WorldReutersDozens of leading Hong Kong pro-democracy campaigners charged with subversion
Forty-seven Hong Kong pro-democracy campaigners and activists were charged on Sunday with conspiracy to commit subversion in the largest single crackdown on the opposition under a China-imposed national security law. Among them was Sam Cheung, a 27-year-old activist and a participant in an unofficial primary election last summer, who was charged after reporting to a local police station. "Hong Kongers have a really tough time these days," he told reporters before entering the station.
U.S.Associated Press10 death row inmates in Oklahoma could get new trials
As many as 10 death row inmates in Oklahoma, more than one-fifth of the state's prisoners condemned to die, could escape execution because of a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling concerning criminal jurisdiction in Indian Country. The inmates have challenged their convictions in state court following the high court's ruling last year, dubbed the McGirt decision, that determined a large swath of eastern Oklahoma remains an American Indian reservation. The decision means that Oklahoma prosecutors lack the authority to pursue criminal charges in cases in which the defendants, or the victims, are tribal citizens.
PoliticsThe WeekBen Sasse on Matt Gaetz: 'That guy is not an adult'
Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) didn't exactly pull punches in an interview with Politico, going after congressional Republicans, Democrats, former President Donald Trump, and the Biden administration all in one go. Sasse, who is facing imminent censure from the Nebraska GOP for voting to convict Trump in his second impeachment trial, stands by that vote and says he's not bothered by the action his home state's Republican Party is taking against him, though he did say he thinks it's not "healthy." At one point, when asked about Trump loyalist Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), Sasse simply said "that guy is not an adult," and described Congress, generally, as "a bunch of yokels screaming."
WorldReutersExclusive: Bangladesh under 'no obligation' to accept stranded Rohingya refugees, says minister
Bangladesh is under "no obligation" to shelter 81 Rohingya Muslim refugees adrift for almost two weeks on the Andaman Sea and being assisted by neighbouring India, said Bangladesh foreign minister A.K. Abdul Momen. India's coast guard found the 81 survivors and eight dead crammed onto a crippled fishing boat and were trying to arrange for Bangladesh to take them, Indian officials said on Friday. But Momen told Reuters late on Friday that Bangladesh expects India, the closest country, or Myanmar, the Rohingyas' country of origin, to accept them.
WorldAssociated PressRooster kills Indian man during banned cockfight
A man was killed by a rooster with a blade tied to its leg during an illegal cockfight in southern India, police said, bringing focus on a practice that continues in some Indian states despite a decades-old ban. The rooster, with a 3-inch knife tied to its leg, fluttered in panic and slashed its owner, 45-year-old Thangulla Satish, in his groin last week, police inspector B. Jeevan said Sunday. Jeevan said police filed a case and were looking for over a dozen people involved in organizing the cockfight.
PoliticsThe TelegraphMike Pompeo attacks Biden's policies heightening speculation of 2024 presidential run
Mike Pompeo, the former US Secretary of State, touted the Trump administration's America-first foreign policy and attacked Joe Biden's agenda in a pitch to conservative voters on Saturday. Mr Pompeo said that while working under Donald Trump, "I sent messages repeatedly to bad guys around the world that if you touch an American, you'll pay dearly", in a speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Orlando, Florida. Mr Pompeo's speech at CPAC, the annual conservative jamboree, has heightened speculation that the former top US diplomat is considering a 2024 presidential run.
PoliticsThe IndependentCPAC: Gaetz says media ‘biased’ over Ted Cruz’s Cancun trip and should have focused on ‘caravans’ of migrants instead
Republican congressman Matt Gaetz attacked the way Ted Cruz's short-lived trip to Cancun, Mexico – amid a record-breaking winter storm – was reported by the media last week. The Florida congressman, who was speaking at the four-day Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Orlando on Friday, accused the media of being 'biased' towards Mr Cruz, who was forced to return to Texas amid calls to resign last Thursday. It followed reports Mr Cruz flew to Cancun with his family on Wednesday evening as hundreds of thousands of Texans remained without water or electricity for a fourth day running.
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Stephen Miller: Biden administration 'adopted anti-science position, illegal immigrants privileged over Americans'
Former Trump senior adviser addresses the Biden administration's immigration policy and the surge of unaccompanied minors crossing the border.
WorldReutersTruck-borne gunmen kill 11 in Mexico's western state of Jalisco
Unidentified gunmen riding in a truck opened fire with rifles on Saturday to kill 11 people in Mexico's western state of Jalisco, causing injuries to a woman and a youth as well, authorities said. Jalisco, where a former governor was shot dead in December, is one of the epicenters of Mexico's drug-related warfare, and home to the powerful Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG). The state prosecutor's office said 10 men with gunshot wounds were found dead outside a home in Tonala, a municipality in the Guadalajara area, with another male body discovered inside.
