WorldThe TelegraphMyanmar policemen cross border into India after refusing to carry out orders set by new military junta
At least 19 Myanmar police officers have crossed the border into India in the latest sign of growing dissent within the security forces and civil service officials who are opposed to the military coup. The first reported case of police fleeing the country came as one of the country's top diplomats resigned from his post at the United Nations after being promoted to the role of ambassador by the junta. Tin Maung Naing, the deputy envoy, refused to take over from Kyaw Moe Tun, the current ambassador, who was fired last week by the generals after he urged countries at the 193-member UN General Assembly to use “any means necessary” to reverse the coup that ousted the nation's elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
U.S.AxiosFBI: Trump-appointed State Department aide arrested in connection with Capitol riot
The FBI on Thursday arrested former State Department aide Federico Klein, a Trump appointee who worked on the former president's 2016 campaign, on charges related to the Jan. 6 storming of the Capitol, according to a court filing. Why it matters: The 42-year-old Klein is the first member of the Trump administration to be arrested in connection with the insurrection, which led to the former president's second impeachment and charges against over 300 people. Details: Prior to resigning from the State Department on Jan. 19, Klein — whose arrest was first reported by Politico — worked in the Office of Brazilian and Southern Cone Affairs and possessed a "Top Secret" security clearance that was renewed in 2019, according to the FBI affidavit.
U.S.NBC NewsAsians were thought to be the 'model minority.' Then came 'receipt culture.'
In another video recorded last July, a tech CEO taunted an Asian American family at an upscale Northern California restaurant, calling them an “Asian piece of s---.” Fueled by former President Donald Trump's anti-China rhetoric, the Covid-19 pandemic has unleashed an onslaught of hate incidents against Asian American and Pacific Islanders. In 2020, the group Stop AAPI Hate received more than 2,800 self-reports of coronavirus discrimination nationwide, from verbal harassment to physical assault.
WorldReutersHong Kong democracy campaigners kept in custody after marathon bail hearing
A Hong Kong judge kept 47 pro-democracy activists in custody on Thursday after four days of bail hearings in a case that has drawn global concern that Beijing is using a national security law to crush dissent. Thirty-two defendants were denied bail by chief magistrate Victor So, while 15 were granted bail but still kept in custody after government prosecutors said they would appeal against that decision. The case is the most sweeping use yet of the city's new national security law, which imposes punishments of up to life in prison for serious charges including subversion.
U.S.Fort Worth Star-TelegramKentucky man — and a motorcycle — found after 465-foot Grand Canyon fall, officials say
A missing Kentucky man was found dead after a 465-foot fall from the Grand Canyon, according to the National Park Service. A motorcycle was also found beside the body of John Pennington, a 40-year-old man from Walton, officials say. He was believed to have entered the Grand Canyon around Feb. 23 and abandoned his vehicle at Yaki Point, a scenic overlook, officials say.
PoliticsAssociated PressHouse impeachment manager sues Trump, allies over riot
It follows a similar suit filed by Rep. Bennie Thompson last month in an attempt to hold the former president accountable in some way for his actions Jan. 6, following his Senate acquittal. Swalwell charges that Trump, his son Donald Jr., along with former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Republican Rep. Mo Brooks of Alabama, had made “false and incendiary allegations of fraud and theft, and in direct response to the Defendant's express calls for violence at the rally, a violent mob attacked the U.S. Capitol.
PoliticsThe WeekCapitol riot's 'QAnon Shaman' defends himself by claiming he 'stopped somebody from stealing muffins'
A suspect charged in the deadly Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol building is speaking from jail in a new interview — and offering a unique defense positioning himself as simply a savior of baked goods. Jacob Chansley, the Capitol riot suspect who refers to himself as the "QAnon Shaman" and was photographed during the insurrection wearing fur and horns, spoke with 60 Minutes in an interview broadcast Thursday, in which he claimed his "actions were not an attack on this country" as he faces up to 20 years in prison for them. "I sang a song, and that's a part of shamanism," he said.
