WorldAssociated PressIsrael says it will 'definitely' stop Iran from getting bomb
Israel's foreign minister said Friday that his country was determined to stop Iran from building a nuclear weapon, after Tehran promised to step up its uranium enrichment process. “We will do whatever it takes to prevent the extremists (in Iran) from succeeding, and definitely will prevent this regime from having a nuclear weapon,” Israeli Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi told reporters on a visit to Cyprus. Iranian officials say the country will begin enriching uranium up to 60% purity following an attack on its nuclear facility at Natanz, in central Iran, on Sunday, that it blamed on Israel.
WorldThe TelegraphSpain acquits man of sexually abusing 14-year-old stepdaughter who gave birth to his child
A Spanish court has provoked outrage by acquitting a man of sexually abusing his 14-year-old stepdaughter despite the fact she gave birth to his child. The Pamplona court accepted the defendant's claim that the teenager had sat astride him while he was asleep on the sofa and engaged in penetrative sex. The girl's mother reported the father for alleged sexual abuse of her daughter, who initially said she had been raped in the street before changing her story to corroborate her stepfather's claim that he had not been conscious when they had sex.
HealthReutersJ&J scientists refute 'class effect' to blame for clots in those who got its COVID-19 vaccine
Scientists at Johnson & Johnson on Friday refuted an assertion in a major medical journal that the adenovirus-based design of their COVID-19 vaccine, which is similar AstraZeneca's, may explain why both have been linked to very rare brain blood clots in some vaccine recipients. The United States earlier this week paused distribution of the J&J vaccine to investigate six cases of a rare brain blood clot known as cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST), accompanied by a low blood platelet count, in U.S. women under age 50, out of about 7 million people who got the shot. The blood clots in patients who received the J&J vaccine bear close resemblance to 169 cases in Europe reported with the AstraZeneca vaccine, out of 34 million doses administered there.
WorldAssociated PressBeijing warns US, Japan against collusion vs China
China said Friday it has expressed “serious concerns” to the United States and Japan over what it calls negative moves and collusion between the two countries against China. The statement from Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian came just before President Joe Biden welcomes Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga to the White House on Friday in his first face-to-face meeting with a foreign leader. That meeting is seen as reflecting Biden's emphasis on strengthening alliances to deal with a more assertive China and other global challenges.
- U.S.Christian Science Monitor
Slavery’s ‘lingering’ effects, reparations, and a hope of reconciliation
She said that 10 of the first 12 U.S. presidents had been slave owners. That's true, but the full list is longer. Among the first 12, Presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe, Andrew Jackson, Martin Van Buren, William Henry Harrison, John Tyler, James K. Polk, and Zachary Taylor were slave owners, eight of them while in office.
WorldThe TelegraphFace masks to be jettisoned at pilot events for return of crowds
Face masks will not be used at a series of large-scale pilot events in the coming weeks as ministers plan for the return of mass gatherings without Covid rules. Trials that involve suspending combinations of restrictions including face coverings and social distancing will take place at up to 15 pilots before the end of May. The moves will be offset by a requirement for all event attendees to show a negative Covid test, but the Government confirmed on Friday that it will not be trailing the use of vaccine passports in the pilots.
WorldBBCFrance urges citizens to leave Pakistan amid anti-French protests
France has urged all its citizens in Pakistan to leave the country temporarily amid violent anti-French protests across the country. The country's embassy in Pakistan warned of "serious threats to French interests in Pakistan", saying protests were increasing nationwide. The protests were sparked months ago after France defended the right to show cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad.
U.S.Associated PressOfficials: 2nd dead worker from capsized boat found in Gulf
The Coast Guard said Friday that it has found the body of a second dead worker from the lift boat that capsized off Louisiana's coast earlier this week. Rescuers in the air and the sea have been searching for the 19 workers who were aboard the vessel when it overturned Tuesday in rough weather about 8 miles (13 kilometers) from the Louisiana coast. The second body was found in the water near the partially submerged Seacor Power lift boat Thursday night, according the Coast Guard news release.
