures soar to record level
Dangerous weather conditions are expected Thursday in the Kansas City area as extreme temperatures — possibly record breaking — and high humidity will make it feel as hot as 105 degrees, according to the National Weather Service in Kansas City. The weather service has issued a heat advisory that will be in effect from 1 to 7 p.m. Thursday for the Kansas City as well as parts of northeast Kansas and northwest Missouri. During that time, heat index values are expected to rise up to 105 degrees.
U.S.The Daily BeastCollege Student Killed Entire Family After Dad Said ‘Find a Job or Move Out’: Cops
Alexander Jackson, a 20-year-old University of Iowa student, called police Tuesday morning in a panic, claiming a masked intruder had shot him and his father inside their home. When Cedar Rapid officers arrived at the scene, they found Jackson's parents and his 19-year-old sister—a high-achieving student who introduced then-presidential candidate Andrew Yang during his 2019 visit to Iowa—fatally shot in different rooms of the expansive house. Police, however, now believe it was actually Jackson who murdered his father, 61-year-old Jan Jackson, his 68-year-old mother, Melissa Jackson, and their daughter, Sabrina.
WorldBusiness InsiderKim Jong Un warns that North Korea is running out of food as reports say a bunch of bananas now costs $45
Kim Jong Un said the situation was "tense," state media reported. A South Korean think tank said the country was expected to be short over a million tons of food. Kim Jong Un has warned that North Korea is struggling to maintain food supplies, as reports say prices of everyday goods are skyrocketing.
PoliticsUSA TODAYA fan of aviator sunglasses, Joe Biden gifts Vladimir Putin a pair of his own
President Joe Biden's longtime affection for gold-rimmed aviator Ray-Bans was on display this week when he gave Russian President Vladimir Putin a custom pair of aviators, according to a White House official. Putin also received a crystal sculpture of an American bison. "In Russia, over the past 20 years, European bison were reintroduced by rewilding numerous sites after their extinction in 1927," according to the official.
U.S.INSIDER'19 Kids and Counting's' Josh Duggar asks for a delay in his child porn case trial so he can hire experts to examine his devices
Star of "19 Kids and Counting," Josh Duggar, asked for a delay in his trial for child porn allegations, on Thursday, so that he could hire experts to examine his devices, according to new court documents. His trial is set to start in July, and the recent motion filed by Duggar's attorney asks for a trial to be set in or after February 2022. "The defense has retained an independent computer forensic expert who must conduct a computer forensic examination of each of the devices at issue," Duggar's attorney said.
“It may seem desperate at this point, but I can’t be mad at any and all efforts to get people vaccinated.”
“I won’t get rich, but I will get to live my life. That seems like reward enough.”
“Offering incentives may encourage people who are not actively opposed to vaccination but may have put it off.”
“At some point, the government is simply rewarding irresponsible behavior.”
“Sure, people should do it without needing an incentive. But what’s the alternative? Not enough people get vaccinated.”