| Mexican drug cartel shows off uniformed troops with military weapons and armoured vehicles in video Posted: 18 Jul 2020 07:15 AM PDT  Mexico's top security official has said authorities are investigating a video which showed dozens of uniformed troops with military-grade weapons and armoured pickup trucks apparently connected to a major drug cartel.The video, which circulated on social media on Friday, appeared to be a show of power by members of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) - one of Mexico's most powerful criminal groups.
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| Kellyanne Conway says Trump should resume coronavirus briefings because 'people want information' Posted: 17 Jul 2020 08:07 AM PDT  Recent polling shows most Americans do not trust coronavirus information from Trump.
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| National Museum of African American History apologizes for chart listing attributes of 'whiteness' after criticism from Donald Trump Jr and the conservative media Posted: 18 Jul 2020 04:39 AM PDT  The National Museum for African American History and Culture listed rational thought and hard work as traits of white culture.
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| Brazil tops 2 million coronavirus cases, with 76,000 dead Posted: 16 Jul 2020 11:27 AM PDT  Since late May, three months after Brazil's first reported case of the coronavirus, it has recorded more than 1,000 daily deaths on average in a gruesome plateau that has yet to tilt downward. On Thursday evening, the federal health ministry reported that the country had passed 2 million confirmed cases of virus infections and 76,000 deaths. Experts blame denial of the virus' deadly potential by President Jair Bolsonaro and lack of national coordination combined with scattershot responses by city and state governments, with some reopening earlier than health experts recommended.
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| Turkish defence industry says it can support Azerbaijan Posted: 17 Jul 2020 04:49 AM PDT |
| ‘Overwhelmed and Terrified’: Las Vegas’ Reopening Backfires Terribly Posted: 17 Jul 2020 11:53 AM PDT  As the coronavirus pandemic continues to pummel the United States, Las Vegas seems to be operating business as usual. Casinos have been open since June 4—undeterred by the 123 visitors who have tested positive for the highly contagious virus and the 51-year-old Caesars employee who died in late June.But it's not business as usual for doctors and nurses in Las Vegas' besieged health-care system, who say they are "overwhelmed and terrified" about the massive influx of new cases in a state officially deemed a "red zone" by the White House. "I would say in the last month we've been completely overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients and our hospital is running out of space," one Las Vegas emergency room doctor, who wished to remain anonymous for fear of professional retaliation, told The Daily Beast on Friday. "Not only are we overwhelmed and terrified, but based on the numbers for the rest of the country, it's only going to get worse for us."'A Sinking Ship': Arizona Docs Say Ducey Steered State Into COVID-19 SurgeOne of the states that loosened coronavirus restrictions in May, Nevada has set records for new cases throughout July. The rate of new cases per 100,000 residents is higher than the national average, putting Nevada in the top ten states for cases per capita—alongside Arizona, Texas, and Florida, now the epicenter of the pandemic. In Las Vegas, where local officials protested against the stay-at-home order, the hospital system is starting to feel the effects of the cascading outbreak. The Las Vegas area set a new record of 1,315 new cases on Thursday, according to the Nevada Department of Health and Human Services.And Sin City is a microcosm for the whole state—which also shattered COVID-19 numbers on Thursday with 1,447 new cases and six new deaths. ICUs are at about 84 percent capacity. "It's even more troubling that COVID-19 in Nevada is disproportionately impacting communities of color," Bethany Khan, the communications director for the Culinary Union in Las Vegas, told The Daily Beast on Friday. "Workers fear that they will contract the virus and bring it home to their families or possibly die from it."At least 626 people have died from the coronavirus and 31,915 have been infected in Nevada—continuing a trend across much of the South and West after states lifted lockdown measures. Worse still, the rate of positive COVID-19 test results has reached a staggering 24.3 percent, rising continuously over the last month.Las Vegas Not-So-Politely Declines Mayor's Bonkers Offer to Become Virus 'Control Group'To curtail the surge, Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak has rolled back premature reopening plans, introduced a mask mandate, and closed down bars in seven counties, including Vegas. But he left it up to local leaders to enact more restrictive measures—and Las Vegas seems to be operating as usual. In the weeks after Nevada's casinos reopened on June 4, after being shuttered for three months, at least 123 visitors have tested positive for the coronavirus.Brian Labus, a professor of public health and outbreak investigation at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, told The Daily Beast that while cases in the state are surging, state officials have "stepped up" and taken "the main steps" to ensure the spread is curtailed. "The problem comes down to the fact that people didn't take the social distancing seriously when we reopened," Labus said. "I think the mask mandate will have a big dent on cases."Labus also stressed that Sin City "exists for tourism" and therefore has a unique issue of balancing "its economy with the safety issues.""You have to remember the kind of people who are coming to Las Vegas right now. It's the people who are the least concerned about this outbreak right now—least likely to follow the social distancing," he said, noting that tourists are not counted in Nevada's numbers."When you are on vacation, you want to forget about all your problems—and that includes the coronavirus. But there is still a pandemic, and not following health guidelines puts everyone at risk."Khan said the pressure on reopening the strip has meant "hotel and casino workers are working in fear every day." Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman has been notably silent after calling the state shutdown in March "total insanity" and suggesting Las Vegas could be a "control group" to test the impact COVID-19 would have on a community that didn't close its doors. Over 500 Employees at Trump's Las Vegas Hotel Have Been Laid Off Amid Coronavirus"We would love to be that placebo side so you have something to measure against," she said during a wild April interview on CNN that prompted residents to begin efforts to remove her. Goodman's office did not respond to The Daily Beast's request for comment.Late last month, Adolfo Fernandez, a 51-year-old employee at Caesars Entertainment on the strip, died after testing positive for COVID-19. The utility porter died just two days after getting his virus diagnosis—and before the casino implemented a company-wide mask policy.The Culinary Union has since filed a lawsuit against several major casinos—including The Signature at the MGM Grand—to protect workers returning to work. The lawsuit states that the casino hotels have not adopted precautions to address the virus, have not conducted adequate tracing, and haven't informed employees of positive tests among co-workers. Khan, who said 20 union members and their spouses or kids had died from COVID-19 in the last three months, stressed that the lawsuit was aimed at ensuring that hotel and casino workers don't have to live "with the same fear every day they go to work."The White House, according to a report obtained by the Center of Public Integrity, believes Nevada is already facing catastrophic virus consequences. In a July 14 document from the White House Coronavirus Task Force, public health officials said Nevada had reached "red zone" status—meaning there were more than 100 new cases for every 100,000 residents in the prior week. Nevada had about 173 new cases per capita in the previous week, compared to the national average of 119. "Las Vegas continues to have [a] concerning rise in cases," the report said, noting that its county is one of the top three in the state with the highest COVID-19 cases. (Clark County, Washoe, County and Elko County represent 97.9 percent of the new cases in Nevada.)In order to combat the surge, the White House document suggested Nevada—and 17 other states—limit large gatherings, close down indoor establishments, and issue a mask mandate. A New York Times study also showed Nevada's surge to be among the highest in the world. The study of the number of daily infections between June 28 and July 5 showed Arizona and Florida are the two most infected places in the world. Nevada placed ninth, before Mississippi, Texas, Georgia, and the country of Panama. Nevada also ranked before Brazil, a country seen as one of the world's most severe hot spots with more than 2 million cases recorded since March. "The big surge in cases in Nevada [is] among Las Vegas residents—but even if Las Vegas puts a bunch of measures in place, it wouldn't matter unless it was implemented statewide. You can't just focus on one jurisdiction, because people move around," Labus said. Las Vegas hospitals are feeling the surge of new cases and are overwhelmed, understaffed, and short on supplies—unable to keep up with what researchers believe is the "tipping point" before a state loses control of the pandemic. For the ER doctor, who said he had worked over 100 hours this week alone, the fear is knowing that the worst of the virus is yet to come for Las Vegas. He also said that some of the hospital's beds are being taken up by patients from out-of-state, like Arizona."This is uncharted waters and it seems like everyone in Las Vegas has been too lax about the pandemic," the doctor said, stressing that local officials have not taken the necessary precautions to ensure they "stop the virus in its tracks months ago.""People here in Las Vegas don't see this pandemic as an issue—well, once the hospitals are filled and there is nowhere to go, they will realize they should have been more careful."A spokesperson for University Medical Center in Las Vegas confirmed to The Daily Beast the hospital's ICU occupancy had exceeded 90 percent but stressed they "have the ability to significantly expand this capacity." "Following a detailed planning process, we have teams in place to activate alternative surge space throughout UMC as needed. We are currently using extra space within a large PACU [post-anesthesia care unit] to care for a small number of patients with non-COVID-related medical concerns," the spokesperson said, adding that the hospital had not received any virus patients from Arizona. The hospital does take out-of-state trauma patients who need additional care.According to the Nevada Hospital Association, the state recorded its highest day for hospitalizations this week, with 1,051 on Tuesday. By Thursday, about 77 percent of staffed beds across the state were occupied, and 785 confirmed virus patients were admitted. About 40 percent of the state's ventilators are in use.Sixto Zermeno, a bellman at The Signature at MGM Grand, said in a video announcing the union's lawsuit, that he hadn't been able to see his daughter for three weeks while he recovered from COVID-19."