PoliticsYahoo NewsOn guns and the pandemic, GOP Rep. Jim Jordan epitomizes a maximalist position on 'liberty'
On Thursday, Rep. Jim Jordan's aggressive questioning of Dr. Anthony Fauci seemed to epitomize the partisan divide between individual liberties as defined by the Constitution and public health measures that have been enforced in an attempt to curb the coronavirus pandemic. We had 15 days to slow the spread turn into a year of lost liberty,” Jordan, R-Ohio, said during a House Coronavirus Crisis Subcommittee hearing where Fauci, the nation's leading expert on infectious diseases, was testifying. What metrics — what measures — what has to happen before Americans get more freedoms?
U.S.Yahoo NewsA pair of 'pro-police' GOP bills in Missouri draw scrutiny from free speech advocates
Republican lawmakers in Missouri are looking to pass two bills this month that they say better protect both residents and law enforcement officers from “violent protesters.” Missouri state Senate bills S.B. 26 and S.B. 66 aim to expand penalties for protesters obstructing traffic or vandalizing monuments and make it harder to cut police budgets, among other things. “Coupled together, this legislation will ironically and rightfully bring on more protests as we continually and indefensibly fail to hold bad officers accountable and ignore those voices in the streets fighting for civil rights,” Sara Baker, policy director of the ACLU of Missouri, told Yahoo News.
WorldReutersU.S. preliminary plan on Afghanistan is to remove at least some contractors -Pentagon
The Pentagon said on Friday the preliminary plan on Afghanistan is for at least some contractors to be removed during the United States' military withdrawal from the country. President Joe Biden said on Wednesday U.S. troops will be withdrawn from Afghanistan starting May 1 to end America's longest war, rejecting calls for them to stay to ensure a peaceful resolution to that nation's grinding internal conflict. As of October, there were more than 18,000 such contractors, including 6,000 Americans and 7,000 third-country nationals, according to a U.S. government watchdog.
- WorldYahoo News Video
Chicago releases video of fatal police shooting of 13-year-old boy
Body camera footage of a Chicago police officer fatally shooting a 13-year-old boy last month shows the officer yelling “Drop it! at the teen right before he opens fire.
LifestyleArchitectural DigestThe 9 Best Wireless Headphones for Every Kind of Use
From the most comfortable pair to the best value buy, these headphones will carry you through the spring, summer, and beyond Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest
WorldThe TelegraphEuropean Commission warns Britain that further unilateral action over Northern Ireland Protocol is unacceptable
The European Commission warned Britain that any further unilateral action over the Northern Ireland Protocol was unacceptable at a meeting last night. Maros Sefcovic, the commission vice-president, told David Frost that “solutions can only be found through joint actions and through joint bodies”. Rather than the unilateral extension of grace periods on some customs checks in the Protocol, which Brussels says is a violation of international law, “mutually agreed paths towards compliance are key”, the commission said.
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.
U.S.Charlotte ObserverNC man, Texas girlfriend posed inside the Capitol on Jan. 6. Next stop: A courtroom
They'll always have the Capitol. On Jan. 6, Bradley Stuart Bennett and Elizabeth Rose Williams — identified in an FBI affidavit as a romantic couple — joined hundreds of other Donald Trump supporters in the violent storming of the U.S. Capitol, newly unsealed government documents show. Bennett was a QAnon devotee from small-town North Carolina, according to court records.
HealthReutersJ&J scientists refute idea that COVID-19 vaccine's design linked to clots
Scientists at Johnson & Johnson on Friday refuted an assertion in a major medical journal that the design of their COVID-19 vaccine, which is similar AstraZeneca's, may explain why both have been linked to very rare brain blood clots in some vaccine recipients. The United States earlier this week paused distribution of the J&J vaccine to investigate six cases of a rare brain blood clot known as cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST), accompanied by a low blood platelet count, in U.S. women under age 50, out of about 7 million people who got the shot. The blood clots in patients who received the J&J vaccine bear close resemblance to 169 cases in Europe reported with the AstraZeneca vaccine, out of 34 million doses administered there.
