WorldThe TelegraphSpain acquits man of sexually abusing 14-year-old stepdaughter who gave birth to his child
A Spanish court has provoked outrage by acquitting a man of sexually abusing his 14-year-old stepdaughter despite the fact she gave birth to his child. The Pamplona court accepted the defendant's claim that the teenager had sat astride him while he was asleep on the sofa and engaged in penetrative sex. The girl's mother reported the father for alleged sexual abuse of her daughter, who initially said she had been raped in the street before changing her story to corroborate her stepfather's claim that he had not been conscious when they had sex.
PoliticsAssociated PressWhite House: Intel on Russian 'bounties' on US troops shaky
The White House says that the intelligence community does not have conclusive evidence that Russian intelligence operatives encouraged the Taliban to attack American troops in Afghanistan. The assessment, revealed Thursday as the U.S. announced a host of new sanctions on the Russian government, undermines one of the sharpest attacks Joe Biden and other Democrats leveled against former President Donald Trump during the 2020 White House race. Biden repeatedly attacked Trump on the campaign trail for not standing up to Russian President Vladimir Putin despite his administration being aware of intelligence suggesting Russian agents were offering bounties to the Taliban.
HealthReutersJ&J scientists refute 'class effect' to blame for clots in those who got its COVID-19 vaccine
Scientists at Johnson & Johnson on Friday refuted an assertion in a major medical journal that the adenovirus-based design of their COVID-19 vaccine, which is similar AstraZeneca's, may explain why both have been linked to very rare brain blood clots in some vaccine recipients. The United States earlier this week paused distribution of the J&J vaccine to investigate six cases of a rare brain blood clot known as cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST), accompanied by a low blood platelet count, in U.S. women under age 50, out of about 7 million people who got the shot. The blood clots in patients who received the J&J vaccine bear close resemblance to 169 cases in Europe reported with the AstraZeneca vaccine, out of 34 million doses administered there.
U.S.The TelegraphAdam Toledo: Fresh police shooting of 13-year-old boy with his hands up puts America on edge
Chicago police on Thursday released body-camera video footage showing an officer shooting and killing a 13-year-old boy in an alley more than two weeks ago. The nine-minute video began by showing an unidentified police officer getting out of his squad car and running after Adam Toledo in an alley at 2:30am on March 29 in Little Village, a neighbourhood on the city's West Side. The video then showed the officer yelling "stop" to Toledo before he caught up to him and ordered him to show him his hands.
WorldAssociated PressIsrael says it will 'definitely' stop Iran from getting bomb
Israel's foreign minister said Friday that his country was determined to stop Iran from building a nuclear weapon, after Tehran promised to step up its uranium enrichment process. “We will do whatever it takes to prevent the extremists (in Iran) from succeeding, and definitely will prevent this regime from having a nuclear weapon,” Israeli Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi told reporters on a visit to Cyprus. Iranian officials say the country will begin enriching uranium up to 60% purity following an attack on its nuclear facility at Natanz, in central Iran, on Sunday, that it blamed on Israel.
WorldReutersExclusive: EU agrees to sanction two companies close to Myanmar military, diplomats say
The European Union has agreed to impose sanctions on another 10 individuals linked to the Feb. 1 coup in Myanmar and to target two businesses run by the armed forces for the first time in protest at the military takeover, two diplomats said. The measures, which the diplomats said could take effect next week, would target two companies that generate revenue for the Myanmar Armed Forces. While the EU has an arms embargo on Myanmar and targeted 11 senior military officials last month, the decision to target two companies is the most significant response so far for the bloc since the coup that ousted an elected government led by Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.
LifestyleArchitectural DigestThe 9 Best Wireless Headphones for Every Kind of Use
From the most comfortable pair to the best value buy, these headphones will carry you through the spring, summer, and beyond Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest
U.S.NextSharkBronx Man Arrested For Hate Crime Against Asian Woman
A Bronx man has been arrested for allegedly harassing a 25-year-old Asian woman in Manhattan. Daniel Negroni, 31, is accused of targeting the unnamed victim in Sutton Place around 1 p.m. on Tuesday, according to WLNY. The woman reported that Negroni approached her and made anti-Asian comments as she was out on First Avenue and 57th Street on the East Side.
