PoliticsYahoo NewsProbe begins into thwarted Justice Department 'coup' to keep Trump in power
The Justice Department's inspector general announced Monday that he had started an investigation into whether current or former officials in the department had engaged in an “improper attempt” to overturn the 2020 presidential election to keep Donald Trump in power. Michael Horowitz, the DOJ inspector general, released a statement announcing the decision. The DOJ Office of the Inspector General (OIG) is initiating an investigation into whether any former or current DOJ official engaged in an improper attempt to have DOJ seek to alter the outcome of the 2020 Presidential Election.
WorldAssociated PressUN group says Sri Lanka virus cremation rule violates rights
A group of U.N experts has criticized Sri Lanka's requirement that those who die of COVID-19 be cremated, even it goes against a family's religious beliefs, and warned that decisions based on “discrimination and aggressive nationalism” could incite hatred and violence. The experts, who are part of the Special Procedures of the U.N Human Rights Council, said in a statement Monday that rule amounts to a human rights violation. “We deplore the implementation of such public health decisions based on discrimination, aggressive nationalism and ethnocentrism amounting to persecution of Muslims and other minorities in the country,” the experts said.
PoliticsThe WeekThe Senate is effectively deadlocked over McConnell's filibuster demand
Senate Democrats are drawing a line at Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's (R-Ky.) demand that a power-sharing agreement in the 50-50 Senate include a pledge to retain the legislative filibuster. "If we gave him that, then the filibuster would be on everything, every day," Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) told NBC's Chuck Todd on Sunday's Meet the Press.
PoliticsAssociated PressBiden replaces White House doctor with longtime physician
President Joe Biden has brought back Dr. Kevin O'Connor as his physician, replacing President Donald Trump's doctor with the one who oversaw his care when he was vice president. The White House confirmed that Dr. Sean Conley, the Navy commander who served as the head of the White House Medical Unit under Trump and oversaw his treatment when he was hospitalized with COVID-19, will assume a teaching role at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences. O'Connor, a retired Army colonel, was Biden's doctor during his entire tenure as vice president, having remained in the role at Biden's request.
WorldReutersFive arrested as Australia Day protests draw thousands
Five people were arrested in Sydney in largely peaceful Australia Day protests on Tuesday with thousands defying public health concerns and rallying across the nation against the mistreatment of the Indigenous people. The Jan. 26 public holiday marks the date the British fleet sailed into Sydney Harbour in 1788 to start a penal colony, viewing the land as unoccupied despite encountering settlements. But for many Indigenous Australians, who trace their lineage on the continent back 50,000 years, it is "Invasion Day".
WorldThe TelegraphIndian and Chinese troops involved in new border clash in eastern Himalayas
Indian and Chinese soldiers armed with sticks and stones have brawled again along their disputed frontier, Delhi said, as the neighbours' months-long border stand-off continued. Indian security officials said there were clashes after at least 18 Chinese soldiers tried to cross into Indian-claimed territory at Naku La in Sikkim on January 20. A senior Indian Army official told the Telegraph that four Indian soldiers were wounded after they challenged the Chinese PLA soldiers.
WorldAssociated PressIran: Biden won't have infinite time to rejoin nuclear deal
Iran warned the Biden administration on Tuesday that it will not have an indefinite time period to rejoin the 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers. Iran also said it expects Washington to swiftly lift crippling economic sanctions that former President Donald Trump imposed on the country after pulling America out of the atomic accord in 2018, as part of what he called maximum pressure against Iran. Trump cited Iran's ballistic missile program among other issues in withdrawing from the accord.
ScienceThe WeekSurging global ice melt suggests sea level rise predictions are far too conservative
The world's ice is melting so fast that sea level rise predictions can't keep up. Climate change is largely responsible for the huge ice melt surge, the Cryosphere study reports. In fact, about three percent of all the energy trapped within the Earth's systems because of climate change has gone toward that ice melt, the study estimates.
WorldReutersBoycott 'wildcat' Scottish independence vote, says Scottish Conservative leader
Backers of the union of the United Kingdom's four nations should boycott any "wildcat" independence referendum for Scotland, the leader of the Scottish Conservative Party said on Monday, after the nation's first minister pressed ahead with plans for a vote. Scotland's first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, said on Sunday she was hoping a strong performance by her Scottish National Party (SNP) in an election in May would give her the mandate to hold a second referendum. To get a legal referendum, any such vote must be approved by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who has ruled out doing so.