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Gunmen kill Islamic cleric, his son, student in Pakistan
A trio of gunmen shot and killed a religious cleric, his teenage son and a student on the outskirts of Pakistan's capital Islamabad, police said, amid a rise in militant attacks. Police officer Shahzad Khan said the killing took place in the Bhara Kahu neighborhood when Mufti Ikramur Rehman was heading toward his car with his 13-year-old son and a seminary student late Saturday night. The cleric, his son and the student received multiple gunshot wounds and died at a hospital.
WorldThe TelegraphBoris Johnson urged to back plan for Unionists to boycott a new Scottish referendum
Boris Johnson is being urged by the leader of the Tories in Scotland to back a plan for unionists to boycott a second unofficial referendum on Scottish independence. A second Scottish independence referendum can only be held if it is backed by the UK government and senior Tories are determined to reject it on the grounds that the vote in 2014 was said by the SNP to be a once in a generation event. If this happens, senior Conservatives led by leader of the Scottish Conservatives Douglas Ross want Mr Johnson to order supporters of the Union to boycott the vote and so they can present the poll as a SNP vanity exercise.
WorldReutersAnalysis: U.S. seeks to put Saudi crown prince in his place - for now
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman may have been spared direct punishment after a U.S. intelligence report implicated him in the killing of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi, but he has not emerged unscathed. The declassified report, based on CIA intelligence, concludes that the prince approved an operation to "capture or kill" Khashoggi, who was murdered in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in 2018. President Joe Biden's decision to publish a report that his predecessor Donald Trump had set aside brings with it a broad refocusing of Washington's stance on dealing with the kingdom, on its human rights record, and on its lucrative arms purchases.
WorldAssociated PressAP PHOTOS: Turkish vaccine teams target isolated villages
Traveling across roads covered with ice and snow, vaccination teams have been going to Turkey's isolated mountain villages as the government seeks to inoculate 60% of the country's people against coronavirus over the next three months. After much effort, medical workers arrived Friday to vaccinate older villagers in Gumuslu, a small settlement of 350 in the central province of Sivas that lies 140 miles (230 kilometers) from the provincial capital. “It's a difficult challenge to come here,” said Dr Rustem Hasbek, head of Sivas Health Services.
WorldThe TelegraphDollars flood Venezuela as Maduro abandons 'socialismo' in favour of Chinese system
Now, the hotel is open again as a symbol of an impending economic recovery and tourism boom in a country that has suffered the worst economic crisis in modern Latin American history. But the so-called Socialist president's touting of the luxurious, $300 per night hotel in a country where most live in poverty represents something else to others - an abandonment of a political project promising a socialist utopia in favor of an 'anything goes', capitalist kleptocracy. Since the dark days of mid-2019, when inflation hit 10 million per cent and Venezuela's weaved baskets out of useless Bolivar notes, the economy has shown signs of recovery.
WorldReutersIran condemns U.S. strikes in Syria, denies attacks in Iraq
Iran on Saturday condemned U.S. air strikes against Iran-backed militias in Syria, and denied responsibility for rocket attacks on U.S. targets in Iraq that prompted Friday's strikes. Washington said its strikes on positions of the Iran-backed Kataib Hezbollah paramilitary group along the Iraq border were in response to the rocket attacks on U.S. targets in Iraq. Western officials and some Iraqi officials have blamed those attacks on Iran-backed groups.
BusinessAssociated PressEXPLAINER: Why rising rates are unsettling Wall Street
But expectations for stronger growth — plus the higher inflation that could accompany it — are pushing interest rates higher, which is forcing investors to re-examine how they value stocks, bonds and every other investment. When it tries to figure out the value for anything from Apple's stock to a junk bond, the financial world starts by comparing it against a U.S. Treasury bond, which is what the government uses to borrow money. For years, yields have been ultralow for Treasurys, meaning investors earned very little in interest for owning them.
PoliticsReutersExclusive: Mexico's president expected to ask Biden to share U.S. vaccines, say sources
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador is expected to ask President Joe Biden to consider sharing part of the U.S. coronavirus vaccine supply with its poorer southern neighbor when the two leaders hold a virtual summit on Monday, U.S. and Mexican officials said. Biden is open to discussing the matter as part of a broader regional effort to cooperate in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic but will maintain as his “number one priority” the need to first vaccinate as many Americans as possible, a White House official told Reuters on condition of anonymity. Lopez Obrador has been one of the most vocal leaders in the developing world pressing the richest countries to improve poorer nations' access to the vaccines.
