PoliticsAssociated PressDemocrats move 2 bills showing strength and limits of power
The House voted along party lines to make the nation's capital the 51st state, and two hours later, the Senate overwhelmingly approved bipartisan legislation to address violence against Asian Americans. Thursday's twin victories let Democrats display momentum just six days before President Joe Biden's maiden speech to Congress. Despite a minuscule majority, House Democrats have passed legislation this year reworking voting laws, toughening gun background checks and fulfilling other party goals.
U.S.The TelegraphGhislaine Maxwell to appear in person for first time since her arrest as she pleads to new charges
Ghislaine Maxwell is set to appear in person for the first time since her arrest last year in a New York court on Friday, where she is expected to plead not guilty to new sex trafficking charges. Ms Maxwell was granted rare permission to attend the usually procedural court hearing by Judge Alison Nathan. The 59-year-old British socialite has already pleaded not guilty to charges of recruiting and grooming teenage girls from 1994 to 2004 to provide sexual massages to her one-time boyfriend Jeffrey Epstein.
PoliticsThe WeekAfter reading 'all 14 pages' of the Green New Deal, Marjorie Taylor Greene says she's ready to debate Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
Now that she's done her homework, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) is ready to spar. One day after seemingly admitting she had never finished reading "all 14 pages" of the Green New Deal, a bill she's repeatedly criticized while throwing barbs at sponsor Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), Greene has now finally perused the full policy — and dubbed it a "Communists manifesto." Greene incriminated herself on Wednesday, while tweeting a surreptitiously-taken photo of the two lawmakers chatting on Capitol Hill.
WorldAssociated PressShooting revives criticism of Israel's use of deadly force
Hours after Israeli soldiers shot and killed Osama Mansour at a temporary checkpoint in the occupied West Bank, the military announced that it had thwarted a car-ramming attack — but the facts didn't seem to add up. Witnesses say the soldiers killed Mansour for no apparent reason, part of what rights groups say is a pattern of fatal shootings of Palestinians by Israeli forces under questionable circumstances. In its initial statement, the Israeli military said the vehicle had accelerated “in a way that endangered the lives of the soldiers” and that forces opened fire to “thwart the threat.”
PoliticsThe Telegraph'Mr President?': Biden and Putin suffer awkward silence in climate summit technical glitch
A technical glitch at the climate summit meant Joe Biden was left hanging for nearly 90 seconds by his political nemesis Vladimir Putin. "I now turn the floor to the President of the Russian Federation," announced Tony Blinken, the US secretary of state. Instead, Mr Putin loomed silently on a giant screen above Mr Biden, Mr Binken and John Kerry, the US climate tsar.
TechnologyBBCTaiwan authorities look into Apple supplier hack
Authorities in Taiwan say they are looking into a ransomware cyber-attack on a major technology firm there. Quanta Computer is a manufacturer of many flagship Apple products, including its MacBook line. The hackers, known as Revil, have published stolen blueprints for unreleased products, and are threatening to release more.
WorldReutersDe-coupling from China would be the wrong way to go, Germany warns
The European Union needs to engage with China despite many differences instead of opting for a more isolationist approach, Germany said on Wednesday. "In the EU, we have been describing China as a partner, competitor and systemic rival at the same time," German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said ahead of a virtual meeting with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi. "In all these three dimensions we need strong, sustainable communication channels with Beijing.
WorldAssociated PressWorries grow about Indonesian sub's crew as oxygen dwindles
Indonesian navy ships were scouring the waters off Bali on Friday as they raced against time to find a submarine that disappeared two days ago and has less than a day's supply of oxygen left for its 53 crew. The KRI Nanggala 402 went missing after its last reported dive Wednesday off the resort island, and concern is mounting the submarine may have sunk too deep to reach or recover. The navy chief said the submarine was expected to run out of oxygen by around 3 a.m. Saturday.
WorldBBCAustralia resists calls for tougher climate targets
Australia's Prime Minister Scott Morrison has resisted pressure to set more ambitious carbon emission targets while other major nations vowed deeper reductions to tackle climate change. Addressing a global climate summit, Mr Morrison said Australia was on a path to net zero emissions. US President Joe Biden, who chaired the virtual summit, pledged to cut carbon emissions by 50-52% below 2005 levels by the year 2030.
