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TAIPEI, Taiwan - The plane laden with vaccines had just rolled to a stop at Santiago’s airport in late January, and Chile’s president, Sebastián Piñera, was beaming. “Today,” he said, “is a day of joy, emotion and hope.” The source of that hope: China – a country that Chile and dozens of other nations are depending on to help rescue them from the COVID-19 pandemic. China’s vaccine diplomacy campaign has been a surprising success: It has pledged roughly half a billion doses of its vaccines to more than 45 countries, according to a country-by-country tally by The Associated Press. China’s...

A reporter for the NFL Network sparked a fierce Twitter debate on Monday after simply sharing an opening for an internship. Jane Slater was met with online backlash shortly after she tweeted the position offered to broadcast journalism students. “I posted an opportunity for an unpaid internship and I’m amazed at the comments I get,” she wrote. “It’s not even for me. It’s for someone else and I would have jumped at it in college. I had 3 unpaid internships in school, double majored and had a job. SMH,” she said.

Last September, in the arid hills of northern Nevada, a cluster of flowers found nowhere else on earth died mysteriously overnight. Conservationists were quick to suspect ioneer Ltd, an Australian firm that wants to mine the lithium that lies beneath the flowers for use in electric vehicle (EV) batteries. The clash of environmental priorities underpinning the battle over Tiehm’s buckwheat - conservation vs. green energy - is a microcosm of a much larger political quandary for the new administration of President Joe Biden, who has made big promises to environmentalists as well as labor groups and others who stand to...

COPENHAGEN - In the tenth century, Erik the Red, a Viking from Iceland, was so impressed with the vegetation on another Arctic island he had found he called it “the green land.” Today, it’s Greenland’s rocks that are attracting outsiders - superpowers riding a green revolution. The world’s biggest island has huge resources of metals known as ‘rare earths,’ used to create compact, super-strong magnets which help power equipment such as wind turbines, electric vehicles, combat aircraft and weapons systems. The metals are abundant globally, but processing them is difficult and dirty - so much so that the United States,...

Jason Jernigan, a laid-off Keystone XL Pipeline worker, told "America’s Newsroom" on Monday that he doesn’t know how he is going to make a living now, saying, "This is all I know how to do." "I spent my whole life learning this craft and this skill and it’s not as easy as somebody might think or people might think to just start all over at 45 years old," Jernigan, with Local 798, said. "I guess I could possibly get a job as a greeter at Walmart, I don’t know." President Biden revoked the permit for the Keystone XL oil pipeline...

"So it is not surprising that near the end of the day, he welcomes the opportunity to relax and to do so with a recently discovered interest--a cigar. "I've only been smoking them for about a year,'' Limbaugh says. "But I've gotten into them like I haven't gotten into anything in a long time.'' It all began, he says, at a dinner in Ozone Park, Queens, in New York, with a friend and the friend's family. "He had his three sons with him,'' Limbaugh says, "and after dinner he passed around some cigars. They smelled just superb. He offered me...

California adults can smoke marijuana without fear of going to jail, but using it after hours can still have consequences at work. A new bill in the Legislature aims to end a still common employment practice five years after Californians voted to legalize recreational cannabis in which private companies require can workers to test for marijuana use. Assembly Bill 1256, introduced by Assemblyman Bill Quirk, D-Hayward, is intended to prevent employers from using past evidence of marijuana use, such as a hair or urine test, as justification for discrimination against an employee, such as denying or terminating employment, according to...

Paris (AFP) -- Global CO2 emissions have returned to pre-pandemic levels and then some, threatening to put climate treaty targets for capping global warming out of reach, the International Energy Agency said Tuesday. Energy-related emissions were two percent higher in December 2020 than in the same month a year earlier, driven by economic recovery and a lack of clean energy policies, the IEA said in a report. "The rebound in global carbon emissions toward the end of last year is a stark warning that not enough is being done to accelerate clean energy transitions worldwide," IEA executive director Fatih Birol...

Last week, leading Socialist Alternative member Seattle City Council member Kshama Sawant declared that she was joining the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) in the US. Sawant’s announcement followed a December 15 statement from Socialist Alternative that it would be sending a significant section of its membership into the DSA. Sawant said that her decision was motivated by the need for “a mass working-class party, a stronger labor movement, and victorious struggles in our ongoing fight against the billionaire class.” She added, “In my view, to move forward we need to advance the Marxist ideas that will be necessary to...

