PoliticsYahoo NewsProgressive leaders warn Biden administration to 'hold the line' on minimum wage hike
But progressives say they're frustrated by the amount of time it has taken to pass a relief package through Congress, and argue that the promise of $2,000 checks was essential to Democratic victories in last month's Senate elections in Georgia. Additionally, proponents of a $15 minimum wage like Turner believe Biden should “hold the line” on an increase despite resistance from congressional Republicans and moderate Democrats. On Thursday, Democrats received a huge blow on this front when Senate parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough ruled that the Senate cannot use the budget reconciliation process to pass a minimum wage increase in its relief bill.
PoliticsAssociated PressDemocrats launch sweeping bid to overhaul US election laws
Stacey Abrams, whose voting rights work helped make Georgia into a swing state, exhorted Congress on Thursday to reject “outright lies" that have historically restricted access to the ballot as Democrats began their push for a sweeping overhaul of election and ethics laws. “A lie cloaked in the seductive appeal of election integrity has weakened access to democracy for millions,” Abrams, a Democrat who narrowly lost Georgia's 2018 gubernatorial race, said during a committee hearing for the bill, which was introduced as H.R. 1 to signal its importance to the party's agenda. Democrats feel a sense of urgency to enact the legislation ahead of the 2022 midterm elections, when their narrow majorities in the House and Senate will be at risk.
PoliticsYahoo NewsProgressives fume as White House backs down on minimum wage increase
President Biden and Senate Democrats drew fire from progressives after opting not to fight a ruling that would strip a $15 minimum wage increase from the Senate's COVID-19 relief legislation. To pass the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan with just 50 votes, Democrats in the Senate are using a process called budget reconciliation, which requires the approval of the Senate parliamentarian, Elizabeth MacDonough. On Wednesday, MacDonough ruled that the provision increasing the federal minimum wage from $7.25 to $15 by 2025 violated the Senate's “Byrd rule,” which prohibits “extraneous” provisions from being included in budget legislation passed through reconciliation.
WorldReutersPhilippine police to look into government admission of drug war failures
Philippine police said on Thursday they were looking into a government review of thousands of killings in the country's "war on drugs", after the justice minister made an unprecedented admission to the United Nations of widespread police failures. Human Rights Watch described Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra's video statement on Wednesday as an "astounding disclosure". Guevarra said police had in many cases failed to examine weapons and crime scenes after officers had shot dead suspected drug dealers.
WorldAssociated Press2 US Navy warships in Mideast hit by coronavirus outbreaks
Two U.S. Navy warships operating in the Mideast have been struck by coronavirus outbreaks, authorities said Friday, with both returning to port in Bahrain. A dozen troops aboard the USS San Diego, an amphibious transport dock, tested positive for COVID-19, said Cmdr. Rebecca Rebarich, a spokeswoman for the Bahrain-based 5th Fleet. “All positive cases have been isolated on board, and the (ships) remains in a restricted COVID bubble,” Rebarich told The Associated Press.
WorldINSIDERIranian journalist, who won the International Press Freedom Award, was detained in Turkey after fleeing a nearly 5-year prison sentence
Mohammad Mosaed is an Iranian reporter who has twice been arrested by the government. The Committee to Protect Journalists awarded him its 2020 International Press Freedom Award. Mohammad Mosaed, an Iranian freelance journalist who has twice been arrested by the government for his investigative reporting and criticism of Iranian officials, was detained by Turkish border officials earlier this year after fleeing Iran following a prison summons.
WorldReutersChina expected to unveil hike in military budget as tensions rise
China is expected to reveal a robust increase in defence spending at the March 5 annual opening of parliament, as its economy rebounds from the COVID-19 pandemic and military tensions rise, Chinese and Western security experts said. With the coronavirus hammering its economy, China last year announced a 6.6 per cent boost in defence spending to $178 billion, the lowest rate of increase in three decades. The new administration of President Joe Biden has moved quickly to remind Beijing that the United States intends to compete with China's growing influence and military strength in the Asia-Pacific.