[G]etting this disease has been extremely difficult for me and my family," he said. "I have not been able to see my nine-year-old daughter in person since I tested positive—I haven't been able to hug my daughter or see her for 3-weeks now."The Signature at MGM Grand had three months to prepare and they didn't. None of our upper management had a clue what to do and that's unfortunate. They put a lot of us and our families at risk."Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| Chuck Woolery's spokesman confirms his son has COVID-19 Posted: 16 Jul 2020 08:06 PM PDT  Days after tweeting that "everyone is lying about COVID-19," former Love Connection host Chuck Woolery confirmed through a spokesman that his son has tested positive for the virus."Chuck's son is fine and asymptomatic," Mark Young told CNN. Young also said that Woolery deactivated his Twitter account on Wednesday due to the "abuse he has received from thousands of intolerant people," but will return one day.On Sunday, Woolery declared on Twitter that "the most outrageous lies are the ones about COVID-19. Everyone is lying. The CDC, Media, Democrats, our Doctors, not all but most, that we are told to trust. I think it's all about the election and keeping the economy from coming back, which is about the election. I'm sick of it." His conspiracy theory was retweeted the next morning by President Trump.Woolery released a new episode of his podcast Blunt Force Truth on Thursday, and was on the defensive, saying he never called COVID-19 "a hoax" or said "it's not real," just that "we've been lied to." Woolery also said it was "an honor to have your president retweet what your thoughts are and think it's important enough to do that."More stories from theweek.com Our time of dread What Americans are finally learning about freedom 7 scathing cartoons about the push to reopen schools
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| Abu Dhabi crown prince targeted by French torture probe: sources Posted: 17 Jul 2020 09:56 AM PDT  French authorities are opening an investigation into accusations of complicity in acts of torture against the powerful crown prince of Abu Dhabi, Mohammed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, sources said Friday. Multiple sources with knowledge of the case told AFP that a French investigating magistrate had been mandated to take on the probe, which will notably look at acts allegedly committed in the war in Yemen. An initial investigation had been opened in October 2019 against the prince, who is known as MBZ, after two complaints were filed when he came to Paris on an official visit in November 2018.
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| Pentagon bans Confederate flag in way to avoid Trump's wrath Posted: 17 Jul 2020 11:28 AM PDT  In a carefully worded policy, the Pentagon is banning Confederate flags from military installations without using the word "ban" to avoid openly contradicting President Trump, who has defended people's rights to display it.
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| Iowa drug kingpin who killed 5 set for execution Friday Posted: 17 Jul 2020 08:07 AM PDT  Dustin Honken, 52, was sentenced to death for killing government informants and children in his effort to thwart his drug trafficking prosecution in 1993.
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| Protesters clash with police in violent encounter at Chicago's Columbus statue; 12 arrested, many injured Posted: 18 Jul 2020 07:17 AM PDT  Hundreds of protesters attempting to topple the city's Christopher Columbus statute faced off with dozens of Chicago police Friday evening.
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| Mark Zuckerberg called the Trump administration's response to COVID-19 'really disappointing' in a Facebook interview with Fauci Posted: 16 Jul 2020 05:15 PM PDT  Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg attacked President Donald Trump's handling of the pandemic and the White House's criticisms of top US scientists.
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| Iran estimates up to 25 million virus cases since outbreak Posted: 18 Jul 2020 03:47 AM PDT  Iran's president Saturday estimated as many as 25 million Iranians could have been infected with the coronavirus since the outbreak's beginning, and urged the public to take the pandemic seriously, the state-run IRNA news agency reported. President Hassan Rouhani cited a new Iranian Health Ministry study in offering the unprecedentedly high number of infections. Rouhani also said he believes an additional 30-35 million people could be infected in coming months, again without citing the basis for his estimate.
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| Ten thousand march in Russian far east in support of detained governor Posted: 18 Jul 2020 04:45 AM PDT  At least 10,000 people marched in the Russian far eastern city of Khabarovsk on Saturday, demanding the release of a popular regional governor detained last week on suspicion of murder, in a second week of protests. Sergei Furgal, a member of the Liberal Democratic Party, was the governor of the Khabarovsk region where he swept to power in 2018 after defeating a rival from the ruling United Russia party that backs President Vladimir Putin.
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| Republican senator criticised for suggesting Hispanic people less likely to follow coronavirus guidance Posted: 18 Jul 2020 05:24 AM PDT  A Republican senator has come under fire for suggesting Hispanic people in his state are less likely to wear masks and follow social distancing rules during the coronavirus pandemic.Thom Tillis, the junior senator for North Carolina, said during a virtual town hall on Tuesday that he had concerns about "less consistent adherence" with public health guidelines among the Hispanic population.
