| Biden's running mate announcement pushed back, likely will not come next week Posted: 31 Jul 2020 03:17 PM PDT  Former Vice President Biden previously said he would announce his running mate the first week of August. It looks like that date may be pushed back.
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| Midair collision kills state legislator, 6 others in Alaska Posted: 31 Jul 2020 11:57 AM PDT  Seven people, including an Alaska state lawmaker, died Friday when two small airplanes collided in midair near the airport in Soldotna, a small community on Alaska's Kenai Peninsula. Alaska State Troopers said state Rep. Gary Knopp, 67, of Kenai was the sole occupant of one plane. The other plane was flown by a local pilot, and carried a guide from Kansas and four people from South Carolina.
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| Herman Cain Helped Define the American Black Conservative Movement. He Also Set the Stage for Trump Posted: 31 Jul 2020 11:20 AM PDT  The Republican politician and businessman died July 30, weeks after attending Trump's controversial Tulsa rally
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| U.S. to hike fees for immigration benefits Posted: 31 Jul 2020 02:53 PM PDT  Under the new rule, the U.S. will start charging for asylum applications for the first time in its history.
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| Woman who filmed Florida police officer drawing gun during pullover arrested after failing to return vehicle Posted: 31 Jul 2020 01:58 PM PDT  Joneshia Wilkerson, 23, was arrested on suspicion of failure to return a leased vehicle and fraudulent use of a credit card.
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| A Florida couple has been charged after being caught getting groceries, washing their car, and walking their dog despite testing positive for the coronavirus Posted: 01 Aug 2020 02:45 AM PDT  Jose Antonio Freire Interian and Yohana Anahi Gonzalez were filmed by their neighbors breaking their quarantine order.
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| Democrats reject $600 benefit extension from White House, push for more Posted: 31 Jul 2020 03:31 AM PDT  Democrats rejected a short-term extension of a $600 weekly unemployment benefit proposed by the White House on Thursday.
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| Maxwell accused of lying about not seeing Epstein for a decade before his death Posted: 30 Jul 2020 09:31 PM PDT  Ghislaine Maxwell lied in court when she claimed she had not been in contact with associate Jeffrey Epstein for "over a decade" before his death, according to explosive newly unsealed documents. In a failed bid to win bail, Ms Maxwell had claimed in a Manhattan court earlier this month that the media sought to blame her for Epstein's crimes after his suicide - even though she had not been in contact with him for years. However, documents filed in an old civil lawsuit that the British heiress has been battling to keep private appear to reveal she was in contact as recently as 2015 with the disgraced financier, who advised her to hold her "head high" as she has "done nothing wrong". US District Judge Loretta Preska last week ordered the release of large portions of more than 80 documents from the civil suit against Ms Maxwell by Virginia Giuffre, who accused Epstein of having kept her as a "sex slave" with the socialite's assistance. In January 2015, using the email account GMax1@ellmax.corn Ms Maxwell - who was once romantically linked to Epstein - writes to him saying she would "appreciate it if shelley would come out and say she was your g'friend — I think she was from end 99 to 2002."
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| China uses Hong Kong security law against US and UK-based activists Posted: 31 Jul 2020 05:37 PM PDT  * Arrest warrant issued for campaigner and US citizen Samuel Chu * Britons also among those wanted for 'incitement to secession'Hong Kong police have issued arrest warrants for six pro-democracy activists living in exile, the first time the city's authorities have used a sweeping new law to target campaigners living outside Hong Kong.They include Samuel Chu, an American citizen who lives in the US, Nathan Law, a prominent campaigner who recently relocated to the UK after fleeing Hong Kong, and Simon Cheng, a former British consular staffer who was granted asylum in the UK after alleging he was tortured in China.Chinese state media reported that the six men were wanted for "incitement to secession and collusion with foreign forces".The move comes a month after China introduced a controversial national security law in Hong Kong. China said the legislation targets the crimes of "secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces" and carries penalties as severe as life in prison.Critics warned that it would be used to target legitimate opposition, and highlighted the unusual decision to make the law applicable to both Hong Kong residents and non-residents. That apparently gives China jurisdiction beyond its own borders.Chu, who runs the Hong Kong Democracy Council, a Washington DC-based advocacy organization dedicated to furthering Hong Kong's freedom and democracy, is the first person targeted under this aspect of the law.He said China was sending a clear message to other activists by ordering his arrest."I would really emphasize how outrageous this really is," Chu told the Guardian. "I am the first non-Chinese citizen that essentially is being targeted. I think they do intend to try to make this an example."Several countries have since suspended their extradition treaties with Hong Kong, including the UK, Australia and Germany, as a possible safeguard against attempts to use the national security laws to round up activists abroad. The US ordered an end to Hong Kong's special economic status earlier in July.Chu, who has lived in the US as an American citizen since 1996, said the charges amounted to China "targeting a US citizen for lobbying my own government"."We always knew that when the national security law went into effect there was a very troubling and illogical, irrational idea that they were claiming jurisdiction over anyone who is not even a Hong Kong resident, who is anywhere in the world, doing anything that they deemed threatening," he said.