New York begins Andrew Cuomo impeachment investigation
The New York State Assembly on Wednesday said it hired law firm Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP to carry out an impeachment investigation into Governor Andrew Cuomo.
It’s the first step in a broad investigation into Cuomo that’s intended to look into whether the legislature should begin impeachment proceedings. The probe is expected to span multiple accusations of sexual misconduct and harassment against Cuomo, as well as claims Cuomo’s administration withheld information on Covid-19 nursing home deaths, covered up structural problems on the Mario M. Cuomo Bridge, and whether Cuomo’s vaccine czar crossed ethics lines when he called county executives to gauge their loyalty to the governor.
“The addition of Davis Polk will allow my colleagues on the Judiciary Committee and me to fully and fairly investigate the allegations,” said Assemblymember Charles Lavine, who chairs the judiciary committee. “These are serious allegations, and they will be treated with fairness, due process and discretion.”
The investigation’s launch comes just weeks ahead of a March 31 deadline for the legislature and the governor to pass a budget. The probe was an effort at finding common ground between a camp of lawmakers who have called for immediate action if Cuomo continues to refuse to resign and another group of lawmakers who want to wait for an investigation to play out before taking action. The investigation is separate from a sexual-harassment investigation by lawyers appointed by New York Attorney General Letitia James.
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Texas clinics halt abortions after state high court ruling
The Friday night ruling stopped a three-day-old order by a Houston judge who said clinics could resume abortions up to six weeks into pregnancy. The following day, the American Civil Liberties Union said it doubted that any abortions were now being provided in a state of nearly 30 million people.
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Google to delete user location history on US abortion clinic visits
"If our systems identify that someone has visited one of these places, we will delete these entries from Location History soon after they visit," Jen Fitzpatrick, a senior vice president at Google, wrote in a blog post. "This change will take effect in the coming weeks."
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Two Indo-Canadian academics honoured with Order of Canada
Two Indo-Canadian academics, working on research to advance the betterment of mankind, have been honoured with one of the country's most prestigious awards, the Order of Canada. Their names were in the list published by the office of the governor-general of Canada Mary Simon. Both have been invested (as the bestowal of the awards is described) into the Order as a Member. They are professors Ajay Agrawal and Parminder Raina.
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Elon Musk's Twitter hiatus, in 2nd week now, generates curiosity
The world's richest person, Elon Musk, has not tweeted in about 10 days and it can't go unnoticed. The 51-year-old business tycoon has 100 million followers on the microblogging site, which he is planning to buy. Since April, he has been making headlines for the $44 billion deal and his comments and concerns about the presence of a large number of fake accounts on Twitter.
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Taliban's reclusive supreme leader attends gathering in Kabul: Report
The Taliban's reclusive supreme leader Haibatullah Akhundzada joined a large gathering of nationwide religious leaders in Kabul on Friday, the state news agency said, adding he would give a speech. The Taliban's state-run Bakhtar News Agency confirmed the reclusive leader, who is based in the southern city of Kandahar, was attending the meeting of more than 3,000 male participants from around the country, aimed at discussing issues of national unity.
