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Overnight News Digest July 12, 2022 [1]

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Date: 2022-07-12  

A former Twitter employee told the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection that the company gave former president Donald Trump more lenient treatment because it enjoyed the “power” his stature lent to the social network. The testimony Tuesday marked the first time a former Twitter insider has testified under oath about the company’s role in giving Trump the megaphone he used to marshal an angry mob to attack the Capitol. Trump had 88 million followers when Twitter “permanently suspended” him two days after the riot, citing fears he could incite further violence. But the suspension followed years of calls to ban his account due to tweets that featured harassment, conspiracy theories and viral lies. The former Twitter employee said the company considered adopting a stricter content-moderation policy after Trump, at a September 2020 presidential debate, told the far-right extremist group the Proud Boys to “stand back and stand by.”

STATnews: Citing risk from Omicron variant BA.5, White House urges Americans to get Covid-19 boosters by Andrew Joseph

The Biden administration on Tuesday urged the public to strengthen their protections against Covid-19, noting that the BA.5 subvariant of Omicron has become the dominant strain in the country. At a briefing Tuesday, health officials outlined their plan to combat the latest form of the coronavirus to pose a threat, emphasizing existing tools like vaccines and boosters, testing, and treatments. “BA.5 is something we’re closely monitoring, and most importantly, we know how to manage it,” said Ashish Jha, the White House’s Covid-19 response coordinator. The latest estimates indicate BA.5 is now responsible for about 65% of U.S. Covid-19 cases, while its closely related cousin, BA.4, is accounting for about 16% of infections, said Rochelle Walensky, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

NBC News: Scrutiny falls on Unification Church after Shinzo Abe's assassination by Erik Ortiz

A messianic religious movement known for conducting mass weddings and courting prominent U.S. conservatives has found itself at the center of the speculation surrounding the assassination of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. The Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, also known as the Unification Church, condemned Abe’s killing at a news conference Monday and sought to distance itself from media reports that the suspect’s mother made a hefty donation to the group before she went bankrupt. Japanese media, citing police sources, reported that a suspect, identified as Tetsuya Yamagami, 41, confessed to the attack and told investigators he held a grudge against a group that he said was connected with Abe, but the violence itself was not politically motivated. Abe, who had been Japan’s longest-serving prime minister until he resigned in 2020, was gunned down Friday at an outdoor campaign rally with what authorities believe was a homemade firearm. The timing — two days before a parliamentary election — had led many to theorize about the gunman’s motive.

AlJazeera: Sri Lanka president flees country amid political, economic crisis

Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has fled the country, hours before his promised resignation amid widespread protests over his handling of the country’s worst economic crisis since independence in 1948. Rajapaksa, his wife and two bodyguards flew on a Sri Lankan Air Force plane to Male, the capital of the Maldives, news agencies reported citing unnamed government and immigration officials. He arrived in Male early on Wednesday morning, the AFP news agency reported. There was no official confirmation of his arrival from authorities in the Maldives. The president had said he would resign on Wednesday to make way for a unity government after tens of thousands of protesters stormed his official residence demanding he step down.

Guardian: Government refuses Labour time to debate no-confidence motion by Alexandra Topping

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/7/12/2110041/-Overnight-News-Digest-July-12-2022

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