Asian share markets mostly eased on Monday after stunningly strong US jobs data soothed concerns about the global economy but also added to the risk of an aggressive tightening by the Federal Reserve.

Asia shares slip as US jobs data fears over global recovery

A winter storm has wreaked havoc in the US. Over 150,000 homes have been reeling without power due to the storm.&nbsp;It was followed by freezing temperatures creating icy conditions. &nbsp;

More than 100,000 homes got power back on Saturday after outages on Friday. Some states are still experiencing service interruptions. &nbsp;&nbsp;

Most of the outages occurred in Tennessee.&nbsp;Over 93,000 homes were experiencing power failure, as per PowerOutage.us.

In New York, around 43,000 homes and in Ohio, 30,000 houses have been left without power. &nbsp;

Also Read:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/republican-party-in-us-terms-capitol-attack-as-legitimate-political-discourse-450602" hreflang="en">Republican party in US terms Capitol attack as 'legitimate political discourse'</a>

Around 95% customers should have power restored by Thursday next week, said Memphis Light, Gas and Water, which is a major utility company in Tennessee. &nbsp;&nbsp;

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Here’s a look at the icy conditions and debris <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MLGW?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#MLGW</a> crews are dealing with out in the field. This is work that was done in South Memphis yesterday. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ServingYouIsWhatWeDo?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ServingYouIsWhatWeDo</a> <a href="https://t.co/60kuNtciP6">pic.twitter.com/60kuNtciP6</a>
— MLGW (@MLGW) <a href="https://twitter.com/MLGW/status/1489935614799753220?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 5, 2022</a></blockquote>
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On Twitter, the company said that crews are working hard despite icy conditions and debris. &nbsp;

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Our patrols have been responding to numerous crashes and spin outs caused by the flash freeze conditions. Stay off the roads if possible, and take it slow if not. Here’s an update from the road from Troop H Patrol Supervisor Sgt. Michael Murphy. <a href="https://t.co/Z5sMXSXyq2">pic.twitter.com/Z5sMXSXyq2</a>
— Mass State Police (@MassStatePolice) <a href="https://twitter.com/MassStatePolice/status/1489624908061675525?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 4, 2022</a></blockquote>
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According to the National Weather Service, the storm spanned 2,000 miles and dumped up to 17-inch snow from Indiana to Vermont on Friday and early Saturday. &nbsp;&nbsp;

Also Read:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/covid-19-death-toll-crosses-900000-mark-in-us-450593" hreflang="en">COVID-19: Death toll crosses 9,00,000 mark in US</a>

States, such as Ohio, Michigan, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and Maine, witnessed over 10-inch snow. Arctic cold brought freezing temperatures in the Northeast. It caused slippery hazards on the road. &nbsp;&nbsp;

On Saturday, roads remained icy in Texas as water on the roadways froze overnight. &nbsp;&nbsp;

(With inputs from agencies)&nbsp;

A winter storm has wreaked havoc in the US. Over 150,000 homes have been reeling without power due to the storm. It was followed by freezing temperatures creating icy conditions.

A winter storm has wreaked havoc in the US. Over 150,000 homes have been reeling without power due to the storm. It was followed by freezing temperatures creating icy conditions. More than 100,000 homes got power back on Saturday after outages on Friday. Some states are still experiencing service interruptions. Most of the outages occurred in Tennessee. Over 93,000 homes were experiencing power failure, as per PowerOutage.us. In New York, around 43,000 homes and in Ohio, 30,000 houses have been left without power. Also Read: Republican party in US terms Capitol attack as 'legitimate political discourse' Around 95% customers should have power restored by Thursday next week, said Memphis Light, Gas and Water, which is a major utility company in Tennessee. Here’s a look at the icy conditions and debris #MLGW crews are dealing with out in the field. This is work that was done in South Memphis yesterday. #ServingYouIsWhatWeDo pic.twitter.com/60kuNtciP6 — MLGW (@MLGW) February 5, 2022 × On Twitter, the company said that crews are working hard despite icy conditions and debris. Our patrols have been responding to numerous crashes and spin outs caused by the flash freeze conditions. Stay off the roads if possible, and take it slow if not. Here’s an update from the road from Troop H Patrol Supervisor Sgt. Michael Murphy. pic.twitter.com/Z5sMXSXyq2 — Mass State Police (@MassStatePolice) February 4, 2022 × According to the National Weather Service, the storm spanned 2,000 miles and dumped up to 17-inch snow from Indiana to Vermont on Friday and early Saturday. Also Read: COVID-19: Death toll crosses 9,00,000 mark in US States, such as Ohio, Michigan, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and Maine, witnessed over 10-inch snow. Arctic cold brought freezing temperatures in the Northeast. It caused slippery hazards on the road. On Saturday, roads remained icy in Texas as water on the roadways froze overnight. (With inputs from agencies)

After winter storm, over 150,000 US homes witness chilly conditions sans power

For a man who sought to disappear, the leader of the Islamic State group seemed to have done everything right.

He hid out far from where his enemies expected. He never left the house, relying on trusted couriers to communicate with his far-flung underlings. He was the group’s only leader to never issue a video or voice address, for fear it would make him easier to track. Most of his most fervent followers would not have recognized him on the street.

But American commandos came for him anyway, and on Thursday, the leader, Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi, blew himself up during a raid on his hideout in northwestern Syria, U.S. officials said.

American leaders hailed al-Qurayshi’s death as a fresh wound to a fearsome organization whose reach and power had already been greatly diminished. But terrorism analysts warned that killing yet another leader would not erase a group whose members have continued to seek refuge and plan attacks in chaotic parts of the globe.

“It is another painful blow to an organization that just a few years ago cast a broad shadow across the entire region,” said Pratibha Thaker, editorial director for the Middle East and Africa at the Economist Intelligence Unit. “But I think everyone is wondering deep down how much taking down the top leader really matters since the organization is very decentralized.”

The United States has invested great resources in killing leaders of terrorist organizations. U.S. forces took out Osama bin Laden, the founder of al-Qaida, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who led al-Qaida in Iraq, and Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, al-Qurayshi’s predecessor at the helm of the Islamic State group.

While such attacks generate dramatic headlines, the groups they sought to undermine have often resurfaced in new and more powerful forms or simply replaced old heads with new ones, Hydra-style.

The killing of al-Qurayshi deprived the Islamic State of a key religious and military authority at a time when the group had already been routed from its territory and lost a huge number of fighters. Now it faces a potential leadership vacuum.

But terrorism experts said the group had become more diffuse and decentralized, allowing it to carry on. Even if it no longer has the power to hold territory as it once did, diminishing its ability to market itself as a “state,” it has proved that it can still carry out devastating, coordinated military attacks.

In recent weeks, its fighters in Iraq killed 10 Iraqi soldiers and an officer in a nighttime attack on an army post and beheaded a police officer on camera. In Syria, the jihadis attacked a prison in an attempt to free thousands of their former comrades and occupied the compound for more than a week before a Kurdish-led militia supported by the United States drove them out.

Still, the group is a shadow of its former self.

At its height around 2015, the Islamic State controlled a territory the size of Britain in Syria and Iraq and displaced al-Qaida as the world’s richest and most dangerous terrorist organization. It controlled large cities, collected taxes, provided public services and built a war machine.

Its propagandists attracted aspiring jihadis from around the world. Its operatives directed and inspired deadly attacks in the United States, Europe and elsewhere.

The loss of its last patch of territory in 2019, after 4 1/2 years of war, was a major defeat. Now, it is a caliphate in name only. And persistent attacks by the United States and its partners in Syria, Iraq and elsewhere have disrupted its financing networks and led to the deaths of many of its cadres.

Al-Qurayshi was anointed the group’s leader, or caliph, in 2019 after his predecessor, al-Baghdadi, similarly blew himself up during a raid by U.S. Special Forces on his hideout in northwestern Syria.

From the start, al-Qurayshi lacked his predecessor’s public profile, and even his followers knew little about his background. The United States filled in some gaps by releasing notes of interrogation sessions from when he was detained by U.S. forces in Iraq in 2008.

But the revelations that he said he had served in the Iraqi army under Saddam Hussein and earned a master’s degree in Islamic studies in 2007 were overshadowed by what appeared to be his willingness to inform on his fellow jihadis.

After al-Qurayshi took control, the United States put a bounty of up to $10 million on his head and said he “helped drive and justify the abduction, slaughter and trafficking of members of Yazidi religious minority groups” in Iraq and oversaw “the group’s global operations.”

As it searches for a replacement, the militant group no longer has a large pool to draw from because years of concerted counterterrorism operations by the United States and its partners have killed so much of the group’s inner circle, an expert on the Islamic State, Hassan Hassan, wrote Thursday in New Lines, an online magazine.

“The leaders it can trust are a dying breed — quite literally,” Hassan wrote.

That leadership vacuum, the waning attractiveness of international jihadism and the increasing strength of enemy governments and competing militant groups could hinder the group’s ability to bounce back, he wrote. “The death of its leader under these circumstances will further disorient the group and weaken its ability to focus on international terrorism.”

The group already appears to be less dangerous in Iraq, according to a recent analysis of attack data by Michael Knights, the Jill and Jay Bernstein Fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, and his colleague, Alex Almeida.

They found that Islamic State attacks increased in 2019 and 2020, but have declined since, in both quantity and quality.

“For now, at the outset of 2022, the Islamic State insurgency in Iraq is at a very low ebb, with recorded attack numbers that rival the lowest ever recorded,” they wrote.

They said increased Iraqi security deployments in rural areas, frequent counterterrorism raids and “decapitation strikes” against Islamic State leaders had contributed to the decline.

But terrorism analysts hesitate to write off the group, noting that it was regarded as a spent force just a few years before it came roaring back and solidified its control over entire cities in Syria and Iraq in 2014.

The group has long found it easiest to operate in failed states, conflict zones and poorly governed places, and its fighters still have many such territories to choose from, including in Afghanistan and parts of Africa.

In Syria, it remains most active in the east, which was badly battered in the country’s 10-year civil war and is only loosely controlled by a Kurdish-led militia whose administration is not internationally recognized and is short on resources.

