WorldAssociated PressUS bombs facilities in Syria used by Iran-backed militia
The United States launched airstrikes in Syria on Thursday, targeting facilities near the Iraqi border used by Iranian-backed militia groups. The Pentagon said the strikes were retaliation for a rocket attack in Iraq earlier this month that killed one civilian contractor and wounded a U.S. service member and other coalition troops. The airstrike was the first military action undertaken by the Biden administration, which in its first weeks has emphasized its intent to put more focus on the challenges posed by China, even as Mideast threats persist.
WorldReutersPhilippines' Duterte says still undecided on future of U.S. troop deal
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said he has not made a decision yet on the future of the two-decade-old Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) with the United States, leaving the fate of the pact hanging in the balance. Duterte has said the United States should pay more if it wants to maintain the VFA, which he unilaterally cancelled last year in an angry response to an ally being denied a U.S. visa. The withdrawal period has been twice extended, however, to create what Philippine officials say is a window for better terms to be agreed.
BusinessBBCHyundai to replace 82,000 electric-vehicle batteries over fire risk
Hyundai is to replace the electric batteries in nearly 82,000 of its electric vehicles worldwide because of a fire risk. Most of the affected vehicles are Kona cars built between 2018 and 2020, thousands of which have been sold in the UK, vehicle-registration data suggests. The recall is expected to cost Hyundai about £640m ($900m).
WorldAssociated PressGang clashes result in Ecuador's deadliest prison riots ever
Ecuador experienced its deadliest prison riots ever this week when seemingly coordinated fights broke out in facilities in three different cities, leaving 79 inmates dead as of Wednesday and exposing the limited control that authorities have over people behind bars. Hundreds of police officers and military personnel converged on the prisons after the unrest began Monday night in the maximum-security wings as rival gangs fought for leadership. President Lenín Moreno, whose term ends in May, on Wednesday said he will ask other South American countries for help to tackle the crisis in Ecuador's prisons and acknowledged the system is deficient and lacks financial resources.
PoliticsThe TelegraphAnalysis: Window is already narrowing for Republican to challenge Donald Trump for 2024
It is looking ever more probable that Donald Trump will run for the White House again in 2024. All eyes are on his speech this Sunday at CPAC, the annual conservative conference, which like Mr Trump has relocated from Washington to Florida. An adviser told The Telegraph that Mr Trump has spent the last weeks taking a break, and practising his golf swing, but is keen to re-engage in the fight.
PoliticsAssociated PressBiden marks 50M vaccine doses in first 5 weeks in office
The moment came days after the nation reached the devastating milestone of 500,000 coronavirus deaths and ahead of a meeting with the nation's governors on plans to speed the distribution even further. The more people get vaccinated, the faster we're going to beat this pandemic,” Biden said at the White House ceremony, noting that his administration is on course to exceed his promise to deliver 100 million shots in his first 100 days in office. We're halfway there: 50 million shots in 37 days, Biden said.
WorldReutersSouth Korea kicks off COVID-19 vaccination campaign
South Korea launched its COVID-19 inoculation campaign on Friday, with shots to be administered in some 200 nursing homes, in an effort that officials call the first step in returning the country to more normal life. The first doses of AstraZeneca's vaccine began to be given at 9 a.m.(0000 GMT) to nursing home workers and some patients at facilities across the country of about 52 million. On Saturday, authorities plan to start giving 117,000 doses of the vaccine developed by Pfizer Inc and BioNTech SE supplied through COVAX, an international COVID-19 vaccine-sharing programme, to about 55,000 healthcare workers in coronavirus treatment facilities.
U.S.The Independent‘Read the fine print’: Texas lieutenant governor blames Texans for high storm energy bills
The lieutenant governor of Texas has blamed the state's hard-hit residents for higher energy prices accrued throughout last week's winter storm. When more than four million Texans lost power as the crisis hit, the state's Public Utilities Commission raised the cap on electricity prices to $9 (£6) per kilowatt-hour, to force users to switch off to try to protect the over-run grid. Dan Patrick, the state's lieutenant governor, told Fox News on Wednesday that the state's residents — some of whom went days without the lights on — were personally to blame for the higher prices because they had not read the “fine print” of their contracts.
