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U.S. Attorney in Eastern Virginia announces resignation

The leader of one of the nation's most prominent U.S. Attorney's offices said Tuesday he is resigning after nearly three years of prosecuting terrorists, spies and political operatives. G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, is joining the private sector with a post at the Vinson and Elkins law firm. Terwilliger, 39, is the youngest U.S. Attorney in the country and has led the office since 2018, but his connections to the office go back to 1999, when he worked there as an intern.

Ex-chairman of China Huarong Asset Management sentenced to death

BEIJING (Reuters) -The former chairman of China Huarong Asset Management Co has been sentenced to death, a court in the northern city of Tianjin said on Tuesday, in one of the country's highest profile corruption cases. Lai Xiaomin was convicted of receiving or seeking bribes totalling 1.788 billion yuan ($276.72 million) from 2008 to 2018, when he was also a senior banking regulator, according to the Secondary Intermediate People's Court of Tianjin. Lai, who was expelled from the ruling Communist Party in 2018, was also convicted on a charge of bigamy.

Wisconsin Gov. Activates National Guard ahead of Charging Decision in Kenosha Police Shooting

Wisconsin governor Tony Evers mobilized the National Guard on Monday to provide support to law enforcement in Kenosha, ahead of an expected decision on whether to press charges a police shooting.A Kenosha officer shot Jacob Blake, an African American man, in August while responding to a domestic violence call. Authorities had issued an arrest warrant for Blake for suspected third-degree sexual assault. A white officer shot Blake several times during the attempted arrest, and Blake was left paralyzed from the waist down.Video of Blake's shooting quickly went viral and was followed by a week of riots in Kenosha, during which rioters destroyed dozens of businesses in the city. The riots came in the wake of widespread civil unrest after the police killing of George Floyd, an African American resident of Minneapolis.The Kenosha County District Attorney's Office is expected to announce a decision on whether to charge the officer who shot Blake sometime within last two weeks of January. Governor Evers ordered the National Guard to provide 500 service members to assist Kenosha law enforcement ahead of the district attorney's decision."We are continuing to work with our local partners in the Kenosha area to ensure they have the state support they need, just as we have in the past,” Evers told reporters on Monday. “Our members of the National Guard will be on hand to support local first responders, ensure Kenoshans are able to assemble safely, and to protect critical infrastructure as necessary.”Kenosha mayor John Antaramian and police chief Daniel Miskinis said in a joint statement that the city was preparing for possible unrest."Mayor Antaramian has been informed that the decision is likely to be announced within the first two weeks of January and is working with Chief Miskinis and other partners to protect peaceful demonstration and to guard against unlawful activity," the two said. "Our responsibility to public safety is paramount, and we are preparing for a number of possible public demonstration and safety efforts."

Trump news – live: Iran issues arrest warrant for president as Scotland tells him to stay away

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Why Kelly Loeffler's attack ads on Raphael Warnock may backfire

Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.) "has run the most negative campaign in Georgia history," her Democratic challenger, Rev. Raphael Warnock, said at a recent campaign rally, reports HuffPost. Loeffler and Republican groups backing her campaign, HuffPost notes, have run various attacks on Warnock in the lead up to Tuesday's Senate runoff, which include labeling him a Marxist and suggesting he's covered up child abuse. But the ads may not be riling up Loeffler's supporters as much as they are boosting Democratic turnout, especially among Black voters."The attack ads, the portrayal of Rev. Warnock using historically racist tropes in the ads is insulting," Gwen Mills, the secretary-treasurer of the labor union Unite Here, told HuffPost. "But it's also invigorating in the sense that people aren't going to stand for this. We've heard it a lot."That backlash in addition to a few other key factors seem to be paying off for Democrats. Tom Bonier, the CEO of the Democratic data firm TargetSmart, said Black voters have "been leading the way in increasing Black turnout," and 40 percent of the 102,000 people who cast ballots during early voting in the runoff after sitting out the general election are Black. Read more at HuffPost.More stories from theweek.com After getting vaccinated, New Orleans woman delivers a blunt message to non-believers McConnell stares down the barrel of Trump's gun Colbert's Late Show turns Trump's Georgia election call into a Stevie Wonder hit

Colombia's illegal armed groups lost more than 5,000 members in 2020 -military commander

BOGOTA (Reuters) -Colombian illegal armed groups lost roughly 5,120 members in 2020 as the country's armed forces continued operations amidst the coronavirus pandemic to weaken them and stop them from growing in size and territory, said General Luis Fernando Navarro. The figure includes combat deaths, captures, and desertions affecting the National Liberation Army (ELN), dissidents of the demobilized Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) who rejected a 2016 peace deal, and other armed groups including Clan del Golfo, Los Caparros, and Los Pelusos, Navarro said. All five armed groups are linked to drug trafficking and illegal mining, he added.

Georgia election official on Trump call: ‘Nobody I know who would be president would do something like that’

Georgia election official Gabriel Sterling condemned President Trump’s call with Georgia’s secretary of state, saying, “I personally found it to be something that was not normal, out of place and nobody I know who would be president would do something like that to a secretary of state."

