Non-IT News Thread
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Wonder Woman 1984: 'Surprisingly robust' US debut for film sequel
The sequel to 2017's superhero hit Wonder Woman has opened in US cinemas, generating "surprisingly robust" ticket sales, according to one industry paper.
Variety said Wonder Woman 1984's $16.7m (£12.3m) debut was "the biggest opening weekend haul in the coronavirus era". The Warner Bros film was made available on the HBO Max streaming service on the same day it opened in more than 2,000 cinemas in the US and Canada. Its distributor said HBO Max's viewing hours had tripled as a consequence. According to Warner Media, nearly half of the platform's retail subscribers viewed Wonder Woman 1984 when it became available on Christmas Day. It said HBO Max's total viewing hours on 25 December were more than three times that of a typical day in the previous month. -
Croatia earthquake: Seven dead as rescuers search rubble for survivors
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake has struck central Croatia, with reports of many injuries and at least seven deaths.
A 12-year-old girl was killed in Petrinja, the prime minister said as he visited the town. Five people died in the nearby town of Glina, his deputy said. A seventh victim was found in the rubble of a church in Zazina, state media reports. Petrinja's mayor said around half the town had been destroyed and people were being pulled from the rubble. The earthquake could be felt in the Croatian capital Zagreb, in neighbouring Bosnia and Serbia, and as far away as Italy. One woman was pulled alive from the rubble of the town hall in Petrinja, Croatian media reported. -
Covid: New lockdown for England amid 'hardest weeks'
Everyone in England must stay at home except for permitted reasons during a new coronavirus lockdown expected to last until mid-February, the PM says.
All schools and colleges will close to most pupils and switch to remote learning from Tuesday. Boris Johnson warned the coming weeks would be the "hardest yet" amid surging cases and patient numbers. He said those in the top four priority groups would be offered a first vaccine dose by the middle of next month. All care home residents and their carers, everyone aged 70 and over, all frontline health and social care workers, and the clinically extremely vulnerable will be offered one dose of a vaccine by mid-February. -
Jacob Blake: No police officers charged over Kenosha shooting
No police officer will face charges over the shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin - an incident which sparked protests in the US.
Mr Blake was left paralysed from the waist down after being shot several times in the back as he got into a car where his three children were sitting. The shooting of Mr Blake, a black man, by a white police officer on 23 August aggravated racial tensions. Two people died and one was injured in another shooting in Kenosha days later. Kyle Rittenhouse, now 18, denied six charges including first-degree reckless homicide over the shootings when he appeared at a virtual arraignment with his lawyer, Mark Richards, on Tuesday. -
Georgia election: Democrats on course for Senate control
The Democratic Party of US President-elect Joe Biden is on the verge of taking control of the Senate as results come in from two elections in Georgia.
Pastor Raphael Warnock is projected to win one seat. Fellow Democrat Jon Ossoff leads narrowly in the other. If they both win, Mr Biden will have a much better chance of pushing through his legislative agenda. It comes as US lawmakers prepare to confirm Mr Biden's presidential election victory. A joint session of Congress will be held to count and confirm electoral college votes, but some Republicans are seeking to overturn the results in a number of states. The bid is almost certain to fail. However, both houses of Congress may have to spend hours debating their objections. -
Protestors break into the capital of the US
https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/congress-electoral-college-vote-count-2021/index.html
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Capitol riot: Calls grow for Trump to be removed from office
US President Donald Trump's opponents in the two houses of Congress have called for him to be removed from office after the violent invasion of the Capitol by a mob of his supporters.
Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer said Mr Trump should be removed immediately. If he is not, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says he could be impeached. Four people died during the riot, and 68 have now been arrested. Police have faced criticism for failing to stop the rioters breaking in. The official responsible for security in the House of Representatives, the sergeant at arms, has now resigned. Mr Schumer has called for his counterpart in the Senate to be sacked. -
Capitol riots: The hunt to identify and arrest Capitol rioters
After the siege on the US Capitol building, the FBI is appealing to the public for help in bringing the assailants to justice. Will this approach work?
