US announces sanctions against Russia and expels 10 diplomats

The United States announced economic sanctions against Russia on Thursday and the expulsion of 10 diplomats in retaliation for what Washington says is the Kremlin's US election interference, a massive cyber attack and other hostile activity. President Joe Biden's executive order "sends a signal that the United States will impose costs in a strategic and economically impactful manner on Russia if it continues or escalates its destabilising international action," the White House said. The moves are in response to alleged interference in last year's presidential election as well as the hacking last year of federal government agencies.

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  US expels Russian diplomats in response to SolarWinds hack

  Engadget
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  US expels Russian diplomats, imposes new round of sanctions

  Associated Press

Toddler found walking alone near highway while mom dined with friend, Texas police say

Dominique Edwards was driving home late Tuesday when he saw something he won't soon forget — a 2-year-old toddling along the feeder road to North Freeway in Harris County. Police arrived to take the girl then started checking nearby hotels, according to KTRK. An 8-year-old boy and his 3-year-old brother were asleep inside, KHOU reported.

Yemeni model 'abducted from the street' by Houthi rebels after doing photoshoot without hijab

A Yemeni model who posed for photographs without wearing a hijab is facing prosecution by Houthi rebels who abducted her from the streets of Sanaa, the woman's lawyer has claimed. Entesar Al-Hammadi, 20, was arrested in the Yemeni capital in February with two friends as they travelled to a film set, according to Saudi media reports, which said the Houthis had accused her of violating Islamic dress codes. Khaled Mohammed Al-Kamal, Ms Hammadi's lawyer, told the news website Arab News that his client was “arrested without a warrant.”

US expels Russian diplomats, imposes new round of sanctions

The Biden administration on Thursday announced the expulsion of 10 Russian diplomats and sanctions against dozens of people and companies as it moved to hold the Kremlin accountable for interference in last year's presidential election and the hacking of federal agencies. The sanctions also target Moscow's ability to borrow money by prohibiting U.S. financial institutions from buying Russian bonds directly from Russian institutions. The actions, foreshadowed for weeks by the administration, represent the first retaliatory measures announced against the Kremlin for the hack, familiarly known as the SolarWinds breach.

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  US expels Russian diplomats in response to SolarWinds hack

  Engadget
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  The Biden administration slapped new sanctions on Russia and expelled diplomats over cyberattacks and election interference

  Business Insider

Taiwan tells Biden emissaries it will counter China's 'adventurous manoeuvres' with U.S

Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen told emissaries visiting at U.S. President Joe Biden's request on Thursday that the island would work with the United States to deter threats from Chinese military activities. Former senior U.S. officials, including former U.S. Senator Chris Dodd and former Deputy Secretaries of State Richard Armitage and James Steinberg, are visiting Taipei in a trip to signal Biden's commitment to Taiwan and its democracy. Tsai told the U.S. delegation in a meeting at the Presidential Office that Chinese military activities in the region have threatened regional peace and stability.

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  Taiwan says it will counter China threats with U.S.

  Reuters Videos
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  Ex-US officials visit Taiwan amid China tensions

  Associated Press

Hong Kong students invited to handle rocket launchers during day of pro-Beijing activities

Hong Kong school-children were on Thursday invited to handle rocket launchers and sing the Chinese national anthem during a day of activities designed to boost loyalty to Beijing. In classrooms across the city, students as young as six were given lessons on the draconian security law imposed last year as part of the first 'National Security Education Day'. Pupils were told to write messages in praise of China on billboards as they took part in flag-raising ceremonies as well as pro-Beijing puzzles and games.

Mom suspected in children's deaths pleads in carjacking case

A California woman suspected of killing her three children pleaded not guilty Wednesday to carjacking during an alleged escape. Liliana Carrillo, 30, entered pleas in a Kern County courtroom to four felony counts of carjacking, attempted carjacking and auto theft. Carrillo's three children were found dead Saturday by their maternal grandmother in her apartment in the Reseda neighborhood of Los Angeles.

