PoliticsYahoo NewsCongress prepares for major fight over voting laws in the wake of Trump’s false fraud claims
Former President Donald Trump's “big lie” about a stolen election may have been discredited over and over in the courts, and disgraced by the attack on the U.S. Capitol, but the corrosive effect of his dishonesty will linger on, complicating efforts to strengthen American elections. One of the Democrats' top priorities in the new Congress is a package of election reforms, including provisions that experts say would make it harder to cheat but easier to vote. Many of these provisions are ones that Republicans have historically resisted for ideological reasons.
PoliticsThe WeekBiden announces government's intention to increase total U.S. COVID-19 vaccine orders by 50 percent
President Biden announced Tuesday that his administration intends to order an additional 100 million doses of both the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines. The extra 200 million doses, which Biden said should arrive by the summer, would boost the country's supply by about 50 percent to 600 million shots total, meaning that there would be enough shots available to inoculate 300 million people in the coming months without the Food and Drug Administration granting approval for any other vaccine candidates. On Monday, Biden upped the daily vaccination goal from 1 million to 1.5 million throughout his first 100 days in office and suggested that any American who wants a shot could be able to get one by the spring.
WorldAssociated PressUN group says Sri Lanka virus cremation rule violates rights
A group of U.N experts has criticized Sri Lanka's requirement that those who die of COVID-19 be cremated, even it goes against a family's religious beliefs, and warned that decisions based on “discrimination and aggressive nationalism” could incite hatred and violence. The experts, who are part of the Special Procedures of the U.N Human Rights Council, said in a statement Monday that rule amounts to a human rights violation. “We deplore the implementation of such public health decisions based on discrimination, aggressive nationalism and ethnocentrism amounting to persecution of Muslims and other minorities in the country,” the experts said.
PoliticsThe IndependentGiuliani election witness who went viral after testimony says she’s running for office
A conservative activist who was widely mocked after she was called to testify by Rudy Giuliani during a hearing on election fraud in December says she is running for office. Melissa Carone, who was an IT contractor for Dominion Voting Systems on election day, testified before a Michigan House panel in December 2020 that she had witnessed electoral fraud take place in favour of the Democrats on 3 November's presidential election. In testimony that went viral, Ms Carone claimed that tens of thousands of votes had been counted twice, but offered no proof to back up her claims.
WorldReutersMexican president felt unwell before commercial flight, took COVID-19 test later: spokesman
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador first felt the onset of COVID-19 on Sunday and was tested after returning to the capital on a commercial flight from an event in central Mexico, his spokesman said on Tuesday. Spokesman Jesus Ramirez said that passengers on the flight were being contacted, and that journalists traveling with the president were recommended to isolate. Lopez Obrador had a fever on Sunday and was still experiencing some mild symptoms by Tuesday, including a minor headache, Deputy Health Minister Hugo Lopez-Gatell said in an evening news conference.
U.S.The WeekCapitol Police chief apologizes for riot 'failings,' acknowledges 'we knew that there was a strong potential for violence'
The acting chief of the U.S. Capitol Police has offered an apology to lawmakers following the deadly Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol building, acknowledging the department "should have been more prepared." Yogananda Pittman, the acting Capitol Police chief, apologized to Congress during a closed-door briefing on Tuesday for "our failings" during the riot at the Capitol that left five people dead earlier this month, The New York Times reports. "On Jan. 6, in the face of a terrorist attack by tens of thousands of insurrectionists determined to stop the certification of Electoral College votes, the department failed to meet its own high standards as well as yours," Pittman said, according to remarks obtained by the Times.
LifestyleArchitectural DigestHere Are The Brightest Decor Buys of the Season
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WorldAssociated PressPope marking Holocaust warns another genocide possible
Pope Francis marked Holocaust Remembrance Day on Wednesday by warning that warped ideologies can pave the way to another genocide. Francis spoke off the cuff at the end of his weekly general audience, held in his private library because of coronavirus restrictions, to commemorate the 76th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp in Poland, where Nazis killed more than 1 million Jews and others. In all, about 6 million European Jews and millions of other people were killed by the Germans and their collaborators.
