PoliticsYahoo NewsTrump White House begins packing up
One day after President Trump was impeached for the second time and with less than a week to go before President-elect Joe Biden's inauguration, the Trump White House began cleaning out its desks on Thursday. While 20,000 National Guard troops have descended upon Washington in order to protect the capital from pro-Trump protests expected in the coming days, White House staffers were spotted removing a bust of President Abraham Lincoln from the West Wing. Staffers did not immediately clarify if the bust belongs to the White House permanent collection, or where it was headed.
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12 Pakistani police fired for not protecting Hindu temple
Pakistani authorities sacked a local police chief and 11 other policemen for failing to protect a Hindu temple that was set on fire and demolished last month by a mob led by hundreds of supporters of a radical Islamist party, police said Friday. The punishments come amid government assurances to the Hindu community that the temple in Karak, a town in the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, would be rebuilt. The attack took place after members of the Hindu community received permission from local authorities to renovate the temple.
WorldBBCTaliban cracks down on 'costly' polygamy
The leader of the Taliban in Afghanistan has issued a decree urging the group's leaders and commanders to forego taking multiple wives, which he said was inviting "criticism from our enemies". Muslim men can be permitted by religion to have up to four wives at a time and polygamy is still legal in Afghanistan, Pakistan and some other predominantly Muslim nations. But Taliban sources told the BBC the practice was creating increasing demand from commanders for funds to pay a "bride price" - a practice in force in many Pashtun tribes in Afghanistan and Pakistan by which money is given to a woman's family to secure her hand in marriage.
WorldReutersDo not break with Merkel, Bavarian leader warns before CDU leadership vote
Breaking with Chancellor Angela Merkel's policies is not the way to win Germany's federal election in September, the leader of her Bavarian sister party said as her Christian Democratic Union (CDU) prepares to elect a new leader on Saturday. Merkel, who steps down after September's elections, is heading into the last months of her tenure with her conservative CDU squabbling over how to position the party following 15 years of rule marked by her instinct to compromise. Markus Soeder, leader of the Christian Social Union (CSU), the CDU's Bavarian sister party, said it would be a mistake to break with her popular brand of politics, which is consensus orientated and centrist.
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S.Korea court upholds jail for ex-president Park
South Korea's Supreme Court upheld a 20-year jail sentence on Thursday for former President Park Geun-hye. This brings an end to a legal process that began in 2017 when Park was removed from office and arrested on corruption charges. She was found guilty of colluding with a confidante to receive tens of billions of won from major conglomerates for her family and to fund non-profits she owned.
PoliticsThe WeekTrump's team is reportedly trying to assemble a crowd for a 'major send-off' hours before Biden's inauguration
President Trump is planning to exit the White House on the morning of Jan. 20, a few hours before President-elect Joe Biden is sworn in a short distance away, CNN reports. "Eager for a final taste of the pomp of being president, Trump has asked for a major send-off," and "as one of their final acts, Trump's team is working to organize a crowd to see him off on the morning of Biden's inauguration, when he plans to depart Washington while still president" for a flight to Palm Beach, Florida, where his term will officially end at noon. There are 20,000 National Guard troops currently deployed or en route to Washington, D.C., ahead of Biden's inauguration, because the last crowd Trump drew to the White House morphed into an insurrectionist mob that stormed the Capitol.
WorldThe TelegraphNorth Korea unveils 'world's strongest weapon' at military parade
Wearing a giant furry hat, black leather jacket and a beaming smile, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un introduced “the world's strongest weapon” – a new submarine-launched ballistic missile – at a nighttime parade on Thursday in Pyongyang. The display of North Korea's military might followed a rare congress of the ruling Workers' Party, during which leader Kim denounced the United States as his country's “foremost principal enemy” and vowed to strengthen the North's nuclear war deterrent. “They'd like us to notice that they're getting more proficient with larger solid rocket boosters,” tweeted Ankit Panda, a North Korea expert and author of 'Kim Jong Un and the Bomb', as the parade unfolded in Pyongyang's Kim Il Sung square.
WorldReutersCasino mogul and 'Jewish patriot' Adelson buried in Jerusalem
U.S. casino magnate Sheldon Adelson was buried on Friday on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, a city that he fought for years to have recognised as Israel's capital. Mourners dressed in black - some in skullcaps and all wearing masks - laid Adelson's unadorned coffin to rest, accompanied by his Israeli-born wife Miriam and other family members. Praised by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a "huge Jewish patriot", Adelson died on Monday from cancer, said Las Vegas Sands Corp, which he turned into the world's largest casino company.
