U.S.NBC NewsFirefighters to be fired in Kobe Bryant helicopter crash scene photo scandal, court docs say
The Los Angeles County Fire Department planned to terminate the employment of two firefighters and suspend a third for allegedly taking graphic photos at the scene of the helicopter crash that killed Kobe Bryant and sharing them with their wives and girlfriends, according to court documents filed this week. The disclosure was made by lawyers for the late basketball star's wife, Vanessa Bryant, in court documents related to her invasion of privacy lawsuit against Los Angeles County. The two firefighters were sent "intention to discharge" letters in December after a fire department internal investigation concluded they had taken photos of the dead bodies in the helicopter wreckage that "served no business necessity" and "only served to appeal to baser instincts and desires for what amounted to visual gossip," Bryant's attorneys said in a declaration in support of delaying the lawsuit trial to allow time for additional investigation.
WorldThe TelegraphHow Hamas pierced Israel's famous Iron Dome shield
Israel's military was facing questions on Wednesday as to whether its Iron Dome missile defence system needed an upgrade, after five Israeli civilians were killed by rocket strikes. The system, which Israeli officials say has a 90 per cent interception rate, has already avoided heavy loss of life in Tel Aviv, Ashkelon and other cities which became a focal point for Hamas as it sought to overwhelm air defences. But on Wednesday, Israeli analysts said that for some time intelligence sources had been warning that Hamas had significantly improved its weaponry, to the extent that it could "pierce the Iron Dome shield."
PoliticsThe WeekGOP lawmaker claims 'there was no insurrection' and Capitol riot looked like a 'normal tourist visit'
A Republican lawmaker is being called "ridiculous" for claiming not only was the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol not an insurrection, but footage from that day resembled a "normal tourist visit." Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-Ga.) claimed at a Wednesday hearing about the riot that when supporters of former President Donald Trump stormed the Capitol building to stop the election results from being certified, it was not an insurrection and that it's a "lie" to say it was. Clyde asserted that television footage from Jan. 6 showed people entering the Capitol and taking videos and pictures "in an orderly fashion" and "if you didn't know the TV footage was a video from January the 6th, you would actually think it was a normal tourist visit."
U.S.Architectural DigestHouse Call: This Is the Comfort You Need
In support of plump, fluffy, puffy furniture Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest
PoliticsThe WeekThe top 4 congressional leaders are headed to the White House for the 1st time since 2019
The congressional "Big Four" — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) — will meet with President Biden on Wednesday to discuss infrastructure. It is the first time the four congressional leaders have convened at the White House since October 2019, and "this meeting will have a different dynamic, to say the least," Politico says.
WorldAxiosIn photos: Dozens dead as Israel and Hamas intensify aerial bombardments
Photo: Mahmud Hams/AFP via Getty Images Rockets are launched from Gaza toward the coastal city of Tel Aviv, Israel on May 11. Photo: Anas Baba/AFP via Getty Images A Palestinian youth comforts an injured boy receiving medical care al-Shifa hospital after an Israeli air strike in Gaza on May 11. Photo: Mahmud HamsA/AFP via Getty Images Israeli emergency services transport an injured man in the town of Holon near Tel Aviv, on May 11.
U.S.Raleigh News and ObserverPolice thought man who died in crash was shot. But he was bitten, Texas cops say
Leon Peysen, 70, was found in the Waco-suburb Hewitt trapped underneath his overturned SUV May 5 with a neck injury believed to be a gunshot wound, KWKT reported. Police now say the crash killed Peysen — because he wasn't shot at all. Security footage revealed Peysen pulled three dogs into the SUV and he was attempting to leave a parking lot when the vehicle reversed suddenly, according to the Waco Tribune-Herald.
PoliticsThe WeekKevin McCarthy claims nobody is 'questioning the legitimacy' of the election after Cheney ouster
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) evidently can't think of a single person continuing to question whether the 2020 presidential election was legitimate. McCarthy spoke with reporters at the White House on Wednesday after a meeting with President Biden and asserted that the party has moved on from the 2020 election and that there isn't "anybody" questioning whether Biden is the legitimate president. "I don't think anybody is questioning the legitimacy of the presidential election," McCarthy claimed.
WorldBBCMyanmar coup: Firms quit office block with military ties
A high-end office block in Myanmar linked to the country's military leaders is seeing an exodus of international organisations. Coca-Cola, the World Bank and McKinsey have told the BBC they have moved out or are reviewing their leases at the Sule Square complex in Yangon. The United Nations said the complex was built on land owned by the military.