PoliticsBBCJoe Biden: America's second Catholic president
Joe Biden has been back in Washington for six days, and already he has attended Catholic Mass twice. Then, on the first Sunday of his presidency, he took in morning services at Holy Trinity Church, in the Georgetown neighbourhood of northwest DC. The Jesuit-affiliated Holy Trinity is the same church to which John F Kennedy, the nation's first Catholic president, belonged.
- U.S.Associated Press
Rittenhouse, mother fixated on social media treatment
An Illinois teen accused of killing two people during unrest in Wisconsin and the teen's mom were fixated on social media comments about them in the hours after his August arrest, newly released police video shows. Police in Antioch, Illinois, on Monday released four hours of video taken after Kyle Rittenhouse turned himself in hours after the Aug. 25 protest in Kenosha, the Chicago Tribune reported. The protest was part of a series of chaotic demonstrations that ensued after a white Kenosha officer shot Jacob Blake, who is Black, in the back seven times during a domestic dispute.
BusinessThe ConversationYes, customers do like it when waiters and hairdressers wear a mask – especially if it's black
The big idea Customers perceive a better quality of service, feel less anxious and exhibit more trust in businesses when waiters and other service workers wear a mask, according to a new study we just submitted for peer review. And we found this to be especially true when the mask was black. We surveyed about 4,500 Americans through Amazon's Mechanical Turk, showing each of them a random picture of a service employee, with or without a mask, in either a grocery store, bank, hair salon, hotel or restaurant.
WorldReutersChina to conduct military drills in South China Sea amid tensions with U.S.
China said on Tuesday it will conduct military exercises in the South China Sea this week, just days after Beijing bristled at a U.S. aircraft carrier group's entry into the disputed waters. A notice issued by the country's Maritime Safety Administration prohibited entry into a portion of waters in the Gulf of Tonkin to the west of the Leizhou peninsula in southwestern China from Jan. 27 to Jan. 30, but it did not offer details on when the drills would take place or at what scale. A U.S. carrier group led by the USS Theodore Roosevelt entered the South China Sea on Saturday to promote "freedom of the seas," the U.S. military said, days after Joe Biden began his term as president.
- NewsFOX News Videos
There should be more than one reporter asking tough questions to Biden administration: Media critic
Steve Krakauer, editor at Fourth Watch, says 'it shouldn't be contingent' on one reporter to ask Biden tough questions.
PoliticsThe TelegraphDonald Trump impeachment: House delivers article to Senate as Biden says conviction unlikely
Democrats in the House of Representatives delivered an article of impeachment against Donald Trump to the Senate on Monday night, formally triggering the first-ever impeachment trial of a former president. The article accuses Mr Trump of "incitement of insurrection" over the deadly Capitol riots on January 6. Shortly before the breach of the Capitol, Mr Trump told thousands of his supporters at a rally near the White House to "fight like hell" against the election results that Congress was certifying.
BusinessAssociated PressDifferent types of gambling, media converging for growth
The many different types of gambling are quickly coming together with each other and with media outlets — and Wall Street is taking notice. Casino gambling, internet gambling, sports betting and daily fantasy sports are no longer separate silos with unique audiences: Gambling companies are increasingly combining them and partnering with media companies to expand the reach of gambling. This expansion is leading Wall Street analysts to predict fast-growing revenue in the U.S. over the next five to 10 years.
- WorldReuters
At least 11 killed after fighting erupts in Somalia's Jubbaland: doctor
At least 11 people were killed on Monday after fighting broke out between the Somali federal army and Jubbaland state forces in the Gedo region of southwestern Somalia, a local doctor told Reuters. Somalia's federal government confirmed there had been fighting, concentrated in the town of Bula Hawa bordering Kenya. But it and Jubbaland, one of Somalia's five semi-autonomous states, reported no casualties.