> HK police is targeting a US citizen for lobbying my own gov't. I might be the 1st non-Chinese citizen to be targeted, but I will not be the last. If I am targeted, any American/any citizen of any nation who speaks out for HK can-and will be-too. > > We are all Hong Kongers now. pic.twitter.com/KQYGcStY1e> > — Samuel Chu 朱牧民 (@samuelmchu) July 31, 2020The other activists charged wereRay Wong, Wayne Chan and Honcques Laus.Wong, who is currently in the UK, told Reuters the charges showed that the Chinese government was afraid of the advocacy work of Hong Kong activists internationally."I think they want to cut off our connection with people in Hong Kong … it will make people fear that they may violate the national security law by contacting us," Wong said.
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| Sen. Tammy Duckworth: America's Moms Are Running on Empty. We Need to do More to Support Them. Posted: 01 Aug 2020 04:00 AM PDT  Senator Tammy Duckworth on her fear that she's letting down her daughters and how we need to support American mothers with more help.
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| Top Trump immigration enforcer announces retirement as election nears Posted: 31 Jul 2020 07:36 AM PDT  U.S. President Donald Trump's top immigration enforcement official on Friday announced he will retire from the agency, a staffing shakeup in a key policy area for Trump as he faces re-election in November. Matthew Albence, acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), said in a statement that his plan to retire had been prolonged by the coronavirus pandemic. The pandemic has created challenges for ICE operations both in the field and in immigration detention centers, where nearly 4,000 immigrants have tested positive for the disease.
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| Army sergeant says he's the one who shot a protester dead in Austin Posted: 31 Jul 2020 04:55 AM PDT  Daniel Perry's lawyers assert he did it in self-defense after the demonstrator aimed a rifle at him in his car. But some accounts say the driver was the aggressor.
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| Prosecutor: No charges for officer in Michael Brown’s death Posted: 30 Jul 2020 02:16 PM PDT  St. Louis County's prosecutor announced Thursday that he will not charge the former police officer who fatally shot Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, a dramatic decision that could reopen old wounds amid a renewed and intense national conversation about racial injustice and the police treatment of people of color. Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell's decision marked the third time prosecutors investigated and opted not to charge Darren Wilson, the white officer who fatally shot Brown, a Black 18-year-old, on Aug. 9, 2014. A St. Louis County grand jury declined to indict Wilson in November 2014, and the U.S. Department of Justice also declined to charge him in March 2015.
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| Staples customer who told woman to wear mask is thrown to ground, has broken leg Posted: 01 Aug 2020 06:51 AM PDT  Margot Kagan, who recently had a liver transplant and was walking with a cane, was thrown to the ground by another customer she had told to wear a mask.
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| Men and women chained themselves together outside a New Orleans courthouse to block landlords from filing evictions Posted: 31 Jul 2020 09:03 AM PDT  A moratorium on evictions ended last week and the number of evictions have bounced back to what was normal pre-pandemic, Nola.com reported.
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| FBI says errors discovered in more than two-dozen wiretap applications were mostly minor Posted: 30 Jul 2020 04:59 PM PDT  The agency said its review of 29 applications to obtain wiretaps on U.S. citizens had only minor, mostly typographical errors.
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| U.S. lets ex-Trump lawyer Michael Cohen publish book while serving sentence at home Posted: 30 Jul 2020 10:46 AM PDT  The agreement between Cohen's lawyers and federal prosecutors also frees Cohen to engage with news organizations and use social media, as he serves the remainder of his three-year term for campaign finance violations and other crimes in home confinement. "There shall be no specific media provision" governing Cohen's activities, according to the agreement, which requires approval by U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein in Manhattan. Cohen, 53, had served about one year of his prison term before being sent home to his Manhattan apartment in May, because of the risk of contracting COVID-19 behind bars.