WorldAssociated PressBeijing warns US, Japan against collusion vs China
China said Friday it has expressed “serious concerns” to the United States and Japan over what it calls negative moves and collusion between the two countries against China. The statement from Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian came just before President Joe Biden welcomes Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga to the White House on Friday in his first face-to-face meeting with a foreign leader. That meeting is seen as reflecting Biden's emphasis on strengthening alliances to deal with a more assertive China and other global challenges.
WorldAssociated PressNew blast at St. Vincent volcano; cruise ship helps evacuees
La Soufriere volcano shot out another explosive burst of gas and ash on Friday as a cruise ship arrived to evacuate some of the foreigners who had been stuck on a St. Vincent island coated in ash from a week of violent eruptions. Friday morning's blast “wasn't a big explosion compared to the ones that we last weekend, but it was big enough to punch a hole through the clouds," said Richard Robertson, lead scientist at the University of the West Indies Seismic Research Center, in an interview with local NBC radio. During a comparable eruption cycle in 1902, explosive eruptions continued to shake the island for months after an initial burst killed some 1,700 people, though the new eruptions so far have caused no reported deaths among a population that had received official warning a day earlier that danger was imminent.
U.S.ReutersJohnson & Johnson asked rival COVID-19 vaccine makers to probe clotting risks - WSJ
Johnson & Johnson had reached out to rival COVID-19 vaccine makers to join in an effort to study the risks of blood clots, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter. AstraZeneca, which had been buffeted by similar blood-clotting concerns for weeks, agreed, while Pfizer Inc and Moderna executive declined, saying their vaccines appeared safe, the report said. https://on.wsj.com/2Q7E4Ho) The U.S. federal health agencies had on Tuesday recommended pausing use of Johnson & Johnson's vaccine for at least a few days after six women under the age of 50 developed rare blood clots after receiving the shot.
U.S.Raleigh News and ObserverSearch for kayaker’s body suspended after dog was found in Colorado lake, cops say
Crews have suspended the search for a missing man, who is now presumed dead, after officials spotted a capsized kayak on Sunday and rescued his dog from Carter Lake in Colorado, according to officials. The Larimer County Sheriff's Office officials said on Friday that the search has been suspended after teams have spent more than 700 hours looking for the man believed to be from Loveland. Rangers found an uninjured dog wearing a flotation device and a kayak in the lake Sunday afternoon but no kayaker.
U.S.TheGrioProsecutor didn’t ‘fully inform himself’ before testifying Adam Toledo had gun
A Cook County prosecutor who said in court the boy was armed when Chicago cops shot him is now backtracking. A prosecutor who said in court that 13-year-old Adam Toledo had a gun when he was shot by Chicago Police is now backtracking on his statement. Toledo was shot and killed in the early morning hours of March 29 while police were detaining a man, Ruben Roman, responding to a call of shots fired around 2:30 a.m.
WorldAssociated PressRussia to expel 10 US diplomats in response to Biden actions
Russia on Friday responded to a barrage of new U.S. sanctions by saying it would expel 10 U.S. diplomats and take other retaliatory moves in a tense showdown with Washington. The Russian Foreign Ministry also published a list of eight current or former U.S. officials barred from entering the country, including U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, FBI Director Christopher Wray, Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines and Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas. Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov also said Moscow will move to shut down those U.S. nongovernment organizations that remain in Russia to end what he described as their meddling in Russia's politics.
ScienceKansas City Star‘Godzilla Shark’ with 12 rows of teeth now has an official name — inspired by dragons
A graduate student pierced a pocket knife through shaley limestones in New Mexico, not expecting to find much. That student — John-Paul Hodnett — was part of a group of researchers learning about fossils of Pennsylvanian Period plants and animals in 2013. He had only found fragments of plants and fish scales up to that point, and the group was about to leave the site when Hodnett found something different.
PoliticsThe Guardian‘Alarm is growing’: Michigan governor faces shutdown dilemma as Covid cases rise
The coronavirus lockdowns and restrictions that Michigan's governor, Gretchen Whitmer, enacted in March last year were among the nation's toughest, and the governor's leadership is thought to have saved lives. Now, as Michigan faces another surge of cases and hospitalizations, its worst yet, Whitmer has changed tack. Despite past success and growing calls for another lockdown from public health experts, and doctors managing hospitals with Covid patients, the governor is resisting further restrictions, and is instead largely relying on a vaccination rollout and a voluntary suspension of in-person dining services.
