PoliticsYahoo NewsA battle over tax hikes is causing a GOP identity crisis
The 69-year-old lawmaker reiterated his opposition to increasing the corporate tax rate to pay for President Biden's proposed infrastructure package. For old-school Republicans like Wicker, tax hikes like the ones Biden is advocating are unfair to high earners and lead to economic stagnation. But J.D. Vance, author of the bestselling “Hillbilly Elegy” and a political newcomer who is likely to mount a U.S. Senate campaign in Ohio next year, is singing a starkly different tune.
U.S.Associated PressDriver jailed for 22 years for killing 4 Australian police
A truck driver was sentenced to 22 years in prison on Wednesday for hitting and killing four police officers on an Australian freeway. Mohinder Singh was drug-effected and sleep-deprived when his truck veered into an emergency stopping lane of Melbourne's Eastern Freeway where three policemen and a policewoman were standing after stopping a speeding car on April 22 last year. Singh, 48, pleaded guilty in the Victoria state Supreme Court last year to four counts of culpable driving causing death, three charges of drug trafficking and one of possessing illicit drugs.
PoliticsReutersU.S. Senate confirms Biden nominee for No. 2 State Dept post
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. Senate on Tuesday confirmed President Joe Biden's nominee Wendy Sherman to be deputy secretary of state, the number two position at the department. The Senate backed the nomination by 56-42, as a handful of Republicans joined Biden's fellow Democrats to vote in Sherman's favor. Sherman, 71, a foreign policy veteran, ran into Republican resistance because she helped negotiate the 2015 international nuclear agreement with Iran, which was fiercely opposed by Republicans as well as some Democrats.
U.S.The WeekReport: Gaetz associate has been cooperating with federal investigators since last year
Joel Greenberg, the former tax collector for Seminole County, Florida, has been providing information about the conduct of Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) to federal investigators since last year, two people with knowledge of the matter told The New York Times on Tuesday. In late March, the Times reported that Gaetz, 38, was the subject of a Justice Department investigation into whether he had sex with a 17-year-old girl and paid for her to travel out of state with him. During a hearing last week, Greenberg's lawyer and a federal prosecutor told the judge it's likely Greenberg will plead guilty sometime in the next few weeks.
WorldThe TelegraphEU countries tell Britain they cannot guarantee extradition of criminals in wake of Brexit
Twenty European Union states are refusing to guarantee that suspected criminals who are citizens of their country can be extradited to the UK. Ten EU countries have declined point blank to allow such extraditions, two will do so only if the suspected criminal agrees and eight have attached other restrictions. The development emerged in recently released documents from Brussels and reflects the fact that Brexit means the UK is no longer part of the European Arrest Warrant.
WorldArchitectural DigestThe World’s 9 Most Expensive Home Listings Currently on the Market
These fantastical houses range from a 64,000-acre Texas ranch to an oceanside estate in the south of France Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest
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Police chief in Daunte Wright case submits his resignation
Brooklyn Center Mayor Mike Elliott said that Chief Tim Gannon of Brooklyn Center had submitted a letter of resignation.
PoliticsAssociated PressWhite House: First lady Jill Biden to undergo 'procedure'
The White House says President Joe Biden will accompany his wife, Jill Biden, Wednesday morning to an appointment where she will undergo a “common medical procedure. The White House says both Bidens will then return to the White House and “resume their normal schedule. Later Wednesday, the president is set to address the nation on his plans to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan by September 11, 2021.
WorldBBCIndia Covid-19 migrants: 'Lockdown will make us beg for food again'
Over a grainy video call last week from a grotty little room in the western Indian city of Mumbai, the Sethi brothers repeatedly asked me this question, their voices trembling in nervousness. More than a decade ago, Santosh and Tunna Sethi left their families and homes in the eastern state of Orissa, also called Odisha, in search of work. Of India's more than 450 million migrants, 60 million are inter-state "labour" migrants, according to Chinmay Tumbe, the author of India Moving: A History of Migration.
