Waffle House CEO: Coronavirus lockdowns have 'devastating impact on the people'

Waffle House CEO Walt Ehmer comments on tightened coronavirus restrictions in restaurants.

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  • Republicans built up QAnon backer Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, but now are they afraid of what they created?

    On the eve of President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration, freshman Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, the combative Georgia Republican known for her association with QAnon, was back on Twitter after a 12-hour suspension, and back to making waves. 

  • What is President Trump’s legacy?

    Historians will face a daunting task in trying to assess Donald Trump’s presidency. What will he be remembered for?

  • Jailed Kremlin critic Navalny makes allegations of Putin wealth ahead of protests

    Alexei Navalny, President Vladimir Putin's most prominent critic who was jailed at the weekend, on Tuesday released a video in which he and his allies alleged that an opulent palace belonged to the Russian leader, a claim the Kremlin denied. The allegations, which first surfaced in 2010 when a businessman wrote about them to then-President Dmitry Medvedev complaining of official graft, come as Navalny's supporters urge people to join nationwide protests on Saturday. Reuters reported in 2014 that the estate in southern Russia had been partly funded by taxpayer money from a $1 billion hospital project.

  • Biden honors late son Beau in emotional pre-inauguration speech: 'We should be introducing him as president'

    President-elect Joe Biden delivered an emotional farewell to Delaware on Tuesday one day before his swearing-in, choking up while paying tribute to the state and to his late son, Beau Biden.Biden spoke from Delaware before departing for Washington, D.C., and he became emotional from the top of the remarks as he thanked Delawareans who have been with him "through the good times and the bad" and said it's "deeply personal that our next journey to Washington starts here." The president-elect went on to say he'll "always be a proud son of the state of Delaware," emotionally adding that "when I die, Delaware will be written on my heart." He concluded the speech by honoring his late son, Beau Biden, who served as attorney general for the state and died in 2015. "Ladies and gentlemen, I only have one regret: that he's not here," Biden said. "Because we should be introducing him as president."Biden was set to depart for Washington shortly after concluding his remarks. He'll be flying to the nation's capitol on a private aircraft, CNN's Jeff Zeleny reports, describing this as "yet another remarkable change in protocol." Zeleny adds, "No immediate word on why he wasn't offered -- or isn't flying -- on a U.S. government plane, which is standard for a president-elect." > A tearful Joe Biden honors his late son, Beau Biden, before heading to Washington to be sworn in as the 46th president of the United States.> > "I only have one regret-- that he's not here. Because we should be introducing him as president." https://t.co/5nWjuSrSuH pic.twitter.com/U2J0kXEqau> > -- ABC News (@ABC) January 19, 2021More stories from theweek.com CNN anchors laugh as Trump's departing flight takes off to Sinatra’s 'My Way' Trump issues last-minute order attempting to free his appointees from ethics commitments 5 more scathing cartoons about Trump's 2nd impeachment

  • Trump news - live: Ex-president sneaks in pardon for Fox ally’s husband as he and Melania retire to Mar-a-Lago

    Follow the latest updates as four-year term ends with flurry of pardons

  • Senate's top Democrat, Republican seek path to guide 50-50 chamber

    Facing a 50-50 partisan split in the U.S. Senate, the chamber's top Democrat and Republican discussed adopting a power-sharing deal similar to one struck two decades ago in similar circumstances, a Democratic spokesman said on Tuesday. Democrat Chuck Schumer, set to become majority leader on Wednesday thanks to incoming Vice President Kamala Harris' tie-breaking vote, told the chamber's top Republican, Mitch McConnell, that he favored adopting a deal along the lines of the 2001 arrangement "without extraneous changes from either side," a Schumer spokesman said.

  • Panel: China, WHO should have acted quicker to stop pandemic

    A panel of experts commissioned by the World Health Organization has criticized China and other countries for not moving to stem the initial outbreak of the coronavirus earlier and questioned whether the U.N. health agency should have labeled it a pandemic sooner. In a report issued to the media Monday, the panel led by former Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and former New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark said there were “lost opportunities" to adopt basic public health measures as early as possible. “What is clear to the panel is that public health measures could have been applied more forcefully by local and national health authorities in China in January,” it said.

