Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong sentenced for Tiananmen vigil

Prominent pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong was sentenced to more jail time Thursday for participating in an unauthorized vigil to commemorate the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown, as Hong Kong authorities exert more control over dissent in the city. For years, Hong Kong was the only place in China where people were allowed to mark the anniversary of Beijing's crushing of the Chinese democracy movement. Despite the commemoration being banned for the first time last year, thousands of protesters defied authorities and proceeded to Victoria Park to light candles and sing songs.

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  Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong jailed for further 10 months over June 4 assembly

  Reuters
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  Hong Kong: Joshua Wong jailed over banned Tiananmen vigil

  BBC

Brazil's Bolsonaro says United States will soon send vaccines to Brazil

Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro said on Wednesday that U.S. President Joe Biden will soon send doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine to the South American country, which has recorded the world's second-deadliest coronavirus outbreak. The White House did not immediately respond to request for comment. Earlier on Wednesday, a senior administration official told Reuters that no decisions had been made on which countries would receive any extra vaccine supplies from the U.S. Brazil announced another 2,811 deaths from COVID-19 on Wednesday, bringing the official death toll to more than 414,000.

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  Biden Sets July Goal To Vaccinate 70% Of Americans With At Least 1 Dose

  HuffPost
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  White House to shift COVID-19 vaccine to states with more need

  Reuters

Ex-Venezuelan official who helped feds in huge corruption case gets two years in prison

A former top financial officer in Venezuela's state-owned oil company was sentenced to two years and four months in prison Wednesday after admitting that he played a supporting role in allowing wealthy Venezuelan “kleptocrats” to make loans to the government entity that yielded fortunes for them. Abraham Edgardo Ortega, the former executive director of financial planning at Petroleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PDVSA), admitted he accepted more than $12 million in bribes that were secretly wired to U.S. and other financial institutions. Ortega, who was facing about five years in prison, was given a significant sentence reduction by U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams because he was the first Venezuelan official to cooperate with federal authorities in a massive $1.2 billion money-laundering conspiracy case.

Ukraine wants aid, NATO support from Blinken's visit

On the frontlines of the battle against Russia-backed separatists and in the halls of government in Kyiv, Ukrainians hold strong hopes for Thursday's visit of the U.S. secretary of state — increased military aid and strong support for NATO membership among them. Blinken said Monday in London that he would use the visit to show “our unwavering support for the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine.” “Ukraine needs a clear signal about the European and Euro-Atlantic prospect,” Zelenskyy said Monday on Twitter, referring to Ukraine's aspirations to join NATO and the European Union.

U.S. embassy in the doghouse in China after student visa post backfires

The resumption of student visa applications at U.S. missions in China got off to an acrimonious start this week when netizens took exception to an American embassy social media post they interpreted as likening Chinese students to dogs. Former U.S. President Donald Trump, whose time in office was marked by tense relations in Beijing, had in January last year barred nearly all non-U.S. citizens who were in China from entering the United States after the coronavirus outbreak. On the Twitter-like Weibo service on Wednesday, the visa section of the U.S. embassy in China asked students what they were waiting for after the Biden administration eased restrictions.

Mitch McConnell, asked about the Liz Cheney purge, says '100 percent of my focus is on stopping' Biden

Reporters in Georgetown, Kentucky, asked Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Wednesday about House Republicans rushing to oust Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) from her leadership position due to her clashes with former President Donald Trump about the validity of the 2020 election. McConnell sidestepped the question. "One hundred percent of my focus is on stopping this new administration," he said, referring to President Biden's policies as "socialist."

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  Mitch McConnell Says He's '100%' Focused On Stopping Biden's Administration

  HuffPost
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  McConnell says focus is on 'stopping' Biden agenda as Trump continues to push election lies

  Yahoo News

House Call: What Do Your Water Glasses Say About You?

A selection of drinkware to make the best first impression Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest

Woman Bashes Asian Victim’s Head With a HAMMER After Demanding to Remove Mask in NYC

Enjoy this content? Read more from NextShark!

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  NY Asian woman attacked with hammer by anti-masker

  TheGrio
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  Asian women attacked in New York City by stranger demanding they remove masks; one hit with hammer, police say

  USA TODAY

Britain and US pledge to 'preserve freedom of the seas' before huge operation in Indo-Pacific

Britain and America's navy chiefs said they were "operating in lockstep to preserve the freedom of the seas" as they met in Washington on Tuesday before a massive joint deployment to the Indo-Pacific region. The UK's First Sea Lord, Admiral Tony Radakin, said the deployment of the new Carrier Strike Group (CSG) was a testament to the strength of the special relationship "in an increasingly contested world", as well as a recognition of the economic advantages of the region. The programme represents the UK's biggest deployment of maritime and air power since the Falklands war.

India hits another grim record as it scrambles oxygen supply

Infections in India hit another grim daily record on Thursday as demand for medical oxygen jumped seven-fold and the government denied reports that it was slow in distributing life-saving supplies from abroad. The number of new confirmed cases breached 400,000 for the second time since the devastating surge began last month. The 412,262 cases pushed India's tally to more than 21 million.

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  India sets new COVID world record as oxygen demand jumps seven-fold

  Axios
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  120 COVID deaths per hour in India, and it may be "grim" for months

  CBS News

Merkel tells Turkey's Erdogan withdrawal of troops from Libya would be 'important signal'

BERLIN (Reuters) -German Chancellor Angela Merkel told Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday that the withdrawal of foreign troops from Libya would be an "important signal" as both leaders vowed to support the new interim government there, a German government spokesman said. Libya's new unity government was sworn in on March 15 from two warring administrations that had ruled eastern and western regions, completing a relatively smooth transition of power after a decade of violent chaos. Turkey had backed the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord against the eastern-based Libyan National Army, which was supported by Russia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and France.

