New film highlights FBI abuses as House Democrats push to strip Hoover's name from building

A group of House Democrats is mounting a renewed push to strip J. Edgar Hoover's name off the FBI headquarters in the wake of a powerful new film that highlights one of the bureau's worst abuses under his leadership: a secret, decades-long program known as COINTELPRO that was aimed at discrediting civil rights activists, and which ultimately led to the 1969 killing by law enforcement of Chicago Black Panther leader Fred Hampton. “You take a poll and I would bet 90 percent of the society has no clue what COINTELPRO was,” said Democratic Rep. Steve Cohen of Tennessee, who, along with 22 co-sponsors, has reintroduced a bill to remove the longtime FBI director's name from the bureau's headquarters building in Washington, D.C. “This is an ugly part of our past that is not well known.”

Three Gaza fishermen killed by apparent Palestinian rocket, rights group says

Three Palestinian fishermen were killed on Sunday when their boat exploded off the Gaza Strip, a blast that a human rights group said was likely caused by errant Palestinian rocket fire. The Palestinian Center for Human Rights said the boat was two miles offshore when the shell hit and "completely destroyed it". "The center condemns the incident, which indications suggest mostly likely occurred as a result of resistance training," said the statement, referring to Palestinian militant groups.

McManus: McConnell wants to use the filibuster to block Biden's agenda. Here's how Biden can outfox him

Now the measure, in all likelihood, will go to the Senate to die. Under the rules of the 100-member Senate, it takes 60 votes to end debate and move most bills to a vote. A filibuster used to mean a senator actually had to stand and speechify, refusing to give up the floor and thus keeping a bill from coming to a vote.

Aerials show huge blaze after oil facility strike in Syria

A suspected missile strike on an oil-loading facility used by Turkey-backed opposition forces in northern Syria sparked a massive blaze across a large area where oil tankers are normally parked, aerial and satellite images show. Syrian opposition groups and at least one war monitor blamed Russia for the strike Friday night near the towns of Jarablus and al-Bab, near the border with Turkey. In a report, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, based in Britain, said Russian warships in the Mediterranean had fired three missiles that struck primitive oil refineries and tanker trucks in the region.

Austria suspends AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine batch after death

Austrian authorities have suspended inoculations with a batch of AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine as a precaution while investigating the death of one person and the illness of another after the shots, a health agency said on Sunday. "The Federal Office for Safety in Health Care (BASG) has received two reports in a temporal connection with a vaccination from the same batch of the AstraZeneca vaccine in the district clinic of Zwettl" in Lower Austria province, it said. One 49-year-old woman died as a result of severe coagulation disorders, while a 35-year-old woman developed a pulmonary embolism and is recovering, it said.

Myanmar coup: Party official dies in custody after security raids

An official from Aung San Suu Kyi's party has died in custody in Myanmar after being arrested during raids by security forces in Yangon. On Sunday the body of U Khin Maung Latt was released to his family, who were reportedly told that he had died after fainting. The UN says more than 50 people have been killed since the military detained Ms Suu Kyi, Myanmar's democratically elected leader, on 1 February.

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  Myanmar protests, after death of Suu Kyi official

  Reuters Videos
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  Unions call for total strike in Myanmar; Suu Kyi party official dies in custody

  Reuters

India sets up holding center for Rohingya in Kashmir

Authorities in Indian-controlled Kashmir have sent at least 168 Rohingya refugees to a holding center, police said Sunday, in a process that they say is for the deportation of thousands of the refugees living in the region. The move began Saturday following a directive from the region's home department to identify Rohingya living in the southern city of Jammu, said Inspector-General Mukesh Singh. “All of them are illegally living here and we have begun identifying them,” Singh said.

Trump appointee arrested over Capitol riots complains to judge about sleeping arrangement in jail

A Trump appointee arrested on Capitol riot charges has appealed to a judge over his sleeping arrangements, asking if he could stay somewhere “I don't have cockroaches crawling over me”. Former State Department aide Federico Klein, 42, was arrested on Thursday. According toThe New York Times, the charges included obstructing Congress and law enforcement, unlawful entry, violent and disorderly conduct, and assaulting an officer with a dangerous weapon.

