| Newly reopened South Florida seen as an emerging coronavirus hot spot Posted: 15 May 2020 03:39 PM PDT  Federal officials responding to the coronavirus pandemic are concerned about the rapidly rising number of cases in Palm Beach County, Florida, according to an internal Trump administration document reviewed by Yahoo News.
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| As meat-processing factories struggle to reopen, govt. documents warn of shortages Posted: 15 May 2020 05:04 PM PDT  As COVID-19 ravages meatpacking plants throughout the country, beef and pork options are dwindling in grocery stores.
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| Puerto Rico to hold statehood referendum amid disillusion Posted: 16 May 2020 10:39 AM PDT  Gov. Wanda Vázquez announced on Saturday that she will hold a nonbinding referendum in November to decide whether Puerto Rico should become a U.S. state, a move that comes amid growing disillusion with the island's U.S. territorial status. For the first time in the island's history, the referendum will ask a single, simple question: Should Puerto Rico be immediately admitted as a U.S. state? It's an answer that requires approval from U.S. Congress and a question that outraged the island's small group of independence supporters and members of the main opposition Popular Democratic Party, which supports the status quo.
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| Felicien Kabuga captured: Africa's most wanted and the mastermind behind Rwandan genocide seized in Paris Posted: 17 May 2020 03:26 AM PDT  French police seized the man regarded as the intellectual and financial mastermind behind the Rwandan genocide on Saturday, ending a transcontinental 26-year manhunt for "the Eichmann of Africa". Félicien Kabuga, Africa's most wanted fugitive, was arrested in the northern outskirts of Paris after a dawn raid on his flat in the commune of Asnières-sur-Seine. Officers said the 84 year-old had been living there under an assumed identity. French authorities released few details about the operation, beyond hailing the capture of "one of the world's most wanted fugitives". It is believed that a series of simultaneous raids were carried out on addresses across France, some linked to Kabuga's children, to ensure that he did not escape. Those familiar with the investigation suggested that the operation, at least in terms of the painstaking intelligence work involved, had echoes of the Mossad mission to seize the Nazi war criminal Adolph Eichmann from Buenos Aires in 1960. The British security services played an "essential" role in the operation that led to Kabuga's capture, according to United Nations prosecutors. So, too, did investigators in the United States, which has long had a $5 million (£4.1m) bounty on his head, Germany, the Netherlands, Austria, Luxembourg and Switzerland. Kabuga will not be sedated and spirited away to Rwanda in the way Eichmann was smuggled into Israel, where he was tried and hanged for his role as a primary architect of the Final Solution. Instead he will eventually be handed over to a United Nations tribunal to answer longstanding charges of crimes against humanity.
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| Advocates decry ICE efforts to deport migrant kids amid pandemic Posted: 15 May 2020 02:23 PM PDT  ICE was prepared to deport a teenage girl to Guatemala alone, despite pleas from advocates. The only reason it couldn't was because the flight was postponed over coronavirus.
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| Elizabeth Warren says her brother's death from coronavirus 'feels like something that didn't have to happen' Posted: 17 May 2020 08:13 AM PDT  Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) reflected on the death of her oldest brother, Donald Reed Herring, from the coronavirus in an interview excerpt published by The Atlantic.Herring, who was 86, died earlier this year after contracting COVID-19, which has killed nearly 89,000 people in the United States since February.Warren has been open about the affect her brother's death has had on her, placing a particular emphasis on the fact that she and her other siblings weren't able to be by his side — as is the case with so many people who have lost loved ones around the world — because of the infectious nature of the virus. "It's hard to process things things like this because everything is happening at a distance," she told The Atlantic. "And human beings — we're not set up for that. We're wired to be with each other."The senator also said her brother's death, which she said occurred after it seemed like he "rallied" and might come home soon, "just feels like something that didn't have to happen." Read the full excerpt at The Atlantic.More stories from theweek.com The pre-election number Trump's team reportedly fears the most is the COVID-19 'body count' GOP's Grassley says Trump's reasoning for IG dismissal 'not sufficient' as Democrats investigate The conservative victimhood complex has made America impossible to govern
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| Chinese state media slams "lawless" Hong Kong schools after history test row Posted: 16 May 2020 09:01 PM PDT |
| Trump pushes 'warp speed' effort on coronavirus vaccine, ignoring lessons from a long-ago drug calamity Posted: 16 May 2020 07:03 AM PDT  Along with everyone else in the world, President Trump wants a coronavirus vaccine now. The most optimistic time by which a coronavirus vaccine might be ready, according to Dr. Anthony Fauci, the leading infectious disease specialist on the president's coronavirus task force, is 12 to 18 months.