WorldThe Daily BeastTrevor Noah Has a Message for Israel: ‘What Is Your Responsibility?’
The Daily Show host Trevor Noah on Tuesday addressed the recent tensions in the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestine—as much as could reasonably be done in the time it takes to boil an egg. In recent days, Israeli police clashed with Palestinians at a Jerusalem mosque, nine children were among at least two dozen people killed by Israeli airstrikes, and Gaza militants fired rockets of their own at Israel, killing three. Noah, who acknowledged that there isn't “any TV show [that] in ten minutes is going to solve [the] Israel-Palestine [problem],” did make some keen observations.
PoliticsNBC NewsHouse Republican Leader McCarthy: No one 'questioning the legitimacy' of 2020 election
Hours after Rep. Liz Cheney was ousted from her Republican leadership position for rebuking former President Donald Trump's ongoing claim that the election was "stolen" from him, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy told reporters, "I don't think anybody is questioning the legitimacy of the presidential election." "I think that is all over with," McCarthy, R-Calif., said at the White House, where he was meeting with President Joe Biden, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell about Biden's infrastructure plans.
WorldBusiness InsiderVideos show Israeli airstrikes leveling multiple Gaza apartment buildings amid escalating violence
Israeli airstrikes have leveled multiple residential buildings in Gaza, videos show. Israel said that Hamas used the buildings. The Israeli military leveled multiple apartment buildings in Gaza with airstrikes this week amid escalating violence that's killed dozens of Palestinians, marking the worst fighting in the region since the 50-day war in 2014.
U.S.Miami HeraldOrlando lawyer and mother left her kids at home to run an SUV into their father’s house
Court documents say 40-year-old Francine Bogumil later texted her ex-husband, “S---- bout to get ugly. All this violated several laws, court orders as well as the standards for behavior by a member of the Florida Bar, of which Bogumil has been a member since 2006. As for the criminal matters, Bogumil pleaded no contest and was found guilty of one count of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon; one count of assault on a law enforcement officer, one count of domestic violence battery, two counts of violating a domestic violence restraining order, and two counts of criminal mischief.
WorldBBCOn The Beach pulls all summer holidays from sale
EasyJet said it would let people "make up their own mind about their holiday". Most countries are currently classed as amber, but it is not illegal to travel to them when holidays resume on 17 May for people in England and Scotland. The firm's chief executive Simon Cooper said: "There's nothing we want more than to be able to send customers on holiday, but with the current number of unknowns, we don't think that now is the right time for customers to book new holidays departing in the next few months."
ScienceNBC NewsRoman soldier on doomed Vesuvius rescue mission identified in ancient remains
A 2,000-year-old skeleton belonged to a senior Roman soldier who was likely sent on a rescue mission to the doomed towns of Pompeii and Herculaneum as Mount Vesuvius erupted, scientists have discovered. Initially thought to be that of a regular solider, the skeleton was among 300 found at Herculaneum in the 1980s. Both Pompeii and Herculaneum, popular Roman seaside resorts south of modern-day Naples, were obliterated by the violent eruption in A.D. 79, covering people and houses in lava, mud and ash, preserving them for future archaeologists to discover.
PoliticsPoliticoRepublicans draw ‘red line’ for Biden in Oval Office showdown
Republican leaders told President Joe Biden on Wednesday that they will draw a hard line on raising taxes to pay for infrastructure, demonstrating the substantial challenges ahead for a potential bipartisan deal on Biden's infrastructure and jobs plan. Democrats and Republicans left the meeting saying they would try to zero in on areas of agreement they could reach on a bipartisan bill. GOP leaders told reporters that they still had to reach an agreement with Democrats over what exactly meets the definition of infrastructure.
- PoliticsYahoo News Video
After being voted out of House GOP leadership, Cheney says, 'We must go forward based on truth'
After House Republicans voted out Rep. Liz Cheney as conference chair, she told reporters that the party cannot embrace both the Constitution as well as the “Big Lie” that the 2020 election was stolen from former President Donald Trump.
