U.S.NBC NewsAttorneys for Black Army officer threatened by police criticize response as chief refuses to apologize
Attorneys for a Black Army officer whom police can be heard threatening during a traffic stop in Virginia have criticized what they called "cutting-corner policing." Windsor police on Tuesday fired Officer Joe Gutierrez, who was initially disciplined after an internal review of the incident in December concluded in January. Police Chief Rodney Riddle addressed the incident publicly for the first time Wednesday, saying Gutierrez was fired after the video of the traffic stop went viral this week.
WorldAssociated PressBeijing warns US, Japan against collusion vs China
China said Friday it has expressed “serious concerns” to the United States and Japan over what it calls negative moves and collusion between the two countries against China. The statement from Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian came just before President Joe Biden welcomes Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga to the White House on Friday in his first face-to-face meeting with a foreign leader. That meeting is seen as reflecting Biden's emphasis on strengthening alliances to deal with a more assertive China and other global challenges.
WorldReutersIndia battles record COVID surge as rallies, Hindu festival draw huge crowds
India battled a record surge in COVID-19 cases on Friday as hospitals ran out of oxygen and beds, while politicians held election rallies and hundreds of thousands of Hindu devotees attended a weeks-long festival, infuriating health officials. A massive second wave of infections, second only to the United States in total, forced authorities to restrict movement of people in Mumbai, New Delhi and other cities amid growing calls for faster vaccination rollouts. The 217,353 new cases reported by the health ministry on Friday marked the eighth record daily increase in the last nine days and took the total number of cases to nearly 14.3 million.
U.S.The Week'Pro-police' televangelist Pat Robertson slams Derek Chauvin, Kim Potter, says 'we cannot have a bunch of clowns' policing the U.S.
O.G. televangelist Pat Robertson isn't about to take to the streets to protest the police shooting of Daunte Wright at the hands of former Minnesota police officer Kim Potter, arrested Wednesday and charged with second-degree manslaughter. "If you can't tell the difference in the feel of those things, it's crazy," and Potter "deserves" the consequences, Robertson said on Thursday's 700 Club, holding both a handgun and a Taser. "And the thing that's going on in Minnesota about that Derek Chauvin — I mean, they ought to put him under the jail, he has caused so much trouble by kneeling on the death of George Floyd, I mean on his neck — it's just terrible what's happening."
WorldNextSharkChinese Woman Goes Viral After Hitting Boss With Mop for Alleged Harassment
A woman has gone viral on Chinese social media after hitting her boss with a mop over inappropriate text messages. What happened: The woman, a government worker from northeastern China who has been identified only as Zhou, was caught on video fighting back after her boss had allegedly harassed her, the New York Times reported. In the 14-minute Weibo video, which has been watched millions of times, Zhou pours water over her boss.
PoliticsAssociated PressBig-business pushback against voting measures gains momentum
Big business has ratcheted up its objections to proposals that would make it harder to vote, with several hundred companies and executives signing a new statement opposing “any discriminatory legislation." The letter, published Wednesday in The New York Times and The Washington Post, was signed by companies including Amazon, Google, Starbucks and Bank of America, and individuals such as Warren Buffett and Michael Bloomberg, plus law firms and nonprofit groups. “We all should feel a responsibility to defend the right to vote and oppose any discriminatory legislation or measures that restrict or prevent any eligible voter from having an equal and fair opportunity to cast a ballot."
U.S.The WeekHow a music teacher falsely accused of pedophilia sparked the Matt Gaetz investigation
Joel Greenberg, 36, and Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), 38, became friends soon after Greenberg was elected Seminole County tax collector and Gaetz won a seat in Congress in 2016. Both men were "brash politicians who hailed from families of considerable wealth and who themselves rose to power quickly," and "they also enjoyed parties and the company of women," The Washington Post reports, citing people who know both Gaetz and Greenberg. Before the feds got involved in late 2019 or early 2020, Greenberg had already been on the radar of local law enforcement — for, among other things, allegedly misusing public funds, handing lucrative and unnecessary contracts and state jobs to friends and allies, and impersonating a police officer, pulling over a woman for speeding using a badge and lights on his private vehicle.
- NewsYahoo News Video
Texas's longest-serving death row has sentence overturned
An appeals court has overturned the sentence of Texas's longest-serving death row inmate, whose attorneys say has languished in prison for more than 45 years because he's too mentally ill to be executed.
WorldReutersNorway to allow U.S. military to build on its soil in new accord
OSLO (Reuters) -Norway, which shares a short border with giant neighbour Russia, said on Friday it has signed a revised agreement with the United States on how to regulate U.S. military activity on its soil. The deal made by the minority government of Prime Minister Erna Solberg must be ratified by Norway's parliament before coming into force. "The agreement regulates and facilitates U.S. presence, training and exercises in Norway, thus facilitating rapid U.S. reinforcement of Norway in the event of crisis or war," the government said.
