PoliticsYahoo NewsMcConnell says focus is on 'stopping' Biden agenda as Trump continues to push election lies
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said Wednesday that his focus was on “stopping” President Biden's administration, citing the unity in his caucus. One hundred percent of my focus is on stopping this new administration,” McConnell said during a press conference in Kentucky when asked if he was concerned that Republicans who acknowledged Biden as the rightful winner of the 2020 election could face political liabilities. One hundred percent of my focus is on standing up to this administration,” McConnell continued.
U.S.NextSharkAsian American Father Walking With 1-Year-Old Son in Stroller Repeatedly Punched in SF
An Asian American father was waiting to cross the street with his 1-year-old child when a man approached and hit him from behind in San Francisco on Friday. What happened: Bruce, 36, was outside of Gus's Community Market by the intersection of 4th and Channel streets around 2 p.m. in Mission Bay when he was punched from behind and knocked to the ground. In a surveillance video, the male suspect, identified as Sidney Hammond, can be seen pummeling Bruce more than a dozen times as the stroller carrying his child rolled away.
U.S.Kansas City Star‘My soul left my body.’ Shark startles 6-year-old playing in surf, Hawaii video shows
An ordinary day at the beach turned into terror Sunday for a 6-year-old Hawaii girl who spotted a shark beside her in the surf. Sheri Gouveia was shooting a video of her daughter playing in the ocean at Kalama Beach on Oahu at the time, Hawaii News Now reported. Gouveia told Hawaii News Now her daughter has “angels to keep her safe.”
WorldThe TelegraphEmmanuel Macron says Napoleon is 'part of us' at controversial 200th anniversary of leader's death
French President Emmanuel Macron paid tribute to Napoleon Bonaparte 200 years after his death on Wednesday on an anniversary that has been dragged into a heated national debate about "cancel culture". Macron called Napoleon "part of us" and said the relatively modest ceremonies organised in Paris to mark the occasion were an "enlightened commemoration", not a celebration of his life. Speaking at the Institut de France, an academy set up by Napoleon to promote science and the arts, Macron listed some of the famed Corsican's enduring contributions, while also mentioning the darker, blood-stained parts of his legacy.
PoliticsArchitectural DigestHouse Call: What Do Your Water Glasses Say About You?
A selection of drinkware to make the best first impression Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest
WorldReutersItalian court hands U.S. tourists life sentences for murdering policeman
ROME (Reuters) -Two American tourists were sentenced to life in prison by an Italian court on Wednesday for the 2019 murder of a policeman near their Rome hotel in a case that shook the nation. Finnegan Lee Elder, who was 19 at the time, had admitted to stabbing Mario Cerciello Rega in the early hours of July 26, 2019, while his friend Gabriel Christian Natale-Hjorth, then 18, was tussling with another police officer. However, the pair say they had acted in self defence because they thought the two policemen, who were not in uniform at the time, were thugs out to get them after a botched attempt to buy drugs.
U.S.BBCFacebook's Trump ban upheld by Oversight Board for now
Donald Trump's ban from Facebook and Instagram has been upheld by Facebook's Oversight Board. It has ordered Facebook to review the decision and "justify a proportionate response" that is applied to everyone, including ordinary users. The Oversight Board said the initial decision to permanently suspend Mr Trump was "indeterminate and standardless", and that the correct response should be "consistent with the rules that are applied to other users of its platform".
U.S.Kansas City Star2-year-old among four killed when plane crashes into Mississippi home, cops say
A 2-year-old was among four people killed late Tuesday when a plane crashed into a home in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. Police have identified the four dead as Gerry Standley, 55, of Hattiesburg; Louis Provenza, 67, of Texas; Harper Provenza, 2, of Texas, and Anna Calhoun, 23, of Texas.
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One Killed In Big-Rig Wreck On 210 Freeway In Fontana
At least one person was killed in a crash involving an overturned semi-truck in Fontana Wednesday morning.
WorldThe TelegraphKey seats which could prove pivotal in the 2021 Scottish Parliament election
Nicola Sturgeon is looking to extend her time as First Minister in this year's Scottish Parliament elections and is hoping to secure an outright majority to bolster her calls for a second independence referendum. The elections, which take place on Thursday May 6 following a year's postponement due to coronavirus, will see 129 MSPs voted in to sit in the Scottish Parliament, including 73 representing constituencies and 56 representing eight regions of the country - seven for each region. An SNP majority, requiring 65 seats, would give the party the mandate to push for a second independence referendum, which is expected to be called in 2023.
