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  • SpaceX's Starship rocket lands but then explodes

    Elon Musk's concept space vehicle completes a test flight but then destroys itself in flames.

  • Republicans ‘increasingly irritated’ by Marjorie Taylor Greene’s repeated efforts to disrupt work of Congress, report says

    Reps Cheney, Issa, and Kinzinger were among GOP who voted against adjournment

  • International Criminal Court opens Israel-Palestine war crimes probe

    International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor Fatou Bensouda on Wednesday announced her intention to open an investigation into crimes allegedly committed in the Palestinian territories since 2014. Why it matters: The investigation is expected to consider possible war crimes by Israel and Hamas during the 2014 war in Gaza, as well as the construction of West Bank settlements by Israel. It could sharply increase tensions between Israel, which fiercely opposes the probe, and Palestinian leaders, who requested it.Stay on top of the latest market trends and economic insights with Axios Markets. Subscribe for freeThe investigation will also force the Biden administration to wade into the Israel-Palestine conflict, which had been very low on its foreign policy priorities list.Israel is very concerned that any investigation could lead to international arrest warrants against Israeli officials and military officers and could boost BDS (boycott, divestment and sanctions) campaigns against Israel.The latest: The Palestinian foreign ministry welcomed the decision as an opportunity for justice and accountability and called for a swift investigation.Netanyahu called the investigation an "attack" on Israel and vowed to "fight for the truth.""The biased International Criminal Court took a hypocritical and anti-Semitic decision," he said. "The court doesn't say anything about the real war crimes Iran and Syria commit."What's next: Bensouda said the priorities of the investigation will be determined in the coming weeks, taking into consideration coronavirus-related operational challenges, the limited resources of her office and the current heavy workload.Bensouda made this decision in her final months in office, and it's unclear whether she coordinated the move with her successor.What she's saying: “Any investigation undertaken by the Office will be conducted independently, impartially and objectively, without fear or favor," Bensouda said in a statement.She added that the investigation will take time and be grounded in facts and the law. "My office will take the same principled, non-partisan approach that it has adopted in all situations over which its jurisdiction is seized. We have no agenda other than to meet our statutory duties under the Rome Statute with professional integrity," she said.Flashback: The Trump administration joined Israel in mounting a vigorous campaign in 2019 to block a potential investigation, including by placing sanctions on Bensouda and other court officials.ICC judges cleared the way for a potential investigation last month when they ruled that the court has jurisdiction in the West Bank and Gaza. (Israel isn't a party to the Rome Statute, which set the court's mandate, but the Palestinian territories are.)Behind the scenes: Israel had asked dozens of allies to convey a "discreet message" to urge Bensouda not to move forward with the probe, as Axios reported two weeks ago. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu also asked President Biden to keep U.S. sanctions on the court in place as leverage.Like this article? Get more from Axios and subscribe to Axios Markets for free.

  • A lawyer for an accused Oath Keeper Capitol rioter says the group's 'quick reaction force' of weapon suppliers was actually just one guy

    The Oath Keepers were one of the most prominent far-right militia groups the FBI said was involved in the January 6 Capitol riot.

  • Returning to Fukushima's nuclear zone

    Hisae Unuma's home withstood the earthquake 10 years ago which unleashed a tsunami that wrecked the Fukushima nuclear plant and forced her and 160,000 others to flee their homes.She returned recently to check on her old house.Its roof is now close to complete collapse and a bamboo had penetrated through the former living room."I'm almost 70 years old, so I don't think it's possible for me to live here. There's no base for a life here. I can't go shopping and there's no hospital, so I can't imagine building a life here."Japan's government has turned Fukushima's recovery into a symbol of national revival ahead of the Tokyo Olympic Games and is encouraging residents to return with financial aid as it decontaminates the land.But lingering worries about the nearby nuclear plant, lack of jobs and poor infrastructure is keeping many away."I want to say to the government: Please don't solve the problem with money. We should be treated like human beings, not animals. They feed us with money to shut us up. It shouldn't be like this. We want to live like human beings. That is what I really want to say."Unuma declined to claim her compensation, unwilling to be treated as a Fukushima refugee dependent on Tokyo Electric's handouts.She now lives as a vegetable farmer near the capital and insists on building a life with her own hands."There's nothing that lets me feel secure enough to continue making a living. But now since there are people who come to me to buy vegetables, that's the easiest way for me to make a living by delivering vegetables to them daily. That's a life with hope."