LifestyleArchitectural DigestNo Need to Call an Architect—These 9 Room Dividers Elegantly Get the Job Done
From ornate to subtle, these beautiful screens double as functional art Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest
WorldAssociated PressIndia finds boat adrift with Rohingya refugees; 8 dead
India's coast guard has found a boat adrift in the Andaman Sea carrying scores of Rohingya refugees, including eight who had died, officials said Thursday. The boat left Cox's Bazar in Bangladesh on Feb. 11 with 90 people, including 23 children, on board and its engine failed on Feb. 15, Indian External Affairs Ministry spokesman Anurag Srivastava said. Two Indian coast guard ships were sent to help the refugees, and the Indian government is in discussions with Bangladesh to ensure their safe return, Srivastava said.
PoliticsRaleigh News and ObserverRepublicans regroup around attacks on Biden administration —including Kamala Harris
Republicans are planning to make Vice President Kamala Harris a focal point of their political attacks in the lead-up to midterm elections, casting the Democrat as a champion of policies they disagree with from the Biden administration. Harris has been at President Joe Biden's side throughout much of their first month in office and the new president has made clear that Harris will be fully involved when weighty issues are discussed in the Oval Office. That access and influence, praised by liberals, is seen by Republican groups, including the Republican National Committee and the National Republican Congressional Committee, as a reason to direct criticism of the administration at the vice pre...
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Facebook bans Myanmar military from its platforms
Facebook on Thursday said it had banned Myanmar's military from its platforms, Facebook and Instagram. Facebook said in a blog post, Events since the February 1 coup, including deadly violence, have precipitated a need for this ban. Facebook's ban came due to what the company calls “severe human rights abuses” and a “clear risk of future military-initiated violence.
WorldAssociated PressQatar to pour $60 million into new Israel-Gaza gas pipeline
Qatar pledged $60 million on Thursday to help construct a natural gas pipeline running from Israel into the Gaza Strip, the Qatari government said, a project that aims to ease the energy crisis that long has afflicted the impoverished Palestinian enclave. Natural gas now flowing through a pipeline in Israel from the eastern Mediterranean will be transported via a new extension into Gaza, the Qatari Foreign Ministry announced on its website. The eastern Mediterranean has become one of the world's major offshore drilling zones, with lucrative deepwater gas fields recently discovered in Israel's territorial waters.
WorldReutersPhilippine police to look into government admission of drug war failures
Philippine police said on Thursday they were looking into a government review of thousands of killings in the country's "war on drugs", after the justice minister made an unprecedented admission to the United Nations of widespread police failures. Human Rights Watch described Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra's video statement on Wednesday as an "astounding disclosure". Guevarra said police had in many cases failed to examine weapons and crime scenes after officers had shot dead suspected drug dealers.
PoliticsThe IndependentBiden news - live: Trump Jr deposed over inaugural funds as White House defends migrant camp after AOC attack
President Joe Biden has backed his Office of Management and Budget director nominee Neera Tanden after a vote confirming her appointment has been delayed. Ms Tanden - who previously worked for President Barack Obama - has faced criticism from Republicans over her previous comments on social media and statements about Mitch McConnell. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said the administration didn't see it as a setback, and that they were continuing to fight for her nomination.
WorldAssociated PressRecent drone attack on Saudi royal palace launched from Iraq
Explosive-laden drones that targeted Saudi Arabia's royal palace in the kingdom's capital last month were launched from inside Iraq, a senior Iran-backed militia official in Baghdad and a U.S. official said. Speaking to The Associated Press this week, the militia official said three drones were launched from Iraqi-Saudi border areas by a relatively unknown Iran-backed faction in Iraq and crashed into the royal complex in Riyadh on Jan. 23, exacerbating regional tensions. Attacks on the Saudi capital have been sporadic amid the kingdom's yearslong war against neighboring Yemen's Houthi rebels.
WorldReutersU.S., allies respond to Iranian 'provocations' with studied calm
In the week since Washington offered to talk with Tehran about reviving the 2015 nuclear deal, Iran has curbed U.N. monitoring, threatened to boost uranium enrichment and its suspected proxies have twice rocketed Iraqi bases with U.S. soldiers. In return, the United States and three allies, Britain, France and Germany, have responded with a studied calm. The response - or lack of one - reflects a desire not to disrupt the diplomatic overture in hopes Iran will return to the table and, if not, that the pressure of U.S. sanctions will keep taking its toll, U.S. and European officials said.