The draw of chaotic places likely explains why al-Qurayshi sought refuge in Idlib province, in Syria’s northwest, miles from his organization’s past strongholds.

The area is one of the last territories still controlled by the rebels who set out to topple President Bashar Assad, and it is packed with millions of people who fled from elsewhere during the war, making it easier for strangers to blend in.

The Islamic State’s future could depend less on who its leaders are than on the opportunities for expansion that present themselves, and the group’s ability to take advantage of them.

“What we have seen in the jihadi movement on the whole over the last two decades is that it is highly pragmatic in the pursuit of its goals,” said Shiraz Maher, author of a book on the history of the global jihadi movement. “Their next move is to continue to hold out and bide their time and react to the realities as they pan out.”

For a man who sought to disappear, the leader of the Islamic State group seemed to have done everything right. He hid out far from where his enemies expected. He never left the house, relying on trusted couriers to communicate with his far-flung underlings.

For a man who sought to disappear, the leader of the Islamic State group seemed to have done everything right. He hid out far from where his enemies expected. He never left the house, relying on trusted couriers to communicate with his far-flung underlings. He was the group’s only leader to never issue a video or voice address, for fear it would make him easier to track. Most of his most fervent followers would not have recognized him on the street. But American commandos came for him anyway, and on Thursday, the leader, Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi, blew himself up during a raid on his hideout in northwestern Syria, U.S. officials said. American leaders hailed al-Qurayshi’s death as a fresh wound to a fearsome organization whose reach and power had already been greatly diminished. But terrorism analysts warned that killing yet another leader would not erase a group whose members have continued to seek refuge and plan attacks in chaotic parts of the globe. “It is another painful blow to an organization that just a few years ago cast a broad shadow across the entire region,” said Pratibha Thaker, editorial director for the Middle East and Africa at the Economist Intelligence Unit. “But I think everyone is wondering deep down how much taking down the top leader really matters since the organization is very decentralized.” The United States has invested great resources in killing leaders of terrorist organizations. U.S. forces took out Osama bin Laden, the founder of al-Qaida, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who led al-Qaida in Iraq, and Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, al-Qurayshi’s predecessor at the helm of the Islamic State group. While such attacks generate dramatic headlines, the groups they sought to undermine have often resurfaced in new and more powerful forms or simply replaced old heads with new ones, Hydra-style. The killing of al-Qurayshi deprived the Islamic State of a key religious and military authority at a time when the group had already been routed from its territory and lost a huge number of fighters. Now it faces a potential leadership vacuum. But terrorism experts said the group had become more diffuse and decentralized, allowing it to carry on. Even if it no longer has the power to hold territory as it once did, diminishing its ability to market itself as a “state,” it has proved that it can still carry out devastating, coordinated military attacks. In recent weeks, its fighters in Iraq killed 10 Iraqi soldiers and an officer in a nighttime attack on an army post and beheaded a police officer on camera. In Syria, the jihadis attacked a prison in an attempt to free thousands of their former comrades and occupied the compound for more than a week before a Kurdish-led militia supported by the United States drove them out. Still, the group is a shadow of its former self. At its height around 2015, the Islamic State controlled a territory the size of Britain in Syria and Iraq and displaced al-Qaida as the world’s richest and most dangerous terrorist organization. It controlled large cities, collected taxes, provided public services and built a war machine. Its propagandists attracted aspiring jihadis from around the world. Its operatives directed and inspired deadly attacks in the United States, Europe and elsewhere. The loss of its last patch of territory in 2019, after 4 1/2 years of war, was a major defeat. Now, it is a caliphate in name only. And persistent attacks by the United States and its partners in Syria, Iraq and elsewhere have disrupted its financing networks and led to the deaths of many of its cadres. Al-Qurayshi was anointed the group’s leader, or caliph, in 2019 after his predecessor, al-Baghdadi, similarly blew himself up during a raid by U.S. Special Forces on his hideout in northwestern Syria. From the start, al-Qurayshi lacked his predecessor’s public profile, and even his followers knew little about his background. The United States filled in some gaps by releasing notes of interrogation sessions from when he was detained by U.S. forces in Iraq in 2008. But the revelations that he said he had served in the Iraqi army under Saddam Hussein and earned a master’s degree in Islamic studies in 2007 were overshadowed by what appeared to be his willingness to inform on his fellow jihadis. After al-Qurayshi took control, the United States put a bounty of up to $10 million on his head and said he “helped drive and justify the abduction, slaughter and trafficking of members of Yazidi religious minority groups” in Iraq and oversaw “the group’s global operations.” As it searches for a replacement, the militant group no longer has a large pool to draw from because years of concerted counterterrorism operations by the United States and its partners have killed so much of the group’s inner circle, an expert on the Islamic State, Hassan Hassan, wrote Thursday in New Lines, an online magazine. “The leaders it can trust are a dying breed — quite literally,” Hassan wrote. That leadership vacuum, the waning attractiveness of international jihadism and the increasing strength of enemy governments and competing militant groups could hinder the group’s ability to bounce back, he wrote. “The death of its leader under these circumstances will further disorient the group and weaken its ability to focus on international terrorism.” The group already appears to be less dangerous in Iraq, according to a recent analysis of attack data by Michael Knights, the Jill and Jay Bernstein Fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, and his colleague, Alex Almeida. They found that Islamic State attacks increased in 2019 and 2020, but have declined since, in both quantity and quality. “For now, at the outset of 2022, the Islamic State insurgency in Iraq is at a very low ebb, with recorded attack numbers that rival the lowest ever recorded,” they wrote. They said increased Iraqi security deployments in rural areas, frequent counterterrorism raids and “decapitation strikes” against Islamic State leaders had contributed to the decline. But terrorism analysts hesitate to write off the group, noting that it was regarded as a spent force just a few years before it came roaring back and solidified its control over entire cities in Syria and Iraq in 2014. The group has long found it easiest to operate in failed states, conflict zones and poorly governed places, and its fighters still have many such territories to choose from, including in Afghanistan and parts of Africa. In Syria, it remains most active in the east, which was badly battered in the country’s 10-year civil war and is only loosely controlled by a Kurdish-led militia whose administration is not internationally recognized and is short on resources. The draw of chaotic places likely explains why al-Qurayshi sought refuge in Idlib province, in Syria’s northwest, miles from his organization’s past strongholds. The area is one of the last territories still controlled by the rebels who set out to topple President Bashar Assad, and it is packed with millions of people who fled from elsewhere during the war, making it easier for strangers to blend in. The Islamic State’s future could depend less on who its leaders are than on the opportunities for expansion that present themselves, and the group’s ability to take advantage of them. “What we have seen in the jihadi movement on the whole over the last two decades is that it is highly pragmatic in the pursuit of its goals,” said Shiraz Maher, author of a book on the history of the global jihadi movement. “Their next move is to continue to hold out and bide their time and react to the realities as they pan out.”

Leader’s death is another blow for the Islamic State, but it’s hardly the end

Mayor Jacob Frey of Minneapolis on Friday announced a moratorium on no-knock warrants one day after the Police Department released body camera footage of its SWAT team fatally shooting a man who was lying on a couch under a blanket during an early-morning raid.

The man who was killed, Amir Locke, 22, had a gun in his hand, but it is unclear whether he was aware that police officers had entered the apartment shortly before 7 a.m.

Keith Ellison, the attorney general of Minnesota, who led the prosecutions of former police officers in the killings of George Floyd and Daunte Wright, said his office would join a review of the police shooting. The mayor said no-knock warrants could not be requested or conducted while the city evaluated its current policy.

The graphic and brief video released by the Police Department on Thursday night shows the encounter from Wednesday morning, when its SWAT team had been carrying out a warrant for the St. Paul Police Department’s homicide unit.

In the video, an officer is seen quietly turning a key in the apartment door before officers file in and begin to yell.

“Police! Search warrant!” several officers are heard shouting.

“Hands, hands!” one officer says.

“Get on the ground!” another yells.

One officer kicked the back of the couch, jarring Locke and making a gun visible. The police fired at least three times in response.

The entire encounter took less than 10 seconds.

In a news release published the day of the shooting, the Police Department said officers had performed emergency aid on Locke, who died at a nearby hospital.

“I’m under no illusion that processing this video will be easy,” Amelia Huffman, the city’s interim police chief, said at a news conference Thursday. “It won’t be. It shouldn’t be. These are wrenching videos to watch. They’re painful, but it’s necessary.”

Huffman said that officers had a warrant for three locations in the apartment complex, and that Locke was not named in the original warrant.

Ellison, the state attorney general, said Friday that his office would partner with the Hennepin County attorney’s office to review the shooting.

“Amir Locke’s life mattered,” Ellison said in a statement, promising the Locke family “a fair and thorough review.”

Ellison led the prosecution of Derek Chauvin, a former Minneapolis police officer who pleaded guilty to federal crimes for the killing of Floyd, and Kimberly Potter, a former Minnesota police officer who was convicted of manslaughter in the death of Wright.

The Minneapolis Police Department said in a statement that one officer fired shots at Locke, and it released the personnel file of Officer Mark Hanneman.

Ben Crump, a lawyer representing Locke’s family, compared the shooting of Locke, who was Black, to the killing of Breonna Taylor, a Black medical worker who was fatally shot by Louisville, Kentucky, police officers in March 2020 during a botched raid on her apartment.

“If we learned anything from Breonna Taylor it is that no-knock warrants have deadly consequences for innocent, law-abiding Black citizens,” Crump said at a news conference Friday.

No-knock warrants allow police to enter property without first announcing their presence and are primarily used when there is concern that evidence will be destroyed or officers will be put in danger.

Tony Romanucci, another lawyer representing Locke’s family, said Locke had “no idea” who was in his apartment. “Had they announced who they were and why they were there, this tragedy could have been averted,” Romanucci said.

Frey said in a statement Friday that no-knock warrants would not be allowed while the city reviewed its policy with experts who helped create “Breonna’s Law,” an ordinance passed after Taylor’s death that bans no-knock warrants in Louisville.

During the moratorium, which the mayor said was “to ensure safety of both the public and officers,” the police must knock, announce their presence and wait a reasonable amount of time before entering with a warrant.