  • Trump Served With Civil Rights Suit After Capitol Riot

    Michael Reaves/GettyAttorneys for Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS) and the NAACP have served former President Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago club with a lawsuit filed against him in February. Thompson and the NAACP filed suit against Trump alleging that his incendiary rhetoric and false claims of a “stolen” election amounted to a conspiracy to interfere with civil rights by inciting the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol.The suit names Trump alongside his attorney Rudy Giuliani and the right-wing extremist groups the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers as co-defendants and builds off the 1871 “Ku Klux Klan Act,” which was “intended to protect against conspiracies, through violence and intimidation, that sought to prevent Members of Congress from discharging their official duties,” according to a complaint.If Jan. 6 Was ‘Domestic Terror,’ Who Was the Terrorist in Chief?“The Defendants conspired to prevent, by force, intimidation and threats, the Plaintiff, as a Member of Congress, from discharging his official duties to approve the count of votes cast by members of the Electoral College following the presidential election,” the lawsuit alleges.It accuses the defendants of acting “in concert to incite and then carry out a riot at the Capitol” that “created grave danger of harm” to Thompson and other lawmakers. Similar to the case laid out by Democrats in Trump’s impeachment trial last month, the suit lays out a timeline of Trump’s “concerted campaign” to retain power at any cost, from his refusal to commit to a peaceful transition before the election to his explicit endorsement of efforts to overturn the election result to his fiery rally speech on January 6.Trump “solicited the support of, and endorsed the belligerent and violent actions of, organizations such as the Proud Boys that expressed support of his reelection,” the suit alleges.Trump advisers did not immediately provide comment on who, if anyone, at this point is representing the former president for this lawsuit. When Trump was served, it was merely signed for by a “Ricky,” according to the court document.Several Trump attorneys who The Daily Beast asked about this said they had no involvement. As of Tuesday, Alan Dershowitz, a member of the Trump legal defense for the ex-president’s first Senate impeachment trial, said “nobody [on the Trump team] has reached out to me yet” regarding this suit, but added that he personally believes Trump’s rhetoric on Jan. 6 is “protected by the First Amendment” and that “I would hope that the ACLU would take on a case like this.”The suit adds to a growing list of legal troubles now facing former President Trump, his family, and his associates, since leaving office.After a victory at the Supreme Court in February, Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance obtained copies of Trump’s tax returns. The paperwork is reportedly part of a city fraud investigation looking into whether the former president lied about the value of his assets in order to gain financial advantages.It’s unclear who will represent Trump, the Proud Boys, and the Oath Keepers in the latest suit but court records show that Austin, Texas-based attorney Joseph D. Sibley IV accepted service of the suit on behalf of Giuliani. Sibley, a graduate of Harvard Law school, is a former U.S. Army Ranger.“I am representing Mayor Giuliani in the Thompson lawsuit, and I will also be representing him in the Smartmatic and Dominion cases,” Sibley told The Daily Beast on Wednesday afternoon.Orange Is the New Orange: Trump Just Might Go to JailSibley handles breach of contract, intellectual property, and other commercial law cases but has also represented clients in defamation cases and provided expert commentary for The Washington Post on defamation suits.He represented far-right blogger Charles Johnson in a 2020 libel lawsuit that was originally filed against Verizon, The Huffington Post, and reporter Andy Campbell for a 2019 article which labeled Johnson a “Holocaust-Denying White Nationalist”—a description Johnson strongly denies. Johnson dismissed the suits against Campbell and Verizon but has appealed a federal judge’s dismissal of his suit against The Huffington Post.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.

