Can abortion rights swing the US midterm elections? | Anywhere but Washington

 

In the lead-up to the US midterm elections, the Guardian's Oliver Laughland travels to Indiana, the first US state to pass a new abortion ban into law following the overturning of Roe v Wade. Can Democrats who are campaigning on the issue make inroads at the ballot box? And why are the Republicans who voted for it so reluctant to talk about it?

Snowbound in Virginia traffic for over 10 hours (video)

 

Nigel Hammett was on a bus to Atlanta, Georgia, when he fell asleep in traffic. He woke to find the bus in the same spot - stranded by heavy snowfall.

He was one of many trapped by a snowstorm that caused major travel delays and power outages. Drivers conserved gas and waited for roads to be cleared overnight. Some abandoned their cars, leaving them to be towed rather than spend the night on the snowy highway.

Riding the rails: Comparing price, speed and manners in the U.S. and Japan

 

This like comparing the speed of a turtle to a roadrunner. 

Is Facebook too powerful? - BBC News

 

Amid growing calls to break up the social media giant Facebook, Ros Atkins looks at its power. He considers its roles in Myanmar, the storming of the Capitol building in Washington, and the company’s decision to block news in Australia.

End times for President Trump, new dawn for Trump media?

 

With Trump’s presidency almost over, his legacy in the conservative media sphere starts to take shape. Plus, Qassem Soleimani – the man, the myth and the message.

We discuss a week that had Americans glued to their screens, watching live feeds from Washington, DC, of what Donald Trump is leaving behind.

Watch Live As A-holes Try To Take Over The U.S. Capital Building

 

You'll notice that no tear gas or flash bangs have been used to stop them. 

Proud Boys Burn BLM Banners During Pro-Trump Rally | NowThis

 

Violent agitators wearing Proud Boys insignia burned a church’s ‘Black Lives Matter’ sign at a pro-Trump protest in D.C.

George Floyd death: The man who sheltered 80 US protesters

It was past curfew and protesters in Washington DC were trapped as police closed both ends of a street and moved in. That's when one resident flung open his doors.

Police said they made nearly 200 arrests in the area and will review how they conducted themselves.

LIVE: March for Our Lives: Gun control protest in Washington, DC ABC News

North Korea Posts Video: America Gets Nuked

North Korea is always good for some really amazing propaganda, aimed its population to show the might of the state and Kim-Jong un. Its propaganda machine is always on it's just that in the spring they crank up to 11. Because of the annual military drills held in South Korea involving U.S. and Korean military forces. And each year like clockwork the North makes wild claims. Like these maneuvers are precursor to an invasion and that its military stands ready to turn the South and America into a lake of fire.

Battle over US military base in Japan intensifies

In 1996 the Japanese and American governments concluded an agreement that would move the U.S. Marine Corp Futenma Air Station which sits in the middle of Ginowan city to a location on the northeast coast of Okinawa.  20 years have passed since and Futenma remains where its always been while the people of Okinawa and the prefectural government have fought not for the air stations relocation to another part of the island, but to any place but Okinawa.

Last December the outgoing governor in a completely surprising move issued the necessary environmental impact statement giving the green light for Futenma to be relocated after having been opposed to the bases relocation for his entire term as governor.

With Shinzo Abe's return to the Prime Minister's office pressure has been building on the new elected governor to give the final approval something he his loath to provide.

  
  

Okinawa construction has led to activists being dumped offshore

A diminutive, silver-haired warrior, Fumiko Shimabukuro (85), has one goal: to stop a US military base from being built near her home. For nearly two decades, she has been an iconic local figure in the struggle against the Marine facility in Japan’s Okinawa prefecture. Now the battle that has defined her sunset years appears to be nearing a climax. 

Shimabukuro was recently knocked unconscious in scuffles with the police. She is one of over a dozen elderly protesters injured since Japan’s government began last year its long-delayed survey to build the base. This week, US security detained two demonstrators, intensifying a standoff that has becoming increasingly treacherous. 

The two protesters were released after angry Okinawans converged on a local police station. Coast guard officers have recently taken to grabbing anti-base activists from kayaks and dumping them 4km offshore. Many fear it is only a matter of time before someone is badly hurt or killed.

For their efforts retribution was necessary and so it has come. 

Budget policy

The budget cut Tokyo’s annual subsidy to Okinawa by 5 per cent, a sign, say locals, they are being punished for the result of November’s election. Just in case the message is not clear, they say, Abe has twice snubbed Onaga – Okinawa’s main political representative – on recent visits to Tokyo.

Onaga this month ordered a review of his predecessor’s controversial decision to green light the base. But the review is not due to release its findings until the summer, by which time it may be too late to stop construction. Workers have begun laying giant concrete blocks around the bay, destroying its coral, say the protesters.