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| "There's a complete disconnect": Florida's school digital divide Posted: 31 Jul 2020 12:30 PM PDT  With school set to restart in the coming weeks, education leaders and local stakeholders have had to assess the internet and technological gaps facing students who can't afford technology or live outside of the range of internet connectivity.
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| 14 photos of the low key Hajj: Only 10,000 Muslim pilgrims in face masks made it to Mecca this year. Posted: 01 Aug 2020 01:59 AM PDT  Attendance was limited to people already residing in Saudi Arabia. Usually, 2.5 million Muslims from across the world pack the holy city.
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| Carjacking suspect guns down three police officers in Chicago police station shoot out Posted: 31 Jul 2020 08:25 AM PDT  A carjacking suspect who had already been arrested shot three Chicago police officers as they attempted to escort him into custody on Thursday morning, authorities said.The gunman was being taken out of a patrol van and walked into Northwest Side police station at around 9.30am when he opened fire, hitting the officers.
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| Biden, Bernie forces clash during convention meeting Posted: 30 Jul 2020 07:09 PM PDT  "Disgusting, disturbing, unacceptable," said Nina Turner, Sanders' former campaign co-chair.
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| James Murdoch Quits News Corp Board Over Editorial Disagreements Posted: 31 Jul 2020 02:31 PM PDT  James Murdoch has resigned from the board of his family's news behemoth, News Corp, due to disagreements over editorial content published by the company's notoriously right-wing outlets, The Daily Beast has confirmed."Mr. Murdoch informed the Company that his resignation was due to disagreements over certain editorial content published by the Company's news outlets and certain other strategic decisions," a company statement said. He was immediately scrubbed from the company's online list of board directors.The move comes a little over six months after Rupert Murdoch's eldest son issued a stunning rebuke of his family's media empire and its promotion of climate-change skeptics during Australia's bushfire crisis.James Murdoch Slams Fox News and News Corp Over Climate-Change Denial"Kathryn and James' views on climate are well established and their frustration with some of the News Corp and Fox coverage of the topic is also well known," a spokesperson for the couple exclusively told The Daily Beast at the time as wildfires raged in Australia."They are particularly disappointed with the ongoing denial among the news outlets in Australia given obvious evidence to the contrary."In contrast, James' brother Lachlan, News Corp's co-chairman, personally okayed Tucker Carlson's recent non-apology for racist rants penned by his top writer.In a brief resignation letter dated July 31 and addressed to the board of directors, James wrote, "I hereby tender my resignation as a member of the Board of Directors of News Corporation (the "Company"), effective as of the date hereof. My resignation is due to disagreements over certain editorial content published by the Company's news outlets and certain other strategic decisions."The board of directors will be reduced to 10 members as a result, headed by Murdoch's father, Rupert, and Lachlan.Rupert and Lachlan offered a brief statement in response to James' decision: "We're grateful to James for his many years of service to the company. We wish him the very best in his future endeavors."James, 47, often considered the rebel in the infamous Australian media family, had made several less-than-subtle moves away from News Corp's brand of inflammatory and populist journalism in recent months. Last year, the Financial Times reported that he was planning to invest $1 billion in a portfolio of media companies that could include a liberal-leaning news outlet. In March, he reportedly made a large investment in start-ups aimed at tackling fake news. His private investment company, Lupa Systems, partnered with startup incubator Betaworks to fund efforts to fight disinformation and create a "more sustainable news ecosystem," a report said.People who know James were not surprised by Friday's development, which seemed inevitable after he was relieved of his executive responsibilities as CEO of Twenty-First Century Fox—which largely involved the entertainment assets that were sold to the Walt Disney Co. but not the right-leaning, Trump-friendly cash cow Fox News—and began carving out an independent identity from his older brother, Lachlan, and the Murdoch empire.He was increasingly alienated from the Trump administration and the role of Fox News and the New York Post in propping it up. In August 2017, for instance, as Rupert was negotiating the Disney deal and anti-Semitic incidents were on the rise in the United States, James pledged a $1 million donation to the Anti-Defamation League.However, climate change skepticism run in News Corp's right-leaning Australian newspapers and on Fox News in the U.S. brought the long-simmering family rift over climate change to the fore in January with James and wife Kathryn's blistering statement to The Daily Beast."They are pissing inside the tent and that's unusual. It's evidence of how high tensions are within the family over climate change," one News Corp executive told The Daily Beast at the time.James and his activist wife have long been passionate about the environment and climate change. They've donated to U.S. organizations targeting electoral interference, climate change, anti-Semitism, and bipartisan unity, as well as the presidential campaigns of Pete Buttigieg and Joe Biden.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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| Letters to the Editor: Can Trump pull off delaying the election? Only if Republicans let him Posted: 01 Aug 2020 03:00 AM PDT  It was only a matter of time before Trump suggested delaying the election. Now, the question is whether Republicans will continue to enable him.
