“The Biden administration has announced the U.S. is expelling 10 Russian diplomats and imposing sanctions against dozens of people and companies, holding the Kremlin accountable for interference in last year’s presidential election and the hacking of federal agencies.
The sweeping measures announced Thursday are meant to punish Russia for actions that U.S. officials say cut to the core of American democracy and to deter future acts by imposing economic costs on Moscow, including by targeting its ability to borrow money. The sanctions are certain to exacerbate tensions with Russia, which promised a response, even as President Joe Biden said the administration could have taken even more punitive measures but chose not to in the interests of maintaining stability.” Read more at AP
"Eight people were shot and killed in a late-night shooting at a FedEx facility in Indianapolis, and the shooter killed himself, police said.
Multiple other people were injured Thursday night when gunfire erupted at the facility near the Indianapolis International Airport, police spokesperson Genae Cook said.
At least four were hospitalized, including one person with critical injuries. Another two people were treated and released at the scene, Cook said.
The shooter wasn’t immediately identified, and investigators were still in the process of conducting interviews and gathering information. Cook said it was too early to tell whether the shooter was an employee at the facility.” Read more at Time
“Almost half of US states saw an increase in coronavirus cases this week, and experts are urging people to maintain safety precautions and get vaccinated to avoid another spiral. Vaccine hesitancy has become a problem, and even though more than 30% of US adults have been fully vaccinated, the efficiency of rollouts has varied widely from state to state. Around the world, countries like India and Brazil continue to set daily records for Covid-19 cases. That’s especially troubling for India, as millions of Hindus from around the country flock to the city of Haridwar for the Kumbh Mela religious festival, the world's largest pilgrimage. Meanwhile, the US government and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, have kicked off a pledging event aimed at raising $2 billion more to support vaccine distribution to lower-income countries around the world.” Read more at CNN
“Johnson & Johnson privately reached out to Covid-19 vaccine rivals to ask them to join an effort to study the risks of blood clots and speak with one voice about safety, but Pfizer Inc.PFE 1.16%and Moderna Inc. MRNA -0.10%declined.
As concerns mounted last week over rare cases of blood clots, J&J asked AstraZenecaAZN 1.99% PLC as well as Pfizer and Moderna to join its efforts looking into the reports, people familiar with the matter said. J&J, through emails and phone calls, also sought to build an informal alliance to communicate the benefits and risks of the shots and address any concerns raised among the public by the blood-clot cases, some of the people said.
Six women who got J&J’s vaccine developed clots, and one died, out of more than seven million doses administered across the U.S., according to federal health officials. The specific adverse event hasn’t been reported by people who received the Pfizer and Moderna shots, the officials said.
Pfizer and Moderna executives declined the offer, saying their vaccines appeared safe, the people said. The pair also objected because they didn’t see the need to duplicate the efforts of regulators and companies already looking for blood-clot cases and investigating the cause, the people said. One company’s concern: The safety of the Pfizer and Moderna shots could be tarnished by association, some of the people said.
Only AstraZeneca, which had been buffeted by similar blood-clotting concerns for weeks, agreed, the people said.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“Deadly difference | Brazil and India — the second and third worst-hit nations from Covid-19 — are similarly matched for the scale of infections, with cases hovering around 14 million. But a divergence in fatalities is puzzling scientists, Chris Kay and Andre Romani report. In excess of 365,000 Brazilians have died, more than double the toll in India, and it’s not clear why.
India reported record infections again today — more than 217,000 — even as the government is allowing election rallies and religious festivals attracting tens of thousands.” Read more at Bloomberg
“The economy is picking up as jobs and spending improve. The recovery is accelerating as stimulus money, Covid-19 vaccinations and business reopenings spur a spring surge in consumer spending, a sharp pullback in layoffs and a bounceback in factory output.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“Despite dire predictions, the number of suicides fell by 5 percent last year, although the decline appears to have been concentrated among white Americans.” Read more at New York Times
“India recorded more than 200,000 new infections yesterday. Workers are fleeing cities, potentially carrying the outbreak to rural areas less equipped to handle it.” Read more at New York Times
Derek Chauvin, at right, on Day 14 of his trial on Thursday. via Court TV
“Derek Chauvin declined to testify in his trial over the killing of George Floyd. Both sides will make closing arguments on Monday.” Read more at New York Times
“Chicago police released body cam footage from the shooting death of 13-year-old Adam Toledo, who was killed by an officer in late March. Police claim the video shows a gun in Adam's right hand as he nears an open area of fence next to an empty lot. Adam turns to his left, toward the officer, and what police claim is the gun disappears behind his right side. Adam begins to raise his hands as he's facing the officer when the officer fires his weapon. Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot called the videos ‘incredibly difficult to watch.’ This incident, along with the police shooting this week of Daunte Wright in Minnesota and the trial of a former Minneapolis police officer in George Floyd's death, have intensified calls for congressional action on police reform.” Read more at CNN
“The family of 12-year-old Tamir Rice is asking the Justice Department to reopen its investigation into the boy's 2014 shooting and to convene a grand jury that would consider charges against the Cleveland police officers involved in his death.
