PoliticsAssociated PressCongresswoman's spokesman quits less than 2 weeks into term
The spokesman for Republican U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert has quit less than two weeks after she was sworn into office, saying he was prompted to by the insurrection at the nation's Capitol. Ben Goldey confirmed his departure to The Colorado Sun after it was first reported on Saturday by Axios. The Sun reported that Goldey did not respond to additional questions, but he told Axios he was leaving in the wake of a deadly Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol.
WorldReutersVenezuela dispatches oxygen for Brazil's Amazonas, reeling from COVID-19
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said on Sunday that a convoy of trucks carrying emergency oxygen supplies for Brazil's northern Amazonas state, where a second wave of the coronavirus pandemic has hit hard, has departed and is set to arrive at the border by Monday morning. Reading from a message sent by Justo Noguera, governor of Venezuela's southern Bolivar state, Maduro said during a state television appearance that the six trucks would arrive at the Santa Elena de Uairen border crossing by morning, where they would be handed over to Brazilian health authorities.
PoliticsThe TelegraphTrump’s poll rating hits all-time low as he prepares to leave office
Donald Trump will leave office with his approval rating at an all-time low, according to a new poll. Mr Trump is now likely to complete his term in the White House with Mike Pence, the vice president, refusing to invoke the 25th amendment to remove him from office and an impeachment hearing due to begin after Joe Biden is inaugurated. The storming of Capitol Hill and Mr Trump's refusal to accept that Mr Biden won the election has caused considerable damage to his reputation, a poll by Pew Research has found.
WorldAssociated PressTens of thousands evacuated amid Indonesia floods
Tens of thousands of people have been evacuated and more than a dozen have been killed in recent days in flooding on Indonesia's Borneo island, officials said Sunday. National Disaster Mitigation Agency spokesperson Raditya Jati said floods brought by intense rains caused floodwaters as high as 3 meters (10 feet). As of Sunday, 39,549 people had been evacuated and at least 15 had been killed due to floods that affected 10 districts and cities in South Kalimantan province on Borneo island.
WorldReutersUK says vaccine manufacturing is 'lumpy' but still on course for targets
Britain's vaccine rollout is limited by a "lumpy" manufacturing process affecting supplies of both Pfizer and AstraZeneca, but is on track to hit its targets, Vaccine Deployment Minister Nadhim Zahawi said on Monday. The United Kingdom, which has the world's fifth worst official death toll from COVID-19, is racing to be among the first major countries to vaccinate its population - seen as the best way to exit the pandemic and get the economy going again. Britain has inoculated 3,857,266 people with a first dose and 449,736 with a second dose.
PoliticsBBCBiden inauguration: Executive orders to reverse Trump policies
Details are emerging of a raft of executive orders planned by US president-elect Joe Biden as soon as he takes office this week. Mr Biden will issue decrees to reverse President Trump's travel bans and re-join the Paris climate accord on his first day, US media report. All 50 US states are on high alert for possible violence in the run-up to the inauguration ceremony, with National Guard troops deployed in their thousands to guard Washington DC.
ScienceReutersBranson's Virgin Orbit reaches space with key mid-air rocket launch
Billionaire Richard Branson's Virgin Orbit reached space for the first time on Sunday with a successful test of its air-launched rocket, delivering ten NASA satellites to orbit and achieving a key milestone after aborting the rocket's first test launch last year. "According to telemetry, LauncherOne has reached orbit!" the company announced on Twitter during the test mission, dubbed Launch Demo 2. Roughly two hours after its Cosmic Girl carrier craft took off from the Mojave Air and Space Port in southern California, the rocket, a 70-foot launcher tailored for carrying small satellites to space, successfully placed 10 tiny satellites in orbit for NASA, the company said on Twitter.
- WorldAssociated Press
Israeli jets hit Hamas targets in Gaza after rockets fired
Israeli military aircraft struck targets in the Gaza Strip early on Monday in response to two rockets fired from the Palestinian territory, the military said. In a statement, the military said fighter jets hit Hamas military targets, including sites for digging underground tunnels, some of which stretch into Israel. There were also no reports of damage or injury from the rockets launched.