U.S.Fort Worth Star-TelegramHere’s how Fort Worth’s mayoral candidates differ on wages, workforce and transit
After advancing out of the crowded mayoral field, Mattie Parker and Deborah Peoples are differentiating themselves on more than just political backgrounds, including at a forum Wednesday where they were divided on transit, wages and the best way to grow business. Parker, a lawyer who spent five years as chief of staff for Mayor Betsy Price and is now a nonprofit executive, and Peoples, a retired AT&T vice president and outgoing Tarrant County Democratic Party chair, spared in a forum that focused on Fort Worth's workforce and business climate. While the candidates appear to agree on unifying the city and moving away from partisan politics, the forum, hosted by the Star-Telegram and the city's three chambers, was one of the first times the pair contrasted clearly on policies.
WorldBBCUK economy picks up as lockdown restrictions ease
The UK economy shrank by 1.5% in the first three months of 2021, but gathered speed in March as lockdown restrictions began to ease, official figures show. Tej Parikh, chief economist at the Institute of Directors, predicted the UK economy was now on course for a bumper bounce-back this year. The UK economy suffered a record annual slump in 2020 as coronavirus restrictions hit output and 2021 started off equally downbeat.
PoliticsPoliticoMcCarthy after ousting Cheney: 'I don’t think anybody is questioning the legitimacy of the presidential election'
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy on Wednesday papered over the significant skepticism of the 2020 presidential election within the GOP just hours after his conference deposed Rep. Liz Cheney for criticizing fellow Republicans over that very issue. I don't think anybody is questioning the legitimacy of the presidential election,” McCarthy said after meeting with President Joe Biden at the White House alongside other congressional leaders. McCarthy's comments run counter to the the campaign he greenlighted to boot Cheney (R-Wyo.
WorldThe IndependentCIA's fake inoculation cover before bin Laden killing led to vaccine drop-off in Pakistan, new report says
Declining vaccination rates in Pakistan have been linked to operations undertaken by the Central Intelligence Agency in 2011 to try to locate Osama bin Laden. A new study in the Journal of the European Economic Association, which is published by the Oxford University Press, argues that Pakistani distrust in vaccines can be tied directly to a CIA-led ruse in 2011 that used a vaccine clinic as a cover for agents to try to gather information on bin Laden's location. During the ruse, CIA agents worked with a local doctor to launch an immunisation plan in Pakistan.
HealthLA TimesDoctors fear COVID-19 vaccines are messing with mammograms
Like a sore arm or slight fever, lymph nodes enlarged by the immune system's response to a COVID-19 vaccine are virtually always a sign that the shot is doing its job. But to the medical specialists who scour mammograms for signs of malignancy, the unexplained appearance of swollen lymph nodes has typically sparked concern and a recommendation that the patient be called back for further testing. The result has been new uncertainties for women and the doctors who care for them.
PoliticsBusiness InsiderMore than 120 retired generals and admirals wrote to Biden suggesting he wasn't legitimately elected and questioning his mental health
More than 120 retired US military leaders have signed an open letter appearing to advance a false conspiracy theory that the 2020 election was rigged, and questioning President Joe Biden's mental capacity to rule. "Without fair and honest elections that accurately reflect the 'will of the people' our Constitutional Republic is lost," said the letter released Tuesday by "Flag Officers 4 America," and signed by 124 former admirals and generals. "The FBI and Supreme Court must act swiftly when election irregularities are surfaced and not ignore them as was done in 2020."
PoliticsBusiness InsiderMore than 100 Republicans, including former governors and lawmakers, are threatening to form a third party if the GOP doesn't split from Trump
More than 100 Republicans say they will leave their party and form a new one if it doesn't split from former President Donald Trump. The group, which includes former governors and lawmakers, plans to release a letter outlining the threat on Thursday. The preamble to the statement, published by The New York Times, says: "When in our democratic republic, forces of conspiracy, division, and despotism arise, it is the patriotic duty of citizens to act collectively in defense of liberty and justice."
U.S.The IndependentChauvin may get longer jail term for 'particular cruelty' in George Floyd murder, says judge
A Minnesota judge ruled that there were aggravating factors involved in the death of George Floyd. The ruling allows for a harsher sentence for former Minneapolis police office Derek Chauvin, who was found guilty of murdering Mr Floyd. Chauvin is scheduled to be sentence on 25 June.
“If Facebook lets Trump back on Facebook and Instagram, he'll assuredly restart his assault on democracy.”
“Facebook should have known better than to believe that it could limit speech on its platform without setting a terrible precedent.”
“Providing a microphone and an amplifier for deceit isn't fighting the good fight for free speech.”
“It’s no defense of Mr. Trump’s conduct to say that the digital public square shouldn’t suppress speech by political leaders.”
“The former president no longer gets the ‘head of state’ exception to terms of service.”