Malik Faisal Akram was shot and killed after the last of the hostages got out at around 9 p.m. Saturday at Congregation Beth Israel near Fort Worth. In a statement, the FBI said there was no indication that anyone else was involved, but it didn’t provide a possible motive.
Akram could be heard ranting on a Facebook livestream of the services and demanding the release of a Pakistani neuroscientist who was convicted of trying to kill U.S. Army officers in Afghanistan. The FBI and police spokeswomen declined to answer questions Saturday night about who shot Akram when the standoff ended.
Video from Dallas TV station WFAA showed people running out a door of the synagogue, and then a man holding a gun opening the same door just seconds later before he turned around and closed it. Moments later, several rounds of gunfire could be heard, followed by the sound of an explosion.
“Rest assured, we are focused,” Biden said during a visit to a food pantry in Philadelphia on Sunday morning. “The attorney general is focused and making sure that we deal with these kinds of acts.”
Biden said the suspect was able to purchase weapons on the street and may have only been in the country a few weeks. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not immediately respond to questions Sunday about Akram’s immigration status and history.
London’s Metropolitan Police said in a statement that its counter-terrorism police were liaising with U.S. authorities about the incident.
Two teenagers have been arrested in Manchester after a British man flew to the US, bought a weapon and held people hostage during a 10-hour stand-off at a synagogue in Texas.
Malik Faisal Akram, originally from Blackburn in Lancashire, was shot dead when the FBI entered the Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville on Saturday night.
US president Joe Biden branded the incident “an act of terror” and UK police are now working with authorities in America as part of the investigation.
Greater Manchester Police (GMP) announced on Sunday evening that officers from Counter Terror Policing North West had made two arrests in south Manchester.
They said the teenagers, whose ages and genders they did not immediately confirm, remain in custody for questioning.
News of the arrests comes hours after the FBI confirmed the identity of the hostage-taker as 44-year-old Akram, who was killed at around 9pm on Saturday.
"The news about the workplace requirement being blocked was very disappointing, Martha. It was a setback for public health. Because what these requirements ultimately are helpful for is not just protecting the community at large but making our workplaces safer for workers as well as for customers," Murthy said.
Raddatz reminded Murthy that before the omicron surge, he had said on "This Week" that the mandate "was necessary and appropriate."
"So, what is plan B?" Raddatz pressed.
Murthy did not outline an explicit alternate plan but noted, "there is nothing that stops workplaces from voluntarily putting reasonable requirements in place."
"Many have done so already," he said. "A third of the Fortune 100 companies have put these in place and many more outside have, so we are certainly encouraging companies to put these requirements in place voluntarily."
Some large companies, however, are changing their plans based on the decision. General Electric confirmed to ABC News last week that it would stop implementing a planned vaccine mandate after the Supreme Court ruling.
But Columbia Sportswear said in a statement that it is "disappointed in [Thursday's] Supreme Court ruling" because it would mean the company would have to deal "with a thicket of conflicting state and local regulations."
Nursing homes were the lethal epicenter of the pandemic early on, before the vaccine allowed many of them to reopen to visitors last year. But the wildly contagious variant has dealt them a setback.
Nursing homes reported a near-record of about 32,000 COVID-19 cases among residents in the week ending Jan. 9, an almost sevenfold increase from a month earlier, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
A total of 645 COVID-19-related deaths among residents were recorded during the same week, a 47% increase from the earlier period. And there are fears that deaths could go much higher before omicron is through.
Despite the rising numbers, the situation is not as dire as it was in December 2020, when nursing home deaths per week topped out at about 6,200. Experts credit the high vaccination rates now among nursing home residents: About 87% are fully vaccinated, according to CDC data.
On one level, the story of President Biden's first year is a simple one: Americans feel worse about the pandemic and economy than they did earlier in his term, and his ratings have suffered for it. On another level, it's a little more nuanced: they do not exclusively blame his policies, but they do demand more attention to inflation just the same; there are many reasons the pandemic is seen as bad, but confusing information stands out as a factor that is hurting views of his handling of it.
The story of his first year evokes emotions too: although most like Mr. Biden personally, words like "frustrated" and "disappointed" top people's descriptions of things, along with the feeling that he's "distracted" and not focusing on what they care about.
"Focus" is a running theme in this story. Majorities say he isn't paying enough attention to either the economy or inflation — together, their top issues — not just that he isn't handling them well. Few think Mr. Biden and his fellow Democrats are focused on the right things overall, either. Even within his own party, it's inflation where his fellow Democrats give him their lowest marks, compared to other issues.
A year ago, a slim majority expected the pandemic to get better with Mr. Biden in office. For a while it did. But today, with Omicron taking its toll, just a third think the effort to contain it is going well, with a similar number saying his policies are helping make it better.
His job rating on handling COVID is down to the lowest point in his presidency, and when asked specifically why they don't think he's handling it well, two-thirds cite information about the outbreak being confusing. Few attribute it to a lack of vaccinations.
House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-SC) on Sunday expressed a tiny glimmer of hope for Democrats’ election reform bills that appear to be stalled in the Senate, claiming the legislation “may be on life support” but isn’t necessarily dead yet.