  • Pennsylvania Republicans stop just short of censuring Toomey

    Pennsylvania's Republican Party has expressed its disapproval of U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey over his vote to convict Donald Trump during the former president’s second impeachment trial, while stopping short of issuing the more serious — albeit still symbolic — censure that some members had pushed for. The vote counting wrapped up late Monday night, completing a five-hour remote video meeting last week that had to be continued because of technical problems, state committee members said. The vote count was 128-124, with 13 abstaining, to approve a statement expressing disappointment with fellow Republican Toomey, but not a censure, state committee members said.

  • Myanmar U.N. envoy, junta make rival claims to U.N. representation

    Myanmar's ambassador to the United Nations in New York has formally staked his claim as the country's legitimate representative while the junta seeks to replace him in a dispute that will likely have to be settled by the world body's 193 member states. Myanmar state television announced on Saturday that Kyaw Moe Tun had been fired for betraying the country, a day after he urged countries to use "any means necessary" to reverse a Feb. 1 coup that ousted the nation's elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi. But in letters to the U.N. General Assembly president Volkan Bozkir and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken - seen by Reuters on Tuesday - Kyaw Moe Tun said he remains Myanmar's U.N. ambassador.

  • I received my first dose of the coronavirus vaccine in New York City and had to battle a flawed booking system

    An Insider reporter struggled to book an appointment and had to wait in line for hours to get the first dose of the Moderna vaccine.

  • Turkey has stopped insulting us but action still needed, France says

    Turkey has stopped insulting France and the European Union, providing some reassurance, but ties will remain fragile until it takes concrete action, France's foreign minister said. Ankara has repeatedly traded barbs with Paris over its policies on Syria, Libya, the eastern Mediterranean and other issues, but the NATO members said in February they were working on a road map to normalise relations. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan spoke with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday as part of those efforts, their first call since September.

  • Jack Ma loses title as China's richest man

    Jack Ma has lost his title as China's richest manThe Alibaba and Ant Group founder slipped to fourth placebehind- Nongfu Spring’s Zhong Shanshan- Tencent Holdings' Pony Ma- Pinduoduo’s Collin HuangMa's fall comes after heavy scrutiny from BeijingChinese regulators reined in his empire on anti-trust issues

  • ICC launches war crimes probe into Israeli practices

    The International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor on Wednesday launched an investigation into alleged crimes in the Palestinian territories, turning the tribunal’s focus toward Israeli military actions and settlement construction on lands captured in the 1967 Mideast war. The decision dealt an embarrassing blow to the Israeli government, which had conducted an aggressive public relations and behind-the-scenes diplomatic campaign to block the investigation. It also raised the possibility of arrest warrants being issued against Israeli officials suspected of war crimes, making it potentially risky to travel abroad.

  • Critically-endangered orangutan born at US zoo

    According to a release from the Audubon Nature Institute, the primate team expected first-time mother Reese to deliver between April and May. The zoo said the mother and baby appear to be doing well and the staff is observing the pair and allowing them to bond and learn to nurse.Video released by the institute showed 12-year-old Reese nuzzling and carrying the baby, whose umbilical cord and placenta were still visible.There are fewer than 14,000 orangutans in the wild, making the species "critically endangered", according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

  • Former CIA chief says he is ‘increasingly embarrassed’ to be a white man

    John Brennan says ‘there are so few Republicans in Congress who value truth, honesty, and integrity’

  • Covid: Biden says ‘Neanderthal thinking’ behind lifting of mask rules

    President Biden criticises moves to relax Covid restrictions in the southern state and Mississippi.

  • Fact check: Altered photo shows religious leaders praying over golden Trump statue

    A photo showing religious leaders praying over a golden statue of Donald Trump is fake. The original image was altered to insert the statue.