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| Afghan president and rival announce power-sharing agreement Posted: 17 May 2020 05:17 AM PDT  Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and political rival Abdullah Abdullah signed a power-sharing agreement, two months after both declared themselves the winner of last September's presidential election, Ghani's spokesman said Sunday. The political deal would see Ghani remain president of the war-torn nation, tweeted his spokesman Sediq Sediqqi. The deal also calls for Abdullah to lead the country's National Reconciliation High Council, and he will be able to appoint half of Ghani's Cabinet.
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| Nevada 'dodged a bullet' when 6.5 earthquake struck in a remote area, seismologist says Posted: 16 May 2020 06:46 AM PDT  The 6.5-magnitude earthquake that struck near Tonopah, Nevada, and cracked I-95, a major artery between Las Vegas and Reno, could've been much worse.
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| Man who ‘threatened to kill’ Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer faces terrorism charge Posted: 16 May 2020 03:43 AM PDT  A man from Detroit faces a terrorism charge after making "credible threats" to kill the governor of Michigan and the state attorney general, the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office has said.Robert Tesh, 32, is alleged to have made the threats against governor Gretchen Whitmer and Dana Nessel, the attorney general, to an acquaintance via social media on 14 April.
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| China tells US to stop 'unreasonable suppression' of Huawei Posted: 15 May 2020 10:39 PM PDT  Beijing has urged the United States to stop the "unreasonable suppression of Huawei and Chinese enterprises" after Washington announced new export controls to restrict the tech giant's access to semiconductor technology. "The Chinese government will firmly uphold Chinese firms' legitimate and legal rights and interests," the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement Saturday. "We urge the US side to immediately stop its unreasonable suppression of Huawei and Chinese enterprises."
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| Jorge Armenta: Mexican journalist killed in 'armed attack' Posted: 17 May 2020 04:25 AM PDT  Jorge Armenta, director of Medios Obson, had received threats and was under government protection.
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| Russia slams The New York Times and Financial Times over virus toll reports Posted: 15 May 2020 11:58 AM PDT  Russia has the second highest number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the world.
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| Fox News coronavirus coverage dropped by 20% as the network shifted to 'Obamagate' and hosts focused on anti-lockdown stories Posted: 16 May 2020 01:16 PM PDT  Coronavirus coverage has dropped 20% as the network traded it for stories on anti-lockdown protests and echoing Trump's comments.
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| Ex-Green Beret captured in Venezuela believed U.S. backed overthrow plot: family Posted: 16 May 2020 02:32 AM PDT  Luke Denman would have never knowingly participated in a rogue operation to oust Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, his relatives say.
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| Why this hospital attack is pushing Afghans toward ‘tipping point’ Posted: 15 May 2020 01:26 PM PDT |
| Coronavirus: Brazil's Bolsonaro sees second health minister quit Posted: 15 May 2020 03:35 PM PDT  Nelson Teich resigned after disagreements with President Jair Bolsonaro, who opposes lockdown measures.
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| Pole dancing and hand sanitizer: Wyoming strip club reopens with 'masks on, clothes off' party Posted: 17 May 2020 05:59 AM PDT  Welcome to The Den, one of the first strip clubs in the country to open back up. The club on Friday night threw a "masks on, clothes off" party.
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| Australia says China ignores calls to ease trade tension Posted: 16 May 2020 09:48 PM PDT |
| 2020 election: Joe Biden could lose to Trump if he fails to win over Bernie Sanders supporters, campaign adviser warns Posted: 15 May 2020 11:21 AM PDT  Joe Biden's failure to inspire Bernie Sanders supporters could lead to his defeat by Donald Trump in November, a senior adviser to the Bernie campaign has warned.In a blog post published to Medium on Friday, the "America's Promise PAC" said there is a "clear and dangerous trend" that could keep the Democrats from the White House.
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| Hundreds of villages locked down in northeastern China after new coronavirus outbreak Posted: 16 May 2020 07:24 AM PDT |
| Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan's $800,000 donation to their 8 favorite restaurants is like the median US family giving 13 cents to each Posted: 15 May 2020 12:05 PM PDT  When you do the math, the couple's $800,000 donation is about the same as the median US family donating $1.02.
