WRTV News at 6 | Tuesday, March 30, 2021

WRTV News at 6 | Tuesday, March 30, 2021

Recommended Stories

  • NC woman used 16 fake names to scam government out of $2.2 million, prosecutors say

    She’s accused of using money from the government contracts to pay for trips to Las Vegas.

  • Former 'Bachelor' lead Nick Viall met his new girlfriend after she slid into his DMs on Instagram

    Nick Viall told Insider that Natalie Joy's Instagram DM was "playful enough" and "didn't come across as weird."

  • Meghan Markle reportedly goes on maternity leave next month

    It's unclear exactly how Meghan Markle spends her days in sunny Montecito, California, when she isn't taking care of baby Archie, tending to her rescue chickens, and riling up the British royal family by simply existing. But according to "sources" who spoke with Page Six, the Duchess of Sussex is a "workaholic" who "doesn't stop." She'll finally be pumping the breaks, though, in May, when she reportedly plans to take "maternity leave" to give birth to her daughter. (Though Meghan and Harry have been private about their timeline, the rumor is that Archie's younger sister is expected sometime in June). Markle — who co-founded the nonprofit Archewell and recently guest edited British Vogue — will have some free time more immediately, too, since she wasn't medically cleared to fly with Prince Harry the 12 hours to the U.K. for her grandfather-in-law's funeral. Hopefully she's spending this time to herself sleeping in and laying off those early morning emails. More stories from theweek.comTrump finally jumps the shark7 brutally funny cartoons about Mitch McConnell's corporate hypocrisyAmerica's foreign policy time bombs

  • Daunte Wright news: Kim Potter flees home as unrest expected ahead of charging decision Wednesday

    Updates from Minnesota following protests overnight

  • Trump caught on audio mocking Michelle Obama’s looks to giggling GOP hierarchy at Mar-a-Lago

    Leaked recording from RNC fundraiser reveals ‘uproarious’ laughter from sponsors for ridicule of former first lady

  • Kate could act as peacemaker between William and Harry on day of Prince Philip's funeral

    The Duke of Cambridge will not be reunited with Prince Harry until the day of their grandfather's funeral, when the Duchess of Cambridge is expected to act as peacemaker between the royal brothers. The siblings are understood to have spoken on the telephone since Harry landed in the UK on Sunday, and hope to finally see each other in the flesh on Saturday morning, ahead of the 3pm ceremony at Windsor Castle. It will be their first face-to-face meeting in more than a year and comes after Harry and Meghan gave an interview to the US chat show host Oprah Winfrey suggesting an unnamed royal had queried Archie's skin tone and describing William as "trapped" in the monarchy. Sources close to both couples insist that they will be putting their differences aside for the sake of the Queen as the family gathers at St George’s Chapel to remember the Duke of Edinburgh, who died on Friday, aged 99.

  • Facebook took down the official page of the small French town of Bitche, then restored it after being called out

    The page was taken down on March 19, per local media, so officials created a new one named after the town's postal code: Mairie 57230.

  • Analysis: 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. Then on Sunday, the nuclear facility, of which the Guard is the chief protector, experienced a blackout that damaged some of its centrifuges.

  • Russia 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.

  • The US is sending 500 extra troops to Germany, Defense Secretary Austin says, as Russia amasses troops at Ukraine's border

    Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin made the announcement in Berlin on Tuesday, saying it would strengthen defense in Europe.

  • U.S. FDA to scrutinize vaccine design behind COVID-19 shots linked to blood clots

    With two COVID-19 vaccines now under scrutiny for possible links to very rare cases of blood clots in the brain, U.S. government scientists are focusing on whether the specific technology behind the shots may be contributing to the risk. In Europe, health regulators said last week there was a possible link between the AstraZeneca Plc vaccine and 169 cases of a rare brain blood clot known as cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST), accompanied by a low blood platelet count, out of 34 million shots administered in the European Economic Area. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday recommended temporarily halting use of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine after reports of six cases of CVST in women under age 50 among some 7 million people who received the shot in the United States.