  • Op-Ed: It's official. Mohammed bin Salman is responsible for Jamal Khashoggi's murder. Hold him accountable

    President Biden's failure to punish the Saudi crown prince defies justice and weakens the rule of law everywhere.

  • What is Biden doing differently at US border?

    Democrat Joe Biden has promised to undo the 'cruelty' of Donald Trump's immigration policies.

  • Meghan accuses Buckingham Palace of 'perpetuating falsehoods'

    Prince Harry's wife Meghan has accused Buckingham Palace of "perpetuating falsehoods" about her and her spouse, saying the royal couple would not be silent in telling their story. Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, made the comments to American talk show host Oprah Winfrey in an interview about why they quit their royal roles that is due to be broadcast on U.S. television on Sunday. An advance excerpt of the interview was released on Wednesday, hours after Buckingham Palace said it was "very concerned" about reports in the Times newspaper that assistants working for Meghan two years ago had been bullied by her.

  • Colbert’s ‘Tooning Out the News’ Pivots to Attack Biden in Season 2

    Paramount PlusOver the past six weeks or so, late-night shows have been struggling to figure out how to make comedy out of our collective post-Trump reprieve.Mostly, they have either found excuses to keep joking about Donald Trump or attacked new conservative targets like QAnon congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene and Cancun Senator Ted Cruz. More recently, on the latest episodes of Saturday Night Live, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver and The Daily Show with Trevor Noah, the Democratic governor of New York, Andrew Cuomo, finally started taking some heat.But one political figure who has mostly evaded comedic scrutiny—much to Fox News’ frustration—is the current president of the United States, Joe Biden. Now that’s about to change on the new season of Stephen Colbert Presents Tooning Out the News.In the exclusive clip below from this Thursday’s premiere of the Stephen Colbert-produced animated news show, which is joining the Paramount Plus lineup for its second season, a new fake news program called The Establishment with Tory Hughes goes hard at the 46th president for both giving Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman a pass on the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi and for picking up where Trump left off in bombing Syria.Tory Hughes, voiced by Tooning’s writing supervisor Naima Pearce, describes herself as a “good Republican” who “stands up for the center-right value of politely making things worse alongside an elite panel of Washington termites.”As Pearce added via email to The Daily Beast, Hughes is a “healthy amalgamation of right-leaning pundits who had their political sensibilities formed during the Bush administration and then positively reinforced, in the last few years, simply because a regime with a more sinister façade took the Oval Office.” Ultimately, she said, the character is “driven by a moral compass whose true north points toward an open timeslot she can fill in a cable lineup.”In the premiere, her panel includes a handful of fictional pundits along with the very real CBS News senior White House and political correspondent Ed O’Keefe. Jumping directly into the Khashoggi report, Hughes jokes, “Biden made clear that if you kill an American journalist, he will tell on you to your dad” before disclosing that she is the founder of “The Establishment Ideas Festival: Policy and Pipelines” based in Riyadh. “And let me just say, MBS continues to show me that he values a future where I own a Lamborghini.”How Colbert’s ‘Tooning Out the News’ Ensnared Rudy Giuliani“I don’t think our audience has an impervious allegiance to any particular politician,” Pearce tells me of the show’s pivot to hold the new president accountable. “And there’s a sincere hunger for pointing out hypocrisy and highlighting where robust government mechanisms can harm people actively and passively. If that completely vanished under the Biden Administration, I think we’d happily announce The Establishment’s cancellation.”Later, the cartoon host introduces a new segment called “Who Did We Just Kill?” that breaks down the details of recent airstrikes in Syria while jaunty music plays in the background. “Who authorized this strike?” Hughes asks, mocking the “polite imperialism” of Biden who is “looking more presidential than ever” with his flashy military debut.When one of the panelists excitedly remarks how much he loved the segment and reveals that he’s “already forgotten about what happened,” Hughes replies, “That means we’ve done our jobs.”For more, listen and subscribe to The Last Laugh podcast.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.