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| Nevada Rep. Horsford acknowledges he had extramarital affair Posted: 16 May 2020 01:50 PM PDT  Democratic Congressman Steven Horsford of Nevada on Saturday acknowledged he had an extramarital affair with a woman who said the on-and-off relationship began in 2009 before ending last September. Horsford, 47, in a statement released to The Associated Press responded to a report by the Las Vegas Review-Journal that he had an affair with Gabriela Linder, who previously had shared her story on podcasts and Twitter posts through a pseudonym before she was interviewed Friday by the newspaper. "It is true that I had a previous consensual relationship with another adult outside of my marriage, over the course of several years," Horsford said the statement.
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| Hash oil factory blast injures 11 firefighters in Los Angeles Posted: 17 May 2020 12:54 AM PDT  Crews tackling a blaze are hit by a fireball and have to run through a wall of flame to safety.
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| 'No-knock' searches plus stand-your-ground laws: A deadly combo for civilians and police Posted: 16 May 2020 07:43 AM PDT  To keep suspects from flushing drugs down the toilet, police says they need to conduct no-knock searches. Is it worth the cost in injuries and deaths?
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| China reports five new coronavirus cases, adviser says risk of second wave remains Posted: 16 May 2020 06:17 PM PDT  Mainland China reported five new confirmed COVID-19 cases for May 16, down from eight the previous day, the National Health Commission (NHC) said in a statement on Sunday. Two of the five confirmed cases were so-called imported infections, while three were locally transmitted in the northeastern Chinese city of Jilin. The number of confirmed cases in the mainland now stands at 82,947 and the death toll at 4,634.
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| GOP groups seize on Tara Reade allegations to attack Democrats Posted: 15 May 2020 02:11 PM PDT  Through press releases and social media posts, conservative groups have launched a flurry of attacks targeting candidates in competitive races.
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| Legal experts say Trump's emergency powers are worrisome Posted: 16 May 2020 09:35 AM PDT  The day he declared the COVID-19 pandemic a national emergency, President Donald Trump made a cryptic offhand remark.
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| 3 clues in coronavirus patients' blood could help doctors predict their risk of death 10 days in advance, with 90% accuracy Posted: 16 May 2020 04:51 AM PDT  A study suggests three biomarkers in blood can be used to predict which coronavirus patients have the highest risk of death, with 90% accuracy.
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| Massive fire at condominium complex on South Padre Island, Texas Posted: 16 May 2020 09:20 AM PDT  The fire sent a cloud of flames and thick black smoke into the air.
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| Tensions rise as Germans clamour to return to Mallorcan homes Posted: 16 May 2020 08:13 PM PDT  Germans with holiday homes in Mallorca are clamouring to return to the sun-soaked island as the coronavirus lockdowns ease, but Spanish authorities are pushing back. Several hundred Germans have in recent weeks sent pleading, sometimes angry letters to the regional government of the Balearic Islands asking them to allow foreign property owners to return to their second homes. The campaign was started by German national and Mallorca resident Ralf Becker, 55, who believes the travel restrictions aimed at halting the pandemic are "completely over the top".
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| Iran stock market booms, but analysts fear a growing bubble Posted: 16 May 2020 10:22 PM PDT  Even as U.S. sanctions, unemployment, inflation and low oil prices batter the Iranian economy, there seems to be at least one refuge for investors. The Tehran Stock Exchange has seen gains of 225% in the last year, with sharp increases even as the country struggled with one of the first serious coronavirus outbreaks outside of China. Encouraged by a government eager to privatize state-owned firms, average people now have access to the market and can trade shares, earning returns they'd never see in a savings account or a certificate of deposit.
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| Gedhun Choekyi Niyima: Tibetan Buddhism's 'reincarnated' leader who disappeared aged six Posted: 16 May 2020 04:58 PM PDT  Twenty-five years after the Panchen Lama disappeared, Tibetans abroad urge China to reveal his fate.
