U.S.Associated PressWrongful death suit filed on behalf of Daniel Prude's kids
Attorneys for the five children of Daniel Prude, a Black man who died after being restrained by police during a mental health episode, announced a federal lawsuit Monday against the city of Rochester and at least six police officers, alleging wrongful death and civil rights violations. The family claims in the lawsuit in U.S. District Court that both the actions of the Rochester police and an “attempted cover-up” by the department and city government violated Prude's constitutional rights, attorneys for the family said. A grand jury in February declined to bring criminal charges against the officers.
WorldReutersChina says hopes U.S. will remove 'unreasonable' curbs on cooperation
China urged the United States on Sunday to remove "unreasonable" curbs on cooperation as soon as possible and work together on issues like climate change, while accusing Washington of bringing chaos in the name of spreading democracy. Last week, U.S. President Joe Biden singled out a "growing rivalry with China" as a key challenge facing the United States, with his top diplomat describing the country as "the biggest geopolitical test" of this century. Speaking at his annual news conference, the Chinese government's top diplomat, State Councillor Wang Yi, struck a tough line even as he outlined where the world's two biggest economies could work together.
WorldBBCWhat's causing vaccine delays in some Asian countries?
In others countries however, vaccine programmes are either yet to begin or are still at a very early stage. The reasons for this have been varied - ranging from an abundance of caution to high levels of vaccine scepticism. We looked at some of the countries in this situation and the different reasons behind it.
U.S.Associated PressOfficer says he arrested reporter after pepper spray blasts
A police officer testified Monday that he arrested a journalist at an unruly Black Lives Matter protest last year in Iowa after she did not leave when he repeatedly shot clouds of pepper spray to disperse the crowd. Des Moines Officer Luke Wilson said he wasn't aware Andrea Sahouri was a Des Moines Register reporter when he responded to a chaotic scene where protesters were breaking store windows and throwing rocks and water bottles at police outside Merle Hay mall on May 31. Wilson said he sprayed the chemical irritant from a device known as a fogger to clear a commercial parking lot and that it worked in scattering the rest of the group, including Sahouri's then-boyfriend Spenser Robnett.
WorldReutersPhilippine leader's order to kill rebels 'legal', spokesman says
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's order to kill armed rebels was legal, his spokesman said on Monday, as catholic leaders joined condemnation of the killings of nine activists in separate weekend raids against suspected insurgents. Human Rights groups are outraged over the deaths of what they said were legitimate activists under the guise of counter-insurgency operations, which came two days after Duterte told security forces they could kill rebels if they were holding a gun and to "ignore human rights". "The president's 'kill, kill, kill' order is legal because it was directed at armed rebels," his spokesman Harry Roque said in a briefing, adding the government would still investigate the incident.
LifestyleArchitectural DigestThe Best-Looking Dog Beds for Your Furry Best Friend
When it comes to buying furniture for your pet, please learn from my mistakes Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest
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B-52s again fly over Mideast in American military warning to Iran
B-52 bombers flew over the Mideast on Sunday, the latest mission in the region aimed at warning Iran amid tensions between Washington and Tehran.
WorldReutersIndia seeks funds from Quad alliance to match China's vaccine push: source
India has urged the United States, Japan and Australia to invest in its vaccine production capacity, an Indian government source told Reuters, as the so-called Quad alliance tries to counter China's growing vaccine diplomacy. Beijing has committed to provide at least 463 million doses of its home-made COVID-19 vaccines through exports and donations across the world from Asia to Africa, Europe and Latin America, according to Reuters calculations. Two senior Indian officials said the Quad alliance, grouping the United States, Japan, Australia and India, was stepping up efforts to expand global vaccination to counter China's growing soft power.
WorldBBCMyanmar coup: The shadowy business empire funding the Tatmadaw
Critics argue that this lucrative network has made Myanmar's coup possible and put the military's accountability into free fall. Civilian businesses talk of an environment like "Sicily under the Mafia", while activists say that democratic reforms can only be possible only when "the military [is] back to barracks". Two conglomerates bankrolling the military Myanmar's military - the Tatmadaw - began its involvement in business after the socialist coup of Ne Win in 1962.