U.S.Raleigh News and ObserverSearch for kayaker’s body suspended after dog was found in Colorado lake, cops say
Crews have suspended the search for a missing man, who is now presumed dead, after officials spotted a capsized kayak on Sunday and rescued his dog from Carter Lake in Colorado, according to officials. The Larimer County Sheriff's Office officials said on Friday that the search has been suspended after teams have spent more than 700 hours looking for the man believed to be from Loveland. Rangers found an uninjured dog wearing a flotation device and a kayak in the lake Sunday afternoon but no kayaker.
WorldAssociated PressNew blast at St. Vincent volcano; cruise ship helps evacuees
La Soufriere volcano shot out another explosive burst of gas and ash on Friday as a cruise ship arrived to evacuate some of the foreigners who had been stuck on a St. Vincent island coated in ash from a week of violent eruptions. Friday morning's blast “wasn't a big explosion compared to the ones that we last weekend, but it was big enough to punch a hole through the clouds," said Richard Robertson, lead scientist at the University of the West Indies Seismic Research Center, in an interview with local NBC radio. During a comparable eruption cycle in 1902, explosive eruptions continued to shake the island for months after an initial burst killed some 1,700 people, though the new eruptions so far have caused no reported deaths among a population that had received official warning a day earlier that danger was imminent.
PoliticsThe Guardian‘Alarm is growing’: Michigan governor faces shutdown dilemma as Covid cases rise
The coronavirus lockdowns and restrictions that Michigan's governor, Gretchen Whitmer, enacted in March last year were among the nation's toughest, and the governor's leadership is thought to have saved lives. Now, as Michigan faces another surge of cases and hospitalizations, its worst yet, Whitmer has changed tack. Despite past success and growing calls for another lockdown from public health experts, and doctors managing hospitals with Covid patients, the governor is resisting further restrictions, and is instead largely relying on a vaccination rollout and a voluntary suspension of in-person dining services.
WorldBBCAfrica's week in pictures: 9-15 April 2021
A selection of the week's best photos from across the continent: All pictures subject to copyright.
U.S.Fort Worth Star-TelegramWoman killed, 3 injured in crash on Highway 114 near Texas Motor Speedway; lanes closed
Lanes of Highway 114 near the Texas Motor Speedway were closed on Friday morning after a woman was killed and three men were injured in a crash involving a box truck and a pickup truck, authorities said. Of those injured, two had serious injuries and one had minor injuries, according to MedStar. The identity of the woman wasn't immediately released.
- WorldYahoo News Video
Daunte Wright's mother calls for accountability
On Thursday, Katie Wright, the mother of Daunte Wright, the 20-year-old Black man shot and killed by police in Brooklyn Center, Minn. expressed her grief and called for accountability for her son's death.
LifestyleArchitectural DigestThe 9 Best Wireless Headphones for Every Kind of Use
From the most comfortable pair to the best value buy, these headphones will carry you through the spring, summer, and beyond Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest
PoliticsUSA TODAY'Time for American troops to come home': Biden announces Afghanistan withdrawal by Sept. 11
Calling for the end of a two-decade war that saw 775,000 American troops serve and 2,300 killed, President Joe Biden on Wednesday announced all U.S. forces will withdraw from Afghanistan by Sept. 11, the 20-year anniversary of the 9/11 attacks that triggered the conflict. "It is time to end America's longest war," Biden said in a speech from the White House Treaty Room, where former President George W. Bush announced the first airstrikes in Afghanistan in 2001. "It is time for American troops to come home."
- U.S.Raleigh News and Observer
Durham man pleads guilty to shooting grandfather in the head at 16. Why did he do it?
Nearly six years after William Evans was found shot and cold in a Durham parking lot, his grandson pleaded guilty to shooting the 65-year-old man with his own gun. Under a plea agreement, Dominick Jackson pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced to up to nearly 10 years in prison, with credit for the more than five years he spent in jail awaiting trial. Under North Carolina sentencing laws, courts must consider mitigating and aggravating factors that could decrease or increase the sentence.
WorldBBCJimmy Lai: Hong Kong's rebel mogul and pro-democracy voice
The billionaire media mogul Jimmy Lai is one of the most prominent supporters of Hong Kong's pro-democracy movement. Mr Lai was 12 years old when he fled his village in mainland China, arriving in Hong Kong as a stowaway on a fishing boat. Like a number of the city's famed tycoons, he went from a menial role, toiling in a Hong Kong sweatshop, to founding a multi-million dollar empire.