PoliticsThe IndependentTrump news - live: President to host ceremony for himself on inauguration day as he plans to pardon ‘100’
Donald Trump is reportedly planning to host a farewell ceremony for himself at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland early on Wednesday morning before jetting out to Mar-a-Lago in Florida to return to life as a private citizen as Joe Biden is sworn in as his successor. The president is also being tipped to issue 100 pardons and commutations to allies before he leaves the White House, with The New York Times reporting that his allies have accepted tens of thousands of dollars from clients lobbying for a reprieve.
WorldAssociated PressPhilippine air force helicopter crash kills all 7 aboard
A Philippine air force helicopter carrying supplies for counterinsurgency forces crashed in the country's south on Saturday apparently due to engine trouble, killing all seven people on board, military officials said. The UH-1H helicopter tried to make an emergency landing after encountering engine problems but crashed in a mountainous area in Impasugong town in Bukidnon province, regional army spokesperson Maj. Rodulfo Cordero Jr. said. Troops secured the crash site and retrieved the bodies of four air force crewmen, including two pilots, as well as an army soldier and two militiamen, Cordero and the army said.
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Pakistani raid kills Taliban suspected of slaying of troops
Pakistani security forces raided a hideout Monday in a former insurgent stronghold in the country's northwest and killed two Taliban fighters, including one suspected of involvement in an October attack that killed six soldiers, the military said. A third suspect was arrested in the raid in the South Waziristan district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. Pakistani militants have in recent months stepped up attacks on troops in the former tribal regions bordering Afghanistan, citing concerns that insurgents are regrouping there.
WorldAssociated PressEgypt unveils ancient funerary temple south of Cairo
Egypt's former antiquities minister and noted archaeologist Zahi Hawass on Sunday revealed details of an ancient funerary temple in a vast necropolis south of Cairo. Hawass told reporters at the Saqqara necropolis that archaeologists unearthed the temple of Queen Neit, wife of King Teti, the first king of the Sixth Dynasty that ruled Egypt from 2323 B.C. till 2150 B.C. Archaeologists also found a 4-meter (13-foot) long papyrus that includes texts of the Book of the Dead, which is a collection of spells aimed at directing the dead through the underworld in ancient Egypt, he said.
PoliticsThe IndependentAdam Schiff says ‘massive intelligence and security failure’ at US Capitol being investigated by the House
Rep. Adam Schiff, the House Intelligence Committee Chairman, said a "massive intelligence and security failure" was being investigated in connection with the US Capitol insurrection by Donald Trump's supporters on 6 January. Mr Schiff made the comments while appearing on CBS's Face the Nation. "Along with my fellow chairs, we are beginning an investigation into what went wrong," Mr Schiff said.
WorldAssociated PressIsrael moves to rein in rights group over 'apartheid' use
Israel's education minister says he is banning groups that call Israel an “apartheid state” from lecturing at schools — a move that targets one of the country's leading human rights groups after it began describing both Israel and its control of the Palestinian territories as a single apartheid system. The explosive term, long seen as taboo and mostly used by the country's harshest critics, is vehemently rejected by Israel's leaders and many ordinary Israelis. Education Minister Yoav Galant tweeted late on Sunday that he had instructed the ministry's director general to “prevent the entry of organizations calling Israel 'an apartheid state' or demeaning Israeli soldiers from lecturing at schools.”
BusinessBusiness InsiderThe pandemic devastated airlines in 2020 and forced many out of business - here's the most notable that didn't make it to 2021
All 11 major US airlines remained intact but smaller regional carriers were forced to close or merge due to the drop in travel demand. A surprise announcement in February that the promising Qatar Airways-backed Air Italy would be liquidated set the stage for a year of losses even before lockdowns grounded the world's airlines. In the US, all 11 major airlines remained intact but smaller regional carriers folded amid an unprecedented drop in passengers that remains low even into the new year.
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Biden to end Keystone XL pipeline early on
U.S. President-elect Joe Biden may end the Keystone XL pipeline project as one of his first acts in office, a source familiar with his thinking told Reuters it could happen as early as day one. Biden, who will be inaugurated on Wednesday, was vice president when Barack Obama rejected the $9 billion project in 2015. Then two years later, Donald Trump issued a presidential permit that allowed the line to move forward.
SportsAssociated PressHistory-making woman kicker invited to Biden inauguration
Sarah Fuller, the first woman to score in a Power Five conference football game, says she's been invited to attend President-elect Joe Biden's inauguration on Wednesday. Attendance at the inauguration will be strictly curtailed because of the COVID-19 pandemic and security measures put in place after a violent mob supporting President Donald Trump invaded the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 as Congress was certifying Biden's victory.