  • Ashley Biden: 'I will not have job in my father's administration,' unlike Ivanka Trump

    Joe Biden’s daughter Ashley has said she will not have a job in her father's administration, unlike Ivanka Trump, in her first interview since the election. The only child of President-elect Biden and wife Jill, Ashley, a 39-year-old social worker in Delaware, said she instead wanted to use her new platform to ”advocate for social justice and mental health.” “I will not have a job in the administration,” she told NBC's Today Show, in what could be seen as a jibe at the current First Daughter, who, along with husband Jared Kushner, had adviser roles in the White House. “I do hope to bring awareness and education to some topics, subjects that are, you know, really important.” Ms Biden, who is married to plastic surgeon Howard Krein, was active in her father's presidential campaign, speaking at the 2020 Democratic National Convention, and hosting an event for women in Wisconsin.

  • Trump is reportedly just going up to people and asking if they want a pardon

    President Trump has spent the last few days asking his friends, aides, and associates if they would like pardons — even those who are not facing any charges, a senior administration official told The Washington Post.In one case, the official said, Trump offered a pardon to a person who declined the chance at clemency, saying they weren't in any legal trouble and hadn't committed any crimes. "Trump's response was, 'Yeah, well, but you never know. They're going to come after us all. Maybe it's not a bad idea. Just let me know,'" the official recounted.Trump has taken a great interest in pardoning people, the Post reports, even calling families to personally let them know he granted a pardon. A person familiar with the matter told the Post that Trump was talked out of pardoning himself, family members, and controversial figures like Rudy Giuliani. An aide said there was also a brief discussion about possibly issuing pardons related to the Jan. 6 Capitol attack, but that idea went nowhere.While Trump has held a few ceremonial events in recent weeks, journalists have been kept away from the White House, largely because the president is "just not in a place where they would go well," one official told the Post. Trump is constantly flip-flopping, another administration official said, talking about his future but uncertain of where he will be. "He goes between, 'Well, I'm going to go to Florida and play golf, and life is honestly better,' and then in the next moment, it's like, 'But don't you think there's a chance to stay?'" the official said. Read more at The Washington Post.More stories from theweek.com CNN anchors laugh as Trump's departing flight takes off to Sinatra’s 'My Way' Trump issues last-minute order attempting to free his appointees from ethics commitments 5 more scathing cartoons about Trump's 2nd impeachment

  • Malaysia expands lockdown measures to most states as virus spreads

    Malaysia on Tuesday said it would extend lockdown restrictions across most of the country as it grappled with a rise in coronavirus infections. Last week, capital Kuala Lumpur and six states went into a two-week lockdown. Security minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob on Tuesday said the lockdown will also be imposed on six other states from Friday for two weeks.

  • The Coolest New Automotive Technology at CES 2021

    Mercedes-Benz’s Hyperscreen, General Motors’ Bright Drop, and Jeep’s Electric Wrangler were among the unveils that turned headsOriginally Appeared on Architectural Digest

  • US first country to declare China's campaign against Uighurs a 'genocide'

    The Trump administration has determined that China has committed "genocide and crimes against humanity" in its repression of Uighur Muslims in its Xinjiang region, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Tuesday, delivering an embarrassing blow to Beijing a day before US President-elect Joe Biden is to take office. US officials briefing reporters on the move said in a call that "an exhaustive documentation of (China's) own policies, practices and abuse in Xinjiang" viewed by Mr Pompeo led him to make the determination that such acts had been committed since at least March 2017. "After careful examination of the available facts, I have determined that the PRC, under the direction and control of the CCP, has committed genocide against the predominantly Muslim Uighurs and other ethnic and religious minority groups in Xinjiang," Mr Pompeo said in a statement.

  • Stores drop MyPillow after CEO pushes election conspiracies

    The founder and CEO of MyPillow, who amplified President Donald Trump's claims of election fraud, said a backlash against his company has begun after a mob stormed the U.S. Capitol this month. Mike Lindell, who appears in TV commercials hugging the company’s foam-filled pillows, said major retailers like Bed Bath & Beyond and Kohl’s have dropped his products recently. Lindell has continued to push bogus claims of election fraud since Trump’s loss to President-elect Joe Biden in the presidential race.

  • Qatar's foreign minister wants Gulf Arab nations to talk with Iran: Bloomberg

    "This is also a desire that's shared by other GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) countries," he said in an interview. Separately, the Qatari government was supporting discussions between Iran and South Korea to secure the release of an oil tanker seized by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards early this month, the foreign minister said. As far as any potential U.S.-Iran talks, he said that Qatar will facilitate the discussions if asked and will support whoever is chosen to do so.

