PoliticsYahoo NewsWhite House responds to Cuomo allegations: 'Every woman coming forward should be heard'
White House press secretary Jen Psaki on Tuesday addressed the multiple allegations of sexual harassment made against New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, saying the Biden administration supports an investigation of him and believes the three women making the accusations should be heard. The benefit of doing a briefing every day is that I can certainly speak on behalf of the president and the vice president. And so let me reiterate that they both believe that every woman coming forward should be heard, should be treated with dignity and treated with respect,” Psaki said during a briefing with reporters.
PoliticsAxiosNational Guard chief says it took over 3 hours for Pentagon leaders to grant Jan. 6 request
William Walker, commanding general of the D.C. National Guard, testified to the Senate on Wednesday that it took three hours and 19 minutes for Pentagon leadership to approve a request for National Guard assistance during the Jan. 6 Capitol attack. Why it matters: The timeline over when National Guard requests were made and granted has been a key point of contention in congressional hearings examining the security failures surrounding the Capitol riots. At House hearings last week, the former and current Capitol Police chiefs testified that the House Sergeant at Arms Paul Irving took an hour to approve a request for National Guard backup.
WorldAssociated PressIsrael sentences Palestinian lawmaker to two years in prison
An Israeli military court has sentenced a prominent Palestinian lawmaker to two years in prison in a plea bargain that convicted her of belonging to an outlawed group. But the court found insufficient evidence to press more serious charges against her, the army said Tuesday. Khalida Jarrar, a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, has been held without charge since October 2019.
PoliticsReutersExclusive: U.S. sanctions for Navalny poisoning may come on Tuesday - sources
The United States is expected to impose sanctions to punish Russia for the poisoning of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny as early as Tuesday, two sources familiar with the matter said. President Joe Biden's decision to impose sanctions for Navalny's poisoning reflects a harder stance than taken by his predecessor, Donald Trump, who let the incident last August pass without punitive U.S. action. The sources said on Monday on condition of anonymity that the United States was expected to act under two executive orders: 13661, which was issued after Russia's invasion of Crimea but provides broad authority to target Russian officials, and 13382, issued in 2005 to combat the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
PoliticsThe WeekGeorgia House passes GOP voting restrictions bill
With a vote of 97-72, the Georgia state House on Monday passed a bill supported by Republicans that would roll back voting access. House Bill 531 requires a photo ID for absentee voting, limits weekend early voting days, restricts ballot drop box locations, and sets an earlier deadline to request an absentee ballot. State Rep. Barry Fleming (R), the bill's chief sponsor, said it is "designed to begin to bring back the confidence of our voters back into our election system."
WorldAssociated PressIntense preparations before pontiff meets Iraqi ayatollah
In Iraq's holiest city, a pontiff will meet a revered ayatollah and make history with a message of coexistence in a place plagued by bitter divisions. One is the chief pastor of the world-wide Catholic Church, the other a pre-eminent figure in Shiite Islam whose opinion holds powerful sway on the Iraqi street and beyond. Pope Francis and Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani are to meet on Saturday for at most 40 minutes, part of the time alone except for interpreters, in the Shiite cleric's modest home in the city of Najaf.
WorldReutersChina's electoral reform 'earthquake' set to upend Hong Kong politics
China's plan to dramatically reform Hong Kong's electoral system, expected to be unveiled in a parliamentary session in Beijing starting this week, will upend the territory's political scene, according to more than a dozen politicians from across the spectrum. The proposed reform will put further pressure on pro-democracy activists, who are already the subject of a crackdown on dissent, and has ruffled the feathers of some pro-Beijing loyalists, some of whom may find themselves swept aside by a new and ambitious crop of loyalists, the people said. The measures will be introduced at the annual meeting of the National People's Congress, China's rubber-stamp parliament, which starts on Friday, according to media reports.
WorldAssociated PressIsraeli-owned cargo ship back at sea after suspected attack
An Israeli-owned cargo ship that suffered a mysterious explosion last week has left Dubai's port and was transiting the Gulf of Oman on Wednesday, satellite tracking data showed. The suspected attack has raised tensions in the region. The giant MV Helios Ray, a Bahamian-flagged roll-on, roll-off vehicle cargo ship, was sailing along the Omani coast toward the Arabian Sea, according to satellite-tracking data from website MarineTraffic.com, days after docking in Dubai for repairs.
