PoliticsNBC NewsMcConnell says he's '100 percent' focused on 'stopping' Biden's administration
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said Wednesday he is "100 percent" focused "on stopping" President Joe Biden's administration. Speaking to reporters in Kentucky, McConnell was asked about the House GOP leadership feud that reached a boiling point this week after Rep. Liz Cheney, the third-ranking Republican, again refuted former President Donald Trump's stolen election lie. McConnell was also asked whether he was concerned about the direction of the party.
U.S.NextSharkAsian American Father Walking With 1-Year-Old Son in Stroller Repeatedly Punched in SF
An Asian American father was waiting to cross the street with his 1-year-old child when a man approached and hit him from behind in San Francisco on Friday. What happened: Bruce, 36, was outside of Gus's Community Market by the intersection of 4th and Channel streets around 2 p.m. in Mission Bay when he was punched from behind and knocked to the ground. In a surveillance video, the male suspect, identified as Sidney Hammond, can be seen pummeling Bruce more than a dozen times as the stroller carrying his child rolled away.
PoliticsThe WeekPfizer, Moderna shares plummet after Biden administration backs a COVID-19 vaccine patent waiver
The United States will advocate for waiving COVID-19 vaccine patent protections in discussions with the World Trade Organization, U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai announced Wednesday. The Biden administration "believes strongly in intellectual property protections," Tai said in a statement, but the White House will back the waiver given the "extraordinary circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic." The administration has faced pressure to support the measure, which is aimed at increasing vaccinations around the world — especially in countries experiencing a surge in infections, like India — without having to rely solely on exports.
PoliticsArchitectural DigestHouse Call: What Do Your Water Glasses Say About You?
A selection of drinkware to make the best first impression Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest
WorldAssociated PressUS report: Taliban will likely curtail Afghan women's rights
U.S. intelligence agencies are warning that any gains in women's rights in Afghanistan made in the last two decades will be at risk after U.S. troops withdraw later this year. An unclassified report released Tuesday by the Director of National Intelligence says the Taliban remain “broadly consistent in its restrictive approach to women's rights and would roll back much of the past two decades' progress if the group regained national power.” It's the latest U.S. warning of the consequences of the Afghan withdrawal now underway, two decades after an American-led coalition toppled the Taliban.
U.S.Kansas City Star‘My soul left my body.’ Shark startles 6-year-old playing in surf, Hawaii video shows
An ordinary day at the beach turned into terror Sunday for a 6-year-old Hawaii girl who spotted a shark beside her in the surf. Sheri Gouveia was shooting a video of her daughter playing in the ocean at Kalama Beach on Oahu at the time, Hawaii News Now reported. Gouveia told Hawaii News Now her daughter has “angels to keep her safe.”
U.S.The TelegraphMembers of religious cult in court after 'corpse of leader found decorated with Christmas lights'
Seven members of a religious cult who authorities say kept the mummified remains of their leader at a home in a remote Colorado town festooned with Christmas lights and glitter made an initial court appearance on Wednesday. The four men and three women (Ryan Kramer, Christopher Royer, Sarah Rudolph, Karin Raymond, Jason Castillo, John Robertson and Obdulia Franco, ranging in age from 30 to 52 years old, are each charged with one count of abusing of a corpse and two counts of misdemeanour child abuse. The child abuse charges stem from two children who were living in the house where the body was found.
ScienceAxiosPentagon tracking path of falling Chinese rocket
The Pentagon said Wednesday it's tracking the uncontrolled descent of the Long March-5B Y2 rocket that carried a Chinese Space Station module to orbit last week. Details: Defense Department spokesperson John Kirby told reporters the rocket's debris was expected to return to Earth "somewhere around" May 8 and that the U.S. Space Command has said "almost the entire body of the rocket" remains intact. Space watchers also played a waiting game as China's Tiangong-1 space station came back through the atmosphere in 2018, eventually burning up above the Pacific Ocean.
PoliticsAssociated PressUS Justice Department worried about Arizona Senate recount
The U.S. Department of Justice expressed concern Wednesday about ballot security and potential voter intimidation arising from the Republican-controlled Arizona Senate's unprecedented private recount of the 2020 presidential election results in Maricopa County. In a letter to GOP Senate President Karen Fann, the head of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division said the Senate's farming out of 2.1 million ballots from the state's most populous county to a contractor may run afoul of federal law requiring ballots to remain in the control of elections officials for 22 months.
