WorldReutersU.S. won't 'shy away' from responding when necessary, Pentagon says after Iraq rocket attack
The United States has shown it won't "shy away" from responding to attacks against its personnel when necessary, the Pentagon said on Wednesday, after a rocket attack against Iraq's Ain al-Asad air base, which hosts U.S., coalition and Iraqi forces. "Let's do this the right way. Let's let our Iraqi partners investigate this, see what they learned," Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told a news briefing, calling the attack a "troubling development."
U.S.The TelegraphNorth Carolina mocked after prioritising anyone who has smoked 100 cigarettes in their lifetime for a vaccine
Governor Roy Cooper, a Democrat, said that all frontline essential workers can have their vaccine now while giving three weeks' notice for those who are obese, in jail, pregnant, homeless - or who have smoked just five packets of cigarettes in their life. The cohort including smokers will be called forwards on March 24, and is designed to include adults at higher risk of virus exposure or who are at an increased risk of having a severe illness Smokers are defined as “current or former” having “smoked at least 100 cigarettes in their lifetime.” Victor Ricchezza, a Geology Professor at Georgia State University added: “I haven't smoked in years but was just joking with my wife that I could almost certainly smoke 100 cigarettes by the time we hit North Carolina in the car.”
WorldLA TimesBiden response to report on Khashoggi killing angers both Saudi Arabia and its critics
But after his administration released a declassified U.S. intelligence report last week blaming Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for the 2018 killing of Saudi dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi, it didn't quite work out that way. Washington imposed sanctions on the hit team dispatched to capture or kill Khashoggi in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, and placed visa restrictions on 76 others it said had threatened dissidents overseas. The crown prince, who the U.S. says ordered Khashoggi's silencing, was left untouched.
WorldArchitectural Digest9 of the Best Outdoor Rugs That Literally Ground Any Space
High-traffic areas are about to meet their match Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest
U.S.TheGrioMom arrested after girl, 4, found alone on NYC sidewalk remained unclaimed for days
Over the weekend police officers were stunned to discover a four-year-old girl roaming the streets of New York City alone. Saturday, police noticed the child walking alone just after midnight at the corner of E. 156 St. and Prospect Ave. in the Bronx. Sunday, the NYPD shared surveillance video on its official Twitter page that showed a person who appears to be a woman walking ahead as the girl crosses the street alone.
PoliticsAxiosPence breaks silence to condemn Democrats' sweeping voting reform bill
In some of his most extensive remarks since Jan. 6, former Vice President Mike Pence wrote an op-ed Wednesday condemning House Democrats' sweeping election and anti-corruption proposal as an "unconstitutional power grab" by "leftists." Why it matters: Pence has largely stayed quiet since the Capitol insurrection, during which rioters were heard chanting "hang Mike Pence" after former President Trump promoted the claim that the vice president could block the certification of the Electoral College. The big picture: Writing in The Daily Signal, Pence repeated dubious claims that the 2020 election was "marked by significant voting irregularities."
HealthAssociated PressCanada vaccine panel recommends 4 months between COVID doses
A national panel of vaccine experts in Canada recommended Wednesday that provinces extend the interval between the two doses of a COVID-19 shot to four months to quickly inoculate more people amid a shortage of doses in Canada. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also expressed optimism that vaccination timelines could be sped up. The current protocol is an interval of three to four weeks between doses for the Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca vaccines.
WorldNBC NewsU.S. issues warning after Microsoft says China hacked its mail server program
The U.S. has issued an emergency warning after Microsoft said it caught China hacking into its mail and calendar server program, called Exchange. The perpetrator, Microsoft said in a blog post, is a hacker group that the company has "high confidence" is working for the Chinese government and spies primarily on American targets. The latest software update for Exchange blocks the hackers, prompting the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, or CISA, to issue a rare emergency directive that requires all government networks do so.
WorldThe TelegraphNicola Sturgeon chokes back tears as she rejects 'absurd' claims she was out to destroy Alex Salmond
Nicola Sturgeon today choked back tears and insisted "I would never have wanted to 'get' Alex Salmond" as she rejected as "absurd" his claims of a plot among senior SNP figures to destroy him. The First Minister told a Holyrood inquiry the "simple" truth was that several women made complaints about Mr Salmond's behaviour and "I refused to follow the usual pattern of allowing a powerful man to use his status and connections to get what he wants." In an appearance spanning more than eight hours, against the backdrop of calls for her resignation, Ms Sturgeon insisted she had seen "nothing that comes within a million miles" of backing Mr Salmond's conspiracy claims.
