BBC News |
US may tie social media to visa applications
BBC News The Trump administration has said it wants to start collecting the social media history of nearly everyone seeking a visa to enter the US. The proposal, which comes from the state department, would require most visa applicants to give details of their ... US set to request five years of social media history for all visa applicants |
Thomas Bach says Kim Jong-un fully supports North Korea’s continuing role following Pyeongchang Winter Games
The International Olympic Committee president, Thomas Bach, says Kim Jong-un is committed to having North Korea participate in the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics and the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.
Bach said he had a 30-minute formal meeting with the North Korean leader followed by 45 minutes of casual discussions while watching a football match on Friday at Pyongyang’s May Day Stadium.
Continue reading...Family attorney says independent autopsy contradicts police claims the unarmed man was charging at them
Stephon Clark, the unarmed California man killed by police in his grandmother’s backyard, was facing away from the officers when they fired and hit him seven times from behind, the family’s attorney announced Friday, saying an independent autopsy revealed falsehoods in law enforcement’s narrative.
The 22-year-old father of two also did not die instantly and was alive for about three to 10 minutes while police failed to provide him medical aid and instead yelled commands at him and handcuffed him, according to the doctor who conducted an autopsy for Clark’s loved ones.
Continue reading...After revelation of controversial memo by senior executive, leaked posts show staff decrying disloyalty at company
Facebook employees are calling for a crackdown on suspected leakers and questioning whether “spies” have infiltrated the corporation, according to leaked internal posts that suggest the social media giant’s workforce is becoming defensive in the face of critical public scrutiny.
The posts were a response to the leak of a memo by a senior Facebook executive who defended the social network’s negative effects on society.
Continue reading...A US government effort to fight online sex trafficking has cleansed many sites of personal ads and consensual eroticism, in a shift advocates say amounts to dangerous censorship
Craigslist has shut down its renowned “personals” section, which once featured ads titled “Hot days” and “Looking to fool around tonight”. Porn performers are complaining that Google Drive is no longer allowing them to share erotic videos with private clients. Microsoft has announced new rules banning “offensive language” from conversations on Skype and Xbox. And Reddit has closed sex industry discussion groups entitled “Escorts”, “Hookers”, and “SugarDaddy”.
All of this has happened in recent days and weeks; a particular genre of online sex, it seems, is vanishing from the internet.
Continue reading...The house Parks moved into in 1957 was slated for demolition before an artist moved it to Germany, but as an attempt to display it in the US faces a block, a determined group of volunteers aim to rescue it
The small, tired house with peeling white paint once served as a refuge for Rosa Parks in Detroit. It has traveled across the world and back in an odyssey conceived by an artist and a Parks family member determined to preserve the civil rights activist’s legacy.
It was rescued for $500 off a demolition list, then disassembled and shipped to Germany, and was supposed to be the centerpiece of a weeks-long exhibition at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, this spring: an American homecoming amid a national conversation surrounding race, history and the value of certain monuments. Instead, the Ivy league school abruptly canceled.
Continue reading...After Walmart said it would stop selling Cosmo in the checkout aisle, the National Center on Sexual Exploitation is eyeing further victories
Even in the digital age, choosing a magazine at the supermarket checkout aisle is an enduring American tradition.
Shoppers at the country’s biggest retailer were spoilt for choice this week if they wanted to devour scurrilous tabloid allegations about Hollywood celebrities and the health, sexual proclivities and drinking habits of the British royal family.
Continue reading...A California judge has ruled that coffee companies must put cancer warnings on their product but on the east coast, caffeine-crazed drinkers aren’t buying the latest health scare
Asking a New Yorker whether they’ll give up their morning coffee during their commute is likely to elicit only one response – laughter.
News broke on Thursday that a California judge had ruled coffee companies should carry cancer warnings on their products after an eight-year legal battle with big coffee. Coffee companies, led by Starbucks, had argued that the levels of acrylamide, a known carcinogen, present in their coffee were insignificant and outweighed by health benefits.
Continue reading...Brands including Patagonia and the North Face have presented a unified front in fighting for America’s public lands
Continue reading...Police say they might never know what caused SUV carrying family of eight to plunge off California cliff, killing at least five passengers
Brake failure, a blown tire and factors such as the weather and road condition are among the factors that will be looked at by investigators trying to determine what caused an SUV carrying a Washington state family to plunge off a California cliff, but authorities might never figure out exactly what happened.