TechnologyAssociated PressAt Dubai airport, travelers' eyes become their passports
Dubai's airport, the world's busiest for international travel, can already feel surreal, with its cavernous duty-free stores, artificial palm trees, gleaming terminals, water cascades and near-Arctic levels of air conditioning. It's the latest artificial intelligence program the United Arab Emirates has launched amid the surging coronavirus pandemic, contact-less technology the government promotes as helping to stem the spread of the virus. Dubai's airport started offering the program to all passengers last month.
WorldThe TelegraphAmerica warns Afghan government to consider new peace proposals or face May 1 troop pullout
America has warned the Afghan president he may face a renewed Taliban spring onslaught without US troops, unless he considers urgent new proposals to try to jump start stalled negotiations. A full withdrawal of American troop is still being mulled, despite Afghan hopes Joe Biden's arrival in the White House would see him halt the pull out, according to a leaked letter from the new secretary of state. In what appeared to be a blunt attempt to pressure Ashraf Ghani, Antony Blinken wrote that without US troops he was concerned "the security situation will worsen and that the Taliban could make rapid territorial gains”.
WorldReutersLooming China extradition deal worries Uighurs in Turkey
Joining hundreds of women in Istanbul to protest at China's treatment of Uighurs, Nursiman Abdurasit tearfully thinks of her jailed mother in Xinjiang and fears that Uighurs like her in Turkey may one day be sent back under an extradition deal. Beijing approved an extradition treaty between the two nations in December and with the deal awaiting ratification by Ankara's parliament, activists among some 40,000 Uighurs living in Turkey have stepped up efforts to highlight their plight. Abdurasit came to Turkey to study in 2015 and lost contact with her family four years ago.
PoliticsBusiness InsiderSen. Joe Manchin, a Democrat, says he will fight for Republicans to get a say in Biden's infrastructure bill and block it if they don't
Sen. Joe Manchin told Axios that he wanted bipartisan backing for Biden's infrastructure bill. Manchin, a Democrat, said he'd oppose a bill without tax hikes and GOP support being sought. Sen. Joe Manchin, a centrist Democrat, said in an interview with Axios broadcast Sunday that he'd block President Joe Biden's infrastructure bill if it didn't attract Republican support.
U.S.Associated PressEmhoff, VP Harris' husband, goes from top lawyer to teacher
Vice President Kamala Harris' husband, Doug Emhoff, is getting settled in a new job teaching law at Georgetown University amid a high-pressure moment in U.S. history. There is the pandemic and the vaccinations, the $1.9 trillion relief package and the open wounds of a political divide that led to the Jan. 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol. “I talk about how it's going, how I'm trying to reach the students, and how they're responding to me,” Emhoff told reporters on Monday.
WorldReutersFrench billionaire politician killed in helicopter crash
French billionaire Olivier Dassault was killed on Sunday in a helicopter crash, a police source said, with President Emmanuel Macron paying tribute to the 69-year old conservative politician. Dassault was the eldest son of late French billionaire industrialist Serge Dassault, whose namesake Dassault Aviation, builds the Rafale war planes and owns Le Figaro newspaper. "Olivier Dassault loved France.
PoliticsAssociated PressSunshine State dims for Dems amid election losses, cash woes
Democrats may delight in their brightening prospects in Arizona and Georgia, and may even harbor glimmers of hope in Texas, but their angst is growing in Florida, which has a reputation as a swing state but now favors Republicans and could be shifting further out of reach for Democrats. As the jockeying begins to take on Gov. Ron DeSantis and U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio in 2022, Democrats' disadvantage against Republicans is deeper than ever, as they try to develop a cohesive strategy and rebuild a statewide party deep in debt and disarray. Former President Donald Trump's brand of populism has helped power a GOP surge in Florida, where Trump defeated now-President Joe Biden by more than 3 percentage points last fall — more than doubling the lead he had against Hillary Clinton.
PoliticsUSA TODAY OpinionBiden hasn't held a news conference or been imitated on 'SNL' in his presidency. Why not?
No one saw this coming: Neither the real Joe Biden nor the fake Joe Biden has held a news conference since Inauguration Day. Over the past 100 years, no president has gone as long as Biden without conducting a formal session with White House reporters. The last time a Biden character appeared on "SNL" was back on Dec. 19, when Alex Moffat offered a tame impersonation of the president-elect.
