- U.S.USA TODAY
'You can't do that': Fox News host Wallace confronts DeVos on threat to redirect funds from schools
Chris Wallace asked Betsy DeVos "under what authority" she and Trump were going to "unilaterally cut off funding" to schools that refuse to reopen.
202202 reactions - U.S.The Telegraph
‘I hope viewers will reflect on the fact that the invasion of Iraq was utterly pointless’
My interviewee was close to tears. A tough former United States army officer, once lauded for the lethal effectiveness of his operations against Iraqi insurgents, he was finding it difficult to get his words out. He said his sole reason for talking to me was to persuade people who would watch my film to think twice about the wisdom of military intervention. “War as an institution is pure evil,” he told me. “It’s pure evil.” I had first visited Iraq in 2016 to meet Yazidi refugees fleeing Islamic State, the terrorist group which, at that time, controlled Mosul in the north of the country. I was filming a series of documentaries about the journeys of various refugees from their country of origin to their final destination. Exodus took four years to make and was a success, but when it was finished, I couldn’t get Iraq out of my mind. Having spent a lot of time with my subjects, I felt very connected to their situation. It wasn’t just the plight of the Yazidis I was concerned about, it was the state of the whole country. As with any situation, there are causes and effects going back a long way, but it seemed to me that the toppling of Saddam Hussein, the Iraqi dictator, in 2003 was as good a place as any to start. The falling of that domino led to the destabilisation of the region, and that led to refugees arriving in Europe and that, in turn, was one of the factors in the rise of far-Right nationalism. I’d hear those same far-Right nationalists blaming the refugees themselves for their own plight. “It’s their fault – nothing to do with us.” I found it infuriating; the equivalent of burning down someone’s house and then blaming them for living on the street. I see the 2003 invasion of Iraq and the subsequent occupation and civil war as the origin story for so much that is still affecting our lives. Hideously ironic, isn’t it, that George W Bush and Tony Blair’s pre-emptive strike to nip a supposed terrorist threat in the bud should have led directly to the creation of Isil? I didn’t want to make a regular documentary where I interviewed politicians, decision makers and the key players. I wanted to tell the story through the eyes of those whose lives were impacted and altered by those political decisions. Miriam Walsh, our amazing archive producer, somehow dredged up around 13,000 film clips amounting to 800 hours of footage from 2003 and 2004 showing all kinds of stuff: street scenes, interviews, army activity, the aftermath of insurgent attacks, actual attacks. Much of it had never been seen before. And through the network of contacts I already had in Iraq, we were able to find some of the people featured in this archive and get some astonishing interviews.
- EntertainmentTown & Country
Lin-Manuel Miranda Says the "Hamilton" Controversy Is "Valid"
Many are calling the Disney Plus movie of the hit Broadway play problematic.
- EntertainmentE!
Russell Crowe Has This Friendly Reminder About Gladiator 's Plot Amid Sequel Rumors
Russell Crowe recalls his "fond" memories of filming Gladiator but has one friendly reminder about the epic's plot as sequel rumors continue to swirl. See what he said in E!'s interview below.
- CelebrityCBS News
Nicole Thea, pregnant YouTube star, has died at age 24
"As a family we ask that you give us privacy because our hearts are truly broken and we are struggling to cope with what has happened," her mom wrote in an Instagram post.
- U.S.USA TODAY
Coronavirus kept them apart for 114 days. So she took a dishwashing job to see her husband
Mary Daniel got a job as a dishwasher at a memory-care center so she could be inside the locked-down facility to see her husband, a patient there.
- U.S.ABC News
30-year-old dies after attending 'COVID party' thinking virus was a 'hoax'
Dr. Jane Appleby, chief medical officer for Methodist Hospital and Methodist Children’s Hospital, said in a recorded statement that the unidentified patient told nurses about the party, which she said is hosted by someone diagnosed with coronavirus. "The thought is people get together to see if the virus is real and if anyone gets infected," Appleby said. Appleby said she shared the story not to scare people, but to make sure they understand that the virus can affect anyone.
