NEWS

Unbiased headline news for Monday March 18, 2024 – Russian President Vladimir Putin celebrated an anticipated victory early Monday as preliminary election results showed him securing a resounding fifth term, despite facing only nominal challengers and suppressing opposition voices through harsh measures. As the polls closed on the final day of voting, crowds gathered outside polling stations, seemingly heeding calls from the opposition to express their discontent towards Putin. However, the Russian leader dismissed the potential impact of the apparent protest. — Representative Ro Khanna stated that the TikTok bill passed by the House of Representatives last week would not effectively safeguard Americans’ interests. The bill aims to compel China-based ByteDance to divest its ownership of the immensely popular app TikTok or face an outright ban in the United States. This move was prompted by concerns that ByteDance could share, or be coerced to share, Americans’ data with the Chinese government, allegations that the company vehemently denies while actively campaigning against the proposed legislation. — Israeli Police deployed water cannons to disperse tens of thousands of protesters who gathered on Saturday night in Tel Aviv to voice their opposition against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government. “Tonight, as part of a legally sanctioned protest organized in an orderly manner, in line with agreed-upon conditions and without deviation, demonstrators assembled and staged a legitimate protest within the designated area, with the majority of the public dispersing at the conclusion of the event,” the Israeli Police stated. — Russia claims Ukraine launched far-reaching drone attacks on the final day of Russia’s presidential election. On Sunday, as Russians cast their ballots in the closing stages of the presidential vote expected to extend President Vladimir Putin’s rule for another six years, Ukraine initiated a new wave of attacks within Russian territory, resulting in at least two fatalities, including a teenager, according to local authorities. — Police have apprehended a suspect on murder charges in connection with a shooting inside an Indianapolis bar that claimed one life and left five others injured. The shooting occurred shortly after 1 a.m. on Saturday at an establishment along Broad Ripple Avenue, according to the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department. Officers patrolling the area responded to the scene after hearing gunshots. — Ohio’s governor has declared a state of emergency across 11 counties in central Ohio that were impacted by severe weather last week. Gov. Mike DeWine also activated the Ohio National Guard to assist officials in Logan County, where three deaths were confirmed, with the cleanup of storm debris on public property. DeWine announced the emergency declaration on Sunday. — A fourth officer has resigned amid an investigation into alleged misconduct by officers assigned to a unit responsible for apprehending impaired drivers, according to the Albuquerque Police Department in New Mexico. According to documents obtained by the Albuquerque Journal, the federal probe commenced after an officer conducted a stop in August during which he allegedly instructed the driver to contact a specific attorney to ensure that no case would be filed. The investigation has partly focused on DWI criminal cases filed by certain officers that were later dismissed. — Burger King is facing a $15 million lawsuit filed by a concerned resident who alleges that the fast-food giant’s location on Fulton Street in New York City has become a hub for drug dealers. Kevin Kaufman, a resident of the Fulton Chambers pre-war condominium building at 102 Fulton Street in Manhattan’s Financial District, filed the complaint earlier this month with the New York Supreme Court against the burger chain’s restaurant at 106 Fulton Street, just a few doors away.

Unbiased headline news for Saturday March 16, 2024 – The nation’s highest court will be evaluating on Monday whether the government transgressed constitutional boundaries into censorship of lawful expression when it exerted pressure on social media platforms to remove content it deemed misleading. The case presents a significant examination of the First Amendment’s free speech protections in the digital era and stems from the Biden administration’s endeavors to compel social media platforms to eliminate content that it asserted disseminated falsehoods about the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2020 presidential election. — The U.S. government announced on Saturday that it is arranging a chartered flight from Haiti to the U.S. for those possessing valid passports. The flight will depart from the Cap-Haitien International Airport, which can only accommodate limited travel amid the violence plaguing the country. The State Department instructed citizens and eligible family members interested in traveling to the U.S. to complete an intake form. — A post-flight inspection of a United Airlines Boeing seven-thirty-seven-800 discovered a missing external panel on the underside of the aircraft after it landed at its destination in Oregon, airline officials state. No equipment failure was indicated during the flight of United Airlines Flight four-thirty-three after it departed San Francisco International Airport with 139 passengers and six crew members aboard on Friday. — Former Vice President Mike Pence stated on Friday that he will not be endorsing his former boss Donald Trump in the 2024 general election. Appearing on Fox News, Pence said he “cannot in good conscience” back Trump as there are “profound differences” between their views on various issues. Pence, who unsuccessfully ran for the Republican nomination, declined to reveal who he plans to vote for in November but he said he would “never” vote for President Joe Biden. — An “extremely dangerous” suspect accused of killing three people in a Philadelphia suburb in apparently targeted shootings was barricaded with hostages at a residence in New Jersey, police said. The suspect — identified as 26-year-old Andre Gordon — was reported barricaded inside a residence in Trenton at 12:22 p.m. local time, hours after the shootings unfolded at two separate locations in Falls Township, Pennsylvania, police said. — At least one person is deceased and five others have been injured after a shooting inside a bar in Indianapolis. “When officers arrived, they located a total of five adult male victims with injuries consistent with gunshot wounds,” Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department said. “Those officers provided first aid to those victims on the scene. Indianapolis Emergency Medical Services arrived shortly after and transported those victims to area hospitals.” — One of three teenagers charged with starting a Denver house fire that killed five people — apparently out of revenge for a stolen cellphone that was mistakenly traced to the home — was sentenced Friday to 40 years in prison. Gavin Seymour, 19, pleaded guilty in January to one count of second-degree murder for his role in the Aug. 5, 2020, fire that killed five members of a Senegalese family. Denver District Court Judge Karen Brody sentenced him to the maximum possible term he faced, The Denver Post reported. — The cost of selling a home could soon decrease after the National Association of Realtors agreed to a historic settlement. The NAR agreed to stop requiring that sellers pay both their broker and a buyer’s broker. Housing experts say the longtime industry standard of a 6% commission is expected to fall 25% to 50%, according to TD Cowen Insights. That could mean significant savings for both buyers and sellers.

