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- Associated Press
Philippine president fires ambassador seen assaulting staff
The Philippine president has dismissed his former ambassador to Brazil after she was seen on video physically abusing a Filipino member of her household staff. President Rodrigo Duterte said Monday night he had approved a recommendation to fire Marichu Mauro, revoke her retirement benefits and disqualify her from public office for life. The Department of Foreign Affairs in Manila said at the time that the unidentified victim had returned to Philippines and that it was trying to reach her amid an investigation.
- Los Angeles Times Opinion
Letters to the Editor: Trump's CPAC speech was just about the only thing that could make me thankful for Twitter
If it were not for Twitter's ban we would be getting a daily dose of these juvenile, bitter and toxic tirades.
- The Independent
‘He won’t let the grift go’: Mary Trump thinks Donald’s 2024 ‘ambitions’ are a money-maker
Dr Mary Trump thinks her uncle’s ego is too fragile to risk losing again - though he has much to gain by pretending he’ll run.
- Business Insider
The Supreme Court finally rejected Sidney Powell's election-conspiracy-theory lawsuits
It extends an extraordinary losing streak for lawsuits from Donald Trump and his allies seeking to overturn the 2020 presidential election results.
- INSIDER
Kourtney Kardashian admits Kim made her cry when she called her the 'least exciting to look at': 'I took it really personally'
The eldest Kardashian was getting her makeup done by sister Kylie Jenner, who asked her about the vicious argument she and Kim had in 2018.
- The Daily Beast
Marjorie Taylor Greene Demonizes Big Tech. She and Her Husband Just Sold Up to $210,000 in Tech Stocks.
Drew Angerer/GettyWhen she was running for office, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) constantly antagonized tech giants like Facebook for allegedly censoring and silencing pro-Trump Republicans, and vowed to fight what she called the “Silicon Valley Cartel” after being elected to Congress.During her first two months on Capitol Hill, Greene has loudly ratcheted up the anti-tech rhetoric. But shortly after her swearing-in, she quietly moved to offload significant stock holdings in the very same companies she so vehemently denounced—netting a healthy sum in the process.According to her latest financial disclosure form, released on Feb. 19, Greene and her husband sold anywhere from $49,000 to $210,000 worth of shares in Facebook, Google, Apple, and Amazon on Jan. 20.It’s unclear exactly how much Greene and her husband, Perry, made from each individual company stock, since congressional forms only list broad value ranges, but it may have been as much as $65,000 each for the four tech stocks. Some shares were owned jointly between the couple and others were owned solely by her husband.Greene’s only other public financial disclosure form, filed in May 2020 when she was a candidate, lists joint or spousal ownership of up to $65,000 in Apple stock, $30,000 in Facebook stock, $30,000 in Amazon stock, and $15,000 in Google stock. The couple sold these holdings in January at a profit—the official form lists capital gains above $200—but the precise figure is unknown.The Sickening History of Marjorie Taylor Greene’s HometownIn light of the growing push from good-government advocates for lawmakers to sell off their holdings of individual stocks to avoid conflicts of interest, Greene’s sell-off could be perhaps welcomed. But her financial disclosure report shows she remains invested in a number of other companies, from Fortune 500 giants like Goldman Sachs and Lockheed Martin to the sports gambling platform DraftKings and activewear brand Lululemon.There’s also the plain irony that Greene was personally invested in, and later profited off, tech companies that she had excoriated for months as totalitarian tools of evil and social control. A spokesperson for Greene did not respond to requests for comment about her stock sale and why she invested in the companies to begin with.Like many hardcore Trump Republicans, Greene has oriented her politics around “cancel culture” and Big Tech’s alleged censorship of those promoting pro-Trump views. On her social media platforms, where she has hundreds of thousands of followers, Greene posts fresh, steaming outrage about them on a near-daily basis.Facebook, shares of which Greene and her husband sold for up to $65,000 net gain on Jan. 20, have been a constant target for her as a candidate and as a member of Congress. Last September, the platform removed a post from Greene in which she posed with a gun next to images of the progressive “Squad,” on the grounds it incited violence. The GOP candidate claimed she was being canceled and now wears a face mask in Congress with the message “CENSORED.”At various points in 2020, Greene called Facebook racist for promoting a message to support Black-owned businesses during the holiday season and slammed it as anti-semitic for censoring the far-right Islamophobic provocateur Laura Loomer. She also accused Facebook of allowing “ANTIFA” to carry out terrorist attacks and charged that the social media platform had “canceled our kids.”In October, when a Facebook spokesperson tweeted they would not link to a New York Post story on Hunter Biden, the Georgia Republican tweeted in outrage that “the Silicon Valley Cartel has taken the First Amendment and ripped it to shreds.”“When I get to Congress,” declared Greene, “Big Tech will be held accountable!”Ironically, in June 2020, the Facebook investor publicly called on her many thousands of followers to use a competitor instead. “For those of yall tired of being censored by Facebook,” she wrote, “I encourage you to open a Parler account today!”Greene has been less critical of the other tech companies she once owned, but her broadsides against the “Silicon Valley Cartel” leave little room for nuance, especially given Google, Amazon, and Apple’s dominance of the sector.Marjorie Taylor Greene Hangs Anti-Trans Sign Outside Office of Congresswoman With Trans DaughterGreene’s tech stock sell-offs could be interpreted as a sign she wished to sever any financial links to companies she had so stridently opposed. A Greene spokesperson did not respond to questions about why she and her husband sold the shares when they did.Barely two weeks after her stock sale, though, Greene was calling on like-minded conservatives to harness the free market system to develop alternatives to the tech companies she’d previously been financing.“Conservatives must join together to invest, develop, and compete in Big Tech in order to protect our conservative values and speech from the never ending cries of the thought police. This would give people the ability to choose the online “community” they invest themselves in,” tweeted Greene on Feb. 7.“The Silicon Valley cartel controlling social media, free speech, and even targeting to take down rising competition, like Parler, must be stopped. The way to stop it is in the free market, while we still can…”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.
