While You Were Sleeping: 5 stories you might have missed, Jan 27
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President Joe Biden delivers remarks on the US economy in Virginia.
PHOTO: NYTIMES
‘Not on my watch’: Biden attacks Republicans’ economic plans
President Joe Biden used a speech at a steamfitters union hall in Virginia on Thursday to launch an attack against Republicans who control the US House of Representatives, saying some of their proposals are dangerous for the US economy.
In his first major economic speech of the year, Mr Biden promoted his record on the US economy, including the creation of more manufacturing jobs, a low unemployment rate and better-than-expected economic growth figures, and lay into the new policies proposed by some Republicans.
“They want to raise your gas prices. They want to cut taxes for billionaires,” Mr Biden said. “They want to impose a 30 per cent national sales tax,” he added.
Mr Biden, who is laying the groundwork for a bid for re-election in 2024, told union members in Springfield, Virginia that he would veto any such Bills. “Not on my watch, I will veto everything they send us,” he said.
Senators call for probe into ‘JR-15’ child-size rifle
A group of prominent Democratic US senators including Majority Leader Chuck Schumer asked the Federal Trade Commission on Thursday to open an investigation into a company they said is marketing a rifle to children.
In a press conference, the lawmakers questioned the marketing techniques of gun manufacturer Wee 1 Tactical, which produces the JR-15 .22 Long Rifle.
The similarly named AR-15 rifle has been used in a number of high-profile deadly shootings in the United States in recent years.
Britain sounds alarm on Russia-based hacking group
REUTERS
A Russia-based hacking group named Cold River is behind an expansive and ongoing information-gathering campaign that has struck various targets in government, politics, academia, defence, journalism, and activism, Britain said on Thursday.
In an advisory, the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), part of Britain’s GCHQ eavesdropping intelligence agency, said Cold River impersonates people around its targets by using fake email addresses and social media profiles.
“There is often some correspondence between attacker and target, sometimes over an extended period, as the attacker builds rapport,” the advisory said.
Rapist transgender woman to be moved out of female prison
Scotland will move a transgender woman convicted of rape out of an all-female prison after concerns were raised over the safety of other inmates, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said on Thursday.
Isla Bryson was convicted this week of raping two women in 2016 and 2019 when she was a man called Adam Graham, and she has been held initially at Cornton Vale women’s prison in central Scotland, local media reported.
The case comes weeks after the Scottish parliament passed a Bill to make it easier for people to change their legal gender, drawing criticism from some women’s rights campaigners who argue that predatory men could use it to access single-sex spaces such as bathrooms.
Tennis: Nadal confirms six to eight week injury absence
EPA-EFE
Rafa Nadal has confirmed he will miss the next six to eight weeks with the hip flexor injury he sustained at the Australian Open.
“Today, I was at the Teknon Tennis Clinic in Barcelona where they tested me,” wrote Nadal Thursday on Twitter.
“They confirmed the results from Melbourne and the recovery stages are still the same.”
