In a speech on Thursday, President Biden explained his decision to impose new sanctions on Russia, saying that Vladimir Putin's government had attempted to interfere with the 2020 U.S. presidential election and was behind a massive hack targeting America. “We cannot allow a foreign power to interfere in our democratic process with impunity,” Biden said in remarks delivered in the East Room of the White House. On Thursday morning, the president signed an executive order that imposed a range of new sanctions and the expulsion of diplomats.
A medical expert called by former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin's defense team testified Wednesday that carbon monoxide inhaled by George Floyd may have played a role in his death. Dr. David Fowler, a retired forensic pathologist and former Maryland chief medical examiner, was the only witness called on the 13th day of Chauvin's murder trial, and his testimony was a marked departure from that of medical experts called by the prosecution. Fowler, who reviewed Floyd's medical records, autopsy and death certificate, was asked by defense attorney Eric Nelson about his opinion on the cause and manner of Floyd's death.
France has urged all its citizens in Pakistan to leave the country temporarily amid violent anti-French protests across the country. The country's embassy in Pakistan warned of "serious threats to French interests in Pakistan", saying protests were increasing nationwide. The protests were sparked months ago after France defended the right to show cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad.
The ousted Myanmar ambassador to the UK has urged the British Government to help him as he faces being evicted from his residence by the country's military regime. Kyaw Zwar Minn, who was last week forced out of the Myanmar embassy at the orders of the junta, was told to leave by Thursday the London house where he has lived with his family since his appointment in 2013 or face prosecution. The military regime – which seized power on Feb 1, paving the way for a bloody suppression of all civilian opposition – appears determined to extract revenge on the ambassador for daring to criticise the coup.
It was one of the more tantalizing, yet unresolved, questions of the investigation into possible connections between Russia and Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign: Why was a business associate of campaign chairman Paul Manafort given internal polling data — and what did he do with it? A Treasury Department statement Thursday offered a potentially significant clue, asserting that Konstantin Kilimnik, a Russian and Ukrainian political consultant, had shared sensitive campaign and polling information with Russian intelligence services. Kilimnik has long been alleged by U.S. officials as having ties to Russian intelligence.
A man in Texas was arrested Wednesday after police say he kidnapped a 17-year-old girl, locked her in a storage unit for days and sexually assaulted her. The teen reported the sexual assault to the Harris County Constable's Office Precinct One Human Trafficking Unit on April 8, the department said in a news release. Authorities said the man — identified as Joel Micah Arnold, 34 — kidnapped the girl on March 27 and took her to a storage facility in Cypress, a community 27 miles northwest of Houston.
Hong Kong school-children were on Thursday invited to handle rocket launchers and sing the Chinese national anthem during a day of activities designed to boost loyalty to Beijing. In classrooms across the city, students as young as six were given lessons on the draconian security law imposed last year as part of the first 'National Security Education Day'. Pupils were told to write messages in praise of China on billboards as they took part in flag-raising ceremonies as well as pro-Beijing puzzles and games.
MISSTEPS Four sources involved in discussions on vaccine supplies and procurement said factors including delays by India and COVAX in placing firm orders, a lack of investment in production, raw material shortages and underestimating the coronavirus surge at home had contributed to vaccine shortages. The Serum Institute of India (SII), the world's biggest vaccine manufacturer, had vowed to deliver at least 2 billion COVID-19 shots to low and middle-income countries, with nearly half of that by the end of 2021. But it has also come under pressure to meet the needs of other governments, including Britain, Canada and Saudi Arabia, amid AstraZeneca's global production problems.
The chair of the Senate Republican campaign committee, Rick Scott, stopped by to enlist Trump in efforts to regain the Senate. Lindsey Graham goes to play golf. But missing from the appearances has been perhaps the most powerful Republican elected official in the country, Mitch McConnell, a onetime ally who ushered the former president's legislative and judicial agenda to fruition, but now claims to want nothing to do with Trump.
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.
Dominique Edwards was driving home late Tuesday when he saw something he won't soon forget — a 2-year-old toddling along the feeder road to North Freeway in Harris County. Police arrived to take the girl then started checking nearby hotels, according to KTRK. An 8-year-old boy and his 3-year-old brother were asleep inside, KHOU reported.
