PoliticsYahoo NewsLoeffler concedes to Warnock in Georgia Senate race: 'We came up slightly short'
On Thursday, Georgia Republican Sen. Kelly Loeffler conceded to the Rev. Raphael Warnock in a video statement posted to Twitter. “I want to thank every Georgian and every single American who believed in me and our campaign,” Loeffler said.
WorldAssociated PressHong Kong grants bail to arrested pro-democracy activists
Authorities in Hong Kong said Friday they have granted bail to most of the 55 pro-democracy activists who were arrested this week in a sweeping crackdown on dissent. One of the activists said they could still be charged under a tough national security law. The activists were accused of taking part in an unofficial primary election last year that authorities said was part of a plan to paralyze the Legislative Council and subvert state power.
WorldThe TelegraphEU citizens banned from using ID cards to enter UK after rising terrorism and crime concerns
EU citizens will be banned from using ID cards to enter the UK from October because they are so easy to fake they are being widely used by terrorists, criminals and illegal immigrants to enter the country. Priti Patel, the Home Secretary, is using Brexit to change the rules so that EU ID cards can no longer be used as travel documents, and instead visiting EU nationals will have to present passports at UK borders. Thousands have used them to enter the UK, with Italian and Greek documents most susceptible because they are paper-based, more easily forged, and on sale for £800 on the black market.
PoliticsYahoo NewsHere are the Republicans who voted to contest the Electoral College votes showing Biden beat Trump
For a handful of Republican lawmakers, the spectacle of a pro-Trump mob, spurred on by the president's false claims of election fraud, storming the U.S. Capitol was enough to make them reconsider their role in seeking to block the certification of Electoral College votes that confirmed Joe Biden had beaten Donald Trump on Nov. 3. Sens. Kelly Loeffler of Georgia, James Lankford of Oklahoma and Steve Daines of Montana and Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington broke ranks with Trump's plan to stop Biden from becoming the 46th president, announcing that they would not stand in the way of what is traditionally a pro forma ceremony.
PoliticsYahoo NewsPerdue concedes race to Jon Ossoff, sealing control of Senate for Democrats
Jon Ossoff's victory in the Georgia Senate runoff election Jan. 5, together with Raphael Warnock's win the same day, ensured Democrats will control the Senate for the next two years, a seismic shift of power in Washington. Warnock's opponent, Sen. Kelly Loeffler, conceded the race on Thursday, and after several days of silence the other Republican running, Sen. David Perdue, admitted his loss on Friday afternoon, Reuters correspondent David Shepardson reported. "Although we won the general election, we came up just short of Georgia's 50 percent rule, and now I want to congratulate the Democratic Party and my opponent for this runoff win,” Perdue said.
WorldAssociated PressPakistani PM asks Shiites to bury coal miners killed by IS
Pakistan's prime minister on Friday appealed on protesting minority Shiites not to link the burial of 11 coal miners from their Hazara community, killed by the Islamic State group last week, to demands that he visit the mourners. Saying that the miners would not be buried until he visits the protesters amounts to blackmail, said Prime Minister Imran Khan. Since Sunday, hundreds of mourners have been rallying despite cold weather in Quetta, beside the coffins of the miners.
WorldThe Telegraph‘People are not optimistic here’: Balkans lags in vaccine drive as EU and Russia vie for influence
Western Balkan states are falling behind in the race to vaccinate citizens against coronavirus, leaving the EU's poorer neighbours facing the stark choice of waiting months for globally accredited jabs or turning to potentially unsafe options from Russia. While the EU began its vaccination program on December 27, most of the remaining Balkan countries – Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia – will not be starting properly until spring. Like most of the Western Balkans, Bosnia and Herzegovina is among dozens of middle- or low-income countries relying on the World Health Organisation-led Covax procurement agency for vaccines.
PoliticsNational ReviewJosh Hawley Is Calling You Stupid
Are you a Republican voter? Almost daily, Josh Hawley, the lean and hungry legislator who helped incite an attack on his own place of work, intimates that a majority of Republicans are stupid. The latest insult came on Thursday, only a day after a conspiracy theory not only boosted by, but acted upon by Hawley — a Yale Law School graduate who didn't believe for a moment that the election was stolen by Democrats, or that it could be stolen by Republicans in Congress during the certification process — resulted in an attack on the U.S. Capitol building.
