Fox News and Dominion have reached a $787.5m settlement in a dispute over whether the news network knowingly broadcast false claims that the voting equipment company switched votes in favor of the Democrats.
Dominion had sought $1.6bn in damages. Its chief executive, John Poulos, said the evidence brought to light during the case had underscored “the consequences of spreading lies.”
Fox News, which is primarily owned by Rupert Murdoch, had also broadcast baseless allegations that Dominion paid government kickbacks and was founded in Venezuela to rig elections for the late Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez. Dominion had unearthed a trove of internal communications from Fox News that laid bare how the channel’s top talent and hosts knew the outlandish claims about Dominion and a stolen election were false.
Instead of a six-week jury trial that would have captivated the attention of the nation, attention has now moved to whether Fox News will issue any retractions or formal apologies. It said in a statement that the settlement reflected its “continued commitment to the highest journalistic standards” and that it was hopeful the decision to settle amicably “instead of the acrimony of a divisive trial”would allow “the country to move forward from these issues.”
“We are hopeful that our decision to resolve this dispute with Dominion amicably,” it added.
‘Vindication and accountability’. Dominion attorney Justin Nelson said in a press conference outside the courthouse that truth mattered. He added: “The truth does not know red or blue. People across the political spectrum can and should disagree on issues, even of the most profound importance. But for our democracy to endure another 250 years and hopefully much longer, we must share a commitment to facts.”
‘Buckets of tears’: mother of Black teenager shot after going to wrong address speaks
The mother of Ralph Yarl, a Black teenager shot by a white man after ringing his doorbell, has said her son has been mentally replaying the shooting “over and over”.
Cleo Nagbe told CBS Mornings that her son, a 16-year-old honor student and marching band member, was still coping with the “residual effects” of being shot in the head. “Mostly he just sits there and stares and the buckets of tears just rolls down his eyes,” she said.
Ralph had gone to a mistaken address to pick up his twin younger siblings and was shot twice last week. Andrew Lester, a Kansas City resident, has been charged with first-degree assault and faces a maximum life sentence in prison if convicted.
Over and over again. “You can see that he [Ralph] is just replaying the situation … and that just doesn’t stop my tears either, because when you see your kid just sits there and constantly he just – tears are just rolling from both sides of his eyes, there’s nothing you can say to him.”
‘Racial component’. Lester turned himself in yesterday, according to the Clay county sheriff’s office, but was freed on a bond of $200,000 just a few hours later even though the prosecuting attorney suggested Ralph’s race could have been integral to the shooting.
UN rebukes Washington over reports it eavesdropped on secretary general
The United Nations has reproached the US after reports that Washington closely monitored the private conversations of the UN secretary general, António Guterres and other senior officials.
“We have made it clear that such actions are inconsistent with the obligations of the United States as enumerated in the Charter of the United Nations and the convention on the privileges and immunities of the United Nations,” said Stéphane Dujarric, a spokesperson for the secretary, yesterday.
The implied rebuke came as Washington scrambled to contain the fallout of the worst leaks of US intelligence in at least a decade. But last week, Dujarric said Guterres was “not surprised” he was allegedly spied on by the US. “Unfortunately, for various reasons, it allows such private conversations to be distorted and made public,” the spokesperson added. The US has a long history of eavesdropping on allied leaders, including UN officials.
The National Security Agency monitored the phone conversations of dozens of world leaders, including Angela Merkel, then German chancellor, and UN diplomats, according to revelations made public by the NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden.
Espionage track record against allies. In 2003, a secret memo detailed an “aggressive surveillance operation” by the US against UN security council delegations in New York as part of a campaign to win support for going to war against Iraq.
Biden called on to free Indigenous activist Leonard Peltier after decades in prison
Amnesty International has launched a campaign calling on Joe Biden to grant clemency for Leonard Peltier, the Indigenous rights activist whose health is deteriorating after almost five decades in maximum-security prison for crimes he has always denied.
The human rights group is urging the president to release Peltier, now 78, on humanitarian grounds, 46 years after the activist was convicted for killing two FBI agents in a trial rife with irregularities and violations in due process including evidence the agency coerced witnesses and withheld and falsified evidence.
“No one should be locked up, let alone for over 40 years, when there are serious concerns about the fairness of their trial. President Biden should right this historic wrong and grant Leonard Peltier clemency,” said Zeke Johnson, the US national director of campaigns for Amnesty International. The organization, which had observers at the original trial, is among a long list of advocates to call for Peltier’s release since his conviction in 1977.
Peltier, an enrolled member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa who is of Lakota and Dakota descent, was convicted of murdering the FBI agents Jack Coler and Ronald Williams during a shootout on the Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota in June 1975. He was a leader of the American Indian Movement (Aim), an Indigenous civil rights movement founded in Minneapolis that was infiltrated and repressed by the FBI.
Pressure for clemency grows. Former agent Coleen Rowley became the first FBI insider to call for compassion after claiming the agency’s stubborn opposition to Peltier’s release was driven by vindictiveness. The FBI has continuously campaigned and protested against his parole and clemency.
Now 78, Peltier is held in a maximum-security prison in Coleman, Florida, where his health and mobility have significantly deteriorated since contracting Covid-19.
To hug family. In a recent interview with the Guardian, Peltier said: “Being free to me means being able to breathe freely away from the many dangers I live under in maximum custody prison. Being free would mean I could walk over a mile straight. It would mean being able to hug my grandchildren and great-grandchildren.”
In other news …
Fighting has continued in Sudan hours after an internationally brokered truce that was supposed to have come into effect, as forces loyal to dueling generals battled for key locations in the capital and accused each other of violating the ceasefire after four days of fighting.
