Sri Lankan girl dies due to ’exorcism’ ritual

Ken Paxton, the Texas AG is suing electricity provider Griddy for handing out massive bills to its customers during last month’s winter storm. The lawsuit follows Texas’ power grid manager effectively shutting down Griddy by revoking its access to the electricity market of the state. Instead of a fixed rate, Griddy charges $10 a month to give people a way to pay wholesale prices for electricity.

Donald Trump has urged his backers to vote out House ’RINOs’ (Republicans in name only) in 2022. Addressing the Conservative Political Action Conference in Orlando, he said, ’Democrats don’t have grandstanders like Mitt Romney, little Ben Sasse, Richard Burr, Bill Cassidy, Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, Pat Toomey.’ Then he called Liz Cheney as a ’warmonger’ who ’loves to see our troops fighting.’

In a research note released Monday, Citi said Bitcoin was at a ’tipping point’ and could become the preferred currency for global trade. ’There are a host of risks and obstacles that stand in the way of Bitcoin progress,’ the bank noted, keeping a cautious view in the near term. These developments, it noted, could act as a decider between ’mainstream acceptance or a speculative implosion.’

A French court has found Nicolas Sarkozy, France’s former president, guilty of trying to bribe a magistrate by offering him a cushy job in the French Riviera for information about a criminal probe into his political party. The magistrate, Gilbert Azibert, and Sarkozy’s former lawyer, Thierry Herzog, got the same sentence. Sarkozy, 66, may not spend a day in jail if he agrees to certain terms.

Police charged one Brittany Gosney, 29, with killing her son, 6, and throwing his body in a river. She had initially reported the child as missing, prompting a search. When the police got suspicious, they grilled Gosney and her boyfriend. They confessed to killing the child in Preble county a few days back. They then brought the body to Middletown, where they lived, and threw it in the Ohio river.

In a symbolic outreach to Muslims, Pope Francis is to start the first-ever papal visit to Iraq on Friday. The trip comes as Iraq, ravaged by decades of conflict, faces a crisis amid rising COVID-19 infections and renewed violence. Francis is an outspoken proponent of interfaith efforts and has visited several Muslim-majority countries including Bangladesh, Turkey, Morocco and the UAE.

Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the House of Representatives said that allegations of sexual harassment against Andrew Cuomo, the Governor of New York were ’credible’, and backed an independent investigation into his behavior. The lawmaker also said that the two women who have accused Cuomo of harassment and inappropriate behavior should be taken seriously.

Hatice Cengiz, fiancée of slain journalist Jamal Khashoggi, had called for the punishment for Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for ordering his killing. She said, ’It is essential that the crown prince, who ordered the brutal murder of a blameless and innocent person, should be punished at the earliest.’ This comes after the US released a report that blamed Salman for the murder.

Instagram is expanding Live with Live Rooms, which will allow up to four people join a broadcast. Until now, only two could join a live video session. The Facebook-owned company said it would encourage more creative use of its platform. Instagram had earlier said the Live feature wasn’t very popular. However, as Covid-19 forced people to have virtual meetings, things started to look up for Live.

White House advisor Cedric Richmond said President Joe Biden’s administration will start studying reparations for descendants of slaves in America soon. Biden supported the idea of forming a panel to study the issue. Speaking to ’Axios on HBO,’ Richmond said, ’We don’t want to wait on a study. We’re going to start acting now.’ Reparations had been debated for decades in the US without progress.

On Monday, hundreds of people rallied outside a court in Hong Kong after a national security crackdown saw 47 pro-democracy activists being charged. Charges of ’conspiracy to commit subversion’ are being faced by the activists. The 47 are among those 50 who were arrested by authorities in January. The charges have been placed under a law imposed by the Chinese Communist government.

A startup that builds small rockets which shuttle satellites to orbit, Rocket Lab, is said to be going public via SPAC according to an announcement on Monday. With the announcement, the startup has joined a wave of companies that have opted to list themselves on the stock market, but have not used the more traditional IPO routes and have used reverse mergers.

