NM Police: Officer, suspect dead after shootings
A New Mexico State Police officer was fatally shot on a highway Thursday and authorities chased the attacker, killing him in a shootout, officials said. (Feb. 5)
The House voted on Thursday to remove Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., from her committee assignments after Republican leadership failed to punish the freshman congresswoman's embrace of bizarre conspiracy theories and endorsement of violence against Democrats.
Little Ferry, New Jersey, police officers told the driver to let off the gas. When they tried to call for a tow truck, they noticed the SUV was on fire.
President Joe Biden's drive to enact a $1.9 trillion coronavirus aid bill gained momentum on Friday as the U.S. Senate narrowly approved a budget blueprint allowing Democrats to push the legislation through Congress in coming weeks with or without Republican support. At the end of about 15 hours of debate and votes on dozens of amendments, the Senate found itself in a 50-50 partisan deadlock over passage of the budget plan. This was a "giant first step" toward passing the kind of comprehensive coronavirus aid bill that Biden has put at the top of his legislative agenda, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said.
Let there be lightOriginally Appeared on Architectural Digest
Prosecutors in Kenosha, Wisconsin, sought a new arrest warrant Wednesday for Kyle Rittenhouse, the teenager charged with killing two people during an Aug. 25 protest against the police shooting of Jacob Blake, a Black man now paralyzed from the waist down. The prosecutors said Rittenhouse has violated the terms of his $2 million bond by moving without informing the court or providing his new address. After a court filing sent to Rittenhouse was returned as undeliverable Jan. 28, Kenosha detectives visited Rittenhouse's listed address and discovered another man has been living there since mid-December, prosecutors explained. It is "extremely unusual for a defendant facing a charge of first-degree intentional homicide in Kenosha County to post cash bond and be released from custody pending trial," prosecutors said in their motion. "Rarely does our community see accused murderers roaming about freely." Along with Rittenhouse's arrest, they asked the court to increase his bond by $200,000, noting that since his $2 million bond had been paid from a "dubious internet fundraising campaign," Rittenhouse "has no financial stake in the bond" and no incentive to cooperate since "he is already facing the most serious possible criminal charges and life in prison." Rittenhouse's lawyer, Mark Richards, responded Wednesday night, saying his client is in an undisclosed "safe house" due to death threats and "has stayed in constant contact" with his lawyers, if not the courts. He said he had offered to provide prosecutors with the new address if they would keep it secret, and they declined. Rittenhouse, now 18, is accused of fatally shooting Joseph Rosenbaum, 36, and Anthony Huber, 26, and wounding a third man. He says he fired in self-defense. Prosecutors sought to amend the terms of his bail last month after video footage captured him drinking with a group of Proud Boys at a Wisconsin bar and flashing white-power hand signs. It is legal for 18-year-olds to drink in bars in Wisconsin if a parent is present, and Rittenhouse's mom was apparently at the bar with him. More stories from theweek.com5 scathing cartoons about the GOP's Marjorie Taylor Greene problemKenyan woman finds a way to recycle plastic waste into bricks that are stronger than concreteSenate votes down $15 minimum wage during vote-a-rama. Bernie Sanders seems unfazed.
Outraged members of a Hindu nationalist group have burnt photographs of Greta Thunberg in New Delhi after the Swedish environmentalist tweeted in support of India’s protesting farmers. Amid rising tensions between protesting farmers and the authorities, members of the United Hindu Front also held signs saying India will "not tolerate interference in internal affairs." Hundreds of thousands of farmers are occupying the streets outside of New Delhi ahead of a planned nationwide strike on Saturday, their numbers swelling after a farmer died after violent clashes with police on January 26. Tweets by Ms Thunberg and the singer Rihanna have catapulted the farmers' protests into headline news worldwide; farmers believe proposed new agricultural laws will decimate their profits by privatising the farming industry. In addition to tweeting her support of the protests, Ms Thunberg also shared a "toolkit" advising how people could peacefully demonstrate against the laws. The “toolkit” advocated for Indians joining a farmers’ march into New Delhi, showing their solidarity on social media using specific hashtags and tweeting messages to Narendra Modi, India’s prime minister.