U.S.Raleigh News and Observer‘DWI Dude’ lawyer convicted of swindling Colombian traffickers is sentenced in Texas
The Texas lawyer, known back home as the “DWI Dude,” along with his private investigator and a Colombian attorney, again discussed the deal with the prisoner, Segundo Villota Segura, who was fighting extradition to the U.S. for a cocaine trafficking case, according to court documents. Neither lawyer James Balagia, who made his nickname by defending people charged with drunk driving, Chuck Morgan, his private investigator from Florida, or Colombian lawyer Bibiana Perea paid any bribes nor was anyone expecting money, officials say. “This defendant and his group were running a scam on drug dealers — some of the biggest drug dealers in the world,” U.S. Attorney Joe Brown said in a statement following the 2019 conviction of Bagalia, the last of the trio to be found guilty.
WorldThe TelegraphModerna's 'tweaked' Covid vaccine effective against Brazil and South Africa variants
Moderna has created the first "tweaked" vaccine, which it says is effective against Covid-19 variants. Early data from a 40-person trial show that a third dose of either its current Covid-19 jab or an experimental new vaccine candidate increases immunity against variants first found in Brazil and South Africa. "We are encouraged by these new data, which reinforce our confidence that our booster strategy should be protective against these newly detected variants," said the company's CEO Stephane Bancel.
BusinessReutersCureVac says well on track to request vaccine approval as planned
Germany's CureVac is on track to file for European approval of its COVID-19 vaccine as early as this month because high infection rates among trial participants are bringing a read-out on efficacy within closer reach. "The cases are coming in fast," Chief Executive Franz-Werner Haas told Reuters. Since starting out in 2000, the biotech firm has focused on so-called messenger RNA (mRNA), a drug and vaccine technology that has also become the recent focus of the European union's procurement negotiations.
U.S.The Daily Beast‘A Terrible Thing’: Husband of Colorado Mom Who Vanished on Mother’s Day Charged With Murder
Nearly a year after Suzanne Morphew disappeared without a trace while out on a bike ride last Mother's Day, the 49-year-old's husband—who once pleaded for her safe return—has been arrested and charged with murder. The Chaffee County Sheriff's Office confirmed to The Daily Beast that Barry Morphew, 53, is currently in custody after being arrested Wednesday morning, just days shy of the one-year anniversary of his wife's disappearance on May 10, 2020, in Maysville, Colorado. He has been charged with first-degree murder after deliberation, tampering with physical evidence, and attempting to influence a public servant.
PoliticsThe IndependentJosh Hawley has no regrets about his MAGA fist pump ahead of the Capitol riot
Senator Josh Hawley doesn't have any regrets about offering a proud fist pump gesture to Trump supporters in the moments before hundreds of them stormed the US Capitol on 6 January in an attempt to overturn the election results. The violent riot left five dead and more than 100 injured. I waved to them, gave them the thumbs up, pumped my fist to them and thanked them for being there, and they had every right to do that,” the Missouri Republican said on Monday on the Washington Post Live broadcast.
WorldThe TelegraphThe Queen comes to Meghan’s assistance in legal battle against Mail on Sunday
The Queen came to the Duchess of Sussex's aid in her legal battle against the Mail on Sunday on Wednesday by dismissing claims that she owned the copyright to a letter Meghan wrote to her father. Her Majesty's lawyers intervened in the High Court case as the two sides locked horns over one of the final bones of contention. The Duchess's former communications secretary, Jason Knauf, also “emphatically” denied having any copyright claim to the letter, landing a final blow to the newspaper's case.
BusinessMiami HeraldPeloton recalls treadmills after a 6-year-old died and 29 other kids were injured
A month after pushing back against the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission's warning about its Tread+ treadmills, Peloton recalled 125,000 of the treadmills and 6,450 Tread treadmills in the United States and Canada. The alert also says Peloton “has received 72 reports of adult users, children, pets and/or objects being pulled under the rear of the treadmill, including 29 reports of injuries to children such as second- and third-degree abrasions, broken bones, and lacerations.” As for the $2,500 Tread treadmills: “The touchscreen on the treadmill can detach and fall, posing a risk of injury to consumers.”