  • Queen will have to sit alone at Prince Philip's funeral because of strict Covid rules

    The Queen faces the prospect of having to sit on her own during the Duke of Edinburgh’s funeral because of strict Covid rules, it has emerged. The law states that anyone attending a funeral must stay at least two metres apart from anyone who is not part of their household, meaning all members of the Royal family will have to spread out in St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle. The Queen is not eligible to be in a support bubble because she does not live on her own, meaning the only person who could sit with her during the service would be a member of her Windsor Castle staff. The Duke’s private secretary, Brigadier Archie Miller-Bakewell, is expected to be one of the 30 mourners allowed at the ceremony, and as a member of “HMS Bubble” at Windsor may be the only attendee eligible by law to sit with the Queen.

  • Cop, police chief resign 2 days after Black motorist's death

    A white police officer who fatally shot a Black man during a traffic stop in a Minneapolis suburb resigned Tuesday, as did the city's police chief — moves that the mayor said he hoped would help heal the community and lead to reconciliation after two nights of protests and unrest. The resignations from Officer Kim Potter and Police Chief Tim Gannon came two days after the death of 20-year-old Daunte Wright in Brooklyn Center. Potter, a 26-year veteran, had been on administrative leave following Sunday’s shooting, which happened as the Minneapolis area was already on edge over the trial of an officer charged in George Floyd’s death.

  • Companies that have containers on the Ever Given could have to help pay the up to $1 billion Egyptian authorities are demanding before the ship leaves the Suez Canal

    Three weeks after getting stuck, the Ever Given is still anchored in the Great Bitter Lake at the Suez Canal.

  • I tried Kylie Jenner's easy grilled-cheese recipe, and it's a testament to the beauty of a simple sandwich

    Jenner's six-ingredient sandwich recipe is simple but delicious, and it's filled with quirky steps, like adding hot sauce to the melted cheese.

  • Why younger women have a higher risk of blood clots, whether or not they're vaccinated

    J&J's COVID-19 vaccine is linked to rare, serious blood clots. All occurred in women under 48, who are more likely to experience clots anyway.

  • A venomous snake — with no known antivenom — bites San Diego Zoo employee

    The snake involved was an African bush viper. There is no known antivenom for their bites.

  • Trump skewers FDA's Johnson & Johnson decision — then casually invents conspiracy theory blaming Pfizer

    Former President Donald Trump released a statement Tuesday criticizing the Food and Drug Administration's recommendation to pause the use of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine, baselessly suggesting the decision was politically motivated. "The results of this vaccine have been extraordinary, but now it's [sic] reputation will be permanently challenged," Trump said. He then floated, without any evidence, that the FDA may have been playing favorites. "[The FDA] should not be able to do such damage for possibly political reasons, or maybe because their friends at Pfizer have suggested it," he said. He also didn't lose an opportunity to bring up his favorite subject: his loss in the 2020 presidential election, which he has blamed on everyone from the Supreme Court to other Republican politicians to the pharmaceutical companies that worked with his administration to craft a vaccine. "Remember, it was the FDA working with Pfizer, who announced the vaccine approval two days after the 2020 presidential election," he said in his Tuesday statement. He then finished off the statement by boasting about vaccine development under his administration, and called for the Johnson & Johnson shot to be back in action quickly. Former President Donald Trump comes out with a statement on J&J attacking the Biden administration for the pause and suggesting a conspiracy from Pfizer to do so pic.twitter.com/cnF2Ef7bjN — Ben Jacobs (@Bencjacobs) April 13, 2021 More stories from theweek.comTrump finally jumps the shark7 brutally funny cartoons about Mitch McConnell's corporate hypocrisyAmerica's foreign policy time bombs

  • Top Kremlin Mouthpiece Warns of ‘Inevitable’ War With U.S. Over Another Ukraine Land Grab