PoliticsThe IndependentCongressman urges Biden to fire USPS board of governors for ‘silence and complicity’ with Trump ‘arson’
Democratic Congressman Bill Pascrell has urged Joe Biden to fire members of the US Postal Service Board of Governors following Donald Trump's attempts to undermine mail-in voting under its Postmaster General Louis DeJoy. The New Jersey congressman condemned the board's “silence and complicity” during service cuts and the president's repeated attacks against expanding vote-by-mail efforts. “After several years of unprecedented sabotage, the United States Postal Service is teetering on the brink of collapse,” the congressman wrote in his letter to the president.
WorldAssociated PressVietnam's Communist Party leaders warn of challenges ahead
Senior members of Vietnam's ruling Communist Party cautioned Tuesday that their country faced opportunities and challenges ahead, as they began a key meeting to set the nation's path for the next five years. Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc cited climate change, natural disasters and diseases as among the challenges ahead in his speech before the 13th National Party Congress and aired on state television. “Globalization and global integration are on the right track, but they are met with the rise of extreme nationalism, strategic competition and trade wars," declared Communist Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, the nation's most powerful leader.
WorldReutersIran urges Biden to lift sanctions affecting medicines as it fights COVID-19
Iran urged U.S. President Joe Biden on Tuesday to lift sanctions which it said were hampering Tehran's fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. Tehran also said it had approved Russia's Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine for domestic use, and that it was trying to buy vaccines from AstraZeneca and other companies. Sanctions reimposed by former U.S. President Donald Trump formally exempt food, medicine and other humanitarian supplies, but many foreign banks have been deterred from doing business with Iran.
PoliticsINSIDERFilibuster drama explained: McConnell will organize the new Senate now that he's confident Democrats won't gut the filibuster
McConnell wanted a promise that Democrats would not eliminate the filibuster. Two Democratic Senators signaled their support for keeping the filibuster in place Monday. With those assurances, McConnell said he was ready to move forward with an organizing resolution.
LifestyleBusiness InsiderSeveral cruise trips have already been cancelled this year. See when major cruise lines plan on operating again.
Many major US cruise line will not be setting sail around the country until, at the earliest, March. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention still recommends avoiding cruise trips during the pandemic. Bad news for any eager cruisegoers: cruise lines are continuing to extend cruising suspensions into 2021 as the COVID-19 pandemic continues.
U.S.Associated PressMossimo Giannulli loses bid to finish prison term at home
Fashion designer Mossimo Giannulli's request to serve the remaining three months of his prison term in the college admissions bribery scheme at home was denied Tuesday by a federal judge. Giannulli argued he should be released to home confinement for the rest of his five-month sentence because he spent eight weeks under “extreme” conditions in solitary confinement because of the coronavirus pandemic after reporting to prison in November. But U.S. District Judge Nathaniel Gorton said Giannulli failed to demonstrate an "'extraordinary and compelling' reason warranting his release," though he noted that the quarantine was “longer than anticipated.
PoliticsThe Independent‘Don’t let him off the hook’: Beto O’Rourke says Ted Cruz is guilty of sedition
Former Congressman Beto O'Rourke accused Sen. Ted Cruz - who he challenged in a Senate race in 2018 - of being "guilty of sedition." Mr O'Rourke made the statement on Twitter while imploring citizens not to "let him off the hook" for his involvement in the US Capitol riots. "Don't let him off the hook.
U.S.The IndependentNew threats of a second attack on the US Capitol loom over lawmakers ahead of Trump’s second impeachment trial
A surge in threats against lawmakers and the US Capitol have forced National Guard troops to remain in Washington ahead of former President Donald Trump's second impeachment trial. The troops will remain on Capitol Hill as the US Senate trial begins on 8 February, marking the first time in American history in which a former president has faced an impeachment trial after leaving office. The House voted to impeach Mr Trump for fomenting a deadly insurrection at the Capitol as Congress convened to certify his electoral defeat in the 2020 elections, citing his speech held just before the deadly attacks and conduct during the riots, which left at least five people dead, including United States Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick.
“By encouraging this act of terror on our capital, Trump’s legacy is destroyed.”
“Both backers and critics of Trump agreed that he remade the federal judiciary — a change that will impact America for decades.”
“He was largely responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Americans who did not need to die.”
“I do know what the future should hold for this country. That is to say, a policy of Trumpism without Trump.”
“It will be decades before the consequences of his tenure are fully known.”