U.S.Associated PressMan fleeing police crashes, wedges Maserati under freeway
A man fleeing the California Highway Patrol totaled his girlfriend's Maserati SUV after he careened up an embankment and slammed into the underside of an overpass, wedging the vehicle under a freeway in Oakland, authorities said Tuesday. The driver is lucky to be alive. The owner of the Maserati … not so lucky,” the CHP said in a social media post that included photos of the mangled luxury vehicle.
WorldAssociated PressAnalysis: Iran's powerful Guard faces scrutiny after attacks
The recent sabotage at Iran's main nuclear enrichment facility is just the latest setback for the country's Revolutionary Guard, though the paramilitary force is rarely publicly criticized due to its power. Its forces failed to stop both an earlier attack at Iran's Natanz facility and the assassination of a top scientist who started a military nuclear program decades earlier. In the wake of the attack, Iran announced Tuesday it would begin enriching uranium at 60% purity, the highest level its program has ever reached.
WorldReutersChina push for global power tops U.S. security threats: intelligence report
China's push for global power is the leading threat to U.S. national security, while Russia's efforts to undermine American influence and assert itself as a major actor also pose a challenge, said a U.S. intelligence report released on Tuesday. The 2021 Annual Threat Assessment lays out U.S. spy agencies' views of the chief foreign policy issues facing U.S. President Joe Biden in his first year in office, complicated by the coronavirus pandemic and global climate change. While China and Russia are presented as the leading challenges, Iran and North Korea will also test U.S. national security, the report said.
WorldAssociated PressPutin foe Navalny says he sues prison for withholding Quran
Imprisoned Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny said Tuesday he was suing his prison for withholding the Quran, which he intended to study while serving time in a prison outside Moscow. Navalny has been on a hunger strike for two weeks, protesting prison officials' refusal to let his physician examine him behind bars after he developed severe back and leg pain. But he said Tuesday in an Instagram post that his first lawsuit against prison officials had to do with the Muslim holy book.
U.S.Associated PressA bitter custody battle and 3 young lives lost in California
Erik Denton was supposed to see his three young children last Sunday, the one day every other week that he was allowed to be with them. Three-year-old Joanna, her 2-year-old brother, Terry, and 6-month-old sister, Sierra, had been staying with their mother — Denton's ex-girlfriend — in Los Angeles. Fearful for their safety, their father had petitioned the court for custody March 1, alleging their mother, Liliana Carrillo, was delusional and had taken the kids and refused to tell him where they were.
WorldAssociated PressRussia says troop buildup near Ukraine is a response to NATO
Russia's defense minister said Tuesday that the country's massive military buildup in the west was part of readiness drills amid what he described as threats from NATO. Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said the maneuvers in western Russia that have worried neighboring Ukraine and brought warnings from NATO would last for another two weeks. Speaking at a meeting with the top military brass, Shoigu said the ongoing exercise was a response to what he claimed were continuous efforts by the United States and its NATO allies to beef up their forces near Russia's borders.
U.S.INSIDERThe Kenosha police officer who shot Jacob Blake in the back has returned to active duty without being disciplined or charged
Rusten Sheskey, the Wisconsin police officer who shot Jacob Blake, returned from administrative leave on March 31. Blake was shot seven times in the back, and Blake's father said his son was paralyzed from the waist down after the incident. Officer Rusten Sheskey, the Kenosha, Wisconsin, police officer who shot 29-year-old Jacob Blake in the back in August 2020 will not be charged or disciplined, the police department said on Tuesday.
U.S.Associated Press"Sour Grapes" wine fraud con man deported to Indonesia
A one-time California man who bilked wine collectors out of millions by selling cheaper booze he rebottled in his kitchen has been deported to his native Indonesia, U.S. immigration officials said Tuesday. Rudy Kurniawan, 44, was deported last week on a commercial flight from Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport to Jakarta, according to a statement from U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement. He is a public safety threat because of his aggravated felony conviction," the statement said.