One of the children, Devonte Hart, drew national attention after the black youngster was photographed in tears, hugging a white police officer during a 2014 protest in Portland over the deadly police shooting of a black man in Ferguson, Missouri. Devonte was holding a “Free Hugs” sign.
Continue reading...President’s most trusted aide given gracious White House send-off, but exit highlights continued uncertainty in Trump’s inner circle
With a handshake and a presidential kiss on the cheek, Hope Hicks bid farewell to the White House, the press-shy communications director taking a rare moment in the spotlight on her final day in Donald Trump’s administration.
The exit of the president’s most trusted aide, coming one day after yet another cabinet departure, highlights continuing uncertainty among Trump aides and White House staff about who might be the next to go.
Continue reading...‘I can’t wait for the episode where John Goodman blows the vacation money paying off a porn star,’ Colbert said
Late-night hosts on Thursday discussed Donald Trump’s appointment of White House physician Ronny Jackson as secretary of veterans affairs and Trump’s comments on the success of the Roseanne reboot.
Continue reading...The former California governor underwent a planned procedure on a pulmonic valve originally replaced in 1997, his spokesman said
Arnold Schwarzenegger had heart surgery in Los Angeles on Thursday, his representative has confirmed.
The former California governor and Terminator actor underwent surgery to replace a pulmonic valve, a spokesman, Daniel Ketchell, said in a statement.
Continue reading...As Trump forces America’s attention span to shrink, we are unable to address the threats that could fundamentally endanger American national security
Donald Trump’s daily assaults on American democracy and the pillars of America’s role in the world are disastrous – and they are also distracting America from even bigger global challenges. At just the moment when the United States must be joining together with the rest of the world to confront three existential threats – climate change, challenges to democracy, and the rise of China – Americans are forced to spend every waking minute mitigating Trump’s damage.
In Trump’s America, it’s hard to keep up. The news and controversies come so quickly they eat into each other’s news cycles. Actions by the Trump administration that previously might have brought down a presidency (or at least merited a congressional inquiry) pass in a matter of hours as the next jaw-dropping scandal explodes.
Continue reading...After pressure from a rightwing religious group, Walmart pulled the magazine from its coveted spot in the checkout aisle – to protect the kids, you see
Do not adjust the year on your electronic devices: religious right pressures Walmart to pull Cosmo from checkout aisle for the sake of “the children”.
Being a parent is no picnic. Between attacks on the social safety net, the rising cost of housing and education, and looming ecological crisis, it’s a wonder anyone brings children into this world at all any more. But America’s beleaguered moms and dads can relax just a little this week, for the biggest threat to their offspring’s safety has been vanquished. I’m speaking, of course, of Cosmopolitan magazine in the Walmart checkout aisle.
Continue reading...The phrase is neither a legitimate academic term, nor a political movement but conservatives use it to sell a false narrative and to justify discrimination
Costa Rica goes to the polls this weekend for a presidential runoff election in which economic concerns have unexpectedly been overshadowed by a debate over gay marriage.
The current frontrunner – rightwing evangelical candidate Fabricio Alvarado – leapfrogged 12 rivals to win February’s first-round vote, largely thanks to his pledge to ignore an Inter-American Court of Human Rights ruling which warned Costa Rica that it must guarantee same-sex couples equal rights to marriage.
Continue reading...Having bussed tens of thousands of supporters into Budapest for a pre-election “peace march” on 15 March, prime minister Viktor Orbán addressed them, promising that after his victory on 8 April he will deal with those who oppose him by “moral, political and legal means”.
But who are his opponents? Is it the ragbag of small parties who cannot unite in opposition and who have, in any case, been deprived of the platforms required to reach the electorate? Is it the NGOs and other human rights associations who have been looking after those most badly affected by his policies? Is it perhaps the Central European University, Hungary’s most highly ranked university, which produces ideas that might be critical of him? Is it perhaps the refugees he depicts as a tide of migrants ready to drown the country with their alien, menacing ways? And if it is all these, at whose door does he lay the blame?
Continue reading...Zlatan Ibrahimovic insists the “lion is hungry” as he embarks on a fresh challenge with LA Galaxy.
The former Sweden striker completed a move to the MLS side last week, announcing his arrival by taking out a full-page advert in a local newspaper, after securing an early release from his contract at Manchester United.
Continue reading...Tiger Woods described himself “a walking miracle” as he prepared to return to major championship action at the Masters. Next week will mark the former world No 1’s first appearance at Augusta National since 2015.
