Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., calls Pelosi a ‘legendary legislative leader.’ He also calls on Senate Majority Leader McConnell to allow the $2,000 stimulus checks bill to move forward in the Senate.
The first time a Black woman served as the main voice of the presidency came in 1991, when Judy Smith stepped behind the podium as a deputy press secretary for President George H.W. Bush.
The shooting occurred Sunday morning at Starrville Methodist Church, about 100 miles east of Dallas.
With the 117th Congress set to be sworn in Sunday, some Democrats are feeling "a little nervous" about House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's (D-Calif.) chances of retaining the gavel, Rep. Filemon (D-Texas) told The Hill. The concern is over whether enough lawmakers will actually show up to give her the required majority of those present and voting. If they do, she's on track to win as expected.Filemon said the worries stem from the coronavirus pandemic, and Democrats are hoping no one falls ill before the vote. Reps. Gwen Moore (D-Wisc.) and Rick Larsen (D-Wash.) tested positive for COVID-19 in late December, though Larsen is out of quarantine. And although it's unclear, it sounds as if Moore will free from isolation as well, with Jake Sherman reporting that 221 out of the 222 Democratic members of the new House are expected to be present. Rep. Alcee Hastings (D-Fla.), who is being treated for pancreatic cancer, will not be at the Capitol.> NEWS on Dem attendance. Alcee Hastings, an ailing Florida Dem, is not going to make it to the speaker vote today. Jamie Raskin, who recently lost his son, is going to make it. > > Democrats believe they’ll have 221 present today. > > Pelosi needs a majority of present and voting> > — Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) January 3, 2021If there are indeed 221 Democrats on hand, as well as all 211 Republicans, Pelosi could only afford to have four Democrats vote for someone else, The Hill notes. While there may be a few Democrats who don't back Pelosi, they may vote "present" which essentially renders them absent and would not be counted against the final tally, likely allowing her to capture the majority. There's also no guarantee every Republican will be there."I think she'll win," Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.) said of Pelosi. "But I'm just not sure how she gets there." Read more at The Hill.More stories from theweek.com Fears rise over Indonesia's Jurassic Park How Biden can future-proof America's immigration system 5 inexcusably funny cartoons about Trump's disgraceful pardons
India on Sunday granted emergency approval to Bharat Biotech's COVAXIN but faced questions from industry experts and opposition lawmakers after taking the step without publishing efficacy data for the homegrown coronavirus vaccine. The news, announced by the drugs controller general of India (DCGI), was hailed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his ministers as a success in the country's self-reliance push. The government also approved the use of a vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University which will be the lead vaccine in India's immunisation programme.
Investigators are asking for the public's help to determine what led up to a head-on crash that killed seven children and two adults in central California on New Year's Day. The California Highway Patrol says everyone who reported Friday's fiery crash on rural State Route 33 came upon the scene after the collision. The children, who were between 6 and 15 years old, were members of two related families traveling in a Ford F-150 truck that was struck by around 8 p.m. by a Dodge Journey SUV, the Fresno County Coroner’s office and the CHP said.
Squatters reportedly belonging to one family claim site of 5,000 year-old ruins was given to them in the 1970sIllegal squatters have invaded the ruins of the oldest city in the Americas, and made death threats against Ruth Shady, the celebrated Peruvian archaeologist who discovered the 5,000 year-old civilization.The threats came via telephone calls and messages to various workers at the archeological site at the height of Peru’s Covid-19 pandemic. They followed reports to the police and prosecutors about the invasions of the ancient ruins of Caral.“They called the site’s lawyer and said if he continued to protect me they would kill him, along with me, and bury us five metres below the ground,” said Shady, 73.“Then they killed our dog as a warning. They poisoned her, as if to say, look at what will happen to you,” she said.It is not the first time Shady has been threatened or attacked. In 2003, she was shot in the chest during an assault on the 626-hectare (1,546-acre) archaeological complex which was declared a Unesco world heritage site in 2009.After nine invasions of the sacred city during the pandemic period, Shady and her team repeatedly asked the authorities to intervene.