Locke’s father, Andre Locke, said at the news conference that his son was the third oldest of eight siblings. He said his son had been working for the food delivery service DoorDash and was “a week away” from moving to Dallas, where his mother, Karen Wells, lives. Andre Locke said that several of his cousins worked in law enforcement and that one of them was a mentor to Amir.

“It was hurtful, it hurt deep to see my son executed, to see our son executed,” Andre Locke said. “But the part that struck me the most was that he never got a chance to see or to know who killed him.”

Wells said she and her son would frequently talk on the FaceTime app when they were apart.

“I am going to miss just being able to see my son grow into a man, that’s what I am going to miss,” Wells said. “I am going to miss the fact that he didn’t, he won’t even get the chance to become a father and give us grandchildren.”

The Minneapolis Police Department has been under scrutiny since Chauvin held his knee on Floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes during an arrest in May 2020.

Floyd’s death generated widespread outrage, and protests across the country that summer called for social justice and police reform. An attempt to change policing in Minneapolis failed in November, when 56% of voters rejected a ballot measure that would have replaced the city’s Police Department with a public safety agency.

The release of the footage of Locke’s death came more quickly than in past cases, and after pressure from Rep. Ilhan Omar and state officials.

Ten members of the Minneapolis delegation of the state House of Representatives had called for the footage to be released immediately in a letter to Frey and Huffman.

“Minneapolis has a long path before us in establishing a trusting, effective and professional relationship between its Police Department and community,” the representatives wrote.

Mayor Jacob Frey of Minneapolis on Friday announced a moratorium on no-knock warrants one day after the Police Department released body camera footage of its SWAT team fatally shooting a man who was lying on a couch under a blanket during an early-morning raid.

Mayor Jacob Frey of Minneapolis on Friday announced a moratorium on no-knock warrants one day after the Police Department released body camera footage of its SWAT team fatally shooting a man who was lying on a couch under a blanket during an early-morning raid. The man who was killed, Amir Locke, 22, had a gun in his hand, but it is unclear whether he was aware that police officers had entered the apartment shortly before 7 a.m. Keith Ellison, the attorney general of Minnesota, who led the prosecutions of former police officers in the killings of George Floyd and Daunte Wright, said his office would join a review of the police shooting. The mayor said no-knock warrants could not be requested or conducted while the city evaluated its current policy. The graphic and brief video released by the Police Department on Thursday night shows the encounter from Wednesday morning, when its SWAT team had been carrying out a warrant for the St. Paul Police Department’s homicide unit. In the video, an officer is seen quietly turning a key in the apartment door before officers file in and begin to yell. “Police! Search warrant!” several officers are heard shouting. “Hands, hands!” one officer says. “Get on the ground!” another yells. One officer kicked the back of the couch, jarring Locke and making a gun visible. The police fired at least three times in response. The entire encounter took less than 10 seconds. In a news release published the day of the shooting, the Police Department said officers had performed emergency aid on Locke, who died at a nearby hospital. “I’m under no illusion that processing this video will be easy,” Amelia Huffman, the city’s interim police chief, said at a news conference Thursday. “It won’t be. It shouldn’t be. These are wrenching videos to watch. They’re painful, but it’s necessary.” Huffman said that officers had a warrant for three locations in the apartment complex, and that Locke was not named in the original warrant. Ellison, the state attorney general, said Friday that his office would partner with the Hennepin County attorney’s office to review the shooting. “Amir Locke’s life mattered,” Ellison said in a statement, promising the Locke family “a fair and thorough review.” Ellison led the prosecution of Derek Chauvin, a former Minneapolis police officer who pleaded guilty to federal crimes for the killing of Floyd, and Kimberly Potter, a former Minnesota police officer who was convicted of manslaughter in the death of Wright. The Minneapolis Police Department said in a statement that one officer fired shots at Locke, and it released the personnel file of Officer Mark Hanneman. Ben Crump, a lawyer representing Locke’s family, compared the shooting of Locke, who was Black, to the killing of Breonna Taylor, a Black medical worker who was fatally shot by Louisville, Kentucky, police officers in March 2020 during a botched raid on her apartment. “If we learned anything from Breonna Taylor it is that no-knock warrants have deadly consequences for innocent, law-abiding Black citizens,” Crump said at a news conference Friday. No-knock warrants allow police to enter property without first announcing their presence and are primarily used when there is concern that evidence will be destroyed or officers will be put in danger. Tony Romanucci, another lawyer representing Locke’s family, said Locke had “no idea” who was in his apartment. “Had they announced who they were and why they were there, this tragedy could have been averted,” Romanucci said. Frey said in a statement Friday that no-knock warrants would not be allowed while the city reviewed its policy with experts who helped create “Breonna’s Law,” an ordinance passed after Taylor’s death that bans no-knock warrants in Louisville. During the moratorium, which the mayor said was “to ensure safety of both the public and officers,” the police must knock, announce their presence and wait a reasonable amount of time before entering with a warrant. Locke’s father, Andre Locke, said at the news conference that his son was the third oldest of eight siblings. He said his son had been working for the food delivery service DoorDash and was “a week away” from moving to Dallas, where his mother, Karen Wells, lives. Andre Locke said that several of his cousins worked in law enforcement and that one of them was a mentor to Amir. “It was hurtful, it hurt deep to see my son executed, to see our son executed,” Andre Locke said. “But the part that struck me the most was that he never got a chance to see or to know who killed him.” Wells said she and her son would frequently talk on the FaceTime app when they were apart. “I am going to miss just being able to see my son grow into a man, that’s what I am going to miss,” Wells said. “I am going to miss the fact that he didn’t, he won’t even get the chance to become a father and give us grandchildren.” The Minneapolis Police Department has been under scrutiny since Chauvin held his knee on Floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes during an arrest in May 2020. Floyd’s death generated widespread outrage, and protests across the country that summer called for social justice and police reform. An attempt to change policing in Minneapolis failed in November, when 56% of voters rejected a ballot measure that would have replaced the city’s Police Department with a public safety agency. The release of the footage of Locke’s death came more quickly than in past cases, and after pressure from Rep. Ilhan Omar and state officials. Ten members of the Minneapolis delegation of the state House of Representatives had called for the footage to be released immediately in a letter to Frey and Huffman. “Minneapolis has a long path before us in establishing a trusting, effective and professional relationship between its Police Department and community,” the representatives wrote.

Minneapolis suspends no-knock warrants after police killing

According to the gun violence archive, there have been 147 incidents of mass shootings since the beginning of this year in the US.

The US records a rise in gun violence cases

A massive personal collection of black history memorabilia is set to go under the hammer. The collection is owned by a member of the oldest black family in New York's Staten Island.

Black history memorabilia in New York: Over 20,000 items to go under the hammer

Record surge in gun violence in the US with 147 incidents of mass shootings so far in 2022

The United States has urged the UN security council to act following North Korea's recent ballistic missile test.

The US urges the UN security council to act against North Korea's recent ballistic missile test

The United States has restored sanctions waiver to Iran as efforts are on to salvage 2015 Iran Nuclear deal.

The US restores sanctions waiver to Iran amid efforts to salvage 2015 Nuclear deal

At least one person was killed and four others were injured after a shooting near Virginia Tech. The shooting took place at a hookah lounge in Virginia just before midnight on Friday night.&nbsp;

The Blacksburg Police Department in a statement described the incident as complex. "There were five individuals that were injured in the shooting, four were transported to local hospitals and one is deceased. The severity of the injuries of those who were transported is unknown at this time," read the statement.

No further information has been made available, including details on potential suspects or the motive.&nbsp;

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/at-least-one-dead-4-injured-after-shooting-in-washington-hotel-448257">Also read |&nbsp;At least one dead, 4 injured after shooting in Washington hotel</a>

Virginia Tech issued a 'secure in place' order around midnight. It was, however, lifted around 3:15 am. Virginia Tech President Tim Sands, in a memo, wrote, "Our condolences go out to the family and friends of the deceased and we extend our support to those who were injured. Events like this are difficult and unsettling to all of us. Please care for yourself and seek assistance if you need it.”

The investigation is still ongoing.

Not even a month before, one person was killed and four were injured after a shooting at a hotel in Northwest Washington. The incident took place during a party in a room. Shots were fired around 3:30 am at Days Inn hotel, which is located on 4400 Connecticut Avenue NW, in the Van Ness neighbourhood. The area was sealed for police investigation and it opened at 7 am.&nbsp;

(With inputs from agencies)

At least one person was killed and four others were injured after a shooting near Virginia Tech. The shooting took place at a hookah lounge in Virginia just before midnight on Friday night.

At least one person was killed and four others were injured after a shooting near Virginia Tech. The shooting took place at a hookah lounge in Virginia just before midnight on Friday night. The Blacksburg Police Department in a statement described the incident as complex. "There were five individuals that were injured in the shooting, four were transported to local hospitals and one is deceased. The severity of the injuries of those who were transported is unknown at this time," read the statement. No further information has been made available, including details on potential suspects or the motive. Also read | At least one dead, 4 injured after shooting in Washington hotel Virginia Tech issued a 'secure in place' order around midnight. It was, however, lifted around 3:15 am. Virginia Tech President Tim Sands, in a memo, wrote, "Our condolences go out to the family and friends of the deceased and we extend our support to those who were injured. Events like this are difficult and unsettling to all of us. Please care for yourself and seek assistance if you need it.” The investigation is still ongoing. Not even a month before, one person was killed and four were injured after a shooting at a hotel in Northwest Washington. The incident took place during a party in a room. Shots were fired around 3:30 am at Days Inn hotel, which is located on 4400 Connecticut Avenue NW, in the Van Ness neighbourhood. The area was sealed for police investigation and it opened at 7 am. (With inputs from agencies)

At least one dead, 4 injured after a shooting near Virginia Tech

In a shocking move, the Republican party of the United States has officially termed former President Donald Trump’s attempt to overturn his 2020 election loss and the attack on the Capitol as “legitimate political discourse”. &nbsp;

The Republican National Committee (RNC) is holding its winter meetings in Salt Lake City as part of the formal censure of Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, who are the only Republicans on the January 6 committee. &nbsp;

Also Read:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/covid-19-death-toll-crosses-900000-mark-in-us-450593">COVID-19: Death toll crosses 9,00,000 mark in US</a>

The resolution, which was approved unanimously, said that Cheney and Kinzinger were engaged in the “persecution of ordinary citizens engaged in legitimate political discourse”. &nbsp;

The historians would be “aghast”, said a leading Democrat on the House committee investigating the January 6 incident. &nbsp;

Also Read:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/security-breach-reported-near-pentagon-in-us-but-no-need-to-worry-450329" hreflang="en">Security breach reported near Pentagon in US. But no need to worry</a>

Some Republicans have also stood up to Trump. At a Florida event staged by the conservative Federalist Society, former vice president Mike Pence, who faced a difficult time in doing the balancing act, said on Friday, “President Trump is wrong. I had no right to overturn the election.” &nbsp;

Pence added, “The truth is there’s more at stake than our party or our political fortunes. If we lose faith in the constitution, we won’t just lose elections – we’ll lose our country.” &nbsp;

(With inputs from agencies)&nbsp;

In a shocking move, the Republican party of the United States has officially termed former President Donald Trump’s attempt to overturn his 2020 election loss and the attack on the Capitol as “legitimate political discourse”.