U.S.Miami HeraldThe FBI has arrested a white supremacist in Fort Lauderdale. Here’s the charge
The arrest of Paul Nicholas Miller by FBI agents at his Fort Lauderdale home Tuesday morning on a pedestrian charge of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon seems a minor thing for the feds to make a point of announcing. Until, that is, it's noted that the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force was part of the arresting team, along with FBI agents and Fort Lauderdale police officers. Also, the Anti-Defamation League considers Paul Miller “a volatile white supremacist-accelerationist.”
WorldReutersTurkey plans to shut down pro-Kurdish opposition party: ruling party official
Turkey's government plans to shut down the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), the ruling AK Party's deputy parliament chairman was quoted as saying on Tuesday, the most senior official to endorse nationalist demands for its closure. President Tayyip Erdogan's government and its nationalist MHP allies accuse the HDP of links to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), accusations that escalated after Ankara said Turkish captives were killed by the PKK in Iraq last month. The MHP have repeatedly called for the HDP's closure over links to the PKK, which Turkey, the European Union, and United States designate a terrorist organisation.
U.S.Associated PressSpaceX Starship lands upright, then explodes in latest test
SpaceX's futuristic Starship looked like it aced a touchdown Wednesday, but then exploded on the landing pad with so much force that it was hurled into the air. The failure occurred just minutes after SpaceX declared success. The full-scale prototype of Elon Musk's envisioned Mars ship soared more than 6 miles (10 kilometers) after lifting off from the southern tip of Texas on Wednesday.
PoliticsReutersU.S. DOJ declined to investigate Trump transport chief after inspector general review
The U.S. Justice Department declined to investigate or prosecute then-Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao after the inspector general's office referred allegations of potential misuse of office for review, a report made public on Wednesday said. The report included allegations that Chao directed staff to research or purchase personal items for her online using her personal credit card or performed other personal errands for her or her father. The report focused largely on Chao's actions related to her family's shipping business, the Foremost Group, which was founded by her father and whose current chief executive is her sister.
EntertainmentNational ReviewDr. Seuss Gets Blindsided by a Moral Minority
If, in 1987, the editorial boards of the major newspapers learned that a fanatical cult of angry moral scolds, representing a small sliver of the population, was successfully campaigning to remove books from the public eye with the not-so-subtle encouragement of the president and his political allies, they would have been outraged. The Left used to be against banishing books, banning books, burning books. Just six years ago, when Barack Obama was publicly praising Dr. Seuss on March 2, Read Across America Day — a day specifically chosen by the National Education Association to honor Theodor Geisel's birthday — you would have called me a paranoid wingnut if I had told you that books such as On Beyond Zebra!
PoliticsFort Worth Star-TelegramWhy is Gov. Greg Abbott waiting a week to reopen Texas and lift mask mandate?
There is a week before Gov. Greg Abbott's order ending the mask mandate and capacity limits at businesses goes into effect. Why did Abbott pick March 10 as the date to roll back his previous COVID-19 orders? Abbott told Hasty he intended to announce the lifting of the state's mask mandate and business capacity limits on the last Monday in February.
PoliticsCBS NewsSchumer says Senate will take up relief bill as early as Wednesday
The Senate is using the budget reconciliation process to pass the bill, which limits time for debate and allows legislation to pass with a simple majority, without any Republican votes. Under the rules of the budget reconciliation process, debate on the bill will be limited to 20 hours. Republican Senator Ron Johnson said Wednesday that he might ask the Senate clerk to read the full text of the bill, which any senator can request.
- NewsYahoo News Video
Authorities investigate whether human smuggling involved in Calif. crash
Barely a mile from where an SUV packed with 25 people struck a tractor-trailer — killing 13 inside — a cemetery with unmarked bricks is a burial ground for migrants who died crossing the border from Mexico to remote California desert.
WorldReutersThe man who saves forgotten cats in Fukushima's nuclear zone
A decade ago, Sakae Kato stayed behind to rescue cats abandoned by neighbours who fled the radiation clouds belching from the nearby Fukushima nuclear plant. So far he has buried 23 cats in his garden, the most recent graves disturbed by wild boars that roam the depopulated community. Kato leaves food for feral cats in a storage shed he heats with a paraffin stove.
