California becomes first state to record 2 million confirmed coronavirus cases

LOS ANGELES (AP) — California becomes first state to record 2 million confirmed coronavirus cases.

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    Amnesty International has been accused of “siding with tyrants” and buckling to a Kremlin-backed disinformation campaign after it revoked Russian opposition figurehead Alexei Navalny’s status as a prisoner of conscience. The global human rights organisation said Mr Navalny, who was jailed last week after surviving an assassination attempt apparently orchestrated by the Russian security services, did not deserve the designation because comments he made 15 years ago about immigration. In a move that drew immediate condemnation from fellow human rights activists and appeared to catch the organisation’s own Russian office by surprise, the group said it had taken an "internal decision to stop referring to Aleksei Navalny as a prisoner of conscience in relation to comments he made in the past". “Some of these comments, which Navalny has not publicly denounced, reach the threshold of advocacy of hatred, and this is at odds with Amnesty's definition of a prisoner of conscience,” Denis Krivosheev, the deputy director of Amnesty's Europe and Central Asia office, said in a statement. Mr Krivosheev appeared to be referring to two videos Mr Navalny produced in 2007 when he was entering national politics. One is an argument for gun rights in which he advocated carrying a pistol for self defence against Islamist terrorists, who he compared to “cockroaches”. In the second he posed as a dentist to argue that only by deporting immigrants could Russia prevent inter-ethnic conflict and the rise of the far-Right. He has never retracted the statements. Mr Navalny has also been criticised for attending the Russian March, an annual nationalist rally that drew large crowds in Moscow in the 2000s. Mr Krivosheev did not explain how the group had been previously unaware of the videos, which are well-known among followers of Russian human rights and current affairs.

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  • Toyota just started building a 175-acre smart city at the base of Mount Fuji in Japan. Photos offer a glimpse of what the 'Woven City' will look like.

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  • Poll: 38% of Americans would give up sex for a year to be able to travel again immediately

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  • Ahmaud Arbery's mother reflects on her son's death one year after he was killed while jogging

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  • Memorial Episcopal Church removes plaques of slave-owning founders

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  • Tiger Woods was hurt but ‘calm and lucid’ after scary crash, deputy says

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  • CVS locations in these 17 states will get more vaccines this week

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  • Oprah Winfrey’s Interview With Meghan Markle and Harry Will ‘Shine a Light on What They Have Been Through’

    WPA PoolBuckle up, Ma’am.Warning signs are flashing that Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s interview with Oprah Winfrey may involve the casting of several royal personages under one’s bus.Meghan Markle and Prince Harry to Be Stripped of All Remaining Royal Patronages as Palace Braces for OprahCourtiers and other royal hangers-on are said to have lived in fear of an Oprah interview ever since Winfrey was seated in pride of place at Meghan and Harry’s 2018 wedding, and now many believe their worst nightmares are coming true.British newspapers this weekend were full of stories in which sources advised the royals to “hide behind the sofa” when the show screened, and now sources in Meghan’s camp appear to have briefed E! News that the couple will open up about the “tension” within the royal family in the “very candid” interview and that they will be “speaking their truth” during the highly anticipated CBS special on March 7.We think this means: yes, they are going to be dishing, just in a totally authentic way.Meghan’s camp is believed to have good contacts with E! due to both her previous career as an actress and her current role as a producer at Netflix, so their reports of what is in the interview should be taken seriously. “There is a lot of tension between them and the royal family,” the source described as “close to” the Sussexes says. Most observers of the past year of guerrilla warfare between Montecito and London would describe that as an almost regally-restrained description of the state of affairs.“The interview is going to shine a light on what they have been through.”Does this mean the interview will finally publicly see the airing of long-rumored complaints about the racism, sexism and snobbish contempt Meghan was subjected to?If so, ouch! While there have been no direct accusations of racist abuse of Meghan, the sympathetic biography of the couple, Finding Freedom, chronicled various micro-and-not-so-micro-aggressions.If Meghan Markle and Prince Harry Didn’t Dish in ‘Finding Freedom,’ Who Did?Meghan, for example, was said to have been left wondering “if there wasn’t a message being sent,” when Princess Michael wore a racially insensitive broach to the first big party that Meghan was invited to. She apologized but, the book noted, “Some aides questioned the sincerity of the princess’ apology.”The book’s co-author, Omid Scobie, who is of Iranian and British heritage, told an interviewer: “She was a biracial woman stepping into the House of Windsor. That was going to ruffle feathers. We only need look at the Duchess Difficult narrative. What is ‘difficult’? Difficult is pushy, aggressive. It’s all the things that we throw on Black women as a society regardless of what their actual personality is.”E’s source also says that the couple will talk about the pressure on their mental health when they were royals. This recalls both Meghan’s interview in Africa, when she said nobody had asked her how she was coping, and a key passage of the book which claimed that Prince Harry felt they were “at once used for their popularity, hounded by the press because of the public’s fascination with this new breed of royal couple, and disparaged back within the institution’s walls for being too sensitive and outspoken.”Meghan Markle Explains Famous ‘Not OK’ Interview: ‘I Was Tired’Harry likened the negotiations around his and Meghan’s royal exit to “standing in front of a firing squad,” the book claims.It will also be odd if Oprah does not invite Meghan to reflect at length on the detailed circumstances of her departure from the royal family. The book claimed that Meghan tearfully told a friend: “I gave up my entire life for this family. I was willing to do whatever it takes. But here we are. It’s very sad.”Another point of interest, of course, is the breakdown in the relationship between Harry and Prince William.E’s source says it’s “still a very tense situation,” adding that “Harry and William are on two different paths.”Robert Lacey, explored the deteriorating fraternal dynamic in his book, Battle of the Brothers.Lacey says that William was so angry with the way his brother announced his departure from the royal family that he refused to attend a lunch with him before a meeting at the queen’s country house, Sandringham to hash out the details of the exit.If Oprah can get the couple to lift the lid on all this and more, the interview may represent a damaging blow to the already badly tarnished image of the British Royals.Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.