WorldAssociated PressMyanmar protesters defy curfew; media outlets ordered shut
DVB said it was not surprised by the cancellation and would continue broadcasting on satellite TV and online. We worry for the safety of our reporters and our staff, but in the current uprising, the whole country has become the citizens' journalists and there is no way for military authorities to shut the information flow," Executive Director Aye Chan Naing told The Associated Press. The government has detained dozens of journalists since the coup, including a Myanmar Now reporter and Thein Zaw of AP, both of whom have been charged under a public order law that carried a penalty of up to three years in prison.
WorldReutersJapan COVID-19 inoculations off to snail pace start due to vaccine, syringe shortages
Japan's COVID-19 inoculation campaign is moving at a glacial pace, hampered by a lack of supply and a shortage of specialty syringes that underscore the enormous challenge it faces in its aim to vaccinate every adult by the year's end. Since the campaign began three weeks ago, just under 46,500 doses had been administered to frontline medical workers as of Friday. At the current rate, it would take 126 years to vaccinate Japan's population of 126 million.
WorldAssociated PressTaiwan President Tsai visits naval base amid Chinese threats
Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen visited a naval base on Monday to thank sailors and marines for their dedication to protecting the island amid renewed threats from China, vowing not to allow the loss of “any single inch" of territory. In remarks during her visit to the 131st Flotilla in the northern port of Keelung, Tsai said the bravery of servicemembers “demonstrated the determination of Taiwan's national armed forces to defend the sovereignty of our country.” “We can't yield any single inch of our land,” Tsai said.
PoliticsAssociated PressBiden's big relief package a bet gov't can help cure America
President Joe Biden wants America to know that he's from the government and he's here to help. Democrat Bill Clinton declared the era of big government over in the 1990s, Barack Obama largely kept his party in the same lane and Republican Donald Trump campaigned on the premise that Washington was full of morons, outplayed by the Chinese and others. "When I was elected, I said we were going to get the government out of the business of battling on Twitter and back in the business of delivering for the American people," Biden said after the huge bill passed the Senate on Saturday.
WorldBusiness InsiderThe WHO said it still hasn't written off the 'extremely unlikely' theory that the coronavirus escaped from a Wuhan lab
A top WHO scientist said the theory that the coronavirus came from a lab is "extremely unlikely." The World Health Organization has still not ruled out the theory that the novel coronavirus had escaped from a Chinese laboratory. The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that Dr. Peter Ben Embarek, the lead scientist on the WHO's mission to Wuhan, said that a lab-accident theory is "definitely not off the table."
PoliticsAssociated PressIowa governor signs GOP-forced voting changes bill into law
We don't have to wait to have Democrats talking with their neighbors in rural and metropolitan areas in the state about how these harmful pieces of legislation are being forced through,” said Iowa Democratic Party Chairman Ross Wilburn. The law shortens the early voting period to 20 days from the current 29, just three years after Republicans reduced the period from 40 days. It also requires most mail ballots to be received by Election Day, rather than counting votes postmarked by Election Day that arrive by noon on the Monday following the election.
WorldAssociated PressSyrian president, wife test positive for coronavirus
Syrian President Bashar Assad and his wife have tested positive for the coronavirus, the president's office said Monday, with both having only mild symptoms of the illness. In a statement, Assad's office said the first couple did PCR tests after they experienced minor symptoms consistent with the COVID-19 illness. It said Assad, 55, and his wife Asma, who is 10 years younger and announced her recovery from breast cancer in 2019, will continue to work from home where they will isolate between two to three weeks.
PoliticsReutersU.S. Supreme Court dumps last of Trump's election appeals
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday disposed of the last of three cases brought to the justices by former President Donald Trump challenging his election loss, bringing a muted end to his futile quest in the courts to hold onto power. The court without comment rejected Trump's appeal challenging thousands of absentee ballots filed in Wisconsin, an election battleground that the Republican businessman-turned-politician lost to Democrat Joe Biden by more than 20,000 votes. Biden became president on Jan. 20.
“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.”