PoliticsYahoo NewsBiden praises GOP senator's bipartisanship in eulogy
President Biden on Wednesday delivered a eulogy at the funeral of former Sen. John Warner, R-Va., at Washington National Cathedral. “I had the privilege of serving with John for three decades in the United States Senate,” Biden said. “While we represented different political parties, I can say without hesitation John was a man of conscience, character and honor, with a deep commitment to God and country.”
WorldThe TelegraphPoland and Baltics block Merkel and Macron's push for talks with Putin
France and Germany's call for European Union summit talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin were blocked on Thursday night after fierce opposition from Poland and the Baltic countries. At a European Council meeting, EU leaders considered overhauling their foreign policy towards Moscow, a week after US President Joe Biden met Mr Putin in Geneva. Member states, especially those which border Russia, had been infuriated after Paris and Berlin blindsided them with a last minute proposal on Wednesday.
U.S.The WeekAnthony Fauci was hosed down, naked, 'in what looked like a kiddy pool' after being mailed mysterious white powder
Last summer, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases chief Anthony Fauci was reportedly sent mail containing white powder that "literally blew up in his face," Politico writes, per a preview of the new book Nightmare Scenario by Yasmeen Abutaleb and Damian Paletta. Luckily, chemical testing came back negative for both anthrax and ricin, but not before Fauci was hosed "down to his skivvies in a chemical lab," standing "naked in what looked like a kiddy pool" while his team awaited results, per Politico. Previously reported excerpts of Nightmare Scenario revealed Trump once joked he hoped COVID-19 would "take out" former National Security Adviser John Bolton, and had even proposed the U.S. house COVID-19 patients at Guantanamo Bay.
WorldThe TelegraphLovestruck Pentagon translator who passed on secrets to Hizbollah jailed for 23 years
A lovestruck military translator has been jailed for 23 years for passing on the names of US informants to Hizbollah. Mariam Thompson, 62, admitted she had sent classified information to a man with ties to the Lebanese militant group. Prosecutors alleged Lebanese-born Thompson, who became a US citizen in 1993, had put the lives of US troops and sources at risk by passing on the material to a man she hoped would marry her.
U.S.Kansas City StarKansas City man gets life in prison for stabbing father to death: prosecutors
A Kansas City man convicted of stabbing his father to death three years ago was sentenced Thursday to a term of life in prison, according to the Jackson County Prosecutor's Office. Curtis V. Lee, 43, was found guilty by a jury in April on charges of first degree murder and armed criminal action, court records show. Lee was arrested by Independence police in the early hours of April 18, 2018 in the 3500 block of South Lynn Court after officers responded to a residence and found Charles and Clyde Burton — Lee's uncle and father — stabbed to death.
U.S.Fort Worth Star-Telegram911 operator didn’t send Fort Worth officer on call and 3 people died, news report says
An overworked 911 call-taker didn't send a Fort Worth police officer on a June 1 domestic call that ended in a double-murder and suicide, according to a news report. Ex-911 operator Kate Colley told KXAS-TV that the stressed 911 dispatcher received a call from Holly Beverly, who reported that her estranged husband was on his way to her apartment in west Fort Worth to harm her. The operator didn't send an officer because the suspect wasn't actually on the scene yet, Colley told the TV station.
U.S.Lexington Herald-LeaderFlorida condo disaster: A look at other major US building collapses in recent history
In the wake of the collapse of a condo near Miami on June 24, here is a look at major building collapses in the U.S. throughout recent history caused by structural failures. The 12-story oceanfront condo in Surfside, Florida, northeast of Miami, partially collapsed, sending rescuers sifting through the rubble, the Miami Herald reported. The five-story condominium called Harbour Cay in Cocoa Beach collapsed March 27, 1981, due to multiple construction and design problems just as workers were pouring concrete for the roof slab, according to Florida Today.
WorldThe TelegraphChina's first Covid case could have been in October 2019, says UK study
The virus that causes Covid-19 could have started spreading in China as early as October 2019, two months before the first case was identified in the central city of Wuhan, a new study showed on Friday. Researchers from Britain's University of Kent used methods from conservation science to estimate that SARS-CoV-2 first appeared from October to mid-November 2019, according to a paper published in the PLOS Pathogens journal. The most likely date for the virus's emergence was November 17, 2019, and it had probably already spread globally by January 2020, they estimated.