WorldThe TelegraphFace masks set to vanish from Israel's streets from Sunday as part of return to normality
Israelis will no longer be ordered to wear face masks outside from Sunday, in the latest step towards normality in the country with the world's fastest inoculations drive. As the number of daily coronavirus cases fell to only around 200 per day, Israeli health minister Yuli Edelstein said masks were no longer necessary outdoors. Israelis will still need to wear face coverings in indoor spaces, such as supermarkets, unless they are eating or drinking.
WorldAssociated PressPhilippine troops kill Egyptian, 2 Filipino militants
Philippine troops killed a suspected Egyptian would-be suicide bomber and two local Abu Sayyaf militants in what military officials said Saturday was a setback that would make it harder for gunmen linked to the Islamic State group to stage suicide attacks. Army troops gunned down the three militants in a 10-minute firefight Friday night near a hinterland village off the mountainous Patikul town in southern Sulu province. They also recovered three assault rifles and bandoliers of ammunition, army brigade commander Col. Benjamin Batara Jr. said.
U.S.The TelegraphProsecutors pressed to look into Ghislaine Maxwell role in recruiting women 'years before' she was charged
Lawyers for a victim of Jeffrey Epstein pressed prosecutors in New York to look into allegations Ghislaine Maxwell played a role in recruiting young women years before charges were brought, newly unsealed documents suggest. A tranche of new files in the criminal case against Ms Maxwell were released on Friday after a judge ordered them to be made public. The release of the documents came as a US judge rejected Ms Maxwell's bid to dismiss the original indictment accusing the British socialite of aiding the Epstein's sexual abuse of girls.
BusinessReutersNew Zealand awards Amazon extra $116 million subsidy for 'Lord of the Rings' TV series
New Zealand said on Friday it has agreed to give Amazon extra rebates on its expenses for the filming of "The Lord of the Rings" TV series in the country, hoping to reap multi-year economic and tourism benefits. Amazon will get an extra 5% from New Zealand's Screen Production Grant in addition to the 20% grant the production already qualifies for, the government said in a statement. Amazon is estimated to be spending about NZ$650 million ($465 million) filming the first season of the show, for broadcast on its Amazon Prime streaming platform, meaning it would be eligible for a rebate of about NZ$162 million ($116 million), the government said.
WorldAssociated PressPakistan briefly blocks social media amid anti-France rally
Pakistan briefly blocked access to all social media on Friday after days of violent anti-French protests across the country by radical Islamists opposed to cartoons they consider blasphemous. Sites including Twitter and Facebook were blocked for four hours on orders from the country's interior ministry, said Khurram Mehran, a spokesman for Pakistan's media regulatory agency. The move comes as police officials prepare to clear a large demonstration in the eastern city of Lahore, and just hours after the government said the now-detained leader of the outlawed Islamist political party at the forefront of the protests had urged his supporters to stand down.
WorldReutersCanada's immigration initiative for Hong Kong residents receives over 500 applications early on
In November, the Canadian government said it would make it easier for Hong Kong youth to study and work in Canada in response to new security rules imposed by China on the former British colony. "In the first three weeks that the program was open (Feb. 8 to Feb. 28), IRCC (Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada) received 503 applications for work permits and 10 applications for work permit extensions," press secretary Alexander Cohen said in an emailed statement.
StyleThe WeekThe woman who does hair for The View swears she isn't secretly sabotaging Meghan McCain
The View co-host Meghan McCain is notorious both for sharing her "oppressive conservative beliefs on daytime TV" and for her, uh, interesting hairstyles, which has resulted in some onlookers wondering if those two things might be related. "Everyone's convinced Meghan McCain's hair and makeup stylist secretly hates her," Queerty wrote last month, while someone else tweeted that "The View's hair and makeup team expressing their contempt for Meghan McCain every day is hilarious." The Cut at last spoke to said hairstylist, whose name is Carmen Currie and who swears the looks aren't intentional sabotage.