Unbiased headline news for Thursday March 15, 2024 – Israel’s Knesset endorsed a 2024 military funding plan in a divisive session Wednesday with a 62-55 vote. The war cabinet and National Unity Coalition could disband as the right-wing New Hope party withdraws. As per Ynet, Minister Gideon Sa’ar declared Tuesday night that he has chosen to terminate the partnership with Israel’s Blue and White Party to re-establish the right-wing New Hope faction independently because, he stated, the perspectives of the right are not being heeded in the current war cabinet. Russian President Vladimir Putin articulated Wednesday he would redeploy military forces along the border with Finland in response to the country joining the NATO alliance in April. Putin voiced the threat in an interview with state media in reaction to what he termed Finland and Sweden’s “utterly senseless move from the viewpoint of securing their own national interests.” He remarked, “It is up to them to decide. That’s what they decided. But we didn’t have troops there, now we will.” Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in five U.S. cities commenced wearing body cameras Wednesday as mandated by an executive order from President Joe Biden. ICE agents in Baltimore, Philadelphia, Washington, Buffalo and Detroit are sporting the cameras in the first deployment phase for the devices. The cameras are initially being donned by Homeland Security Investigations officers and Enforcement and Removal Operations agents. The judge overseeing Hunter Biden’s felony gun case in Delaware has tentatively set his trial for June 3 — just weeks before his Los Angeles-based tax trial is scheduled to begin on June 20. At a brief scheduling conference, Judge Maryellen Noreika proposed the parties request the California-based federal judge overseeing the tax case to consider rescheduling a June 3 pretrial hearing to accommodate the commencement of the Delaware case. The U.S. and Japanese militaries will resume flights of Osprey aircraft in Japan after completing necessary maintenance and training following a fatal crash in southern Japan last November, officials said. The Osprey aircraft, which can take off like a helicopter and then fly like an airplane, has had a troubled history, including numerous crashes. The entire U.S. Osprey fleet was grounded Dec. 6, a week after that crash. Japan’s military also grounded all of its 14 Ospreys. Independent presidential candidate Robert F Kennedy Jr. has confirmed that among his potential vice-presidential prospects is New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who in private conversations shared deranged conspiracy theories about the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting not being real. CNN knows of two people with whom Rodgers has enthusiastically shared these stories, including with Pamela Brown. Brown was covering the Kentucky Derby for CNN in 2013 when she was introduced to Rodgers, then with the Green Bay Packers, at a post-Derby party. A landslide reduced a Los Angeles house under renovation to a jumble of lumber, pulled the pool and deck away from a second home, and left the pool at a third residence on the edge of a huge fissure. The slide occurred just before 3 a.m. in Sherman Oaks, a neighborhood of expensive homes about 12 miles (19 kilometers) northwest of downtown. An initial search found no victims, but several people were evacuated from one house, the Los Angeles Fire Department said in a statement. Doors are closing for 1,000 Dollar Tree and Family Dollar locations after the discount variety store chain announced an unexpected surprise fourth-quarter loss in its earnings report Wednesday. Dollar Tree plans to shutter 600 Family Dollar stores in the first half of fiscal 2024. Over the next several years, the company intends to close 370 more Family Dollar locations, as well as 30 Dollar Tree stores. At the opening bell Wednesday on Wall Street, Dollar Tree shares fell 14% in value on the news.