"He kills us with missiles directly," she says of Syria's president Bashar Al-Assad. "But the Danish government is waging a psychological war. Ms al-Natoor is one of dozens of Syrian refugees who have been told their temporary residency in the seemingly progressive haven of Denmark has been revoked.
Tests carried out by researchers at Purdue University on their "ultra-white" paint showed it reflected more than 98% of sunlight. Painting "cool roofs" white is an energy-saving approach already being rolled out in some major cities. Commercially available white paints reflect between 80% and 90% of sunlight, according to lead researcher Prof Xiulin Ruan from Purdue, in West Lafayette, Indiana.
A NASA spacecraft left a mess at an asteroid when it grabbed a load of rubble last year for return to Earth, new pictures revealed Thursday. The Osiris-Rex spacecraft made one final flyby of asteroid Bennu on April 7 to take photos of the disturbance left by October's sample collection. A depression is visible where Osiris-Rex penetrated the asteroid's surface.
Daunte Wright's family joined community leaders in demanding more severe charges against the white former police officer who fatally shot the young Black man in a Minneapolis suburb, where hundreds of protesters again filled the streets in front of the police station. The protesters — shouting obscenities, shaking the police station's security fence and occasionally lobbing water bottles — began thinning out as the 10 p.m. curfew approached in Brooklyn Center. Former Brooklyn Center police Officer Kim Potter was charged with second-degree manslaughter in Sunday's shooting of Wright, 20, during a traffic stop.
Take a page out of the stylish young star's book, from must-have splurges to affordable accessories Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest
The top US general in Europe said there's a "low to medium" risk Russia invades Ukraine soon. Russia has amassed 80,000 troops on Ukraine's borders. Tensions between Russia and the West have reached historic heights.
Akhilesh Mishra started getting a fever and a cough last Thursday but he initially thought it was just the flu. Akhilesh began to worry the next day, when his father Yogendra developed similar symptoms. The two men decided to get Covid RT-PCR tests done and tried to book a slot online but the next available appointment was three days later.
Buckingham Palace on Thursday released details about Saturday's funeral for Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, who died on April 9 at the age of 99. Born Prince Philip of Greece, son of Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark and Princess Alice of Battenberg, he was married to Queen Elizabeth for 73 years. Only 30 people will be able to attend his ceremonial royal funeral due to COVID-19 precautions, and the guest list is limited to just family, including the queen; their four children; grandchildren and spouses; and extended family members.
Jonathan Drew was out on bond for mail theft charges stemming from a cluster of stolen paychecks and credit cards when more than $700,000 in business checks reportedly disappeared from a Virginia mailbox. “The defendant illegally obtained the personal identifiers and financial information of more than 150 individuals ... by stealing their mail, which he then used to conduct fraudulent transactions and create counterfeit COVID-19 stimulus checks,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Raj Parekh for the Eastern District of Virginia. A public defender appointed to represent Drew did not immediately respond to McClatchy News' request for comment Thursday.
McConnell wants GOP senators to say nice things about Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, per Politico. He said the Democratic pair are under pressure to scrap the filibuster, which he needs to preserve as a block on Biden's agenda. Manchin and Sinema are emerging as key swing votes in Democrats' razor-thin Senate majority.
When four liberal lawmakers came to the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday to roll out legislation to add seats to the high court, they may have had the base of the Democratic Party strongly behind them, but their party leaders across the street in the Capitol—and many of their colleagues—might as well have been residing in a different political universe. Just before Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA), the lead Senate sponsor of the bill to pack the court, took the microphone outside the Supreme Court, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) told reporters at her weekly press conference that it was going nowhere fast. Later that afternoon, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), the chair of the House Democratic Caucus and a senior member of the House Judiciary Committee, said the party's leadership team hadn't discussed the legislation—at all.
A federal judge gave the green light Thursday to move jailed R&B singer R. Kelly to New York City to go on trial this summer after several delays. Kelly has been held in Chicago, where he's facing a potential second trial in the fall in a separate federal case related to a sprawling sex crimes investigation. The trial in Brooklyn federal court had been put off because of the pandemic.
A Texas police officer was shot multiple times during a traffic stop Wednesday, and police were searching for suspects, authorities said.
At least eight people were shot and killed at a FedEx facility near Indianapolis International Airport Thursday, authorities said. Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department officers responded to a reported shooting Thursday, according to department spokesperson Genae Cook. When they arrived, they found an "active shooter incident," Cook told reporters during a news conference Friday.
“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.”