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| Ahmaud Arbery: new focus on district attorney’s flawed prosecutions of black women Posted: 17 May 2020 02:00 AM PDT  * George Barnhill eventually recused himself from Arbery case * Prosecutions include woman wrongfully imprisoned for murderThe local prosecutor who argued two white men were legally justified in chasing down and killing Ahmaud Arbery, an unarmed black man, has been at the center of aggressive and flawed prosecutions of at least two black women in recent years.One of the women was wrongfully imprisoned for over a decade on a murder conviction secured by later discredited forensic evidence, and another woman was unsuccessfully tried twice for helping people vote.George Barnhill, the district attorney for the Waycross judicial circuit in south-east Georgia, advised police in April that Gregory and Travis McMichael should not be charged over the death of Arbery, suggesting that the two had attempted to "stop and hold this criminal suspect" before fatally shooting him.Arbery had been jogging in the area, with numerous accounts stating there was no evidence of any burglary.Barnhill eventually recused himself from the case, under pressure from the Arbery family, as his son had worked in the Brunswick prosecutor's office alongside Gregory McMichael.The McMichaels have since been charged with murder after the emergence of video showing the shooting and the intervention of Georgia state investigators. Barnhill faces harsh scrutiny, allegations of racial bias and a state investigation over his handling of the case and why he recommended not bringing charges shortly before officially recusing himself. Barnhill defended his office's handling of the Arbery case."As a member of the State Bar of Georgia I am not allowed by State Law and State Bar rules to have any public comment on the facts, or on the law, or on the news stories about the case, to ensure a fair and just trial for all parties," he said in an emailed statement. "As far as any investigation into my office's handling of the case; I welcome the investigation and look forward to the review."Court documents obtained by the Guardian reveal that just months before Barnhill advised against charging both men, his office aggressively opposed a motion filed on behalf of a 53-year-old African American woman, Sheila Denton, requesting a new trial due to flawed forensic evidence used to convict her of a 2004 murder.Denton was sentenced to life in prison in 2006 for the murder of 73-year-old Eugene Garner, but she has maintained her innocence. Her prosecution, first brought by Barnhill's predecessor in the district attorney's office, relied heavily on "bite mark" evidence and the account of a sole witness who defense lawyers said gave conflicting evidence and was heavily pressured by local police into testifying against Denton. Court filings indicate police threatened the witness, Sharon Jones, with being charged over murder herself unless she testified that Denton had confessed to her. Jones was a known crack cocaine dealer and drug addict.An autopsy on Garner's body identified a potential bite mark, which was used alongside a photograph of Denton's arm, which prosecutors argued also showed an alleged bite mark, to deduce Denton had carried out the murder. There was no DNA evidence linking her to the case.Although forensic dentistry experts testified at trial that the markings were "probable bite marks" that linked the two together, guidance issued by the American Board of Forensic Odontology (ABFO) in 2016, which strictly limited testimony on "probabilistic" bite markings, essentially nullified the critical evidence from the 2006 trial.Despite this, attorneys working for Barnhill argued in court filings in December 2019 that the new ABFO guidance was "not evidence at all" and the court should continue to rely on the old, flawed testimony because the forensic dentist who testified in 2006 "would not change the opinion he offered". The motion was written by the assistant district attorney Michelle McIntire, who reports to Barnhill.Ultimately, on 7 February this year, just two weeks before the Arbery shooting, Judge Dwayne Gillis disagreed with Barnhill's office and allowed Denton a new trial, later ordering her release from prison.Denton was released on 9 April but remains under indictment.Sources close to the case told the Guardian that Barnhill indicated, at around the same time he advised against charging the McMichaels, that he would continue to examine pursuing a new case against Denton.Barnhill said in an email that the original trial was "many years ago" and he was not personally involved. He said his office had agreed to a low bond for Denton after a new trial was ordered so she could live with family in Atlanta.In recent years Barnhill also drew national attention for his decision to prosecute Olivia Pearson, the first African American woman elected to the city commission in Douglas, Georgia, and three others for improperly assisting others at the polls during the 2012 general election. The three other people pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges, but Pearson chose to take her case to trial.Georgia restricts who can get assistance at the polls and Barnhill's office brought felony charges against Pearson, saying she had unlawfully helped her nephew and another woman at the polls and signed a form swearing that the voters met the necessary conditions for assistance when they didn't.> I was just blown away that I got indicted on something like that. They aggressively prosecuted me> > Olivia PearsonBut during the trial, one of the women Pearson helped, a first-time voter, testified that she didn't know how to use the voting machine, according to BuzzFeed News. She said Pearson showed her how to do so without touching the machine or telling her how to vote."I was just blown away that I got indicted on something like that," said Pearson "They aggressively prosecuted me."All but one of the jurors, a black woman, voted to convict Pearson, resulting in a mistrial. Barnhill's office immediately moved to try the case again. In the second trial, held in another town, the jury acquitted Pearson after just 20 minutes of deliberation.The fact that the group was prosecuted after encouraging people to vote was stunning, said Charlene Green, an attorney who represented one of the men who pleaded guilty. Many saw the prosecutions as an attempt to intimidate minority voters."These are not people who are a blight on the community. These are individuals who are actively working to galvanize marginalized people in that community," she said. Some noted it was alarming that Barnhill so aggressively brought prosecutions for minuscule voting infractions but didn't think charges were warranted in Arbery's case, where there was video evidence showing two men chasing down an unarmed man and shooting him."When you look at the fact pattern that has come to light in Mr Arbery's case, that this same DA looked at that video and decided that there was no probable cause to prosecute, it says to me that his judgment is informed by race discrimination," said Sara Totonchi, executive director of the Southern Center for Human Rights, which represented Pearson in her second trial.Barnhill said he did not have an active role in either of Pearson's trials and that if people asked him about the case, he would tell them Pearson was not guilty."I have a 36-year prosecution history which is open for inspection. I'm proud of the work I've done," he said.Barnhill has spent almost his entire career as a prosecutor in the Waycross judicial circuit, a jurisdiction situated across six counties in rural south-east Georgia. According to biographies in local news, he began tenure as an assistant district attorney in June 1983, rising to chief assistant district attorney in 1994.Archives indicate that Barnhill has been a mainstay on the local Republican political scene for many years. He was elected to district attorney in 2014 in a close and, at times, bitterly fought battle with a second Republican candidate, Brad Collins.Local news reports from the time indicate that Barnhill campaigned on a harsh, tough-on-crime agenda and touted his active support of capital punishment. According to one story in the Waycross Journal-Herald, he also once blamed "high numbers of pirates and unfriendly Indians" from Georgia's colonial past for the state's "criminal element".