WorldThe TelegraphIsrael pauses 'vaccine diplomacy' campaign after wave of criticism
Israel has halted a so-called vaccine diplomacy campaign that would give jabs to countries which recognise its claim to sovereignty over Jerusalem, following a backlash from senior officials and ministers. Benjamin Netanyahu, who is seeking re-election in March, said this week that he would send vaccines to countries such as the Czech Republic, Guatemala, Honduras and Hungary, as an apparent reward for opening diplomatic missions in Jerusalem. The gesture is controversial as both Israel and the Palestinians claim Jerusalem as their capital, which is why most countries base their ambassadors in Israel in Tel Aviv.
WorldAssociated PressBangladeshis protest prison death of commentator
Protesters blocked a busy intersection in Bangladesh's capital Friday to protest the death in prison of a writer and commentator who was arrested on charges of violating a sweeping digital security law that critics say stifles freedom of expression. Mushtaq Ahmed, 53, was arrested in Dhaka in May last year for making comments on social media that criticized the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina government's handling of the coronavirus pandemic. It was not immediately clear how Ahmed died on Thursday.
PoliticsBusiness InsiderWhile Biden visits storm-torn Texas, Sen. Ted Cruz will be giving a speech on 'cancel culture' in Florida
President Joe Biden heads to Texas on Friday to tour some of the areas hit hardest by the winter storm last week. While he's there, he won't be meeting with Republican Sen. Ted Cruz. Cruz has a speaking engagement that day at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Orlando, Florida.
WorldAssociated PressOfficials: Attack targets Afghan reporter's family, kills 3
Three family members of an assassinated journalist in western Afghanistan have been killed by gunmen, local officials said Friday, amid a rising wave of attacks targeting journalists and civil society actors. Ghor provincial council member Hamidullah Mutahid said that at least five others were wounded in the attack late Thursday. The gunmen stormed the family home of Afghan journalist and activist Bismillah Adil Aimaq, who was shot dead in an unclaimed attack nearby Ghor on Jan. 1.
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UN rights chief cites 'need' to assess rights in Xinjiang
The United Nations' human rights chief on Friday cited the need for an “independent and comprehensive assessment” of the rights situation in China's Xinjiang region, while emphasizing that activists, lawyers and rights defenders face unfair charges, detention and trials in China. U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet said her office is working to find “mutually agreeable parameters” for her to visit China, including Xinjiang. Efforts to arrange such a visit for the human rights commissioner date to before she took office in September 2018.
U.S.Architectural DigestMore Inside A New Safari Lodge Treehouse Tucked Away in Botswana’s Okavango Delta
Only reachable by canoe, this Xigera hideaway is centered along lush riverbeds and a rich concentration of wildlife. Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest
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UK top court says IS schoolgirl can't return
The UK's top court has unanimously ruled that a British-born woman who went to Syria as a schoolgirl to join Islamic State should not be allowed to return. The Supreme Court said on Friday (February 26) Shamima Begum cannot come back to Britain to challenge the government taking away her citizenship because she poses a security risk. She left London in 2015 when she was 15 years old and went to Syria via Turkey with two school friends, where she married an IS fighter.
PoliticsReutersU.S. Senate panel sets hearing for Biden's No. 2 and No. 3 Justice Department picks
The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday announced it will hold a confirmation hearing on March 9 for President Joe Biden's nominees to serve in the No. 2 and No. 3 top jobs at the U.S. Justice Department. Lisa Monaco, a former federal prosecutor who also previously advised former FBI Director Robert Mueller and former President Barack Obama, is nominated to serve as Deputy Attorney General. Vanita Gupta, a long-time civil rights attorney who previously led the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, is nominated to serve as Associate Attorney General.
PoliticsAssociated PressOnce the mainstream model, Michigan GOP embraces right wing
Josh Venable, a longtime Michigan GOP operative and chief of staff to former U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, can trace the arc of the state's Republican Party clearly. “This was the state where to be Republican was defined by Gerald Ford and George Romney,” Venable said, referring to the moderate former president and former governor. Now, he said, it's defined by Mike Shirkey, the state Senate majority leader who was overheard calling the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol riot a “hoax"; Meshawn Maddock, the new co-chair of the state party who backed former President Donald Trump's false claims of voter fraud; and the Proud Boys.