“There is a feeling that there is no authority dedicated to the protection and defence of our heritage. It’s a huge worry,” she said.Caral mapIn July, squatters using a heavy digger knocked down adobe walls and tore up the ground destroying ancient ceramics, tombs containing mummies, textiles and household remains, before police and the site’s staff were able to stop them.As a result of Shady’s pleas, a police car now patrols the archeological site day and night but nothing has been done to punish or evict the land invaders.The squatters are believed to belong to a single extended family, and claim the land was given to them in the 1970s during Peru’s controversial agrarian land reform which was pushed through by a leftist military dictatorship.Shady denies the claim: “They do not have a single land title. The owner of the land is the Peruvian state.”A planned eviction of one of the squatters was thwarted in December when a local prosecutor and official failed to give the order to proceed despite having the support of police officers, Shady said.Land prices in the area have risen from around $5,000 per hectare to as much as $50,000 per hectare, as outsiders rush to buy land around the prestigious archaeological site which is surrounded by a 56 sq mile buffer zone.Shady, who was named on the BBC’s 100 Women list last year, first visited Caral in 1978. But it was not until 1994 that she discovered the ancient city and began to properly excavate the site, which is situated on a dry desert terrace overlooking the Supe river valley nearly 200km (124 miles) north of Lima.What she uncovered was the “oldest centre of civilization in the Americas” which Unesco describes as “exceptionally well-preserved” with a complex architectural design with “monumental stone and earthen platform mounts and sunken circular courts”. Organic material found at the site has been carbon-dated back to 2627 BCEShady and her team continue to investigate and excavate a dozen former settlements, half of the 24 situated in the Supe valley which form part of the Caral-Supe civilization. Their findings have revealed musical instruments such as flutes made of animal and bird bones and evidence of the cultivation of multi-coloured cotton used in textiles.“We can’t allow archeological sites to continue being invaded and destroyed because it is an unwritten history and we recover that history through our investigation,” said Shady. “If we can’t do that it is like burning a book which no one will ever read.”“I hope we can continue to investigate and continue to recover our history because it has such an interesting message,” she added. “It was a very, very peaceful society. We have not found even a single walled settlement.”“There is message there that we, human beings, should live in harmony between ourselves and nature,” Shady concluded. “We are living through this pandemic, in part, due to our mistreatment of nature.”
The two New Year's Day airstrikes hit al-Shabaab compounds, destroying two according to the initial assessment. No civilians were killed or injured, officials said.
In public, American officials have said they do not believe Russia's SVR intelligence agency "pierced" classified systems and stole sensitive communications and plans during an alleged cyberattack on what may have been hundreds of networks in the United States, The New York Times reports. But privately, per the Times, those same officials reportedly say they still aren't sure exactly what was or was not taken.There are concerns that the SVR — which the U.S. intelligence agency and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo are confident was behind the breach, despite President Trump suggesting China may have been involved instead of Moscow — was able to get its hands on delicate, albeit unclassified information from victims like the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. For example, it's reportedly possible the hackers accessed Black Start, the detailed technical blueprints for how the U.S. would restore power if there was a major blackout. If that was indeed the case, Russia would theoretically have a list of systems it could target to keep power from turning back on.The Times report sheds more light on the cyberattack, which may not be fully understood for months or even years. Some of the revelations include the fact that the hack appears to have been much broader in scope than originally thought and that the hackers "managed their intrusion from servers inside" the U.S. by "exploiting legal prohibitions on the National Security Agency." Read more at The New York Times.More stories from theweek.com Fears rise over Indonesia's Jurassic Park How Biden can future-proof America's immigration system 5 inexcusably funny cartoons about Trump's disgraceful pardons
Islamic State claimed responsibility for an attack on Sunday that killed 11 miners from Pakistan’s minority Shi’ite Hazaras in Baluchistan province. The attack took place early on Sunday morning in the Mach area of Bolan district around 100 kms southeast of Baluchistan's capital Quetta, killing the miners who were in a shared residential room near the coal mine where they worked, officials said. “The throats of all coal miners have been slit, after their hands were tied behind their backs and (they were) blind folded,” a security official told Reuters, requesting anonymity as he is not allowed to speak to media.