In a shocking move, the Republican party of the United States has officially termed former President Donald Trump’s attempt to overturn his 2020 election loss and the attack on the Capitol as “legitimate political discourse”. The Republican National Committee (RNC) is holding its winter meetings in Salt Lake City as part of the formal censure of Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, who are the only Republicans on the January 6 committee. Also Read: COVID-19: Death toll crosses 9,00,000 mark in US The resolution, which was approved unanimously, said that Cheney and Kinzinger were engaged in the “persecution of ordinary citizens engaged in legitimate political discourse”. The historians would be “aghast”, said a leading Democrat on the House committee investigating the January 6 incident. Also Read: Security breach reported near Pentagon in US. But no need to worry Some Republicans have also stood up to Trump. At a Florida event staged by the conservative Federalist Society, former vice president Mike Pence, who faced a difficult time in doing the balancing act, said on Friday, “President Trump is wrong. I had no right to overturn the election.” Pence added, “The truth is there’s more at stake than our party or our political fortunes. If we lose faith in the constitution, we won’t just lose elections – we’ll lose our country.” (With inputs from agencies)

Republican party in US terms Capitol attack as 'legitimate political discourse'

The leader of the Islamic State, Abu Ibrahim al-Hashemi al-Quraishi blew himself and his family members up during a US military raid in Syria in 2022. A look at America's war on Terror over past few years.

America's war on Terror: Looking back at US special operations

The US Senate Foreign Relations Committee has released a new report on the Biden administration's withdrawal from Afghanistan. The report has found that as many as 9,000 Americans were left behind in Afghanistan during the disastrous withdrawal.

Report: As many as 9,000 Americans left behind during US troop withdrawal from Afghanistan

In what can be called reaching a grim milestone, the death toll in the United States due to Covid has surpassed 9,00,000, as per the tally compiled by Johns Hopkins University (JHU). &nbsp;

Since January 2020, over 76 million cases have been confirmed in the country. &nbsp;

The number of deaths due to coronavirus in the US reached 9,00,334 people, JHU tally showed on Friday afternoon.&nbsp;

Also Read:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/destabilising-conflict-in-europe-will-impact-china-us-on-ukraine-row-450590" hreflang="en">Destabilising conflict in Europe will impact China: US on Ukraine row</a>

In mid-December 2021, the United States had crossed the 8,00,000 mark in the deaths related to this disease. The highly transmissible Omicron variant was spreading throughout the country at that time. &nbsp;&nbsp;

Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden's administration said that it will be distributing 400 million high quality Covid N95 masks for free to Americans. The step was taken in order to rein in the coronavirus pandemic. &nbsp;&nbsp;

Also Read:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/science/omicron-variant-originated-from-mice-say-chinese-scientists-is-the-narrative-changing-continuously-450343" hreflang="en">Omicron variant originated from mice, say Chinese scientists. Is the narrative changing continuously? &nbsp;</a>

Tens of thousands of distribution points will be set up nationwide in order to give away masks. Pharmacies and community centres are expected to be main distribution centres. The White House said that the distribution drive will kick into full gear in February. &nbsp;

"This is the largest deployment of personal protective equipment in US history," an unnamed White House official said in a statement. &nbsp;

(With inputs from agencies)

In what can be called reaching a grim milestone, the death toll in the United States due to Covid has surpassed 9,00,000, as per the tally compiled by Johns Hopkins University (JHU).

In what can be called reaching a grim milestone, the death toll in the United States due to Covid has surpassed 9,00,000, as per the tally compiled by Johns Hopkins University (JHU). Since January 2020, over 76 million cases have been confirmed in the country. The number of deaths due to coronavirus in the US reached 9,00,334 people, JHU tally showed on Friday afternoon. Also Read: Destabilising conflict in Europe will impact China: US on Ukraine row In mid-December 2021, the United States had crossed the 8,00,000 mark in the deaths related to this disease. The highly transmissible Omicron variant was spreading throughout the country at that time. Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden's administration said that it will be distributing 400 million high quality Covid N95 masks for free to Americans. The step was taken in order to rein in the coronavirus pandemic. Also Read: Omicron variant originated from mice, say Chinese scientists. Is the narrative changing continuously? Tens of thousands of distribution points will be set up nationwide in order to give away masks. Pharmacies and community centres are expected to be main distribution centres. The White House said that the distribution drive will kick into full gear in February. "This is the largest deployment of personal protective equipment in US history," an unnamed White House official said in a statement. (With inputs from agencies)

COVID-19: Death toll crosses 9,00,000 mark in US

India has refused to pick sides in the ongoing stand-off in Ukraine. Russia is a long-time strategic partner and the US is leading the anti-China coalition. Palki Sharma decodes India's non-alignment.

Gravitas: India's stakes in the Ukraine crisis

Russian President Vladimir Putin met Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing. US has warned Ukraine of a false flag attack. Turkey has proposed to host a Russia, Ukraine summit. Palki Sharma brings you the latest on Ukraine crisis direct from Kyiv.

Gravitas: Ukraine, Russia crisis: Putin, Xi send joint message to NATO

As a money management professional, Eric Diton helps his clients manage complex personal finance issues. But he’s finding that more of them are frustrated by a surprisingly mundane budget item: homeowners’ insurance.

“I can definitely say that for my Florida clients, it’s a topic of conversation and it’s on their radar,” said Diton, president of the Wealth Alliance, an investment advisory firm. “They’re seeing that their cost of insurance is rising.”

Diton, who splits his time between Boca Raton, Florida, and Long Island, said he found himself in the same boat. “Personally, my insurance company increased my premiums quite a bit,” he said of his home in Florida. “It was pretty challenging to find a lot of choice, and that has resonated with a lot of people in this state.”

While Florida residents are not the only ones wrestling with this issue, the state’s popularity with retirees means that it is a problem a growing number will confront, experts say. When drawing up a budget for living on a fixed income, most would-be retirees think about services and goods, such as doctor visits or prescription drugs, that are likely to cost more in the future. Almost no one thinks of home insurance — an omission insurance professionals warn will be an increasingly costly mistake.

Many Americans’ plans to retire in a coastal Sun Belt state or a scenic mountain hamlet are on a collision course with extreme weather — and the property damage that follows.

“In some regions, we already see changing weather patterns, most likely driven by climate change, already having an impact,” said Ernst Rauch, chief climate and geoscientist at the reinsurance company Munich Re.

After absorbing punishing losses from floods, hurricanes and wildfires in recent years, many insurers are reevaluating their risk modeling practices. The upshot for many homeowners is higher property insurance bills. Others can find themselves struggling to get a policy at any price.

“In certain parts of the country, the insurance situation has really been difficult — in particular, Florida and that area, including Louisiana and the Gulf states,” said Nancy Albanese, vice president of personal insurance at BMT Insurance Advisors. “The other market which is very difficult is California, and some of the Western states that are exposed to wildfire.”

She added: “When we encounter a client who needs coverage in Florida, we know that’s going to be a huge challenge.”

Karen Collins, assistant vice president of personal lines for the trade group American Property Casualty Insurance Association, said she and her colleagues were seeing “a very significant increase in losses recently.”

“Natural disasters in particular have been very, very elevated the past couple of years,” she said.

This trend is driving up premiums. According to AM Best, an insurance industry ratings and analytics firm, the total amount of homeowners’ insurance premiums Americans paid rose by 8.4% between the third quarter of 2020 and the third quarter of last year. (An AM Best spokesperson noted that this aggregate snapshot did not reflect what any individual policyholder paid.)

Albanese said that recently an insurer dropped one of her clients, who was already paying $22,000 a year to insure a coastal Florida property. After some scrambling, Albanese was able to find the client coverage through a “surplus lines” provider — an insurer of last resort for the highest-risk policies — but at double the cost.

“It’s been back-to-back years of these rate increases, and I can think of at least one client who says they’re planning to sell their Florida property just because it’s just getting to be outrageous to insure,” Albanese said. “I’ve also had clients purchase properties in Florida recently, unaware of what the insurance market was like down there and really having them be just shocked — they just did not realize how high their premiums would be.”

Diton said that rising property insurance costs — particularly when combined with higher property taxes in areas where home values have risen significantly — were especially relevant for clients considering buying investment real estate for passive income generation. This strategy is popular among retirees and even some younger investors.

When a client is interested in a property, Diton said that he will lay out a spreadsheet and analyze the expenses. In some cases, prospective buyers decide against the purchase. “The homeowners’ insurance increase is definitely contributing to the issue for those people,” he said.

Insurance experts who work farther up the East Coast report similar market conditions. “What we are seeing is the companies that specialized in writing homeowners’ insurance along the coasts are shutting down, so we don’t have as many options,” said Robin Jaekel, vice president of personal lines at Glenn Insurance, a New Jersey insurance agency that does significant business along the Jersey Shore. “The homeowner costs along the coasts are definitely impacted.”