BusinessAxiosSurprise oil supply cut from OPEC won't just hit gas prices
Oil and gas prices jumped on Thursday after the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and allied producers said on Thursday that they would extend production cuts into April. The big picture: Oil is being driven by the production cuts of OPEC, a consortium of the world's largest producers, and expectations for a rebound in global demand as more countries emerge from coronavirus lockdowns. Crude oil has been a top performing asset this year, with variants like gasoline and diesel also delivering big gains in 2021 of 38.6% and 24.3%, respectively.
U.S.Associated PressEx-chief: Dallas cop kept on job to not tip him off to probe
The Dallas Police Department allowed an officer to continue patrolling for more than a year while investigating whether he ordered two people to be killed because it didn't want to tip him off, the city's former police chief said. Former Police Chief U. Renee Hall, who left the department at the end of 2020, told The Dallas Morning News that the decision not to place Officer Bryan Riser on leave was made in conjunction with federal law enforcement and the Dallas County district attorney's office. Riser was arrested Thursday on two counts of capital murder and taken to the Dallas County Jail, where he was being held Friday on $5 million bond after a court appearance Thursday night.
PoliticsThe Independent‘Textbook voter suppression’: How Trump’s stolen election lies are shaping the future of democracy
On the floor of Georgia's House of Representatives on 1 March, state Democratic Rep Bee Nguyen warned her colleagues that the bill in front of them – a 66-page, Republican-backed proposal to drastically roll back voting access across the state – followed a months-long campaign from Donald Trump and his GOP allies to undermine millions of voters with baseless claims of widespread voter fraud and a “stolen” election. “Members of this body aided and abetted a deliberate misinformation campaign to sow seeds of doubt among Georgia voters with absolutely no facts or evidence.” The bill would, among other things, cut mail-in voting and early voting access, strip elections oversight from the state's Secretary of State, and limit voting access that would disproportionately target Black voters.
U.S.Raleigh News and ObserverDuke helicopter pilot may have shut off wrong engine before fatal crash, NTSB says
The pilot of a Duke Life Flight helicopter that crashed in Hertford County in 2017 may have accidentally shut off one of the aircraft's engines just before the second malfunctioning engine failed, according to federal investigators. The helicopter came down in a ditch between two fields near Belvidere, about 12 miles from Elizabeth City, killing all four people on board. They included the pilot, Jeff Burke, two flight nurses and a patient they were flying from Sentara Albemarle Medical Center in Elizabeth City to Duke University Hospital in Durham.
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Civil war within the GOP continues as Trump fires back at strategist Karl Rove
Former President Donald Trump intensified his war with the Republican establishment on Thursday by attacking Karl Rove, a longtime Republican strategist who criticized Trump's first speech since leaving office for being long on grievances but short on vision.
LifestyleArchitectural DigestThe 29 Best Bar Carts Under $500
Guaranteed to look great in your Zoom happy hours Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest
PoliticsUSA TODAYJoe Biden campaigned as the mask candidate. Now he's facing the limits of the bully pulpit
Joe Biden ran for the White House as the mask candidate, criticizing then-President Donald Trump's dismissal of masks, promising to get tough on mask wearing and modeling good behavior by wearing at least one – and sometimes two –masks himself. "The one thing we do know — these masks make a gigantic difference," Biden said last June. As president, however, Biden is running up against the limits of the bully pulpit as mask-wearing remains politically polarized.
ScienceBBCNasa's Perseverance rover takes its first drive on Mars
It's two weeks now since the one-tonne robot landed on the Red Planet. Engineers have spent the time commissioning the vehicle and its many systems, including its instruments and robotic arm. Perseverance's mission is to explore a near-equatorial crater called Jezero, to search for evidence of past life.
PoliticsPoliticoDems strike new unemployment benefits deal in $1.9T Covid bill
Senate Democrats struck a new deal on the unemployment benefits in President Joe Biden's $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package on Friday, shortly before debate on the bill reached its peak. A new amendment readied by Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.) would change the aid bill's boosted weekly federal unemployment payments from $400 weekly, as approved by the House, to $300. The agreement was hatched by both moderate and progressive Democrats.
PoliticsUSA TODAYBiden's relief bill isn't getting bipartisan support like previous stimulus bills. What do Republicans dislike so much?
