WorldReutersTaiwan tells Biden emissaries it will counter China's 'adventurous manoeuvres' with U.S
Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen told emissaries visiting at U.S. President Joe Biden's request on Thursday that the island would work with the United States to deter threats from Chinese military activities. Former senior U.S. officials, including former U.S. Senator Chris Dodd and former Deputy Secretaries of State Richard Armitage and James Steinberg, are visiting Taipei in a trip to signal Biden's commitment to Taiwan and its democracy. Tsai told the U.S. delegation in a meeting at the Presidential Office that Chinese military activities in the region have threatened regional peace and stability.
U.S.The Week'Pro-police' televangelist Pat Robertson slams Derek Chauvin, Kim Potter, says 'we cannot have a bunch of clowns' policing the U.S.
O.G. televangelist Pat Robertson isn't about to take to the streets to protest the police shooting of Daunte Wright at the hands of former Minnesota police officer Kim Potter, arrested Wednesday and charged with second-degree manslaughter. "If you can't tell the difference in the feel of those things, it's crazy," and Potter "deserves" the consequences, Robertson said on Thursday's 700 Club, holding both a handgun and a Taser. "And the thing that's going on in Minnesota about that Derek Chauvin — I mean, they ought to put him under the jail, he has caused so much trouble by kneeling on the death of George Floyd, I mean on his neck — it's just terrible what's happening."
WorldReutersUAE official says U.S. in driver's seat for stronger Iran deal
President Joe Biden's negotiators should use leverage gained against Iran by the previous U.S. administration to reach a better nuclear deal with Tehran in talks in Vienna, the United Arab Emirates' ambassador to Washington said. The UAE and Saudi Arabia had supported former President Donald Trump's decision in 2018 to quit the 2015 accord between Iran and world powers and reimpose harsh sanctions on their foe. "You (U.S.) are essentially in the driver's seat to get to a point to where we can address what I believe were shortcomings in JCPOA," envoy Yousef Al Otaiba said in a virtual discussion with Stanford University's Hoover Institution on Wednesday, using an acronym for the deal.
WorldBBCFrance urges citizens to leave Pakistan amid anti-French protests
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.
U.S.Associated PressWright family demands more severe charges for Minn. ex-cop
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.
WorldAssociated PressBeijing official in Hong Kong warns against foreign meddling
Beijing's top official in Hong Kong on Thursday warned foreign forces not to interfere with the “bottom line” of national security in the city, threatening retaliation amid tensions between China and Western powers. The U.S., Britain and their allies have condemned China's tightening control over Hong Kong's freedoms, including the sweeping national security law and electoral reforms that have all but silenced the once-vibrant opposition in the semi-autonomous territory. “When it is time, actions must be taken in relation to any external or foreign forces that may interfere Hong Kong affairs or attempts to use Hong Kong as a pawn,” said Luo Huining, director of the central government's liaison office in Hong Kong.
WorldReutersUkraine rehearses repelling tank attack near Russian-annexed Crimea
Ukraine's armed forces rehearsed repelling a tank and infantry attack near the border of Russian-annexed Crimea on Wednesday, the Ukrainian military said in a statement. The drills came a day after U.S. President Joe Biden phoned Russian President Vladimir to discuss a build-up of Russian troops near eastern Ukraine and in Crimea, among other U.S. concerns. Russia seized Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 and fighting has increased in recent weeks in eastern Ukraine, where government forces have battled Russian-backed separatists in a seven-year conflict that Kyiv says has killed 14,000 people.
U.S.Fort Worth Star-TelegramToddler found walking alone near highway while mom dined with friend, Texas police say
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.
PoliticsAssociated PressGOP leaders diverge on Trump, putting party in limbo
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.
WorldReutersTwo to a bed in Delhi hospital as India's COVID crisis spirals
Gasping for air, two men wearing oxygen masks share a bed in a government hospital in India's capital New Delhi, victims of the country's growing COVID-19 crisis. From reporting under 10,000 new daily cases earlier this year, daily infections crossed 200,000 on Thursday, according to official data, the highest anywhere in the world. At Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan Hospital (LNJP), one of India's largest COVID-only facilities with more than 1,500 beds, a stream of ambulances ferried patients to the overflowing casualty ward on Thursday.
EntertainmentArchitectural DigestShop Troye Sivan’s Eclectic Home Style
Take a page out of the stylish young star's book, from must-have splurges to affordable accessories Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest
WorldThe Telegraph'Denmark is waging psychological war': Trauma for Syrian refugees facing controversial deportation
"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.
U.S.Idaho StatesmanBody discovered in Emmett believed to be that of 8-year-old Idaho girl. Suspect arrested
After three days of searching, authorities in Emmett believe they have found the body of 8-year-old Taryn Summers. The Gem County Sheriff's Office announced this week that three Idaho siblings were being listed as missing, although the older two had been absent since last fall and were considered runaways. Tristan Sexton, 17, and Taylor Summers, 14, were last seen in September and October last year, respectively, authorities said.
ScienceAssociated PressNASA spacecraft leaves mess after grabbing asteroid samples
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.