BusinessReutersAnalysis-Stricken airlines seek lifeline from transatlantic opening
Diplomatic moves to ease transatlantic air travel could unleash fierce competition to entice passengers back into near-empty cabins at a time when tottering airlines can ill afford a price war in the world's richest aviation market. Talks between Brussels and Washington on resuming mass travel for vaccinated tourists have raised hopes of a summer rebound - further buoyed by new EU reopening proposals. Airlines are desperate for good news after a year of COVID-19 lockdowns that pushed many to the brink of collapse, or into the arms of governments.
U.S.The Daily BeastAmerican Duo Gets Life in Italian Prison for Killing Cop While on Summer Vacation
ROME—Two Americans have been sentenced to life in an Italian prison after a teenage vacation in Rome ended in a brutal fight that left a local police officer dead. Finnegan Elder, 21, and Gabriel Natale-Hjorth, 20, from California, got themselves into trouble after trying to buy cocaine during their vacation in the summer of 2019. After a botched drug deal, they killed Carabinieri officer Mario Cerciello Rega, 35.
WorldAssociated PressFor first time in a long time, Netanyahu's rule threatened
Israel's president said on Wednesday that he has given opposition leader Yair Lapid the task of trying to form a new coalition government. President Reuven Rivlin made the announcement after Netanyahu failed to meet a midnight deadline for forming a government himself the previous day. Lapid, who was once Netanyahu's governing partner but has morphed into a formidable nemesis, now has 28 days to cobble together a majority coalition in parliament with a range of parties that have little in common.
BusinessBBCGoogle boss emails staff detailing return to office
Google's chief executive has sent an email to employees encouraging them to return to work in the office for at least three days a week as lockdowns ease. The firm began reopening offices in April, and has now laid out the details of how it envisages the new hybrid working week. In the email, Sundar Pichai extols the benefits of office working.
U.S.The IndependentAtlanta reinstates officer who fatally shot Rayshard Brooks, Black man who was running away from police
Garrett Rolfe, the white former Atlanta police officer charged with murdering Rayshard Brooks, a Black man, may be put back onto the force. On Wednesday, the Atlanta Civil Service Board, which evaluates city government firing decisions, held that the police department hadn't followed proper procedure when it swiftly fired Mr Rolfe after the shooting last June. Mr Rolfe fired upon Mr Brooks as he ran away on foot from a drunk driving arrest.
WorldAssociated PressMadrid's champion of soft virus restrictions wins election
Madrid's conservative leader, a champion of relaxed measures against the coronavirus and a scourge of the left-wing central government's handling of the pandemic, scored a solid win in a regional election Tuesday. Isabel Díaz Ayuso, who had campaigned under the slogan of “Freedom,” was backed by 44% of voters, up from 22% in the last election two years ago, with 99% of the ballot counted. The biggest blow was to Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez's Socialists and the national leader's coalition's junior partner, the anti-austerity United We Can whose leader, Pablo Iglesias, announced an end to a political career that in many ways shaped Spain's politics for much of the past decade.
- NewsCBS LA - KCBS
One Killed In Big-Rig Wreck On 210 Freeway In Fontana
At least one person was killed in a crash involving an overturned semi-truck in Fontana Wednesday morning.
U.S.Fort Worth Star-TelegramGreat-grandson of televangelist Kenneth Copeland drowns in swimming pool accident
The great-grandson of televangelist Kenneth Copeland died Tuesday at a Fort Worth children's hospital after being pulled out of swimming pool at a Tarrant County home, according to officials and his father. Clark David Mayer, 2, was pronounced dead at 11:05 a.m. Tuesday at Cook Children's Medical Center in Fort Worth, according to the Tarrant County Medical Examiner's Office website on Wednesday.