U.S.Associated PressPolice: Arrested Michigan lawmaker warned he'd call governor
A Michigan lawmaker who was arrested for drunken driving and resisting police threatened to call Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and told state troopers it would not be good for them because he oversees their budget, according to an incident report. Rep. Jewell Jones, an Inkster Democrat, was charged in Livingston County last week after driving his Chevy Tahoe into a ditch along Interstate 96 near Fowlerville around 6 p.m. on April 6, following reports of erratic driving. Police said he became so combative that they had to use a Taser and pepper spray.
WorldThe TelegraphForeign aid destined for China will be diverted to fighting human rights abuses
Chinese foreign aid will be devoted to fighting human rights abuses in Xinjiang, Dominic Raab has said. It comes after the Government was criticised last year for funding schemes to China including a photography project to understand the country's past, syphilis tests for gay men and improving cancer screening in rural areas. The Foreign Secretary told the International Development Committee that he had cut China's Official Development Assistance by 95 per cent.
U.S.The WeekAndrew Yang accused of 'Michael Scott levels of cringe and insensitivity' at forum with LGBTQ group
It sounds like a recent attempt by Andrew Yang to secure an endorsement in his New York City mayoral bid didn't exactly go as planned. The candidate on Wednesday met with the Stonewall Democratic Club of New York City to seek the Democratic LGBTQ organization's endorsement, but he ended up offending its members, The New York Times reports. Yang, according to the report, "cited gay members of his staff as apparent evidence of his openness to the club's concerns, and expressed enthusiasm about the prospect of visiting" the New York gay bar Cubbyhole.
U.S.Miami HeraldMinutes into a 911 call a Florida driver realizes what smashed through her windshield
“Something just came through the windshield and hit my mom in the head!” a woman cried out to a 911 dispatcher after she pulled over on Interstate 95 while driving to Daytona Beach on Wednesday. On the 911 call, the driver, heeding directions from the dispatcher, works to stem the bleeding, using towels. “There's so much blood,” the driver says.
WorldAssociated PressVenezuela prosecutor who defied Maduro implicated in bribery
A former Venezuelan attorney general who defied President Nicolas Maduro by siding with his opponents has been implicated in a major corruption case involving a Venezuelan businessman who this week pleaded guilty to paying $1 million in bribes, two people familiar with the case said Thursday. The former official, Luisa Ortega, isn't mentioned by name in the Miami federal case. But in quietly pleading guilty Monday to a single charge of conspiring to defraud the United States, businessman Carlos Urbano Fermin admitted to paying around $1 million in bribes to a “high-ranking prosecutor” in Venezuela as “insurance” against any investigations into his extensive construction contracts with state-...
PoliticsBusiness InsiderAnti-Asian hate-crime bill passes Senate 94-1, with only Republican Sen. Josh Hawley voting against it
The bill would improve public reporting of anti-Asian hate crimes during the pandemic. The Senate on Thursday passed a bill addressing the rise in violence and discrimination against Asian American and Pacific Islander communities during the coronavirus pandemic. Only one member, Republican Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri, opposed the bill.
WorldBBCVaranasi: The viral picture that defines India's Covid distress
A heartbreaking image of a mother sitting with the lifeless body of her 29-year-old son at her feet has gone viral in India. The photo shows an exhausted Chandrakala Singh, sitting stone-faced in an electric rickshaw with the body of her son Vineet Singh, on a busy street in the city of Varanasi in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh. The haunting image is just one example of the plight of Indians trapped between a raging pandemic and a healthcare system on the brink of collapse.
- NewsYahoo News Video
Romania's 'modern slaves' who burn trash for a living
In the trash-strewn slums of Sintesti, less than 10 miles from Romania's capital, Bucharest, Mihai Bratu scrapes a dangerous living for his Roma family amid the foul reek of burning plastic that cloys the air day and night.