WorldBBCCovid: Sydney city centre and beach suburbs to enter lockdown
Parts of Sydney's central and eastern suburbs, including Bondi Beach, will be locked down after a jump in Covid cases. The city is battling to contain an outbreak of the highly infectious Delta variant. It is the first lockdown in Australia's largest city - home to 5.3 million people - this year.
U.S.Fort Worth Star-TelegramU.S. Marshals arrest Royce Wood, suspected of shooting a Texas cop, in Arkansas
Royce Wood, the man accused of shooting a Rhome police officer June 13, was arrested without incident by the U.S. Marshals Service in Batesville, Arkansas, early Thursday morning, according to the Wise County Sheriff's Office. Wood and his girlfriend, Tiffany Caswell, were arrested together for separate charges against them in Wise County. Caswell and Wood are believed to have been involved in a home invasion robbery on Coyote Trail on June 12, Akin told the Wise County Messenger.
U.S.Kansas City StarMissouri Gov. Mike Parson says he is not convinced Kevin Strickland is innocent
Missouri Gov. Mike Parson on Wednesday said he is not convinced that Kevin Strickland is innocent, making him the first official to publicly doubt prosecutors' assertions that the Kansas City man was wrongly convicted four decades ago. In an interview with 41 Action News, Parson said he does not know if Strickland, 62, is “innocent or not” in a 1978 triple murder in Kansas City that the Jackson County Prosecutor's Office now says he did not commit. Parson's comments came more than 40 days after Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker announced her office had concluded Strickland, who was 18 when he was arrested, is “factually innocent” in the April 25, 1978, shooting at 6934 S. Benton Ave.
- PoliticsYahoo News Video
Bipartisan senators reach tentative infrastructure deal ahead of Biden meeting
A bipartisan group of senators reached a tentative framework on a $953 billion infrastructure deal Wednesday ahead of a crucial meeting with President Biden at the White House.
PoliticsBusiness InsiderAlexandria Ocasio-Cortez slams the lack of diversity in an all-white group of lawmakers who drafted a bipartisan infrastructure deal
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez criticized the bipartisan group of lawmakers who negotiated an infrastructure deal. President Joe Biden announced on Thursday that the group reached a deal. The New York lawmaker called out the group for its lack of diversity.
U.S.Fort Worth Star-Telegram3 Texas men sentenced to prison for using dating app to target gay men for violent crimes
Three Texas men who used a dating app to target gay men to carjack, kidnap and commit other hate crimes have been sentenced to federal prison ranging from 11 years to 22 years. A fourth Texas member of the group is scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 6 for committing hate crimes against gay men. He faces a maximum of 26 years in prison.
U.S.The StateLive updates Thursday: Murdaugh family to offer reward; Vehicle towed from crime scene
The Murdaugh family will soon be offering a $100,000 reward for information that will lead to an arrest and conviction in Paul and Maggie's murders, a Columbia lawyer told The State Media Co. and The Island Packet on Thursday. A local towing company owner also confirmed with The Island Packet that it towed a Chevrolet Suburban from the Murdaugh property to the Colleton County Sheriff's Office the morning after the killings. These are the latest developments as the June 7 double homicide investigation of Paul Murdaugh and his mother Maggie outside their home in Colleton County approaches its third week.
WorldBBCCovid: How do you feel about going back to the office?
Firms which have had most of their staff working from home throughout the pandemic are beginning to share their plans for when coronavirus restrictions end. Almost all of 50 of the UK's biggest employers say they do not plan to bring staff back to the office full-time. However, Goldman Sachs has told its UK bankers they need to be ready to return to the office with boss David Solomon describing working from home as "an aberration".
U.S.Business InsiderA judge expressed skepticism about arguments from Mike Lindell, Sidney Powell, and Rudy Giuliani, who want Dominion's defamation lawsuits against them dismissed
A federal judge on Thursday weighed whether to dismiss Dominion's defamation lawsuits. Dominion is suing all three Trump allies over election conspiracy theories. A federal judge heard arguments Thursday over whether to allow multibillion-dollar defamation lawsuits from Dominion Voting Systems to proceed against Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell, and MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell.