The decision to hand the prestigious opening slot at Cannes to a historical drama starring Johnny Depp has been defended by the festival’s general delegate. Thierry Frémaux said it was not “a controversial choice”, adding: “If Johnny Depp had been banned from working it would have been different, but that’s not the case. We only know one thing, it’s the justice system and I think he won the legal case.”
Morgan Freeman has said commonly used terms relating to race should be taken out of the lexicon. In an interview, the actor said he was keen to say publicly that he objected to the terms “Black History Month” and “African American”. Calling both an insult, Freeman said of the first: “You’re going to relegate my history to a month?”
Don’t miss this: historic performers, buzzy acts and a return to form
Months from now, after the sense of fizzy overwhelm has lifted and the better-than-expected dust has settled, there will be two moments that recall for me the fire hose of Coachella, beyond the performances and surprises long since blasted across social media and dissected in Reddit threads, writes Adrian Horton. The first was a woman in a swimsuit and crocheted cover-up rousing a line of strangers on Friday afternoon with “who’s ready to see Bad Bunny?” The second was a snippet heard while dodging people either posing or on their phones in between the giant ferris wheel and trippy, holographic art installations: “how do you take such good pictures?”
Such was the non-music vibe of the music festival: questionably workable and confidently worn outfits, waiting in line, hype for the headliners, the warmth of desert sun and buzzed strangers. This was my first time at Coachella, but I’ve been on the internet long enough to know certain truths about the festival: it can be chaotic but is slickly run and ever expanding; the headliners could be once-in-a-lifetime or patchy but rarely forgettable. The weekend is as much about the photos and the fashion as the music. Crochet will abound, and Vanessa Hudgens will be there.
… Or this: ‘We got bored waiting for Oasis to re-form’: AIsis, the band fronted by an AI Liam Gallagher
A new “lost” Oasis album has been released, from the period between their third album, 1997’s Be Here Now, and their fourth, 2000’s Standing on the Shoulder of Giants. Except, of course, it’s fake, writes Rick Pelley. It was created by AI – or at least, it’s an AI Liam Gallagher doing its best “hellooooos” and “sun-shiiiines” over a real band. But the eight songs, including Out of My Mind, Coming of Age and Forever, are practically indistinguishable from the real thing, with some seriously catchy melodies that give every post-(What’s the Story) Morning Glory? album – not to mention the whole of Liam and Noel’s solo catalogues – a run for their money. So who made it? How do you get a computer to sing like Liam? And why would you want to?
“We just got bored waiting for Oasis to re-form,” says Bobby Geraghty, a 32-year-old singer, songwriter and producer. “All we have now is Liam and his brother trying to outdo each other. But that isn’t Oasis. So we got an AI-modelled Liam to step in on some tunes that were originally written for a short-lived but much-loved band called Breezer.”
Climate check: Biden approves Alaska gas exports as critics condemn another ‘carbon bomb’
The Biden administration has approved exports of liquefied natural gas from the Alaska LNG project, a document shows, prompting criticism from environmental groups over the approval of another “carbon bomb”. The US energy department approved Alaska Gasline Development Corp’s project to export LNG to countries with which the US does not have a free trade agreement, mainly in Asia. Backers of the $39bn project expect it to be operational by 2030 if it receives the required permits.
The project, for which exports were first approved by the administration of Donald Trump, has been strongly opposed by environmental groups. “Joe Biden’s climate presidency is flying off the rails,” said Lukas Ross of Friends of the Earth. Ross pointed out this was the second US approval of a “fossil-fuel mega-project” in as many months. The Biden administration last month approved the ConocoPhillips $7bn Willow oil and gas drilling project on Alaska’s North Slope, prompting criticism of his record on the climate crisis.
Stat of the day: Nearly 120m people in US exposed to unhealthy levels of soot and smog – report
The climate crisis has upended progress on improving air quality, with one in three Americans living in areas with harmful levels of pollutants known to increase the risk of medical emergencies, pregnancy complications and premature death, research reveals. Nina Lakhani writes that almost 120 million people in the US are still exposed to unhealthy levels of soot and smog, according to the annual report by the American Lung Association (ALA), which found that people of color were almost four times more likely to live in the most polluted places than white Americans.
The extent to which access to clean air is racialized is stark; people of color account for 54% of those living in counties with failing air quality, despite accounting for just over 40% of the general population. The zip code lottery spotlights decades of racist housing and environmental policies, which have incentivized and enabled polluting infrastructure like highways and railroads, fossil fuel projects and manufacturing plants to be located close to Black, Latin and Indigenous communities.
Last thing: What makes me happy now – my pandemic rescue pup
It’s hard to pick my favorite thing about my family’s pandemic rescue chihuahua, Weenie, but if I had to, I think it’s when she’s been napping under a blanket, as in when she’s covered by the blanket completely, and a human she loves approaches and she can hear or smell us and her tail visibly wags beneath the blanket’s fleece, writes Curtis Sittenfield. Or perhaps it’s her enthusiasm for car rides, and how when she notices that we’ve put on our shoes and are approaching the back door, she becomes frantic to go along, barking and running in circles, and then in the hall by the garage, in the middle of her franticness, she makes eye contact with us and flips on to her back for an impromptu belly rub because, really, is it ever a bad time?
Or maybe it’s when I’m sitting on the couch reading and she jumps up and wedges herself as close as she can beside me and sets her perfect little whiskered chin on my thigh, as if my thigh was designed to be a chihuahua chin platform, which, although I didn’t know it for most of my life, maybe it was.
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