- The Daily Beast
Prince Harry Tells Oprah He Left the Royals Because He Feared Meghan Markle Would Suffer Like Princess Diana
JOHNNY EGGITT / Getty ImagesPrince Harry has told Oprah Winfrey that he decided to step back from the British royal family because he was fearful of “history repeating itself,” apparently referring to the tragic story of his mother, Diana, who died at 36 in a car crash in Paris while being pursued by paparazzi.Harry, who is now 36 himself, made the remarks in his interview with CBS which will be screened on March 7. Two advance clips from the special were released on Monday morning.CBS Presents Oprah with Meghan and Harry: A Primetime Special in one week. #OprahMeghanHarry pic.twitter.com/WCyoHDMCaP— CBS (@CBS) March 1, 2021 In one of the new Oprah clips, Harry was seated next to Meghan, 39, with whom he is expecting a second child. As he held her hand, he reflected on the ordeal his mother went through when she left the royal family.“I’m just really relieved and happy to be sitting here talking to you with my wife by my side,” he said. “Because I can’t imagine what it must have been like for her [Diana], going through this process by herself all those years ago.“It’s been unbelievably tough for the two of us, but at least we had each other.”In a second clip, Winfrey said to Meghan that no subject was off-limits and at one point tells the couple, “You have said some pretty shocking things here.” Oprah also asks Meghan if she was “silent or silenced.”Winfrey appeared to reference a comment made by Meghan when she said that the trolling she received was “almost unsurvivable.”The conversation was flagged as the first TV interview to be given by the couple since they made California their home last year, but Harry rather spoiled Winfrey’s exclusive when he taped an open-air bus-top interview with another old friend, James Corden, which was broadcast last week. Prince Harry Tells Friend James Corden He Left the Royal Family Because It Was Destroying His Mental HealthIn that interview, Harry said he was more concerned about the intrusions of the media into his family’s life than the Netflix show The Crown, which he said was “obviously fiction.” His friend Corden did not ask whether Harry’s sympathetic attitude to the show was influenced by the reported $100 million fee the couple received from Netflix to produce content.Harry told Corden that the British press created a “difficult environment” that was destroying his mental health but insisted he “didn’t walk away” from the royal family. “It was stepping back rather than stepping down.”He said, “I did what any husband, what any father would do. It’s like, ‘I need to get my family out of here.’ But we never walked away.” He added, “I will never walk away. I will always be contributing.”The spate of interviews come after Buckingham Palace announced the couple would not be returning to their former roles as working members of the royal family.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.
- Reuters
Prince Harry tells Oprah he worried history would repeat itself
Prince Harry, who shocked Britain last year when he and his wife Meghan stepped back from royal duties, told U.S. interviewer Oprah Winfrey that he had worried about history repeating itself, according to excerpts released on Sunday. The CBS broadcast network released two brief clips from Winfrey's interview of the couple, which is scheduled to air on March 7. "My biggest concern was history repeating itself," Harry said, apparently referring to his mother Princess Diana, who was hounded by the British press and died at age 36 in a car crash in Paris after her divorce from Prince Charles.
- Reuters Videos
S&P 500 enjoys best day since June
Wall Street rose sharply across the board on Monday as investors cheered a vaccine from Johnson & Johnson getting U.S. approval and Washington moved forward with another stimulus bill.The Dow jumped 600 points while the S&P 500 had its strongest one-day gain since June. Financials and technology led the broad-based rally, which saw big tech name such as Apple, Microsoft and Facebook climb after being hit last week.Courtney Dominguez is Senior Wealth Advisor at Payne Capital Management."I'm really happy to see how well the markets have opened this week. We're seeing a really big rebound in the markets and that's after a big sell off that we saw last week with interest rates starting to rise. I think what we're seeing that markets are going to at the end of the day price in all this good economic data that we keep continuing to see. So we're going to have some up and downs now but seeing how quickly markets are recovering, I see that as a really positive sign."Travel stocks such as Delta and American Airlines rose on the hopes that more shots in arms will lead to a swift economic recovery.While Boeing jumped nearly 6% after United Airlines said it was buying 25 new 737 MAX jets and moved up the delivery of others as United prepares for expected growth in demand once the health crisis abates.Meanwhile the GameStop saga continues, shares of the video game retailer ended up nearly 20% as volume spiked late in Monday's session.
