U.S.The Daily BeastHorrific: D.C. Sniper Boasts of Post-Shooting Sex With Accomplice in New Doc
In I, Sniper, Lee Boyd Malvo speaks at length about the 2002 reign of terror he and partner John Allen Muhammad carried out in the Washington, D.C., area, resulting in ten deaths. Yet despite using audio clips from his phone calls as narration, Vice's eight-part docuseries (premiering May 10) is most notable for putting its prime emphasis on the pair's innocent victims, and the countless friends, family members and loved ones left to cope with unthinkable tragedy.
WorldReutersNetanyahu says Israel firm on Jerusalem as global concern mounts
Israel "firmly rejects" pressure not to build in Jerusalem, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday following days of unrest and spreading international condemnation of planned evictions of Palestinians from homes in the city claimed by Jewish settlers. Tensions over Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood in East Jerusalem have stoked daily confrontations. Washington said Saturday it was "deeply concerned" and wanted "authorities to approach the residents ...
WorldThe WeekCan the U.S. maintain leverage against the Taliban via Afghanistan's neighbors?
Annie Pforzheimer, a longtime diplomat who has extensive experience working in Afghanistan, is concerned about President Biden's plan to withdraw U.S. troops from the country without any conditions from the Taliban by or before Sept. 11, 2021. In a piece for Politico published Saturday, she shares her not uncommon view that the U.S. exit will allow the Taliban an opportunity to "increase their territorial control and dictatorial rule," depriving Afghanistan of much hope for a "normal future." Pforzheimer's ideas include remaining publicly committed to Afghan security forces, retaining old and imposing new sanctions on the Taliban until they're no longer a threat to Afghanistan's stability, and refusing to recognize a Taliban government if it "denies basic human rights to its citizens."
U.S.The Daily BeastHe Legally Changed His Name to a Bond Villain. Then He Plotted Dad’s Death, Cops Say.
Last summer, former Colorado Springs attorney Jean-Joseph Danger Le Chiffre found out he hadn't been included in his father's will and was apparently furious. Le Chiffre would kill his father, Gilbert Sandoval, and his 78-year-old mother would then claim she did it in self defense. Marcella, who was estranged from Gilbert, would then become her husband's beneficiary and pledged to split the fortune with her son.
WorldAssociated PressEyeing reelection bid, Macron looks to repair French economy
A year before the next presidential election, Macron is focusing on saving jobs and reviving the pandemic-battered French economy as his country inches out of its third partial lockdown. The centrist president's ability to meet the challenge will be significant for his political future and for France — which is among the world's worst-hit nations with the fourth-highest number of reported COVID-19 cases and the eighth-highest death toll at more than 106,000. While he has not officially declared his candidacy, Macron has made comments suggesting he intends to seek reelection.
U.S.Miami HeraldLost grave of Black Miami rookie cop killed 40 years ago finally found, police say
In the morning hours of Sept. 2, 1981, a rookie cop by the name of Nathaniel Broom stopped a Volkswagen Beetle on a Miami street corner with three men inside suspected of taking part in a robbery. The men ran and Broom, 23 and only nine months on the job, gave chase. As the officer raced up Northwest Second Avenue and then turned the corner onto 11 Street in what the Miami Herald described at the time as a “rundown section of Miami called Overtown,” Robert Patton, 24, was kneeling on the ground, waiting.
WorldReutersPutin reviews Russian military might as tensions with West soar
President Vladimir Putin reviewed Russia's traditional World War Two victory parade on Sunday, a patriotic display of raw military power that this year coincides with soaring tensions with the West. The parade on Moscow's Red Square commemorating the 76th anniversary of the Soviet Union's victory over Nazi Germany in World War Two featured over 12,000 troops and more than 190 pieces of military hardware, including intercontinental ballistic missile launchers, and a fly-past by nearly 80 military aircraft under cloudy skies. Putin, who has been in power as either president or prime minister since 1999, stood beside Soviet war veterans on a review platform set up on Red Square.
U.S.INSIDER3 people, including a 4-year-old girl, were shot in Times Square
New York City police are investigating a shooting in Times Square on Saturday afternoon. "How many kids have to be shot before we take this seriously?" NYPD Commissioner Dermot O'Shea said. Three people, including a 4-year-old girl who was shopping with her family, were shot in Times Square in broad daylight on Saturday afternoon, police said.
