Diversion of Ryanair Flight to Belarus and Arrest of Journalist  —  The United States strongly condemns the forced diversion of a flight between two EU member states and the subsequent removal and arrest of journalist Raman Pratasevich in Minsk.  We demand his immediate release.

Intelligence on Sick Staff at Wuhan Lab Fuels Debate On Covid-19 Origin  —  Report says researchers went to hospital in November 2019, shortly before confirmed outbreak; Adds to calls for probe of whether virus escaped lab  —  WASHINGTON—Three researchers from China's Wuhan Institute …

It's the Media's ‘Mean-Too’ Moment.  Stop Yelling and Go to Human Resources.  —  In public radio, there is either an epidemic of bullying or an epidemic of whining, depending on whom you ask.  —  For 20 years, the WNYC radio show “On The Media” has been the sort of place where the hosts …

Commerce Department security unit evolved into counterintelligence-like operation, Washington Post examination found  —  An obscure security unit tasked with protecting the Commerce Department's officials and facilities has evolved into something more akin to a counterintelligence operation …

They tried to overturn the 2020 election.  Now they want to run the next one.  —  Republicans who sought to undercut or overturn President Joe Biden's election win are launching campaigns to become their states' top election officials next year, alarming local officeholders and opponents …

Whitmer apologizes after photo shows her at bar violating her own order  —  Lansing — Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer issued an apology Sunday after a photo emerged showing her at a restaurant with 12 other people gathered around tables pushed together in violation of her health department's current epidemic order.

BLM activist Sasha Johnson in critical condition after gunshot to the head  —  Shooting in Southwark, London came after numerous death threats, says her Taking the Initiative party  —  The Black Lives Matter activist Sasha Johnson is in a critical condition after sustaining a gunshot wound …

How does the Biden White House get results?  By remaining disciplined.  —  In a media environment where members of the White House press corps suggest that President Biden was being blown off because it took a whole 36 hours for the cease-fire between Israel and Hamas to take effect after Biden …

Are U.S. Officials Under Silent Attack?  —  The Havana Syndrome first affected spies and diplomats in Cuba.  Now it has spread to the White House.  —  During the final weeks of the Trump Administration, a senior official on the National Security Council sat at his desk …

If Democracy Is Dying, Why Are Democrats So Complacent?  —  Democrats are unwilling to match their language of urgency with a strategy even remotely proportional to it.  —  Staff writer at Jacobin magazine  —  If you've followed recent Democratic messaging, you'll have heard that American democracy …

Biden administration moves toward making the pandemic work-from-home experiment permanent for many federal workers  —  As the Biden administration contemplates how to return the massive federal workforce to the office, government officials are moving to make a pandemic experiment permanent …

Weightlifting, Gatorade, birthday calls: Inside Biden's day  —  During a speech in Pittsburgh in March, President Biden held up the index card he keeps in his right breast pocket to track the nation's covid deaths, inadvertently revealing a glimpse of his private schedule on the back side.

A Year After George Floyd: Pressure to Add Police Amid Rising Crime  —  Los Angeles, like other cities across the nation, is facing a rise in gun violence.  And the police budget is growing.  —  LOS ANGELES — Helen Jones grew up in Watts in a time of gang wars and a crack epidemic …

Why Arkansas Is a Test Case for a Post-Trump Republican Party  —  Sarah Huckabee Sanders seems likely to bring the Trump brand to Arkansas politics in a big way.  But the state is a testing ground for different possible futures for the party.  —  LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — For decades …

Conservatives have a new target: Biden's IRS plan  —  Add another obstacle to the growing list President Joe Biden faces in his negotiations over his massive spending plans: mounting opposition to one of the ways to pay for his proposal — growing the IRS.  —  Conservative groups have launched …

Rand Paul says he won't get a Covid vaccine  —  Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., said Sunday he is not getting vaccinated because he already had Covid-19.  —  Speaking with a conservative radio host on WABC radio, Paul, an Ophthalmologist, said he won't change his mind unless he sees evidence that people …

How Joe Biden Can Win a Nobel Peace Prize  —  Leon Trotsky once supposedly observed, “You may not be interested in war, but war is interested in you.”  To President Biden I'd say today, “You may not be interested in Middle East peacemaking, but Middle East peacemaking is interested in you.”

Dismissed in 2012, this diagnosis of GOP ills has now become undeniable  —  (CNN)The essay described congressional extremists, their rejection of truth, a party turning into authoritarians or “an apocalyptic cult.”  It bore a striking headline:  —  “Let's just say it: The Republicans are the problem.”

It's time to get impatient about lingering COVID lockdowns  —  The pandemic is over, as far as the United States is concerned.  The brief period during which we should be expected to tolerate continued restrictions on our freedom, and especially on our children, is coming to an end, too.

What if the Unorthodox Arizona Audit Declares Trump Won?  —  Sitting in the press booth at the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix, several rows above where some two dozen tables of counters were retallying the 2020 presidential votes of the citizens of Maricopa County …

Feet-of-Clay Icons  —  Our most important and cherished institutions—the military, science, and the law—are losing the trust of Middle America.  —  “The head of the statue was made of pure gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of baked clay.”

Lawmakers worry the toxic atmosphere on Capitol Hill will follow them home, raising safety concerns  —  As House members head out of Washington for three weeks, anger at each other is turning into fear of what could await them back home.  —  Tensions among lawmakers have been running high since …