| | | | | | | Wednesday 4/20 at 11:28am | President Joe Biden plans to attend the White House Correspondents' Association's annual dinner on April 30. It'll be the first time a sitting president is there since Barack Obama in 2016. Donald Trump opted to skip the event when he was president, and it was canceled in 2020 and last year due to the coronavirus pandemic. After the Gridiron Club dinner in Washington earlier this month, some of those who attended, including Cabinet members, other administration officials and members of Congress tested positive for COVID-19 amid a surge of cases around the nation's capital. Capacity for the upcoming dinner is more than 2,600 and the event is fully booked. | | | | | | | Wednesday 4/20 at 11:02am | A nonpartisan voting organization founded by Michelle Obama says she's delivering the keynote address at its upcoming summit on democracy. Organizers say the former first lady's June 13 remarks to When We All Vote's Culture of Democracy Summit in Los Angeles will mark her first in-person appearance since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Conversations during the four-day summit will center around protecting democracy, combatting voter suppression and ensuring equal access to the ballot box for the November midterm elections and beyond. The former first lady has kept a relatively low profile since releasing her best-selling memoir, "Becoming," in 2018. | | | | | | | Wednesday 4/20 at 10:57am | A jury on Wednesday acquitted an Ohio doctor in the deaths of multiple hospital patients. Dr. William Husel was accused of ordering excessive painkillers for 14 patients in the Columbus-area Mount Carmel Health System. He was indicted in cases involving at least 500 micrograms of the powerful painkiller fentanyl. Prosecutors said ordering such dosages for a nonsurgical situation indicated an intent to end lives. Husel's attorneys argued during a weekslong trial that Husel was only practicing comfort care for his patients. Husel would have faced a sentence of life in prison with parole eligibility in 15 years had he been convicted of a single count of murder. | | | | | | | Wednesday 4/20 at 10:52am | Spain is taking another step toward a sense of normality amid the pandemic by partially ending the near two-year-long obligatory use of masks indoors. A government decree taking effect Wednesday keeps masks still mandatory in medical centers and in all forms of public transport. It remains unclear what impact the decree will have on workplaces as the government says employers may keep the masks obligatory if there is a health risk. The government called for people to use masks when they are deemed necessary. Masks became obligatory shortly after the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in Spain early 2020. Their obligatory use outdoors was lifted in February. | | | | | | | Wednesday 4/20 at 10:40am | British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is trying to set aside his political troubles and focus on economic ties and the war in Ukraine during an official trip to India. Johnson is due to visit the western state of Gujarat and meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on the two-day trip that starts Thursday. He hopes to strike new economic deals and to coax India away from Russia in response to the invasion of Ukraine. India has stood back from international efforts to criticize President Vladimir Putin and impose economic sanctions on Russia. For Johnson, the trip is a respite from a scandal over lockdown-breaching government parties during the coronavirus pandemic. | | | | | | | Wednesday 4/20 at 10:30am | As the U.S. dealt with various changes in response to the COVID-19 virus, there were also significant changes in the cannabis landscape. | | | | | | Germany's domestic intelligence agency says that antisemitic offenses are continuing to rise and those that come to light are only "the tip of the iceberg." The head of the BfV agency said it is alarming that antisemitic narratives are sometimes embraced by people "in the middle of German society," serving as a link between social discourse and extremist ideologies. He said Wednesday his agency has seen that increasingly in protests against coronavirus restrictions or over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and, in a few cases, in connection with Russia's war in Ukraine. He added that the internet serves as "fertile ground" for antisemitism. | | | | | | Authorities in Poland say two underground methane explosions at a coal mine killed five people and injured more than 20. Poland's prime minister said the first blast took place early Wednesday at the Pniowek mine in Pawlowice. Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki says a rescue operation was launched immediately but a second explosion occurred about three hours after the first, severing communication with some of the rescuers. Seven people remain missing. Doctors say some of the hospitalized patients have life-threatening injuries, including burns to their lungs and large areas of their bodies. The mine that is operated by the Jastrzebska Spolka Weglowa, or JSW, mining company. Prosecutors have opened an investigation. | | | | | | |