WorldAssociated PressUS Navy seizes weapons in Arabian Sea likely bound for Yemen
The U.S. Navy announced Sunday it seized an arms shipment of thousands of assault weapons, machines guns and sniper rifles hidden aboard a ship in the Arabian Sea, apparently bound for Yemen to support the country's Houthi rebels. An American defense official told The Associated Press that the Navy's initial investigation found the vessel came from Iran, again tying the Islamic Republic to arming the Houthis despite a United Nations arms embargo. Iran's mission to the U.N. did not immediately respond to a request for comment, though Tehran has denied in the past giving the rebels weapons.
U.S.Business InsiderIn a first, Maryland Governor Larry Hogan will posthumously pardon 34 victims of racial lynching who weren't given due process
Maryland Governor Larry Hogan posthumously pardoned 34 victims of racial lynching in the state, on Saturday, the Baltimore Sun reported. The victims were denied legal due process between 1854 and 1933. The pardons were partly due to a petition by students at Loch Raven Technical Academy that urged Hogan to pardon Howard Cooper, a 15-year-old Black boy who in 1885 was hanged outside the Towson jailhouse by a white mob, WJZ reported.
WorldThe TelegraphScottish Labour records worst result since devolution but Sarwar optimistic party has 'credibility again'
Scottish Labour has recorded its worst-ever election result north of the Border since devolution, with the party down two MSPs to 22 compared with 2016. The party continued its downward trend finishing third behind the Tories and SNP, despite new leader Anas Sarwar enjoying strong personal approval ratings among Scots since taking over the top job. Mr Sarwar, who has only been in the leadership role for ten weeks, insisted his party is “on a journey” to build “a credible alternative to the SNP” and “back on the pitch” after an “energetic and enthusiastic” campaign.
- PoliticsYahoo News Video
Inside the Trump administration’s plan to kill Qassem Soleimani
On Jan. 3, 2020, the Trump administration carried out a drone strike near Baghdad International Airport that killed Gen. Qassam Soleimani, Iran's most powerful military commander. Soleimani was said to be planning imminent attacks against American diplomats and military personnel. Past administrations had considered making this bold move, but decided against killing Soleimani because of the risks of escalation.
U.S.INSIDERAn inmate in a California jail could face hate crime charges for punching Asian American employee: report
A Los Angeles County jail inmate could be charged with a hate crime for attacking an Asian employee. Video shows the inmate identified as Arnulfo Meza strike the woman multiple times. An inmate at a California jail who was seen on video attacking a 54-year-old Asian American worker could be charged with a hate crime, according to the Associated Press.
PoliticsBBCHas Honduras become a 'narco-state'?
And it is not just the case against his brother in which US prosecutors have identified the Honduran president. During the recent trial in New York of Honduran drug trafficker Geovanny Fuentes Ramírez, the prosecutor painted a grim picture of Honduras as a "narco-state" where the cartels had infiltrated "police, military and political power… mayors, congressmen, military generals and police chiefs, even the current president". "In the 10 years before 2010, the traditional narcos had acquired so much political power in Honduras that they then began to co-opt the state itself to ensure their safety," says a former Honduran state attorney, Edy Tabora.
WorldReutersChinese rocket debris lands in Indian Ocean, draws criticism from NASA
Remnants of China's biggest rocket landed in the Indian Ocean on Sunday, with most of its components destroyed upon re-entry into the atmosphere, ending days of speculation over where the debris would hit but drawing U.S. criticism over lack of transparency. The coordinates given by Chinese state media, citing the China Manned Space Engineering Office, put the point of impact in the ocean, west of the Maldives archipelago. Debris from the Long March 5B has had some people looking warily skyward since it blasted off from China's Hainan island on April 29, but the China Manned Space Engineering Office said most of the debris was burnt up in the atmosphere.
PoliticsBusiness InsiderWhite House press secretary Jen Psaki says she advises Biden not to take spontaneous questions from reporters
Jen Psaki says she doesn't advise President Biden to take impromptu questions from reporters. "That is not something we recommend," she said during an interview with David Axelrod. Psaki said that she aims to keep Biden on message and free of "distractions."
U.S.USA TODAYCapitol riot spurred conspiracy charge against 31 suspects, but how hard is it to prove?
Nearly two months before the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, Jessica Watkins, an Oath Keepers member and self-described commanding officer of the Ohio State Regular Militia, warned potential recruits that if Joe Biden became president "our way of life as we know it is over.” Prosecutors alleged that Watkins promoted “military style" basic training for recruits run by a former Marine drill sergeant while organizing logistics for them to travel to Washington and giving them advice on what weapons are legal in the city and what to wear. Watkins has since told a judge that she renounces the Oath Keepers, an extremist group that mostly recruits people who served in the military, law enforcement or as first responders, and are concerned a cabal of elites is trying to strip Americans of their rights.
