PoliticsYahoo NewsJulián Castro warns that 'nothing is going to get done' in Washington if Democrats lose Georgia Senate races
Former Housing Secretary and Democratic presidential candidate Julián Castro hit the campaign trail for Georgia Senate candidate Raphael Warnock this week as Democrats look to win two crucial runoff elections in the state next month. If Mitch McConnell is given the keys to the Senate again, nothing is going to get done for the people of Georgia,” Castro said to a small crowd of local organizers gathered Tuesday at East Lake Park in Atlanta. Nothing is going to get done in our time of need when people need to get their small businesses back up and going, when folks need to get back to work, [and] when we need to distribute that vaccine so that we can get past this pandemic.
WorldMiami HeraldAl Jazeera anchor sues Saudi, UAE princes, along with Miami woman, over Twitter attacks
An anchorwoman for the Al Jazeera news channel in the Middle East on Wednesday sued the crown princes of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates along with more than 20 others — including a Miami woman — accusing them of orchestrating a global social media campaign to destroy her reputation. Ghada Oueiss claims in her defamation lawsuit filed in Miami federal court that they used Twitter and other social media tools to spread falsehoods about her because she has been critical of human rights abuses by the two Middle Eastern countries. Oueiss' suit accuses the two countries of recruiting American citizens to distribute pro-Saudi and pro-UAE positions while attacking their critics online.
WorldReutersUN rights boss urges Hong Kong to uphold due process, fair trials
United Nations human rights chief Michelle Bachelet voiced concern on Wednesday at the "rapidly shrinking" civil and democratic space in Hong Kong and urged judicial authorities to uphold the right to due process and fair trial. Hong Kong police arrested eight more activists on Tuesday over an anti-government protest in July, the latest move by authorities in a crackdown on opposition forces in the Chinese-ruled, Asian financial hub. "Recent convictions of activists for protests that took place last year risk causing a wider chilling effect on the exercise of fundamental freedoms," Bachelet told a news conference in Geneva.
PoliticsYahoo NewsLawyers' group calls for disciplining Trump legal team over 'dangerous' fraud allegations
When lawsuits began flooding state and federal courts after Election Day, the legal team for President Trump's reelection campaign, and his supporters, said that as a candidate he was merely exercising his right to explore every legal remedy at his disposal. More than four weeks and 40 losses later, observers in the legal community are aghast at how the campaign is using the judicial system to push baseless allegations of systemic voter fraud, and they want the lawyers leading the effort to be held accountable. “I would like my right to practice law to mean something,” Laurence Tribe, a Harvard University law professor and leading constitutional scholar, told Yahoo News.
BusinessAssociated PressNovember consumer prices up 0.2% as energy costs rise
U.S. consumer prices edged up 0.2% in November as a rise in the cost of energy and a number of other goods offset a drop in food costs. The gain in the consumer price index followed a flat reading in October and matched the 0.2% September advance, the Labor Department reported Thursday. Overall prices are up a modest 1.2% over the past year while core inflation, which excludes volatile food and energy, has increased 1.6% over the past 12 months.
WorldReutersEurope, U.S. should say 'no' to China's 'wolf-warrior' diplomacy - EU envoy
The European Union and the United States should work together to stand up to coercive Chinese diplomacy and coordinate with other countries in the region on the disputed South China Sea, the EU ambassador to China said on Thursday. U.S. President-elect Joe Biden, due to take office on Jan. 20, has spoken of the need to revitalise alliances with like-minded democracies as a core source of strength in dealing with China. EU Ambassador Nicolas Chapuis, speaking at an energy forum in the Chinese capital, said the EU hoped to reach agreement with the new U.S. administration on policy towards China.
PoliticsThe WeekWhy Trump supporters won't accept election results
No one expected Donald Trump and his supporters to lose the 2020 presidential election graciously, least of all those of us who thought he had a much better chance of winning it than public polling suggested. This is why, in one sense anyway, I think we should not put too much stock in surveys like this one, which suggests that only a quarter or so of Republicans "accept" the results of this year's election. Ever since Democrats and their allies in the media began using this phrase in the fall of 2016 in a bad-faith attempt to secure some kind of worthless pledge from Trump (they would ignore this apparently world-historic imperative by spending the next four years insisting that Trump was n...
HealthAssociated PressCan I stop wearing a mask after getting a COVID-19 vaccine?
