Vice-president’s refusal paves the way for the House to move forward with impeachment
The US House of Representatives has voted to formally call on the vice-president, Mike Pence, to invoke the 25th amendment and strip Donald Trump of his presidential authority after Trump incited a mob that led a deadly assault on the US Capitol last week.
Continue reading...Jacob Chansley, who wore furs and a horned hat, highlights America’s alarming double standard
Since the attack on Capitol Hill on Wednesday night, we can safely assume two things: in the US, white supremacy is treated with nowhere near the same force as peaceful protest. And as a result, white supremacists behave with complete entitlement.
How else can we describe how teargas, batons and horses were used on peaceful protesters demanding justice for Black Lives this summer; and yet, when an angry white mob stormed the Capitol in an attempt to overturn a legitimate election, some managed to make it all the way to Nancy Pelosi’s office unharmed and undeterred?
Continue reading...Canada’s most populous province on track to see tenfold increase in daily case count within weeks
Ontario has declared an emergency after the latest modelling put Canada’s most populous province on track to have more than 20,000 new Covid-19 cases a day by the middle of February – a nearly tenfold increase from the current count.
Ontario, which is battling a coronavirus surge that has swamped its hospitals and triggered a province-wide lockdown, could also see roughly 1,500 more deaths in its long-term care homes through mid-February under a worst-case scenario, according to modeling from experts advising the government.
Continue reading...Security footage shows the Republican state representative Mike Nearman leaving a door open and allowing far-right protesters into the Oregon capitol building during a special legislative session on 21 December.
As politicians discussed coronavirus-related bills, about 50 protesters briefly breached the building. The capitol has been closed to the public as part of a pandemic safety measure.
It is not immediately clear if Nearman will face consequences for his actions. He has not commented
Continue reading...Federal wildlife officials in Florida are seeking information about attack on a manatee, which is said to have had the word 'Trump' carved into its back.
The diver Hailey Warrington said she filmed the animal on Sunday during a manatee swim tour in shallow water in Homosassa Springs.
Large, gray and docile, manatees are popular attractions in Florida, though their numbers are at risk due to habitat loss and the danger of boat strikes
Continue reading...Sheldon Adelson, a casino magnate, perennial top single donor to Donald Trump and other Republican causes and an influential opponent of a two-state solution in the Middle East, has died. He was 87.
Related: Billionaire casino boss Sheldon Adelson splashes the cash in bid to help Trump
Continue reading...Democrats will today force vote asking Mike Pence to remove president
James Comey said he was “sickened” by the attack on the Capitol last week, emphasizing that all of the rioters involved should face federal charges.
“It’s important that every last person who entered that Capitol be found and charged.”
Watch @SavannahGuthrie’s full interview with Former FBI Director James @Comey on the U.S. Capitol siege and new inauguration threats. pic.twitter.com/JSFEFz9Q9y
Alex Azar, the secretary of health and human services, would not say whether the 25th amendment should be invoked to remove Donald Trump from office.
Speaking to ABC News this morning, the cabinet secretary also would not say whether he has discussed the possibility of invoking the 25th amendment with other senior officials.
HHS Sec. Alex Azar won't say if he'd vote to remove Trump: "The rhetoric last week was unacceptable. I'm not going to get into or discuss the 25th Amendment here. I've wrestled with this, I'm committed to see this through in my role as Health Sec. during a pandemic..." pic.twitter.com/yD1vwwPBMv
Continue reading...Editor-in-chief of fashion magazine responds to online accusations of whitewashing and disrespecting the vice-president-elect
Anna Wintour has spoken about the controversy over Vogue’s Kamala Harris cover, accused online of whitewashing and disrespecting the vice-president-elect.
Related: Kamala Harris and why politicians can’t resist Vogue (though it always ends in tears)
Continue reading...From Facebook and Twitter to Reddit and Amazon, tech firms are moving to silence the president, and his QAnon supporters
Twitter’s decision to suspend Donald Trump’s account on Wednesday evening has opened the floodgates for tech companies and platforms to remove the outgoing US president from their services.
Twitter’s suspension was followed by Facebook, which a day later announced the move would be “indefinite”. Twitter then announced a “permanent” suspension of Trump’s account.
Continue reading...Los Angeles sees a person infected every six seconds. In a predominantly Latino neighborhood, Martin Luther King Jr community hospital faces ‘a sea of illness’
Husbands and wives, twin brothers in their 20s, parents and their children. Family members are turning up one after another at Martin Luther King Jr community hospital (MLKCH) in South Los Angeles. The deaths have been piling up.
Patients have been arriving at MLKCH terribly sick, and at higher rates than anywhere else in the region – the impoverished Latino and Black neighborhood is one of the worst Covid hotspots in America. Inside the hospital, staff face a dire scramble to ensure they have the supplies, the healthcare workers and the physical space needed to take care of the overwhelming crush of Covid victims.