Unbiased headline news for Wednesday March 13, 2024 – A retired Boeing worker who voiced numerous worries about the organization’s manufacturing norms passed away from what a coroner’s report termed a “self-inflicted” gunshot injury on Saturday. Authorities discovered John Barnett, aged 62, by police officers on the morning of March 9 seated in a vehicle parked at a Holiday Inn along Savannah Highway “grasping a silver handgun in his right hand,” as stated by the Charleston Police Department. On Tuesday, Ghislaine Maxwell petitioned a federal appeals court to overturn her conviction and 20-year prison sentence for recruiting and grooming underage girls who Jeffrey Epstein sexually exploited. Maxwell contends that an agreement federal prosecutors in Florida arranged with Epstein in 2007 provided her immunity. “The plea deal applies to preclude this prosecution,” defense attorney Diana Fabi Samson told a three-judge panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. With fresh aid for Ukraine stalled in Congress since December, the White House revealed it had cobbled together another $300 million in military assistance to utilize as an interim measure. “The package comprises munitions and rounds to assist Ukraine in holding the line against Russia’s brutal attacks for the next couple of weeks,” President Joe Biden stated in a meeting with Polish President Andrzej Duda and Prime Minister Donald Tusk at the White House. Poland’s president urged other NATO alliance members to increase their defense spending to 3% of their gross domestic product as Russia puts its economy on a war footing and presses forward with its invasion of Ukraine. President Andrzej Duda made his call in remarks directed at home and abroad. His appeal came on a visit to the White House, where U.S. President Joe Biden received both Duda and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk on Tuesday. One man and one woman were found deceased at the scene of a house explosion and fire in Pennsylvania Tuesday morning, authorities stated. The explosion in Crescent Township, just outside of Pittsburgh, was reported at 8:54 a.m., local officials said. The blast completely leveled the home, and the fire was throughout the house’s foundation and along the hillside, authorities stated. Daniel Rodriguez, the police chief of Uvalde, Texas, announced his resignation and said it will take effect on April 6th. “I believe it is time for me to embrace a new chapter in my career,” Rodriguez said in a statement Tuesday. Rodriguez was out of town when the May 24th, 2022 school shooting occurred, though his officers were among the first to respond to the scene, according to the independent report. A 19-year-old Michigan man who lost his right eye after being shot with a firearm made from a ghost gun kit filed a lawsuit Tuesday against his former best friend who accidentally shot him and the Pennsylvania company that sold his friend the kit. The lawsuit, which was filed in Washtenaw County Circuit Court, alleges that JSD Supply sold two ghost gun kits in April 2021 to Guy Boyd’s then-17-year-old friend without verifying the friend’s age or whether he could legally possess a pistol. Airbnb has made the decision to prohibit the use of indoor security cameras to “prioritize the privacy of our community,” according to a statement from the company. The ban, which is a global one across all of their listings, is an effort to “simplify our policy on security cameras and other devices,” according to a statement released by the company announcing the new change in policy.

Unbiased headline news for Tuesday March 12, 2024 – Ukraine will need more than a billion dollars to rebuild scientific infrastructure that was ravaged or decimated during two years of Russia’s aggressive assault on its neighbor, the United Nations’ cultural and scientific agency reported. More than 1,443 scientific facilities, many affiliated with the country’s universities, have been damaged or destroyed along with 750 crucial technical equipment pieces, most of which are beyond repair, the agency stated in a report released on Monday. U.S. intelligence officials testified before a Senate committee on the state of global security threats facing the United States, including artificial intelligence, election security, and misinformation by U.S. adversaries. In addition to threats related to terrorism, cybercrime, corruption, narcotics trafficking, and climate change; Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines warned of threats posed by regionalized conflicts, as well as major authoritarian powers who are “actively working to undermine the United States”. President Joe Biden on Monday unveiled a $7.3 trillion budget proposal featuring significantly bolstered spending for security at the U.S.