U.S.Yahoo News 360Does the U.S. need a domestic terrorism law to fight extremism?
The deadly attack at the U.S. Capitol last week has revived an ongoing debate over whether federal law enforcement should be given more authority to fight homegrown terrorism at the same level the U.S. combats terrorism abroad. President-elect Joe Biden was one of many lawmakers to refer to the mob of Trump supporters who stormed the Capitol building as “domestic terrorists.” The rioters' attempt to forcibly stop Congress from certifying Biden's election victory appears to meet the legal standard for domestic terrorism, which is defined under U.S. law as violent acts intended to “influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion.”
BusinessReutersGitHub apologizes for firing Jewish employee who warned of Nazis in U.S. Capitol: TechCrunch
Technology company GitHub has apologized for firing a Jewish employee who cautioned his colleagues about the presence of Nazis in Washington on the day of the assault of the U.S. Capitol earlier this month, TechCrunch reported. After a probe found "significant errors of judgment and procedure" in the termination of the employee, GitHub's head of human resources resigned, GitHub Chief Operating Officer Erica Brescia said on Sunday. "In light of these findings, we immediately reversed the decision to separate with the employee and are in communication with his representative," Brescia said in a blog https://bit.ly/2KnkVhI, adding that the company apologized to that employee.
PoliticsAssociated PressGen. Milley key to military continuity as Biden takes office
In taking charge of a Pentagon battered by leadership churn, the Biden administration will look to one holdover as a source of military continuity: Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. President-elect Joe Biden will inherit Milley as his senior military adviser, and although Biden could replace Milley, he likely won't. A Princeton-educated history buff with the gift of gab, Milley has been a staunch defender of the military's apolitical tradition even as President Donald Trump packed the Pentagon with political loyalists.
U.S.INSIDERFederal authorities arrest the mother of Tennessee man who was pictured holding plastic restraints during Capitol riots
The mother of the man who was pictured with plastic zip-tie restraints during the Capitol riots was arrested and charged by the FBI. Lis Eisenhart was arrested in Nashville on Saturday. According to an affidavit, footage from the riot revealed that both Eisenhart and Munchel appeared to be "holding flex cuffs in each of their hands" while following a violent mob who were chasing two Capitol police officers during the siege.
WorldReutersUgandan opposition party says it will challenge election result; two dead in protests
Ugandan opposition leader Bobi Wine's party said on Sunday that it was preparing to challenge President Yoweri Museveni's election win and condemned what it called the house arrest of Wine, as news emerged of two people killed in protests over the result. Protests broke out on Saturday after results from Thursday's election were announced in two areas, Luwero district north of Kampala and Masaka to the southwest, and security forces killed two people and arrested 23 in total, NTV Uganda reported on Sunday, citing local police. No other details were immediately available about the protests.
PoliticsAxiosPew: Biden to start presidency with strong performance ratings
Joe Biden will start his presidency next week with relatively strong performance ratings, according to a Pew Research Center survey. On the other hand: President Trump will leave the the White House with his lowest approval rating ever. 64% of voters expressed a positive opinion of Biden's conduct since he won the November election, Pew found.
WorldAssociated PressBrazil’s health agency approves the use of two vaccines
Brazil's health regulator on Sunday approved the urgent use of coronavirus vaccines made by Sinovac and AstraZeneca, enabling Latin America's largest nation to begin an immunization program that's been subject to delay and political disputes. Brazil currently has 6 million doses of Sinovac's CoronaVac vaccine ready to distribute in the next few days and is awaiting the arrival of 2 million doses of the vaccine made by AstraZeneca and partner Oxford University. This is good news for Brazil, but 6 million doses are still very few.
WorldReutersUK sees third-highest daily death toll with new cases at three-week low
Britain reported its lowest number of daily new coronavirus infections since the start of the year on Saturday, adding to signs that a national lockdown is slowing the spread of a more infectious variant of the disease. However the effect of the recent surge in cases remains clear in the death toll, which was the third-highest on record. Britain has Europe's highest death toll - though more have died in Italy and Belgium on a per capita basis.
PoliticsThe WeekGOP officials are reportedly worried controversial pro-Trump House members could run for Senate, governor
Georgia and Arizona were two of the most crucial states in this election cycle, and it looks like they'll remain at the forefront of the coming battle within the Republican Party, The New York Times reports. Things have grown tense in the Sun Belt states, where mainstream Republicans are hoping to fend off President Trump's allies. In Arizona, for instance, the state GOP is trying to censure Republican Gov. Doug Ducey — as well as former Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) and Cindy McCain — in part because he has been "deemed insufficiently beholden to Trump," Politico reports.