U.S.The StateA week after she was found in a Florida Keys swimming pool, Georgia toddler dies
A 2-year-old Georgia girl died Thursday, almost a week after she was found unresponsive in the swimming pool of the Florida Keys vacation rental home in which she and her family were staying. Leland Rudeen's family released a statement on Facebook Thursday saying that she had died a day after undergoing an MRI at Nicklaus Children's Hospital near South Miami. “Shortly after the devastating MRI results, as we were trying to wrap our head around some hard decisions ahead of us, Leland took the choice out of our hands and started her painless decline,” the statement reads.
WorldThe IndependentBiden expels Russian diplomats and announces new sanctions in retaliation for hacking
US president Joe Biden has announced sanctions against a number of Russian officials and ordered the immediate expulsion of ten diplomats from the country, following allegations of election interference and hacking. The US government said for the first time on Thursday that that the hack, which affected at least 100 private-sector businesses and nine federal agencies, was carried out by Russia. The US has also alleged that Russian president Vladimir Putin authorised attempts to swing the 2020 US presidential election in favour of Donald Trump.
- WorldWABC – NY
Woman shot and killed on street, boyfriend hits suspect with car
A 52-year-old woman walking with her boyfriend in the Bronx was fatally shot Wednesday afternoon, and her boyfriend then ran down the suspect with his car.
PoliticsBusiness InsiderMitt Romney, Liz Cheney, and other GOP lawmakers who criticized Trump or voted to impeach him have spent tens of thousands of dollars on private security
Lawmakers who criticized Trump or voted to impeach him spent thousands to improve personal security after the Capitol attack. Republicans including Mitt Romney and Liz Cheney beefed up their security, per Punchbowl News. Prominent lawmakers spent tens of thousands of dollars on private security guards and other protection following the Capitol riots, a Punchbowl News analysis of campaign finance records shows.
WorldUSA TODAYAntony Blinken makes surprise stop in Afghanistan to sell Biden troop withdrawal
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken made an unannounced visit to Afghanistan on Thursday to sell Afghan leaders and a wary public on President Joe Biden's decision to withdraw all American troops from the country and end America's longest war. Blinken sought to assure senior Afghan politicians that the United States remains committed to the country despite Biden's announcement a day earlier that the 2,500 U.S. soldiers remaining in the country would be coming home by the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks that led to the U.S. invasion in 2001.
U.S.Miami HeraldArtiles, Rodriguez plead not guilty on charges related to no-party candidate scheme
Former Republican state Sen. Frank Artiles pleaded not guilty and asked for a jury trial Friday in a high-profile public corruption case that will play out in the 11th Judicial Circuit in Miami. Artiles, whose lawyers had submitted his written plea ahead of time, is facing several felony charges for allegedly recruiting and paying Alexis Pedro Rodriguez, an auto-parts dealer and longtime acquaintance, to run as a no-party candidate in Miami-Dade's Senate District 37 race. The goal of the scheme, prosecutors allege, was to “confuse voters and influence the outcome” of the race to ultimately represent a large swath of Miami-Dade that includes downtown Miami, Coral Gables and Pinecrest.
WorldBBCIndia coronavirus: Desperate Covid-19 patients turn to black market for drugs
Akhilesh Mishra started getting a fever and a cough last Thursday but he initially thought it was just the flu. Akhilesh began to worry the next day, when his father Yogendra developed similar symptoms. The two men decided to get Covid RT-PCR tests done and tried to book a slot online but the next available appointment was three days later.
“There’s no ‘both sides of the debate’ when it comes to active voter suppression.”
“Companies that do this ooze contempt for their own customers and employees who are not in the leftmost quarter of opinion.”
“The truth is that Fortune 500 companies were never taking moral stances from the goodness of their corporate hearts.”
“The truth is, the companies hold the cards…If companies stick to their guns, Georgia is likely to back down as well.”
“When a company folds to the unfounded outrage of a few misinformed nuts, they are forever at the mob’s beck-and-call.”