Hurricanes and nor’easters are the primary reasons insurers are fleeing the market, Jaekel said. The recent overhaul of the federally subsidized National Flood Insurance Program compounds the headache — and expenses — for property owners who are required by their mortgage holder to carry flood as well as homeowners’ insurance.

In many cases, the only policy a homeowner can get is one that limits the amount of compensation someone can expect after the most severe storms. “We now have the ‘named hurricane deductible’ on all policies around here,” Jaekel said. “If it’s a named hurricane, they have a separate deductible just for that.”

Experts in extreme weather say that stories like these are likely to become much more common in a rapidly warming future. “Hurricanes along the East Coast of the U.S. are also moving north,” Rauch said. “The probability has increased in northern U.S. regions as the water has warmed up.”

“This is a huge, long-term issue for every developed area of the United States,” said Jim Blackburn, professor of environmental law and co-director of the Severe Storm Prediction, Education and Evacuation From Disasters Center at Rice University, via email.

He added that while coastal regions would probably face some of the greatest challenges because of more intense storms, increasing rainfall means that even homes situated near — rather than within — floodplains could become more vulnerable, too. “We have not begun to understand the impacts of climate change on settlement patterns,” he said.

The rising cost of damage from extreme weather comes on top of a confluence of other factors that are driving the cost of homeowners’ insurance higher. Supply-chain bottlenecks and a labor shortage make it more expensive to repair or rebuild homes after a disaster, while home construction and design trends are to blame as well, insurance professionals say. In neighborhoods with older housing stock, rebuilding after a natural disaster might be more expensive because of measures to bring the property up to current building code standards.

“Building materials themselves are lending them to more catastrophic losses,” said Jared Carillo, director of foundation accounts at SmithBrothers, an insurance brokerage in Connecticut. Materials used in construction today include more synthetics that burn faster and hotter, such as particleboard, spray foam and wire insulation, he said.

Open floor plans are another culprit, Carillo said: “A fire that starts in the kitchen is going to generate more loss across the first floor.”

Some of the weather changes being monitored by the insurance industry, such as the northerly drift of “Hurricane Alley,” are gradual shifts. Others — like the droughts that have exacerbated enormous wildfires in the Western United States — have hit an inflection point much more rapidly. Rauch said that in the 1980s, the average annual insured losses in the United States from wildfires ranged from $1 billion to $3 billion.

“This was the expectation going forward,” he said.

That changed in a heartbeat. “In 2017, for the first time, insured losses were somewhere in the $16 billion region,” Rauch said. “It was a massive jump, and 2018 was basically the same.” After a moderate Western fire season in 2019, 2020 brought another round of eye-watering losses, roughly in the neighborhood of $11 billion.

It is evidence that even the nimblest of companies can be caught by surprise at how fast conditions can change. In just the last four to five years, Rauch said, wildfires have brought significant changes. “The loss situation was totally different from the decades before,” he said.

Insurance and real estate professionals say this is especially problematic for people who put roots down decades ago with the expectation of growing old in those homes and neighborhoods, only to find that the ground beneath their feet has shifted.

“I do have people that retired here,” said Patrick Brownfield, personal risk adviser for the insurance broker Hub International in Jackson, Wyoming. “They’ve had astronomical increases in their insurance in the last two years,” he said, adding that this leaves those homeowners with few options. “It’s going to cost them $20,000 a year on their fixed income, and now they can’t pay the insurance because all their equity is in their home,” Brownfield said.

Deciding to sell, though, can present even more difficult decisions.

“Real estate contracts are now contingent on the ability to get that insurance,” said Ed Liebzeit, a real estate broker with Sotheby’s International Realty in Jackson.

“People at retirement age are facing two things,” he said. “If they’re on a fixed income, their insurance is going up, but so are their property taxes.” This is a drawback of the area’s rapidly appreciating housing market, he said. The result for retirees, increasingly, is displacement.

“The problem is, they have to leave town because there’s not another opportunity to buy low and stay here unless they go to a very small condo,” Liebzeit said. “So most of them are leaving.”

As a money management professional, Eric Diton helps his clients manage complex personal finance issues. But he’s finding that more of them are frustrated by a surprisingly mundane budget item: homeowners’ insurance.

As a money management professional, Eric Diton helps his clients manage complex personal finance issues. But he’s finding that more of them are frustrated by a surprisingly mundane budget item: homeowners’ insurance. “I can definitely say that for my Florida clients, it’s a topic of conversation and it’s on their radar,” said Diton, president of the Wealth Alliance, an investment advisory firm. “They’re seeing that their cost of insurance is rising.” Diton, who splits his time between Boca Raton, Florida, and Long Island, said he found himself in the same boat. “Personally, my insurance company increased my premiums quite a bit,” he said of his home in Florida. “It was pretty challenging to find a lot of choice, and that has resonated with a lot of people in this state.” While Florida residents are not the only ones wrestling with this issue, the state’s popularity with retirees means that it is a problem a growing number will confront, experts say. When drawing up a budget for living on a fixed income, most would-be retirees think about services and goods, such as doctor visits or prescription drugs, that are likely to cost more in the future. Almost no one thinks of home insurance — an omission insurance professionals warn will be an increasingly costly mistake. Many Americans’ plans to retire in a coastal Sun Belt state or a scenic mountain hamlet are on a collision course with extreme weather — and the property damage that follows. “In some regions, we already see changing weather patterns, most likely driven by climate change, already having an impact,” said Ernst Rauch, chief climate and geoscientist at the reinsurance company Munich Re. After absorbing punishing losses from floods, hurricanes and wildfires in recent years, many insurers are reevaluating their risk modeling practices. The upshot for many homeowners is higher property insurance bills. Others can find themselves struggling to get a policy at any price. “In certain parts of the country, the insurance situation has really been difficult — in particular, Florida and that area, including Louisiana and the Gulf states,” said Nancy Albanese, vice president of personal insurance at BMT Insurance Advisors. “The other market which is very difficult is California, and some of the Western states that are exposed to wildfire.” She added: “When we encounter a client who needs coverage in Florida, we know that’s going to be a huge challenge.” Karen Collins, assistant vice president of personal lines for the trade group American Property Casualty Insurance Association, said she and her colleagues were seeing “a very significant increase in losses recently.” “Natural disasters in particular have been very, very elevated the past couple of years,” she said. This trend is driving up premiums. According to AM Best, an insurance industry ratings and analytics firm, the total amount of homeowners’ insurance premiums Americans paid rose by 8.4% between the third quarter of 2020 and the third quarter of last year. (An AM Best spokesperson noted that this aggregate snapshot did not reflect what any individual policyholder paid.) Albanese said that recently an insurer dropped one of her clients, who was already paying $22,000 a year to insure a coastal Florida property. After some scrambling, Albanese was able to find the client coverage through a “surplus lines” provider — an insurer of last resort for the highest-risk policies — but at double the cost. “It’s been back-to-back years of these rate increases, and I can think of at least one client who says they’re planning to sell their Florida property just because it’s just getting to be outrageous to insure,” Albanese said. “I’ve also had clients purchase properties in Florida recently, unaware of what the insurance market was like down there and really having them be just shocked — they just did not realize how high their premiums would be.” Diton said that rising property insurance costs — particularly when combined with higher property taxes in areas where home values have risen significantly — were especially relevant for clients considering buying investment real estate for passive income generation. This strategy is popular among retirees and even some younger investors. When a client is interested in a property, Diton said that he will lay out a spreadsheet and analyze the expenses. In some cases, prospective buyers decide against the purchase. “The homeowners’ insurance increase is definitely contributing to the issue for those people,” he said. Insurance experts who work farther up the East Coast report similar market conditions. “What we are seeing is the companies that specialized in writing homeowners’ insurance along the coasts are shutting down, so we don’t have as many options,” said Robin Jaekel, vice president of personal lines at Glenn Insurance, a New Jersey insurance agency that does significant business along the Jersey Shore. “The homeowner costs along the coasts are definitely impacted.” Hurricanes and nor’easters are the primary reasons insurers are fleeing the market, Jaekel said. The recent overhaul of the federally subsidized National Flood Insurance Program compounds the headache — and expenses — for property owners who are required by their mortgage holder to carry flood as well as homeowners’ insurance. In many cases, the only policy a homeowner can get is one that limits the amount of compensation someone can expect after the most severe storms. “We now have the ‘named hurricane deductible’ on all policies around here,” Jaekel said. “If it’s a named hurricane, they have a separate deductible just for that.” Experts in extreme weather say that stories like these are likely to become much more common in a rapidly warming future. “Hurricanes along the East Coast of the U.S. are also moving north,” Rauch said. “The probability has increased in northern U.S. regions as the water has warmed up.” “This is a huge, long-term issue for every developed area of the United States,” said Jim Blackburn, professor of environmental law and co-director of the Severe Storm Prediction, Education and Evacuation From Disasters Center at Rice University, via email. He added that while coastal regions would probably face some of the greatest challenges because of more intense storms, increasing rainfall means that even homes situated near — rather than within — floodplains could become more vulnerable, too. “We have not begun to understand the impacts of climate change on settlement patterns,” he said. The rising cost of damage from extreme weather comes on top of a confluence of other factors that are driving the cost of homeowners’ insurance higher. Supply-chain bottlenecks and a labor shortage make it more expensive to repair or rebuild homes after a disaster, while home construction and design trends are to blame as well, insurance professionals say. In neighborhoods with older housing stock, rebuilding after a natural disaster might be more expensive because of measures to bring the property up to current building code standards. “Building materials themselves are lending them to more catastrophic losses,” said Jared Carillo, director of foundation accounts at SmithBrothers, an insurance brokerage in Connecticut. Materials used in construction today include more synthetics that burn faster and hotter, such as particleboard, spray foam and wire insulation, he said. Open floor plans are another culprit, Carillo said: “A fire that starts in the kitchen is going to generate more loss across the first floor.” Some of the weather changes being monitored by the insurance industry, such as the northerly drift of “Hurricane Alley,” are gradual shifts. Others — like the droughts that have exacerbated enormous wildfires in the Western United States — have hit an inflection point much more rapidly. Rauch said that in the 1980s, the average annual insured losses in the United States from wildfires ranged from $1 billion to $3 billion. “This was the expectation going forward,” he said. That changed in a heartbeat. “In 2017, for the first time, insured losses were somewhere in the $16 billion region,” Rauch said. “It was a massive jump, and 2018 was basically the same.” After a moderate Western fire season in 2019, 2020 brought another round of eye-watering losses, roughly in the neighborhood of $11 billion. It is evidence that even the nimblest of companies can be caught by surprise at how fast conditions can change. In just the last four to five years, Rauch said, wildfires have brought significant changes. “The loss situation was totally different from the decades before,” he said. Insurance and real estate professionals say this is especially problematic for people who put roots down decades ago with the expectation of growing old in those homes and neighborhoods, only to find that the ground beneath their feet has shifted. “I do have people that retired here,” said Patrick Brownfield, personal risk adviser for the insurance broker Hub International in Jackson, Wyoming. “They’ve had astronomical increases in their insurance in the last two years,” he said, adding that this leaves those homeowners with few options. “It’s going to cost them $20,000 a year on their fixed income, and now they can’t pay the insurance because all their equity is in their home,” Brownfield said. Deciding to sell, though, can present even more difficult decisions. “Real estate contracts are now contingent on the ability to get that insurance,” said Ed Liebzeit, a real estate broker with Sotheby’s International Realty in Jackson. “People at retirement age are facing two things,” he said. “If they’re on a fixed income, their insurance is going up, but so are their property taxes.” This is a drawback of the area’s rapidly appreciating housing market, he said. The result for retirees, increasingly, is displacement. “The problem is, they have to leave town because there’s not another opportunity to buy low and stay here unless they go to a very small condo,” Liebzeit said. “So most of them are leaving.”