During an appearance on CNN’s State of the Union, Clyburn acknowledged that while election reform is perilously close to getting snuffed out, Democrats shouldn’t toss in the towel right now.
Bringing up Sinema’s argument that getting rid of the filibuster could backfire on Democrats if Republicans take back the Senate and the White House by 2025, Clyburn said he wasn’t on the same page as the moderate Arizona senator.
“Look, no, she is not right about that,” the influential congressman exclaimed. “We just got around the filibuster to raise the debt limit. Why? Because we don’t want to put the full faith and credit of the United States at risk. No one has asked her to eliminate the filibuster. The filibuster is there for all of these issues that may be policy issues.”
He added: “But when it comes to the Constitution of the United States of America, no one person sitting downtown in a spa ought to be able to pick up the telephone and say you are going to put a hold on my ability to vote. And that’s what is going on here.”
At the same time, Clyburn did say he was “going to stay out” of any potential Democratic primary challenges to Sinema when she comes up for re-election in 2024.
Tapper, meanwhile, ended the interview by pressing the South Carolina congressman on whether or not he believes the election reform bills are “dead” in the Senate.
“No, I don’t,” Clyburn declared. “They may be on life support, but, you know, John Lewis and others did not give up after the ’64 Civil Rights Act. That’s why we got the ’65 Voting Rights Act.”
Donald Trump is trashing Ron DeSantis in private as an ingrate with a "dull personality" and no realistic chance of beating him in a potential 2024 showdown, according to sources who've recently talked to the former president about the Florida governor.
The two are among the most popular Republicans in the country, and as the former president eyes another run in 2024, he's irked by DeSantis' popularity and refusal to rule out running against him.
DeSantis is a favorite of Republican voters when pollsters remove Trump from the hypothetical 2024 field.
The governor also hasn't been beyond tweaking his fellow Floridian.
DeSantis said on the "Ruthless" podcast, recorded Thursday, one of his biggest regrets in office was not speaking out "much louder" in March 2020, when Trump advised the American public to stay home to slow the spread of the coronavirus.
"In the context of the 2024 election, he usually gives DeSantis a pop in the nose in the middle of that type of conversation," said a source who recently spoke to Trump about DeSantis.
The source, who shared the private remarks on the condition of anonymity, has heard Trump criticize DeSantis on multiple occasions.
The source said Trump makes a point of saying he isn't worried about the Florida governor as a potential 2024 rival.
More than 100 people were working at the Mayfield Consumer Products (MCP) factory on December 10 when the tornado hit, killing eight people and making it one of the most devastated sites in an outbreak of at least 30 tornadoes across six states in the Midwest and South.
The facility had been "going 24/7" in part to meet Christmastime candle demand, US Rep. James Comer, who represents the area, told CNN at the time.
In a letter this week to Kentucky's Office of Employer and Apprenticeship Services, the candle factory plant manager said that the company, "has determined that because of the recent devastating tornado ... it can no longer continue to operate."
"Although it can no longer operate in Mayfield, please know that MCP plans to continue much of its operation in Kentucky," the letter continues.
The company plans to transfer some of the affected employees to another location about 10 miles away, but it can't relocate everyone, the letter said.
"Those employees not offered a transfer to the new facility will be laid off," the letter reads.
A total of 501 people worked at the candle factory, and 250 of those jobs are being transferred, according to the letter. The rest of the workers are being laid off, the letter said.
The BBC licence fee will be abolished in 2027 and the broadcaster’s funding will be frozen for the next two years, the government has said, in an announcement that will force the corporation to close services and make further redundancies.
The culture secretary, Nadine Dorries, is expected to confirm that the cost of an annual licence, required to watch live television and access iPlayer services, will remain at £159 until 2024 before rising slightly for the following three years.
She said this would be the end of the current licence fee funding model for the BBC, raising doubts about the long-term financial future and editorial independence of the public service broadcaster under a Conservative government.
Dorries said: “This licence fee announcement will be the last. The days of the elderly being threatened with prison sentences and bailiffs knocking on doors are over. Time now to discuss and debate new ways of funding, supporting and selling great British content.”
The decision, confirmed by government sources, was briefed to the media as part of a range of measures designed to shore up public support for Boris Johnson after he has faced calls to resign as prime minister.
The BBC will have to negotiate with the government over an entirely new funding model when the final licence fee funding deal expires in 2027 – with potential options including a subscription service, part-privatisation, or direct government funding.
The Mail on Sunday quoted an ally of Dorries as saying: “There will be a lot of anguished noises about how it will hit popular programmes, but they can learn to cut waste like any other business. This will be the last BBC licence fee negotiation ever. Work will start next week on a mid-term review to replace the charter with a new funding formula.
“It’s over for the BBC as they know it.”
The source added that “the days of state-run TV are over” and praised the growth of US-run private sector companies such as Netflix and YouTube.
The BBC has faced repeated deep real-terms spending cuts since the start of the Tory-Liberal Democrat coalition government in 2010, with the Conservatives forcing the broadcaster to pay for free licences for the over-75s – then blaming it when they took the benefit away.