- Associated Press
It's March, the month when the Tokyo Olympics were postponed
It's now March, the month when the Tokyo Olympics came apart just a year ago. It will involve 10,000 runners and end in Tokyo at the opening ceremony on July 23. The focus will be on getting 11,000 athletes into the venues to perform in front of cameras, and then getting them out of Japan as quickly as possible.
- Reuters
China says Taiwan pineapple ban not about politics as war of words escalates
China on Monday denied accusations by Taiwan that a ban on pineapples from the island was about politics, saying it was purely a matter of biosecurity, in an escalating war of words that has added to existing tensions. China announced the ban last week, citing "harmful creatures" it said could come with the fruit, threatening China's own agriculture. Taiwan, which China claims as its own territory, says there is nothing wrong with its pineapples and that Beijing is using the fruit as another way to coerce the island.
- Associated Press
WHO: 'Premature,' 'unrealistic' COVID-19 will end soon
A senior World Health Organization official said Monday it was “premature” and “unrealistic” to think the pandemic might be stopped by the end of the year, but that the recent arrival of effective vaccines could at least help dramatically reduce hospitalizations and death. The world’s singular focus right now should be to keep transmission of COVID-19 as low as possible, said Dr. Michael Ryan, director of WHO's emergencies program. “If we’re smart, we can finish with the hospitalizations and the deaths and the tragedy associated with this pandemic” by the end of the year, he said at media briefing.
- Associated Press
Georgia House passes GOP bill rolling back voting access
Republican lawmakers in Georgia muscled legislation through the state House on Monday that would roll back voting access, over the objection of Democrats and civil rights groups gathered at the Capitol to protest. The bill comes after record turnout led to Democratic wins in Georgia’s presidential election and two U.S. Senate runoffs. House Bill 531 passed the lower legislative chamber by a vote of 97-72.
- INSIDER
43 surprising 'Sex and the City' cameos you might have forgotten about
Throughout its 94 episodes across six seasons, "Sex and the City" featured some very famous faces. The show is now getting a revival on HBO Max.
- INSIDER
21 times celebrities recycled their red carpet looks
These looks are so good they're worth repeating.
- INSIDER
A former NFL player who was missing for several days has been found dead in Florida
Louis Nix's family confirmed his death after officials found his vehicle in a retention pond near his Jacksonville apartment on Saturday.
- INSIDER
An earnest 'WandaVision' line about grief has turned into a joking meme online
After a tweet admiring a line about grief and love from episode eight of WandaVision went viral, people began making ironic memes about it.
- INSIDER
16 things you probably didn't know about 'The Queen's Gambit'
From what it's based on to how you recognize the actors, there are plenty of things you may not know about the Netflix original series about chess.
- Associated Press
Indonesia's Sinabung Volcano spews high column of ash
Indonesia’s Mount Sinabung was erupting Tuesday, sending volcanic materials as high as 5,000 meters (16,400 feet) into the sky and depositing ash on nearby villages. Activity at the volcano in North Sumatra province increased over the past week, with authorities recording 13 times when it released ash clouds. The 2,600-metre (8,530-feet) Sinabung was dormant for four centuries before erupting in 2010, killing two people.
- Reuters Videos
Mother of two wins Miss Germany
(SOUNDBITE) (German) MISS GERMANY CANDIDATE FROM THURINGIA, ANJA KALLENBACH, SAYING:"I am Anja. I am Miss Thuringia. I am an entrepreneur and a mother of two and I like mountain biking. And I want to encourage everyone out there to live their dreams, from now on."33-year-old Anja Kallenbach was crowned Miss Germanyin the revamped beauty contestLocation: Rust, Germany Organizers ditched the classic swimsuit walkand focused on a woman's conviction and personality rather than her looks(SOUNDBITE) RHINELAND-PALATINATE CONTESTANT, SABRINA REITZ, SAYING:"Yes, last year things started changing, the concept was changed so that it is about personality, so that what you have experienced or the kind of vision you have or how you can pass it on to other women is important. And you just notice that here too, we are united."(SOUNDBITE) (German) MISS GERMANY CANDIDATE FROM THURINGIA, ANJA KALLENBACH, SAYING: (AFTER BECOMING MISS GERMANY)"I am absolutely happy. But I think I haven't quite realized it yet. I think I have to let it all sink in first, but I'm incredibly proud to be the ambassador of all 16 of us women now. We will make a difference."