WorldAssociated PressRussia to expel 10 US diplomats in response to Biden actions
Russia on Friday responded to a barrage of new U.S. sanctions by saying it would expel 10 U.S. diplomats and take other retaliatory moves in a tense showdown with Washington. The Russian Foreign Ministry also published a list of eight current or former U.S. officials barred from entering the country, including U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, FBI Director Christopher Wray, Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines and Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas. Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov also said Moscow will move to shut down those U.S. nongovernment organizations that remain in Russia to end what he described as their meddling in Russia's politics.
U.S.Raleigh News and ObserverHow to spot and correctly identify North Carolina’s six venomous snakes
Along with the warmer weather of spring and summer months, North Carolinians know anytime they are outdoors to keep an eye out for things that slither. Especially in the springtime, when snakes are becoming more active and are more likely to cross our paths, it's good to know the venomous (sometimes incorrectly referred to as poisonous) snakes from the harmless ones, which are beneficial to keep around. A good rule of thumb is that most venomous snakes have a triangular or diamond-shaped head, while nonvenomous snakes have a tapered head.
PoliticsMiami HeraldUniversal background checks for gun buyers a modest step, but Republicans still reject it | Opinion
The latest mass shooting at the FedEx facility in Indianapolis makes me wonder once again who is crazier: the gunmen who carry out these murders or the millions of Americans who vote for politicians who oppose laws that could prevent these tragedies. Shamefully, Republicans in the U.S. Senate are blocking a recently passed House bill that would require stricter background checks. The mass shooting that left eight dead and at least seven wounded in Indianapolis was the 45th mass shooting during the past month, according to a CNN count.
BusinessReutersWall Street Week Ahead: Tech retakes market lead as investors eye yields, earnings
U.S. technology and growth stocks have taken the market's reins in recent weeks, pausing a rotation into value shares as investors assess the trajectory of bond yields and upcoming earnings reports. Big tech-related growth stocks in other S&P 500 sectors such as Amazon Inc, Tesla Inc and Google-parent Alphabet Inc have also charged higher. The gains have followed a months-long rotation in which tech stocks were outpaced by shares of banks, energy companies and other economically-sensitive names that have surged since breakthroughs in COVID-19 vaccines late last year.
WorldAssociated PressFrance, Germany, Ukraine call for Russian troops withdrawal
The leaders of France and Germany are demanding the withdrawal of Russian troop reinforcements recently deployed at the border with Ukraine, the German chancellor's office said Friday after the two heads of state held security talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Zelenskyy met Friday in Paris with French President Emmanuel Macron, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel joined them by teleconference. The Ukrainian president is trying to rally backing from the European Union and NATO amid growing tensions between his country and neighboring Russia.
U.S.Kansas City StarI feel anti-Asian bigotry in Kansas, and it’s a story with a long American history
A white man killed eight people, including six women of Asian descent, on March 16 at three different spas in the Atlanta area. We continue to see violence inflicted upon Asian Americans everywhere across the nation, and this racism is not new. These racist actions are also related to the xenophobic and anti-Asian racism I encounter in and outside of the workplace.
WorldBBC20 years in Afghanistan: Was it worth it?
After 20 years in the country, US and British forces are leaving Afghanistan. It is exactly 20 years since Al-Qaida's 9/11 attacks on America, planned and directed from Afghanistan, that brought in the US-led Coalition that removed the Taliban from power and temporarily drove out Al-Qaeda.
SportsMiami HeraldFirst-dose Pfizer shots coming back to federal hub sites in Florida during J&J pause
First-dose Pfizer shots will soon be available again at Miami Dade College North campus and the other FEMA hub sites in Tampa, Jacksonville and Orlando, to increase vaccine access during the state's ongoing J&J pause. MDC North and the other FEMA hub sites will also continue to offer second-dose Pfizer shots. The Florida Division of Emergency Management, which oversees the state's vaccine distribution, confirmed the change to the Miami Herald on Friday.
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
“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.”