U.S.Associated PressOfficer accused of force in stop of Black Army officer fired
One of two police officers accused of pepper-spraying and pointing their guns at a Black Army officer during a traffic stop has since been fired, a Virginia town announced late Sunday, hours after the governor called for an independent investigation into the case. The town of Windsor said in a statement that it joined calls from election officials, including Gov. Ralph Northam, in requesting an investigation by Virginia State Police into the December 2020 encounter in which two Windsor officers were accused of drawing their guns, pointing them at U.S. Army second lieutenant Caron Nazario and using a slang term to suggest he was facing execution. Nazario, who is Black and Latino, was also pepper-sprayed and knocked to the ground by the officers, Joe Gutierrez and Daniel Crocker, according to the lawsuit he filed earlier this month against them.
U.S.Miami HeraldMass flight cancellations at MIA leave passengers stranded with no hotel or rental car access
Thousands of desperate passengers on Sunday were left stranded at Miami International Airport after their flights were canceled because of inclement weather, airport officials confirmed. The mass cancellations led to scores of furious fliers having no access to hotel or rental car accommodations due to a lack of vacancies and flights being available until days from now, passengers say, noting that social distancing is “impossible.” “Stuck in the Miami Airport & all flights are canceled in the whole state,” Lauren Chamblin posted on Twitter.
WorldReutersFrench government disgusted by attack on Muslim centre
The French government on Sunday condemned the defacing of an Islamic cultural centre in western France with Islamaphobic slogans, and said an attack on Muslims was an attack on the Republic. The tags, daubed on the side a building used as a prayer room in the city of Rennes, were found shortly before the Muslim holy month of Ramadan begins in France on Tuesday. Interior Minister Gerard Darmanin said it was a disgusting attack against the fundamental freedom to believe in a religion and that Muslims deserved the same protection as any other religious group in France.
CelebrityThe TelegraphWhy Prince Philip’s great-grandchildren shouldn't attend the Royal funeral
Of all the images that stood out during the televised funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales, there was one that has endured in the collective consciousness longer than any other: that of two boys who had just lost their mother, walking in sombre procession behind her coffin, while the world looked in upon their most private moment. Almost a quarter of a century later, has there been a change of heart within the monarchy about the role of children at Royal funerals? It is understood that the Duke's 10 great-grandchildren, who include Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis, will not be in attendance at his funeral this Saturday.
WorldAssociated PressUkraine says 1 soldier killed in east as tensions rise
The Ukrainian military said that a soldier was killed and another seriously wounded in artillery fire from Russia-backed separatist rebels Sunday, as hostilities rise sharply in the country's east. As of the reported attack, Ukraine says 27 soldiers have been killed in the east this year, more than half the number who died in all of 2020. Attacks have intensified in recent weeks and Russia has built up troops along the Ukraine border.
U.S.INSIDERA 911 dispatcher in Louisiana was arrested after authorities say she refused to return $1.2 million that was accidentally deposited into her account
Visit Insider's homepage for more stories. A woman who worked for more than four years as a sheriff's dispatcher in Louisiana was fired and arrested after authorities say she refused to return more than $1.2 million that was accidentally deposited into her account. According to a report Thursday from nola.com, 33-year-old Kelyn Spadoni of Harvey, Louisiana, was arrested Wednesday and charged with theft valued over $25,000, bank fraud, and illegal transmission of monetary funds after she repeatedly evaded requests to return funds inadvertently transferred to her in February.
WorldBBCCambodia criticises edited photos of Khmer Rouge victims
Authorities in Cambodia have criticised an artist after he altered photos of victims of the Khmer Rouge genocide. In a Vice article, which was later removed, Loughrey said he had wanted to humanise the victims. Cambodia's culture ministry said the altering of the images affected "the dignity of the victims" and called for both Loughrey and Vice to remove them.
WorldThe WeekChina official calls reports he said country's COVID-19 vaccines weren't very effective 'a complete misunderstanding'
Chinese Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Gao Fu is walking back comments he made about the country's COVID-19 vaccines. The vaccines "don't have very high protection rates," Gao reportedly said Saturday at a conference in Chengdu. "It's now under formal consideration whether we should use different vaccines from different technical lines of the immunization process," he added, explaining that China was considering a few different options for how to boost effectiveness.