WorldAssociated PressChina builds new quarantine center as virus cases rise
A city in northern China is building a 3,000-unit quarantine facility to deal with an anticipated overflow of patients as COVID-19 cases rise ahead of the annual Lunar New Year travel rush. State media on Friday showed crews leveling earth, pouring concrete and assembling prefabricated rooms in farmland in an outlying part of Shijiazhuang, the provincial capital of Hebei province, which has seen the bulk of the new cases. That recalled scenes from last year, when China rapidly built field hospitals and turned gymnasiums into isolation centers to cope with a then-spiraling outbreak in Wuhan, where the virus was first detected in late 2019.
U.S.ReutersU.S. says Capitol rioters meant to 'capture and assassinate' officials - filing
Federal prosecutors offered an ominous new assessment of last week's siege of the U.S. Capitol by President Donald Trump's supporters on Thursday, saying in a court filing that rioters intended "to capture and assassinate elected officials." Prosecutors offered that view in a filing asking a judge to detain Jacob Chansley, the Arizona man and QAnon conspiracy theorist who was famously photographed wearing horns as he stood at the desk of Vice President Mike Pence in the chamber of the U.S. Senate. The detention memo, written by Justice Department lawyers in Arizona, goes into greater detail about the FBI's investigation into Chansley, revealing that he left a note for Pence warning that "it's only a matter of time, justice is coming."
PoliticsBusiness InsiderA member of Congress says she chose to risk running into Capitol rioters over sheltering with maskless colleagues during the insurrection
Rep. Stacey Plaskett, who serves as a House delegate representing the Virgin Islands, told Buzzfeed News that she opted to shelter in her office instead of with colleagues during the Capitol insurrection last week. In the days since the insurrection, Democratic Reps. Pramila Jayapal, Bonnie Watson Coleman, Brad Schneider, and Adriano Espaillat have tested positive for COVID-19.
EntertainmentArchitectural DigestMore Inside Artist Jorge Pardo's Transformed Bushwick Carriage House
When it came to the lighting in his home, Pardo drew inspiration from the insides of fruits, nuts, and seeds, as well as sea creatures and machine parts. Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest
WorldThe TelegraphBoris Johnson considers post-Brexit changes to rules on 48-hour working week
Boris Johnson is considering a post-Brexit overhaul of labour laws to free businesses from regulations originally imposed by the EU. The 48-hour working week is one of the regulations being targeted by the Government, it was reported on Thursday night, in a move that is likely to meet with resistance from trade unions. The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), has asked business leaders for their views on the ideas, which are understood to be at an early stage.
ScienceAssociated PressRIP: Mars digger bites the dust after 2 years on red planet
NASA declared the Mars digger dead Thursday after failing to burrow deep into the red planet to take its temperature. "We've given it everything we've got, but Mars and our heroic mole remain incompatible,” said the German Space Agency's Tilman Spohn, the lead scientist for the experiment. Astronauts one day may need to dig into Mars, according to NASA, in search of frozen water for drinking or making fuel, or signs of past microscopic life.
PoliticsThe WeekU.S. carries out Trump's 12th federal execution
The Trump administration executed Corey Johnson on Thursday night, after the Supreme Court lifted stays on both Johnson's execution and another one scheduled for Friday. Both Johnson and the other inmate, Dustin Higgs, tested positive for COVID-19, and their lawyers had argued that the execution drug pentobarbital would cause excruciating pain on the COVID-infected lungs. Johnson's lawyers also pointed to evidence that he was severely mentally disabled.
U.S.INSIDERAt least 6 pro-Trump rioters charged in the Capitol insurrection have already been released from custody
Josiah Colt is charged in federal court with knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building and violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds. He is one of at least five pro-Trump rioters charged with federal crimes who have already been allowed to go home pending trial. Dozens of people who were at or around the violent siege of the Capitol building last week have been charged - some of them also indicted - with crimes in DC or federal courts, and that list is growing by the hour.