March 02 2021 St. Angela of the Cross Seville Cathedral, Spain Lectionary 231Readings at MassLiturgical Colour: Violet.First readingIsaiah 1:10,16-20 ©Cease to do evil; learn to do goodHear the word of the Lord,you rulers of Sodom;listen to the command of our God,you people of Gomorrah.‘Wash, make yourselves clean.Take your wrong-doing out of my sight.Cease to do evil.Learn to do good,search for justice,help the oppressed,be just to the orphan,plead for the widow.‘Come now, let us talk this over,says the Lord.Though your sins are like scarlet,they shall be as white as snow;though they are red as crimson,they shall be like wool.‘If you are...

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) - Protests in the Pearl District and a number of shootings throughout Portland kept police busy all weekend - and frustrating residents throughout the city. The shootings, which left 2 people dead, happened at reasonably the same time as the destructive demonstration in the Pearl District that ostensibly was a response to the Biden immigration policies, police brutality and racism. There were also fights between protesters and onlookers Saturday night. Residents in the Pearl District said they are fed up with demonstrators vandalizing businesses and causing destruction. “We want this stuff to stop. They don’t have the...

The European Commission will present a proposal in March on creating an EU-wide digital vaccination passport, Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said on Monday. “As for the question of what the digital green passport could look like: we will submit a legislative proposal in March,” she said in a video conference with German conservative lawmakers.

The Great Northern Gun Grab is about to begin. The United States’ northern neighbor is bracing for a firearm confiscation. What would seem unthinkable just a couple years ago is now planned to radically shift gun ownership on America’s doorstep in just weeks. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that sweeping new gun control laws would be coming “in months” that would drastically change how firearms are controlled in Canada. The Liberal Party leader made the unilateral announcement that the government would confiscate more than 1,500 makes and models of firearms under an expanded “assault weapon” definition. It’s an estimated 150,000-200,000...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – A registered sex offender in Raytown, Missouri, was sentenced in federal court today for receiving child pornography over the internet.Joseph L. Smith, 48, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Brian C. Wimes to 15 years in federal prison without parole. The court also sentenced Smith to spend the rest of his life on supervised release following incarceration. Smith must pay $33,000 in restitution to his victims.Smith is a registered sex offender who was convicted in 1992 for forcible oral sodomy of an 8-year-old female. Smith was also convicted of failure to register as a sex offender...

Audrey Strauss, United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and Keith J. Byrne, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service (“DSS”), New York Field Office, announced today the unsealing of a complaint charging RODNEY ROBINSON, a/k/a “Alim Shariff,” with forgery and false use of a passport, false statements, and aggravated identity theft in connection with his years-long effort to fraudulently pose as a medical professional and Naval Reserve Officer. ROBINSON was arrested this morning in New York, New York, and will be presented before U.S. Magistrate Judge Sarah Netburn later today....

Defendant Allegedly Promised Clients U.S. Citizenship in Exchange for MoneyLAS VEGAS, Nev. – An Arizona resident made his initial appearance in federal court today for allegedly fraudulently obtaining more than one million dollars from clients by falsely promising them U.S. citizenship, announced U.S. Attorney Nicholas A. Trutanich of the District of Nevada and Special Agent in Charge Aaron C. Rouse of the FBI.“The defendant is accused of orchestrating a scheme that deceived individuals on the false promise of U.S. citizenship,” said U.S. Attorney Trutanich. “Citizenship cannot be bought. The U.S. Attorney’s Office and our law enforcement partners will hold accountable...

ABINGDON, Va. – A former employee of the United States Postal Service pleaded guilty last week in United States District Court in Abingdon to stealing mail containing medication that was intended for United States Veterans, Acting United States Attorney Daniel P. Bubar announced. Ammie Hale, 45, Raysal, West Virginia, pleaded guilty today, without a plea agreement, to all charges in the indictment against her - three counts of theft of mail by an employee of the postal service for stealing mail on February 26, 2020, July 1, 2020, and August 5, 2020; and one count of making false statements. At...

It’s important to be aware that unexplained bruising in someone you know may be a sign of domestic violence or abuse. Your health providers are required by law to ask questions to make sure you’re safe in your domestic situation.

MADISON, WIS. – Timothy M. O’Shea, Acting United States Attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin, announced that James Coney, 32, Madison, Wisconsin, was found guilty today of 10 counts related to sex trafficking of minors. The jury reached its verdict after five hours of deliberation following four days of testimony in U.S. District Court in Madison. Coney was found guilty of 4 counts of sex trafficking a minor, 1 count of sex trafficking a minor by force, 1 count of attempted sex trafficking a minor, and 4 counts of transporting a minor from Wisconsin to Illinois for the purpose...

Comedian King Keraun Harris is on a journey of discovery, fully immersing himself in white culture. Competitive dodgeball and curling to latte art and rock-a-billies – his mission is to understand why white people do what they do.