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| Qatar's latest coronavirus cases take total above 30,000 Posted: 16 May 2020 04:23 AM PDT  Qatar reported on Saturday another 1,547 cases of the novel coronavirus, bringing the country's total number of confirmed infections to more than 30,000. With a population of about 2.7 million people, the energy-rich Gulf state has one of the world's highest per capita number of confirmed cases. The latest health ministry report on confirmed cases took the total to 30,972, according to figures published on the ministry's website.
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| Congressional Progressive Caucus co-chair Pramila Jayapal says Democrats' coronavirus relief bill 'fails to match the scale of this crisis' Posted: 15 May 2020 01:14 PM PDT  House Democrats are looking to pass their $3 trillion coronavirus relief bill later today, but Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) isn't on board.Jayapal, the co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, has announced she'll vote no on the $3 trillion HEROES Act, saying that while it has some "good elements," it "fails to match the scale of this crisis."Members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus had been pushing for Democrats' relief bill to include a "Paycheck Guarantee" program extending $600 billion for small businesses over six months, but this wasn't added. The act includes more one-time payments for individuals among other provisions."To beat the virus, we must keep people home," Jayapal said. "To keep people home, we must make sure they get their paycheck, can access their health care and don't feel pressured to return to work before it's safe. That's the only way that we can give the American people real relief and certainty before this crisis gets worse — because if we fail to do so, it will."Jayapal had previously asked that the vote be delayed into next week. On Friday, 14 Democrats voted against a procedural rule bringing the legislation to the floor, The Hill reports, including Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.). Omar tweeted Friday that "we should be leading with bold ideas that meet the scale of the crisis," while Ocasio-Cortez called the bill a "mixed bag," also saying, "I think we can go further, especially when it comes to healthcare," per CBS News.Politico reports, though, that "in a sign of Pelosi's hold over her caucus, most Democrats have relegated their complaints to private calls with colleagues and leadership." House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said Friday he believes the bill will pass. From there, it isn't expected to progress through the Republican-controlled Senate and actually become law, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has said Congress should "take a pause" before passing new legislation.More stories from theweek.com The pre-election number Trump's team reportedly fears the most is the COVID-19 'body count' GOP's Grassley says Trump's reasoning for IG dismissal 'not sufficient' as Democrats investigate The conservative victimhood complex has made America impossible to govern
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| Bernie Sanders supporters reluctantly turn to Joe Biden, fueled by their dislike of Donald Trump Posted: 17 May 2020 03:00 AM PDT  In 2016, 12% of Bernie Sanders supporters backed Donald Trump in the general election. Polls and interviews suggest that number will shrink in 2020.
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| A US Air Force F-22 Raptor stealth fighter crashed just outside Eglin Air Force Base in Florida Posted: 15 May 2020 09:47 AM PDT  The stealth fighter crashed during a training flight, but pilot ejected safely and is being taken care of by base medical personnel.
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| How many people are dying of coronavirus in Mexico? It's hard to say Posted: 16 May 2020 02:11 PM PDT  In cities across Mexico, morgues are full and funeral homes are jammed but nobody knows for sure how many people have died in the COVID-19 pandemic.
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| Moon's mysterious disappearance 900 years ago finally gets an explanation Posted: 15 May 2020 10:23 AM PDT  A series of "forgotten" volcanic eruptions could explain accounts of the moon "vanishing" in A.D. 1110.
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