Suspension comes after 12 soldiers die within a month in two crashes in Alaska and Kentucky
The US army has grounded aviation units for training after 12 soldiers died in helicopter crashes in Alaska and Kentucky in the last month.
The suspension was effective immediately, with units being grounded until they complete the training, the army spokesperson Lt Col Terence Kelley said.
Continue reading...Kim Yo-jong’s broadside came after US and South Korea enhance nuclear cooperation and Biden warns Pyongyang an attack would end the regime
The powerful sister of North Korea’s leader has said her country will stage more displays of military might in response to a new US-South Korean nuclear deterrence agreement and compared Joe Biden’s comments about it as a “nonsensical remark from the person in his dotage”.
Kim Yo-jong’s broadside came after Biden attended a summit with the South Korean president, Yoon Suk-yeol, on Wednesday. The US president said later that any North Korean nuclear attack on the US or its allies would “result in the end of whatever regime” took such action.
Continue reading...Ron DeSantis grew angry on Thursday when asked by a reporter in Israel about his time at Guantánamo Bay:
One interesting thing about this clip is that it’s been shared on Twitter both by DeSantis’s own media operation (which is posted above) and by Democrats looking to attack the presumptive candidate for the GOP presidential nomination. Make of that what you will.
Continue reading...Different reports fly around while Fox News declines to comment on the cancellation of top TV host’s show
The exact reason behind the rightwing TV host Tucker Carlson’s abrupt firing from Fox News remains unclear, days after the star’s show was suddenly cancelled.
The New York Times and Wall Street Journal reported Carlson was fired after executives discovered vulgar text messages, including one in which he called a top executive the C-word. There were also concerns among Fox management that Carlson was acting as if he was above the network, the Journal reported.
Continue reading...UN’s arbitrary detention group calls for immediate release of Palestinian Abu Zubaydah, saying detention has no basis in law
A UN body has declared that the detention of a long-term Guantánamo inmate, Abu Zubaydah, has no lawful basis and called for his immediate release, warning that the systemic deprivation of liberty at the camp may “constitute crimes against humanity”.
The UN working group on arbitrary detention (UNWGAD), also declared the UK, among other countries, was “jointly responsible for the torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment of Mr Zubaydah” over his more than 20 years in detention.
Continue reading...Report identifies Fed failures before bank collapse but also blames bad management, weakened regulations and lax supervision
The Federal Reserve failed to “take forceful enough action” ahead of the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank last month, the Fed said on Friday in a hard-hitting report that blamed extremely poor bank management, weakened regulations and lax government supervision for the failure.
Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse triggered an ongoing banking crisis for mid-sized US banks. On Friday, trading in another mid-sized bank – First Republic – was briefly halted after its share price fell 48%. The bank revealed on Monday that it had lost $100bn in deposits during last month’s banking crisis.
Continue reading...The 1599 author on the difference between historians and novelists, looking at Shakespeare differently and hitchhiking to the Edinburgh festival to immerse himself in the bard’s work
• James Shapiro wins Baillie Gifford anniversary prize with ‘extraordinary’ Shakespeare biography 1599
Serendipity dictated that the American writer and academic James Shapiro received the Baillie Gifford prize for nonfiction’s Winner of Winners award, given to celebrate its 25th year, at a ceremony in Edinburgh. In his teens and early 20s, Shapiro tells me as we talk over Zoom the morning after his victory, he would often hitchhike from London to the Edinburgh festival as part of his immersion in the plays of Shakespeare. This period in his life sowed the ground for his acclaimed book, 1599: A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare, first published in 2006. He was, he explains, recovering from the “awful experience” of studying the playwright in middle school; every summer for several years, he would save up enough money to come to the UK on a Freddie Laker plane, “where you could fly from New York to London for $100 round trip and sleep in church basements and for 50p see spectacular productions”.
In London, Stratford and Edinburgh, he’d see 25 plays in as many days, “and they’re all tattooed inside my skull to this day. The greatest one I saw was Richard Eyre’s Hamlet at the Royal Court in 1980 or so. Richard wrote me a note this morning, and it was so moving to me because that’s where it came from, seeing productions like his.”
Continue reading...ChatGPT rated higher in quality and empathy of written advice, raising possibility of medical assistance role
ChatGPT appears to have a better ‘bedside manner’ than some doctors – at least when their written advice is rated for quality and empathy, a study has shown.
The findings highlight the potential for AI assistants to play a role in medicine, according to the authors of the work, who suggest such agents could help draft doctors’ communications with patients. “The opportunities for improving healthcare with AI are massive,” said Dr John Ayers, of the University of California San Diego.
Continue reading...Rocky Hanna is accused of ignoring Florida governor’s directives in latest move against those who oppose Republicans’ politics
Florida officials are threatening to revoke the teaching license of a school superintendent who criticized the governor, Ron DeSantis.
The educator is accused of violating several statutes and DeSantis directives and allowing his “personal political views” to guide his leadership.
Continue reading...Details emerge about shooting, in which shooter left note mentioned fatigue at ‘being rejected’ by women
The man who stormed on to Michigan State University’s campus and shot three students to death before killing himself bought the ammunition fired during the attack only a few hours earlier, investigators announced on Thursday.