PoliticsReutersU.S. Supreme Court's Breyer in retirement spotlight after Democratic wins
With Democrats securing control of the U.S. Senate, some liberal activists are calling for liberal Justice Stephen Breyer to make retirement plans so Democratic President-elect Joe Biden quickly can appoint a successor to the Supreme Court's oldest member. Breyer, 82, has served on the nation's top judicial body since 1994, having been appointed by a Democratic president, Bill Clinton. Republican President Donald Trump, due to leave office on Jan. 20, appointed three justices during his four-year term, moving the court rightward with a 6-3 conservative majority.
U.S.Associated PressPolice chief's past sows doubts in wake of Taylor's death
Louisville city leaders praised the former Atlanta police chief who has been hired to oversee their struggling department in the wake of Breonna Taylor's death, but some critics questioned if she was the right choice after a rocky departure from her previous job. Erika Shields was introduced this week after winning plaudits from Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer and a panel that unanimously selected her after a months-long search process. The panel included two Black city council members who have been instrumental in police reforms since Taylor was fatally shot by city officers in March.
WorldReutersGermany reports record COVID-19 deaths, concerns about new variant grow
Germany reported a record 1,188 daily COVID-19 deaths on Friday, only days after further tightening a national lockdown amid fears that a more transmissible variant of the coronavirus may put additional strain on struggling hospitals. On Tuesday, Chancellor Angela Merkel and state premiers agreed to restrict non-essential travel for residents of hard-hit areas all over Germany for the first time, after a lockdown decreed in December failed to significantly reduce infection numbers. The death toll reported by the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases on Friday surpassed a previous record of 1,129 registered on Dec. 30, taking the total in connection with the pandemic to 38,795.
LifestyleArchitectural DigestInside the Charming Parisian Apartment of French Designer Sarah Poniatowski
Located directly under the roof, Poniatowski's idyllic Right Bank apartment is flooded with light, flea market finds, and the designer's very own collection Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest
PoliticsAssociated PressTrump to skip Biden swearing-in — Biden's fine with that
President Donald Trump said Friday he will skip President-elect Joe Biden's inauguration, refusing to fulfill the outgoing president's traditional role in the peaceful transition of power and undercutting his own message just one day earlier on the need for “national healing and unity." Trump, who has not appeared in public since a violent mob of his supporters besieged the Capitol on Wednesday and tried to halt the transfer of power, will be the first incumbent president since Andrew Johnson not to attend his successor's inauguration. Biden said he was just fine with that, calling it “one of the few things we have ever agreed on."
WorldReutersPower struggle leaves U.N. rights body without leader
Russia and China have opposed a candidate from Fiji seen as a staunch human rights defender to lead the top U.N. rights body, diplomats and observers say, creating a deadlock just as Washington may seek to rejoin the forum it quit in 2018. The Human Rights Council presidency rotates annually between regions and is usually agreed by consensus, with any contests typically resolved quickly and cordially, diplomats say. The impasse means the council, the only intergovernmental global body to promote and protect human rights worldwide, is set to resume work in Geneva next week with no leader for the first time in its 15-year history.
PoliticsAssociated Press'He's on his own': Some Republicans begin to flee from Trump
President Donald Trump's steadfast grip on Republicans in Washington is beginning to crumble, leaving him more politically isolated than at any other point in his turbulent administration. After riling up a crowd that later staged a violent siege of the U.S. Capitol, Trump appears to have lost some of his strongest allies, including South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham. A handful of congressional Republicans are openly considering whether to join a renewed push for impeachment.
PoliticsThe Daily BeastPelosi Gives Pence an Ultimatum as House Members Draft Articles of Impeachment
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called for Vice President Mike Pence to immediately invoke the 25th Amendment on Thursday, threatening to move forward with impeachment efforts if the president isn't removed for inciting the deadly Capitol riot. “In calling for this seditious act, the president has committed an unspeakable assault on our nation and our people,” Pelosi said. “If the vice president and Cabinet do not act, the Congress may be prepared to move forward with impeachment.”