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  A Trump appointee who was arrested after participating in the Capitol riot asked a judge if he could be transferred to a cell with no cockroaches

  Business Insider
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  Trump appointee arrested in connection with Capitol riot

  CBS News

U.S. Senator Manchin says filibusters could be made more 'painful'

Centrist Democratic Senator Joe Manchin, a pivotal vote in the U.S. Senate, on Sunday advocated making the procedural maneuver called the filibuster more "painful" to do, with Democrats concerned about Republicans obstructing President Joe Biden's legislative agenda. Some Democrats have advocated eliminating the filibuster to prevent Republicans from blocking Biden's initiatives. White House Communications Director Kate Bedingfield made clear on Sunday that the president is not calling for ending the filibuster.

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  Joe Manchin Signals Openness To Filibuster Reform As Push For Abolishing It Grows

  HuffPost
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  Manchin says he’s open to tweaking Senate filibuster rules

  MarketWatch

Russia scores points with vaccine diplomacy, but snags arise

Russia's boast in August that it was the first country to authorize a coronavirus vaccine led to skepticism at the time because of its insufficient testing. Six months later, as demand for the Sputnik V vaccine grows, experts are raising questions again — this time, over whether Moscow can keep up with all the orders from the countries that want it. Slovakia got 200,000 doses on March 1, even though the European Medicines Agency, the European Union's pharmaceutical regulator, only began reviewing its use on Thursday in an expedited process.

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  EU regulator urges caution on Sputnik COVID-19 vaccine

  Reuters
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  Vaccine diplomacy: Putin seeks to leverage Sputnik V to build Russia’s global influence

  MarketWatch

Sri Lanka Catholics mark 'Black Sunday' for Easter victims

Sri Lankan Roman Catholics attended Mass dressed in black on Sunday, with prayers and protests calling for justice for those killed in coordinated suicide bomb attacks on Easter Sunday two years ago. Church bells tolled and prayers were chanted at 8:45 a.m., the time when bombs were detonated almost simultaneously at two Roman Catholic churches and a Protestant church during Easter services on April 21, 2019. More than 260 people, including 171 from the two Catholic churches, were killed in the attacks, which were blamed on two local Islamic extremist groups that had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group.

Thousands of people who visited a COVID-19 vaccination site in California received the wrong dosage, report says

An estimated 4,300 people received less of the Pfizer vaccine than they should have, KTVU reported. Too little of the vaccine was administered due to a problem with new syringes, the media outlet said. California health officials have said patients will be informed "immediately" if they need a booster.

French billionaire politician killed in helicopter crash

French billionaire Olivier Dassault was killed on Sunday in a helicopter crash, a police source said, with President Emmanuel Macron paying tribute to the 69-year old conservative politician. Dassault was the eldest son of late French billionaire industrialist Serge Dassault, whose namesake Dassault Aviation, builds the Rafale war planes and owns Le Figaro newspaper. "Olivier Dassault loved France.

B-52s again fly over Mideast in US military warning to Iran

A pair of B-52 bombers flew over the Mideast on Sunday, the latest such mission in the region aimed at warning Iran amid tensions between Washington and Tehran. The flight by the two heavy bombers came as a pro-Iran satellite channel based in Beirut broadcast Iranian military drone footage of an Israeli ship hit by a mysterious explosion only days earlier in the Mideast. While the channel sought to say Iran wasn't involved, Israel has blamed Tehran for what it described as an attack on the vessel.

Rights groups call for investigation into killings of Philippine activists

Human rights groups called on the Philippine government to investigate what they said was the use of "lethal force" during police raids on Sunday that left at least nine activists dead. The raids in four provinces south of Manila resulted in the death of an environmental activist as well as a coordinator of left-wing group Bagong Alyansang Makabayan, among others, and resulted in the arrest of four others, activist groups said. "These raids appear to be part of a coordinated plan by the authorities to raid, arrest, and even kill activists in their homes and offices," Human Rights Watch Deputy Asia Director Phil Robertson said in a statement.

'Lesson fully received': An 18-year-old charged in the Capitol riot says he was 'wrong' and begged a judge to release him

The youngest suspect charged in the Capitol riots wrote a letter begging a judge to release him. Bruno Joseph Cua, 18, previously boasted on Instagram of storming the Capitol and fighting inside. Bruno Joseph Cua, 18, faces a slew of federal charges related to the January 6 insurrection, including assault on a federal officer, engaging in physical violence, violent entry or disorderly conduct, and civil disorder.