Additionally, authorities said, the murderer had no personal or professional connection to the school, making his motive a mystery to them, despite his leaving a note which – among other things – complained about feeling rejected and not having sex during the last decade.
Continue reading...Advocates say it will cast welcome attention on a system mired in scandals of prisoner mistreatment and racial injustice
A United Nations human rights group is touring Los Angeles county jails on Friday, bringing international scrutiny to a detention system criticized for overcrowding, mistreatment and abuse of people with mental illnesses, and conditions described by civil rights groups as “barbaric”.
A panel of experts appointed by the UN human rights council and formed after the murder of George Floyd is visiting LA as part of a two-week trip to cities across the US examining racial justice and police violence. In California, the investigators will meet with families of people killed by police and formerly incarcerated people. They will also enter the LA county jail system, the largest in the country, which is run by the LA sheriff’s department (LASD).
Continue reading...The 41% spike comes as the city closed an outreach center that stocked Narcan and allowed supervised drug use
Drug-related deaths surged by 41% in San Francisco in the first quarter of this year – with one person dying of an accidental overdose every 10 hours, as the fentanyl crisis continues to ravage the US west coast.
San Francisco saw 200 people die of overdoses in the past three months compared to 142 in the same months a year ago, according to reports by the city’s medical examiner.
Continue reading...British singer testifies about songwriting practices and plays guitar during trial over whether he copied Gaye’s classic Let’s Get it On
Ed Sheeran played the chord progression to his hit song Thinking Out Loud and sang on the witness stand in Manhattan federal court on Thursday, during a trial over whether he copied Marvin Gaye’s classic Let’s Get it On.
Testifying as the first witness in his own defense to a packed courtroom, the British singer-songwriter described his process for writing the song about everlasting love in 2014, shortly after he began a new romantic relationship and after his grandfather died.
Continue reading...The most powerful rocket ever built destroyed its launchpad and sent a plume of concrete dust and rubble into the air
While the spectacle of SpaceX’s new Starship rocket blowing up over the Gulf of Mexico riveted the public’s attention, it was the explosive nature of the launch at ground level that was drawing heightened scrutiny from the government this week.
The shattering force of last Thursday’s launch in south Texas sent a cloud of pulverized concrete raining over a small town nearby, federal regulators said, raising fresh questions about the environmental impact of ramped-up launch operations at the site.
Continue reading...Former vice-president’s proximity to the ex-president during the Capitol attack makes him a key witness in the criminal inquiry
Mike Pence testified before a federal grand jury on Thursday in Washington about Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election results, according to a source familiar with the matter, a day after an appeals court rejected a last-ditch motion to block his appearance.
The former vice-president’s testimony lasted for around seven hours and took place behind closed doors, meaning the details of what he told the prosecutors hearing evidence in the case remains uncertain.
Continue reading...For the Guardian, Lyz Lenz looks at the relationship between Donald Trump and Tucker Carlson, and what the latter’s ouster from Fox News this week means for the former president’s latest campaign for the White House:
At an 18 February 2017 rally, Donald Trump railed against immigrants and violence. He was unusually focused on Sweden, warning the crowd about recent terrorist attacks in the country: “You look at what’s happening last night in Sweden. Sweden, who would believe this?” If a terrorist attack in Sweden seemed unbelievable, it’s because it was. There had been no attack by immigrants the night before Trump spoke. The most recent attacks on Sweden, at the time, were a series of bombings between November 2016 and January 2017 that were allegedly connected to the neo-Nazi group the Nordic Resistance.
Continue reading...Downing Street responds to stinging attack from US firm’s president over blocking of $69bn Activision deal
Downing Street has defended the UK as an “extremely attractive” place for tech startups after Microsoft’s president said Brexit Britain was worse for business than the EU, in a stinging attack on the UK’s decision to block a $69bn (£55bn) deal to take over Activision Blizzard.
Microsoft rounded on the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) on Thursday after a surprise decision to block its planned takeover of the Call of Duty games developer, with its president, Brad Smith, describing it as the “darkest day in our four decades in Britain”.
Continue reading...Family of famed TV figure and former mayor of Cincinnati announces he died ‘peacefully’ at home in Chicago on Thursday
The talkshow host Jerry Springer, a former mayor of Cincinnati whose work was vastly influential in daytime TV worldwide, has died. He was 79.
Springer’s family said he died “peacefully” on Thursday at home in Chicago.
Continue reading...Florida governor attempting to weaken Disney’s self-governing powers after entertainment giant opposed his ‘don’t say gay’ law
Disney’s lawsuit over his attempt to seize its self-governing powers is a political stunt with no legal merit, the increasingly embattled hard-right Florida governor Ron DeSantis, told reporters on Thursday.
“I don’t think the suit has merit,” the likely Republican White House hopeful said, adding: “The days of putting one company on a pedestal with no accountability are over in the state of Florida.”
Continue reading...Jack Teixeira, 21, expected to appear in Massachusetts court on Thursday as prosecutors urge judge to keep him behind bars
The Massachusetts air national guardsman suspected of leaking highly classified US intelligence documents is set to appear in federal court on Thursday, after federal prosecutors urged a judge to keep the suspect behind bars.
Jack Teixeira, 21, is expected to appear at 1pm ET for a detention hearing in Worcester, Massachusetts.
Continue reading...