Pentagon tracking path of falling Chinese rocket

The Pentagon said Wednesday it's tracking the uncontrolled descent of the Long March-5B Y2 rocket that carried a Chinese Space Station module to orbit last week. Details: Defense Department spokesperson John Kirby told reporters the rocket's debris was expected to return to Earth "somewhere around" May 8 and that the U.S. Space Command has said "almost the entire body of the rocket" remains intact. Space watchers also played a waiting game as China's Tiangong-1 space station came back through the atmosphere in 2018, eventually burning up above the Pacific Ocean.

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  U.S. Space Command tracks Chinese rocket for uncontrolled re-entry from orbit

  Reuters
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  Main stage of Chinese rocket likely to plunge to Earth soon

  Associated Press

Republicans promote pandemic relief they voted against

Every Republican in Congress voted against the sweeping pandemic relief bill that President Joe Biden signed into law three months ago. But since the early spring votes, Republicans from New York and Indiana to Texas and Washington state have promoted elements of the legislation they fought to defeat. The Republicans' favorite provisions represent a tiny sliver of the massive law, which sent $1,400 checks to millions of Americans, extended unemployment benefits until September, increased the child tax credit, offered housing assistance for millions of low-income Americans and expanded health care coverage.

Lebanon rules out preconditions as sea border talks with Israel resume

Lebanese President Michel Aoun said on Tuesday there should be no preconditions for talks with Israel over their Mediterranean border dispute, key to Lebanon's hopes to find gas reserves amid its worst economic crisis since its 1975-1990 civil war. A statement by the Lebanese presidency issued after the resumption of talks on Tuesday said the U.S. mediator had asked for negotiations to be on the basis of Israeli and Lebanese border lines already submitted and registered with the United Nations. "President Aoun has given his instructions to the negotiating team that talks should not be tied to any preconditions and should rely on international law that will remain the basis for reaching a fair solution."

Ramadan in China: Faithful dwindle under limits on religion

Tursunjan Mamat, a practicing Muslim in western China's Xinjiang region, said he's fasting for Ramadan but his daughters, ages 8 and 10, are not. Religious activity including fasting is not permitted for minors, he explained. It seemed he was giving a matter-of-fact description of how religion is practiced under rules set by China's Communist Party.

SpaceX lands Mars rocket on fifth attempt

SpaceX managed to land its prototype Starship rocket at its Texas base without blowing it up on Wednesday, the first time it has succeeded in doing so in five attempts. The test flight represents a major win for the hard-charging company, which eventually wants to carry crew inside Starship for missions to Mars. "Starship landing nominal!" tweeted founder Elon Musk triumphantly, after the last four tries ended in big explosions.

Thailand says foreigners to get COVID-19 vaccines amid access concern

Thailand confirmed on Thursday that it plans to include 3 million foreigners living in the country in its mass vaccination programme to protect the entire population, amid concerns over the scope of vaccine access. "Anybody living in Thailand, whether they be Thai or foreign, if they want they vaccine, they can get it," head of the disease control department, Opas Kankawinpong told a briefing. The government has repeatedly said foreigners would be offered vaccines.

Unless he’s stopped, El Salvador’s young president will turn into an old-school dictator | Opinion

El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele has a 90 percent popularity rate in his country, perhaps the highest one in the region. On May 1, Bukele's New Ideas Party's congressional majority fired five key members of the Supreme Court and the country's attorney general, in what most legal scholars agree was an unconstitutional move. The Supreme Court had ruled several times that Bukele, 39, had overstepped his executive powers, and the ousted attorney general was investigating Bukele's ministers for alleged corruption.

Australian mom convicted of killing 4 children seeks pardon

Nearly two decades after an Australian woman was convicted of killing her four children, dozens of scientists are backing the claim that they may have died of natural causes. Australian law says Kathleen Folbigg is one of the nation's worst female serial killers who smothered her four children over a decade. The petition lodged in March carries the signatures of 90 scientists, medical practitioners and related professionals including two Nobel laureates.

General: China's Africa outreach poses threat from Atlantic

The top U.S general for Africa is warning that a growing threat from China may come not just from the waters of the Pacific, but from the Atlantic as well. U.S. Gen. Stephen Townsend, in an interview with The Associated Press, said Beijing is looking to establish a large navy port capable of hosting submarines or aircraft carriers on Africa's western coast. Townsend said China has approached countries stretching from Mauritania to south of Namibia, intent on establishing a naval facility.

Philippine health workers bring vaccines to the housebound in Manila suburb

Going door-to-door in a Manila suburb, Philippines health workers administered COVID-19 vaccinations on Wednesday to those unable to visit clinics due to illness or old age as part of efforts to protect more vulnerable groups in the area. The Philippines is battling one of the worst coronavirus outbreaks in Southeast Asia, with the capital region, an urban sprawl of 16 cities that is home to at least 13 million people, the epicentre for the latest wave of infections. In Marikina City, east of central Manila, residents unable to make it to inoculation centres can register for vaccinations.

9 Sleeper Sofas That’ll Make You Want to Hit Snooze (in a Good Way)

From reclining futons to pull-out beds, these double-duty pieces often get a bad rep Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest

Top US general urges greater racial diversity in military

The U.S. military must widen opportunity and improve advancement for Black service members, who remain vastly underrepresented in some areas, including among Air Force pilots and in the most senior ranks, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said Wednesday. Army Gen. Mark Milley told a Howard University ROTC commissioning ceremony that diversity is an important strength of the military but is still inadequate. As an example of the failure to increase racial diversity, Milley said that when the current chief of staff of the Air Force, Gen. Charles Q. Brown, was commissioned as a second lieutenant in 1984, only 2% of Air Force pilots were Black.