PoliticsThe Guardian‘Alarm is growing’: Michigan governor faces shutdown dilemma as Covid cases rise
The coronavirus lockdowns and restrictions that Michigan's governor, Gretchen Whitmer, enacted in March last year were among the nation's toughest, and the governor's leadership is thought to have saved lives. Now, as Michigan faces another surge of cases and hospitalizations, its worst yet, Whitmer has changed tack. Despite past success and growing calls for another lockdown from public health experts, and doctors managing hospitals with Covid patients, the governor is resisting further restrictions, and is instead largely relying on a vaccination rollout and a voluntary suspension of in-person dining services.
PoliticsReutersU.S. spy chiefs say China is 'unparalleled priority'
U.S. spy agency leaders said on Wednesday that China is an "unparalleled" priority, citing Beijing's regional aggression and cyber capabilities as they testified at a public congressional "Worldwide Threats" hearing for the first time in more than two years. "Given that China is an unparalleled priority for the intelligence community, I will start with highlighting certain aspects of the threat from Beijing," Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told the Senate Intelligence Committee. She described China as increasingly "a near-peer competitor challenging the United States in multiple arenas."
U.S.Idaho StatesmanShould politicians oversee Idaho high school sports? This bill would give them final say
A Republican state legislator wants to strip the Idaho High School Activities Association of its power as the top authority over the state's high school sports and activities. A proposed bill from Rep. Brent Crane, R-Nampa, would establish a new review board to oversee the state activities association. The review board would include two appointed state legislators — one each from the House and Senate, as well as one member of the IHSAA.
EntertainmentArchitectural DigestShop 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
WorldBusiness InsiderBiden administration reveals the intelligence community is not very confident Russia actually put bounties on US troops
A Biden administration official said that US intelligence only has "low to moderate confidence" in prior claims that Russia offered to pay bounties to militants for killing American troops. The New York Times last year reported that American intelligence found that Russian operatives offered the bounties to Taliban-linked militants - a conclusion military officials later disputed. "The United States intelligence community assesses with low to moderate confidence that Russian intelligence officers sought to encourage Taliban attacks on US and coalition personnel in Afghanistan in 2019 and perhaps earlier," a senior administration official told The Daily Beast.
U.S.Fort Worth Star-TelegramWhy officer who fatally shot Daunte Wright was charged with manslaughter, not murder
A Minnesota police officer who fatally shot Daunte Wright, a 20-year-old Black man, was charged with manslaughter Wednesday, three days after the killing that has commanded national attention. Along with protests in support of racial justice popping up across the nation, Wright's death led some people to question why the white police officer, who has since resigned from her job, was not charged with murder. “She needs to pay for what she did to my family,” Naisha Wright, Daunte Wright's aunt, said on CNN.
U.S.NBC NewsThey're the military's most elite. In secret online groups, some spew racism, conspiracies.
They're the most elite, lethally trained members of the U.S. military, widely considered the best of the best. Among the hundreds of Facebook posts NBC News reviewed from forums for current and former Rangers, Green Berets and other elite warriors: a member of a special forces group lamenting that several aides to former Vice President Mike Pence were part of a "Concerted effort by the thieves and pedophiles walking the hallowed halls of the peoples government" to undermine former President Donald Trump. "The story of radicalization in special operations is a story that needs to be told," said Jack Murphy, a former Army Ranger and Green Beret who has written extensively about the special operations forces community.
PoliticsThe IndependentBiden ‘prepared to take further actions’ if Russia continues to back interference efforts
With a series of sanctions and the expulsion of Russian diplomats from the US, Joe Biden has sought an end to a “cycle of escalation and conflict” with Russia in the wake of sweeping hacking operations and intelligence findings that revealed Kremlin-backed efforts to undermine American elections. In remarks from the White House on Thursday, Mr Biden said: “We cannot allow a foreign power to interfere in our democratic process.” The sanctions imposed through the Treasury Department target 32 entities and individuals “carrying out Russian government-directed attempts to influence the 2020 US presidential election” and other disinformation efforts, according to the White House.
U.S.Fort Worth Star-TelegramThis Fort Worth lynching tour warns of the consequences of ‘when we forget to remember’
On a barren patch of grass just northeast of downtown Fort Worth on Samuels Avenue, Adam W. McKinney addressed a group of people gathered in a circle as they peered at a handful of tiny berries. McKinney mentioned how Pioneers Rest Cemetery and Traders Oak Park, located just down the road, were Fort Worth landmarks. Where our tour group stood, there was nothing — just a few parked cars and buildings that had seen better days — no physical reminder to indicate this was where a white mob lynched a Black man named Fred Rouse from a hackberry tree on Dec. 11, 1921.