HealthAssociated PressThird US vaccine could raise question: Which shots are best?
The nation is poised to get a third vaccine against COVID-19, but because at first glance the Johnson & Johnson shot may not be seen as equal to other options, health officials are girding for the question: Which one is best? If cleared for emergency use, the J&J vaccine would offer a one-dose option that could help speed vaccinations, tamp down a pandemic that has killed more than 500,000 people in the U.S. and stay ahead of a mutating virus. The challenge will be explaining how protective the J&J shot is after the astounding success of the first U.S. vaccines.
WorldAssociated PressEXPLAINER: How US airstrike in Syria sends message to Iran
A U.S. airstrike targeting facilities used by Iran-backed militias in Syria appears to be a message to Tehran delivered by a new American administration still figuring out its approach to the Middle East. The strike was seemingly a response to stepped-up rocket attacks by such militias that have targeted U.S. interests in Iraq, where the armed groups are based. It comes even as Washington and Tehran consider a return to the 2015 accord meant to rein in Iran's nuclear program.
PoliticsBusiness InsiderTed Cruz's colleagues mocked him by putting memes of his Cancun trip in the Senate gym locker room: 'Bienvenido de Nuevo, Ted!'
Ted Cruz's Senate colleagues had some fun at his expense on Wednesday, according to NBC News. Photos of Cruz from his infamous Cancun trip were plastered around the Senate gym's locker room. "Bienvenido de Nuevo, Ted!" the color printouts for the prank read, or "welcome back."
WorldReutersMyanmar: The revolution will be Facebook-lived
His work now is on the city streets and his tool is his mobile phone linked to Facebook Live - streaming the nationwide protests against the coup that toppled elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi and ended a decade of tentative democratic reforms. "Despite the difficulties, citizen journalists and media are posting in every possible way," Thar Lon Zaung Htet, 37, told Reuters. With established media under ever greater pressure, the story of Myanmar's anti-coup protests is being shaped for its people and the world by journalists and citizens streaming and sharing snippets of video and pictures.
WorldAssociated PressTies with Saudis at stake as US releases findings on killing
The United States has pledged to tell the world its conclusions on what role Saudi Arabia's crown prince played in the brutal killing and dismembering of a U.S.-based journalist, but as important is what comes next — what the Biden administration plans to do about it. Ahead of the release of the declassified U.S. intelligence report, and announcement of any U.S. punitive measures, President Joe Biden spoke to Saudi King Salman on Thursday for the first time since taking office more than a month ago. It was a later-than-usual courtesy call to the Middle East ally, timing seen as reflecting Biden's displeasure.
U.S.Business InsiderSouth Dakota's legislature is moving to impeach its attorney general after investigators uncovered a hit-and-run victim's glasses in his car
AG Jason Ravnsborg was charged with three misdemeanors in connection to a fatal car crash. New details have since emerged with the victim's glasses found in Ravnsborg's car. Ravnsborg was charged with three misdemeanors last week after initially saying he thought he hit a deer, not a person.
WorldThe Daily BeastPutin May Have Triggered an Attempted Coup in Armenia After PM Insulted His Missiles
MOSCOW—Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has announced that his nation's military had attempted a coup on Thursday, the latest development in a country still recovering from last year's lost war with Azerbaijan. Now, politicians and political analysts are speaking of Russia's hand in the attempted coup, pointing to President Vladimir Putin's strained relationship with Pashinyan. On Tuesday, Pushinyan had insulted Moscow by complaining about Russian missiles, an indirect criticism of the Kremlin's strategy of waiting to intervene until Armenia was weakened in the conflict, despite its official status as a military ally.
U.S.Architectural Digest11 Modernist Homes for Sale in the U.S.
From Santa Fe, New Mexico, to New Hope, Pennsylvania, these homes display an expressive use of materials to maximize the structures character Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest
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Cuomo denies sex harassment claims as White House calls for review
FOX News contributors Lisa Boothe and Leslie Marshall discuss the situation on 'The Story'
“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.”