  • Tiger Woods didn't realize severity of his injuries after rollover crash, deputy says

    The deputy said Tiger Woods was unable to stand on his own and appeared to be unaware of “how gravely injured he was,” citing a “mixture of adrenaline and shock.”

  • FDA confirms Johnson & Johnson vaccine prevented all deaths and hospitalizations in trial

    The United States could be days away from getting a third COVID-19 vaccine. A Food and Drug Administration review has confirmed that Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 vaccine, which only requires a single shot, is safe and effective, meaning it could be authorized for emergency approval "as soon as this weekend," The Washington Post reports. The FDA review showed the vaccine was 66 percent effective at preventing moderate to severe COVID-19 in a large clinical trial, though it was 85 percent effective at preventing severe illness. As Johnson & Johnson previously announced, the vaccine also "demonstrated complete protection against COVID-related hospitalization and death, 28 days post-vaccination." That, University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry's Nancy M. Bennett told the Post, is "really what's important." The Johnson & Johnson vaccine comes with the key benefit of only requiring one dose, as opposed to two doses for both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines that were previously authorized for emergency approval in the United States. Plus, the Johnson & Johnson vaccine can also be stored for three months in a refrigerator, rather than having to be kept frozen, The Associated Press notes. A committee is set to meet Friday to consider whether the FDA should authorize the Johnson & Johnson vaccine for emergency approval. The company says that should the FDA do so, it expects to begin shipping the vaccine immediately and "deliver enough single-doses by the end of March to enable the vaccination of more than 20 million Americans." More stories from theweek.comThe MyPillow guy might be Trump's ultimate chumpThe MC Hammer school of philosophyLate night hosts laugh at Rudy Giuliani literally running from his $1.3 billion lawsuit, tie in CPAC

  • Marjorie Taylor Greene faces a 'bloodbath' of a reelection race in 2022 - if she isn't expelled from Congress first, district organizers say

    The US representative in Georgia is up for reelection in 2022, and her recent actions have put her at odds with Democrats and Republicans alike.

  • Democrats want to enact a new stimulus package within weeks. Here's the possible calendar for passage of $1,400 direct payments.

    A top House Democrat said the Biden stimulus plan would receive a floor vote on Friday. Final passage of the rescue plan could occur in early March.

  • Ellie Goulding announced she's pregnant in a form-fitting white dress and floor-length jacket

    Ellie Goulding also wore a white nap dress with puffy sleeves, a style that has recently become popular among pregnant celebrities.

  • North Korea hacked Pfizer because it wants to sell bootleg COVID vaccines on the international black market, sources say

    North Korea is well-practiced at drug smuggling and hacking, and needs as much foreign currency as it can get.

  • Ted Cruz was filmed using his phone while a former police chief testified about violence at the Capitol

    Ted Cruz appeared distracted by his mobile phone while the former chief of Capitol police spoke about violent scenes at the January 6 riot.