WorldAssociated PressEgypt unveils ancient funerary temple south of Cairo
Egypt's former antiquities minister and noted archaeologist Zahi Hawass on Sunday revealed details of an ancient funerary temple in a vast necropolis south of Cairo. Hawass told reporters at the Saqqara necropolis that archaeologists unearthed the temple of Queen Neit, wife of King Teti, the first king of the Sixth Dynasty that ruled Egypt from 2323 B.C. till 2150 B.C. Archaeologists also found a 4-meter (13-foot) long papyrus that includes texts of the Book of the Dead, which is a collection of spells aimed at directing the dead through the underworld in ancient Egypt, he said.
U.S.BBCWilmington 1898: When white supremacists overthrew a US government
They destroyed black-owned businesses, murdered black residents, and forced the elected local government - a coalition of white and black politicians - to resign en masse. Historians have described it as the only coup in US history. Its ringleaders took power the same day as the insurrection and swiftly brought in laws to strip voting and civil rights from the state's black population.
PoliticsThe New York TimesHow Republicans Are Warping Reality Around the Capitol Attack
Immediately after the attack on the U.S. Capitol, all corners of the political spectrum repudiated the mob of President Donald Trump's supporters. In one of the ultimate don't-believe-your-eyes moments of the Trump era, these Republicans have retreated to the ranks of misinformation, claiming it was Black Lives Matter protesters and far-left groups like antifa who stormed the Capitol — in spite of the pro-Trump flags and QAnon symbology in the crowd. Others have argued that the attack was no worse than the rioting and looting in cities during the Black Lives Matter movement, often exaggerating the unrest last summer while minimizing a mob's attempt to overturn an election.
WorldAssociated PressIsrael OKs hundreds of settlement homes in last-minute push
Israeli authorities on Sunday advanced plans to build nearly 800 homes in West Bank settlements, in a last-minute surge of approvals before the friendly Trump administration leaves office later this week. COGAT, the Israeli defense body that authorizes settlement construction, confirmed the approvals, which drew swift condemnations from the Palestinians. The anti-settlement monitoring group Peace Now said that over 90% of the homes lay deep inside the West Bank, which the Palestinians seek as the heartland of a future independent state, and over 200 homes were located in unauthorized outposts that the government had decided to legalize.
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NASA's Boeing moon rocket cuts short in test
NASA's newest deep space rocket built by Boeing might have to stay grounded a little while longer. The Space Launch System was designed to return US astronauts to the moon by 2024 as part of NASA's Artemis Program. During an engine test on Saturday, all four of the Space Launch System's engines were ignited together for the first time, but that only lasted over a minute, well below the roughly eight-minute target for the test, designed to simulate the internal conditions of a real liftoff.
U.S.INSIDERA couple of Capitol rioters told the FBI an officer shook their hands and said 'it's your house now' as insurrectionists stormed the US Capitol
Two Capitol rioters claim an officer told them "It's your house now" as hundreds stormed the Capitol on January 6. Bobby Bauer and a relative were identified as among those who breached the US Capitol after an unknown caller tipped the FBI's National Threat Operations Center. Bauer told authorities an officer "grabbed his hand, shook it, and said, 'It's your house now."
U.S.Associated PressThe Latest: State capitol protests quiet, some already over
Officials had fortified statehouses with extra police, National Guard troops and fencing after the FBI had warned about the possibility of armed demonstrations at all 50 state capitols. In Richmond, Virginia, police vehicles, dump trucks and orange barrels blocked streets around the Capitol, but there was no sign of demonstrations.
WorldAssociated PressIran asks watchdog not to publish 'unnecessary' nuke details
Iran urged the United Nations' nuclear watchdog to avoid publishing “unnecessary” details on Tehran's nuclear program, state TV reported Sunday, a day after Germany, France and Britain said Tehran has “no credible civilian use” for its development of uranium metal. The report quoted a statement from Iran's nuclear department that asked the International Atomic Energy Agency to avoid publishing details on Iran's nuclear program that may cause confusion. It is expected the international atomic energy agency avoid providing unnecessary details and prevent paving ground for misunderstanding” in the international community, the statement said.