WorldThe TelegraphWHO official investigating pandemic warns world to 'manage expectations' as team leaves quarantine
A team of World Health Organisation experts investigating the origins of the pandemic are preparing to begin work at last after completing quarantine in the Chinese city of Wuhan. The 13-person team will leave their fortnight-long isolation in the next 24 hours and step into a political minefield. American accusations that the virus originated in a Chinese military lab, or that the country's government hushed up the start of the outbreak, are likely to place intense scrutiny on the team.
PoliticsAssociated PressUS puts hold on foreign arms sales, including F-35s to UAE
The Biden administration has put a temporary hold on several major foreign arms sales initiated by former President Donald Trump. Officials say that among the deals being paused is a massive $23 billion transfer of stealth F-35 fighters to the United Arab Emirates. The new administration is reviewing the sales but has not made any determination about whether they will actually go through, the State Department said.
U.S.The Daily BeastAnother Police Officer Who Responded to Capitol Riots Dies by Suicide Days Later
A second police officer who responded to the riots at the Capitol earlier this month has died by suicide, the D.C. police chief revealed on Tuesday evening. Jeffery Smith had worked for the Metropolitan Police Department for 12 years and died on Jan. 15—just nine days after thousands of MAGA supporters stormed the Capitol. Smith is the second police officer to die by suicide after working at the Capitol on the day of the siege.
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Biden administration has system in place where reporters will not ask president tough questions: Media critic
Steve Krakauer, editor at Fourth Watch, says 'it shouldn't be contingent' on one reporter to ask Biden tough questions.
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Israel: 900 Holocaust survivors died of COVID-19 in 2020
The bureau reported that about 5,300 survivors of the World War II-era mass murder of European Jews and other groups by the Nazis were infected in 2020 with the coronavirus. About 17% of those Holocaust survivors died of the virus, similar to the percentage of others of the same age. All Holocaust survivors are at least 75 years old and COVID-19, the illness caused by the virus, is especially lethal to seniors.
PoliticsReutersAnalysis: A 'transitory way to govern' - Biden reverses Trump's orders with the stroke of a pen
In his first week in office, U.S. President Joe Biden has rolled out a wave of executive orders to fulfill a roster of campaign promises, underscoring just how easy it is to reverse some of the policies of his predecessor, Donald Trump. As of Wednesday morning, Biden had cranked out some 40 executive orders, nearly half of them overturning Trump mandates. With one stroke of the pen, the United States rejoined the Paris climate accord and with another, Biden blocked funds for a border wall with Mexico.
WorldAssociated PressIran, Taliban officials say US pushing war in Afghanistan
Iranian and Taliban officials met in Tehran on Wednesday and accused the U.S. of provoking the continuation of war in Afghanistan, Iranian State TV reported. Ali Shamkhani, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, told visiting Taliban political chief Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar that the U.S. seeks to continue the war in neighboring Afghanistan. The U.S. strategy supports the continuation of war and bloodshed among various Afghan groups in the political spectrum,” Shamkhani was quoted as saying.
WorldAssociated PressAuschwitz survivors mark anniversary online amid pandemic
A Jewish prayer for the souls of the people murdered in the Holocaust echoed Wednesday over where the Warsaw ghetto stood during World War II as a world paused by the coronavirus pandemic observed the 76th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. Most International Holocaust Remembrance Day commemorations were being held online this year due to the virus, including the annual ceremony at the site of the former Auschwitz death camp, where Nazi German forces killed 1.1 million people in occupied Poland. The memorial site is closed to visitors because of the pandemic.
PoliticsThe IndependentBiden’s inauguration was third most viewed in TV history
President Joe Biden's swearing-in as the 46th president of the US, with 34 million viewers, is the third most-watched in the history of American television. According to TV audience research company, Nielsen, Mr Biden's popularity is only surpassed by the swearing-in ceremonies of presidents Ronald Reagan and Barack Obama in the past 40 years. Almost 33.8 million people watched Mr Biden's six-hour-long inauguration ceremony over 17 television networks on 20 January, said Nielsen.