WorldAssociated PressPakistan forces try to clear sit-ins by protesting Islamists
Pakistani security forces swinging batons and firing teargas moved before dawn Wednesday to clear sit-ins by protesting Islamists in the garrison city of Rawalpindi and elsewhere after five people died in earlier clashes, officials said. The government action comes two days after the arrest of Saad Rizvi, head of the Tehreek-e-Labiak Pakistan party, sparked protests by his supporters. Two police officers and three other people have been killed in the violence which began Monday after police arrested Rizvi for threatening protests if the government did not expel France's ambassador over depictions of Islam's Prophet Muhammad.
WorldThe Independent‘Unlike anything we’ve seen in modern history’: Attacks against journalists soar during Black Lives Matter protests
At least 50 journalists in the US have been arrested during Black Lives Matter demonstrations across the US, while dozens of others have also been injured by rubber bullets, pepper spray and tear gas. The US Press Freedom Tracker has collected nearly 500 incidents from 382 reports, from the unrest in Minneapolis in the wake of George Floyd's killing by police in late May, to demonstrations in more than 70 cities across 35 states since. At least 46 journalists were arrested between the end of May and the beginning of June, according to data collected by the organisation.
U.S.INSIDERA Black Army officer pepper-sprayed by police said he thought he could be murdered as officers gave quickly changing commands
A Black uniformed Army officer was held at gunpoint and pepper-sprayed during a traffic stop. Second lieutenant Caron Nazario filed a lawsuit against the two Virginia officers involved. In a complaint, Nazario said they gave conflicting orders and he was worried he would be murdered.
WorldAssociated PressCanary Islands hotel offers shelter to migrants in need
When hotel director Calvin Lucock and restaurant owner Unn Tove Saetran said goodbye to one of the last groups of migrants staying in one of the seaside resorts they manage in Spain's Canary Islands, the British-Norwegian couple didn't know when they would have guests again. The Spanish government — struggling to accommodate 23,000 people who disembarked on the islands in 2020 — contracted hundreds of hotel rooms left empty due to the coronavirus travel restrictions. The deal not only helped migrants and asylum-seekers have a place to sleep, it also allowed Lucock to keep most of his hotel staff employed.
EntertainmentArchitectural Digest14 Ways to Do Memphis Without Doing Memphis
You don't have to commit to full-on maximalism to make a statement Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest
U.S.Associated PressGeorgia lawmaker's legal work targeted again over voting law
Protesters are trying to get a Georgia state representative fired by cities and counties that pay him to be their attorney, citing his role in pushing through a voting law that adds restrictions. The Washington City Council voted 4-2 to ask Rep. Barry Fleming to resign Monday, WJBF-TV reports. It's not clear if the city can immediately fire the Republican from Harlem because Washington has a contract with Fleming's law firm.
PoliticsUSA TODAYFact check: False claim that President Joe Biden's approval rating lowest in American history
The claim: President Joe Biden's approval rating is at 11%, the lowest of any president in American history President Joe Biden already has tangled with members of both parties over the U.S. response to the COVID-19 pandemic, immigration and infrastructure since his inauguration less than three months ago. But his approval rating is not at an historic low, as a viral social media post suggests. The post, originally from a Twitter account on March 29, attributes Biden's supposed 11% approval rating to a Gallup poll, as reported by the Daily Caller.
CelebrityThe TelegraphQueen returns to royal duties four days after Prince Philip's death
The Queen has returned to royal duties just four days after the death of her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh. On Tuesday, the 94-year-old monarch hosted her first in-person event since Philip's passing on Friday to mark the retirement of her household's most senior official, former Lord Chamberlain Earl Peel. It was announced at the weekend the monarchy and their households would observe two weeks of royal mourning, with members of the family "continuing to undertake engagements appropriate to the circumstances," a royal official said.
“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.”