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| Declassified Strzok Notes Debunk 2017 New York Times Article on Trump Campaign Russia Collusion Posted: 17 Jul 2020 02:02 PM PDT  Former FBI agent Peter Strzok debunked a February 14, 2017, article in The New York Times on possible contacts between the Trump campaign and Russian intelligence, noting that the agency had seen no evidence of connections between campaign officials and Russian officers.Strzok's type-written comments on the Times article were declassified by the FBI on Thursday, along with several other documents that are currently available on the website of the Senate Judiciary Committee. It is not clear exactly when Strzok typed those comments."The comments of Peter Strzok regarding the February 14 New York Times article are devastating in that they are an admission that there was no reliable evidence that anyone from the Trump Campaign was working with Russian Intelligence Agencies in any form," Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.) said in a statement.The Times article asserts that "phone records and intercepted calls" showed that Trump campaign officials had contact with members of the Russian intelligence services."This statement is misleading and inaccurate as written," Strzok wrote of the passage. "We have not seen evidence of any individuals affiliated with the Trump team in contact with [intelligence officers]."Strzok clarified that an associate of former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort had been in contact with Russian intelligence and that former campaign official Carter Page had been in contact with Russian intelligence before he joined the campaign. However, Strzok writes, "we are unaware of any calls with any Russian government official in which Manafort was a party."Strzok wrote three times in his notes that the FBI was not aware of any contact between the Trump campaign and Russian intelligence. Contact between the campaign and other Russian officials was "almost entirely" with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak and the Russian Embassy's congressional liaison.The Senate Judiciary Committee is currently conducting an investigation into the procurement of FISA warrants against Page. The Justice Department Inspector General report on those warrants stated that the FBI made numerous errors and omissions in its applications for FISA warrants against Page.Declassified transcripts of conversations from late 2016 through early 2017 between Kislyak and former national-security adviser Michael Flynn revealed that the two had discussed deescalating tensions after outgoing President Obama imposed sanctions on Russia. Former FBI director James Comey told Obama that the conversations between Kislyak and Flynn "appear legit," according to separate notes taken by Strzok.The FBI fired Strzok after the agent's anti-Trump texts were leaked.
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| Pro-choice movement's big win at Supreme Court might really have been a loss Posted: 16 Jul 2020 11:45 AM PDT  When the Supreme Court handed down its ruling striking down a Louisiana law that would have limited abortion access in that state, progressives celebrated. Their reasoning on June 29 was simple: By joining the court's liberal justices, Chief Justice John Roberts had proven his commitment to the principle of precedent.But the court had also sent several cases – all big wins for abortion rights – back to lower courts for reconsideration.Those moves, and a closer look at the decision in the Louisiana case, called June Medical v. Russo, made it far less clear who won. In my recent book "Abortion and the Law in America: Roe v. Wade to the Present," I explore the history of the incremental attack on abortion that June Medical has supercharged. People who object to the landmark 1973 Roe ruling legalizing abortion have long planned to deal the decision a death of a thousand cuts, and June Medical makes that much easier. What comes nextThere is no shortage of abortion cases that might well land at the Supreme Court next – at least 16 are already in the pipeline. Let's start with the ones that the court just sent back for reconsideration. The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals now has to take a second look at its decisions striking down two restrictions in Indiana.One required abortion providers to show a pregnant woman her ultrasound, let her listen to her fetus's heartbeat and then wait 18 hours before having an abortion – unless the patient refused in writing.The second state law beefed up the restrictions that applied to minors, requiring a judge to notify a young woman's parents even when a court had already found that abortion would be in her best interests – or that she was mature enough to make her own decision.Telling the lower court to look again at the case and reach a better result usually means the court was wrong – signaling that the regulations are likely constitutional. It also indicates that Chief Justice Roberts actually relaxed the rules governing abortion restrictions and just made it much easier for states to pass them. But the Indiana cases are not the only ones likely to land at the Supreme Court. The aftermath of June MedicalSince the court's 1992 ruling in Planned Parenthood v. Casey, the ultimate question in abortion cases is whether any particular law unduly burdens a woman's right to abortion. Before this most recent decision in June Medical, courts answering that question had to balance the costs and benefits of abortion restrictions. That meant that useless laws often failed challenges in court. In 2016, for example, the court struck down a law requiring abortion clinics to meet the standards set for ambulatory surgical centers. A Supreme Court majority saw no point to the law. After all, many early abortions required a woman to take pills, not have surgery. And even when a woman did suffer complications after an abortion, that usually happened much later, and well after she had left a clinic. The decision told legislators who wanted to restrict abortion they needed to prove that their laws served a useful purpose.Roberts changed all that in June Medical. Now, the court will no longer consider whether a law has any benefit. And Roberts seems to have a very different – and much narrower – idea about what a burden is. That may well mean that it will be harder for women to prove that an abortion restriction – rather than some other force – caused an abortion clinic to close and thereby caused an undue burden. It may mean that the court no longer cares if a woman has to travel hundreds of miles or leave the state to get an abortion, or if she receives a lower quality of care as the result of an existing law. Roberts has seemed skeptical that these burdens cross the line. As the court's new swing justice, his opinion on the matter will be the one that