WorldAssociated PressPhilippines protests new China law as `verbal threat of war’
The Philippines has protested a new Chinese law that authorizes its coast guard to fire on foreign vessels and destroy other countries' structures on islands it claims, Manila's top diplomat said Wednesday. Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. said in a tweet that the new Chinese law “is a verbal threat of war to any country that defies” it. “While enacting law is a sovereign prerogative, this one — given the area involved, or for that matter the open South China Sea — is a verbal threat of war to any country that defies the law,” Locsin said.
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Mali army and French forces kill 100 extremists this month
Mali's army and French forces in the West African nation have killed at least 100 Islamic extremists so far this year, the army said Wednesday. The joint operation carried out from Jan. 2 to 20 also led to the capture of about 20 motorcycles and the seizure of weapons and other materials, the army said. Extremists were pushed out of areas in central and northern Mali such as Serma, Foulssaret, Doni and Boulikessi, where a recent extremist attack killed at least four soldiers.
PoliticsThe IndependentWhy proximity is power in the White House
Located very closely to the Oval Office are Senior Adviser Mike Donilon, Counselor to the President Steve Ricchetti, Chief of Staff Ron Klain, Deputy Chief of Staff Bruce Reed, and Jen O'Malley, another deputy chief of staff. Not far away, Mr Biden will have on hand Senior Adviser Anita Dunn, Communications Director Kate Bedingfield, and National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan. Also close is Chief of White House Operations Annie Tomasini.
PoliticsThe WeekThe Daily Show dramatizes the Trump-Fox News 'divorce,' suggests Fox News has already moved on
Former President Donald Trump's departure from office "caused a major rift in the GOP, but his relationship with the GOP isn't the only one that's been strained," Trevor Noah said on Tuesday's Daily Show. "You see, there was another organization that played an equally important role in Trump's political rise: Fox News. For four years, they treated Trump the way a white lady treats her dog: he was a good boy, and if he peed on you, it was your fault.
PoliticsBusiness InsiderHouse Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy will have 'conversation' with Marjorie Taylor Greene after her 'disturbing' comments on social media
Hundreds of posts and comments on Marjory Taylor Greene's Facebook showed disturbing comments. A spokesman for House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy told Axios he'd speak with Greene. The freshman lawmaker has endorsed conspiracy theories that mass shootings were staged.
WorldThe Daily BeastPanicked Euro Leaders Threaten Trade War as Vaccine Rollout Goes to Hell
ROME— The development of COVID-19 vaccines was supposed to mark the end of the worst year in modern history, but less than a month into the rollout, European leaders are already panicking. Threats of trade wars and fierce infighting over short vaccine supplies are making the cure—or in this case, the vaccine—just as divisive as the finger-pointing that marked the beginning of this nightmare. German Chancellor Angela Merkel delivered a thinly veiled threat against the U.S. on how Europe should deal with American “vaccine nationalism” in her address to the World Economic Forum being held virtually instead of in Davos this year.
WorldBBCTaiwan reports 'large incursion' by Chinese warplanes for second day
The Taiwan-sized problem for the next US president What my grandfather's life taught me about China and America Taiwan's defence ministry said eight Chinese bomber planes capable of carrying nuclear weapons, four fighter jets and one anti-submarine aircraft entered its self-declared south-western air defence identification zone on Saturday. Sunday's operation involved 12 fighters, two anti-submarine aircraft and a reconnaissance plane, the ministry said. On both occasions, Taiwan's air force warned away the aircraft and deployed air defence missile systems to monitor the planes.
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Taiwan air force flexes muscles after latest Chinese incursion
Taiwan, claimed by China as its territory, has been on edge since the large-scale incursion by Chinese fighters and nuclear-capable bombers into the southwestern part of its air defence identification zone on Saturday (January 23) and Sunday (January 25), which coincided with a U.S. carrier group entering the South China Sea. The base in the southern city of Tainan, home to F-CK-1 Ching-kuo Indigenous Defence Fighters (IDF), frequently scrambles jets to intercept China's air force.
“By encouraging this act of terror on our capital, Trump’s legacy is destroyed.”
“Both backers and critics of Trump agreed that he remade the federal judiciary — a change that will impact America for decades.”
“He was largely responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Americans who did not need to die.”
“I do know what the future should hold for this country. That is to say, a policy of Trumpism without Trump.”
“It will be decades before the consequences of his tenure are fully known.”