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| Venezuela supreme court approves extradition request to Italy for ex-oil czar Posted: 31 Jul 2020 11:33 AM PDT  Venezuela's supreme court said on Friday it had approved a request to Italy for the extradition of Rafael Ramirez, a once powerful oil minister and former head of state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela, on corruption charges. Authorities opened a probe into Ramirez over alleged graft in late 2017 and sought an Interpol red alert for him in early 2018, shortly after he left his later post as Venezuela's United Nations ambassador and began publicly criticizing President Nicolas Maduro's handling of the economy, which remains in freefall.
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| Hurricane Isaias bringing heavy winds, rain to Bahamas as it takes aim at Florida Posted: 31 Jul 2020 10:06 AM PDT  The storm is expected to move along or parallel to the east coast of Florida, and then eventually up the entire east coast next week.
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| DC releases police footage from 2018 deaths of 3 Black men Posted: 31 Jul 2020 02:33 PM PDT  Under pressure from the D.C. Council, Washington's Metropolitan Police Department on Friday released long-sought body camera and security footage from the 2018 deaths of three young Black men in 2018. The release was compelled by an emergency police reform bill that Mayor Muriel Bowser criticized as rushed. "The council has determined that this is the statute, that's the law of the land and we're going to abide by it," said MPD Chief Peter Newsham.
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| Madeleine McCann: Suspect's lawyer calls police allotment search 'a desperate act' Posted: 31 Jul 2020 05:49 AM PDT  Christian Brückner's lawyer has described the excavation of a Hannover allotment by police as "a pure desperate act" in his first statement on the case. Friedrich Sebastian Fülscher, representing the 43-year-old lead suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, issued the statement in response to the two-day search by Braunschweig police at an allotment plot just outside Hannover earlier this week. Federal officers uncovered a sealed cellar on Wednesday. Locals said Brückner had stayed in the area in 2007, the year in which three-year-old Madeleine went missing from Praia da Luz in Portugal. Brückner is currently serving a sentence for drugs charges, but it was revealed on Friday that his lawyers have put in a new bid for his release, meaning he could walk free on January 7. In a statement on Friday, Mr Fülscher called the search "a pure desperate act of the public prosecutor's office". "Apparently, it's hard for investigators to admit they backed the wrong horse," the lawyer said. "My client is silent on the charges, but that doesn't mean he has anything to hide." Discussing the rape of a 72-year-old American woman for which Brückner was jailed for seven years last year, which he continues to deny, Mr Fülscher said it was "totally unusual" for someone to be a both a paedophile and a gerontophile.
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| Nasa: Mars spacecraft is experiencing technical problems and has gone into hibernation, space agency says Posted: 30 Jul 2020 11:51 PM PDT  Nasa's Mars spacecraft is experiencing technical problems and has sent itself into hibernation, the space agency has said.The spacecraft was sent to space Thursday in a launch that had no technical problems – even despite an earthquake that struck just before liftoff, and a preparation period that came during the coronavirus outbreak. Shortly after it was launched, Nasa announced that it had received its first signal from the spacecraft.
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| Fool's Gold Has a Purpose After All Posted: 31 Jul 2020 09:06 AM PDT  Pyrite: not totally useless!
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| A DHS intelligence report showed the department had collected and analyzed messages between Portland protesters, a new report says Posted: 31 Jul 2020 06:47 PM PDT  The DHS report included protesters' communications via the Telegram messaging app, discussing where to take the protests and how to avoid officers.
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| Convicted killer released from California prison due to COVID-19 concerns Posted: 31 Jul 2020 04:53 PM PDT  Reaction from Yolo County assistant chief deputy district attorney Melinda Aiello.