Republican Senators have described President Joe Biden's COVID-19 stimulus plan as a "clunker," "bad politics" and “wildly expensive." The legislation, dubbed the American Rescue Plan, which the Senate started debating Thursday, is getting a partisan reception in Congress. Democrats want it passed soon, but little to no Republican members of Congress have so far voiced support.
WorldBBCWorld's oldest known wild bird has another chick at age of 70
Wisdom the albatross, the world's oldest known wild bird, has had a chick at the age of at least 70. The Laysan albatross hatched the chick on 1 February in a wildlife refuge in the North Pacific Ocean, the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) has said. The father is Wisdom's partner, Akeakamai, who she has been with since 2012, US wildlife officials said.
PoliticsThe IndependentQAnon predicted Trump’s re-inauguration on 4 March. Congress braced for an assault. Neither happened
It was a government sting operation, “fake news”, a way for congressional Democrats to skip work, or Donald Trump's supporters trolling Joe Biden's administration. A post on the former president's fan forum The Donald reads “HEY FBI WE ARE ATTACKING THE CAPITAL ON THIS DATE”. Adherents to the cult-like delusion of the QAnon movement, the former president's supporters, and MAGA true believers – not all necessarily in the same right-wing ideological camp – arrived at different conclusions as to why an insurrection, let alone Mr Trump's second inauguration, did not happen on 4 March, as some of the QAnon faithful and far-right memes anticipated.
U.S.Miami HeraldDemocrats ask FBI for investigation into vaccine distribution; DeSantis pushes back
Florida's two top Democratic officials on Thursday called on the U.S. Justice Department to launch an investigation into Gov. Ron DeSantis for what they say appears to be a “pay to play” scheme in which the governor directed vaccine doses to communities in the state's wealthiest ZIP codes in exchange for campaign contributions. Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried and Senate Democratic Leader Gary Farmer issued separate statements urging the U.S. Attorney and the FBI to look into whether the $3.9 million in contributions made to the governor's political committee since December alone were connected to favorable treatment for vaccine distribution. On Thursday, the governor angrily blasted a Miami Herald report that quoted an internal newsletter sent to residents of the wealthy gated enclave of the Ocean Reef Club, located in north Key Largo.
U.S.Los Angeles Times OpinionLetters to the Editor: If New Yorkers think Andrew Cuomo is a creep, let them vote him out
Opinion, March 3) New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is accused of questioning an employee's sex life and asking a woman if he could kiss her. Just to put this in perspective, our former president wasn't asked to resign after alleged non-consensual kissing or groping of at least 25 women. He is also accused of raping a woman in a department store dressing room.
PoliticsBusiness InsiderBiden supports making a temporary $3,000 payment to parents in the stimulus bill permanent going forward
Biden supports making a temporary boost to a tax credit for parents permanent, a Democratic aide said. Senate Democrats want to make this permanent and to give families the option of monthly checks. President Joe Biden told House Democrats on Wednesday that he supported making the temporary beefed-up child tax credit in his stimulus plan permanent, a Democratic aide briefed on the call told Insider.
U.S.INSIDERA New Orleans police officer groomed and raped a 14-year-old girl he was assigned to take to a rape kit exam, a lawsuit alleges
A new lawsuit accuses a New Orleans cop of grooming and raping a 14-year-old rape survivor. Officer Rodney Vicknair was arrested last year and fired from the police department in January. The lawsuit alleged the police department shouldn't have allowed Vicknair to assist the girl.
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Barrett authors first Supreme Court ruling, a loss for environmentalists
Conservative Justice Amy Coney Barrett on Thursday authored her first ruling since joining the Supreme Court in October as the court handed a defeat to an environmental group looking for access to government documents.
PoliticsThe IndependentTrump considering ditching Pence for 2024 run and picking someone Black or female as running mate, report says
Donald Trump is reportedly considering ditching Mike Pence as his running mate for a 2024 presidential run and replacing him with a person of colour or a woman. Three sources told Bloomberg on Wednesday that Mr Trump, who left office on 20 January after losing 3 November's election to Joe Biden, is telling his aides that he is strongly considering running for president again in 2024. The sources claimed that Mr Trump's aides are urging him to pick a more diverse vice presidential candidate for the role than Mr Pence, a straight white man, who served as his vice president for his four years in office.
“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.”