Antivirus software pioneer McAfee charged by U.S. with cryptocurrency fraud

John McAfee, the antivirus software pioneer whose former company still bears his name, has been indicted on fraud and money-laundering conspiracy charges stemming from two cryptocurrency schemes, the U.S. Justice Department said on Friday. Authorities accused McAfee and his bodyguard, Jimmy Gale Watson Jr., of exploiting McAfee's large Twitter following to artificially inflate prices of "altcoins" through a so-called pump-and-dump scheme, and concealing payments McAfee received from startup businesses to promote initial coin offerings. The Justice Department said McAfee and his accomplices reaped more than $13 million from the schemes.

Lobbyist says Myanmar junta wants to improve relations with the West, spurn China

An Israeli-Canadian lobbyist hired by Myanmar's junta said on Saturday that the generals are keen to leave politics after their coup and seek to improve relations with the United States and distance themselves from China. Ari Ben-Menashe, a former Israeli military intelligence official who has previously represented Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe and Sudan's military rulers, said Myanmar's generals also want to repatriate Rohingya Muslims who fled to neighboring Bangladesh.

Pro-democracy protest in Thailand passes without violence

Demonstrators from Thailand's student-led pro-democracy movement held a peaceful protest Saturday outside Bangkok's Criminal Court to bring public attention to the plight of several of their detained leaders. The movement, a coalition of several groups, was launched last year with demands for Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha and his government to step down, the constitution to be amended to make it more democratic and the monarchy to be reformed to make it more accountable. There were several protest marches Saturday, but the main one was held by a new faction of the student-led anti-government movement that calls itself REDEM — short for Restart Democracy — whose last demonstration on Feb. 28 ended in disarray amid violence.

Russian court orders Navalny to pay damages in lawsuit filed by Kremlin ally

A Russian court on Friday ordered jailed dissident Alexei Navalny to pay 500,000 roubles ($6,700) in damages in a lawsuit filed by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a Kremlin-linked businessman, the court said. Navalny, a prominent critic of President Vladimir Putin, was jailed for two and a half years last month over alleged parole violations related to an embezzlement case he said was trumped up for political reasons, something the authorities deny. Prigozhin's company, Konkord, said the court told Navalny to pay damages for comments he made that were deemed defamatory, inaccurate and offensive.

'We can do big things,' Schumer says as Senate approves aid

Tensions were raw ahead of midnight as Republican leader Mitch McConnell rose in the Senate for the purpose of publicly ridiculing Majority Leader Chuck Schumer over the daylong delay as Democrats argued among themselves over the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 rescue package. Senate passage of the sweeping relief bill Saturday puts President Joe Biden's top priority closer to becoming law, poised to unleash billion for vaccines, $1,400 direct payments and other aid, and shows Schumer, in his first big test as majority leader, can unify the ever-so-slim Democratic majority and deliver the votes.

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  Senate Passes $1.9 Trillion COVID-19 Relief Bill

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  Biden hails Senate passage of virus aid bill

  Associated Press Videos

U.S. blacklists Ukraine's Kolomoisky over alleged corruption

The U.S. State Department on Friday said it designated former Ukrainian public official Igor Kolomoisky as ineligible to enter the United States, accusing him of involvement in significant corruption during his time in office. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in a statement accused Kolomoisky, once the governor of the province of Dnipropetrovsk, close to the border with Russia, of using his office as a governor for personal benefit. "While this designation is based on acts during his time in office, I also want to express concern about Kolomoyskyy's current and ongoing efforts to undermine Ukraine's democratic processes and institutions, which pose a serious threat to its future," Blinken said, using another spelling of the Ukrainian's name.

Antarctica: Close-up view of crack that made mega-iceberg

Radar images capture new Antarctic mega-iceberg West Antarctica's Getz glaciers flowing faster Polar scientists wary of impending satellite gap BAS is using all these space pictures to monitor events. The Cambridge-based agency wants to see if A74 might collide with the western part of the Brunt and initiate a second calving even closer to Halley. The base is currently unoccupied.

