WorldBBCSouth Korea's first transgender soldier found dead
The cause of death of Byun Hee-soo, a transgender rights campaigner, is not yet known. The 23-year-old had been receiving counselling from a mental health centre near her home in Cheongju in Chungcheong province (which is south of Seoul). Ms Byun's case triggered debate about the treatment of transgender troops and soldiers from the LGBTQ community in the country.
WorldAssociated PressIntense preparations before pontiff meets Iraqi ayatollah
In Iraq's holiest city, a pontiff will meet a revered ayatollah and make history with a message of coexistence in a place plagued by bitter divisions. One is the chief pastor of the world-wide Catholic Church, the other a pre-eminent figure in Shiite Islam whose opinion holds powerful sway on the Iraqi street and beyond. Pope Francis and Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani are to meet on Saturday for at most 40 minutes, part of the time alone except for interpreters, in the Shiite cleric's modest home in the city of Najaf.
WorldReutersViolence erupts as kidnapped Nigerian schoolgirls return to families
One moment, Hadiza was weeping and flinging her arms around her father for the first time since her abduction; the next - gunfire and tear gas filled the air and people ran for cover. It was supposed to be a joyous reunion to end the five-day ordeal of 279 girls kidnapped last week from the Jangebe Government Girls Science Secondary School in a remote corner of northwest Nigeria. Cheering children had lined the street as buses brought the girls, grinning and waving, back to their school from the Zamfara state capital Gusau, where they had been cared for since their release on Tuesday.
U.S.Associated PressIt's back to school for Jill Biden and new education chief
Jill Biden, the teacher in the White House, along with new Education Secretary Miguel Cardona went back to school Wednesday in a public push to show districts that have yet to transition back to in-person learning that it can be done safely during the pandemic. Teachers want to be back," the first lady said after she and Cardona spent about an hour visiting classrooms and other areas at Benjamin Franklin Elementary School in Meriden, Connecticut. We want to be back.
PoliticsLA TimesMcManus: The Republican Party's biggest problem is spelled T-R-U-M-P
They can't live with him, and they can't live without him. That about sums up the Republican Party's Donald Trump problem. After losing a presidential election, the usual next step for a political party is to pause, take stock of its problems and begin looking to a new generation of leaders without the same liabilities.
WorldAssociated PressIsrael sentences Palestinian lawmaker to two years in prison
An Israeli military court has sentenced a prominent Palestinian lawmaker to two years in prison in a plea bargain that convicted her of belonging to an outlawed group. But the court found insufficient evidence to press more serious charges against her, the army said Tuesday. Khalida Jarrar, a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, has been held without charge since October 2019.
WorldReutersBeijing dismisses alleged Chinese hacking of Indian vaccine makers
China on Tuesday rejected an allegation by a cyber intelligence firm that a state-backed hacking group targeted the IT systems of two Indian coronavirus vaccine makers. Cyfirma told Reuters that hacking group APT10, known as Stone Panda, had identified gaps and vulnerabilities in the IT infrastructure and supply chain software of Bharat Biotech and the Serum Institute of India (SII), the world's largest vaccine maker. "Without showing any evidence, the relevant party made baseless speculation, distorted and concocted facts, to malign a specific party," China's foreign ministry told Reuters.
WorldBBC'If the others go I'll go': Inside China's scheme to transfer Uighurs into work
China's policy of transferring hundreds of thousands of Uighurs and other ethnic minorities in Xinjiang to new jobs often far from home is leading to a thinning out of their populations, according to a high-level Chinese study seen by the BBC. The government denies that it is attempting to alter the demographics of its far-western region and says the job transfers are designed to raise incomes and alleviate chronic rural unemployment and poverty. But our evidence suggests that - alongside the re-education camps built across Xinjiang in recent years - the policy involves a high risk of coercion and is similarly designed to assimilate minorities by changing their lifestyles and thinking.
WorldAssociated PressUS warns of military response to rocket attack on Iraq base
The White House warned that the U.S. may consider a military response to the rocket attack on Wednesday that hit an air base in western Iraq where American and coalition troops are housed, raising concerns this could trigger a new round of escalating violence. A U.S. contractor died after at least 10 rockets slammed into the base. And while no group claimed responsibility, it was the first strike since the U.S. bombed Iran-aligned militia targets along the Iraq-Syria border last week.
