Led by truckers, hundreds of vehicles protesting COVID mandates encircle Washington
Hundreds of vehicles led by a group of truckers encircled the nation’s capital Sunday, hampering traffic outside the city for hours by driving at slower speeds to protest COVID-19 mandates. The convoy of vehicles aimed to complete two loops on Interstate 495, a 64-mile highway known as the Capital Beltway, before returning to a staging area in Maryland. Although it was unclear whether the caravan would ultimately enter Washington, D.C., this week, organizers said they did not want people to drive into the capital Sunday out of fears that some participants could turn it into an event reminiscent of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.
Tornadoes rampage across Iowa, killing 7, officials say
Seven people, including two children, were killed in Iowa on Saturday as communities across the state were battered by at least three tornadoes that destroyed dozens of homes, authorities said. Six of the deaths occurred in Madison County, southwest of Des Moines, and a seventh was reported southeast of Chariton, a city in Lucas County, officials said. In Madison County, six other people were injured, said Diogenes Ayala, director of the county’s Emergency Management Agency. After touring damaged neighborhoods and meeting with victims’ families Sunday, Gov. Kim Reynolds of Iowa said at a news conference that the destruction she had witnessed was “devastating.”
Accused leader in Sarah Lawrence cult case is set to stand trial
In 2010, Lawrence Ray walked out of a New Jersey prison and into the lives of a group of students at Sarah Lawrence College, a small school just north of New York City. Many of those students would never be the same. Now, nearly three years after an article in New York magazine, “The Stolen Kids of Sarah Lawrence,” revealed Ray’s cult-leader tactics with the students, he will stand trial in U.S. District Court in Manhattan. Ray, indicted in 2020, will be tried on 17 counts, including sex trafficking, extortion, racketeering conspiracy and violent crime in aid of racketeering. Jury selection is scheduled to begin Monday.
Police arrest more than 3,000 people as protests grow across Russia
Despite the threat of yearslong prison terms, thousands of Russians joined anti-war rallies across the country Sunday in a striking show of the pent-up anger in Russian society about President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. Police reported over 3,000 arrests across the country, the highest nationwide total officially reported in any day of protest in recent memory. An activist group that tracks arrests, OVD-Info, reported detentions in 49 Russian cities. Video from independent Russian news outlets showed throngs of people chanting “No to war!” on St. Petersburg’s central avenue and on Moscow’s Manezhnaya Square, just outside the Kremlin.
Israel’s prime minister says he wants to keep both sides talking, but holds out little hope
A day after his surprise meeting at the Kremlin with President Vladimir Putin, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett of Israel said Sunday that he would continue to assist with dialogue between the sides in the Ukraine conflict, “even if the chance is not great.” Although few details have emerged from the meeting, Ukraine’s ambassador to Israel, Yevgen Korniychuk, said in an interview Sunday that Bennett had gone to Moscow to try to help stop the bloodshed. Bennett, Korniychuk said, was “the first leader from the free world that came to see the leadership of the aggressor. We do appreciate any effort.”
South Korea reports high turnout in early voting, but apologizes to COVID patients
South Korea’s National Election Commission released an apology on Sunday for poor planning during special early voting hours for coronavirus patients that resulted in unexpectedly long waits at polling sites and, according to local media reports, some patients fainting. “We are very sorry for causing an inconvenience to the COVID-19 patients during the early-voting period,” the statement said. It was unknown how many people were involved, but at least one person with COVID had to be hospitalized. South Korea is experiencing a sharp spike in coronavirus cases, its worst wave of the pandemic.
By wire sources