Drawing from President Joe Biden's promise to reinvigorate investigations of police actions and Attorney General Merrick Garland's pledge to prioritize civil rights, Rice's family is asking the Justice Department to revisit evidence that the previous administration deemed insufficient to warrant prosecution.” Read more at USA Today
“$200 billion — The funding that a bipartisan bill in Congress would provide in tech-related research as the U.S. seeks to better compete with China in robotics, artificial intelligence and machine learning. The centerpiece of the package would rename the federal government’s science agency the National Science and Technology Foundation and authorize it to spend $100 billion over five years on research.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“The Texas House gave initial approval to a measure that would allow carrying a handgun in the state without a permit. If approved, Texas would become the largest state that allows handgun owners to carry weapons in public without a permit.” Read more at USA Today
“New Hampshire will lift its mask mandate Friday , Gov. Chris Sununu said. But individual towns, cities and schools can impose their own requirements for face coverings, as can individual state agencies, departments and other organizations, he said. New Hampshire will be the first state in New England to lift a statewide mask mandate after becoming the last state in the area to implement one, in November. While coronavirus infections have risen this spring, Sununu credited the state's success in vaccinations for keeping deaths low and hospitalizations at a manageable level. Almost 6,000 ‘breakthrough cases’ of Americans becoming infected despite vaccination have been reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention – far less than 1% of the 76 million Americans who are fully vaccinated. But the CDC still recommends people who are fully vaccinated take precautions in public places, like wearing a mask, social distancing and washing their hands often.” Read more at USA Today
“A group of House and Senate Democrats on Thursday introduced legislation to expand the Supreme Court from nine members to 13, trying to spur momentum for the first change in the makeup of the court in 150 years.
The Democrats and progressive activists said the change was necessary to restore balance to the court after Senate Republicans blocked president Barack Obama’s nominee in 2016 and pushed through president Donald Trump’s third appointee, Justice Amy Coney Barrett, just days before last year’s election.
They were to appear Thursday on the steps of the Supreme Court to unveil the bill.
‘Republicans stole the court’s majority, with Justice Amy Coney Barrett’s confirmation completing their crime spree,’ Senator Edward J. Markey, Democrat of Massachusetts, a sponsor of the legislation, said in a statement announcing it. ‘Senate Republicans have politicized the Supreme Court, undermined its legitimacy, and threatened the rights of millions of Americans, especially people of color, women, and our immigrant communities.’
The legislation is unlikely to move even with Congress in the hands of the Democrats. With the filibuster in place, it stands no chance in the Senate, where it is hotly opposed by Republicans who say that Democrats are trying to ‘pack’ the court to gain partisan advantage. And even before its proponents spoke Thursday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi flatly rejected the measure, saying she had ‘no plans to bring it to the floor.’” Read more at Boston Globe
“US troops are set to leave Afghanistan no later than Sept. 11, but the Pentagon, US spy agencies, and Western allies are refining plans to deploy a less visible but still potent force in the region to prevent the country from again becoming a terrorist base.
Drawing on the hard lessons from former president Barack Obama’s decision a decade ago to withdraw US troops from Iraq — allowing the rise of the Islamic State three years later — the Pentagon is discussing with allies where to reposition forces, possibly to neighboring Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan, according to US officials.
Attack planes aboard aircraft carriers and long-range bombers flying from land bases along the Persian Gulf, Indian Ocean, and even in the United States could strike insurgent fighters spotted by armed surveillance drones.
But there are risks.
