List of All Articles with Tag 'am'

Melissa Kinsella arrived back in the UK on Wednesday after £50,000 was raised to get her home.

The practice, called sologamy, sometimes involves lavish ceremonies complete with vows, cakes and bridesmaids. Critics call it narcissistic, but those who do it say it's a healthy expression of self-love.

NEW DELHI Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated India's new parliament building on Sunday, a modern complex which is

The historic impeachment of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton plunged Republicans on Sunday into a fight over whether to banish one of their own in America's biggest red state after years of scandal and criminal accusations that will now be at the center of a trial in the state Senate. Paxton said he has “full confidence” as he awaits judgement from the Senate, where his conservative allies include his wife, state Sen. Angela Paxton, who has not said whether she will recuse herself from the proceedings to determine whether her husband will be permanently removed from office. For now, Texas' three-term attorney general is immediately suspended after the state House of Representatives on Saturday impeached Paxton on 20 articles that included bribery and abuse of public trust. The decisive 121-23 vote amounted to a clear rebuke from the GOP-controlled chamber after nearly a decade of Republican lawmakers taking a mostly muted stance on Paxton's alleged misdeeds, which include felony securities fraud charges from 2015 and an ongoing FBI investigation into corruption accusations. He is just the third sitting official in Texas' nearly 200-year history to have been impeached. "No one person should be above the law, least not the top law officer of the state of Texas,” said Republican state Rep. David Spiller, who was part of a House investigative committee that this week revealed it had quietly been looking into Paxton for months. Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has remained silent about Paxton all week , including after Saturday's impeachment. Abbott, who was the state's attorney general prior to Paxton's taking the job in 2015, has the power to appoint a temporary replacement pending the outcome in the Senate trial. It is not year clear when the Senate trial will take place. Final removal of Paxton would require a two-thirds vote in the Senate, where Republican members are generally aligned with the party's hard right. The Senate is led by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who has served as state chairman for former President Donald Trump's campaigns in Texas. Before the vote Saturday, Trump and U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz came to Paxton’s defense, with the senator calling the impeachment process “a travesty” and saying the attorney general’s legal troubles should be left to the courts. “Free Ken Paxton,” Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social, warning that if House Republicans proceeded with the impeachment, “I will fight you.” Paxton, 60, decried the outcome in the House moments after scores of his fellow partisans voted for impeachment. His office pointed to internal reports that found no wrongdoing. “The ugly spectacle in the Texas House today confirmed the outrageous impeachment plot against me was never meant to be fair or just,” Paxton said. "It was a politically motivated sham from the beginning.” Lawmakers allied with Paxton tried to discredit the investigation by noting that hired investigators, not panel members, interviewed witnesses. They also said several of the investigators had voted in Democratic primaries, tainting the impeachment, and that Republican legislators had too little time to review evidence. “I perceive it could be political weaponization,” Rep. Tony Tinderholt, one of the House’s most conservative members, said before the vote. Republican Rep. John Smithee compared the proceeding to "a Saturday mob out for an afternoon lynching.” Rice University political science professor Mark P. Jones said the swift move to impeach kept Paxton from rallying significant support and allowed quietly frustrated Republicans to come together. “If you ask most Republicans privately, they feel Paxton is an embarrassment. But most were too afraid of the base to oppose him,” Jones said. By voting as a large bloc, he added, the lawmakers gained political cover. To Paxton’s longstanding detractors, however, the rebuke was years overdue. In 2014, he admitted to violating Texas securities law, and a year later was indicted on securities fraud charges in his hometown near Dallas, accused of defrauding investors in a tech startup. He pleaded not guilty to two felony counts carrying a potential sentence of five to 99 years. He opened a legal defense fund and accepted $100,000 from an executive whose company was under investigation by Paxton’s office for Medicaid fraud. An additional $50,000 was donated by an Arizona retiree whose son Paxton later hired to a high-ranking job but soon was fired after displaying child pornography in a meeting. In 2020, Paxton intervened in a Colorado mountain community where a Texas donor and college classmate faced removal from his lakeside home under coronavirus orders. But what ultimately unleased the impeachment push was Paxton's relationship with Austin real estate developer Nate Paul. In 2020, eight top aides told the FBI they were concerned Paxton was misusing his office to help Paul over the developer's unproven claims about an elaborate conspiracy to steal $200 million of his properties. The FBI searched Paul’s home in 2019, but he has not been charged and denies wrongdoing. Paxton also told staff members he had an affair with a woman who, it later emerged, worked for Paul. The impeachment accuses Paxton of attempting to interfere in foreclosure lawsuits and issuing legal opinions to benefit Paul. The bribery charges included in the impeachment allege Paul employed the woman with whom Paxton had an affair in exchange for legal help and that he paid for expensive renovations to the attorney general's home. A senior lawyer for Paxton’s office, Chris Hilton, said Friday that the attorney general paid for all repairs and renovations. Other charges, including lying to investigators, date back to Paxton’s still-pending securities fraud indictment. Four aides who reported Paxton to the FBI later sued under Texas’ whistleblower law, and in February he agreed to settle the case for $3.3 million. The House committee said the probe was sparked by Paxton seeking legislative approval for the payout. “But for Paxton’s own request for a taxpayer-funded settlement over his wrongful conduct, Paxton would not be facing impeachment,” the panel said. ___ Bleiberg reported from Dallas. Read More Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Texas GOP Attorney General Ken Paxton impeached by Republican-controlled Statehouse AP News Digest 3 a.m. Texas' GOP-held House set for impeachment proceedings against Attorney General Ken Paxton