Extreme weather and rising insurance rates squeeze retirees

The Covid 19 pandemic has reached yet another grim milestone in the United States. According to the John Hopkins University, the nation's cumulative death toll from the Covid 19 infections has surpassed the 900 000 mark. The latest number has been fueled by the omicron variant of the coronavirus.

United States reaches a grim milestone in fight against Covid 19

US to send additional troops to Eastern Europe as Russia steps up military deployment near the Ukrainian border - sending its soldiers to neighbouring Belarus for 'military exercises'.

Russia-Ukraine Conflict: US to send additional troops to Eastern Europe

The United States has acquired intelligence about a Russian plan to fabricate a pretext for an invasion of Ukraine using a faked video that would build on recent disinformation campaigns, according to senior administration officials and others briefed on the material.

The plan — which the United States hopes to spoil by making public — involved staging and filming a fabricated attack by the Ukrainian military either on Russian territory or against Russian-speaking people in eastern Ukraine.

Russia, the officials said, intended to use the video to accuse Ukraine of “genocide” against Russian-speaking people. It would then use the report to justify an attack or have separatist leaders in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine invite a Russian intervention.

Officials would not release any direct evidence of the Russian plan or how they learned of it, saying to do so would compromise their sources and methods. But both a recent Russian disinformation campaign focused on false accusations of genocide and the recent political actions being taken in the Russian parliament to recognize breakaway governments in Ukraine lent credence to the intelligence.

If carried out, the Russian operation would be an expansion of a propaganda theme that U.S. intelligence officials and outside experts have said Moscow has been pushing on social media, conspiracy sites and with state-controlled media since November.

The planned video was elaborate, officials said, with graphic images of the staged, corpse-strewn aftermath of an explosion, film of destroyed locations, faked Ukrainian military equipment, Turkish-made drones and actors playing Russian-speaking mourners.

American officials would not say who in Russia precisely was planning the operation, but a senior administration official said that “Russian intelligence is intimately involved in this effort.”

A British government official said that they had done their own analysis on the intelligence and had high confidence that Russia was planning to engineer a pretext to blame Ukraine for an attack. The specific reporting details, the official said, are “credible and extremely concerning.”

While it is not clear that senior Russian officials approved the operation, it was far along in the planning, and the United States had high confidence that it was under serious consideration, officials said. Russian officials had found corpses to use in the video, discussed actors to play mourners and plotted how to make military equipment in the video appear Ukrainian or NATO-supplied.

While the plan sounded far-fetched, American officials said they believed it could have worked to provide a spark for a Russian military operation — an outcome they said they hoped would be made less likely by exposing the effort publicly.

The highlights of the intelligence have been declassified in hopes of both derailing the plan and convincing allies and officials of the seriousness of the Russian planning. The officials interviewed for this article requested anonymity to discuss declassified but sensitive intelligence before it was released publicly.

Avril Haines, the director of national intelligence, and other top administration officials briefed members of Congress on the material Thursday. Details of the information have also been shared with allies as the United States and Britain push a kind of intelligence diplomacy.

In recent weeks both Washington and London have outlined elements of Moscow’s war planning, highlighting planned troop buildups, exposing false-flag sabotage plots and revealing Russian plans to install a friendly government in Kyiv, Ukraine.

The strategy aims to persuade allies and partners over that Russia is not posturing and has real war plans that it could put into effect. The releases also aim to force Russia to drop and redraft plans, further delaying any invasion plan.

The longer the international community can delay a decision by Russian President Vladimir Putin about whether to approve a military operation against Ukraine, the more of a chance there is that he will reconsider his plans, according to diplomats.

Some officials in the U.S. and Britain think Putin has underestimated how many casualties his military would suffer in any direct invasion of Ukraine.

The intelligence diplomacy push is modelled in part on Britain’s efforts to rally a strong response to the Russian nerve agent attack in England in 2018. The British government released information on Russian involvement publicly and shared other intelligence privately as it pushed allies to expel Russian diplomats in response.

The move to publicize the plan comes as the Duma, the Russian parliament, begins to consider legislation to recognize eastern Ukraine as an independent territory, much as they have recognized Russian-occupied areas of Georgia.

If the Russian parliament were to recognize the Donbas region of Ukraine as an independent state, a Moscow-appointed leader of that breakaway state could then request help from Putin. Putin has argued many times that in such a case, an intervention would be in keeping with international law and precedents set by the United States.

American officials believe the plans for the video included Turkish-made Bayraktar TB2 drones that have been used by the Ukrainian army.

In November, the Ukrainian army used one of the drones to launch a counterattack on a howitzer used by Russian-led separatist forces to kill a Ukrainian soldier. Russia scrambled jets, and the situation escalated.

Russian disinformation in recent weeks has accused NATO of planning an invasion or intervention into Ukraine, a false claim. Highlighting the presence of weapons made by Turkey, a NATO ally, would allow the Russians to accuse the alliance of helping raise tensions in the conflict and being culpable in the death of Russian speakers.

The draft law under consideration in Russia would recognize what Moscow calls the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics. Russia considered recognizing governments in the separatists-controlled region in 2014 but ultimately backed down.

The proposal was revived by members of the Communist Party, the second-largest faction in the Russian Duma, in recent days. The Russian parliamentarians pushing the law have argued that Ukraine is planning an offensive to reassert control of the area. If that happens, the Russian lawmakers argue, Russian-speaking residents will be denied basic rights.

Ukrainian oppression of Russian speakers in Eastern Ukraine is a common theme of Russian state media and websites controlled by Russian intelligence services. But the reality is that language is not the hard dividing line in Ukraine that Moscow suggests.

The United States has acquired intelligence about a Russian plan to fabricate a pretext for an invasion of Ukraine using a faked video that would build on recent disinformation campaigns, according to senior administration officials and others briefed on the material.

The United States has acquired intelligence about a Russian plan to fabricate a pretext for an invasion of Ukraine using a faked video that would build on recent disinformation campaigns, according to senior administration officials and others briefed on the material. The plan — which the United States hopes to spoil by making public — involved staging and filming a fabricated attack by the Ukrainian military either on Russian territory or against Russian-speaking people in eastern Ukraine. Russia, the officials said, intended to use the video to accuse Ukraine of “genocide” against Russian-speaking people. It would then use the report to justify an attack or have separatist leaders in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine invite a Russian intervention. Officials would not release any direct evidence of the Russian plan or how they learned of it, saying to do so would compromise their sources and methods. But both a recent Russian disinformation campaign focused on false accusations of genocide and the recent political actions being taken in the Russian parliament to recognize breakaway governments in Ukraine lent credence to the intelligence. If carried out, the Russian operation would be an expansion of a propaganda theme that U.S. intelligence officials and outside experts have said Moscow has been pushing on social media, conspiracy sites and with state-controlled media since November. The planned video was elaborate, officials said, with graphic images of the staged, corpse-strewn aftermath of an explosion, film of destroyed locations, faked Ukrainian military equipment, Turkish-made drones and actors playing Russian-speaking mourners. American officials would not say who in Russia precisely was planning the operation, but a senior administration official said that “Russian intelligence is intimately involved in this effort.” A British government official said that they had done their own analysis on the intelligence and had high confidence that Russia was planning to engineer a pretext to blame Ukraine for an attack. The specific reporting details, the official said, are “credible and extremely concerning.” While it is not clear that senior Russian officials approved the operation, it was far along in the planning, and the United States had high confidence that it was under serious consideration, officials said. Russian officials had found corpses to use in the video, discussed actors to play mourners and plotted how to make military equipment in the video appear Ukrainian or NATO-supplied. While the plan sounded far-fetched, American officials said they believed it could have worked to provide a spark for a Russian military operation — an outcome they said they hoped would be made less likely by exposing the effort publicly. The highlights of the intelligence have been declassified in hopes of both derailing the plan and convincing allies and officials of the seriousness of the Russian planning. The officials interviewed for this article requested anonymity to discuss declassified but sensitive intelligence before it was released publicly. Avril Haines, the director of national intelligence, and other top administration officials briefed members of Congress on the material Thursday. Details of the information have also been shared with allies as the United States and Britain push a kind of intelligence diplomacy. In recent weeks both Washington and London have outlined elements of Moscow’s war planning, highlighting planned troop buildups, exposing false-flag sabotage plots and revealing Russian plans to install a friendly government in Kyiv, Ukraine. The strategy aims to persuade allies and partners over that Russia is not posturing and has real war plans that it could put into effect. The releases also aim to force Russia to drop and redraft plans, further delaying any invasion plan. The longer the international community can delay a decision by Russian President Vladimir Putin about whether to approve a military operation against Ukraine, the more of a chance there is that he will reconsider his plans, according to diplomats. Some officials in the U.S. and Britain think Putin has underestimated how many casualties his military would suffer in any direct invasion of Ukraine. The intelligence diplomacy push is modelled in part on Britain’s efforts to rally a strong response to the Russian nerve agent attack in England in 2018. The British government released information on Russian involvement publicly and shared other intelligence privately as it pushed allies to expel Russian diplomats in response. The move to publicize the plan comes as the Duma, the Russian parliament, begins to consider legislation to recognize eastern Ukraine as an independent territory, much as they have recognized Russian-occupied areas of Georgia. If the Russian parliament were to recognize the Donbas region of Ukraine as an independent state, a Moscow-appointed leader of that breakaway state could then request help from Putin. Putin has argued many times that in such a case, an intervention would be in keeping with international law and precedents set by the United States. American officials believe the plans for the video included Turkish-made Bayraktar TB2 drones that have been used by the Ukrainian army. In November, the Ukrainian army used one of the drones to launch a counterattack on a howitzer used by Russian-led separatist forces to kill a Ukrainian soldier. Russia scrambled jets, and the situation escalated. Russian disinformation in recent weeks has accused NATO of planning an invasion or intervention into Ukraine, a false claim. Highlighting the presence of weapons made by Turkey, a NATO ally, would allow the Russians to accuse the alliance of helping raise tensions in the conflict and being culpable in the death of Russian speakers. The draft law under consideration in Russia would recognize what Moscow calls the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics. Russia considered recognizing governments in the separatists-controlled region in 2014 but ultimately backed down. The proposal was revived by members of the Communist Party, the second-largest faction in the Russian Duma, in recent days. The Russian parliamentarians pushing the law have argued that Ukraine is planning an offensive to reassert control of the area. If that happens, the Russian lawmakers argue, Russian-speaking residents will be denied basic rights. Ukrainian oppression of Russian speakers in Eastern Ukraine is a common theme of Russian state media and websites controlled by Russian intelligence services. But the reality is that language is not the hard dividing line in Ukraine that Moscow suggests.