Afghan commandos who have been providing the bulk of intelligence on insurgent threats could disintegrate after the United States withdraws, leaving a large hole.
Turkey, which has long had a direct relationship with Afghanistan in addition to its role in the NATO mission there, is leaving troops behind who could help the CIA collect intelligence on Al Qaeda cells, officials note.
Still, planners at the military’s Central Command in Tampa, Fla., and Joint Staff in Washington have been developing options to offset the loss of US combat boots on the ground, and President Biden said on Wednesday that the revised approach would keep al-Qaeda at bay.
‘We will not take our eye off the terrorist threat,’ Biden said in a televised address from the White House. ‘We will reorganize our counterterrorism capabilities and the substantial assets in the region to prevent reemergence of terrorist threat to our homeland.’
But some former top commanders, as well as lawmakers from both parties, warned that absent the unrelenting pressure from US Special Operations forces and intelligence operatives in the country, al-Qaeda could make a comeback in Taliban-dominated Afghanistan.” Read more at Boston Globe
“The White House says the intelligence community doesn't have conclusive evidence that Russian intelligence operatives encouraged the Taliban to attack American troops in Afghanistan, AP reports.
Why it matters: The assessment undermines one of the sharpest attacks Democrats leveled against former President Trump.
The intelligence community determined it has only ‘low to moderate confidence’ in the reports' authenticity.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said that was due in part to the ways in which the intelligence was obtained, including from interrogations of Afghan detainees.
Former Trump national security adviser Robert O'Brien tweeted:
This briefing held up well ... I credit the IC for releasing this important analysis & confirming that what the Admin said at the time was 100% accurate.” Read more at Axios
“President Joe Biden will host Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga on Friday. This will be his first face-to-face meeting with a foreign leader since taking office. Topics on the agenda are likely to include the coronavirus pandemic, climate change, and even this summer’s Olympics in Tokyo. The U.S. and Japan are both looking to strengthen their alliance as America tries to counter economic and military challenges posed by Beijing. ‘The United States can only be effective in Asia when the U.S.-Japan relationship is strong and Japan is steady and stable,’ a senior administration official told reporters. Biden and Suga are also expected to discuss the human rights situations in Hong Kong and China’s northwestern Xinjiang region.” Read more at USA Today
“Raul Castro is preparing to step down as head of Cuba’s all-powerful communist party, ending decades of his family's leadership in the country. Cubans expect to witness this historic changing of the guard at the 8th Congress for the Cuban Communist Party, which starts today. Castro is expected to hand his duties over to Miguel Diaz-Canel, his handpicked successor when Castro stepped down as president in 2018. Castro has remained the party’s first secretary, overseeing long-term planning. This is a key diplomatic juncture for the US. Relations with the communist-run island improved in the Obama era but splintered under former President Trump. So far, President Biden has been reluctant to engage with Cuba, but some lawmakers say now is a good time to push forward with new relations.” Read more at CNN
“Former British Prime Minister David Cameron is embroiled in a scandal in which he allegedly used his personal political connections to try to secure government funds to prevent a financial services company he worked for from collapsing during the pandemic. The firm, Greensill Capital, did not ultimately receive the loan, but it did get funds from a different aid program. There are other complicating details, like the fact that Greensill’s chief executive and founder, Lex Greensill, was also a former adviser to Cameron, who served as prime minister from 2010 to 2016. Current Prime Minister Boris Johnson has ordered an inquiry into the situation, but Cameron insists he broke no government laws and was not acting out of interest of personal financial gain.” Read more at CNN
“China’s economy surged 18.3% in the first quarter from a year earlier, a record rate of growth that reflected the recovery from a deep coronavirus-induced trough in early 2020 and the continued momentum of the world’s second largest economy.
The rate of gross domestic product growth in the first three months of 2021 was sharply higher than the 6.5% year-over-year growth recorded in the final quarter of 2020, though it fell short of the 19.2% growth expected by economists polled by The Wall Street Journal.
Analysts had anticipated GDP growth in the first three months of the year to jump sharply when compared with the year-earlier period, when the Chinese economy suffered a historic 6.8% contraction as the coronavirus’ initial emergence forced Beijing to shut down large swaths of the country.