Former Minnesota police officer charged in Daunte Wright death due in court

The former Minnesota police officer charged with manslaughter in the fatal shooting of Daunte Wright, a 20-year-old Black man, during a traffic stop was scheduled to make her first court appearance on Thursday. Prosecutors will try to show that Kim Potter, 48, was "culpably negligent" and took an "unreasonable risk" in shooting Wright after pulling him over for expired license plates in the Minneapolis suburb of Brooklyn Center on Sunday. If convicted of the charge of second-degree manslaughter, Potter, who is white, faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a $20,000 fine.

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  Former Minnesota Police Officer To Be Charged In Death Of Daunte Wright

  HuffPost
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  Ex-Minnesota police officer arrested in connection with shooting of Daunte Wright

  Yahoo News

'Denmark is waging psychological war': Trauma for Syrian refugees  facing controversial deportation

"He kills us with missiles directly," she says of Syria's president Bashar Al-Assad. "But the Danish government is waging a psychological war. Ms al-Natoor is one of dozens of Syrian refugees who have been told their temporary residency in the seemingly progressive haven of Denmark has been revoked.

Shop Troye Sivan’s Eclectic Home Style

Take a page out of the stylish young star's book, from must-have splurges to affordable accessories Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest

Growers fret as Mexico moves to legalize marijuana

For the first time that María can remember, half of her marijuana harvest is still in storage on her ranch in Mexico's Sinaloa state months after it should have been sold. Sitting in her wooden house tucked into the same mountains that produced some of the world's most notorious drug traffickers, including Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, the 44-year-old mother of four thinks she knows why: expectations Mexico will soon legalize marijuana. “It has never happened to us where we harvest and have it (stored) in sacks,” said María, who asked that her full name not be used and her exact location not be revealed because in the mountains surrounding Badiraguato, where organized crime controls everything, misspeaking can be dangerous.

‘I whited it out’: SC sheriff’s aide tells how she covered up expensive air travel

A prosecution witness told a federal jury Wednesday how she removed information on receipts that would have shown that former Chester County Alex “Big A” Underwood and his chief deputy spent more than $5,000 in county public money to pay for them and their their wives to fly first class to a convention in Reno, Nevada. “I whited it out and sent it (the receipt) on the county,” testified Hope Bradley, a top assistant in Underwood's office who was in charge of various department functions including answering the sheriff's emails, handling bills and scheduling trips. Bradley said she knew it was not only against county policy to use county money to fly first class, it was also against policy to use public money to pay for spouses' travel, but she complied with the wishes of department higher-ups.

Daunte Wright, slain by police, known as jokester, young dad

A few years ago, Daunte Wright was talking to a high school mentor about what to do if he was pulled over by police. “Make sure your hands are on top of the steering wheel, don't reach for anything,” Jonathan Mason told him, given the long history of Black men shot by police during traffic stops. “He would always say, 'Man, why we gotta do all that just for people not to kill us?'” Mason recalled this week, days after the 20-year-old Wright was killed by a police officer in the Minneapolis suburb of Brooklyn Center.

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  Minnesota Officer Who Killed Daunte Wright Resigns

  HuffPost
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  Minnesota Police Chief Resigns After Daunte Wright's Killing

  HuffPost

German health minister tells states to tighten COVID-19 restrictions quickly

BERLIN (Reuters) -German Health Minister Jens Spahn urged the country's 16 federal states on Thursday to impose tougher restrictions quickly to try to slow a third wave of the coronavirus and not to wait until a national law on measures is passed. His appeal came as the number of confirmed coronavirus cases jumped on Thursday by 29,426 to 3.073 million, the biggest increase since Jan. 8. The reported death toll rose by 293 to 79,381, data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) showed.

Matt Gaetz teased a 'fight back' ad, trying to shift attention from sex-trafficking allegations by alleging that CNN is out to get him

Matt Gaetz tweeted an ad due to air in a self-styled fightback after allegations against him. Gaetz was accused of trafficking teenagers and paying for sex, which he strongly denies. Rep. Matt Gaetz is planning to push back at allegations he was involved in sex trafficking via an ad campaign targeting CNN, according to reports.