    ALEXEY NIKOLSKYAll-out cyberwarfare, nation-wide forced blackouts, and the targeted disruption of internet services—for one of the Kremlin’s top propagandists, all of those tactics are fair game in what she describes as a fated war-to-come against the U.S.“War [with the U.S.] is inevitable,” declared Margarita Simonyan, editor in chief of the state-funded Russian media outlets RT and Sputnik, who believes the conflict will break out when, not if, Vladimir Putin moves to seize more territory from Ukraine.As Russia’s military buildup on Ukraine’s doorstep mounts, Kremlin loyalists have been urging for even more overt aggression and bloodshed in the campaign to annex Ukraine’s Donbas region. The only thing standing in the way, they say, is U.S. support for their beleaguered neighbor.NATO issued a statement on Wednesday demanding an end to Russia’s troop movements on the border with the disputed territory of Donbas in eastern Ukraine. It is the largest buildup of Russian troops since the annexation of Crimea in 2014. The U.S. underlined the statement this week by deploying two warships to the Black Sea.On Tuesday, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov threatened retaliation. “We warn the United States that it will be better for them to stay far away from Crimea and our Black Sea coast. It will be for their own good,” he said.The escalation was foreshadowed on state television’s Sunday Evening With Vladimir Soloviev over the weekend. Simonyan explained that it was time for Russia to gear up for a showdown against the U.S., and prophesized a kind of war driven by hacking, the forced disruption of internet access, the shutting down of power supplies, and an all-out offensive on U.S. infrastructure.“I do not believe that this will be a large-scale hot war, like World War II, and I do not believe that there will be a long Cold War. It will be a war of the third type: the cyberwar,” said Simonyan.She warned that—in this theoretical battle—the U.S. would plot to cut off the electricity of entire Russian cities. In turn, she speculated, Moscow would be able to force a blackout in Florida or New York’s Harlem at the flip of a switch.“In conventional war, we could defeat Ukraine in two days,” Simonyan said, “but it will be another kind of war. We’ll do it, and then [the U.S.] will respond by turning off power to [the Russian city] Voronezh,” she said.The top RT editor asserted that “[Russia] needs to be ready for this war, which is unavoidable, and of course it will start in Ukraine,” arguing that the Kremlin is “invincible where conventional war is concerned, but forget about conventional war... it will be a war of infrastructures, and here we have many vulnerabilities.”Her solution consists of Stalin-type measures to eliminate “vulnerabilities” in the run-up to another escalation, emphasizing the need for a hack-proof, government-controlled internet. “We still don’t have a sovereign internet, but God willing, we will,” she said.She wholeheartedly endorsed a suggestion from Vladimir Zhirinovsky, the ultranationalist leader of Russia’s Liberal Democratic Party, who argued that all of Russia’s opposition must be eliminated by May 1, 2021. With imprisoned opposition leader Alexei Navalny on a hunger strike—and suffering from severe health ailments after being denied appropriate medical treatment—the Kremlin seems to be firmly set on that course.Simonyan argued that once Russia minimizes its vulnerabilities and renders Putin’s opposition powerless—which she argued could happen in a matter of months—the Kremlin will finally be ready to annex Ukraine’s eastern region.“I’ve been agitating and even demanding that we take Donbas. We need to patch up our vulnerabilities as fast as we can, and then we can do whatever we want,” she boldly proclaimed. The host, Vladimir Soloviev, wholeheartedly agreed: “We only lose if we do nothing.” He argued that by absorbing parts of Ukraine—or the entire country—Russia would be able to remove the zone of American influence further away from its borders.As one of the Kremlin’s most valued propagandists, Margarita Simonyan is notoriously close to the Russian president and has received multiple awards directly from Putin. After accepting one such award in 2019, Simonyan thanked Putin “for the most important reward in life… this honor to serve one’s Motherland.”Her “service” has involved RT and Sputnik-driven disinformation operations aimed at influencing the 2016 U.S. presidential election, which she often boasts about by pointing to the inclusion of her name in various U.S. intelligence reports.Russia’s recent cyberspace activities seem to serve as good practice for the “inevitable war” foreshadowed by Simonyan.Last year, six Russian intelligence officers were criminally charged by the U.S. for using the world’s most destructive malware to force blackouts in Ukraine and damage the critical infrastructure of multiple countries, which caused nearly $1 billion in losses. On Monday, hackers operating from Russia targeted France’s homeschooling platform.The Kremlin is prepared to intensify its offensive against the West but fears the retaliation that would follow. The idea of a bulletproof “sovereign internet”—completely under government control within Russian borders—is already on the books, with Moscow having introduced the idea as a preventive measure against retaliatory hacking attempts from other nations.Simonyan argued that Russia will surely be able to exploit the U.S.’s “catastrophic” educational standards, and referred to American military analysts and specialists as incompetent and stupid. She heartily laughed about news that more than 200,000 U.S. service members experienced hearing loss due to defective earplugs.“We can never come to any agreements with [Americans],” Simonyan said, arguing that instead, Russia can just as easily defeat the U.S. in a cyberspace war.She added, mockingly, “We don’t even need the nukes.”Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.

  • China 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. While China and Russia are presented as the leading challenges, Iran and North Korea will also test U.S. national security, the report said.