U.S.LA TimesQAnon and conspiracy theories are taking hold in churches. Pastors are fighting back
Details emerging from investigations into hundreds of Capitol rioters have cast an unsettling light on the toxic roles that fringe religious beliefs and QAnon conspiracy theories have played in shaking big and small churches across the nation. Trump's false insistence that he won the 2020 election may have incited the mob, but it also pointed to a dangerous intersection of God and politics. A Kentucky man who the FBI charged as the first to enter the Capitol through a broken window saw himself as fighting a holy war on behalf of his president and, in a booking photo, wore a T-shirt that quoted Ephesians 6:11: “Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil's ...
WorldReutersEU vows legal response as UK moves unilaterally on Northern Ireland
The European Union promised legal action on Wednesday after the British government unilaterally extended a grace period for checks on food imports to Northern Ireland, a move Brussels said violated terms of Britain's divorce deal. Since it left the EU last year, Britain's relations with the bloc have soured, with both sides accusing the other of acting in bad faith in relation to part of their trade agreement that covers goods movements to Northern Ireland. The British government extended a grace period for some checks on agricultural and food products imported by retailers to Northern Ireland until Oct. 1 in a move it said was necessary to ensure the free flow of goods to the British region.
WorldAssociated PressFormer Pakistan PM wins Senate election in setback to gov't
A former Pakistani prime minister Wednesday defeated a ruling party candidate in Senate elections in a major setback to the government of Prime Minister Imran Khan, election authorities and opposition parties said. Yusuf Raza Gilani defeated the ruling Tehreek-e-Insaf party's Hafeez Sheikh, an adviser to Khan who was named finance minister in December 2020, Gilani received 169 votes to Sheikh's 164. Gilani's success suggested some ruling party lawmakers revolted and didn't vote for Sheikh for the key seat reserved for the capital Islamabad.
WorldReutersICC prosecutor to probe war crimes in Palestinian Territories, angering Israel
The International Criminal Court prosecutor said on Wednesday her office will formally investigate war crimes in the Palestinian Territories, a move welcomed by the Palestinian Authority and denounced by Israel. The decision follows a ruling by the court on Feb. 5 that it has jurisdiction in the case, prompting swift rejections by Washington and Jerusalem. "The decision to open an investigation followed a painstaking preliminary examination undertaken by my office that lasted close to five years," Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said in a statement.
WorldReutersConcerns over China vaccine diplomacy "narrow-minded": political advisory body
Concerns about China using vaccines to sway other countries are "narrow-minded," a top political advisory body said, apparently dismissing a notion among rival powers that Beijing exploits the fight against COVID-19 to boost its global influence. Guo Weimin, spokesman for the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), said some suspect China is using COVID-19 vaccines to "expand our geopolitical influence." "This idea is extremely narrow-minded", Guo said at a news conference on Wednesday ahead of the opening of the annual meeting of CPPCC on Thursday.
WorldArchitectural Digest9 of the Best Outdoor Rugs That Literally Ground Any Space
High-traffic areas are about to meet their match Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest
PoliticsAssociated Press75 ex-top prosecutors endorse Biden’s pick for associate AG
More than 75 former U.S. attorneys are throwing their support behind President Joe Biden's nominee for associate attorney general and urging congressional leaders to quickly confirm her to the post. Vanita Gupta has been nominated for the No. 3 position in the Justice Department, a position in which she would be responsible for overseeing the department's civil, antitrust and civil rights litigation, but also for helping to implement policy decisions on a host of nationwide issues. The Senate has scheduled the confirmation hearing for Gupta and Lisa Monaco, Biden's nominee for deputy attorney general, for March 9.
- WorldYahoo News Video
Hunter banned from 48 states after Colorado poaching spree
A hunter from Colorado Springs, Colo. has been permanently banned from hunting in 48 states, including Colorado, after he pleaded guilty to several poaching charges across the state.
PoliticsAssociated PressTrump's cash plea could complicate GOP fundraising efforts
“President Trump's Legacy is in your hands," another pleaded. Others advertised “Miss Me Yet?” T-shirts featuring Donald Trump's smiling face. While some Republicans grapple with how fiercely to embrace the former president, the organizations charged with raising money for the party are going all in.