counts. Alternative anti-abortion strategiesSeveral other restrictions bear watching. Seventeen states ban abortions after 20 weeks, based on the hotly contested theory that fetal pain becomes possible at that point in pregnancy. Others outlaw dilation and evacuation, the most common procedure after the first trimester. Both types of laws build on abortion foes' last major win, Gonzales v. Carhart, a 2007 decision upholding a federal ban on dilation and extraction, a specific technique that Congress called partial-birth abortion.In Gonzales, the court claimed that whenever there was scientific uncertainty, lawmakers had more freedom to maneuver. Now, abortion foes use scientific uncertainty to justify much broader restrictions. That leeway could give Roberts the kind of cover he needs to chip away at abortion rights. Rather than ignoring precedent, the court could claim to extend it, all while continuing down a path to eliminating Roe.Recently, states have bet on laws that bring together abortion politics and explosive questions about racial justice. Mississippi and Tennessee became the latest states to ban abortions based on the fetus's race, sex or disability. The Supreme Court dodged considering the legality of one of these laws, allowing the issue to percolate longer in the lower courts. Overturning Roe?It's still possible that the court would uphold a far more sweeping ban. Last year, after President Donald Trump seemed to have created a conservative Supreme Court majority, states rushed to pass laws outlawing abortion at the sixth week of pregnancy, when a doctor could detect fetal cardiac activity. To uphold such a law, the court would have to overturn Roe and Casey, which both prohibit any abortion ban before viability. But red state lawmakers want to force the court to reconsider Roe. Roberts declined to overturn either one in June Medical, but he stressed that no one had asked him to. He might be game if the question comes up directly. And I believe it's only a matter of time until someone makes a specific request.June Medical doesn't look to me like a win for abortion rights. The fate of Roe is more uncertain than ever. In my view, the threats to abortion have hardly diminished, and John Roberts, the deciding vote in June Medical, may well be the one to carry them out.This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts.Read more: * When Supreme Court justices defy expectations * Delaying 'nonessential' abortions during coronavirus crisis endangers women's health and financial futureMary Ziegler does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
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| CNN Anchor Shreds Trump Spox on President’s COVID Response: ‘Here Are the Facts’ Posted: 17 Jul 2020 09:30 AM PDT  CNN anchor Poppy Harlow on Friday shut down Trump campaign spokesperson Mercedes Schlapp over the president's handling of the coronavirus pandemic, pointing out how many times the president has said the virus that's killed nearly 140,000 Americans would just "go away" and "disappear."In a contentious 15-minute CNN interview, Schlapp was steamrolled almost immediately by Harlow, who came prepared with a list of facts to push back on the Trump flack's inevitable spin.After tangling over the issue of mask mandates and how experts show they could stem the spread of the disease, Harlow brought up a patient who recently died, noting he expressed regret for believing coronavirus was a hoax."For months and months, why did the president continue to downplay the severity of this?" Harlow pressed the Trump spokesperson, prompting her to blow up."He never downplayed it," she yelled. "That you're saying that he downplayed the severity of this, this president has taken decisive and bold actions from the beginning. When his medical experts said, look, we need to put the travel restrictions on China, the president acted immediately. You know what Joe Biden said?!"The CNN anchor, however, told Schlapp to stick to the president's handling of the virus and not pivot to Biden, telling Schlapp that she thinks "it does a disservice" to viewers to deflect and argue.Kathy Griffin Almost Threw Down With Mercedes Schlapp at the WHCD"Let's not fight, let's talk about the facts," Harlow said. "Here are the facts. You said the president didn't downplay this. Exactly one month ago today, the president said, 'It's fading away.'""January 22 in Davos, Switzerland, 'It's totally under control,'" the CNN anchor continued. "February 22, 'We shut it down.' February 10, it 'goes away in April with the heat, a lot of people think.' February 26, 'The risk to the American people remains low.' February 28, quote, 'This is their new hoax.' May 8, 'It is going to go away without a vaccine.' That's what I'm talking about."Schlapp reacted by claiming the president has ensured that both Democratic and Republicans governors across the nation have received necessary supplies and resources, causing Harlow to note that Maryland's GOP governor had to go to South Korea to get masks."He praised the president," a desperate Schlapp interjected. "He praised the president beforehand."Later in the interview, Harlow listed off a series of recent polls that show that a vast majority of the American public doesn't trust the president's handling of the pandemic, noting that Trump "has a serious credibility crisis here."Having already asked why Trump and his advisers have recently attacked top infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci and dumped oppo research on him, Harlow highlighted that public polling shows that far more people trust Fauci over Trump.Schlapp's response: Attack the pollsters themselves, specifically Quinnipiac, which she claimed was way too "skewed" towards Democrats. Harlow, however, brought up several times in the past where the president has praised Quinnipiac.'Tooning Out the News' Busts Matt Schlapp for His Big 'Pandemic Payday'Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| Ousted Florida scientist Rebekah Jones’ whistleblower complaint takes aim at governor Posted: 17 Jul 2020 08:09 AM PDT  The former data scientist accuses Gov. Ron DeSantis' health agency of seeking to falsify statistics used to justify the state's reopening.
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| Floods kill 14 in China as water peaks at Three Gorges Dam Posted: 18 Jul 2020 01:55 AM PDT  At least 14 people have died in the latest round of seasonal rains and flooding in southern China, as soldiers and workers built makeshift barriers with sandbags and rocks Saturday to keep the Yangtze River and its tributaries at bay. Three floodgates of the Three Gorges Dam that spans the Yangtze were opened as the water level behind the massive dam rose more than 15 meters (50 feet) above flood level, the official Xinhua News Agency reported. The dam was holding back about 45% of the water, Xinhua said, citing China Three Gorges Corp.
