Several FBI agents were shot Tuesday morning while serving a warrant in a child exploitation case in South Florida, authorities said.
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The House impeachment managers said the U.S. Constitution does not restrict impeachment to people currently in office and that they interpret the text as giving Congress broad powers to pursue impeachment.
As the U.S. turned the page on the deadliest month since the coronavirus pandemic began, the nation's top infectious disease expert urged Americans to get vaccinated to help prevent new variants from emerging.
Vowing to continue his fight from behind bars, Putin's fiercest critic said Russia's government was "imprisoning one person to frighten millions."
Video of Atlanta police officers using Tasers and pulling two college students from a car during a large protest last year against police brutality and racial injustice sparked national outrage, and two of the officers were immediately fired. The Civil Service Board found the city did not follow its own personnel procedures, which resulted in the officers being deprived of due process because they were not given proper notification or adequate opportunity to respond. The board, which is made up of five residents recommended by the mayor and confirmed by the city council, ordered Monday that the dismissals of Ivory Streeter and Mark Gardner be revoked.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) has long bragged about New York's response to the COVID-19 pandemic, crafting a foam mountain and writing a book in attempts to prove the state had conquered the pandemic. But the state's COVID-19 numbers have since summited a far larger mountain and its vaccination rate lags behind 19 other states', all while Cuomo continues to sidestep top health officials, The New York Times reports. New York health officials spent years preparing vaccination plans with local health departments, spurred largely by bioterrorism fears after 9/11. But Cuomo abandoned that plan in favor of having hospitals coordinate vaccinations. Cuomo met with "hospital executives, outside consultants, and a top hospital lobbyist" to make those plans, the Times reports; New York's first vaccine ended up going to a nurse from that lobbyist's hospital. In the first few weeks of the vaccine's rollout, the state ended up canceling appointments because they didn't have supplies to meet the demand. Current and former health officials have meanwhile felt shunted throughout the process, with one former official telling the Times that "morale certainly was and continues to be at an all-time low." Nine top state health officials have even resigned or retired throughout the pandemic. Cuomo even sidelined the New York City Health Department's plans to expand childhood vaccination procedures to the whole city population. In an October letter, Cuomo told the Trump administration to only work with the state in coordinating vaccine distribution, one city official told the Times. This "extensive red tape and unnecessary rigidity ... made an extraordinarily difficult task all the more challenging," a spokesperson for New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio told the Times. There's no way of knowing if New York City's plan, or the one experts spent years organizing, would've performed better. But while Cuomo aide Melissa DeRosa contends oversubscriptions for vaccine appointments mean their system worked just fine, one epidemiologist says hospitals were never built to handle this kind of public health crisis. Read more at The New York Times. More stories from theweek.comRise of the Barstool conservativesMeatballs, f-bombs, vote fraud conspiracies: A Trump Oval Office meeting so insane, Giuliani was 'the voice of reason'Biden has to choose whether to replace Trump's inspectors general, especially 1 pushed in by McConnell
Myanmar’s de facto civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other senior government officials were detained in military raids on Sunday, according to a party spokesperson. A coup d'etat: Suu Kyi’s ruling party won a majority of the parliamentary seats — 396 out of 476 seats up for grabs — in November’s election, according to the Associated Press. The military disputed the results, claiming election fraud — allegations the state Union Election Commission rejected.
An anti-Trump Republican group branded one of its co-founders "a predator, a liar, and an abuser" after he was accused of sexually harassing young men who aspired to a career in politics. The Lincoln Project, a high-profile group which formed during the election campaign to prevent Donald Trump's re-election, said it was "disgusted and outraged" by the alleged actions of co-founder John Weaver. Mr Weaver, a veteran Republican strategist who helped run the presidential campaigns of the late senator John McCain and the former Ohio governor John Kasich, has been accused of sending unsolicited and sexually charged messages to 21 young men online. In some instances, the men claimed Mr Weaver, 61, suggested that he could help them get work in politics while asking them to send lewd pictures. None of the men accused Mr Weaver of unlawful behaviour. One of the alleged victims, Cole Trickle Miele, said the Republican strategist began contacting him in 2015 - when he was just 14 years old.