No. For a couple reasons, masks and social distancing will still be recommended for some time after people are vaccinated. To start, the first coronavirus vaccines require two shots; Pfizer's second dose comes three weeks after the first and Moderna's comes after four weeks. It's also not yet known whether the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines protect people from infection entirely, or just from symptoms.
PoliticsBusiness InsiderTrump administration doubles down on proposing a one-time $600 stimulus check over weekly federal unemployment benefits
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the Trump administration was aiming to deliver aid more efficiently via one-time stimulus checks instead of weekly federal unemployment benefits. "We view this as a more effective way to get the money out quickly," Mnuchin said in a call with reporters on Wednesday, Politico reported. Economists say that replacing a weekly federal benefit with a one-time $600 payment would be a less efficient way to help jobless Americans.
WorldReutersNot without India: World's pharmacy gears up for vaccine race
India, the world's biggest vaccine maker, is getting set for the massive global blitz to contain the coronavirus pandemic with its pharmaceutical industry and partners freeing up capacity and accelerating investments even without firm purchase orders. India manufactures more than 60% of all vaccines sold across the globe, and while its $40 billion pharmaceutical sector is not yet involved in the production of the expensive Pfizer Inc and Moderna shots, the nation will play a pivotal role in immunizing much of the world. Indian companies are set to produce eight, more affordable vaccines designed to fight COVID-19, including AstraZeneca's Covishield, called the "vaccine for the world https://in.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-astrazeneca/astrazeneca-says-covid-19-vaccine-for-the-world-can-be-90-effective-idINKBN2830HC" by its developers.
WorldAssociated PressUS B-52H bombers fly to Middle East in mission to deter Iran
In a new show of military might, two American bomber aircraft flew from the United States to the Middle East on Thursday, in a round-trip mission that U.S. officials said covered a wide swath of the region and was a direct message of deterrence to Iran. The flight of the two massive B-52H Stratofortress bombers, the second such mission in less than a month, was designed to underscore America's continuing commitment to the Middle East even as President Donald Trump's administration withdraws thousands of troops from Iraq and Afghanistan. The long-range heavy bombers, which are capable of carrying both conventional and nuclear weapons, are a formidable sight and are flown less frequently in the Middle East than smaller combat aircraft, such as American fighter jets.
WorldLA TimesSweden took pride in its light-touch approach to the pandemic. Now it's reconsidering
But with coronavirus cases rising sharply, many people are staying home, and Swedish authorities are tightening preventive measures, though they remain lax by Western European standards. In a country that was famous — or infamous — for its initial, more laissez-faire approach to the pandemic, worries are growing along with the death toll. COVID-19 has claimed 7,300 lives out of a population of just over 10 million — about 26% more deaths than North Carolina, which has about the same number of residents.
LifestyleArchitectural DigestMore Inside a John Stefanidis–Designed Dreamy Escape on the Island of Patmos
Tasked with a California family's historic getaway on Patmos, John Stefanidis gives the once-neutral house a vibrant polychrome presence Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest
WorldReutersEU to approve sanctions over Turkish gas drilling - draft statement
European Union leaders are set to agree sanctions on Turkish individuals on Thursday over a energy exploration dispute with Greece and Cyprus, but will postpone any harsher steps until March, according to a new draft summit statement. Shying away from a threat made in October to consider wider economic measures, EU leaders will agree to punish individuals accused of planning or taking part in what the bloc says is unauthorised drilling off Cyprus. The EU said it would seek to coordinate possible further measures with U.S. President-elect Joe Biden, who takes office in January.
WorldAssociated PressChina restricts US official travel to Hong Kong
China is imposing restrictions on travel to Hong Kong by some U.S. officials and others in retaliation for similar measures imposed on Chinese individuals by Washington, the Foreign Ministry said Thursday. U.S. diplomatic passport holders visiting Hong Kong and nearby Macao will temporarily no longer receive visa-free entry privileges, spokesperson Hua Chunying said. U.S. administration officials, congressional staffers, employees of non-governmental organizations and their immediate family members will face “reciprocal sanctions,” Hua said.
ScienceBusiness InsiderAn eruption on the sun didn't bring the aurora to Pennsylvania or Oregon this week, but more solar outbursts are expected soon
An eruption on the sun's surface sent plasma and charged particles speeding towards Earth this week. Forecasts suggested that this coronal mass ejection would reach our planet Wednesday as a solar storm that could interfere with radio, GPS, and power grids. There was a possibility the aurora borealis could be visible from Pennsylvania to Iowa to Oregon, but in the end, the northern lights didn't appear that far south.