PoliticsThe IndependentTrump’s Justice Department slammed for obtaining Washington Post journalists’ phone records
Journalists and civil rights groups were outraged this week after The Washington Post revealed that, while Donald Trump was president, the Department of Justice obtained the phone records of its journalists from their time covering allegations of Russian interference in the 2016 election. “We are deeply troubled by this use of government power to seek access to the communications of journalists,” Cameron Barr, thePost's acting executive director, said in a statement. “The Department of Justice should immediately make clear its reasons for this intrusion into the activities of reporters doing their jobs, an activity protected under the First Amendment.”
WorldReutersEthiopian Orthodox Church head says genocide is taking place in Tigray
The head of Ethiopia's Orthodox Church has said that atrocities amounting to genocide are being committed in Tigray, in his first comments on the conflict in the region that broke out in November and has killed thousands. Abune Mathias, who has been head of the church since 2013, did not say who was responsible for this. Dennis Wadley, who heads a U.S.-based church group called Bridge of Hope International, said Abune Mathias had asked him to post the video.
BusinessBusiness InsiderBiden's spending plans could lift wages from the bottom up. It's a page out of Jeff Bezos' playbook - or Henry Ford's.
Biden's $4 trillion infrastructure plan promises to raise wages for some workers and create many jobs. The spending plans resemble what Henry Ford and Jeff Bezos did: both founders raised wages as their companies grew. Ford and Bezos increased productivity, which signals that Biden's plan could lift the middle class.
WorldBBCIndia's Covid crisis delivers a blow to brand Modi
"Modi leads India out of a lockdown and into a Covid apocalypse," declared a recent headline in the UK Sunday Times. The Australian newspaper re-published the story with a scathing summary: "Arrogance, hyper-nationalism and bureaucratic incompetence have combined to create a crisis of epic proportions, critics say, as India's crowd-loving PM basks while citizens literally suffocate." It earned a rebuke from India, but there's no denying the fact that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's cherished image has taken a bad hit.
PoliticsThe IndependentStacey Abrams says she ‘absolutely’ plans to run for president
Many Democrats have already credited voting rights activist Stacey Abrams for helping the party get a landmark win in Georgia during the 2020 election, and now Ms Abrams has her sights on an even bigger victory than flipping a reliably red state: she says she “absolutely” wants to run for president one day. "Do I hold it as an ambition? Absolutely," she told CBS Sunday Morning, in an interview airing tomorrow.
ScienceBusiness InsiderFor the first time, you can hear the sound of NASA's Ingenuity helicopter flying on Mars
NASA's Perseverance rover recorded the hum of the Ingenuity helicopter flying on Mars. Ingenuity is about to fly to a new airfield to carry out more experimental flights. NASA's Perseverance rover, which carried Ingenuity to Mars, has recorded video of each of the helicopter's four flights thus far.
U.S.Kansas City StarInnocent men imprisoned for the murder of corrupt KCK cop Roger Golubski’s nephew
This is one twisty, mucky story, so put on your hiking boots and meet 50-year-old Celester McKinney, yet another man who has been in prison half his life for a Kansas City, Kansas, killing that the evidence says he did not commit. McKinney and his 43-year-old cousin, Brian Betts, were convicted 23 years ago, entirely on the testimony of yet another witness who has been saying since even before their trials that Kansas City, Kansas, police and prosecutors threatened to charge him in the murder, too, if he didn't say what they wanted him to say. If you guessed that one of those accused of coercing this witness was Roger Golubski, all you win is the bitter knowledge that this still powerfully protected former cop continues to slither around at his liberty.
WorldThe Daily BeastRansomware Attackers Strike the ‘Jugular’ of U.S. Gas With Shut Down of Major Pipeline
After repeated warnings about the vulnerability of critical infrastructure following a wave of ransomware attacks in recent weeks, a mysterious new criminal group took matters to an extreme this weekend and forced the shutdown of one of the largest gas pipelines in the U.S. The FBI, the Energy Department, and the White House are all on the case and assessing the damage after Colonial Pipeline announced Friday it had shut down 5,500 miles of pipeline along the East Coast, potentially disrupting supplies of gasoline and jet fuel in a huge swath of the country. The company, which is responsible for transporting 45 percent of fuel used on the East Coast, said its corporate computer networks had been breached, with ransomware attackers holding data hostage.
“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.”