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| Thousands march in Berlin against coronavirus curbs Posted: 01 Aug 2020 05:38 AM PDT  Thousands marched in Berlin on Saturday to protest against measures imposed in Germany to stem the coronavirus pandemic, saying they violated people's rights and freedoms. The gathering, estimated by police at 17,000, included libertarians, constitutional loyalists and anti-vaccination activists. There was also a small far-right presence with some marchers carrying Germany's black, white and red imperial flag.
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| Trump global media chief probes pro-Biden VOA content Posted: 30 Jul 2020 02:46 PM PDT |
| Minnesota police make arrest in 34-year cold case using DNA, genetic testing Posted: 30 Jul 2020 01:29 PM PDT  "My mom loved to help people," her daughter Gina Haggard wrote in a statement read by police.
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| Connie Culp, the 1st face transplant recipient in the U.S., dies at 57 Posted: 01 Aug 2020 08:21 AM PDT  Culp received the transplant after surviving a murder-suicide attempt by her husband.
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| Boeing wins $265 million to build more special ops Chinook helos Posted: 31 Jul 2020 02:24 PM PDT  Army has minted another deal with Boeing for more Chinooks for special ops.
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| Ex-Weinstein Attorney Lisa Bloom Loses Money Grab in Autistic Kid’s Settlement Posted: 31 Jul 2020 01:45 PM PDT  A federal magistrate on Friday denied attorneys' fees to camera-ready victims' rights lawyer Lisa Bloom, who had tried to block a multimillion-dollar settlement for a sexually abused autistic teenager who was briefly Bloom's client.San Francisco-based U.S. Magistrate Judge Laurel Beeler instead invalidated Bloom's lien on the settlement from the West Contra Costa Unified School District and awarded $2,250,000—a figure which includes costs and attorneys' fees—to "Brennon B.," a severely disabled student who was repeatedly sexually assaulted on school property by fellow special needs students and a staff member."In light of the benefits that the plaintiff has received in the litigation…the court finds that the settlement is reasonable and that the attorney's fees are reasonable and appropriate," Beeler ruled, while denying Bloom's request to maintain her lien on just the attorneys' fees.Former Harvey Weinstein Attorney Lisa Bloom, Angling for a Hefty Payday, Now Faces Fraud AllegationsBrennon B.'s longtime attorney, Micha Star Liberty, who had a joint venture agreement with Bloom to assist with the case for seven months until Bloom abruptly withdrew in late March 2020, had alleged in court filings that The Bloom Firm had violated terms of the agreement and forged documents and signatures in an unjustified money grab."My client and I are pleased with the court's ruling," Liberty told The Daily Beast, referring to Brennon B. and his mother and legal guardian, Bellinda B. "Lisa Bloom has shown once again that all she cares about is money, and will do anything to get it, including calling the mother of her own former client, a special needs sexual assault victim, a liar in a publicly filed document. Through her disparaging words and her attempt to profit by fraud, her lack of moral compass has yet again been revealed to the world through her own unethical actions." The Bloom Firm, in a statement that said it was "pleased that Brennon B. will receive his portion of the settlement and the justice he deserves," fired back: "This is and has always been an attorney's fees dispute between The Bloom Firm and Liberty Law, that should never have included the clients... Ms. Liberty has gone to great lengths to avoid paying money she is contractually obligated to pay, even using her own clients as pawns, despite knowing that The Bloom Firm's lien could not and would not affect the client's portion. Ms. Liberty also appears intent on using the media to defame and ridicule Ms. Bloom. The Bloom Firm will not stoop to Ms. Liberty's level and has no further comment on her or this matter."Friday's ruling—which is expected to cause the settlement payment to be disbursed by next week—is likely a bad omen for Bloom's attempt to collect a hefty slice of a second multimillion-dollar settlement, also won by Liberty.In that case, "I.V.," a 7-year-old autistic girl, sued the Vacaville Unified School District after her physical and emotional abuse by a school bus driver was caught on video and received intense media coverage.Bloom, whose feminist reputation suffered a massive blow with revelations that she had been secretly helping convicted rapist Harvey Weinstein trash his accusers, has until midnight Friday to file a motion to Sacramento-based U.S. District Judge Kimberly Mueller.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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| Rodrigo Duterte: 'I'm not joking - clean masks with petrol' Posted: 30 Jul 2020 11:03 PM PDT  The Philippines' leader doubled down on earlier claims - despite officials saying he was wrong.
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