Wood has suffered persistent back troubles, which culminated recently in fusion surgery. “I got a second chance on life, I am a walking miracle,” he said.
Continue reading...Scott Foster thought it was going to be just another night. Then the 36-year-old accountant signed a contract, put on his goaltender gear and waited in Chicago’s locker room. Then he got into the game.
Then it was his night.
Continue reading...The debate has resurfaced again: is UConn’s women’s basketball dominance bad for the sport? The answer: of course not
It is not a stretch to say the University of Connecticut’s women’s basketball team was one of the worst in the country for their first 13 years of existence. Dreadful, in fact. Playing in the tiny Yankee Conference and hidden in the state’s northeast, a typical season for UConn was 7-13 – placing them light years from the burgeoning dynasties in the American South.
Only once before the arrival of an Italian immigrant coach named Geno Auriemma did Connecticut have a winning season. In the inglorious early history of UConn, that 16-14 year seems an odd anomaly. From the early 1970s to the late 1980s, women’s basketball at UConn was, at best, an afterthought.
Continue reading...Commemorations are planned across the US for Wednesday to honor the civil rights leader on the date of his assassination
Much of the United States will come to a halt next Wednesday to mark the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr’s assassination.
Memphis, Tennessee, where Dr King was shot dead on 4 April 1968, will be the epicenter as all across the US commemorations are scheduled to honor the memory of the country’s most influential and celebrated civil rights leader.
Continue reading...The US defence secretary, James Mattis, greeted the incoming national security adviser, John Bolton, outside the Pentagon on Thursday. After shaking hands in front of reporters, Mattis said to Bolton: 'I’ve heard that you’re actually the devil incarnate and I wanted to meet you.' Bolton, a military hawk, will replace HR McMaster next month
Continue reading...A total of $1.2tn spend greets US tax reform and faster European economic growth
Global mergers and acquisitions had their strongest start ever in the first quarter of 2018, totalling $1.2tn in value, as US tax reform and faster economic growth in Europe unleashed many companies’ dealmaking instincts.
Strong equity and debt markets and swelling corporate cash coffers also helped boost the confidence of chief executives, convincing them that now is as good a time as ever to pursue transformative mergers, dealmakers said.
Continue reading...The newly opened Museum of Selfies in Glendale, California, explores the history and cultural impact of the selfie, which has roots dating back 40,000 years. Visitors can explore the origin of the selfie through the lens of art, history, technology, and popular culture. Or they can instead take yet more selfies using the venue’s interactive installations
Continue reading...Kris Graves has photographed all 77 of New York City’s precinct station houses. So what do the buildings tell us about how the NYPD has changed over time?
Essay and portfolio originally published on Urban Omnibus
Continue reading...CBS News |
Laura Ingraham announces vacation amid advertiser boycott
CBS News Fox News' Laura Ingraham announced Friday she would be taking a vacation the next week to celebrate Easter with her family as advertisers have dropped her show after she criticized a Parkland school shooting survivor. Her supporters have launched the ... More advertisers drop Laura Ingraham's Fox News show despite apology to David Hogg Parkland student David Hogg rejects Fox News host's apology Laura Ingraham's apology to David Hogg has not stemmed the advertiser exodus |
NBCNews.com |
White House chaos jeopardizes war on ISIS, US commanders warn
NBCNews.com White House chaos jeopardizes war on ISIS, U.S. commanders warn. “We're on the two-yard line,” one U.S. special forces commander told NBC News. “We're that close and now it's coming apart.” by Richard Engel and Kennett Werner / Mar.30.2018 / 7:39 AM ET ... |
U.S. News & World Report |
Unarmed man killed by Sacramento police shot 8 times, 6 in the back: Private autopsy
ABC News Civil Rights Attorney Benjamin Crump, who is representing Clark's family, released the independent autopsy report at a news conference Friday. Dr. Bennet Omalu, who was the first doctor to discover chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), conducted the ... Stephon Clark was shot 7 times from behind, private autopsy finds Protests Block Streets After Funeral for Man Shot by Police Independent autopsy reveals Stephon Clark was 'shot repeatedly in the back' by Sacramento officers |
BBC News |
India probe after exam leak hits 1.6 million students
BBC News India has launched an inquiry into its national school exams after questions were leaked, forcing 1.6 million students to resit their tests. Police have questioned 32 people over the leaks in mathematics and economics papers which were accessed and ... |