WorldAssociated PressPentagon chief declares 'ironclad' US commitment to Israel
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Sunday declared an “enduring and ironclad” American commitment to Israel, reinforcing support at a tense time in Israeli politics and amid questions about the Biden administration's efforts to revive nuclear negotiations with Israel's archenemy, Iran. Austin's first talks in Israel since he became Pentagon chief in January come as the United States seeks to leverage Middle East diplomatic progress made by the Trump administration, which brokered a deal normalizing relations between Israel and several Arab states. After meeting with Defense Minister Benny Gantz in Tel Aviv, Austin said he had reaffirmed “our commitment to Israel is enduring and ironclad."
WorldReutersAustralia abandons COVID-19 vaccination targets after new advice on AstraZeneca shots
Australia has abandoned a goal to vaccinate nearly all of its 26 million population by the end of 2021 following advice that people under the age of 50 take Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine rather than AstraZeneca's shot. Australia, which had banked on the AstraZeneca vaccine for the majority of its shots, had no plans to set any new targets for completing its vaccination programme, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said in a Facebook post on Sunday afternoon. "While we would like to see these doses completed before the end of the year, it is not possible to set such targets given the many uncertainties involved," Morrison said.
U.S.INSIDERFlorida cops who responded to a noise complaint at house party 'cowered away' after finding out their boss was a guest
Florida cops backed off a noise complaint at a party after they found out their boss was a guest. The officers "cowered away" when partygoers told them the sheriff was inside the house. Florida police officers were in for a big surprise after responding to a noise complaint at a house party last Saturday, only to find that a guest at the event was their own boss.
WorldAssociated PressDubai parts with curtain covers for restaurants in Ramadan
Dubai is parting with a longstanding requirement that restaurants be covered by curtains in the daytime during Ramadan to shield the sight of food from people fasting. The move, announced Sunday by the city-state's Economic Development Department, is the latest change aimed at boosting tourism in the autocratically ruled Muslim nation. Restaurants will be allowed to serve customers without putting in place curtains, dividers or facades as has been the mandatory practice previously,” the state-run WAM news agency said.
- NewsYahoo News Video
Las Vegas looks to become first to ban ornamental grass
Las Vegas, a city built on its reputation for excess and indulgence, wants to become a model for restraint and conservation with a first-in-the-nation policy banning grass that nobody walks on.
WorldReutersTurkey's Erdogan calls for end to 'worrying' developments in eastern Ukraine, offers support
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday called for the "worrying" developments in eastern Ukraine's Donbass region to come to an end after meeting his Ukrainian counterpart in Istanbul, adding Turkey was ready to provide any necessary support. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy held more than three hours of talks with Erdogan in Istanbul as part of a previously scheduled visit, amid tensions between Kyiv and Moscow over the conflict in Donbass. Kyiv has raised the alarm over a buildup of Russian forces near the border between Ukraine and Russia, and over a rise in violence along the line of contact separating Ukrainian troops and Russia-backed separatists in Donbass.
WorldAssociated PressTop Chinese official admits vaccines have low effectiveness
China's top disease control official, in a rare acknowledgement, said current vaccines offer low protection against the coronavirus and mixing them is among strategies being considered to boost their effectiveness. China has distributed hundreds of millions of doses of domestically made vaccines abroad and is relying on them for its own mass immunization campaign. “We will solve the issue that current vaccines don't have very high protection rates,” Gao said in a presentation on Chinese COVID-19 vaccines and immunization strategies at a conference in the southwestern city of Chengdu.
PoliticsThe New York TimesWith Warning to Democrats, Manchin Points the Way for Biden's Agenda
Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., flashed a warning sign for President Joe Biden's infrastructure ambitions this week, renewing his pleas for fellow Democrats not to ram through a large spending bill without first working to compromise with Republicans who have panned the president's plans. In a divided Washington, the chances that such a compromise will materialize are slim — at least for a sprawling spending plan of up to $4 trillion, as Manchin, a pivotal swing vote in the Senate, and administration officials favor.