A BBC source said of the licence fee proposals: “There has been similar speculation before. There are very good reasons for investing in what the BBC can do for the British public, and the creative industries and the UK around the world. Anything less than inflation would put unacceptable pressure on the BBC finances after years of cuts.”
Country Hall of Famer and former WSM morning show host, Ralph Emery, died Saturday morning. He was 88.
Known as “the dean of country music broadcasters,” Ralph Emery was a pioneer in the country disc jockey industry in the late twentieth century.
"Ralph Emery's impact in expanding country music's audience is incalculable," said Kyle Young, CEO, Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. "On radio and on television, he allowed fans to get to know the people behind the songs. Ralph was more a grand conversationalist than a calculated interviewer, and it was his conversations that revealed the humor and humanity of Tom T. Hall, Barbara Mandrell, Tex Ritter, Marty Robbins and many more. Above all, he believed in music and in the people who make it."
Emery launched the successful early morning, Ralph Emery Show, on 1972right here on WSMV (previously known as WSM-TV). The talk show featured a live band and gave early television exposure to young artists like Lorrie Morgan and the Judds, who at time were just starting out in the industry.
Emery’s first gig in broadcasting prior to WSMV was a deejay position at WTPR in Paris, Tennessee. In 1957, the graveyard shift at Nashville’s WSM radio station would broadcast his voice across almost 40 states for 15 years.
Scream is winning the long Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend at the box office with a projected four-day gross of $35 million, enough to dethrone Spider-Man: No Way Home.
It’s also good enough to revive the classic slasher franchise for Paramount and Spyglass, who partnered on the reboot.
Scream‘s three-day domestic weekend gross is an estimated $30.6 million, a strong showing considering the omicron variant and another surge in COVID-19 cases.
Overseas, Scream grossed $18 million from 50 markets. The U.K. led with $3.4 million.
The film has younger moviegoers — who have been the most inclined to return to theaters — to thank for its performance. Males led all ticket buyers, though plenty of females turned out as well (53 percent versus 47 percent).
A notable 67 percent of all ticket buyers were between ages 18 and 34. Scream played best in the western U.S., the south and the northeast while slightly under-indexing in the midwest and southeast. With theaters in Ontario and Quebec closed, Canada came in at a very soft 1.5 percent of the market share on 3 percent of total locations.
Scream opens more than 25 years after the late Wes Craven’s original film hit the big screen. The new film is the fifth title in the series and a direct sequel to 2011’s Scream 4. It is the first not be directed by Craven.
Audiences gave the new Scream a B+ CinemaScore, a good grade for a slasher pic. It also drew strong exits.
Mike Luciano, 55, of Altoona, confirmed he scored a $1 million prize from a $20 scratch-off ticket Jan. 6, the fourth time he has visited Pennsylvania Lottery headquarters to collect a major prize.
Luciano previously won a $500,000 lottery prize in January 2021, a $3 million prize from a scratch-off ticket in 2016 and a $100,000 prize from a Cash 5 drawing in 1999.
Luciano said after collecting his 2021 prize that his good luck comes from spending a large amount of money -- he declined to say exactly how much -- every week.
"I'm convinced no one wins this many times without playing more than they should," Luciano told the Altoona Mirror in 2021. "I'm addicted to it."
He cautioned others not to attempt to replicate his feat.
"People shouldn't do what I do," he said. "I don't want them to think -- I mean, I'm not ungrateful, this is unbelievable and I couldn't be more thankful it's happening to me -- but I don't want people to think it will happen to them."
The robbery’s mastermind was Anthony “Fats” Pino, a career criminal who recruited a group of 10 other men to stake out the depot for 18 months to figure out when it held the most money. Pino’s men then managed to steal plans for the depot’s alarm system, returning them before anyone noticed they were gone.
Wearing navy blue coats and chauffeur’s caps–similar to the Brink's employee uniforms–with rubber Halloween masks, the thieves entered the depot with copied keys, surprising and tying up several employees inside the company’s counting room. Filling 14 canvas bags with cash, coins, checks and money orders—for a total weight of more than half a ton—the men were out and in their getaway car in about 30 minutes. Their haul? More than $2.7 million—the largest robbery in U.S. history up until that time.
No one was hurt in the robbery, and the thieves left virtually no clues, aside from the rope used to tie the employees and one of the chauffeur’s caps. The gang promised to stay out of trouble and not touch the money for six years in order for the statute of limitations to run out. They might have made it, but for the fact that one man, Joseph “Specs” O’Keefe, left his share with another member in order to serve a prison sentence for another burglary. While in jail, O’Keefe wrote bitterly to his cohorts demanding money and hinting he might talk. The group sent a hit man to kill O’Keefe, but he was caught before completing his task. The wounded O’Keefe made a deal with the FBI to testify against his fellow robbers.
Eight of the Brink's robbers were caught, convicted and given life sentences. Two more died before they could go to trial. Only a small part of the money was ever recovered; the rest is fabled to be hidden in the hills north of Grand Rapids, Minnesota. In 1978, the famous robbery was immortalized on film in The Brink's Job, starring Peter Falk.
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