PoliticsThe WeekHow 'bewildered' Trump campaign aides would reportedly discreetly escape election challenge meetings
In the immediate aftermath of President-elect Joe Biden's victory in November, the leaders of President Trump's re-election campaign told him he had about a five to 10 percent chance of picking up enough outstanding votes in Georgia and Arizona and win a legal challenge against election practices in Wisconsin, which would overturn the results, Axios' Jonathan Swan reports in part of his series on the final two months of Trump's presidency. Trump initially told his campaign aides — including campaign manager Bill Stepien, senior adviser Jason Miller, and deputy campaign manager Justin Clark — that it was worth a shot, but he was simultaneously listening to another plan presented by attorneys Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell that was steeped in conspiracy theories.
PoliticsBusiness InsiderTed Cruz's former staffers say they are 'disgusted' by his role in the US Capitol insurrection and his unflinching support of Trump, report says
At least six of Sen. Ted Cruz's former aides have expressed their disgust at the recent actions of their former boss, according to New York Magazine's Intelligencer. Ted Cruz is under fire for spreading election misinformation, objecting to the results of the 2020 election being certified, and having fundraised during the US Capitol insurrection. Democratic lawmakers have called for Cruz to resign or to be removed from office.
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Gov. Hutchinson: Trump misled followers into believing election was rigged, resulted in attack on Capitol
Asa Hutchinson, R-Ark. joins Chris Wallace on 'Fox News Sunday.
LifestyleINSIDERI spent my day eating White Castle's entire breakfast menu for $20, and the best thing was a total surprise
Lucien Formichella for Insider I reach White Castle at 9:30 a.m. and after trying the door, learn that it's closed until 10 a.m. I silently curse Google's lies and lean against the siding to consider my attack on the breakfast menu.
SportsAssociated PressU.S. team sure of continuing in America's Cup after capsize
U.S. challenger American Magic is assessing the extent of damage to its racing yacht Patriot, which capsized and came close to sinking during racing Sunday in the America's Cup challenger series. Skipper Terry Hutchinson said American Magic is confident of making repairs and being able to continue in the Prada Cup series, which resumes in Auckland on Friday. Patriot, which lost its first three races in the challengers series, was leading Italian challenger Luna Rossa when it capsized rounding the final mark.
PoliticsReutersBiden will wait for recommendation on sharing secrets with Trump
U.S. President-elect Joe Biden will wait for a recommendation from his intelligence advisers on whether to share classified information with President Donald Trump after the Republican leaves office, Biden's top aide said on Sunday. Ron Klain, the incoming White House chief of staff, made the comment after former principal deputy director of national intelligence, Sue Gordon, wrote an op-ed arguing against sharing such information with Trump once he has left the presidency.
WorldBusiness InsiderNorwegian health officials have adjusted their advice on who gets a COVID-19 vaccine as 29 frail elderly people die
Watch: Norway adjusts advice for elderly and frail people after COVID-19 vaccine deaths Norwegian health officials have changed their advice on who gets a COVID-19 vaccine after more than 25 elderly people with underlying health conditions died. According to the agency, "all deaths" are linked to the Pfizer vaccine, which was the only one available in the country until Friday. However, Norwegian officials maintain they are not alarmed and have advised individual doctors to decide who should receive a vaccine.
CelebrityThe Daily BeastFarewell, Ivanka Trump? No, Ivanka Doesn’t Want to Say Farewell.
Her father's administration crippled the country to the point of a violent attempted insurrection, but you know, Ivanka's got content. As Joe Biden's inauguration looms, the first daughter's reputation continues to crumble. Never mind the failed, hideously violent Capitol coup, which would normally be a big buzz kill for any influencer's image.
“If you’re looking to win elections, it is probably best not to urge your supporters not to vote.”
“Warnock’s portrayal of himself as a dog lover, a means of overcoming white suspicions of Black men, smacked of pure genius.”
“Trump has done damage to the Republican brand among suburban voters that goes well beyond just races where he is on the ballot.”
“Once more, Democrats must profusely thank activist Stacey Abrams.”
“Overall, demographic trends show that the state’s electorate is becoming younger and more diverse each year.”