Author: Reporter

Kremlin foes have been attacked or killed over the years by nerve agents, poison, and window falls

The attacks range from the exotic, poisoned by drinking polonium-laced tea or touching a deadly nerve agent, to the more mundane of getting shot at close range. Some take a fatal plunge from an open window. Over the years, Kremlin political critics, turncoat spies, and investigative journalists have been killed or assaulted in a variety of ways. On February 16, Russian authorities said President Vladimir Putin’s key political challenger, Alexei Navalny, died in an Arctic prison colony. The details of what happened are unknown; Navalny’s team says it has no official confirmation of his death and Russian authorities say...

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Justice Department improves accountability for tracking misconduct by federal law enforcement

The U.S. Justice Department has created a database to track records of misconduct by federal law enforcement officers that is aimed at preventing agencies from unknowingly hiring problem officers. The federal move is a step toward accountability amid growing calls to close loopholes that allow law enforcement officers to be rehired by other agencies after losing their jobs or resigning after misconduct allegations. The creation of the database was part of President Joe Biden’s May 2022 executive order on policing, which included dozens of measures aimed at increasing accountability for federal law enforcement officers. “This database will ensure that...

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Police forces in America’s small towns are disbanding from an inability to fill vacancies

As Goodhue Police Chief Josh Smith struggled this summer to fill vacancies in his small department, he warned the town’s City Council that unless pay and benefits improved, finding new officers would never happen. When nothing changed, Smith quit. So did his few remaining officers, leading the Minnesota town of 1,300 residents to shutter its police force in late August. America is in the midst of a police officer shortage that many in law enforcement blame on the two-fold morale hit of 2020 — the coronavirus pandemic and criticism of police that boiled over with the murder of George...

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A dangerous decade: Report says the world faces more instability ahead as military conflicts expand

The world has entered an era of increasing instability as countries around the globe boost military spending in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Hamas attack on Israel, and China’s growing assertiveness in the South China Sea. That was the conclusion of a new report released on February 13 by the International Institute for Strategic Studies, which also highlighted rising tensions in the Arctic, North Korea’s pursuit of nuclear weapons and the rise of military regimes in the Sahel region of Africa as contributing to a “deteriorating security environment.” The London-based think tank has compiled its annual estimate...

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Camp David Accords: What it means for the world if Egypt voids its decades-old peace treaty with Israel

It was a warm handshake between the unlikeliest of statesmen, conducted under the beaming gaze of President Jimmy Carter. Sunlight streamed through the trees at Camp David, Maryland, as Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin solidified a landmark agreement that has allowed over 40 years of peace between Israel and Egypt. It has served as an important source of stability in a volatile region. That peace has held through two Palestinian uprisings and a series of wars between Israel and Hamas. But now, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowing to send Israeli troops into Rafah,...

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National Geographic’s “Genius” anthology gives fresh perspective of Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X

Much has been written about the one-and-only time the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X met. It was on March 26, 1964, and the two civil rights leaders were both in Washington for a Senate debate on the Civil Rights Act. The moment is also depicted in the new installment of National Geographic’s “Genius” anthology series called “Genius: MLK /X,” which premiered on February 8. This is the fourth series. Kelvin Harrison Jr. (King) and Aaron Pierre (Malcolm X) now can be at ease about being scheduled to shoot the scene on the first day of filming....

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