  • British QC pulls out of Hong Kong case against activists amid 'pressure'

    A British QC hired by the Hong Kong government to lead a case against tabloid media magnate Jimmy Lai and several other democracy activists has pulled out after coming under pressure in Britain, the city's Department of Justice said on Wednesday. David Perry QC was being brought in to handle the trial of Lai, a publisher and high-profile critic of the Chinese state, and eight other campaigners accused of organising an illegal anti-government march. Lee Cheuk-yan, the organiser of the annual Tiananmen Square vigil in Hong Kong, Martin Lee Chu-ming, a Hong Kong politician and barrister who is the founding chairman of the United Democrats of Hong Kong and its successor, the Democratic Party, Hong Kong's flagship pro-democracy party and is known as the territory’s 'Father of Democracy', and veteran activist 'Long Hair' Leung Kwok-hung are among the defendants. All of the accused have been charged with organising an unauthorised assembly, and knowingly taking part in an unauthorised assembly on August 18, 2019. Lai has since been charged with offences under the city's sweeping new national security law, sparking foreign condemnation. The Department of Justice noted "growing pressure and criticism" of Mr Perry within Britain for taking the case. Mr Perry, a Queen's Counsel, had "concerns about such pressures and the exemption of quarantine" and "indicated that the trial should proceed without him", the department said in a statement. Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab told Sky TV in an interviewer on Sunday that Perry had handed the Chinese government a "PR coup" and had behaved in a "pretty mercenary way". Former Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith, co-chairman of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (Ipac), was blunt in his appraisal: “It’s appalling.” The British barrister, who practises at the London chambers 6KBW College Hill, has taken part in a number of high profile cases in Hong Kong. He has also appeared for the UK Government at the European Court of Human Rights. Mr Perry could not immediately be reached for comment. The department said it had hired another lawyer to prosecute the case. It is not yet known if that lawyer is also foreign. Under Hong Kong's independent Common Law-based legal system, foreign lawyers are sometimes used by both the defence and prosecution sides in cases. Lai, 73, owns the Apple Daily - which has a reputation of being fiercely critical of the city government - and is the highest profile figure to be charged under the national security law that Beijing imposed on the city on June 30 last year after months of pro-democracy protests across the global financial hub. The law sets out tough punishment for terrorism, subversion and colluding with foreign forces while allowing some suspects to be taken to mainland China for trial in complex cases. Critics say the law threatens the vaunted judicial independence in the former British colony.

  • Indonesian leader promises compensation for plane crash

    Indonesia's leader on Wednesday assured relatives of 62 people killed in a Sriwijaya Air plane crash that they will be compensated. President Joko Widodo visited the command center at Jakarta’s international container terminal where tons of plane debris hauled by divers from seafloor were collected for an investigation into what caused the Boeing 737-500 to nosedive into the Java Sea shortly after takeoff from Jakarta on Jan. 9.

  • 'One village, one policy': China keeps it local to battle COVID wave

    China is using localised tactics to battle a wave of COVID-19 outbreaks, an approach that avoids the sort of widespread shutdowns that devastated the economy last year but is also sowing uncertainty ahead of the Lunar New Year travel season. In the province of Hebei, which surrounds Beijing and has seen hundreds of infections in the last two weeks, officials were told in a Monday meeting to adhere to the principle of "one village, one policy" and draw up individual plans for each community. After keeping confirmed new COVID-19 infections to just a handful a day for months, China has seen a spike in cases since the beginning of the year, with more than 100 a day recently, raising fears of a large-scale outbreak.

  • Biden leads COVID-19 memorial service: 'To heal, we must remember'

    On a day when U.S. deaths from COVID-19 topped 400,000, President-elect Joe Biden led a memorial service on the National Mall to remember the victims of the pandemic.

  • CIA's Gina Haspel, who quietly resisted some Trump moves, outlasted many in administration

    CIA Director Gina Haspel is marking the end of a tenure that was often publicly quiet, but often included behind-the-scenes resistance to some of President Trump’s controversial moves.

  • AP Photos: Snow fills Kashmir resort with tourists again

    Snow lies knee-deep in the pastoral town of Gulmarg, or “meadow of flowers,” on Indian-controlled Kashmir's high plateau. With its blanket of white, the idyllic hill station is seeing tourists again fill its hotels and ski, sledge and trek its Himalayan landscape. The heavy influx of tourists is a dramatic change for the tourism industry in disputed Kashmir, which faced the double whammy of the coronavirus pandemic and harsh curbs on civil rights India imposed in the region in August 2019.