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| NYPD chief of department on attack by anti-police activists Posted: 16 Jul 2020 01:51 PM PDT  Four NYPD officers injured in clash with counter-protesters; NYPD Chief of Department Terence Monahan speaks out.
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| Three arrested after paint thrown on NYC Black Lives Matter mural Posted: 17 Jul 2020 10:05 PM PDT  This time, blue paint was used to vandalize the city-approved mural on Manhattan's Fifth Avenue.
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| Pentagon to Consider Stripping Names, Gender Pronouns from Selection Boards Posted: 17 Jul 2020 01:25 PM PDT  Defense Secretary Mark Esper said personnel leaders are eyeing options to eliminate unconscious bias from promotion boards.
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| Facing up to 60 years for killing her 5-year-old, mom tells court: 'I miss him and there's nothing I wouldn't do to bring him back' Posted: 16 Jul 2020 05:52 PM PDT  CHICAGO - Near the top of a small hill in a Palatine cemetery rests the remains of a 5-year-old boy buried in Superman pajamas and in a casket handmade and blessed by Trappist monks. Etched in the flat marker is the image of a praying angel and the words, "Loving Brother Andrew Freund." The nickname "AJ" appears in the center of a Superman emblem on the top right side. There is no mention on ...
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| Powerful House chair Eliot Engel defeated by progressive newcomer Jamaal Bowman in stunning upset Posted: 17 Jul 2020 11:39 AM PDT  Rep. Eliot Engel, who served decades in Congress, was defeated by a political newcomer in a stunning upset showing the power of the progressive wing.
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| No, Gavin Newsom says, Orange County won't reopen its schools (as long as infections are this high) Posted: 17 Jul 2020 01:40 PM PDT  In a Friday press conference, Newsom said all 32 counties on the coronavirus "watch list" will have remote learning, as San Francisco joined the list.
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| China's mighty Yangtze nears crest again, new floods feared Posted: 17 Jul 2020 12:18 AM PDT  Engorged with more heavy rains, China's mighty Yangtze River is cresting again, bringing fears of further destruction as seasonal floods that already have left more than 140 people dead or missing have grown in force since last month. The rains are putting renewed pressure on the massive Three Gorges Dam that straddles the river upstream of the city of Wuhan in Hubei province. The official Xinhua News Agency said the rate of flow in the reservoir behind the dam would hit a record for the year on Friday night, at 55,000 square meters (almost 600,000 square feet) per second.
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| Nearly a third of Florida children taking a coronavirus test are positive — and no one knows why Posted: 17 Jul 2020 10:14 AM PDT  Roughly 31% of people under 18 tested positive. The numbers seem to call into question research showing kids spread the virus less.
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| Trump sours on online learning that his administration evangelized Posted: 17 Jul 2020 04:45 PM PDT  "Why do students have to go to a school building in the first place?" Education Secretary Betsy DeVos said in 2018.
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| Minneapolis City Council Declares Racism a ‘Public Health Emergency’ Posted: 17 Jul 2020 12:45 PM PDT  The Minneapolis City Council on Friday declared racism a public health emergency, a move that comes after weeks of unrest following the police custody death of George Floyd in May that sparked national outrage.The council approved a resolution that states the city of Minneapolis will recognize "the severe impact of racism on the well-being of residents and city overall and allocate funding, staff, and additional resources to actively engage in racial equity in order to name, reverse, and repair the harm done" to black, Indigenous and people of color."Racism has various forms including historical, individual, systemic and that has not only continued to present day, but has been institutionalized to ensure the concentration of material, power and resources into the hands of white bodied individuals," reads the resolution, written by council members Andrea Jenkins and Phillipe Cunningham.Minneapolis has some of the "starkest racial inequities in the country," the resolution says, including in the areas of poverty, home ownership, and obtaining a high school diploma.Floyd, a black man, died on May 25 after a white Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes as he pleaded for air, during which time he passed out. Within days, demonstrations and riots against racism and police brutality broke out in the city and in metropolitan areas around the country. Rioters burned a police precinct building in Minneapolis and damaged businesses around the city."It's past time that we begin to address these systemic issues that have been plaguing our society for decades," Jenkins said. "Naming this issue allows us to begin to dismantle its structures moving forward."In June, the Minnesota Department of Human Rights filed a civil rights discrimination charge against the city's police department, launching an investigation into the department's polices and practices over the last decade with an eye to determining whether it has used "systemic discriminatory practices towards people of color."After Minneapolis faced calls to overhaul and defund the city's police department, the city council last month announced that a veto-proof majority had voted to dissolve the department. That proposal was opposed by both the Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and Police Chief Medaria Arradondo.
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| U.S. passenger flights to India can resume July 23 Posted: 17 Jul 2020 07:00 PM PDT  The government of India has agreed to allow U.S. air carriers to resume passenger services in the U.S.-India market starting July 23, the U.S. Transportation Department said on Friday. The Indian government, citing the coronavirus, had banned all scheduled services, prompting the U.S. Transportation Department in June to accuse India of engaging in "unfair and discriminatory practices" on charter air carriers serving India.