WorldReutersHungary's Fidesz party leaves largest EU parliamentary group
Hungary's ruling Fidesz party said on Wednesday it was leaving the largest centre-right political group in the European Parliament after the faction moved towards suspending it in a tug-of-war over Prime Minister Viktor Orban's democratic record. Fidesz's departure from the European People's Party (EPP) group is likely to reduce Orban's influence in Brussels following a long conflict over his perceived backsliding on the rule of law and human rights. "I hereby inform you that Fidesz MEPs resign their membership in the EPP Group," Orban wrote in a letter to the faction's head, Manfred Weber, which was published on Twitter by Katalin Novak, a Fidesz deputy chairwoman.
PoliticsAssociated PressBiden's Cabinet half-empty after slow start in confirmations
President Joe Biden's Cabinet is taking shape at the slowest pace of any in modern history, with just over a dozen nominees for top posts confirmed more than a month into his tenure. Among Biden's 23 nominees with Cabinet rank, just 13 have been confirmed by the Senate, or a little over half. On Tuesday, Biden's Cabinet was thrown into further uncertainty when his nominee to lead the White House budget office, Neera Tanden, withdrew from consideration after her nomination faced opposition from key senators on both sides of the aisle.
- WorldReuters
U.S. calls German warship's plan to sail South China Sea support for rules-based order
The United States on Wednesday hailed plans by NATO ally Germany to sail a warship across the contested South China Sea, calling it welcome support for a "rules-based international order" in the region, something Washington says is threatened by China. German government officials said on Tuesday a German frigate would set sail for Asia in August and, on its return journey, become the first German warship to cross the South China Sea since 2002. "The United States has a national interest in the maintenance of peace and stability, respect for international law, lawful unimpeded commerce, and freedom of navigation and other lawful uses of the sea," a spokeswoman for the U.S. State Department said.
WorldAssociated PressUN: 38 died on deadliest day yet for Myanmar coup opposition
Myanmar security forces were seen firing slingshots at protesters, chasing them down and even brutally beating an ambulance crew in video showing a dramatic escalation of violence against opponents of last month's military coup. A U.N. official speaking from Switzerland said 38 people had been killed Wednesday, a figure consistent with other reports though accounts are difficult to confirm inside the country. The increasingly deadly violence could galvanize the international community, which has responded fitfully so far.
U.S.Associated PressPolice uncover ‘possible plot’ by militia to breach Capitol
Capitol Police say they have uncovered intelligence of a “possible plot” by a militia group to breach the U.S. Capitol on Thursday, nearly two months after a mob of supporters of then-President Donald Trump stormed the iconic building to try to stop Congress from certifying now-President Joe Biden's victory. The threat appears to be connected to a far-right conspiracy theory, mainly promoted by supporters of QAnon, that Trump will rise again to power on March 4. Online chatter identified by authorities included discussions among members of the Three Percenters, an anti-government militia group, concerning possible plots against the Capitol on Thursday, according to two law enforcement officials who were not authorized to speak publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
U.S.INSIDERICE has opened a human-smuggling investigation after an overpacked SUV crashed in California near the Mexican border, killing 13
At least 13 people were killed in a collision involving a packed SUV in Southern California on Tuesday. ICE said late Tuesday that the crash had prompted a human-smuggling investigation. US Immigration and Customs Enforcement is investigating whether human smuggling played a role in a crash in Southern California on Tuesday that left at least 13 people dead, The Associated Press reported.
WorldAssociated PressYemen’s rebels say latest US sanctions will prolong the war
Yemen's Iran-backed rebels Wednesday warned that the U.S. sanctions imposed the previous day on two of their military leaders would only prolong the conflict in the impoverished Arab country. President Joe Biden's administration on Tuesday slapped sanctions on two Houthi leaders, citing their alleged roles in cross-border attacks on Saudi Arabia and shipping vessels in the Red Sea. Rebel leaders Monsour al-Saadi and Ahmed al-Hamzi were responsible for attacks “impacting Yemeni civilians, bordering nations, and commercial vessels in international waters,” the departments of State and Treasury said.
“Taking humans to Mars would require an investment astronomically out of kilter with the possible benefits.”
“Can a Mars settlement be a freer society than we enjoy on Earth? Maybe.”
“What we learn...may spark the next revolution that will make life in 2071 beyond anything we can imagine right now.”
“Our presence on Mars could jeopardize one of our main reasons for being there — the search for life.”
“The future of geologic investigation of other worlds lies with highly improved versions of our Mars rovers.”