Draft plan to loosen state aid rules follows Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act and Chinese subsidies
The EU executive will loosen state aid rules and propose a new “European sovereignty fund” later this year, in response to the controversial US Inflation Reduction Act and China’s “unfair” green subsidies.
A leaked European Commission plan underscores the global green subsidy race is under way, although EU member states remain divided on how to respond.
Continue reading...Two EMTs and a firefighter also fired as lawmakers call for meeting with president and investigation into Nichols’ death continues
A sixth officer involved in the death of Tyre Nichols has been removed from duty, police said, as an influential group of Black elected officials has called for a meeting with Joe Biden to discuss police reform.
Officer Preston Hemphill, who is white, was relieved of duty and put on what is known as administrative leave, Memphis police major Karen Rudolph said on Monday, according to multiple reports.
Continue reading...The move to end the declarations comes as House Republicans are set to pass a resolution to demand their immediate scrapping
Joe Biden informed Congress on Monday that he will end the twin national emergencies for addressing Covid-19 on 11 May, as most of the world has returned closer to normalcy nearly three years after they were first declared.
The move to end the national emergency and public health emergency declarations would formally restructure the federal coronavirus response to treat the virus as an endemic threat to public health that can be managed through agencies’ normal authorities.
Continue reading...People in underserved medical communities in states that ban abortions may be more likely to attempt self-managed abortions
Top doctors in the US warn that surgeons should be prepared to treat more patients with complications from self-managed abortions and forced pregnancy after the overturning of Roe v Wade.
In a recent opinion piece published in the BMJ, 17 experts from medical centers and universities including the University of Chicago, Duke Medicine and the University of Pennsylvania urged surgeons to be prepared to treat medical consequences related to a person’s inability to access an abortion.
Continue reading...Cook county state attorney makes decision after two federal convictions that ensure singer will be locked up for decades
A Chicago prosecutor said Monday that she’s dropping sex-abuse charges against singer R Kelly, following federal convictions in two courts that ensure the disgraced R&B star will be locked up for decades.
Cook county state’s attorney Kim Foxx announced the decision a day ahead of a court hearing related to state charges accusing him of sexually abusing four people, three of whom were minors. Foxx said she would ask a judge to dismiss the charges at Tuesday’s hearing.
Continue reading...Shou Zi Chew will face legislators amid concerns over the social media app’s alleged collusion with Beijing in accessing user data
As the US legislative battle over TikTok continues to escalate, Shou Zi Chew, the chief executive of the video-sharing app, will make his first appearance before Congress to testify next month.
Chew will testify before the House energy and commerce committee on 23 March, Republican representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers confirmed in a statement on Monday, as scrutiny of the Chinese-owned app over data privacy concerns grows.
Continue reading...Students led effort over concern for reproductive rights after supreme court struck down constitutional right to abortion
A vending machine that provides emergency contraception has been installed at a Washington DC university, as colleges contend with how to protect reproductive rights on campus.
Students at George Washington University successfully obtained the vending machine dispensing morning-after pills following concerns in the wake of the supreme court’s ruling last summer to overturn the landmark 1973 Roe v Wade decision that had ushered in the constitutional right to an abortion.
Continue reading...Proposed use of tax credits follows pressure to respond to Biden’s $369bn green subsidy scheme in US
The EU is stepping up its green subsidy race with the US through plans to loosen state aid rules on tax credits for renewable energy projects.
European policymakers have been under pressure to respond to the US president Joe Biden’s $369bn (£298bn) Inflation Reduction Act, which aims to encourage renewables investment in everything from electric cars to wind turbines.
Continue reading...US secretary of state meets Israel’s prime minister and reaffirms support for two-state solution
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, has called for calm after days of violence between Israel and the Palestinians, as he visited Jerusalem for talks with the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.
A Palestinian man died on Monday after an altercation with Israeli troops, as violence in the region continued to spiral.
Continue reading...Actor appeared in two series of the thriller as well as Star Trek: Picard, and was reportedly diagnosed with cancer in 2020
The actor Annie Wersching, best known for playing FBI agent Renee Walker in the TV series 24, has died at the age of 45.
Wersching died on Sunday morning in Los Angeles following a battle with cancer, her publicist told the Associated Press. The type of cancer was not specified.