March for Our Lives co-founder David Hogg tweeted on Thursday that he and software developer William LeGate are launching a pillow company to compete against MyPillow, which is led by Trump supporter CEO Mike Lindell. Driving the news: Lindell is one of former President Trump’s most adamant defenders and has repeatedly shared unsubstantiated conspiracy theories about the election since President Biden took office.Get smarter, faster with the news CEOs, entrepreneurs and top politicians read. Sign up for Axios Newsletters here. * Lindell had a tumultuous interview with Newsmax earlier this week, where anchors attempted to block the CEO from reiterating conspiracies about the 2020 election. He refused. * Dominion Voting Systems also sent a cease-and-desist letter to Lindell last month and ordered him to preserve all documents related to the company. * Lindell told Axios in response: "I want Dominion to put up their lawsuit because we have 100% evidence that China and other countries used their machines to steal the election." * The Department of Justice has found no evidence to support Lindell's claims about Dominion Voting Systems or widespread voter fraud.Details... Hogg wrote that he and LeGate hope to "sell $1 million of product within our first year" and to launch in about six months. * "[W]e would like to do it sooner but we have strict guidelines on sustainability and [U.S.] based Union producers," Hogg added. * "Mike isn't going to know what hit him—this pillow fight is just getting started."What they're saying: MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell told Axios in a text Thursday morning, "Good for them.... nothing wrong with competition that does not infringe on someone's patent."Support safe, smart, sane journalism. Sign up for Axios Newsletters here.
'This is not about me and it should not be about me,' said Democrat
A general strike organized by a splinter group in the governing Communist party paralyzed life in Nepal on Thursday, shutting schools, transportation and markets. Highways were deserted and shops were closed by the strike, called to protest Prime Minister Khadga Prasad Oli's decision to dissolve Parliament and announce new elections. In the capital, Kathmandu, riot police guarded the main streets and stopped people who were forcing vehicles off the roads.
A 19-year-old man facing murder and elder abuse charges over the death of 84-year-old Vicha Ratanapakdee has pleaded not guilty during his first court appearance at the Hall of Justice on Wednesday. Details -> https://t.co/6Z5rqIQpcZ pic.twitter.com/PJnuuWgE3Y — Evan Sernoffsky (@EvanSernoffsky) February 1, 2021 Ratanapakdee, who was originally from Thailand, died from injuries on Saturday after being slammed into the ground by Antoine Watson, NextShark previously reported. Watson was arrested on Saturday for the seemingly unprovoked attack on Ratanapakdee, reports SF Examiner.
The Senate slogged through a long series of votes late Thursday and early Friday, with the Democrats voting down most of the theoretically limitless series of amendments to their budget resolution. "The endurance run known as the 'vote-a-rama' is a time-honored tradition of the reconciliation process — the budget tool Democrats will likely use to expedite passage of [President] Biden's $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief plan without any GOP support," Politico explains. Most of the vote-a-rama involved "Republicans forcing Democrats into tedious and uncomfortable votes on a variety of issues as Democrats inflicted maximum pain by dragging out the legislative torment," Politico reports. But some amendments did pass with bipartisan support. By a voice vote, for example, the senators approved an amendment from Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) to "prohibit the increase of the federal minimum wage during a global pandemic." Raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour is one of the heavy lifts in Biden's proposal. "A $15 federal minimum wage would be devastating for our hardest-hit small businesses at a time they can least afford it," Ernst argued on the Senate floor. The measure's biggest proponent, Budget Committee Chairman Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), shrugged off the vote, noting that his plan raised the minimum wage over five years, starting after the pandemic. "We need to end the crisis of starvation wages in Iowa and around the United States," he said, adding that he "will do everything that I can" to make sure the measure "is included in this reconciliation bill." The minimum wage hike may be stymied by other factors: Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) is opposed, and it may run afoul of so-called Byrd Rule limits on what can be included in reconciliation bills. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said if it doesn't make it in this bill, Democrats will include it in other legislation. The Senate also approved amendments to keep America's Israeli embassy in Jerusalem, prevent undocumented immigrants from getting direct stimulus checks, and — by a 99-1 vote — restrict Biden's $1,400 checks from going to "upper-income taxpayers." That proposal, from Manchin and Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), did not specify any income thresholds, and Biden's proposal already includes phasing out the checks up to $300,000-a-year households. Congress and the White House are negotiating the phase-out and cutoff points, and Biden is meeting with Democratic leaders and committee chairs Friday morning to discuss the COVID-19 relief bill. More stories from theweek.com5 scathing cartoons about the GOP's Marjorie Taylor Greene problemKenyan woman finds a way to recycle plastic waste into bricks that are stronger than concretePro-worker Republicans go missing
Eleven semi-automatic rifles and 12 magazines of ammunition seized in two Colombian police raids last month were destined for leftist National Liberation Army (ELN) guerrillas in Venezuela, a high-ranking police source said on Wednesday. Colombia's tax and customs police (POLFA) had on Tuesday heralded the late-January seizure of five Anderson AM-15 rifles of U.S. origin and five magazines of 5.56 caliber ammunition and the capture of two suspects, saying it was investigating whether the final destination was Venezuela.
