German government distances itself from navy chief's comments on Putin

The German government on Saturday distanced itself from comments made by its navy chief after video footage emerged in which the vice-admiral said Russian President Vladimir Putin deserved respect and that Kyiv would never win back annexed Crimea from Moscow. German Navy Chief Kay-Achim Schoenbach apologized for his "rash" comments, published on YouTube and widely circulated on German media, and called them a mistake. In a Twitter post, Schoenbach said his remarks at a thinktank discussion in India expressed a personal opinion and not the official position of the defence ministry.

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  German navy chief resigns after controversial comments favorable to Putin

  Fox News
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  German navy chief resigns over Ukraine comments

  The Independent

Bernie Sanders says Senate Republicans are 'laughing all the way to Election Day' over the lack of votes on consequential legislation

Sanders wants to see individual components of Build Back Better brought to the floor for votes. Sen. Bernie Sanders on Sunday said Senate Republicans are "laughing all the way to Election Day" since Democrats have yet to schedule a vote on the party's signature social-spending bill which has languished in the upper chamber due to intraparty divisions. During an interview on CNN's "State of the Union," the Vermont independent and chairman of the Senate Budget Committee said Senate Republicans have essentially been left off the hook in casting votes for consequential pieces of legislation as lawmakers look toward the November midterm elections.

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  Sanders says Republicans are 'laughing all the way to Election Day'

  The Hill
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  Bernie Sanders calls Arizona Democrats’ censure of Kyrsten Sinema ‘exactly right’

  The Independent

Diners at a Florida waterfront restaurant fell into the water after a deck suddenly collapsed, injuring two of them

Visitors to a waterfront restaurant swam to safety after a dining-area deck partially collapsed. A group of people dining at a Florida waterfront restaurant fell into the water after the deck below them partially collapsed. Two diners received minor injuries as a result and had to be taken to a hospital, AP reported on Saturday.

Two Canadians die in shooting at Mexican Caribbean resort

Two Canadians died of gunshot wounds after an argument turned violent at a resort near Cancun on Mexico's Caribbean coast, authorities said on Friday. Both guests at the upscale resort on the Riviera Maya of Quintana Roo state had criminal records, said Mexican officials, citing information from the Canadian police. Mexican police are searching for another person thought to have fired the shots who had a "long" criminal record in Canada, said the attorney general's office in Quintana Roo, home to a stretch of white-sand beach resorts and lush jungles.

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  Two Canadian tourists shot dead at Mexican resort

  The Independent
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  Two Canadians shot dead at upscale Mexican resort

  BBC

McDonald's Has a New Sandwich; History Says Nobody Will Buy It

McDonald's wants customers who care about healthy eating, and it wants options for its existing customers when they want a meal that's healthier than a Big Mac or a 10-piece Chicken McNuggets. The business logic for this makes sense -- some people want to eat healthy food -- but the reality has never proven that anyone wants healthy choices from McDonald's. McPlant might be different, but the fast-food giant has gone down this road before and the ending has always been the same. McDonald's dropped all of its salads during the pandemic.

An arrest warrant has been issued for a luxury cruise ship bound for Miami

An arrest warrant has been issued for a Crystal Cruises ship that was supposed to arrive in Miami Saturday, but reportedly is a fugitive ship heading for the Bahamas Sunday. The warrant issued in the Miami office of Fort Lauderdale federal court Thursday orders the U.S. Marshal to “arrest the Defendant vessel, her boats, tackle, apparel and furniture, engines and appurtenances and to detain the same in your custody pending further order of the Court.” Court documents say Crystal Cruises' couldn't pay for its fuel.

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  Cruise ship changes course after US judge orders seizure

  Associated Press
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  Crystal Cruises ship diverts to Bahamas with 700 people on board after arrest warrant issued over $1.2 million unpaid fuel bill: report

  Business Insider

Stray bullet kills English astrophysicist visiting Atlanta

A stray bullet struck and killed an English astrophysicist while he was inside an Atlanta-area apartment, authorities say. Matthew Willson, 31, of Chertsey, Surrey, England, was visiting his girlfriend in the United States when he was hit by a bullet that pierced the wall of the apartment. “He was supposed to be here for three months because we've been long distance for a while,” Katherine Shepard, his girlfriend of three years, told WSB-TV.

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  English doctor killed by stray bullet in Atlanta suburb

  The Hill
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  Who is Matthew Willson, the British astrophysicist killed by a stray bullet in Georgia?

  The Independent

A Texas woman demanded to buy a child from a mother at a Walmart for $500,000, police say

Taylor is being held at the Houston County Jail on a $50,000 bond. A 49-year-old Texas woman was arrested and charged with a third-degree felony last week after she attempted to buy a child for $500,000 at a Walmart, police said. Rebecca Lanette Taylor was charged last week with the sale and purchase of a child, according to NBC affiliate KETK-TV.

United Airlines flight to Israel turns back to US mid-flight after 2 passengers who assigned themselves seats in business class started a 'riot,' reports say

A United Airlines flight to Tel Aviv turned back to New York due to two disruptive passengers. The passengers refused to provide proof of allocated seats in business class, per Israeli media. A United Airlines flight to Tel Aviv, Israel, turned back to New York mid-flight on Friday after two passengers caused a "riot" on the aircraft, per reports.

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  No, you can't help yourself to business-class: United flight diverted after passengers self-upgrade

  USA TODAY
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  International flight forced to turn around in mid-air after two passengers try to sneak into business class

  The Independent

'Whoa, that's not right': Georgia towns lead census appeals

When officials in Chester, Georgia, heard that the 2020 census had pegged their small town at 525 people, their jaws dropped. “I said, 'Whoa, that's not right,'” City Clerk Melanie McCook said. Chester and two other small, rural municipalities in Georgia are the first communities in the U.S. to challenge the accuracy of their numbers from the once-a-decade head count.