Chinese billionaire Jack Ma, who hasn’t been seen in public for several weeks after criticising China’s financial regulatory system, has now disappeared as a judge on a TV talent show that he created. Mr Ma was absent from the final of “The Apprentice”-style “Africa’s Business Heroes”, a show that offers budding African entrepreneurs the chance to compete for a share of US$1.5 million (£1.1 million) in prize money. Mr Ma was originally due to be part of the panel that judged contestants’ business ideas. But he was replaced as a judge by an executive from Alibaba, the ecommerce company that he founded, in the November final. His photograph has also been taken down from the judging webpage and he was left out of a promotional video, according to the Financial Times, which also reported that broadcast of the final has been delayed until the spring. The paper cited a spokesperson for Alibaba as saying that Mr Ma could no longer be part of the judging panel “due to a schedule conflict”. One of China’s most successful entrepreneurs, Mr Ma appears to have fallen foul of its leaders after he criticised the country’s regulators and its state-owned banks in late October. In a speech in Shanghai, he called for reform of the regulatory system, which he said was stifling innovation. About a week later, the Shanghai Stock Exchange ordered a US$37 billion initial public offering of Ant Group, a financial technology firm co-founded by Mr Ma, to be suspended. Mr Ma reportedly hasn’t been seen in public since then. In late December, Chinese authorities announced an investigation into Alibaba for suspected monopolistic behaviour, and ordered Ant Group to restructure its operations to meet regulatory guidelines. Chinese authorities are trying to tighten oversight of the country’s financial sector, but are also seen as wanting to rein in the huge influence of private tech giants. Mr Ma is a popular figure in China, and one of the country’s best-known businesspeople abroad. Formerly an English teacher, he founded Alibaba in 1999, which became China’s biggest online ecommerce company. He stepped down as the company’s chairman in 2019, but is still one of its largest shareholders.
It brings the number of French troops killed in the Sahel conflict against Islamist militants to 50.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the United States' leading infectious disease expert, told CNN on Friday that he would "not be in favor" of delaying second doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines to increase the amount of people who can receive their first injection.The United Kingdom announced a plan this week that involves stretching the wait time between the first and second shots of the two coronavirus vaccines authorized in the country, including the Pfizer jab, up to 12 weeks. The thinking is that doing so will give more people at least partial protection until production ramps up.But the trials for Pfizer and Moderna included a three and four week gap, respectively, which means data is only available for that time frame, and Fauci wants the U.S. to stick to what it is known with more certainty rather than follow the U.K.'s lead. Read more at The Guardian and The New York Times.More stories from theweek.com Fears rise over Indonesia's Jurassic Park How Biden can future-proof America's immigration system 5 inexcusably funny cartoons about Trump's disgraceful pardons
Pope Francis on Sunday accepted the resignation of the head of the Catholic Church in Belarus, Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz, who spent time in exile last year after angering President Alexander Lukashenko. Kondrusiewicz turned 75 on Sunday, the age at which bishops are required to submit resignation letters to the pope, which he then decides whether to accept. The speed with which the resignation was accepted indicated the possibility that a face-saving deal for both sides was found in negotiations between the Vatican and the Belarus government to win Kondrusiewicz's return from exile in December, a diplomatic source in Rome said.
Britons living in EU countries have been barred from returning to them after Christmas in a post-Brexit row over residency. People trying to return to Spain and Italy after their Christmas holidays were either turned back on arrival or barred from getting onto flights after being told that their pre-Brexit "green cards" were not valid for entry. The problems began on Saturday when border officials at airports in Madrid and Barcelona refused to recognise the documents despite declarations by the Spanish and Italian governments that they should be treated as valid for entry. Instead, border officials insisted they would not allow entry to anyone without a new post Brexit photo-ID card, which most British residents have applied for but have yet to receive. As a result, British passengers were turned back on arrival on at least two flights to Barcelona and had to return to the UK. Passengers on one flight from Newcastle had to fly back without their baggage, which was left at the airport. The problems spiralled when airlines also started refusing to fly resident Britons back to Spain or Italy without the new post-Brexit foreign identity card. Airlines can be fined if they allow people to fly to a country without the right documentation. At least nine people were prevented from boarding a BA/Iberia flight from Heathrow to Madrid on Saturday night despite having pre-Brexit "green cards". One of them, Patricia Moody, a 69-year-old retiree living in the southern Spanish town of Zurgena, said: "Throughout all the months of negotiating Brexit, we were always assured that nothing would change for us." Referring to the airlines and authorities in both countries, she added: "It's horrendous, and we are suffering because of their incompetence." A