WorldArchitectural DigestBookmark These 11 Places on HipCamp for Your Next Outdoor Retreat
A WiFi break? Yes, please Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest
TechnologyAssociated PressEU outlines ambitious AI regulations focused on risky uses
Risky uses of artificial intelligence that threaten people's safety or rights such as live facial scanning should be banned or tightly controlled, European Union officials said Wednesday as they outlined an ambitious package of proposed regulations to rein in the rapidly expanding technology. The draft regulations from the EU's executive commission include rules for applications deemed high risk such as AI systems to filter out school, job or loan applicants. The proposals are the 27-nation bloc's latest move to maintain its role as the world's standard-bearer for technology regulation, as it tries to keep up with the world's two big tech superpowers, the U.S. and China.
U.S.Associated PressParents sue father accused of hiding Kristin Smart's body
The parents of missing California college student Kristin Smart on Thursday sued the father of the man charged with killing their daughter nearly 25 years ago. The lawsuit filed in San Luis Obispo County Superior Court said Smart's body was buried in Ruben Flores's backyard and he moved the body “under cover of darkness” to another location a few days after investigators searched his property in February 2020. Ruben Flores, 80, pleaded not guilty to accessory after murder on Monday, and his son, Paul Flores, 44, pleaded not guilty to murder.
PoliticsRaleigh News and ObserverThe clumsy punishment of a high-ranking NC Republican woman
For a party that has some problems with women, it wasn't a good look this week when a North Carolina Republican leader had very public problem with a woman. In an unusually visible intra-party squabble, N.C. House speaker Tim Moore yanked a prominent committee assignment this week from longtime Republican Rep. Julia Howard of Mocksville. As the News & Observer's Lucille Sherman reported, Howard was removed her position as a senior finance committee chair Tuesday after publicly opposing a Moore-backed bill that would benefit businesses that received coronavirus relief from the federal Paycheck Protection Program.
U.S.Associated PressGeorgia park honoring confederacy gets first Black chair
The board overseeing an Atlanta area park that has centuries-old ties to the Ku Klux Klan and contains the largest Confederate monument ever crafted will be headed for the first time by an African American. Gov. Brian Kemp on Wednesday announced that he had appointed the Rev. Abraham Mosley to serve as chairman of the Stone Mountain Memorial Association, the state authority responsible for overseeing Stone Mountain Park about 15 miles (24 kilometers) northeast of Atlanta.
U.S.INSIDEROther ex-officers charged in George Floyd's killing are 'almost 100 percent' going to plead guilty after Derek Chauvin's conviction, experts say
The three remaining former officers charged in George Floyd's death are awaiting trial in August. The officers will want to avoid going to a jury trial, criminal justice experts tell Insider. Experts say the officers are likely to take a plea deal if offered, or ask for a bench trial.
WorldAssociated PressGerman court refuses effort to block EU recovery fund
Germany's top court has refused to issue an injunction blocking the country's participation in the European Union's 750 billion-euro (more than $900 billion) coronavirus recovery fund, clearing the way for the launch of the fund and its common borrowing aimed at supporting green and digital economic development. The Federal Constitutional Court said Wednesday it turned back a motion for a preliminary injunction from a group including economics professor Bernd Lucke, a founder of the populist Alternative for Germany who has since left the party.
U.S.Associated PressMormon sex therapist ousted from faith for critiques
A sex therapist in Utah who has publicly challenged her faith's policies on sexuality has been kicked out of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints following a disciplinary hearing. Natasha Helfer received a letter Wednesday from a regional church official explaining the reasons for her removal from the Salt Lake City-based church, The Salt Lake Tribune reported. Helfer was disciplined by church leaders in Kansas, where she lived before moving to Utah in 2019.
“High-speed rail is bold and attention-grabbing, but the scale of the project makes it near impossible.”
“While a long, slow train ride across the country can be a great thing, the US needs real high-speed rail too.”
“Liberals are right that America has a car problem — but it's commutes, not road trips, that suck.”
“Investments into a high-speed rail system wouldn’t just improve the railroads — automobile traffic could also see some relief.”
“Big cities that are reasonably close together is pretty much a prerequisite for high-speed rail.”