As violence surges, some question Portland axing police unit

Responding to the calls for change in policing, the mayor and City Council cut several police programs from the budget, including one Yarborough believes could have saved his nephew. A specialized unit focused on curbing gun violence, which had long faced criticism for disproportionately targeting people of color, was disbanded a month before Penney, a 27-year-old Black man visiting from Sacramento, California, was killed on July 25. Without a doubt, I think it is a possibility that my nephew could still be alive if (the Gun Violence Reduction Team) was not dissolved,” said Yarborough, a crisis response volunteer for Portland police who responds to shootings to support victims' families.

Biden getting 1st shot at making mark on federal judiciary

President Joe Biden has two seats to fill on the influential appeals court in the nation's capital that regularly feeds judges to the Supreme Court. Barring an improbable expansion of the Supreme Court, Biden won't be able to do anything about the high court's entrenched conservative majority any time soon. Justice Clarence Thomas, at 72, is the oldest of the court's conservatives and the three appointees of former President Donald Trump, ranging in age from 49 to 56, are expected to be on the bench for decades.

Chile donates 40,000 doses of Sinovac vaccine to Ecuador and Paraguay

Ecuador and Paraguay have both received some 20,000 doses of the Sinovac coronavirus vaccine from Chile, the governments of the recipient countries said on Saturday. The donation of a total 40,000 doses provided a stark example of the disparities in South American countries' inoculation campaigns. Chile, one of Latin America's wealthiest countries, ranks sixth in the world for per-capita vaccine shots administered, according to Reuters data, with a quarter of the population now having received a dose.

Ted Cruz ‘traitor’ billboards go up in his Texas neighbourhood

The group took aim at Mr Cruz after he voted against the congressional certification of the electoral college votes despite the ransacking of the Capitol by a mob of Trump supporters on 6 January. In a 17 January statement, the group said that “Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley deserve the most blame for firing up the violent mob of Trump supporters that attacked the U.S Capitol and killed five people”. On the fundraising page for the billboard campaign, the group adds that “rioters who broke into the Senate were quoted as saying Cruz 'would want us to do this.

The 7 Best Refrigerators on the Market, According to Kitchen Designers

Quality food preservation, storage space, and good-looking design are priorities among kitchen designers when it comes to refrigerators Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest

Pakistan's PM wins vote of confidence after Senate setback

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan handily won a vote of confidence from the National Assembly on Saturday, days after the embarrassing defeat of his ruling party's key candidate in Senate elections. Khan secured the votes of 178 members of the lower house of Parliament, which is comprised of 340 lawmakers. The 11-party opposition alliance — the Pakistan Democratic Movement —boycotted the assembly's special session.

Rudy Giuliani's legal woes mount as a federal criminal investigation into his Ukraine dealings resumes, report says

A probe into Rudy Giuliani's business and overseas dealings has resumed, according to AP. The criminal investigation will look into the legality of his conversations with Ukrainian officials. A federal criminal investigation into Rudy Giuliani has resumed, according to the Associated Press.

Meet the Paris street sweeper who became a TikTok celebrity

Fed up with people throwing litter on the ground in the COVID-19 pandemic, Paris street sweeper Ludovic Franceschet has taken to TikTok to spread his message: put your trash in a garbage can. The 45-year-old has become an unlikely youth culture hit in France with time-lapse videos of him sweeping up piles of trash, dancing and making heart-felt appeals to people to keep the planet clean. His TikTok account has 59,000 followers, 608,000 "likes" and some of the videos he posted have been viewed hundreds of thousands of times.

Wyoming governor quietly mobilized Guard troops in Cheyenne

While the Wyoming National Guard was sending more than 100 troops to Washington, D.C., to help with security around President Joe Biden's inauguration in January, Gov. Mark Gordon quietly mobilized dozens of Guard troops and others in case of violence at the state Capitol in Cheyenne. The all-but-undisclosed local deployment Jan. 15-21, specifics of which came to light Friday after an inquiry by The Associated Press, stood in stark contrast with the state's contribution to U.S. Capitol security praised by Gordon and other top Wyoming officials. John Barrasso and Cynthia Lummis and Rep. Liz Cheney, all Republicans — likewise have posed in photos with and lauded the Wyoming troops at the U.S. Capitol but not those working similar duty back home.