-Mexico border, as well as higher taxes aimed at profitable corporations. Responding to political pressures from both the right and left amid an election year, Biden’s budget proposes $2.9 billion for the Department of Homeland Security to handle the surge of asylum-seekers at the southern border. Former President Donald Trump’s White House trade adviser, Peter Navarro, has been ordered to report to federal prison in Miami by March 19th, following his conviction on two counts of criminal contempt of Congress, his lawyers revealed in a court filing on Sunday. Navarro was found guilty by a jury last year of defying a subpoena for documents and testimony from the now-defunct House select committee that investigated the January 6th twenty-twenty-one Capitol attack. Two 18-year-old men have been taken into custody in connection with a mass shooting at a SEPTA bus stop in Philadelphia last week, authorities announced. Charges against the two 18-year-olds include criminal attempted murder, aggravated assault, and conspiracy, Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner said. At about 3 p.m. Wednesday, three masked gunmen exited a car parked near the bus stop and fired more than 30 rounds toward high schoolers who were attempting to board a bus, Philadelphia police said. Three children and two adults perished after a school bus collided with a semitruck on U.S. Route 24 in Illinois on Monday, authorities said. The fatal collision between the school bus and the semitruck carrying sand happened on the highway at 11:30 a.m., local time, in Rushville, Illinois State Police said during a press briefing. Both vehicles erupted into flames after the collision, according to authorities. An avalanche forecaster lost his life in a snowslide he triggered while skiing in eastern Oregon last week, officials said. Nick Burks, 37, and a friend, both experienced and carrying avalanche air bags and beacons, were backcountry skiing the chute on Gunsight Mountain on Wednesday, near Anthony Lakes Mountain Resort. His friend skied down first and witnessed as the avalanche was triggered and overtook Burks. Eric Carmen, the singer/songwriter known for hits like “Hungry Eyes” and “All By Myself,” has died, his wife Amy announced on his official website. Carmen was 74. “It is with tremendous sadness that we share the heartbreaking news of the passing of Eric Carmen,” she wrote. “Our sweet, loving and talented Eric passed away in his sleep, over the weekend. It brought him great joy to know, that for decades, his music touched so many and will be his lasting legacy.

Unbiased headline news for Monday March 11, 2024 – Over the weekend, voters rejected two amendments to Ireland’s constitution that aimed to provide more inclusive language around family and caregivers. Some 67% of voters said “no” to the Family referendum, which proposed changes to the 39th Amendment, expanding the definition of family in the constitution to recognize “durable relationships” such as unmarried couples with children. A Moscow court has sentenced a student to 10 days in jail for naming his Wi-Fi network with a pro-Ukrainian title. The Moscow State University student named the Wi-Fi network “Slava Ukraini” which means “Glory to Ukraine,” according to the database of the Nikulinsky District Court. The phrase has become the rallying cry of Ukraine’s forces. The court called the act a “public demonstration of Nazi symbolics or symbols of extremist organizations,” according to the BBC. Ukrainian and allied officials criticized Pope Francis for saying that Kyiv should have the “courage” to negotiate an end to the war with Russia, a statement many interpreted as a call for Ukraine to surrender. The foreign ministers of Ukraine and Poland, a vocal ally of Kyiv, condemned the pope’s remarks. And a leader of one of Ukraine’s Christian churches said that only the country’s determined resistance to Moscow’s full-scale invasion, launched by Russian President Vladimir Putin had prevented a mass slaughter of civilians. The U.S. Air Force and the Royal Jordanian Air Force teamed up in the latest mission to airdrop desperately needed humanitarian aid into northern Gaza to “alleviate human suffering” there, according to a statement from the U.S. Central Command. The equivalent of more than 11,500 meals, including rice, flour, pasta and canned goods, that were provided by the Jordanian Air Force were loaded on U.S. Air Force C-130 planes that dropped pallets of aid attached to parachutes over northern Gaza, the U.S. Central Command said in a statement. Four adults and one child were killed when a small plane crashed near Ingalls Airport in Virginia, the Virginia State Police said Sunday. The plane, a twin-engine IAI Astra 1125, crashed near the airport in Bath County around 3 p.m. local time, according to the FAA. The plane, described by police as a private jet, crashed into the woods in the 6200 block of Airport Rd. It caught fire on impact, the authorities said. A suspect in a weekend shooting that killed two people and injured another at a North Carolina home died in a shootout with deputies hours afterward outside another house, a sheriff said. In a social media post, Iredell County Sheriff Darren Campbell said that Justin Michael Strawser was wearing a bulletproof vest and firing at deputies when he was killed in the shootout outside a home in Mooresville. Thousands of women took to the streets of Istanbul, Turkey, to mark International Women’s Day Friday despite a ban by the government. Waving purple flags as a sign of International Women’s Day, they filled the air with slogans and rallying cries despite a ban on rallies by authorities. “The world would shake if women were free,” “Resist for rebellion, resist for freedom,” and “Woman, Life, Freedom,” they chanted. Eight children and an adult died after eating sea turtle meat on Pemba Island in the Zanzibar archipelago and 78 other people were hospitalized, authorities said. Sea turtle meat is considered a delicacy by Zanzibar’s people even though it periodically results in deaths from chelonitoxism, a type of food poisoning. The adult who died late last Friday was the mother of one of the children who succumbed earlier, said the Mkoani District medical officer, Dr. Haji Bakari. He said the turtle meat was consumed last Tuesday.