PoliticsBBCCPAC 2021: Who won the Republican civil war?
If you're looking for evidence of a Republican civil war, the Conservative Political Action Conference was not the place to be. The annual gathering of right-wing activists isn't exactly a representative cross-section of the Republican Party, but it does show where the passions of grassroots and youth organisers reside. It's still Donald Trump's party - and on Sunday, he basked in the reflected glow of the crowd's adoration.
- PoliticsYahoo News Video
GOP fundraising efforts complicated by Trump’s plea for direct donations
The Republican National Committee and the party's congressional campaign arms are eager to cash in on former President Donald Trump's lure with small donors ahead of next year's midterm elections, when the GOP hopes to regain control of at least one chamber of Congress.
PoliticsAssociated PressBudget nominee Tanden withdraws nomination amid opposition
President Joe Biden's pick to head the Office of Management and Budget, Neera Tanden, has withdrawn her nomination after she faced opposition from key Democratic and Republican senators for her controversial tweets. Thirteen of the 23 Cabinet nominees requiring Senate approval have been confirmed, most with strong bipartisan support. “Unfortunately, it now seems clear that there is no path forward to gain confirmation, and I do not want continued consideration of my nomination to be a distraction from your other priorities,” Tanden wrote in a letter to Biden.
WorldArchitectural Digest9 of the Best Outdoor Rugs That Literally Ground Any Space
High-traffic areas are about to meet their match Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest
WorldReutersNorthern Ireland's position 'rock solid' in UK, says Johnson, promising to fix post-Brexit trade
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Wednesday Britain would leave nothing off the table in talks with the European Union to improve post-Brexit trade with Northern Ireland, saying the province's position in the United Kingdom was "rock solid". Britain, after leaving the EU last year, agreed on a free trade deal with the bloc to leave its single market and customs union, which came into force at the beginning of this year. But the new rules have caused disruption, with Northern Ireland, which has a land border with EU member Ireland, having a foot in both camps as part of the UK's customs territory while still aligned with the single market for goods.
U.S.The IndependentWhat happened to George Floyd, whose alleged killer goes on trial next week
Authorities in Minneapolis are building barbed wire barriers and protective walls ahead of the trial of Derek Chauvin, the white former Minneapolis police officer who killed George Floyd, an unarmed Black man, last summer, setting off nationwide protests. Jury selection begins next Monday (8 March), and a federal civil rights investigation that languished during the Trump administration is kicking back into gear. On 25 May, a convenience store employee in Minneapolis called 911 and said that Mr Floyd, 46, had bought cigarettes with a counterfeit $20 bill.
WorldAssociated PressSri Lankan Catholic Church demands justice for bomb victims
Sri Lankan Roman Catholic Church officials declared a “Black Sunday” this weekend to demand justice for the victims of 2019 Easter Sunday bomb attacks that killed more than 260 people. Archbishop of Colombo Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith said Tuesday that the church has been given part of a presidential commission's report into the coordinated suicide bomb attacks on April 21, 2019, but many questions remain about its findings. A power struggle between the then president and prime minister which led to a communications breakdown and a resulting lapse in security coordination is said to have enabled the attacks, which occurred despite prior foreign intelligence warnings.
WorldBBC'If the others go I'll go': Inside China's scheme to transfer Uighurs into work
China's policy of transferring hundreds of thousands of Uighurs and other ethnic minorities in Xinjiang to new jobs often far from home is leading to a thinning out of their populations, according to a high-level Chinese study seen by the BBC. The government denies that it is attempting to alter the demographics of its far-western region and says the job transfers are designed to raise incomes and alleviate chronic rural unemployment and poverty. But our evidence suggests that - alongside the re-education camps built across Xinjiang in recent years - the policy involves a high risk of coercion and is similarly designed to assimilate minorities by changing their lifestyles and thinking.
WorldReutersVenezuela's Guaido, U.S. Secretary of State Blinken discuss 'return to democracy'
Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido spoke with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday, the U.S. State Department said, the highest-level U.S. contact with Guaido since President Joe Biden took office on Jan. 20. Washington and dozens of other countries recognized Guaido as Venezuela's rightful leader in January 2019 after Guaido, the leader of the opposition-held National Assembly, invoked the constitution to assume an interim presidency, arguing President Nicolas Maduro's 2018 re-election was fraudulent.