- CelebrityThe Week
Britney Spears apologizes to fans for 'pretending like I've been okay'
Britney Spears got real with her fans on Thursday, writing on Instagram that based on the pictures and videos she posts, "my life seems to look and be pretty amazing," but she doesn't want people to "think my life is perfect because IT'S DEFINITELY NOT AT ALL." During a public hearing on Wednesday, the 39-year-old singer spoke out against the court-ordered conservatorship she's been under for the last 13 years, calling it "abusive." The experience has been "traumatizing," Spears said, and she is depressed. "I apologize for pretending like I've been okay these past two years," she added.
U.S.USA TODAYMom of biracial teen seen on video being shocked with Taser by state trooper plans to sue
Kris Rodeman finally got to see her son Wednesday. The mother of the 16-year-old was beside herself with worry, angry and concerned that her son, currently in the Southwest Florida Juvenile Justice Center, is in pain. At issue is the shocking a week ago of her son with a Taser stun gun in the San Carlos Park neighborhood where his girlfriend lives.
CelebrityThe TelegraphPrince of Wales gave Duke and Duchess of Sussex a ‘substantial sum’ to start new life
When the Duke of Sussex told Oprah Winfrey that his family had “literally” cut him off financially, sources close to the Prince of Wales could not hide their surprise. It has now emerged that the Prince of Wales gave the Duke and Duchess a “substantial sum” when they stepped back from their official roles, apparently contradicting Prince Harry's claim that they had only been able to afford their new life in California because of his inheritance from his mother. The Clarence House annual review revealed that Prince Charles gave a total of £4.5 million to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex during the last financial year, down from £5.6 million the previous year.
WorldBusiness InsiderChinese authorities reportedly interrogated workers linked to US company Verité, which investigates supply-chain labor abuses in the country
Workers linked to a US company were interrogated by Chinese officials in April, sources told Axios. The workers were linked to nonprofit Verité, which investigates labor abuses in global supply chains. The State Department said it was "deeply concerned" by the reports.
PoliticsThe Daily BeastRudy Giuliani’s Law License Suspended Over Election Lie Spree
Rudy Giuliani has been suspended from practicing law in New York state due to his “demonstrably false and misleading statements” about the 2020 election result. The New York Supreme Court Appellate Division's grievance committee filed a summary of disciplinary proceedings on Thursday, outlining multiple “uncontroverted” instances of professional misconduct. W]e conclude that there is uncontroverted evidence that respondent communicated demonstrably false and misleading statements to courts, lawmakers and the public at large in his capacity as lawyer for former President Donald J. Trump and the Trump campaign in connection with Trump's failed effort at reelection in 2020,” the five-member Att...
U.S.INSIDERAn ex-NRA president spoke at a fake high school graduation where the empty seats represented students killed by gun violence
A former NRA president was invited to speak at a fake high school graduation in Las Vegas. The 3,044 empty chairs in the stadium symbolized high school seniors who were killed by gun violence. The stunt was orchestrated by Manuel and Patricia Oliver, whose son died in the 2018 Parkland shooting.
PoliticsUSA TODAY21 senators clinched infrastructure for Biden. Who's in the deal's bipartisan coalition?
After months of negotiations, President Joe Biden has reached a deal with a bipartisan group of senators on a $1.2 trillion infrastructure package. In the East Room of the White House on Thursday, Biden declared “we have a deal" after a 30-minute meeting with the group of senators earlier in the day.. An initial round of negotiations with Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., the lead GOP negotiator who is seen as closely aligned with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., fell through early June over disagreements about how to finance the package and what counted as infrastructure.
U.S.Business InsiderA Florida pastor and his son were arrested in connection with the Capitol riot after a congregant gave them up
A father and son pastor duo are the most recent accused Capitol rioters to be arrested and charged over their participation in the January 6 insurrection. James "Jim" Varnell Cusick, 72, and his son Casey Cusick, 35, who both serve as pastors at Global Outreach Church of Melbourne in Melbourne, Florida, as well as a member of their congregation, were arrested on Thursday, according to charging documents. In January, the FBI received an anonymous tip that James was inside the Capitol rotunda during the Capitol attack, prosecutors said.
“The pandemic has unequivocally proven the public health value of masks. And they should stick around in certain situations.”
“With the steady thrum of anti-mask sentiment in the U.S., it’s highly unlikely that they will continue to be a ubiquitous sight.”
“Wearing masks on airplanes or other modes of transit ... can help keep everyone safe.”
“Just because masks are common in many other nations ... is hardly a reason to emulate the practice.”
“The fact that the flu all but vanished ... is not evidence alone that masks were responsible.”