Top Democratic lawmakers including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Sunday demanded an independent probe into sexual harassment allegations against NY Gov. Cuomo. ’Lindsey Boylan and Charlotte Bennett’s detailed accounts of sexual harassment by Gov. Cuomo are extremely serious and painful to read,’ AOC tweeted. She demanded an investigation be led by an individual selected by the office of the AG.

Cybersecurity company PiiQ Media said bots on social media have been hyping GameStop and other ’meme stocks.’ It also suggested that organized foreign actors may have played a role in the Reddit-driven trading frenzy that resulted in GameStop stock prices to shoot up. However, Reddit CEO Steve Huffman told Congress that bots, or accounts with automated content, had not played a ’significant role.’

Forty-seven Hong Kong activists charged with subversion are back in court on Tuesday to for a marathon bail hearing that continued until late Monday evening. It was adjourned when four defendants had to be hospitalized for exhaustion. The defendants are the latest group of dissidents who were arrested for ’conspiracy to commit subversion’ under the draconian Beijing-drafted national security law.

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said that the Biden administration will allow hundreds of migrant children still separated from their parents by the Trump administration to reunite with their families in the United States. Mr. Mayorkas further said that the families may also have the opportunity to stay. Reuniting the families is also a ’moral imperative,’ Mr. Mayorkas said.

Wall Street futures surged on the first day of March as bond markets steadied and investors shifted focus to near-term growth prospects. This was helped by easing of Treasury bonds, whose rapid rise unsettled the bullish mood in the markets last week. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average were up 333 points (1.1%) to 31,245. The S&P 500 futures were up 40.80 points (1.1%) to reach 3,850.

UN investigators said that tens and thousands of civilians are still missing after being detained arbitrarily during the civil war in Syria. A new report detailing alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity claimed that thousands more have either been tortured, or have been killed in custody. Victims and witnesses also detailed atrocities including the rape of girls and boys as young as 11.

Warren Buffett has encouraged investors to maintain their faith in America’s economy and the businesses his Berkshire Hathaway conglomerate owns. In a letter to shareholders Saturday, Buffett said, ’In its brief 232 years of existence, however, there has been no incubator for unleashing human potential like America.’ US business will thrive over time in spite of the pandemic, he added.

Iran has rejected a call from world powers of the 2015 nuclear deal to discuss Tehran’s return to talks to revive the deal. Iran said there would be no negotiations until the US lifts its crippling sanctions on the country first. US President Joe Biden had said he would try to revive the deal, also known as Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, that former President Donald Trump junked in 2018.

The allegations of physical and sexual abuse against New Hampshire’s state-run Youth Development Center in Manchester have grown to 230 men and women who claim they were abused and exploited as children by 150 staffers. Rus Rilee of law firm Rilee & Associates, who sued the state in January 2020 on behalf of 36 adults, now represents 230 who say they were abused between 1963 and 2018 as minors.

According to reports, the Golden Globes 2021 could be termed as a mess as the awards night had questionable perks as well as a lack of membership diversity. Another reason for the same is no nominations for critically acclaimed shows such as ’I May Destroy You’. But, four awards were taken home by ’The Crown’ from Netflix and two by ’The Queen’s Gambit’, thus showing Netflix’s domination.

Brexit, Covid-19, and global competition are chipping away Britain’s lead status in the fintech sector, and if the country wants to retain its position, it must do more, a UK government-backed report said. The report also presented Britain a strategy on how to do it. Among the suggestions given, it proposed setting up a £1 billion ($1.4 billion) startup fund and ease visa norms for hiring talent.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has accused Iran of attacking an Israeli-owned ship in the Gulf of Oman last week. Talking to media, Netanyahu said, ’It was indeed an act by Iran.’ He then said, ’Iran is the greatest enemy of Israel ... We are hitting it in the entire region.’ On Friday, an explosion hit the Israeli-owned MV Helios Ray in the Gulf of Oman. No one was hurt in the blast.