- WorldReuters Videos
Afghan journo and women's rights activist killed
A female television journalist and women's rights activist has been shot and killed in Afghanistan by gunmen. Malalai Maiwand, a reporter in Nangarhar, was killed along with her driver in an attack on their vehicle in Jalalabad on Thursday (December 10). The incident underscores an increasing trend of violence against journalists in the country.
- WorldReuters
Yemeni government, separatists start executing Riyadh pact, says coalition
The Saudi-led coalition engaged in Yemen said that implementation of a long-delayed deal aimed at reuniting its Yemeni allies would start on Thursday with a troop redeployment in the south ahead of announcing a new power-sharing government. The agreement, first announced in November and revived in July, was brokered by Riyadh to end a standoff between Yemen's internationally recognised government and southern separatists who are both part of the coalition that has been battling the Iran-aligned Houthi movement since 2015. The separatist Southern Transitional Council (STC), whose forces are backed by Riyadh's ally the United Arab Emirates, has been locked in a power struggle with the Saudi-backed government in the south, where it has been based since being ousted from power in the capital, Sanaa, by the Houthis in late 2014.
PoliticsBBCIn Trump’s final days, a rush of federal executions
As President Donald Trump's days in the White House wane, his administration is racing through a string of federal executions. Five executions are scheduled before President-elect Joe Biden's 20 January inauguration - breaking with an 130-year-old precedent of pausing executions amid a presidential transition. The five executions are to begin this week, starting with convicted killers 40-year-old Brandon Bernard and 56-year-old Alfred Bourgeois.
U.S.Associated PressMinneapolis approves cuts to police budget, not staffing
The Minneapolis City Council unanimously approved a budget early Thursday that will shift about $8 million from the police department toward violence prevention and other programs — but will keep the mayor's targeted staffing levels for sworn officers intact, averting a possible veto. Mayor Jacob Frey, who had threatened to veto the entire budget if the council went ahead with its plan to cap police staffing, said the vote was a defining moment for the city, which has experienced soaring crime rates amid calls to defund the police since the May 25 death of George Floyd.
LifestyleArchitectural Digest18 Gifts Under $100 for the Design Lover
Not your average stocking stuffers Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest
WorldReutersTurkey's Erdogan, at Nagorno-Karabakh parade, says Armenia needs new leaders
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday renewed a call for a change of leadership in Armenia, while offering the country the chance of joining a regional cooperation group alongside Azerbaijan. Erdogan made the comments in Baku, where he reviewed a military parade marking Armenia's defeat by Azerbaijan in a war in the disputed enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh. Erdogan, who provided military and diplomatic backing to Azerbaijan during the fighting, offered indirect support for opponents of Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, who is under pressure at home to resign over his handling of the conflict, which ended last month.
- PoliticsFOX News Videos
Sen. Rick Scott calls for Rep. Eric Swalwell to be removed from the House Intelligence Committee
Rick Scott, R-Fla. explains why Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif. should be removed from the House Intelligence Committee noting that the Democratic congressman 'has access to information that could hurt us.
HealthUSA TODAYAre there side effects to a COVID-19 vaccine? What are the 'ingredients'? The cost? Answers to your vaccine questions
Vaccine authorization in the U.S. could come as soon as this week, and distribution could potentially begin within 24 hours of authorization. Two companies – Pfizer and Moderna – have applied for emergency use authorization from the Food and Drug Administration for their two-shot vaccine candidates, and more companies are expected to apply in the coming months. Meanwhile this week, Canada and the United Kingdom authorized the widespread use of Pfizer's vaccine.
PoliticsBusiness InsiderKim Kardashian West calls on Trump to stop a man's upcoming execution and allow him life in prison
In her latest fight for criminal justice reform, Kim Kardashian West is urging President Donald Trump to halt an upcoming government execution. Kardashian West has advocated for 40-year-old Brandon Bernard's death sentence to be commuted to life in prison. The Trump administration relaunched the federal death penalty in July and has carried out eight executions so far, following a 17-year suspension of the punishment.
“The prospect of a 2024 run is politically significant. It’s also a complete fiction.”
“His flirtation with a 2024 bid ensures he’ll remain the dominant force in the Republican Party.”
“He shouldn’t run for president again. There’s a better job and life for him on the horizon.”
“Trump is in for years of scandals and humiliations…He’ll have to devote much of his energy to trying to stay out of prison.”
“If Trump himself passes on the opportunity, his two very political children could also potentially pick up the mantle.”