PoliticsBusiness InsiderThousands of inmates given the chance to serve their sentence at home because of COVID-19 might go back to prison cells
Thousands of people imprisoned for low-level crimes have been serving their sentences at home because of the pandemic. Because of a lingering legal opinion made under the outgoing Trump administration, these people might have to return to prison. The Biden administration has yet to address the legal opinion.
U.S.INSIDERProtests flare in Minneapolis after 20-year-old Black man shot in traffic stop
Hundreds of protesters clashed with Minneapolis police after a Black man was fatally shot at a traffic stop. The family of Daunte Wright, 20, said he was pulled over for displaying an air freshener. While the police have not yet named the victim, the family of Daunte Wright, 20, say that he was shot on Sunday afternoon after being stopped for a traffic violation.
WorldThe Daily BeastHow Putin or Xi Could Blow It All Up for Biden
Russia has in recent weeks increased troop and military resource deployment on the Crimean peninsula and along the Russian-Ukrainian border. And China has increased aggressive posturing toward Taiwan and within the South and East China Seas that has Asian and U.S. military leaders deeply concerned. While neither a Russian invasion of Ukraine nor a Chinese attack on Taiwan is considered the most likely near-term consequence of their saber-rattling, it does not make these situations less risky.
CelebrityThe TelegraphDuchess of Cornwall's relative accuses wife of lying about her age when they married - denying him the chance of more children
An aristocrat and relative of the Duchess of Cornwall has accused his wife of lying about her age in an ongoing divorce battle, which he claims denied him more children. Charles Villiers, 58, has been embroiled in a six-year divorce case that has so far played out in five different courts and before twelve judges. As part of the ongoing legal battle, he now claims to have unearthed new evidence on one of his wife's previous marriage certificates which would mean she was in fact 40 when they tied the knot, according to the Sunday Times.
U.S.USA TODAYNearly 40% of Marines decline COVID-19 vaccine, prompting some Democrats to urge Biden to set mandate for military
Nearly 40% of U.S. Marines who have been offered the COVID-19 vaccine have declined it, according to the Pentagon. Of the 123,500 Marines who have had access to the vaccine, 75,500 Marines are either fully vaccinated or have received one dose, and about 48,000 have declined it, Communication Strategy and Operations Officer Capt. Andrew Woods told USA TODAY. Woods said the Navy and Marines were working to ensure that soldiers have accurate information about the safety of the vaccine.
WorldINSIDERAnother 'explosive event' at St Vincent volcano has left the island struggling with power outages, limited water supplies, and blankets of ash
La Soufriere volcano in St Vincent first erupted on Friday. Another 'explosive event' took place on Sunday. Much of the country has limited water supplies and is experiencing power outages.
PoliticsBusiness InsiderAn Ohio GOP Senate candidate reportedly crashed an RNC donor retreat and was escorted out
Josh Mandel, running for a vacant Ohio Senate seat, got escorted out of a donor retreat over the weekend. The retreat was hosted by the Republican National Committee and offered candidates coveted opportunities to mingle with donors. There were also opportunities to schmooze with GOP leaders like former President Donald Trump.
U.S.The Daily BeastFederal Judge Killed in ‘Harry Potter’ Hit-and-Run Crash
A Florida woman who police say was so high on mind-bending drugs that she was screaming she was Harry Potter has been charged with the hit-and-run accident that killed a federal judge. U.S.District Judge Sandra Feuerstein, 75, was mowed down as she strolled down a Boca Raton sidewalk on Friday morning and was pronounced dead at the hospital. A 6-year-old boy, Anthony Ovchinnikov, was injured in the crash, but survived.
U.S.The State‘We need to come together.’ Throngs at SC park mourn the 6 mass shooting victims
Rock Hill has begun to heal. The victims included a prominent area doctor, Robert Lesslie, his wife, two of their grandkids and two air conditioning techs working at the the family's Marshall Road home. The story made national headlines and shook the city of Rock Hill, a town of 75,000 about 30 miles south of Charlotte.
“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.”