WorldAssociated PressPakistan expert: Religiosity aiding spike in militancy
Militant attacks are on the rise in Pakistan amid a growing religiosity that has brought greater intolerance, prompting one expert to voice concern the country could be overwhelmed by religious extremism. Pakistani authorities are embracing strengthening religious belief among the population to bring the country closer together. But it's doing just the opposite, creating intolerance and opening up space for a creeping resurgence in militancy, said Mohammad Amir Rana, executive director of the independent Pakistan Institute for Peace Studies.
U.S.USA TODAY'We're done with that lifestyle': Jessica Watkins, Ohio woman charged in Capitol riot, renounces Oath Keepers
An Ohio woman ordered held in jail pending trial on charges in the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol told a federal judge late Friday that she has disbanded her armed group in Ohio and plans to cancel her membership in the Oath Keepers. Jessica Watkins, 38, of Champaign County, told U.S. District Judge Amit P. Mehta in the District of Columbus that she was appalled and humiliated by the events of Jan. 6. "As soon as I'm out, whether acquittal or release, I'm canceling my Oath Keepers membership," she said.
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Russian helicopter crash-lands in northern Syria, casualties
A Russian military helicopter made an emergency landing for technical reasons in northeast Syria on Sunday, Russia's Defense Ministry said. Syria's state media said there were casualties among the crew. Russia joined Syria's war in September 2015 and has since helped tip the balance of power in favor of President Bashar Assad's forces.
WorldReutersArrival of 'sticky bombs' in Indian Kashmir sets off alarm bells
Security forces battling a decades-long insurgency in Indian-controlled Kashmir are alarmed by the recent arrival in the disputed region of small, magnetic bombs that have wreaked havoc in Afghanistan. "Sticky bombs", which can be attached to vehicles and detonated remotely, have been seized during raids in recent months in the federally administered region of Jammu and Kashmir, three senior security officials told Reuters. "These are small IEDs and quite powerful," said Kashmir Valley police chief Vijay Kumar, referring to improvised explosive devices.
PoliticsBusiness InsiderTrump supporters and right-wing reporters wouldn't stop heckling CNN's Jim Acosta during second day of CPAC
CNN's Jim Acosta was heckled by Trump supporters and right-wing reporters during CPAC on Friday. Videos of the event show Acosta being taunted on multiple occasions. CNN correspondent Jim Acosta was filmed being heckled by Trump supporters and right-wing reporters while he was trying to cover the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Orlando, Florida on Friday.
PoliticsAssociated PressSupreme Court could put new limits on voting rights lawsuits
Eight years after carving the heart out of a landmark voting rights law, the Supreme Court is looking at putting new limits on efforts to combat racial discrimination in voting. The justices are taking up a case about Arizona restrictions on ballot collection and another policy that penalizes voters who cast ballots in the wrong precinct. The high court's consideration comes as Republican officials in the state and around the country have proposed more than 150 measures, following last year's elections, to restrict voting access that civil rights groups say would disproportionately affect Black and Hispanic voters.
WorldAssociated PressIsraeli-owned ship docked in Dubai after mysterious blast
An Israeli-owned cargo ship that suffered a mysterious explosion in the Gulf of Oman came to Dubai's port for repairs Sunday, days after the blast that revived security concerns in Mideast waterways amid heightened tensions with Iran. Associated Press journalists saw the hulking Israeli-owned MV Helios Ray sitting at dry dock facilities at Dubai's Port Rashid. Although the crew was unharmed in the blast, the vessel sustained two holes on its port side and two on its starboard side just above the waterline, according to American defense officials.
WorldThe IndependentFar-right Proud Boys leader condemns Capitol rioters but says he 'won't cry' about politicians
Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio has condemned the rioters who besieged the US Capitol, but will not “cry” about lawmakers who came under attack on the day. Mr Tarrio, who was arrested two days before some members of the Proud Boys – and other Trump supporters – rioted at the US Capitol, told CNN that lawmakers did not need sympathy after the attack. The remarks come despite concerns among members of Congress that they were targets of those who broke into the complex on 6 January, citing baseless claims the 2020 election was “stolen”.
“How about we skip ‘he won’t win’ cycle and not do 2016 all over again. Trump can absolutely win another presidential election.”
“With independents deserting him, there is simply no path for Trump to get back into the White House — except as a tourist.”
“They might as well cancel the 2024 primaries...because there is no way he can lose.”
“The next Republican presidential primary will be heavily shaped by Trump — whether or not he decides to run again.”
“Donald Trump will not be running for president again. He will, however, continue to tease the possibility of a 2024 run.”