PoliticsAssociated PressDemocrats launch sweeping bid to overhaul US election laws
Stacey Abrams, whose voting rights work helped make Georgia into a swing state, exhorted Congress on Thursday to reject “outright lies" that have historically restricted access to the ballot as Democrats began their push for a sweeping overhaul of election and ethics laws. “A lie cloaked in the seductive appeal of election integrity has weakened access to democracy for millions,” Abrams, a Democrat who narrowly lost Georgia's 2018 gubernatorial race, said during a committee hearing for the bill, which was introduced as H.R. 1 to signal its importance to the party's agenda. Democrats feel a sense of urgency to enact the legislation ahead of the 2022 midterm elections, when their narrow majorities in the House and Senate will be at risk.
WorldReutersU.S. president, Saudi king have phone call ahead of expected Khashoggi report release
U.S. President Joe Biden on Thursday told Saudi King Salman he would work for bilateral ties "as strong and transparent as possible," the White House said, ahead of the expected release of a sensitive U.S. intelligence report on the 2018 murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. The report is a declassified version of a top-secret assessment that sources say singles out the 85-year-old king's son Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for approving the murder of Khashoggi in the kingdom's consulate in Istanbul. Saudi Arabia denies that the 35-year-old crown prince, the de facto ruler of the kingdom, approved the killing.
U.S.Architectural Digest9 Products to Help You Become a Better Plant Parent
You can't buy a green thumb, but at least you can buy the right tools Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest
WorldAssociated PressBahrain: Crown prince calls Israel PM on Iran nuclear talks
Bahrain's crown prince spoke with the Israeli prime minister on Thursday about the return to nuclear talks with Iran, Bahrain's state-run news agency reported, as the U.S. administration tries to revive the tattered 2015 nuclear accord. Bahraini Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, also the country's prime minister, stressed to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “the importance of the participation of regional countries in any negotiations on the Iranian nuclear file” to support “security and stability in the region,” according to the official Bahrain News Agency.
U.S.Business InsiderAn ex-girlfriend tipped off the FBI about an alleged US Capitol rioter after he called her a 'moron'
Richard Michetti has been charged with entering restricted grounds at the US Capitol. The Pennsylvania man was turned in by his ex-girlfriend after he called her a 'moron'. A Pennsylvania man was outed by his ex-girlfriend after trying to stop Congress from recognizing President Joe Biden's election victory, according to court documents.
PoliticsUSA TODAYJennifer Granholm confirmed as energy secretary in bipartisan Senate vote
DETROIT - Former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm is officially headed back to political office. Ten years after her second term as governor ended, Granholm on Thursday was confirmed as President Joe Biden's energy secretary, taking over as head of a multibillion-dollar agency that oversees national laboratories, the U.S. nuclear arsenal and plays a significant role in funding technological innovation and adoption of new technologies. The U.S. Senate voted 64-35 to confirm Granholm.
WorldAssociated PressDefense head Austin weighs warship needs in Pacific, Mideast
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told sailors on the USS Nimitz Thursday that he hopes to avoid long ship deployments like the more than 10 months they just spent at sea. But as he made his first aircraft carrier visit as Pentagon chief, he acknowledged the demand for American warships around the globe as he wrestles with security threats from China in the Pacific and Iran in the Middle East. Standing in the ship's hangar bay, Austin said he will make a decision soon on whether to send a carrier back to the Middle East, where the Nimitz had been.
BusinessBusiness InsiderExperts say Dominion and Smartmatic could win their defamation lawsuits, but MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell says they have 'zero' chance
Dominion and Smartmatic may win their defamation lawsuits, experts told Insider and CNBC. MyPillow's CEO told Insider Dominion had "zero, zero, zero" chance of winning. Dominion Voting Systems and Smartmatic have sued several Trump backers for billions of dollars, and experts say they may succeed if they can pass the high bar required in proving defamation.
“How about we skip ‘he won’t win’ cycle and not do 2016 all over again. Trump can absolutely win another presidential election.”
“With independents deserting him, there is simply no path for Trump to get back into the White House — except as a tourist.”
“They might as well cancel the 2024 primaries...because there is no way he can lose.”
“The next Republican presidential primary will be heavily shaped by Trump — whether or not he decides to run again.”
“Donald Trump will not be running for president again. He will, however, continue to tease the possibility of a 2024 run.”