U.S.Associated PressAttorneys say Joe Exotic of 'Tiger King' wants new trial
Joe Exotic of “Tiger King" fame has found new attorneys who say they plan to file a motion for a new trial in a matter of months. Joe Exotic, whose real name Joseph Maldonado-Passage, was sentenced in January 2020 to 22 years in federal prison for violating federal wildlife laws and for his role in a failed murder-for-hire plot targeting his chief rival, Carole Baskin, who runs a rescue sanctuary for big cats in Florida. Baskin was not harmed.
PoliticsRaleigh News and ObserverNC GOP leader delivers another election fraud fantasy to a national audience.
North Carolina Republicans have often complained about Democrats turning to the courts to challenge redistricting maps and voting laws, but now they're saying lawsuits – or the threat of them – are the key to fair elections. At least that was the message North Carolina Republican Party Chairman Michael Whatley delivered at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Orlando last week. Whatley was a panelist in a discussion about protecting the vote.
WorldAssociated PressTactical shift: Europe seeks vaccine 'overdrive' to catch up
Slow off the blocks in the race to immunize its citizens against COVID-19, Germany faces an unfamiliar problem: a glut of vaccines and not enough arms to inject them into. Germans watched with morbid fascination in January as Britain trained an army of volunteers to deliver coronavirus shots, then marveled that the U.K. — hit far worse by the pandemic than Germany — managed to vaccinate more than half a million people on some days. The U.S. drive-thru inoculation centers and the COVID-19 shots given out in American grocery store pharmacies drew bafflement in Germany — that is, until the country's own plans for orderly vaccine appointments at specialized centers were overwhelmed by the demand.
WorldReutersFrance, allies to push on with protest at IAEA over Iran's activities: foreign minister
France and its Western allies plan to lodge a protest with the United Nations' nuclear watchdog to criticise Iran's decision to curb cooperation with the agency, the French foreign minister said on Tuesday. Iran said last month it was scaling back cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency, ending extra inspection and monitoring measures introduced by the 2015 nuclear deal, including the power given to the IAEA to carry out snap inspections at facilities not declared by Iran.
HealthBBCCovid: Biden promises vaccines for all US adults by end of May
The US will have enough coronavirus vaccines for every adult by the end of May, President Joe Biden has said. This will be two months earlier than previously expected, but Mr Biden said the vaccination drive must be extended, too, and people convinced to take it. Mr Biden's new timeline does not mean all adults in the US will be vaccinated by the end of May, as the jabs will take longer to administer.
WorldAssociated PressPhilippine president fires ambassador seen assaulting staff
Duterte, whose six-year term ends next year, has been reading the names of government employees and officers implicated in graft and corruption in his TV appearances to highlight his campaign against abuses and irregularities. But Duterte, a former government prosecutor who has threatened drug suspects with death and is known for his expletives-laden outbursts, has faced criticisms for abusive behavior himself. In his televised remarks Monday night, Duterte lashed out at Vice President Leni Robredo for criticizing the government's handling of the coronavirus outbreak and vaccination campaign.
WorldReutersModi's ministers choose 'Made in India' vaccine over AstraZeneca
Government ministers and officials were following Prime Minister Narendra Modi lead by opting on Tuesday for an Indian-made COVID-19 vaccine approved without late-stage efficacy data, instead of the AstraZeneca one. India's health, foreign and law ministers, and state governors, all flocked to Twitter to express support for the much-criticised Bharat Biotech's COVAXIN vaccine, after it was administered to Modi on Monday. "Made-in-India vaccines are 100% safe," Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said after being inoculated with COVAXIN.
BusinessAssociated PressGoodbye gas: Volvo to make only electric vehicles by 2030
Volvo says it will make only electric vehicles by 2030. The Swedish automaker said Tuesday that it is phasing out the production of all cars with internal combustion engines — including hybrids. “There is no long-term future for cars with an internal combustion engine,” said Henrik Green, Volvo's chief technology officer.
“How about we skip ‘he won’t win’ cycle and not do 2016 all over again. Trump can absolutely win another presidential election.”
“With independents deserting him, there is simply no path for Trump to get back into the White House — except as a tourist.”
“They might as well cancel the 2024 primaries...because there is no way he can lose.”
“The next Republican presidential primary will be heavily shaped by Trump — whether or not he decides to run again.”
“Donald Trump will not be running for president again. He will, however, continue to tease the possibility of a 2024 run.”