PoliticsBusiness Insider'We're going to pull out all the stops:' A top Senate Democrat says he'll fight to include a $600 federal unemployment benefit in Biden's stimulus plan
Sen. Ron Wyden, incoming chair of the Senate Finance committee, opened the door to modifying the Biden stimulus package during congressional negotiations, particularly on unemployment aid. "I'm going to push hard for what's needed to get people through a very difficult circumstance" Wyden told Insider. "The president-elect served in the Senate, and he knows all of these issues are in negotiation."
WorldAssociated PressGerman lockdown loopholes criticized as deaths hit new high
Germany has too many loopholes in its coronavirus lockdown rules, the head of the country's disease control agency said as figures published Thursday showed the highest number of daily deaths since the start of the pandemic. The Robert Koch Institute said 1,244 deaths from COVID-19 were confirmed in one day up to Thursday, taking the total number to 43,881. There were also 25,164 newly confirmed cases, putting Germany's total known infections close to 2 million.
WorldReutersU.S. commission says China possibly committed 'genocide' against Xinjiang Muslims
China has possibly committed "genocide" in its treatment of Uighurs and other minority Muslims in its western region of Xinjiang, a bipartisan commission of the U.S. Congress said in a report on Thursday. The Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC) said new evidence had emerged in the past year that "crimes against humanity - and possibly genocide - are occurring" in Xinjiang. It also accused China of harassing Uighurs in the United States.
U.S.INSIDERA Florida teacher was filmed falsely telling students 'Antifa' was behind the Capitol riots
A Florida teacher was filmed falsely telling students "Antifa" was responsible for the January 6 Capitol riots. The substitute teacher is "no longer with" Edward W. Bok Academy South or Lake Wales Charter Schools (LWCS), the HR director at LWCS confirmed to Insider. There's no evidence "Antifa" was responsible for violence during the Capitol riots; about 100 pro-Trump supporters have been charged so far.
U.S.The Daily BeastRetired Firefighter Arrested for Allegedly Hurling Fire Extinguisher at Cops During Capitol Riots
Federal authorities on Thursday arrested another handful of Capitol insurrectionists, including a retired Pennsylvania firefighter accused of throwing a fire extinguisher that hit three police officers, a man photographed holding a Confederate flag inside the Capitol, and a former school therapist. Robert Sanford, a 55-year-old from Chester, Pennsylvania, faces three felony charges, including assaulting a police officer, after he was allegedly caught on camera hurling the extinguisher as the mob stormed past Capitol Police officers and broke into the building on Jan. 6. He was taken into custody by the FBI in Pennsylvania Thursday morning just before 6 a.m.
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Arizona Republicans figure prominently in election turmoil
Several Arizona lawmakers figure prominently in the controversy over the Republican effort to overturn President Donald Trump's election loss and the ensuing chaos after a mob stormed the Capitol. From raising objections to the state's election results to attending or potentially helping to organize the violent rally, Arizonans are playing an outsized role in the recriminations that have marked the final weeks of Trump's presidency. Arizona was a hotbed for GOP election denialism long before Trump supporters broke into the Capitol and halted the formal certification of Biden's victory.
LifestyleArchitectural DigestJessie Schuster Transforms a Spacious SoHo Loft Inside an Old Factory Building
The Manhattan-based interior designer preserved the element of gritty New York through a “raw but elevated” renovation Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest
WorldBBCCovid-19: Brazil hospitals 'run out of oxygen' for virus patients
Hospitals in the Brazilian city of Manaus have reached breaking point while treating Covid-19 patients, amid reports of severe oxygen shortages and desperate staff. The city, in Amazonas state, has seen a surge of deaths and infections. Health professionals, quoted by local media, warned "many people" could die due to lack of supplies and assistance.
U.S.INSIDERThe FBI arrested the man seen with a Confederate flag inside of the US Capitol
Thousands of protesters from across the US gathered in Washington, DC, on January 6 to protest the presidential vote certification in Congress. The protests turned into riots, which led to the Capitol being evacuated as rioters stormed the building and halted the vote-certification process. A photo of Kevin Seefried went viral online after being seen inside the Capitol rotunda with a Confederate battle flag.
“Governors are being WAY too precious about who gets this vaccine.”
“The federal government needs to give states strict parameters for when their vaccine allocation must be administered.”
“While public health leaders know what must be done, their critical work could be supported by a national COVID-19 Vaccine Corps.”
“The US vaccine campaign is not a disaster. Rather, I think it is predictably mediocre.”
“The best option may be to rely more on private industry.”