Trump supporters converged on Capitol Hill on Wednesday to express their rage over Joe Biden's victory in the election, wreaking havoc in Congress. Rioters were pictured vandalising congressional offices, and an aide to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, Washington's top Democrat, reported a laptop was stolen. Richard Barnett, a 60-year-old from Gravette, Arkansas, one of the individuals who entered the Capitol building, has been arrested, according to Justice Department officials. He was not hard to find. -
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Capitol riots: FBI warnings amid fears of more pro-Trump violence
The FBI is warning of the possibility of armed protests being held across the US in the days before Joe Biden is sworn in as president.
There are reports of armed groups planning to gather at all 50 state capitols and in Washington DC in the run-up to his 20 January inauguration. The fears come as security plans are hardened for the event itself. On Monday, Mr Biden told reporters he was not afraid to take the oath of office outside of the US Capitol. Both he and Kamala Harris are still expected to be sworn in outside the building, only two weeks after it was the site of a deadly raid by radical supporters of President Donald Trump opposing the election result. -
Lisa Montgomery: US executes only woman on federal death row
Lisa Montgomery - the only female inmate on federal death row in the US - has been executed for murder.
She received a lethal injection at a prison in Terre Haute, Indiana, after a last-minute stay of execution was lifted by the US Supreme Court. The case attracted attention because her lawyers argued she was mentally ill and suffered serious abuse as a child. The 52-year-old strangled a pregnant woman before cutting out and kidnapping her baby in Missouri in 2004. Her victim, 23-year-old Bobbie Jo Stinnett, bled to death but her baby was safely recovered and returned to her family. Montgomery is the first female federal inmate to be put to death by the US government in 67 years. -
Capitol riots: Who has the FBI arrested so far?
The suspects in the Capitol riot are a varied group: they include a West Virginia lawmaker, a Florida firefighter and a QAnon shaman from Arizona.
More than 170 case files have been opened and 70 people charged so far, said Michael Sherwin, US Attorney for the District of Columbia. Some of the misdemeanour charges filed so far are "just the beginning", he said, with officials looking at "significant felony cases" tied to sedition and conspiracy. After a week of FBI appeals for help identifying the man seen carrying a Confederate flag in the Capitol during the riots, a man was arrested on Thursday in Delaware, according to US media reports. The Confederate flag is widely seen as a racist symbol due to its links to slavery - it was originally used by the southern states that didn't want to abolish slavery but lost in the US Civil War (1861-65). -
India to begin first round of massive Covid vaccination programme
India will on Saturday begin one of the world's largest vaccination programmes, aimed at protecting more than 1.3 billion people from Covid-19.
Millions of doses of two approved vaccines - Covishield and Covaxin - have been shipped across the country. They will go first to health workers and frontline workers, then to other at-risk groups. India has recorded the second-highest number of Covid-19 infections in the world after the United States. An estimated 10 million health workers will be vaccinated in the first round, followed by policemen, soldiers, municipal and other front-line workers. Next in line will be people aged over 50 and anyone under 50 with serious underlying health conditions. India's electoral rolls, which contain details of some 900 million voters, will be used to identify eligible recipients. The government plans to vaccinate 300 million people by early August. This will happen in state-run health care centres, schools, colleges, community halls, municipal offices and wedding halls. -
Appeals Court Vacates $4.3 Million HIPAA Penalty
In a ruling that could have a profound impact on HIPAA enforcement, a U.S. Court of Appeals has vacated a $4.3 million HIPAA civil monetary penalty levied by federal regulators against the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in the wake of three breaches involving unencrypted mobile devices. The court called the penalty "arbitrary, capricious and contrary to law."