Misinformation about measures taken to tackle cholera outbreaks has led to violent protests.

President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy compromised on bitterly contested disputes over federal spending and assistance

President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy have reached a tentative agreement to avert a catastrophic and unprecedented default on America’s sovereign debt, ending a monthlong standoff that threatened the US and global economies. The White House said Mr Biden and Mr McCarthy spoke by phone for roughly 90 minutes late Saturday. The president also spoke with Democratic congressional leaders as the talks between the White House and the Republicans who control the House of Representatives entered final stages after days of back-and-forth over GOP demands to add work requirements for food assistance and other programs meant to help lower-income Americans. One source familiar with the matter described the president and the House Speaker as having come to an “agreement in principle” that would limit federal spending while raising the nation’s statutory debt limit by an amount large enough to keep the issue off the table through the November 2024 general election. More follows...

White House and Republican negotiators reached a tentative deal to raise the US debt ceiling and avert a

South African Tamara Magwashu grew up unable to afford pads or tampons - now she is changing that for others.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton was impeached in an extraordinary vote by the state’s Republican-dominated House of Representatives,

President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy are speaking by phone Saturday evening as their negotiators on

Twitter users on Saturday were quick to point out that a quote shared by CEO Elon Musk had been misattributed to Voltaire – when it had in fact originated with a neo-Nazi. The billionaire tweeted a joke featuring a meme that showed a large hand crushing struggling figures with the accompanying words: “’To learn who rules over you, simply find out who you are not allowed to criticize.’ – Voltaire” Underneath that, the meme includes the joking comment: “we need to rise up against children with leukemia.” The very same “Voltaire” quote, however, was the subject of a fact-check piece last year from The Associated Press after Republican Kentucky Congressman Thomas Massie shared it in a tweet criticizing Dr Anthony Fauci, also attributing the words to the French philosopher. “Enlightenment-era writer Voltaire did not say this,” AP reported. “The quote, which was paraphrased, comes from a 1993 radio broadcast by Kevin Alfred Strom, who has been identified as a neo-Nazi by organizations that monitor hate groups.” The AP continued: “The original quote from Strom, a self-proclaimed American white nationalist and Holocaust denier, has been used previously online and paraphrased in a variety of ways ... Despite the quote originating more than a hundred years after Voltaire’s death in 1778, it has been repurposed and incorrectly attributed to him dozens of times. In 2019, actor John Cusack tweeted the quote before deleting the post and apologizing.” On Saturday, Musk’s tweet remained for hours without correction or apology as users pointed out the inaccuracy, some with glee and some with scorn. “If only your ability to launch rockets or presidential campaigns was as good as your ability to launch misinformation,” tweeted commentator and author Keith Olbermann. “Voltaire didn’t say that. A neo-Nazi said that. 30 years ago. Good work, Elmo.” Another user, @HistoryUser, shared a Reuters fact-check link and wrote: “This was not said by Voltaire but by Kevin Strom, a neo-Nazi and Holocaust denier. It’s a cool quote and I wish it had been said by a better dude, but it wasn’t, and so people should really stop using it. (And definitely stop saying Voltaire said it!)” The Independent has reached out to Twitter for comment. Read More Elon Musk's brain implant company Neuralink says it has US approval to begin trials in people EU official says Twitter abandons bloc's voluntary pact against disinformation DeSantis signed bill shielding SpaceX and other companies from liability day after Elon Musk 2024 launch Kimberly Guilfoyle threatens DeSantis: ‘You’re going to get hurt, and damaged – badly’ Donald Trump Jr shares doctored Office clip showing Ron DeSantis wearing a woman’s suit