Khalid Batarfi was arrested in October, and the terror group has since suffered an erosion of its ranks caused by desertions, the U.N. said in a report.
A theater fires command is among the additional assets Gen. Chistopher Cavoli wants to bring to the region.
A 95-year-old Colorado man accused of shooting and killing a maintenance worker at his assisted living center told police he was tired of staffers stealing money from him and decided to shoot the man to make the thefts stop, according to a court document released Thursday. Okey Payne was arrested Wednesday in his room at Legacy Assisted Living in Lafayette, 22 miles (35 kilometers) north of Denver. Investigators say he shot Ricardo Medina-Rojas after confronting him about $200 that he said was missing from his wallet.
A white Columbus, Ohio, police officer was charged with murder Wednesday in the latest fallout following the December shooting death of 47-year-old Andre Hill, a Black man, the state's attorney general said.
The Biden administration announced Thursday that it would halt support of Saudi Arabia's offensive military operations in Yemen, where the war has caused a gigantic humanitarian emergency on top of the coronavirus pandemic. Biden will also reportedly appoint experienced diplomat Timothy Lenderking as special envoy to Yemen. It remains to be seen exactly how this will play out, but as Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) noted in a statement, it looks like the start of a diplomatic push to get Saudi Arabia to end the brutal war in which it has been bogged down since 2015, obtain a general ceasefire, and coordinate an international aid effort. The Saudi military basically cannot do anything without U.S. support, and any strong signals from America that it should knock it off probably will be heeded. That's especially true now that Trump is gone, and Saudi dictator Mohammad bin Salman thus faces possible recrimination for ordering the cold-blooded murder of a U.S. resident and Washington Post columnist, Jamal Khashoggi, back in 2018. It is worth noting that while Biden is reversing a Trump decision, the Yemen policy actually originated under the Obama administration. It is a marked difference from the early months of 2009, when Obama kept on George W. Bush's secretary of defense and planned for a massive troop surge in Afghanistan. Perhaps two decades of expensive, bloody, and totally unsuccessful wars are enough? More stories from theweek.com5 scathing cartoons about the GOP's Marjorie Taylor Greene problemKenyan woman finds a way to recycle plastic waste into bricks that are stronger than concreteSenate votes down $15 minimum wage during vote-a-rama. Bernie Sanders seems unfazed.
Six months after the Aug 4 blast that damaged much of the Lebanese capital, the scars of the explosion remain visible across Beirut. The investigation into what happened has been brought to a virtual halt by the same political rivalries that have dogged the country for years. What started as an investigation into how nearly 3,000 tons of ammonium nitrate, a highly explosive fertiliser component, were stored in Beirut port for years, has taken a turn, wading into a web of murky international business interests in the explosives trade and global shipping. While there are still few answers, the devastation wrought by the explosion has been captured vividly in new pictures taken from a drone from above the blast site and surrounding area. A massive crater
White House says there are 'range of options on the table' after previous administration allegedly nixed USPS plan to distribute face masks to households nationwide
Panama's government is seeking 3 million doses of Russia's Sputnik V vaccine against COVID-19 for 1.5 million people, hoping to receive them by March, a letter of intent signed by the country's Health Ministry showed. The Central American nation has one of the highest numbers of confirmed infections in the region and said recently it had allocated $56 million to purchase a total of 5.5 million doses for about 80% of its population. It was not immediately clear if Sputnik V was part of that allocation.