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| Rep. Justin Amash confirms he won't seek re-election to Congress Posted: 17 Jul 2020 05:55 AM PDT  Amash, who has served in Congress since 2011, announced in July 2019 that he was leaving the Republican Party.
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| Mystery surrounds identity of Ghislaine Maxwell’s ‘secret husband’ Posted: 18 Jul 2020 04:49 AM PDT  In the middle of a dramatic court hearing, conducted via videolink due to restrictions in place to stop the spread of the coronavirus, the revelation by prosecutors that Ghislaine Maxwell was married almost went unnoticed.The British socialite had not been seen in the year since the arrest of Jeffrey Epstein, with whom she was accused of conspiring to abuse minors. Finally, at a hearing to decide whether she would be freed on bail ahead of her trial, details about her life in hiding began to emerge.
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| It’s do or die for Germany’s new missile defense weapon Posted: 17 Jul 2020 09:18 AM PDT  The ongoing negotiations with industry suggest there is still no common ground on the legal framework for costs and risks associated with the next-generation program.
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| Taliban make big changes ahead of expected talks with Kabul Posted: 17 Jul 2020 04:57 AM PDT  The Taliban have put the son of the movement's feared founder in charge of their military wing and added several powerful figures to their negotiating team, Taliban officials said. The shake-up, one of the most significant in years, comes ahead of expected talks with Kabul aimed at ending decades of war in Afghanistan. As head of a newly united military wing, 30-year-old Mullah Mohammad Yaqoob brings his father's fiercely uncompromising reputation to the battlefield.
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| Mother of Fort Hood soldier deemed a 'deserter' reacts to his reinstatement and planned military funeral Posted: 17 Jul 2020 09:08 AM PDT  Fort Hood soldier Gregory Morales, whose remains have been found nearly a year after his disappearance and designation as a 'deserter,' has his military honor restored.
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| Meghan Markle Set to Fire Up the Youth Vote in Presidential Election Posted: 17 Jul 2020 01:03 AM PDT  If you love The Daily Beast's royal coverage, then we hope you'll enjoy The Royalist, a members-only series for Beast Inside. Become a member to get it in your inbox on Sunday.Meghan Markle is likely to be a prominent advocate of get-out-the-vote messaging in the run-up to the presidential election in November, a friend of the duchess tells The Daily Beast.Meghan is likely to focus her formidable celebrity firepower on enthusing young people in particular to make the all-important trip to the polls.Meghan Markle: I Was 'Unprotected' by Royal Family and 'Prohibited From Defending' Myself Intriguingly, sources would not be drawn on whether Meghan will or will not publicly endorse Joe Biden or criticize Donald Trump. However their unwillingness to rule either out suggests Meghan, who criticized Trump in forceful terms before she met Prince Harry, could yet be pondering the option of making a bombshell partisan intervention in the American presidential race.The friend said she will, however, be using her influence to urge "young people to engage in and use their civic power, to use their voices, to advocate on issues they care about," in the run up to the election.The fresh insight into the couple's increasingly overtly political—in the broadest sense of the word—public stance, came after a week which saw Meghan deliver her most activist speech yet, telling teenage attendees at the U.N.'s Girl Up conference that world leaders were not listening to young people fighting against climate change and racial injustice, and saying that young people were "setting the tone for an equitable humanity."In a pre-recorded message filmed in her Hollywood home, Meghan urged girls to "drown out" negative voices even when they were "painfully loud."Her remarks echoed the sentiments she expressed in a speech to graduating students at her old high school last month, when she urged pupils: "You're going to use your voice in a stronger way than you have ever been able to because most of you are 18—or you're going to turn 18—so you're going to vote."The source said that going forward Meghan is likely to continue to support the racial justice movement, as well as women and girls' equality movements—and underline again the importance of voting for young people.Indeed, it is the focus on encouraging participation in the November election which is likely to prove most controversial, especially given Meghan's well-known views on Trump (before she had met Harry, in the run-up to the 2016 election, Meghan called Trump "divisive" and "misogynistic" and said she might move to Canada if her were elected. Trump called her "nasty.") While urging people to use their vote is not exactly a controversial position, the freedom to speak out on an issue like this is one of the most important dividends of her and Harry's decisive split with the royal family.As a British princess, even one of American birth, there is no way Meghan could have got involved, however tangentially or non-controversially, in any commentary around a "foreign" election. Harry and Meghan have, however, made it clear in recent days that they no longer consider themselves in any way bound by the conventions of the royal family they left at the beginning of the year, despite having agreed to effectively not embarrass the Queen in their terms of departure. Just last week, for example, Harry criticized the Queen's beloved Commonwealth—a loose grouping of Anglophile nations, many of which were once colonial possessions of the crown.During a video call with some youth leaders from their home in Los Angeles, the couple appeared to take a swipe at the Commonwealth's racial history.Harry said: "When you look across the Commonwealth, there is no way that we can move forward unless we acknowledge the past. So many people have done such an incredible job of acknowledging the past and trying to right those wrongs, but I think we all acknowledge there is so much more to do."Meghan