Charity bosses 'deeply sorry' for Quaker chocolatier Rowntree's links to slavery

Charity bosses have said they are "deeply sorry" after famously philanthropic confectionery company Rowntree's was linked to slavery and apartheid. The family business behind Kit Kat was founded by Quakers in 1862, and under Joseph Rowntree became known for philanthropy which continues to this day through charitable organisations. The independent Rowntree Society, a charity which documents this history, yesterday announced that during its rise from York grocery to multinational the company benefited from “unfree labour and other forms of racial exploitation during the eras of colonialism and apartheid”.

Man, woman were arguing in Fort Worth freeway when car struck, killed her, police say

A man and a woman were arguing in the middle of a Fort Worth freeway early Thursday when a passing vehicle struck the woman, killing her, police said. The officers determined the couple had been in an argument inside of their car when the vehicle crashed, police said. Officer Tracy Carter, a police spokesman, couldn't immediately say if the other driver will face charges.

Sydney man finds snake in lettuce bought at supermarket

Alex White thought he was watching a huge worm writhing in plastic-wrapped lettuce he'd just brought home from a Sydney supermarket — until a snake tongue flicked. It was a venomous pale-headed snake that authorities say made an 870-kilometer (540-mile) journey to Sydney from a packing plant in the Australian city of Toowoomba wrapped in plastic with two heads of cos lettuce. The refrigerated supermarket supply chain likely lulled the cold-blooded juvenile into a stupor until White bought the lettuce at an inner-city ALDI supermarket on Monday evening and rode his bicycle home with salad and snake in his backpack.

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  Couple Finds Venomous Snake Hiding in Their Bag of Lettuce

  Nerdist
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  A Live Snake Was Found In A Bag Of Lettuce From ALDI

  Eat This, Not That!

Kentucky representative complains about wearing ‘stupid masks’ during House meetings

The House Judiciary Committee's Wednesday meeting was meant for the markup of legislation and amendments, but one Kentucky congressman took the opportunity to criticize wearing “stupid masks” while conducting House business. Rep. Thomas Massie, a Republican representing northern Kentucky, slammed mask-wearing Wednesday morning by attempting to submit for the record an article from ABC which stated that fully-vaccinated people can gather indoors without masks or social distancing, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Not everyone attending Wednesday's House Judiciary Committee meeting was fully vaccinated, which Massie acknowledged despite still arguing against wearing masks.

U.S. Intel Walks Back Claim Russians Put Bounties on American Troops

But on Thursday, the Biden administration announced that U.S. intelligence only had “low to moderate” confidence in the story after all. Translated from the jargon of spyworld, that means the intelligence agencies have found the story is, at best, unproven—and possibly untrue. The United States intelligence community assesses with low to moderate confidence that Russian intelligence officers sought to encourage Taliban attacks U.S. and coalition personnel in Afghanistan in 2019 and perhaps earlier,” a senior administration official said.

A man charged with beating a police officer at the Capitol riot has been forced to stay in jail before his trial because he tried to flee to Switzerland, judge says

Jeffrey Sabol, 51, is charged with beating a police officer at the Capitol riot. Earlier this month a judge denied him pretrial release. The judge said Sabol was a flight risk and had tried fleeing to Switzerland days after the riot.

More Inside Australian Phenomenon Troye Sivan’s Soulful Melbourne Home

Sivan worked with Flack Studios to transform the space while preserving the essence of its Victorian-era origins Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest

India's biggest cities shut down as new virus cases hit 200K

India's two largest cities imposed stringent restrictions on movement and one planned to use hotels and banquet halls to treat coronavirus patients as new infections in the country shot past 200,000 Thursday amid a devastating surge that is straining a fragile health system. The soaring cases and deaths come just months after India thought it had seen the worst of the pandemic — and have forced the country to delay exports of vaccines abroad. India is a major producer of COVID-19 shots, and its pivot to focus on domestic demand has weighed heavily on global efforts to end the pandemic.

Why U.S. church membership has reached a modern low—Part II.

Church membership has dropped from 70 percent as recently as 1999 to 47 percent in 2020, Gallup says, the lowest level since the polling organization started tracking membership more than 80 years ago. ▪ Several readers pointed out that I failed to mention an important contributor to falling church membership: the exclusion of women from leadership roles. America's two largest denominations, the Roman Catholic Church and the Southern Baptist Convention, bar women from their clergy, and the Baptists, particularly, have been quite pugnacious about it.