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  ‘I will not step one foot out of line’: 18-year-old charged in Capitol riot begs for release

  The Independent
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  18-year-old Capitol rioter wants to go home to his ‘loving family’ who drove him to DC

  NY Daily News

At Dubai airport, travelers' eyes become their passports

Dubai's airport, the world's busiest for international travel, can already feel surreal, with its cavernous duty-free stores, artificial palm trees, gleaming terminals, water cascades and near-Arctic levels of air conditioning. It's the latest artificial intelligence program the United Arab Emirates has launched amid the surging coronavirus pandemic, contact-less technology the government promotes as helping to stem the spread of the virus. Dubai's airport started offering the program to all passengers last month.

Biden marks 'Bloody Sunday' by signing voting rights order

A new executive order from President Joe Biden directs federal agencies to take a series of steps to promote voting access, a move that comes as congressional Democrats press for a sweeping voting and elections bill to counter efforts to restrict voting access. His plan was announced during a recorded address on the 56th commemoration of “Bloody Sunday,” the 1965 incident in which some 600 civil rights activists were viciously beaten by state troopers as they tried to march for voting rights in Selma, Alabama. Every eligible voter should be able to vote and have it counted,” Biden said in his remarks to Sunday's Martin and Coretta King Unity Breakfast before signing the order.

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  On Bloody Sunday Anniversary, Biden Signs Executive Order To Promote Voting Rights

  HuffPost
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  Biden signs voting rights order on 'Bloody Sunday'

  Associated Press Videos

Yemen's Houthis attack Saudi oil heartland with drones, missiles

Yemen's Houthi forces fired drones and missiles at the heart of Saudi Arabia's oil industry on Sunday, including a Saudi Aramco facility at Ras Tanura vital to petroleum exports, in what Riyadh called a failed assault on global energy security. Announcing the attacks, the Houthis, who have been battling a Saudi-led coalition for six years, also said they attacked military targets in the Saudi cities of Dammam, Asir and Jazan. The Saudi energy ministry said an oil storage yard at Ras Tanura, the site of an oil refinery and the world's biggest offshore oil loading facility, was attacked with a drone coming from the sea.

Prince Harry and William to reunite at unveiling of Diana statue as they move past rift

The Duke of Sussex is determined to stand shoulder to shoulder with his brother at the unveiling of a statue of their mother Diana, Princess of Wales, whatever the fallout from his interview with Oprah Winfrey. Prince Harry hopes that the brothers can present a united front  at Kensington Palace on July 1, which would have been the Princess's 60th birthday, in an attempt to move past their rift. A source close to Prince Harry insisted that whatever had been said and done, he desperately hoped to attend the event and considered it a priority.

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  How can I watch Harry and Meghan's Oprah interview in the UK?

  Yahoo Style UK
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  A look at Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's finances ahead of Oprah Winfrey tell-all

  Yahoo Finance

With many vaccinated, Israel reopens economy before election

Israel reopened most of its economy Sunday as it removed many of its remaining coronavirus lockdown restrictions, lifted by its successful vaccination campaign and giving a boost to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's re-election hopes. The easing of restrictions comes after months of government-imposed shutdowns and less than three weeks before the country's fourth parliamentary elections in two years. Israel, a world leader in vaccinations per capita, has fully immunized nearly 40% of its population in just over two months.

Prominent Georgia family sued their local grocery clerk after she made claims on Facebook about their role in the Capitol riots, report says

A family is suing a grocery clerk after she posted allegations about their roles in the Capitol riots. Katheryn and Thelma Cagle had helped organize buses from Georgia to DC, according to the Washington Post. Grocery clerk Rayven Goolsby confronted them on Facebook after seeing videos of them at the rally.

Saudi-led coalition strikes Yemen's rebel-held capital

The Saudi-led coalition fighting Iran-backed rebels in Yemen said Sunday that it had launched a new air campaign on the country's capital and other provinces, in retaliation for a series of missile and drone strikes targeting key military and oil facilities across Saudi Arabia. “The targeting of civilians and civilian facilities is a red line,” Col. Turki al-Maliki, a spokesman for the coalition, was quoted as saying by the official Saudi Press Agency. It was the first time in months that Sanaa was bombed by Saudi warplanes, an escalation that comes as the kingdom grapples with a major increase in cross-border strikes on its own infrastructure, including an attack on a major offshore oil loading facility late Sunday.