Cartoonistry: Gaslighting is blinding too many in our polarized country

Gaslighting is a colloquialism that was made popular by the movie "Gaslight" (1944), in which a husband schemes to make his wife think she's crazy with a series of lies and dirty tricks so he can get her committed to an asylum and steal her money. Mr. Srinivasan has indeed outlined a common phenomenon in today's media-soaked culture and politics.

A Pennsylvania woman rescued a ‘scared’ animal. No one knows what it is

A woman in Pennsylvania has experts flummoxed by the animal she discovered outside of her home. Christina Eyth rescued the animal earlier this week near her home in Fairfield Township after finding paw prints outside of her door. Eyth followed the tracks, assuming they had belonged to her neighbor's dog after they had gotten loose.

Bitcoin pyramid schemes wreak havoc on Brazil's 'New Egypt'

In April, Brazil's federal police stormed the helipad of a seaside hotel in Rio de Janeiro state, where they busted two men and a woman loading a chopper with 7 million reais ($1.3 million) in neatly packed bills. The detainees told police they worked for G.A.S. Consulting & Technology, a cryptocurrency investment firm founded by a former waiter-turned-multimillionaire who is the central figure in what is alleged to be one of Brazil's biggest-ever pyramid schemes. Police say the company owned by 38-year-old Glaidson Acácio dos Santos had total transactions worth at least $7 billion ($38 billion reais) from 2015 through mid-2021 as part of a Bitcoin-based Ponzi scheme that promised investors 10% monthly returns.

Democratic Sen. Chris Coons says he's 'gravely concerned' about the 'abundant evidence' of nationwide voter suppression

Coons said legislators are seeing laws in dozens of states that are "clearly designed to accomplish voter suppression." Senate Republicans unanimously voted down landmark voting rights legislation last week, instigating a fight over the filibuster. As tensions over voting rights escalate, Democratic Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware said he is "gravely concerned" about nationwide voter suppression efforts.

A 73-year-old New York grandmother outsmarted scammers who pretended to be her grandson and said he needed $8,000 to be bailed out of jail

The woman said a man called her and pretended to be her grandson, claiming he needed $8,000 in bail money. The woman from Seaford, who asked to be identified as Jean, told CBS2 that she received a call from someone claiming to be her grandson. "He starts calling me 'grandma,' and then I'm like, I don't have a grandson that drives, so I knew it was a scam."

How BlackRock is managing 'the greatest investment opportunity of our lifetime'

In his 2022 letter to CEOs, BlackRock (BLK) CEO Larry Fink urged other heads of companies to prepare for and participate in the green transition as part of a broader defense of stakeholder capitalism. “I believe the decarbonizing of the global economy is going to create the greatest investment opportunity of our lifetime,” Fink wrote. “Few things will impact capital allocation decisions — and thereby the long-term value of your company — more than how effectively you navigate the global energy transition in the years ahead,” Fink stated.

Not Doing This at Night Could Sabotage Your Relationship, Experts Warn

There's no such thing as a perfect relationship. Whether you've been together 10 months or 10 years, differences of opinion, life stressors, and even petty squabbles will rear their ugly heads. However, there are habits you can develop to avoid these issues as much as possible—and ones you'll want to avoid at all costs to prevent them in the first place.

US detains smuggling ship, UK seizes drugs in Mideast waters

The U.S. Navy announced Sunday it seized a boat in the Gulf of Oman carrying fertilizer used to make explosives that was caught last year smuggling weapons to Yemen. The British royal navy said it confiscated 1,041 kilograms (2,295 pounds) of illegal drugs in the same waters. The interdictions were just the latest in the volatile waters of the Persian Gulf as American and British authorities step up seizures of contraband during the grinding conflict in Yemen and ongoing drug trafficking in the region.

400 Million Free N95 Face Masks Are Being Dispensed — Here’s How To Get Yours

The Biden administration aims to make 400 million N95 masks available to all Americans for free at pharmacies and community health centers next week, a White House official said per The Wall Street Journal. The masks will be coming from the Strategic National Stockpile, the national repository of critical medical supplies. The program will be fully up and running by February.

Michael Cohen says Donald Trump told him if one of his kids had to go to prison to 'make sure' it was Donald Jr., not Ivanka

Donald Trump's former lawyer claimed that Trump told him Donald Jr. should go to prison rather than Ivanka. Michael Cohen said his former boss gave the instruction when his children were on the verge of being indicted in 2012. Cohen was speaking to MSNBC about the probes into the Trump Organization and the Capitol riot.

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  Michael Cohen claims Trump told him Don Jr should go to jail over Ivanka

  The Independent
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  Will Trump Try To Protect His Kids In Business Probes? 'Not A Chance,' Laughs Michael Cohen.

  HuffPost

'Nasty' scammer had sex with men he met on the dating app Grindr then blackmailed and robbed them

Anouar Sabbar had sex with his victims and then demanded payment, saying he was an escort. Sabbar was sentenced to 5 years in jail on Thursday. A 28-year-old British man has been jailed for five years for blackmailing and robbing nine men he met on the LGBTQ hook-up app Grindr, police said.

Armenian president resigns saying Constitution doesn't give him enough influence

MOSCOW (Reuters) -Armenian President Armen Sarkissian tendered his resignation on Sunday, saying he believes the country's constitution does not give him sufficient powers to influence events. Sarkissian, president since 2018, was in a standoff with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan last year over a number of issues, including the dismissal of the head of the armed forces. "I have been thinking for a long time, I have decided to resign from the post of the President of the Republic after working actively for about four years," Sarkissian said in a statement published on the president's official website.