WorldReutersFrance to reach 20 million first COVID vaccinations by mid-May: official
France remains on track to administer a first COVID-19 vaccine dose to 20 million people by mid-May, a health ministry official said on Tuesday, a target that would amount to almost a third of the country's population. France is gradually unwinding its third lockdown and is hoping an uptick of the vaccination campaign will allow it to lift more restrictive measures over the coming months. As of Monday, more than 16.1 million people in France had received at least one vaccine shot, a total representing 24.1% of the population and 30.7% of the adult population.
PoliticsBusiness InsiderDominion bashes the election firm running the Trump-supported recount in Arizona, saying it's already 'committed serious errors'
Dominion criticized the firm recounting votes in Arizona as having "committed serious errors." The CEO of the company, called Cyber Ninjas, previously tweeted conspiracy theories about the election. The recount has been promoted by Donald Trump, who falsely believes he won the 2020 election.
PoliticsUSA TODAYIn visit to Mexican restaurant, Biden calls attention to new COVID-relief grants for eateries
WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden ordered tacos and enchiladas at Mexican restaurant on Wednesday while calling attention to a new $28.6 billion government program that offers grants to eateries slammed by the coronavirus pandemic. Biden paid a Cinco de Mayo visit to Taqueria Las Gemelas, a restaurant in northeast Washington that was one of the first to receive funding under the Restaurant Revitalization Fund. Biden chatted with the restaurant staff and ordered food to go.
U.S.Business InsiderEddie Gallagher says he and other Navy SEALs used a dying enemy fighter for medical practice with no intention of saving him
Eddie Gallagher said he and other SEALs practiced medical procedures on a prisoner of war. Retired Navy SEAL Eddie Gallagher, who was found not guilty of murder in a high-profile war-crimes trial nearly two years ago, said in a podcast that aired Tuesday that he and his team practiced various medical procedures on a enemy combatant until he died, with no intention of saving him. After the trial, President Donald Trump restored Gallagher's rank and personally intervened when the Navy attempted to take away Gallagher's SEAL trident.
PoliticsThe IndependentBush tells GOP it can’t win anything with appeal to ‘White Anglo-Saxon Protestantism’
George W Bush has warned the GOP that it will fail to win future elections if it continues appealing only to "White Anglo-Saxon Protestantism'. The former US president added that failure to turn towards Latino and Black voters could end the party within five years, in an interview for Dispatch on Friday. "If the Republican Party stands for exclusivity – you know, it used to be country clubs, now evidently it's White Anglo-Saxon Protestantism – then it's not going to win anything,” Mr Bush told the podcast.
U.S.USA TODAYTest cruises with volunteer passengers are on the horizon as CDC issues new guidance
The return of passenger-filled cruise ships sailing in U.S. waters is in sight. On Wednesday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released additional guidance for cruise ships with instructions for trial voyages with volunteer passengers meant to take place in advance of sailings that include paying passengers. "With the issuance of these next two phases, cruise ship operators now have all the necessary requirements and recommendations they need to start simulated voyages before resuming restricted passenger voyages and apply for a COVID-19 conditional sailing certificate to begin sailing with restricted passenger voyages," the CDC said on its website, noting it may adjust requirements and recommendations in the future.
CelebrityTODAYAmy Schumer reflects on husband's autism diagnosis as she honors son's birthday
Amy Schumer's son, Gene, turned 2 on Wednesday, and the comedian celebrated by paying tribute to husband Chris Fischer and his autism diagnosis. Today is our son's birthday and I woke up emotional as hell thinking about my husband, Chris,” she captioned a pair of photos on Instagram, including one of them together while she was in labor and another of Fischer holding Gene. In this first photo while I was having a 3 hour c section he held my hand and stared in my eyes so I never felt alone.
U.S.The IndependentHow Trump’s children are still costing taxpayers money
The children of Donald Trump are continuing to cost US taxpayers hundreds of thousands a month for travel, a government watchdog group has found. US Secret Service agents filed $140,000 (£100,000) in receipts for travelling with Eric, Ivanka and Donald Trump Jr in February, according to the watchdog CREW (Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington). The figure was for the first month after the former president's departure from Washington DC, and does not refer to any Secret Service fees incurred at Trump businesses.
“Every college has a public health responsibility to require its students to be vaccinated.”
“While the vast majority of students will likely get the vaccine, schools should honor the decisions of the few who object.”
“A vaccinated campus could be the step toward normality that college leaders are seeking.”
“College students are mobile and spread COVID-19 with them whenever they travel.”
“There almost certainly are going to be legal challenges because the anti-vaccine movement is already preparing for them.”