Headlines
Biden, Pelosi Sidestep Calling on NY Governor to Resign
US President Joe Biden sidestepped questions Sunday on whether New York Governor Andrew Cuomo should resign over sexual misconduct allegations, while House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the state leader should “look inside his heart” to decide if he can govern.
The pair stopped short of joining a growing list of other politicians, including many fellow Democrats, in demanding Cuomo’s resignation.
Exiting Marine One Sunday, Biden told a reporter that “the investigation is underway and we should see what it brings us.”
Eight women have come forward since last month to denounce what they said were inappropriate words and gestures from Cuomo. One former employee said he slipped his hand under her blouse in an incident last year.
New York’s senior senator, Chuck Schumer, now the majority leader in the US Senate, is among those who have explicitly called for the governor to step down.
Cuomo’s accusers, most of them women who worked in the state government with him, “must be treated with respect,” Pelosi said in carefully worded comments on ABC’s “This Week” program earlier Sunday, adding that “they are credible and serious charges.”
She added: “The governor should look inside his heart — he loves New York — to see if he can govern effectively.”
Cuomo, who at 63 has been governor for the last 10 years, has repeatedly denied acting in any way he considered “inappropriate.”
He has shrugged off the calls to resign, asking people to wait for the results of several investigations, including one being led by the state’s attorney general, Letitia James.
Pelosi told ABC she had “zero tolerance for sexual harassment” and said Cuomo’s accusers should be listened to.
But she said both the women and Cuomo “deserve to hear the results of these investigations,” adding that she had confidence in the state’s attorney general.
The first hostages freed from Gaza under a long-awaited ceasefire agreement are back in Israel. The news sparked jubilant scenes in Tel Aviv where large crowds gathered ahead of their release.
The three freed Israeli hostages – the first of 33 to be released over the next six weeks – are Romi Gonen, Doron Steinbrecher and Emily Damari. They are said to be in good health and are receiving treatment at a medical center in Tel Aviv.
In exchange, 90 Palestinian prisoners and detainees are set to be released by Israel from Ofer Prison in the occupied West Bank.
The Israeli military withdrew from several locations in southern and northern Gaza after the truce began earlier on Sunday, an Israeli military official told CNN.
Displaced Gazans have started returning to their homes, while the aid trucks laden with much-needed supplies have crossed into Gaza. Here’s what we know about how the ceasefire deal will work.
Hamas, despite suffering devastating losses, is framing the Gaza ceasefire agreement as a victory for itself, and a failure for Israel.
One of Hamas’ main goals for taking some 250 people during its brazen October 7, 2023, attack on Israel was to secure the release of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails. As Israel pounded Gaza in response, Hamas vowed not to return the hostages until Israel withdrew its forces from the enclave, permanently ended the war, and allowed for rebuilding.
Source: CNN
The leader of UK’s Conservative Party, Kemi Badenoch, has said she doesn’t want Britain to be like Nigeria that is plagued by “terrible governments.”
Speaking on Thursday at an event organised by Onward, a British think tank producing research on economic and social issues, Badenoch expressed fears that Britain may become like Nigeria if the system is not reformed.
“And why does this matter so much to me? It’s because I know what it is like to have something and then to lose it,” Badenoch told the audience.
“I don’t want Britain to lose what it has.
“I grew up in a poor country and watched my relatively wealthy family become poorer and poorer, despite working harder and harder as their money disappeared with inflation.
“I came back to the UK aged 16 with my father’s last £100 in the hope of a better life.
“So I have lived with the consequences of terrible governments that destroy lives, and I never, ever want it to happen here.”
Badenoch has been in the news of late after she dissociated herself from Nigeria, saying she has nothing to do with the Islamic northern region.
She also accused the Nigeria Police of robbing citizens instead of protecting them.
She said: “My experience with the Nigeria Police was very negative. Coming to the UK, my experience with the British Police was very positive.
“The police in Nigeria will rob us (laughter). When people say I have this bad experience with the police because I’m black, I say well…I remember the police stole my brother’s shoe and his watch.”