US exposes what it says is Russian effort to fabricate pretext for invasion

A security breach has been reported near Pentagon in the US. Well, there is nothing to worry about as it was a hen. &nbsp;

It was actually caught ‘snooping’ around a security area at the Pentagon this week. &nbsp;

The chicken, which has brown feathers and a red comb and wattles, was found running loose near the US Department of Defense headquarters on the outskirts of Washington DC early on Monday morning, the Animal Welfare League of Arlington, Virginia told on social media. &nbsp;

Also Read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/russia-will-produce-graphic-propaganda-video-as-pretext-for-an-invasion-against-ukraine-us-450298" hreflang="en">Russia will produce graphic propaganda video as pretext for an invasion: US</a>

“Apparently, the answer to ‘why did the chicken cross the road’ is to get to the Pentagon,” the local animal welfare organisation said. &nbsp;

It was taken into custody by one of the organisation’s employees. &nbsp;

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Apparently, the answer to "why did the chicken cross the road" is to get to the Pentagon?! This chicken was caught sneaking around the security area at the Pentagon (we're not kidding) and our officers picked her up. Now we need a name for her - suggestions welcomed! <a href="https://t.co/6RmMSjNKnU">pic.twitter.com/6RmMSjNKnU</a>
— AWLArlington, VA (@AWLAArlington) <a href="https://twitter.com/AWLAArlington/status/1488262827886395392?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 31, 2022</a></blockquote>
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In an email, Chelsea Jones, spokesperson for the organisation, said that she can’t reveal the location where the bird was spotted. &nbsp;

Also Read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/photos/top-pics-how-us-raided-isis-leaders-compound-in-northern-syria-450323">Top pics: How US raided ISIS leader's compound in northern Syria</a>

“We are not allowed to disclose exactly where she was found. We can only say it was at a security checkpoint,” Jones said. &nbsp;

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Our officers have chosen the name Henny Penny for our <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/pentagonchicken?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#pentagonchicken</a>, and she will be going to live at a local animal sanctuary very soon! <a href="https://t.co/qQ7kfYkocM">https://t.co/qQ7kfYkocM</a> <a href="https://t.co/31gugYE4tR">pic.twitter.com/31gugYE4tR</a>
— AWLArlington, VA (@AWLAArlington) <a href="https://twitter.com/AWLAArlington/status/1488567242077970441?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 1, 2022</a></blockquote>
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It’s still unclear where the Rhode Island red chicken came from or how it got to the Pentagon. &nbsp;

The bird was “sweet” and “nervous”, Jones described. &nbsp;&nbsp;

(With inputs from agencies)&nbsp;

A security breach has been reported near Pentagon in the US. Well, there is nothing to worry about as it was a hen. It was actually caught ‘snooping’ around a security area at the Pentagon this week.

A security breach has been reported near Pentagon in the US. Well, there is nothing to worry about as it was a hen. It was actually caught ‘snooping’ around a security area at the Pentagon this week. The chicken, which has brown feathers and a red comb and wattles, was found running loose near the US Department of Defense headquarters on the outskirts of Washington DC early on Monday morning, the Animal Welfare League of Arlington, Virginia told on social media. Also Read | Russia will produce graphic propaganda video as pretext for an invasion: US “Apparently, the answer to ‘why did the chicken cross the road’ is to get to the Pentagon,” the local animal welfare organisation said. It was taken into custody by one of the organisation’s employees. Apparently, the answer to "why did the chicken cross the road" is to get to the Pentagon?! This chicken was caught sneaking around the security area at the Pentagon (we're not kidding) and our officers picked her up. Now we need a name for her - suggestions welcomed! pic.twitter.com/6RmMSjNKnU — AWLArlington, VA (@AWLAArlington) January 31, 2022 × In an email, Chelsea Jones, spokesperson for the organisation, said that she can’t reveal the location where the bird was spotted. Also Read | Top pics: How US raided ISIS leader's compound in northern Syria “We are not allowed to disclose exactly where she was found. We can only say it was at a security checkpoint,” Jones said. Our officers have chosen the name Henny Penny for our #pentagonchicken, and she will be going to live at a local animal sanctuary very soon! https://t.co/qQ7kfYkocM pic.twitter.com/31gugYE4tR — AWLArlington, VA (@AWLAArlington) February 1, 2022 × It’s still unclear where the Rhode Island red chicken came from or how it got to the Pentagon. The bird was “sweet” and “nervous”, Jones described. (With inputs from agencies)

Security breach reported near Pentagon in US. But no need to worry  

The leader of the Islamic state has been killed in a counter-terror operation carried out by the United States in north-western Syria. The US president Joe Biden gave the green light to the operations on Wednesday.

US conducts counter-terrorism mission, ISIS leader blew himself up during raids

ISIS leader Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurashi was taken out by the Americans during a raid in Northwestern Syria. Will the operation contain the Islamic State's resurgence in Syria? Molly Gambhir tells you.

Gravitas: ISIS leader killed in US operation in Syria

Joe Biden is deploying 3,000 soldiers to Europe as Russia prepares for a massive military drill with Belarus. Will Putin use the drills to mount an invasion? Is the window for diplomacy shrinking? Molly Gambhir tells you.

Gravitas: US deploys 3,000 soldiers to Europe

The Winter storm has wreaked havoc in central & northeastern United States as one person has been killed in Alabama. Over 100 million people are living under a warning.

Winter storm wreaks havoc in central & northeastern US as one killed in Alabama

US President Joe Biden visited the NYPD to address his administration’s strategy to confront the surge in crime and gun violence.

US President Joe Biden visits NYPD to address surge in gun crimes

The leader of the Islamic State, Abu Ibrahim al-Hashemi al-Quraishi blew himself and his family members up during a US military raid in Syria.

US: Blast killed ISIS leader, members of his family

By the numbers, 2021 was a boom year for the U.S. economy. Back in 2020, many forecasters expected a sluggish recovery, with unemployment staying high for years. Instead, unemployment has already come down almost to pre-pandemic levels, and a record percentage of Americans say that this is a good time to find a quality job.

It’s true that inflation has eroded the purchasing power of wages, but new estimates indicate that despite this, real income has gone up for most adults.

Oh, and while the spread of omicron may cause a bad month or two for jobs, rapidly falling cases in New York and elsewhere suggest that the good economic news will resume soon.

Yet consumer sentiment has plunged: Americans’ assessments of the economy are worse now, on average, than they were in the early months of the pandemic recession. Why?

Regular readers know that I’ve been speculating about this issue for some time, wondering in particular why people say that the economy is bad even when they’re fairly upbeat about their personal finances. At this point, however, I think I’m closing in on an answer.

Poor assessments of the economy, I’d now argue, mainly reflect two things. First is a long-standing issue: People react more negatively to inflation than textbook economics would have predicted. Second is extreme partisanship, fed by right-wing media.

About inflation: Consider two imaginary economies. In one, the typical family’s income rises 2% a year, but consumer prices are rising at the same rate. In the other, inflation is running at 6%, but family incomes are rising 7% a year. Which economy is better?

Economists would, I’m pretty sure, overwhelmingly vote for Economy No. 2, in which real incomes are going up. But the public might disagree: People are bothered by inflation, even when their own incomes are more than keeping up. Maybe that’s because inflation conveys a sense that things are out of control.

Whatever the psychology involved, inflation aversion is simply a fact of life. It was a Democratic economist, Arthur Okun, who first suggested evaluating the economic situation using the “misery index,” the sum of unemployment and inflation. As an economic concept, this index doesn’t make much sense: The costs of unemployment are huge and real, while the costs of inflation are subtle and surprisingly elusive. But the misery index works pretty well as a predictor of economic sentiment.

And since U.S. inflation has risen a lot over the past year, it’s not surprising that economic sentiment has declined despite falling unemployment.

But my analysis of the data says that economic sentiment is considerably worse than you’d expect even given inflation; the Times’ Nate Cohn, using a more elaborate model, finds the same thing. What’s that about?