Speculation grows that Donald Trump may fly to Scotland on eve of Joe Biden's inauguration

Nicola Sturgeon yesterday warned Donald Trump that any visit to Scotland would violate coronavirus rules, after it was reported the president may be planning to flee the US ahead of Joe Biden’s inauguration. The First Minister of Scotland said although she hoped and expected “that the immediate travel plan he has is to exit the White House," but that "coming to play golf is not what I would consider an essential purpose (for travel).” Prestwick Airport, near the president’s Turnberry golf resort in Ayrshire, is said to have been told to expect the arrival of a US military Boeing 757 aircraft, the carrier which has been used by Mr Trump, on January 19 – the day before Mr Biden takes over. The president-elect is set to be sworn into office in a ceremony at the White House on January 20. While it is customary for the outgoing president to attend, reports suggest Mr Trump will snub the event. Mr Trump has refused to concede defeat in the November 3 election to Mr Biden, claiming without evidence that there was widespread fraud. A source at Prestwick airport, who asked to remain anonymous, told the Scottish Sunday Post: “There is a booking for an American military version of the Boeing 757 on January 19, the day before the inauguration. “That’s one that’s normally used by the Vice-President but often used by the First Lady. Presidential flights tend to get booked far in advance, because of the work that has to be done around it.” Air traffic controllers receive details of the arrival of a plane with a US special call sign weeks in advance but are not told exactly which plane when the booking is made, the paper writes. The president has strong ties to Scotland, owning the Turnberry golf resort, as well as a course in Aberdeenshire. His mother, Mary, hails from the island of Lewis. If Mr Trump does fly to Scotland later this month he could be in breach of coronavirus restrictions. Trump Turnberry is effectively closed until February 5 due to new lockdown rules, according to the resort’s website. It is also not immediately clear how, as a private citizen, Mr Trump would fly back to the US after January 20. It was reported last month that Mr Trump is discussing the possibility of announcing a campaign to retake the White House in 2024 on Inauguration Day, skipping the swearing-in of his successor. Biden transition officials said his attendance at the inauguration, or lack thereof, would not affect their plans, which will be scaled back due to coronavirus concerns. Mr Trump is said to be concerned about criminal investigations he might face after leaving the White House, as well as questions about his taxes. It is Justice Department policy that a sitting president cannot be indicted. The most developed case might be out of the Southern District of New York, which prosecuted Michael Cohen, his one-time personal attorney and fixer, over hush money paid to a prostitute allegedly hired by Mr Trump. He also faces two New York state inquiries into whether he misled tax authorities, banks or business partners. The US Department of State said it was for the White House to comment. The White House did not respond to The Sunday Post. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office did not comment.

America's COVID-19 vaccine effort is 'total chaos,' should add first come, first served option, vaccine expert says

The U.S. kicked off a second phase of its COVID-19 vaccine campaign on Monday, when health care workers and others at the top of the tiered system began getting their second and final doses of the vaccine. But the rollout of the inoculation effort has been "slow and uneven," The Associated Press reports, "marked by confusion, logistical hurdles, and a patchwork of approaches by state and local authorities."The Trump administration set a goal of vaccinating 20 million Americans by Jan. 1, but as of Jan. 4, only 4.5 million had gotten their first shot, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said, out of 15 million doses distributed. There is some resistance to getting vaccinated, but much of the problem seems to be logistics, Politico reports. States are simply struggling to match vaccine shots with the people who want and are qualified to get them. The effort has also been hampered by ineffective communication plans, the lack of any meaningful national outreach and education campaign, and a fractured, sagging health care system."It's total chaos," Peter Hotez, a vaccine expert at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, told Politico. "It's increasingly looking like we had a plan that was well-suited to vaccinate Singapore." The U.S. needs to inoculate about a million people a day to get the pandemic contained by September, and Hotez said America won't get those numbers under the current plan. He told Politico the U.S. should scrap its tiered system and supplement the doses shipped to nursing homes and hospitals with mass vaccination venues, like sports stadiums or outdoor tents, where anyone who wanted the vaccine could show up for a shot. "That is in the works in some states," Politico notes.The U.S. needs to "get the vaccine in people's arms," Hoetz said. "The only other choice is to continue with 3,000 deaths a day."More stories from theweek.com After getting vaccinated, New Orleans woman delivers a blunt message to non-believers McConnell stares down the barrel of Trump's gun Colbert's Late Show turns Trump's Georgia election call into a Stevie Wonder hit

TheGrioTheGrborero a rned a1 shipped to nursing homes and hospitals with mass vaccination venues, like sports stadiums or outdoor tents, where anyone who wanted the vaccine could show up for adhot. "That is in the works in some states," Politico notes.The U.S. needs to "get the vaccine in people's arms," Hoetz said. "The only other choice is to continue with 3,000 deaths a day."More stories from theweek.com After getting vaccinated, New Orleans woman delivers a blunt message to non-believers McConnell stares down the barrel of Trump's gun Colbert's Late Show turns Trump's Georgia election call into a Stevie Wonder hit