The Biden administration wants to use the Agriculture Department money to tackle climate change, support restaurants and kickstart other programs without waiting for Congress; Fox Business Network's Charles Payne reacts.
Joe Manchin annoyed at vice president plugging Covid relief without his knowledge
A former northeastern Nebraska village clerk who was praised for her work in helping rebuild her community following a 2014 tornado strike has been sentenced to prison for stealing from the village. Kimberly Neiman, 58, was sentenced Monday in Stanton County District Court to three years in prison, the Norfolk Daily News reported. Neiman was arrested last year on multiple felony theft and other counts.
The details of the COVID-19 relief package proposed by Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and nine other Republican senators as a counter to President Biden's plan are out. The bill would cost a total of $618 billion, far below Biden's $1.9 trillion proposal. The two do find common ground on COVID-19 containment efforts like vaccine distribution and testing — both would allocate $160 billion in that category. But, there's not a lot of overlap elsewhere. The GOP package contains direct stimulus checks, but they begin at $1,000 per individual and begin phasing out for people who earn $40,000 per year with a cap at $50,000. The Biden plan, meanwhile, would provide $1,400 that begin phasing out at $75,000 per year with a $115,000 cap for individuals and $206,000 for couples. The GOP bill would also extend enhanced unemployment insurance through June at $300 per week, compared to Biden's $400 per week, which would last through September. Funds for school reopening, rental and landlord support, and state and local government aid are other areas that are either diminished or cut entirely from the GOP plan. $618b GOP plan / $1.9T Biden plan pic.twitter.com/zUOpzn01rR — Igor Bobic (@igorbobic) February 1, 2021 Biden has agreed to sit down with the senators behind the bill, but earlier reports indicated Democratic lawmakers don't believe it's worth entertaining, so the meeting may just be a formality. 10 Senate Republicans offer covid-relief package less than one-third the size of Biden’s - including nothing for core Democratic priority of state/local govt aid Biden responds by inviting them to the WH today this looks less like negotiation than a polite exchange of gestures — John Harwood (@JohnJHarwood) February 1, 2021 More stories from theweek.comRise of the Barstool conservativesMeatballs, f-bombs, vote fraud conspiracies: A Trump Oval Office meeting so insane, Giuliani was 'the voice of reason'Biden has to choose whether to replace Trump's inspectors general, especially 1 pushed in by McConnell
Canada said it regretted a "misunderstanding" after China lodged a formal complaint over a diplomat's order of a custom T-shirt displaying the word Wuhan, the city where the COVID-19 pandemic first emerged, over the emblem of hip-hop group Wu-Tang Clan. Reports of the T-shirt order circulating on China's Twitter-like Weibo described it as depicting a bat, without mentioning Wu-Tang Clan. "We are very shocked by this and have lodged representations with Canada, asking for a thorough investigation and a clear explanation," foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said in response to a question at a daily briefing on Monday, adding that the virus should not be linked to specific countries or regions.
Furniture made from waste materials just keeps getting better—and easier to buyOriginally Appeared on Architectural Digest
Archaeologists in Egypt have unearthed more than a dozen 2,000-year-old mummies, including some with gold tongues in their mouths, according to the country’s Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities. The Egyptian-Dominican team from the University of Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic was working at the Taposiris Magna Temple in western Alexandria when it discovered the remains of 16 ancient Egyptians buried in rock tombs. The mummies were poorly preserved and in a state of significant decomposition, but photographs released by the ministry showed a human skeleton with a clearly visible, tongue-shaped piece of gold placed in its jaw. According to officials, the amulets “were placed in the mouth of the mummy in a special ritual to ensure their ability to speak in the afterlife before the Osirian court.” In Egyptian mythology, Osiris was the god of the afterlife, as well as fertility and agriculture. Dr Kathleen Martinez, who headed the team, explained that of the 16 mummies, the two most important had preserved alongside them the remains of scrolls and parts of their cartonnage – a kind papyrus or linen-based papier-mache used to construct the intricate “face masks” that envelop the mummified bodies inside their sarcophagi.