U.S.Associated PressMom who gave birth on flight didn't know she was pregnant
Lavinia “Lavi” Mounga had no idea a baby was coming when she went into labor on a flight from her home in Utah to Honolulu last week. “I just didn't know I was pregnant, and then this guy just came out of nowhere,” Mounga said during a video interview with Hawaii Pacific Health. The baby boy, Raymond Mounga, arrived early at just 29 weeks while mom was traveling to Hawaii for vacation with her family.
PoliticsAssociated PressHouse GOP leader renews criticism over All-Star Game shift
The top-ranking House Republican on Tuesday renewed his party's attack on Major League Baseball for pulling the All-Star Game out of the Atlanta Braves stadium after Georgia Republicans enacted a restrictive new voting law, saying the sport's leaders were misled by criticism from Democratic President Joe Biden. “These are real-life effects of people making poor decisions that has hurt this community as a whole,” said House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, speaking at a suburban Atlanta restaurant where people were lined up to dine. Democrats, though, say Republicans have only themselves to blame for any fallout from Georgia's voting law, since Republican votes pushed it through the Georgia General Assembly and Republican Gov. Brian Kemp signed it into law.
U.S.The Daily Beast‘A Terrible Thing’: Husband of Colorado Mom Who Vanished on Mother’s Day Charged With Murder
Nearly a year after Suzanne Morphew disappeared without a trace while out on a bike ride last Mother's Day, the 49-year-old's husband—who once pleaded for her safe return—has been arrested and charged with murder. The Chaffee County Sheriff's Office confirmed to The Daily Beast that Barry Morphew, 53, is currently in custody after being arrested Wednesday morning, just days shy of the one-year anniversary of his wife's disappearance on May 10, 2020, in Maysville, Colorado. He has been charged with first-degree murder after deliberation, tampering with physical evidence, and attempting to influence a public servant.
- LifestyleRaleigh News and Observer
Tommy Lee of Mötley Crüe goes Zen. See the CA home he bought for $4.15 million
Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee has bought a Zen-like home in Brentwood, California, for $4.15 million that is unique in its architectural design. “Serenity, behind the gate of this unique half-acre double lot, truly one-of-a-kind architectural home, a Japanese-inspired modern sanctuary,” according to the listing. Brentwood is in Los Angeles County.
- NewsReuters Videos
The slavery history that tarnishes Napoleon's legacy
He will instead be reminded of a darker, lesser known part of Napoleon's history: That he reversed the abolition of slavery in France's colonies. "I do think about my ancestors. I don't feel completely at peace."
PoliticsBusiness InsiderRep. Liz Cheney says House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy 'changed his story' on the Capitol riot
Rep. Liz Cheney said House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy has "changed his story" on the US Capitol riots in an op-ed for The Washington Post published Wednesday. Cheney's comments followed the House Minority Leader privately saying he has "had it with her" on a hot mic after an interview with "Fox and Friends," signaling his and the House GOP's waning support for Cheney, who serves as House conference chair.
U.S.The Independent‘Girl in bunker’ kidnapper and rapist found dead in prison cell
Filyaw was found dead in his cell on Monday, 15 years into his sentence for kidnapping, raping and torturing then-14-year-old Elizabeth Shoaf. The horrific ordeal went on for 10 days in 2006 as she was kept in an underground bunker in the woods before she was able to escape. There were no immediate signs of foul play in Filyaw's death and an autopsy will be performed to determine the cause of death, The State newspaper reported.
CelebrityTODAYAmy Schumer reflects on husband's autism diagnosis as she honors son's birthday
Amy Schumer's son, Gene, turned 2 on Wednesday, and the comedian celebrated by paying tribute to husband Chris Fischer and his autism diagnosis. Today is our son's birthday and I woke up emotional as hell thinking about my husband, Chris,” she captioned a pair of photos on Instagram, including one of them together while she was in labor and another of Fischer holding Gene. In this first photo while I was having a 3 hour c section he held my hand and stared in my eyes so I never felt alone.
“Every college has a public health responsibility to require its students to be vaccinated.”
“While the vast majority of students will likely get the vaccine, schools should honor the decisions of the few who object.”
“A vaccinated campus could be the step toward normality that college leaders are seeking.”
“College students are mobile and spread COVID-19 with them whenever they travel.”
“There almost certainly are going to be legal challenges because the anti-vaccine movement is already preparing for them.”