- WorldYahoo News Video
Daunte Wright's mother calls for accountability
On Thursday, Katie Wright, the mother of Daunte Wright, the 20-year-old Black man shot and killed by police in Brooklyn Center, Minn. expressed her grief and called for accountability for her son's death.
U.S.Associated PressOfficials: 2nd dead worker from capsized boat found in Gulf
The Coast Guard said Friday that it has found the body of a second dead worker from the lift boat that capsized off Louisiana's coast earlier this week. Rescuers in the air and the sea have been searching for the 19 workers who were aboard the vessel when it overturned Tuesday in rough weather about 8 miles (13 kilometers) from the Louisiana coast. The second body was found in the water near the partially submerged Seacor Power lift boat Thursday night, according the Coast Guard news release.
PoliticsBusiness InsiderManchin balks at GOP's smaller infrastructure plan - and says he can back $4 trillion as long as it's paid for
That could be bad news for Republicans hoping he'll break with his party on the next massive plan from President Joe Biden's desk. Manchin - a moderate Democrat with incredible influence over Senate Democrats' agenda - rebuked the GOP's infrastructure plan on Thursday. His comments could reverberate widely.
WorldMiami HeraldCuba’s budding civil society asks to be heard as island prepares for historic congress
Famous musicians long aligned with the communist government poke a finger at the revolution with a song that mocks a slogan penned by Fidel Castro. Cuba's upcoming Communist Party Congress, in which Raúl Castro is expected to hand the reins of power to a younger generation of leaders, coincides not just with a deep economic crisis but also the advent of a nascent civil society movement demanding greater freedoms and channeling growing discontent on the island. In the lead up to the conclave, opposition groups have called on Cuba's leaders to open the debate on the island's future to a more diverse range of voices and consider significant reforms to the island's one-party system and Soviet-style economy.
PoliticsBusiness InsiderSen. Ted Cruz no longer wears a mask at the Capitol, falsely claiming 'everybody' in the Senate has been vaccinated against COVID-19
Sen. Ted Cruz has stopped wearing a mask at the Capitol, CNN reports. Cruz claimed "everybody" in the Senate is vaccinated, but that's not true of all staffers, reporters, and lawmakers. The CDC still recommends vaccinated individuals to wear a mask when in public.
- U.S.Raleigh News and Observer
Durham man pleads guilty to shooting grandfather in the head at 16. Why did he do it?
Nearly six years after William Evans was found shot and cold in a Durham parking lot, his grandson pleaded guilty to shooting the 65-year-old man with his own gun. Under a plea agreement, Dominick Jackson pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced to up to nearly 10 years in prison, with credit for the more than five years he spent in jail awaiting trial. Under North Carolina sentencing laws, courts must consider mitigating and aggravating factors that could decrease or increase the sentence.
WorldThe IndependentBabies dying from Covid in Brazil as ‘humanitarian catastrophe’ hits country
As some countries look towards an end to the coronavirus pandemic, Brazil is facing an ever-worsening crisis, with overwhelmed health systems and a soaring death toll leading to a significant number of babies dying from Covid-19. The South American country's seven-day rolling average for deaths reached more than 3,000 this month, as the medical NGO Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) warned that a “humanitarian catastrophe” was unfolding due to government mismanagement of the pandemic. Dr Christos Christou, MSF's international president, said far-right leader Jair Bolsonaro's government had all but refused to introduce “evidence-based comprehensive public health guidelines”.
U.S.BBCDaunte Wright shooting: US ex-officer Kim Potter charged over killing
A US former police officer who shot dead a black motorist in Minnesota has been charged with second-degree manslaughter, prosecutors say. Kim Potter was arrested and later released on $100,000 (£72,000) bail. Police say Mrs Potter shot Daunte Wright accidentally, having mistakenly drawn her gun instead of her Taser.
PoliticsBusiness InsiderMitt Romney, Liz Cheney, and other GOP lawmakers who criticized Trump or voted to impeach him have spent tens of thousands of dollars on private security
Lawmakers who criticized Trump or voted to impeach him spent thousands to improve personal security after the Capitol attack. Republicans including Mitt Romney and Liz Cheney beefed up their security, per Punchbowl News. Prominent lawmakers spent tens of thousands of dollars on private security guards and other protection following the Capitol riots, a Punchbowl News analysis of campaign finance records shows.
“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.”