
The FBI is facing new scrutiny for its 2018 background check of Brett Kavanaugh, the supreme court justice, after a lawmaker suggested that the investigation may have been “fake”. Sheldon Whitehouse, a Democratic senator and former prosecutor who serves on the judiciary committee, is calling on the newly-confirmed attorney general, Merrick Garland, to help facilitate “proper oversight” by the Senate into questions about how thoroughly the FBI investigated Kavanaugh during his confirmation hearing. The supreme court justice was accused of sexual assault by Christine Blasey Ford and faced several other allegations of misconduct following Ford's harrowing testimony of an alleged assault when she and Kavanaugh were in high school.

Former White House senior adviser Jared Kushner praised the Biden administration for its Iran strategy, writing in a Wall Street Journal op-ed that Biden's refusal to remove sanctions before Iran returns to compliance with the 2015 nuclear deal is a "smart diplomatic move." Why it matters: Kushner led Middle East peace talks on behalf of the Trump administration. Former President Trump withdrew the U.S. from the Iran deal in 2018, and many Republicans have called on President Biden not to return to the agreement.

U.S. officials have arrested and charged two men with assaulting U.S. Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick with bear spray during the Jan. 6 riot, but they do not know yet whether it caused the officer's death. George Tanios, 39, of Morgantown, West Virginia, and Julian Khater, 32, of Pennsylvania, were arrested Sunday on an array of charges, including assaulting a federal officer with a dangerous weapon, conspiracy and other offenses. The arrests are the closest federal prosecutors have come to identifying and charging anyone associated with the deaths that happened during and after the riot. Five people died, including a woman who was shot by a police officer inside the Capitol.

A ramen shop in San Antonio was vandalized with racist graffiti after the shop's owner criticized Texas Governor Greg Abbott's decision to lift Texas' mask mandate. Mike Nguyen, the owner of Noodle Tree, discovered phrases such as "Kung Flu," "Go Back 2 China" and “No Mask” spray-painted on his restaurant's windows and outdoor table on Sunday afternoon, according to News4SA. Prior to this discovery, Nguyen was shown on CNN denouncing Gov. Abbott's decision to lift Texas's mask mandate.

The sister of North Korean leader, Kim Yo Jong, criticised ongoing military drills in South Korea and warned the new U.S. administration that the smell of cordite wafting over the border would not help bring peace, state news reported on Tuesday. Kim's statement was the North's first public message to Washington since President Joe Biden took office in January. It was delivered a day before U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin are due to arrive in Seoul for their first talks with South Korean counterparts.

Is colorful bedding the jolt you need? Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest

Israeli archaeologists on Tuesday announced the discovery of dozens of new Dead Sea Scroll fragments bearing a biblical text found in a desert cave and believed hidden during a Jewish revolt against Rome nearly 1,900 years ago. The fragments of parchment bear lines of Greek text from the books of Zechariah and Nahum and have been radiocarbon dated to the 2nd century AD, according to the Israel Antiquities Authority. The new pieces are believed to belong to a set of parchment fragments found in a site known as “The Cave of Horror" — named for the 40 human skeletons found there during excavations in the 1960s — that also bear a Greek rendition of the Twelve Minor Prophets.

A single-engine plane crash left two dead and two others injured when it crashed into a car shortly after taking off Monday afternoon. The Beechcraft Bonanza took off shortly after 3 p.m. at North Perry Airport in Pembroke Pines, Florida, located about 20 miles north of downtown Miami. The plane crashed in a residential neighborhood, police said.

Jeff Bezos has turned down a request from Bernie Sanders for the Amazon chief to appear at a Senate hearing on income inequality in the US, as Amazon workers in Alabama participate in a closely watched vote to determine whether they will join the first-ever labour union in the company's history. More than 5,800 workers at the company's warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama are voting through March to decide their membership in the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union. Amazon has sought to curb the union efforts by discouraging workers with a text message campaign, in-person meetings and an anti-union website.
After a decade of violent fragmentation, the North African nation of Libya may have passed a threshold from despair to hope. A new transitional government of national unity was sworn in Monday. The leaders of the two main factions, outgoing Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj of the Government of National Accord (GNA) in Tripoli and rebel commander Khalifa Hifter of the Libyan National Army (LNA) in Benghazi, have pledged to back the new government.

Moderna Inc said on Monday it had dosed the first participant in an early-stage study of a new COVID-19 vaccine candidate that could potentially be stored and shipped in refrigerators instead of freezers. The company said its new candidate could make it easier for distribution, especially in developing countries where supply chain issues could hamper vaccination drives. The early-stage study will assess the safety and immunogenicity of the next-generation vaccine, designated as mRNA-1283, at three dose levels, and will be given to healthy adults either as a single dose or in two doses 28 days apart, the company said.
A report on state TV described the base as a "missile city" and showed rows of what looked like missiles in a depot with cement walls. It did not give any details on its location. The report said the base's "electronic warfare equipment" included radar, monitoring, simulation, and disruption systems.

Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin denied Monday that he made racist comments last week when he said he wasn't concerned about pro-Donald Trump insurrectionists at the U.S. Capitol in January but would have been worried if they were Black Lives Matters protesters. The comments drew a firestorm of criticism from Democrats and others who said Johnson was making racist statements. In an interview Thursday with syndicated radio host Joe Pagliarulo, Johnson said of those who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6 to try to stop Congress from certifying President Joe Biden's electoral victory: “I knew those were people who love this country, that truly respect law enforcement, would never do anything to break the law, so I wasn't concerned.”