WorldReutersAppeals court upholds Canada-U.S. asylum-seeker agreement
A Canadian appeals court on Thursday upheld a Canada-U.S. agreement to turn back asylum seekers, overturning a lower court ruling, siding with the federal government and setting up a possible Supreme Court showdown. The Canadian government had launched an appeal defending the agreement and, by association, U.S. immigration detention practices. Canada had argued the pact was necessary to manage its border with the United States.
- WorldYahoo News Video
Chicago releases video of fatal police shooting of 13-year-old boy
Body camera footage of a Chicago police officer fatally shooting Adam Toledo, a 13-year-old boy last month shows the officer yelling “Drop it! at the teen right before he opens fire.
WorldBBCIndia's desperate Covid-19 patients turn to black market for drugs
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.
WorldAssociated PressUN warns COVID-19 is `roaring back' as Yemen faces famine
The U.N. humanitarian chief warned Thursday that the world's largest humanitarian crisis in Yemen is getting even worse with the COVID-19 pandemic “roaring back” in recent weeks as the Arab world's poorest country faces a large-scale famine. In a grim update to the U.N. Security Council, Mark Lowcock said tens of thousands of people already are starving to death, with another 5 million just a step behind. Lowcock added that March was also the deadliest so far this year for civilians, with more than 200 killed or injured as a result of hostilities -- a quarter of the casualties in the oil-rich central province of Marib where Houthi rebel forces are pressing a military offensive.
WorldReutersOpponents of Myanmar military rule hold 'silent strike'
Opponents of military rule in Myanmar observed a "silent strike" on Friday, with many people staying home to mourn the more than 700 people killed in protests against a Feb. 1 coup and others wearing black held small marches in several cities and towns. Many Myanmar citizens, infuriated by the return of military rule after five years of civilian government led by democracy champion Aung San Suu Kyi, have been taking to the streets day after day with activists thinking up new ways to show opposition as the security forces step up their suppression. "Let's make the roads silent," protest leader Ei Thinzar Maung posted on her Facebook page.
U.S.INSIDERName of Chicago Police officer who fatally shot 13-year-old Adam Toledo revealed in incident report
A police watchdog agency released the incident report of an officer-involved shooting where 13-year-old Adam Toledo was killed. The report identifies the officer, Eric Stillman, 34, as a victim in an aggravated assault of police. Body camera footage shows Toledo turning to face the officer with his hands up, and it is unclear if he was holding a gun.
HealthLA TimesWhat's different about Johnson & Johnson's vaccine that might explain its blood clot risk?
Why do some COVID-19 vaccines seem to pose a small risk of a rare type of blood clot and others don't? Scientists suspect it's related to the way the vaccines are designed. All three of the COVID-19 vaccines that have been authorized for use in the U.S. by the Food and Drug Administration — one from Pfizer and BioNTech, one from Moderna and one from Johnson & Johnson — teach the immune system to recognize the coronavirus without exposing the body to the real thing.
WorldAssociated PressBiologists defy Cyprus' ethnic divide to protect environment
There's something regal in the sprightly step and curious gaze of the long-horn sheep that roam the hills near Varisia, an abandoned village inside a U.N. buffer zone that cuts across ethnically divided Cyprus. The endangered Mouflon sheep that's endemic to the eastern Mediterranean island nation is one of many rare plant and animal species that have flourished in this no-man's land, which stretches for 120 miles (180 kilometers) and divides the island's breakaway north from its internationally recognized south. This unlikely refuge has been embraced by two environmental scientists, one Greek Cypriot and one Turkish Cypriot, as an open-air laboratory where complex politics and physical divisions can be put aside to focus on the overriding concern of protecting the parched country's fragile ecosystem.
PoliticsUSA TODAY OpinionPresident Biden should name Vice President Harris to launch and lead a police reform drive ASAP
The decision on the commission arose from a consensus among civil rights groups and the administration that it would be better to try to pass an actual reform law than to talk more about what reforms are needed. And so the focus has shifted to the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, which has passed the House and now awaits Senate action, or inaction. The act, which ends qualified immunity protection for police officers and gives the Department of Justice subpoena power in its “pattern or practice” investigations of police departments, is a “meaningful step” toward police accountability, says Wade Henderson, interim president and CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights.
PoliticsBusiness Insider'Voter suppression' or 'voter fraud'? A Quinnipiac poll shows Democrats and Republicans are totally split on which is the real threat.
Republicans and Democrats are almost identically split on whether they think voter fraud or voter suppression is a bigger issue in the US, according to a new Quinnipiac poll. The poll, published on Thursday, found that 49% of the Americans questioned said voter suppression was a bigger issue, while 42% said voter fraud was a bigger issue. When broken down by party lines, 83% of Democrats said voter suppression while only 13% said voter fraud, and 82% of Republicans said fraud and 11% said suppression.
PoliticsMiami HeraldAfter Senate Republicans pass anti-riot bill, Democrats call on GOP donors to protest
In what marked one of the most emotional moments of Florida's 2021 legislative session, Senate Democrats on Thursday called on major Republican political donors to pressure Gov. Ron DeSantis to stop “anti-mob” legislation they deem racist, unconstitutional and partisan. The call to action came after nearly three hours of emotional and heated debate on the Senate floor that culminated with the Republican-led chamber passing the bill on a 23-17 vote. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Jeff Brandes of St. Petersburg was the only Republican to vote against it.
“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.”