Continue reading...Moves spur Trump into attacking Florida governor during low key events over the weekend in Iowa and New Hampshire
America’s 2024 presidential race is showing signs of kicking into gear amid reports that Florida’s rightwing Republican governor Ron DeSantis is now laying the groundwork for a White House bid as Donald Trump finally hit the campaign trail.
DeSantis’s moves even spurred Trump into attacking him directly as the former US president held relatively low key events over the weekend in the key early voting states of New Hampshire and South Carolina.
Continue reading...Attendant repeatedly dismissed Rose Wakefield as she attempted to get his service and told her, ‘I don’t serve Black people’
An Oregon woman has been awarded $1m by a jury after facing racist discrimination at a gas station where the attendant told her: “I don’t serve Black people.”
A jury in Multnomah county reached the decision after a four-day-trial in a case where Rose Wakefield from Portland claimed an attendant at the gas station had refused to serve her because of her race.
Continue reading...Georgia quarterback Stetson Bennett, who led the Bulldogs to their second straight national championship, was arrested early on Sunday after police said he was intoxicated in public.
Police said that at about 6.10am, officers responded to reports of a man banging on doors in a community of townhomes near downtown Dallas.
Continue reading...Two officers allegedly handcuffed Jose Ortega Gutierrez and took him to an ‘isolated’ location where they beat him unconscious
Two Florida police officers are facing armed kidnapping and battery charges for allegedly assaulting a homeless man after handcuffing him without reason, and taking him to an “isolated” location where they beat him unconscious.
The news has emerged as America is grappling with a reckoning over abusive policing in the US following the beating to death of Tyre Nichols in Memphis, Tennessee. Video of the beating of the 29-year-old Black motorist shocked the US and the world when it was released on Friday. Five officers have been charged with his murder.
Continue reading...Injuries not life-threatening after soldier fires at migrant in the shoulder as he was attempting to detain migrant
A Texas national guard soldier has shot and wounded a migrant in the shoulder along the US-Mexico border.
According to Texas military records reviewed by the Military Times and the Texas Tribune, the soldier fired at the migrant on 15 January as he was attempting to detain the migrant.
Continue reading...A motion-activated camera near Boulder contained a surprise for officials monitoring wildlife activity
Selfie mania in wild beauty spots is definitely a thing – but this camera hog had no real idea what she was doing.
When a curious bear stumbled upon a wildlife motion-activated camera near Boulder, Colorado, she ended up triggering hundreds of “selfies”, officials have said.
Continue reading...More than a million people have called out sick for the past three years, and CDC says long Covid probably a contributor too
For many Americans it feels like everyone is out sick right now. But there is a good reason: work absences from illness are at an all-time annual high in the US and show few signs of relenting. And it’s not just acute illness and caregiving duties keeping workers away.
About 1.5 million Americans missed work because of sickness in December. Each month, more than a million people have called out sick for the past three years. About 7% of Americans currently have long Covid, which can affect productivity and ability to work, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Continue reading...Officers were not in danger and brutality had no justification, advocates and experts say
Legal experts and civil rights advocates have said the harrowing video footage that showed a group of Memphis police officers delivering blow after blow to Tyre Nichols underscores the need for broad reforms of policing in the US.
Experts interviewed by the Guardian pointed out that body-worn and surveillance footage was integral in revealing what unfolded – but are not a panacea.
Continue reading...The Scorpion unit has been deactivated after video was released of the brutal beating of the 29-year-old at the hands of officers
The Memphis police chief on Saturday disbanded the unit whose officers beat to death Tyre Nichols as the nation, citing a “cloud of dishonor”, as the city struggled to come to grips with video showing police pummeling the Black motorist.
Police director Cerelyn “CJ” Davis said she listened to Nichols’ relatives, community leaders and uninvolved officers in making the decision.
Continue reading...New York group, which broke up in 1978, best known for Marquee Moon and whose singer-songwriter also worked with Patti Smith
Tom Verlaine, the frontman, songwriter and legendary guitar player of the New York City band Television, has died aged 73.
His death was announced by Jesse Paris Smith, the daughter of Patti Smith, who said that he died “after a brief illness”.
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