In recent weeks, China has reported economic indicators showing growth of 30% or more from a year earlier.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“Lula’s boost | A possible new presidential run by leftist Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva gained impetus after Brazil’s top court yesterday backed a ruling that tossed out all criminal convictions against him. Lula is still a popular yet polarizing figure, with a recent poll showing half of respondents may vote for him as a candidate next year compared to 38% for incumbent Jair Bolsonaro.” Read more at Bloomberg
“Covid plea | Chancellor Angela Merkel made her case to the Bundestag today to take greater control of Germany’s pandemic restrictions to break the latest ‘very serious’ virus wave. Parliament is debating a law that would grant her government the authority to impose curbs on reluctant states. “There is no way around it,” she said.” Read more at Bloomberg
“Space is full of junk, with more than 8,000 tons floating around the earth. Everything from defunct satellites to bodies of old rockets is in danger of smashing into each other and rendering large swathes of the orbit unusable. Thomas Pfeiffer and Thomas Seal report on a startup called Astroscale that’s trying to solve the problem by using a spacecraft with a robotic arm to snag the garbage.” Read more at Bloomberg
“With the No. 1 pick in the WNBA Draft Thursday, the Dallas Wings selected Texas star Charli Collier, a 6-foot-5 forward/center who helped put women's basketball back on the map in Austin.” Read more at USA Today
“Lives Lived: Carol Prisant was a 51-year-old former antiques dealer with no journalism experience when she decided she wanted to work for the magazine The World of Interiors. She went on to an illustrious three-decade career. Prisant died at 82.” Read more at New York Times
“Frank Jacobs, an inventive satirist who in his 57 years at Mad magazine mocked popular culture and politics, often in pitch-perfect verse and lyrics, died April 5 in Tarzana, Calif. He was 91.
His son, Alex, confirmed the death,
Mr. Jacobs brought a quick wit, a deep well of ideas, and a love of rhyming to Mad in 1957, becoming one of that smart-alecky humor magazine’s most prolific contributors, especially during the 1960s and ’70s, when it was at the peak of its irreverence and its cultural influence.” Frank Jacobs, an inventive satirist who in his 57 years at Mad magazine mocked popular culture and politics, often in pitch-perfect verse and lyrics, died April 5 in Tarzana, Calif. He was 91.
His son, Alex, confirmed the death.
Mr. Jacobs brought a quick wit, a deep well of ideas, and a love of rhyming to Mad in 1957, becoming one of that smart-alecky humor magazine’s most prolific contributors, especially during the 1960s and ’70s, when it was at the peak of its irreverence and its cultural influence.” Read more at Boston Globe
“After a public flip-flop last month, singer/actress Jennifer Lopez, 51, and former MLB star Alex Rodriguez, 45, announced they have ended their relationship.” Read more at USA Today
“Nearly four years after an infamous festival that was billed as an ultraluxurious musical getaway in the Bahamas left attendees scrounging for makeshift shelter on a dark beach, a court has decided how much the nightmare was worth: approximately $7,220 apiece.
The $2 million class-action settlement, reached Tuesday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the Southern District of New York between organizers and 277 ticket holders from the 2017 event, is still subject to final approval, and the amount could ultimately be lower depending on the outcome of Fyre’s bankruptcy case with other creditors.” Read more at New York Times
“Garden gnomes have become the latest consumer item to fall victim to the pandemic-induced supply chain crunch.
The United Kingdom has seen a gardening boom as residents rediscovered their neglected backyards under lockdown, making the mythical figures a hot commodity. ‘Gnomes of any type, plastic, stone or concrete, are in short supply,’ Ian Byrne, a manager at a gardening store told the BBC. Byrne has sought out help from suppliers in Europe and China to address the scarcity.
Ian Wylie, the head of the British Garden Center Association, said that the recent blockage of the Suez canal has also led to shortages in gardening items, including decorative gnomes, and that stores were ‘doing everything’ to revive supply chains.” Read more at Foreign Policy
Photo: Steve Parsons/Press Association via Reuters
During Saturday's funeral at Windsor Castle, Prince Philip's coffin will be borne by a bespoke Land Rover Defender that the World War II veteran and sporty outdoorsman helped design:
Buckingham Palace said the prince, who died at 99, started on the project with Land Rover 18 years ago, Reuters reports.
It's painted Dark Bronze Green — the color for many military Land Rovers.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson told Parliament: ‘That vehicle's unique and idiosyncratic silhouette reminds the world that he was, above all, a practical man.’ Read more at Axios
No posts