Continue reading...First federal execution of woman in 67 years halted as judge cites need to determine her mental competence
A judge has granted another stay in what was slated to be the US government’s first execution of a female inmate in nearly seven decades.
Judge Patrick Hanlon granted the stay late on Monday, citing the need to determine Lisa Montgomery’s mental competence, the Topeka Capital-Journal reported.
Continue reading...The network said it acted after ‘violent events in Washington’ when a pro-Trump mob stormed the US Capitol
Twitter has said it has suspended more than 70,000 accounts since Friday that were primarily dedicated to sharing QAnon content as the social media site continued to crack down on content after supporters of Donald Trump stormed the US Capitol.
“Given the violent events in Washington DC, and increased risk of harm, we began permanently suspending thousands of accounts that were primarily dedicated to sharing QAnon content on Friday afternoon,” Twitter said in a blog late on Monday.
Continue reading...German officials concerned about spread of UK variant; Ukraine resisting turning to Russia for help; China locks down Langfang City
The Dutch government is expected to announce a three-week extension of lockdown measures on Tuesday, national broadcaster NOS reported. The prime minister Mark Rutte was scheduled to announce the latest social curbs to fight the pandemic.
Citing government sources, NOS said the lockdown would be lengthened through the first week of February instead of being lifted on 19 January.
The falling numbers are the first effect of the lockdown that went into effect on 15 December.
The Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy has asked European Union countries for more help in procuring vaccines after his government resisted turning to Russia for assistance.
The pandemic has killed more than 20,000 Ukrainians and plunged one of Europe’s poorest countries into recession last year.
Today, for all countries of the Eastern Partnership initiative, in particular Ukraine and Moldova, the issue of obtaining vaccines is important. The countries of the Eastern Partnership should be given increased attention by the EU states in matters of joint procurement procedures and accelerating the supply of vaccines.
Continue reading...Senator says one officer took selfie with rioter and another wore Maga hat, as concerns grow over inauguration security
Two Capitol police officers have been suspended as a result of their actions during the storming of the US Capitol, as pressure mounts on law enforcement to hold rioters accountable and to secure Washington DC from further violence ahead of Joe Biden’s inauguration next week.
Tim Ryan, a Democratic senator of Ohio, told reporters on Monday that one of the officers took a selfie with someone and the other put on a “Make America Great Again” hat. He says of the latter that the “interim chief determined that to be qualifying for immediate suspension”.
Continue reading...Donald Trump is facing a historic second impeachment after Democrats in the House of Representatives formally charged him with one count of “incitement of insurrection” over the Capitol Hill riot.
Related: Melania Trump pays tribute to dead of Capitol attack but casts herself as victim
Continue reading...Donald Trump has reclassified Cuba as a “state sponsor of terrorism” in a last-minute move that could complicate efforts by Joe Biden’s incoming administration to re-engage with Havana.
The controversial step was announced by secretary of state Mike Pompeo on Monday, at the start of Trump’s final full-week in office, and places Cuba alongside Iran, North Korea and Syria.
Continue reading...Gorillas are thought to have been infected by wildlife worker in what is believed to be first outbreak among captive primates
Several gorillas at the San Diego zoo safari park have tested positive for coronavirus, with some experiencing symptoms, in what is believed to be the first outbreak among such primates in captivity.
The park’s executive director, Lisa Peterson, told the Associated Press on Monday that eight gorillas who live together at the park are believed to have the virus and several have been coughing. Gavin Newsom, California’s governor, confirmed at his Monday news briefing that at least two gorillas had tested positive while three were symptomatic.
Continue reading...Federal wildlife officials in Florida are reportedly seeking information on the perpetrators of an attack on a manatee, which apparently had the word “Trump” scraped into its back.
Related: Florida manatee deaths up 20% as Covid-19 threatens recovery
Continue reading...Actions spark debate on free speech and whether chief executives of tech firms are fit to act as judge and jury
As rioters were gathering around the US Capitol last Wednesday, a familiar question began to echo around the offices of the large social networks: what should they do about Donald Trump and his provocative posts?
The answer has been emphatic: ban him.
Continue reading...The latest row over a high-fashion magazine cover, involving the US vice-president-elect, illustrates the chaos than can ensue when alpha worlds collide
When Theresa May appeared in US Vogue in 2017, even her deliberately anodyne choice of a posh-end-of-the-high-street dress by British label LK Bennett did not prevent this newspaper calling the Annie Leibovitz shoot a “defining moment” which, “like Margaret Thatcher in the tank turret looking like a cross between Boudicca and Lawrence of Arabia … might easily become a signifier of all that is flawed in her prime ministerial style”. Michelle Obama’s bare upper arms appeared no fewer than three times on the cover of Vogue during her White House years, causing pearl-clutching uproar at the sight of her toned triceps.
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