further 30 people were blocked from flying to Pisa from Manchester on Saturday. They included Dr Caitlin Procter, a professor at the European University Institute in Florence. She was told she must have either an Italian passport or a new photo-ID residency card when she tried to board her Ryanair flight on Saturday, even though the Italian government had been "crystal clear" that it would recognise pre-Brexit "green cards". She also had a copy of her work contract. "I travelled home to Sheffield to be with my Mum at Christmas. I followed all the rules, and it's ridiculous that airlines somehow have the authority to decide who can travel," Dr Procter said. "It's a rude wake-up to Brexit. "There are no other direct flights to Pisa for weeks, and I will have to pay £160 again for another Covid test as the one I have won't be valid from Monday, which is when I am due back at work." Dr Procter said she had applied for the photo-ID card but there is a three-month backlog of applications. Another British traveller reported chaos on Saturday night as he was turned back on arrival at Barcelona. "As we landed and left the plane, we were met by a gauntlet of armed police," he said. "All Spanish and Andorran nationals were let through and all other passengers herded like cattle to the side. The police then started checking all the 'green cards'. It quickly escalated to the police telling everyone they must board the plane and fly back to London." The British Embassy intervened on Saturday as the refusal of entry amounted to a potential breach of the Withdrawal Agreement, under which the Spanish government would recognise both the "green cards" and new post-Brexit photo ID cards for entry to Spain. A Foreign Office spokesman told The Telegraph: "We have worked closely with the Spanish government to resolve these issues. "The Spanish Embassy in London has re-confirmed today that both the green residence certificate and the new residence TIE card [Photo-ID card] are equally valid in terms of proving residence in Spain, as set out in the Withdrawal Agreement." The Spanish embassy in London also confirmed that it would recognise the pre-Brexit "green cards" and promised a seven-day grace period from January 4 to allow anyone who could show they had applied for the new photo-ID card to travel to Spain. Around 300,000 British citizens are registered as permanent residents in Spain, although before Brexit many more had been living full or part-time in the country without officially registering. Have you been impacted by the post-Brexit residency row? Share your story in the comments section below.
At least 43 staff members tested positive for the virus after a staff member wore an inflatable costume on Christmas to cheer up patients.
So far, commands from nearly 30 states have pledged to support what has become a huge tradition for the citizen soldiers.
A renowned Baltimore dirt bike rider who appeared in an HBO drama about the city's riding scene faces murder charges for the stabbing death of her partner on New Year's Day, police said. Lakeyria Doughty, known as “Wheelie Queen,” was charged with first- and second-degree murder for killing her 33-year-old partner, Tiffany Wilson, on Friday in West Baltimore, according to police. “It was a domestic situation where cooler heads didn’t prevail,” said Detective Donny Moses, a Baltimore police spokesman.
Japan is considering issuing a new emergency declaration to tackle the country’s record surge in COVID-19 cases. The head of Japan’s pandemic response on Saturday said the government needs to consult with health experts before deciding on another declaration. As an interim measure, Economy Minister Yasutoshi Nakamura said restaurants and karaoke parlors in the Tokyo area would be asked to close at 8 PM, businesses serving alcohol - 7 PM. All this in response to a meeting he held earlier Saturday with the governors of Tokyo and three neighboring prefectures. The governors urged a new state of emergency declaration. Tokyo raised its COVID-19 alert level to its highest notch on December 17. On Thursday, new infections in the capital rose to a record 1,337 cases, and the country set a record with more than 4500 new cases. But Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga has so far resisted calls to reinstate a national state of emergency.
The boom in people buying dogs during the Covid lockdowns has failed to help boost the number of puppies from rare breeds. Although the lockdowns saw a huge demand for puppies, with breeders of popular dogs cashing in on the surge, it has been a "logistical nightmare" for the owners of vulnerable species. Breeding programmes for sought-after Labradors and French bulldogs were ramped up last year, and prices have rocketed to as much as £10,000 a pup. But for those trying to keep rare and dying breeds going, the pandemic has had the reverse effect. Owners have been unable to travel to find suitable stud dogs, while face-to-face vetting of prospective and responsible owners has also proved difficult. Limited veterinary services for after-care treatment of puppies is another reason why breeding programmes have been largely put on hold. The most up-to-date figures of puppy registrations from the Kennel Club show that the numbers for some are incredibly low. In July and August last year, just five Dandie Dinmont terrier puppies were registered and no Glen of Imaal terriers were logged at all. In the same time period, 5,642 Labradors and 5,539 French bulldogs were registered.
More than a million immigrants in the United States who have applied for U.S. citizenship through naturalization, adjustment of status and other benefits have been waiting for their biometric services appointment at a local Application Support Center (ASC) to provide their fingerprints, photograph and/or signature.