The husband of "Pioneer Woman” Ree Drummond broke his neck in an injury thatwas "very close to being catastrophic," but is expected to make a full recovery, the celebrity chef and lifestyle guru said Monday. Ladd Drummond and nephew Caleb G. Drummond, 21, were fighting a brush fire on the family's massive northern Oklahoma ranch when their firetrucks collided, officials said. The severely injured younger Drummond was rushed to the hospital while Ladd waived treatment at the scene, according to the Oklahoma Highway Patrol.

Asia is becoming less tolerant of dual citizenship, with outright bans on holding two passports. The Chinese, for instance, are encouraged to report people who secretly hold dual citizenship. Dual citizens in Hong Kong were also told in February that they would not receive consular protection.

Democratic Michigan Representative Rashida Tlaib blasted Republicans for taking "credit" for the Covid relief bill despite that not a single member of the GOP voted for the bill dubbed The American Rescue Plan. The house of representatives passed the relief bill on Wednesday after it had been amended by the senate. President Biden signed it into law on Thursday and stimulus checks of $1,400 started going out this weekend to Americans earning less than $75,000.

A mother allegedly used explicit deepfake photos and videos to try to get her teenage daughter's cheerleading rivals kicked off the team. Raffaela Spone from Pennsylvania, US, reportedly sent the content - which showed members of the Victory Vipers team "naked, drinking and smoking" - to the coach. Deepfakes use artificial intelligence to doctor images and videos.

Police in Miami Beach used pepper spray and arrested 100 people as large spring break crowds gathered despite the pandemic. Revellers, many reportedly unmasked, became “unruly” after a teenager refused to move when police tried to clear crowds from a roadway on Friday night, according to an arrest affidavit. The popular spring break destination has seen packed beaches, sparking fears of coronavirus outbreaks.

Data from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) shows the Black population in this country still lags way behind their white counterparts when it comes to COVID-19 vaccinations — but a recent study reveals the reasons why may not be what was previously believed. So far, the number of Blacks Americans who are fully vaccinated stands at 1.3 million compared to 13.8 million white Americans. Cornell Belcher of Brilliant Corners conducted a COVID-19 vaccine needs assessment poll for the National Urban League on Black hesitancy on vaccinations.

An increasingly frustrated Dr Anthony Fauci expressed his puzzlement on Sunday that Republican voters remain skeptical of getting one of the three approved Covid vaccines, saying it marks a “disturbing” trend. Dr Fauci, the top infectious disease expert in the US, urged former president Donald Trump in an interview with Chris Wallace of “Fox News Sunday” to promote the vaccine to his supporters. Recent polling has found that a strong plurality of people who voted for Mr Trump in last November's elections say they will not get vaccinated for the virus that has killed more than half a million Americans in the last 12 months.

A Capitol Police officer appeared to have a copy of the Protocols of Elders of Zion at a checkpoint. The Protocols of the Elders of Zion is a centuries-old anti-Semitic conspiracy theory. A Capitol Police officer was suspended on Monday after a Capitol Hill staffer photographed a printed copy of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion at a security checkpoint inside Congress, according to The Washington Post.

Sarah Harding, who has breast cancer, has revealed doctors have told her she won't see another Christmas. The former Girls Aloud singer announced last year she had the disease, which had spread to other parts of her body. An extract from her memoir, printed in The Times, said: "In December my doctor told me that the upcoming Christmas would probably be my last."

Democrats pushed back against House minority leader Kevin McCarthy for claiming that migrants from “Yemen, Iran, and Turkey” and people on the “the terrorist watch list” have been caught crossing the Mexico border. Arizona representative Ruben Gallego called out Mr McCarthy for either lying or giving out wrong information. He said he has not come across any information about this despite being the chairman of the subcommittee on Intelligence and Special Operations.

Jennifer Weisselberg is cooperating with an investigation into Trump's finances, her lawyer says. An attorney representing the former daughter-in-law of the Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg says she's cooperating with prosecutors conducting an inquiry into Donald Trump's finances and "refuses to be silenced." "Jennifer Weisselberg is committed to speaking the truth, no matter how difficult that may be," her attorney, Duncan Levin, told Insider in a statement.

Some House Democrats have made clear that they will not engage in bipartisan work with any Republican who has questioned the outcome of the presidential election. Massachusetts freshman Representative Jake Auchincloss said he was now googling fellow members of Congress from the other side of the aisle before starting any kind of cooperation across party lines. I kind of throw cold water on the whole thing,” if it turns out a GOP member has refused to admit that Joe Biden won the election, he told NBC News.

“While the stimulus bill isn’t perfect…it’s going to get meaningful assistance to a lot of people.”
“This would be the most ill-timed ‘stimulus’ bill in history, except it’s really income redistribution.”
“The plan has smart and effective policies that will give our children what they need not just to survive, but thrive.”
“Legislation that accelerated vaccinations and positioned businesses to reopen would be welcome. The stimulus is not that.”
“Biden is making his own decisions, shaping his own agenda, and counting on his own party to move policies forward.”