U.S.NBC NewsWatchdog: Pentagon wasted millions on Italian planes later sold as scrap, no one held accountable
The U.S. Air Force wasted $549 million on faulty Italian-made cargo planes for the Afghan government and no one involved in the deal has been held to account, according to a new report by a government watchdog. Neither a former U.S. Air Force general who was heavily involved in the project nor the company that sold the flawed aircraft to the Pentagon has faced prosecution over the program, the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) said in the report obtained by NBC News. The Pentagon bought 20 G222 cargo aircraft from Alenia North America in 2008 but the planes proved unreliable, with long delays to secure the delivery of spare parts, maintenance problems and numerous complaints about their safety from Afghan pilots.
CelebrityTheGrioMichelle Obama: Barack and I ‘can’t get a word in’ with Sasha, Malia
During a recent interview on Good Morning America with host Robin Roberts, former First Lady Michelle Obama opened up about how she and her husband, former President Barack Obama, have open communications with their two young-adult daughters. I always have wanted them to start practicing the power of their voices very early on,” Mrs. Obama shared of Sasha, 19, and Malia, 22. If you sit around the dinner table, me and Barack, we can't get a word in edgewise and we like it like that.
HealthNBC NewsTexas doctors respond to mask repeal: We have 'capacity' but not 'morale' for another surge
Some of Texas' top doctors warned Wednesday that Gov. Greg Abbott's sudden decision to ditch the mask mandate and lift coronavirus restrictions could result in a new surge of Covid-19 infections and deaths. And while they now have enough masks, ventilators and emergency room space to treat a new wave of patients, they say there is an acute shortage of staffers who aren't already stressed out and exhausted from battling the pandemic for more than a year. We have the capacity to take care of more patients,” Dr. James McDeavitt of the Baylor College of Medicine told NBC News.
PoliticsThe Independent5,000 National Guard troops remain in DC amid QAnon frenzy that Trump will be inaugurated again this week
Nearly 5,000 National Guard troops are in Washington, DC this week for an inauguration that won't happen. According to Rep. Adam Smith, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, this has led to online chatter about storming the Capitol a second time. “Some of these people have figured out that apparently 75 years ago, the president used to be inaugurated on 4 March,” Smith said during a hearing last month with Department of Defense officials.
CelebrityTheGrioVanessa Bryant says Kobe, Gianna ‘motivate’ her, but pain is ‘unimaginable’
Vanessa Bryant, on the latest cover of PEOPLE Magazine, says that her pain is still “unimaginable” after the loss of her husband Kobe Bryant and her daughter Gianna Bryant, but that they still “motivate her.” It's been over a year since Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna, 13, tragically passed in a helicopter crash last Jan. 26. While the world publicly mourned the loss of an icon, Vanessa is opening up to the outlet about her terrible loss and how she has coped through the past year.
PoliticsUSA TODAYLive stimulus updates: Senate no longer expected to begin debate on COVID-19 bill Wednesday
The Senate's consideration of President Joe Biden's $1.9 trillion COVID-19 bill has been pushed back a day, according to a senior Democratic aide speaking on condition of anonymity. The Senate had been set to take a procedural vote Wednesday to begin debate on the legislation, but the Senate was still waiting for the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office and the Congressional Joint Committee on Taxation to estimate the total cost of the Senate version of the bill, the aide said. The version of the bill passed by the House went billions of dollars over, so Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., would have to introduce a Senate version of the bill bringing it in line.
CelebrityThe TelegraphBuckingham Palace to investigate Duchess of Sussex bullying claims
Buckingham Palace is to investigate claims that the Duchess of Sussex bullied several members of her staff, it has been announced. A spokesman said they were “clearly very concerned” about allegations that Meghan, 39, had forced out two PAs and undermined the confidence of a third during her time as a working royal. Aides had expressed concerns about how such matters were handled by the palace, expressing concern that nothing was done at the time to investigate the situation, and that nothing had been done since to protect staff against the possibility of bullying by a member of the Royal Family.
“Taking humans to Mars would require an investment astronomically out of kilter with the possible benefits.”
“Can a Mars settlement be a freer society than we enjoy on Earth? Maybe.”
“What we learn...may spark the next revolution that will make life in 2071 beyond anything we can imagine right now.”
“Our presence on Mars could jeopardize one of our main reasons for being there — the search for life.”
“The future of geologic investigation of other worlds lies with highly improved versions of our Mars rovers.”