WorldMiami HeraldCuba’s budding civil society asks to be heard as island prepares for historic congress
Famous musicians long aligned with the communist government poke a finger at the revolution with a song that mocks a slogan penned by Fidel Castro. Cuba's upcoming Communist Party Congress, in which Raúl Castro is expected to hand the reins of power to a younger generation of leaders, coincides not just with a deep economic crisis but also the advent of a nascent civil society movement demanding greater freedoms and channeling growing discontent on the island. In the lead up to the conclave, opposition groups have called on Cuba's leaders to open the debate on the island's future to a more diverse range of voices and consider significant reforms to the island's one-party system and Soviet-style economy.
PoliticsBusiness InsiderBiden called George W. Bush before he announced his Afghanistan troop withdrawal plan - but neither said whether Bush supported it
President Joe Biden called George W. Bush to discuss his plan to pull US troops out of Afghanistan. Biden didn't say if Bush supported the decision to end the war that started during his presidency. Biden also spoke with former President Barack Obama by phone before announcing the decision.
PoliticsThe IndependentAOC ignores Marjorie Taylor Greene’s incessant Twitter pleas for a public ‘head to head’
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has ignored Marjorie Taylor Greene's public challenge to debate the green new deal after the Republican lawmaker sent a series of tweets. Ms Greene, known for her controversial views against the climate crisis, challenged Ms Ocasio-Cortez after her comment on President Joe Biden's recent $2 trillion climate-focused infrastructure package, calling it “disappointing” and not enough. Ms Greene on Wednesday wrote in a series of tweets tagging AOC: "I'd like to challenge you to a debate on the Green New Deal economic policy.
CelebrityNBC NewsWhat happened to Bernie Madoff's family? Where Ruth Madoff and others are now
The death of Ponzi scheme mastermind Bernie Madoff has dredged up memories of the destruction and pain left behind in the wake of perhaps the most infamous Wall Street scheme in recent history. Madoff, 82, died while serving a 150-year prison sentence stemming from fraud charges that involved cheating thousands of investors, including the filmmaker Steven Spielberg and the actors Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick, out of billions in promised returns. In 2011, Ruth said during an interview with NBC's "TODAY" show that she did not miss her imprisoned husband, adding that "the villain of all this is behind bars."
U.S.USA TODAYFact check: Derek Chauvin did not have hand in his pocket while kneeling on George Floyd
The claim: Derek Chauvin's hand was in his pocket while pinning George Floyd to the ground As witness testimony continues in the trial of Derek Chauvin, viral posts have surfaced on social media claiming the former Minneapolis police officer's hand was in his pocket while pinning George Floyd to the ground. The description paints a particularly nonchalant picture, which would be a jarring contrast to the incident's tragic outcome. Chauvin is facing murder and manslaughter charges over the death of Floyd, an unarmed 46-year-old Black man who died May 25, 2020, when Chauvin kneeled on his neck for more than nine minutes.
PoliticsBusiness InsiderMcConnell reportedly wants GOP senators to praise Manchin and Sinema, so they won't move to scrap filibuster
McConnell wants GOP senators to say nice things about Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, per Politico. He said the Democratic pair are under pressure to scrap the filibuster, which he needs to preserve as a block on Biden's agenda. Manchin and Sinema are emerging as key swing votes in Democrats' razor-thin Senate majority.
PoliticsThe IndependentPro-Trump lawyer and conspiracy theorist Lin Wood clashes with Republicans at GOP meeting: ‘You’re a liar and a manipulator’
Lin Wood, an attorney who filed multiple unsuccessful court challenges to overturn Donald Trump's presidential election loss, clashed with several Republicans at a meeting where he stated his case to be South Carolina's new GOP chair. On Sunday, several mask-free Republican members gathered inside a ballroom in South Carolina to hear Mr Wood discuss why at the state party convention next month they should pick him to replace current state GOP chair Drew McKissick. Some members applauded every time Mr Wood falsely claimed that Mr Trump won November's 2020's presidential election at the event, while others stayed silent, according to a report by The Post and Courier.
“There’s no ‘both sides of the debate’ when it comes to active voter suppression.”
“Companies that do this ooze contempt for their own customers and employees who are not in the leftmost quarter of opinion.”
“The truth is that Fortune 500 companies were never taking moral stances from the goodness of their corporate hearts.”
“The truth is, the companies hold the cards…If companies stick to their guns, Georgia is likely to back down as well.”
“When a company folds to the unfounded outrage of a few misinformed nuts, they are forever at the mob’s beck-and-call.”