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Covid vaccine: WHO warns of 'catastrophic moral failure'
The world faces a "catastrophic moral failure" because of unequal Covid vaccine policies, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) has warned.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said it was not fair for younger, healthy people in richer nations to get injections before vulnerable people in poorer states. He said over 39 million vaccine doses had been given in 49 richer states - but one poor nation had only 25 doses. Meanwhile, both the WHO and China were criticised for their Covid response. An independent panel commissioned by the WHO said the UN public health body should have declared an international emergency earlier, and also rapped China for not taking public health measures sooner. -
US historians on what Donald Trump's legacy will be
At noon on Wednesday, President Donald Trump's term will end. It's been a whirlwind four years, so what might the legacy be of such a history-making president?
Matthew Continetti is a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, focusing on the development of the Republican Party and the American conservative movement. Donald Trump will be remembered as the first president to be impeached twice. He fed the myth that the election was stolen, summoned his supporters to Washington to protest the certification of the Electoral College vote, told them that only through strength could they take back their country, and stood by as they stormed the US Capitol and interfered in the operation of constitutional government. When historians write about his presidency, they will do so through the lens of the riot. -
@mlnews said in Non-IT News Thread:
US historians on what Donald Trump's legacy will be
At noon on Wednesday, President Donald Trump's term will end. It's been a whirlwind four years, so what might the legacy be of such a history-making president?
Matthew Continetti is a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, focusing on the development of the Republican Party and the American conservative movement. Donald Trump will be remembered as the first president to be impeached twice. He fed the myth that the election was stolen, summoned his supporters to Washington to protest the certification of the Electoral College vote, told them that only through strength could they take back their country, and stood by as they stormed the US Capitol and interfered in the operation of constitutional government. When historians write about his presidency, they will do so through the lens of the riot.TL:DR Donald Trump will be remembered as a misogynistic, white supremist racist asshole who was self dealing and impeached twice for his conduct.
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@DustinB3403 said in Non-IT News Thread:
@mlnews said in Non-IT News Thread:
US historians on what Donald Trump's legacy will be
At noon on Wednesday, President Donald Trump's term will end. It's been a whirlwind four years, so what might the legacy be of such a history-making president?
Matthew Continetti is a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, focusing on the development of the Republican Party and the American conservative movement. Donald Trump will be remembered as the first president to be impeached twice. He fed the myth that the election was stolen, summoned his supporters to Washington to protest the certification of the Electoral College vote, told them that only through strength could they take back their country, and stood by as they stormed the US Capitol and interfered in the operation of constitutional government. When historians write about his presidency, they will do so through the lens of the riot.TL:DR Donald Trump will be remembered as a misogynistic, white supremist racist asshole who was self dealing and impeached twice for his conduct.
A historian should know better than most that only history can tell what the legacy will be. So in 20-30 years we should have a fairly good idea.
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@Pete-S said in Non-IT News Thread:
@DustinB3403 said in Non-IT News Thread:
@mlnews said in Non-IT News Thread:
US historians on what Donald Trump's legacy will be
At noon on Wednesday, President Donald Trump's term will end. It's been a whirlwind four years, so what might the legacy be of such a history-making president?
Matthew Continetti is a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, focusing on the development of the Republican Party and the American conservative movement. Donald Trump will be remembered as the first president to be impeached twice. He fed the myth that the election was stolen, summoned his supporters to Washington to protest the certification of the Electoral College vote, told them that only through strength could they take back their country, and stood by as they stormed the US Capitol and interfered in the operation of constitutional government. When historians write about his presidency, they will do so through the lens of the riot.TL:DR Donald Trump will be remembered as a misogynistic, white supremist racist asshole who was self dealing and impeached twice for his conduct.
A historian should know better than most that only history can tell what the legacy will be. So in 20-30 years we should have a fairly good idea.
This, sadly is true. . . but he will at least go down in the history books as the first president to have been impeached twice.
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@DustinB3403 said in Non-IT News Thread:
white supremist racist asshole who was self dealing and impeached twice for his conduct.
Well, at least not as racist as Biden, if at all.
He was not impeached. They tried though.