Trump demands three Republican groups stop raising money off his name

Former President Donald Trump has clashed again with his Republican Party, demanding that three Republican groups stop using his name and likeness for fundraising, a Trump adviser said on Saturday. The adviser, confirming a report in Politico, said lawyers for Trump on Friday had sent cease-and-desist letters to the Republican National Committee, National Republican Congressional Campaign and National Republican Senate Campaign, asking them to stop using his name and likeness on fundraising emails and merchandise.

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  Trump Orders RNC To Stop Using His Name For Fundraising

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  Trump reportedly sends cease-and-desist letters to Republican campaign committees

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Amanda Gorman says she was racially profiled near her home

Amanda Gorman, the 22-year-old poet who captured hearts at the inauguration of President Joe Biden, posted to social media that she was followed home by a security guard who demanded to know where she lived because she “looked suspicious.” Gorman, the nation's youngest inaugural poet, lives in Los Angeles but did not specify where the encounter occurred. Gorman became an instant sensation Jan. 20 when she recited her poem, “The Hill We Climb,” at Biden's swearing-in.

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  Inaugural Poet Amanda Gorman Says She Was Racially Profiled Outside Her Home

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  Amanda Gorman Says She Was Racially Profiled By A Security Guard

  Scary Mommy

The mystery American woman wanted in the UK

Anne Sacoolas, a US citizen, has been charged with causing death by dangerous driving in the UK, but returned home under the protection of diplomatic immunity. In August 2019, Anne Sacoolas collided with motorcyclist Harry Dunn while driving on the wrong side of the road in the UK. Sacoolas returned to the US, claiming diplomatic immunity, and an extradition request was blocked.

FBI Finds Contact Between Proud Boys Member and Trump Associate Before Riot

A member of the far-right nationalist Proud Boys was in communication with a person associated with the White House in the days just before the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol, according to a law enforcement official briefed on the investigation. Location, cellular and call record data revealed a call tying a Proud Boys member to the Trump White House, the official said. The FBI has not determined what they discussed, and the official would not reveal the names of either party.

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  Proud Boy Spoke To A Trump White House Staffer Days Before Insurrection: Report

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  FBI Uncovers Contact Between Trump White House and Proud Boys Before Capitol Attack

  Rolling Stone

Disneyland, other California theme parks, stadiums could reopen April 1

California health officials set new rules on Friday that would allow Disneyland and other theme parks, stadiums and outdoor entertainment venues to reopen as early as April 1, after a closure of nearly a year due to the coronavirus pandemic. But the return of Mickey Mouse to the "Happiest Place on Earth" and live spectators to the California ball parks of America's favorite pastime still come with major caveats. Theme and amusement parks would be permitted to restart on April 1 with severely limited capacity, but only if the counties where they operate are removed from the "purple" tier of California's color-coded COVID-19 restrictions, the system's most stringent classification.

Senate shatters record with longest vote in history as Democrats negotiated the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill

A Friday vote on Capitol Hill became the longest vote in the Senate's modern history. The vote on a Sanders-backed minimum wage amendment was held open for 11 hours and 50 minutes. The extended open vote was attributed to a Democratic scramble to get votes for future amendments.

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  Senate passes Biden's $1.9 trillion relief package including $1,400 stimulus checks

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  The $15 Minimum Wage Is Officially Dead In Democrats' COVID-19 Relief Bill

  HuffPost

Kim Kardashian will reportedly stay in family's $60 million mansion as part of divorce from Kanye West

Kim Kardashian West filed for divorce from Kanye West, Insider confirmed in February. TMZ reported that Kardashian West and her kids will stay in the mansion she and West bought in 2014. The Hidden Hills, California home is close to the other Kardashians' houses, TMZ reported.