remarked: "We're going to have to be a little uncomfortable right now, because it's only in pushing through that discomfort that we get to the other side of this."The critical intervention caught the palace by surprise, and was all the more remarkable because Harry and Meghan retained their positions as president and vice-president of the Queen's Commonwealth Trust, a youth grouping within the organization.Sources have previously told The Daily Beast that Meghan was consistently infuriated by being told that she was not allowed to voice or express opinions as a royal. Indeed, Meghan's frustration at her silencing in another context—the right of reply to critical stories in the press—has now become a feature of her legal action against Associated Newspapers, the publishers of the Mail on Sunday.Meghan, who is suing Associated for invasion of privacy and breach of copyright over a private letter to her father which the paper published, said in a recent filing that when she wished to defend herself against false stories appearing in the media she was effectively banned from doing so by the palace machine, which left her feeling "unprotected."But could Meghan really come out for Biden?While it might seem unlikely, Harry and Meghan have certainly shown a remarkable facility to deliver shock after shock to the expected order of things.Having sacrificed so much to be able once again to express her opinions and to have her voice heard, it would be unwise—in this critical year for America—to bet too much against her now making the most of it.Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. 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| Japan's Abe faces anger over tourism subsidy as Tokyo COVID-19 cases hit record Posted: 16 Jul 2020 07:49 PM PDT  The Japanese government is facing potentially damaging blowback after excluding Tokyo residents from a multibillion dollar campaign aimed at reviving domestic tourism, even as the capital on Friday reported a record number of new COVID-19 cases. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's $16 billion "Go To" tourism campaign was intended to promote travel across the country, but officials agreed on Thursday to exclude Tokyo because of the resurgence in infections there. Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike reported 293 new cases on Friday, a fresh daily record after the city recorded 286 cases a day earlier.
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| First Cambodian to return after deportation inspires others after gaining U.S. citizenship Posted: 16 Jul 2020 02:35 PM PDT  "There's this belief that once you get deported, that's the final sentence of your life and there's no chance of returning to a life back here, let alone a life with citizenship," one advocate said.
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| Louisville mayor to be investigated after hundreds arrested demanding Breonna Taylor's killers be jailed Posted: 17 Jul 2020 08:09 AM PDT  Mayor Greg Fischer of Louisville, Kentucky, is to be investigated for his handling of the Breonna Taylor case, the death of David McAtee, and the protests that followed that have seen hundreds of arrests.The Louisville Metro Council's Government Oversight and Audit Committee (GOA) filed an order to officially launch the investigation "into the action and inaction of the Fischer Administration," according to a statement.
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| Commentary: Anti-Trump ads are all the rage. But they work better as comedy than politics Posted: 17 Jul 2020 02:18 PM PDT  The Lincoln Project and other "Never Trump" Republican groups are taking on the president. Like Sarah Cooper's web videos, they are as much comedy as politics.
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| Pandemic and power struggle hobble Bolivia ahead of vote Posted: 16 Jul 2020 12:54 PM PDT  Bolivia is grappling with two crises: the pandemic and bitter political discord ahead of elections scheduled for September, nearly a year after the chaotic ouster of the former president, Evo Morales. In a new flare-up in Bolivia's power struggle, the government was criticized this week for promoting a group of military officers without approval of the opposition-held legislature, as required by the constitution. The government had accused the opposition of blocking the promotions as a way to punish the military for urging Morales to quit last year after he claimed victory in a flawed vote.
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| New York City enters final reopening phase as California, Florida, and Texas cases surge Posted: 17 Jul 2020 02:43 PM PDT  New York City has reached a major milestone in its COVID-19 fight.Once the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic, New York City will move to its final phase of reopening on Monday, Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) announced Friday. Malls, gyms, and cultural institutions will remain closed, as will indoor dining, but most other businesses can reopen with appropriate social distancing measures.At the peak of its pandemic, New York state often saw hundreds of COVID-19 deaths per day, but reported 10 deaths on Friday. Coronavirus hospitalization totals in the state dropped to 765, the lowest they've been since mid-March, and less than one percent of COVID-19 tests came back positive in the last 24 hours, Cuomo also said Friday.Meanwhile across the south and west of the U.S., things are going the other direction. California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) said Friday most schools will not reopen in the state, a decision Los Angeles and San Diego public schools made earlier this week. Newsom has also scaled back reopenings and closed bars and other businesses in surging counties.Florida recorded 128 new deaths from COVID-19 in the past day on Friday afternoon, its fourth day of death tolls over 100. And in Texas, FEMA sent in extra body bags and refrigerated trucks to prepare for a surging death toll. Still, governors in both states have resisted shutting down businesses again.More stories from theweek.com Our time of dread What Americans are finally learning about freedom 7 scathing cartoons about the push to reopen schools
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