WorldReutersU.S. envoy to U.N. to visit Taiwan; China says playing with fire
The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Kelly Craft, will visit Taiwan next week for meetings with senior Taiwanese leaders, Taiwan's government and the U.S. mission to the U.N. said, prompting China to warn they were playing with fire. Beijing, which claims the self-governed island as its own territory, has been angered by stepped-up support for Taiwan from the outgoing Trump administration, including trips to Taipei by top U.S. officials, further straining Sino-U.S. ties. Chinese fighter jets approached the island in August and September during the last two visits - by U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar and U.S. Under Secretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment Keith Krach, respectively.
- PoliticsFOX News Videos
Removal of Trump from office may cause more outrage: Chris Wallace
Fox News Sunday' anchor Chris Wallace reacts to Democrats calling for the removal of President Trump from office.
U.S.The Daily BeastCapitol Police Chief Quits After Pelosi Demanded He Be Fired for MAGA Riot
Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund said late Thursday he would resign, hours after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called for him to be fired for the extraordinary security failure that saw Trump supporters violently invade the Capitol building, leading to the police shooting at least one insurrectionist. “There was a failure at the top of the Capitol Police, and I think Mr. [Steven] Sund—he hasn't even called us,” Pelosi said at a press conference on Thursday. Sund came under attack as well from the Capitol Police union, which charged him with failing to prepare for the insurrection—and drew a pointed contrast with the “coordinated response” that took place in June for Black Lives Matter protests.
EntertainmentArchitectural DigestThese 9 Vintage Cars Are the Hot New Pandemic Buys
From a midcentury Ford F-Series to a early-2000s BMW M3, experts explain the best vintage cars on the market—and how you can buy them right now Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest
PoliticsBusiness Insider'You should be expelled': Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez mocks Josh Hawley for 'crying over a book deal' after insurrection
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez slammed Sen. Josh Hawley on Thursday evening after he grumbled over a canceled book deal, and called for his expulsion from the Senate. "Your actions fueled a riot and you fundraised in the chaos," the New York congresswoman said. Publisher Simon & Schuster announced earlier Thursday that it would cancel releasing an upcoming book by Hawley due to his commitment to object to the electoral process.
PoliticsAssociated PressDominion sues Trump lawyer Sidney Powell for defamation
Dominion Voting Systems filed a defamation lawsuit against lawyer Sidney Powell on Friday, seeking at least $1.3 billion for Powell's “wild accusations” that the company rigged the presidential election for Joe Biden. Dominion brings this action to set the record straight,” the company said in the suit filed in federal court in Washington. Powell has for weeks claimed without evidence that the election technology vendor, whose vote-counting equipment was used in several states, was part of a scheme to steal the election from President Donald Trump.
HealthBusiness InsiderI volunteered to test the Moderna coronavirus vaccine. Here's what the side effects were like, and why I want my experience to give people hope.
Journalist Elle Hardy is taking part in a phase-three trial of Moderna's mRNA-1273 vaccine, which was just approved in the UK and has been shown to be 94.5% effective. The UK government has ordered 17 million doses of Moderna's shot, but it's unlikely to roll out before March. After a slight reaction to the two doses, Hardy said she was certain she didn't receive a placebo.
CelebrityINSIDER'Vanderpump Rules' stars Stassi Schroeder and Beau Clark just welcomed their first child together. Here's a timeline of their love story.
Former "Vanderpump Rules" star Stassi Schroeder started dating Beau Clark at the end of 2017. Now, the couple has welcomed their first child together — daughter Hartford Charlie Rose Clark, born on January 7. The most recent season of "Vanderpump Rules" featured plenty of drama, but one bright spot for some fans was Stassi Schroeder and Beau Clark's relationship.
ScienceBusiness InsiderA private astronaut explains why his next flight - likely with Tom Cruise - is 'setting the bar for commercial human spaceflight forever'
Space tourists have been flying to orbit since a millionaire made the first such flight in 2001. Now the startup Axiom Space has chartered the first all-private orbital mission, called Ax-1, which may launch as early as October. Flight commander Michael López-Alegría, a former NASA astronaut, will be joined by three private passengers, likely including Tom Cruise and the film director Doug Liman.
“Governors are being WAY too precious about who gets this vaccine.”
“The federal government needs to give states strict parameters for when their vaccine allocation must be administered.”
“While public health leaders know what must be done, their critical work could be supported by a national COVID-19 Vaccine Corps.”
“The US vaccine campaign is not a disaster. Rather, I think it is predictably mediocre.”
“The best option may be to rely more on private industry.”