The dispiriting persistence of COVID is one possible answer. But let’s not ignore the elephant — and I do mean elephant — in the room: extreme right-wing partisanship.

These days, partisanship shapes almost everything in America. For example, you can’t talk sensibly about lagging rates of COVID vaccination without acknowledging that Republicans are four times as likely as Democrats to be unvaccinated. And the partisan gap in perceptions of the economy has exploded in recent years.

Let’s not bothsides this. Yes, Democrats may have been reluctant to acknowledge good economic news under Donald Trump. But right-wing negativity right now is absurd, with Republicans assessing the current economy as worse than the economy in June 1980, when unemployment was almost twice as high and the inflation rate was 14%. My back-of-the-envelope calculations suggest that this craziness might explain a large part of the shortfall in consumer sentiment.

But where’s the craziness coming from? Even mainstream media have accentuated the negative; one liberal think tank analysis found that CNN and MSNBC devoted 50% more screen time in November to inflation than to all other economic developments combined.

But Fox News has devoted almost three times as much screen time to inflation as CNN over the past two years, while, among other things, illustrating its reports with photos of empty shelves taken in other countries and other years. No wonder the GOP base says that the economy is in terrible shape.

What does this say about the future, in particular the political future? If and when inflation comes down, as forecasters, the bond market and even consumers expect it to do eventually, overall consumer sentiment should start to reflect the economy’s real strength. But as we’ve seen, a substantial part of the electorate has economic perceptions quite far from reality; even if things improve, they probably won’t hear about the good news or will be regaled with other negative stories.

So Democrats will need more than an improving economy to survive the midterms. They’ll need to get receptive voters to perceive that improvement and then get enough of those voters to the polls to match the sizable minority determined to believe that Joe Biden’s America is a Mad Max-type wasteland.

By the numbers, 2021 was a boom year for the U.S. economy. Back in 2020, many forecasters expected a sluggish recovery, with unemployment staying high for years.

By the numbers, 2021 was a boom year for the U.S. economy. Back in 2020, many forecasters expected a sluggish recovery, with unemployment staying high for years. Instead, unemployment has already come down almost to pre-pandemic levels, and a record percentage of Americans say that this is a good time to find a quality job. It’s true that inflation has eroded the purchasing power of wages, but new estimates indicate that despite this, real income has gone up for most adults. Oh, and while the spread of omicron may cause a bad month or two for jobs, rapidly falling cases in New York and elsewhere suggest that the good economic news will resume soon. Yet consumer sentiment has plunged: Americans’ assessments of the economy are worse now, on average, than they were in the early months of the pandemic recession. Why? Regular readers know that I’ve been speculating about this issue for some time, wondering in particular why people say that the economy is bad even when they’re fairly upbeat about their personal finances. At this point, however, I think I’m closing in on an answer. Poor assessments of the economy, I’d now argue, mainly reflect two things. First is a long-standing issue: People react more negatively to inflation than textbook economics would have predicted. Second is extreme partisanship, fed by right-wing media. About inflation: Consider two imaginary economies. In one, the typical family’s income rises 2% a year, but consumer prices are rising at the same rate. In the other, inflation is running at 6%, but family incomes are rising 7% a year. Which economy is better? Economists would, I’m pretty sure, overwhelmingly vote for Economy No. 2, in which real incomes are going up. But the public might disagree: People are bothered by inflation, even when their own incomes are more than keeping up. Maybe that’s because inflation conveys a sense that things are out of control. Whatever the psychology involved, inflation aversion is simply a fact of life. It was a Democratic economist, Arthur Okun, who first suggested evaluating the economic situation using the “misery index,” the sum of unemployment and inflation. As an economic concept, this index doesn’t make much sense: The costs of unemployment are huge and real, while the costs of inflation are subtle and surprisingly elusive. But the misery index works pretty well as a predictor of economic sentiment. And since U.S. inflation has risen a lot over the past year, it’s not surprising that economic sentiment has declined despite falling unemployment. But my analysis of the data says that economic sentiment is considerably worse than you’d expect even given inflation; the Times’ Nate Cohn, using a more elaborate model, finds the same thing. What’s that about? The dispiriting persistence of COVID is one possible answer. But let’s not ignore the elephant — and I do mean elephant — in the room: extreme right-wing partisanship. These days, partisanship shapes almost everything in America. For example, you can’t talk sensibly about lagging rates of COVID vaccination without acknowledging that Republicans are four times as likely as Democrats to be unvaccinated. And the partisan gap in perceptions of the economy has exploded in recent years. Let’s not bothsides this. Yes, Democrats may have been reluctant to acknowledge good economic news under Donald Trump. But right-wing negativity right now is absurd, with Republicans assessing the current economy as worse than the economy in June 1980, when unemployment was almost twice as high and the inflation rate was 14%. My back-of-the-envelope calculations suggest that this craziness might explain a large part of the shortfall in consumer sentiment. But where’s the craziness coming from? Even mainstream media have accentuated the negative; one liberal think tank analysis found that CNN and MSNBC devoted 50% more screen time in November to inflation than to all other economic developments combined. But Fox News has devoted almost three times as much screen time to inflation as CNN over the past two years, while, among other things, illustrating its reports with photos of empty shelves taken in other countries and other years. No wonder the GOP base says that the economy is in terrible shape. What does this say about the future, in particular the political future? If and when inflation comes down, as forecasters, the bond market and even consumers expect it to do eventually, overall consumer sentiment should start to reflect the economy’s real strength. But as we’ve seen, a substantial part of the electorate has economic perceptions quite far from reality; even if things improve, they probably won’t hear about the good news or will be regaled with other negative stories. So Democrats will need more than an improving economy to survive the midterms. They’ll need to get receptive voters to perceive that improvement and then get enough of those voters to the polls to match the sizable minority determined to believe that Joe Biden’s America is a Mad Max-type wasteland.

Opinion: More thoughts on America’s feel-bad boom

The United States has announced having evidence of a Russian plan to fake Ukrainian attack and claimed that the plan will help Moscow justify the invasion to its neighbours.

US claims Russia could use a propaganda video as pretext to invade Ukraine

Indian officials have held a heated exchange with the US tech giants Google, Twitter and Facebook for not proactively removing fake news from their platforms.

India grills US tech giants for inaction on Fake News, seeks tougher crackdown

The United States has decided to dispatch guided-missile destroyer and state-of-the-art fighter jets to help the United Arab Emirates (UAE) fight against Yemen’s Houthi rebels.

In a phone call on Tuesday, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin told Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Abu bin Zayed Al Nahyan that the Pentagon would send “guided-missile destroyer USS Cole to partner with the UAE Navy before making a port call in Abu Dhabi”, the US embassy in the UAE said.

Austin also told the crown prince that Washington would deploy fifth-generation fighter aircraft – a classification that includes US-made F-22 Raptor and F-35 Lighting II combat jets – to the UAE to “assist against the current threat”, according to a readout of the conversation released by the Pentagon.

Among other aid includes “continuing to provide early warning intelligence”, it added.

The military support to the UAE is expected to ward off threats by the Houthis, who launched a third missile attack in consecutive weeks on Monday.

The UAE, which is part of the Saudi-led coalition, has been fighting Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels. In January, the gulf&nbsp;country had to face a series of missile attacks by the rebels.

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/uae-intercepts-ballistic-missile-fired-by-yemens-houthi-rebels-449086">UAE intercepts ballistic missile fired by Yemen’s Houthi rebels</a>

On January 17, three foreign workers were killed in a drone-and-missile assault targeting Abu Dhabi's oil facilities and airport.

A week later on January 24, the US forces stationed at Abu Dhabi's Al Dhafra air base fired Patriot interceptors and scrambled to bunkers as two ballistic missiles were shot down over the city.

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/israel-president-expresses-support-for-uaes-security-needs-during-his-visit-449057" hreflang="en">Israel president expresses support for UAE's security needs during his visit</a>

And on Monday, a third missile attack was thwarted during the visit to the UAE of Israeli President Isaac Herzog.

The fight between Saudis and Houthis began following a civil war in Yemen in 2014.

The Houthis seized capital Sanaa, prompting Saudi-led forces to intervene to prop up the government the following year.

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(With inputs from agencies)

The United States has decided to dispatch guided-missile destroyer and state-of-the-art fighter jets to help the United Arab Emirates (UAE) fight against Yemen’s Houthi rebels.

The United States has decided to dispatch guided-missile destroyer and state-of-the-art fighter jets to help the United Arab Emirates (UAE) fight against Yemen’s Houthi rebels. In a phone call on Tuesday, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin told Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Abu bin Zayed Al Nahyan that the Pentagon would send “guided-missile destroyer USS Cole to partner with the UAE Navy before making a port call in Abu Dhabi”, the US embassy in the UAE said. Austin also told the crown prince that Washington would deploy fifth-generation fighter aircraft – a classification that includes US-made F-22 Raptor and F-35 Lighting II combat jets – to the UAE to “assist against the current threat”, according to a readout of the conversation released by the Pentagon. Among other aid includes “continuing to provide early warning intelligence”, it added. The military support to the UAE is expected to ward off threats by the Houthis, who launched a third missile attack in consecutive weeks on Monday. The UAE, which is part of the Saudi-led coalition, has been fighting Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels. In January, the gulf country had to face a series of missile attacks by the rebels. Also read | UAE intercepts ballistic missile fired by Yemen’s Houthi rebels On January 17, three foreign workers were killed in a drone-and-missile assault targeting Abu Dhabi's oil facilities and airport. A week later on January 24, the US forces stationed at Abu Dhabi's Al Dhafra air base fired Patriot interceptors and scrambled to bunkers as two ballistic missiles were shot down over the city. Also read | Israel president expresses support for UAE's security needs during his visit And on Monday, a third missile attack was thwarted during the visit to the UAE of Israeli President Isaac Herzog. The fight between Saudis and Houthis began following a civil war in Yemen in 2014. The Houthis seized capital Sanaa, prompting Saudi-led forces to intervene to prop up the government the following year. × (With inputs from agencies)

US sends missile destroyers, fighter jets to UAE to ward off Houthi attacks

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