Two FBI agents were fatally shot and three wounded Tuesday while serving a federal search warrant in a child exploitation case in South Florida, authorities said. The suspect also died at some point during the standoff in which he barricaded himself inside a home, said FBI Miami Special Agent Michael D. Leverock. Two of the wounded agents were taken to hospitals to be treated and were in stable condition, Leverock said, adding that the names of the deceased agents will not be released immediately.
Federal inspectors general are supposed to be independent watchdogs of federal agencies, and while former President Donald Trump purged numerous inspectors general last spring on vague pretenses, President Biden has to decide if he will further break norms by firing Trump's picks and replacing them with officials confirmed in the usual way, The New York Times reports. The biggest dilemmas are Eric Soskin, the inspector general for the Transportation Department, and Brian Miller, a former Trump White House lawyer appointed earlier in 2020 to look for abuses in pandemic spending. "Nearly all inspectors general since Congress created the independent anti-corruption watchdog positions in 1978 were confirmed unanimously or by voice vote without recorded opposition," but only one Democrat voted to confirm Miller, the Times reports. Along with the objections he was too close to Trump, Miller has faced scrutiny for apparently doing little in his first eight months, though he submitted a report to Congress on Monday outlining some investigative work. "I try to be bipartisan and nonpartisan — certainly as an inspector general and in everything that I do," Miller told the Times. Soskin's office, meanwhile, was investigating whether Trump's transportation secretary, Elaine Chao, had improperly steered federal grants to Kentucky to help the re-election of her husband, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). In December, McConnell, then majority leader, used his power to prioritize Soskin's confirmation over four other inspector general nominees ahead of him in line, the Times reports, ensuring that a Republican appointee would control the office once Biden took office. Danielle Brian, executive director of the Project on Government Oversight, flagged McConnell's move a the time. Oh I should have also mentioned that the alleged wrongdoing involves the Sec of Transportation trying to help her husband McConnell, yes the same person who is trying to push through the confirmation today. — Danielle Brian (@daniellebrian) December 18, 2020 It took McConnell two tries, but on Dec. 21 he eventually got Soskin confirmed 48-47, the first ever party-line vote for an inspector general. Despite the evident conflict of interest, Brian said removing Soskin and other Trump-appointed inspectors general "would be essentially exacerbating the problems he created in the first place." Soskin declined through a spokesman to comment on the status of his office's Chao-McConnell investigation. A spokesman for McConnell pointed to a 2019 statement in which McConnell openly touted his ability to funnel federal dollars to Kentucky. More stories from theweek.comRise of the Barstool conservativesMeatballs, f-bombs, vote fraud conspiracies: A Trump Oval Office meeting so insane, Giuliani was 'the voice of reason'Nobody seems to like the San Francisco school board’s 'renaming spree'
China's Shenzhen Kangtai Biological Products said on Tuesday it had completed a facility designed to be able to produce 400 million doses of AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine per year, doubling a capacity target promised in 2020. "Kangtai is actively pushing forward procedures for the vaccine's clinical trial and registration in China, and has completed a manufacturing plant and started trial production," the Shenzhen-based firm said in a press release. The firm obtained rights to supply the AZD1222 vaccine, developed by the Anglo-Swedish drugmaker and Oxford University, in mainland China last year in return for having capacity to produce at least 200 million doses by the end of 2021.
Nine of the soldiers have been released from the William Beaumont Army Medical Center in El Paso, Texas.
Sri Lanka said Tuesday it had pulled out of an agreement with Japan and India to develop a deep-sea container terminal viewed as an effort to counter China's growing influence in the region.
"This isn't how the police should treat anyone, let alone a 9-year-old girl," Gov. Andrew Cuomo said in the wake of the incident.