PoliticsUSA TODAYFact check: Image of Lauren Boebert at rally is from 2019, unrelated to U.S. Capitol riot
On Jan. 6, hundreds of supporters of President Donald Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol in an attack that forced lawmakers to flee their chambers and left five dead. Since the riot, users on Facebook and Twitter have leveled accusations that U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., provided assistance to the insurrectionists. One Facebook user posted on Jan. 13 a photo of Boebert and about dozen other people, at least four of whom appear to be making a white supremacist hand gesture.
PoliticsBusiness Insider'What the hell's the matter with them?': Biden scorches GOP lawmakers who didn't wear masks in secure areas during Capitol riots, saying they need 'to grow up'
President-elect Joe Biden on Friday excoriated Republicans who refused to wear masks while huddled with other lawmakers during the Capitol riots, saying they needed "to grow up." "Quite frankly, it was shocking to see members of the Congress while the Capitol was under siege by a deadly mob of thugs refuse to wear masks while they were in secure locations," he said. At least three Democratic House members who were in locations with a select number of maskless Republicans have now tested positive for COVID-19, including Reps. Bonnie Watson Coleman of New Jersey, Pramila Jayapal of Washington, and Brad Schneider of Illinois.
PoliticsThe IndependentTrump’s approval rating at all-time low as he prepares to leave office in wake of Capitol riot
The worst polling comes from Pew Research Center, which has Mr Trump's disapproval rating at 68 per cent and his approval rating at 29 per cent, in a poll of 5,360 adults conducted between 8-12 January. In the same poll, 68 per cent say that he should not remain a major political figure following his time in office, and 75 per cent say he bears either “a lot” or “some” of the responsibility for the violence in Washington. Other polling companies – Morning Consult, ABC/Washington Post, Ipsos, and Quinnipiac – also put Mr Trump's disapproval rating over 60 per cent in polls conducted since 6 January.
WorldThe Daily BeastThe Kashmiri Families Begging for Their Sons’ Bodies Back
Indian-administered Kashmir—On the afternoon of Jan. 7, 2021, a narrow lane covered with a huge layer of snow—and the muddy foot imprints of Kashmiri mourners—formed a track leading to the door of Mushtaq Ahmad Wani's house. Two Kashmiri men in their early 20s who wore long dull-colored pheran, a traditional Kashmiri dress, served the tea to the mourners, who had come to express their condolences to Mushtaq over the killing of his only son, 16-year-old Athar Ashraf Wani. The teen was killed two weeks earlier on the highway that connects Srinagar, the capital city of Indian-administered Kashmir, to the northern and southern parts of the region.
U.S.Business InsiderParler's CEO fled his home and went into hiding after receiving death threats and security breaches, a court filing says
Parler CEO John Matze Jr. and his family have fled their homes after receiving death threats, a new court filing says. Parler was recently removed from the Apple App Store and Google Play Store, and Amazon Web Services stopped hosting the platform after it deemed Parler a "risk to public safety." Trump supporters flocked to the platform after the president was banned from Twitter following the siege at the Capitol on January 6.
PoliticsAssociated PressDeceptions in the time of the 'alternative facts' president
Truth caught up with Donald Trump after years of giving chase. “It really matters that the president of the United States is an arsonist of radicalization,” Kori Schake, a senior national security and State Department aide in the George W. Bush administration, told a postelection conference.
PoliticsBusiness InsiderTed Cruz's former staffers say they are 'disgusted' by his role in the US Capitol insurrection and his unflinching support of Trump, report says
At least six of Sen. Ted Cruz's former aides have expressed their disgust at the recent actions of their former boss, according to New York Magazine's Intelligencer. Ted Cruz is under fire for spreading election misinformation, objecting to the results of the 2020 election being certified, and having fundraised during the US Capitol insurrection. Democratic lawmakers have called for Cruz to resign or to be removed from office.
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COVID-19 vaccine being refused by some health workers, first responders: reports
Dr. Nicole Saphier discusses vaccine hesitancy and skepticism among frontline workers.
“If you’re looking to win elections, it is probably best not to urge your supporters not to vote.”
“Warnock’s portrayal of himself as a dog lover, a means of overcoming white suspicions of Black men, smacked of pure genius.”
“Trump has done damage to the Republican brand among suburban voters that goes well beyond just races where he is on the ballot.”
“Once more, Democrats must profusely thank activist Stacey Abrams.”
“Overall, demographic trends show that the state’s electorate is becoming younger and more diverse each year.”