| QAnon supporter seems headed to Congress after winning GOP runoff Posted: 11 Aug 2020 06:50 PM PDT  Marjorie Taylor Greene has won Tuesday's runoff election for the Republican nomination in Georgia's conservative 14th Congressional District, putting her on track to becoming the first open supporter of the QAnon conspiracy theory in the House of Representatives.
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| ‘It Was a Planned Attack.’ Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot Says Looting Was Organized Posted: 12 Aug 2020 09:56 AM PDT  A day after looters overwhelmed police officers in Chicago, Mayor Lori Lightfoot says the violence was an organized raid
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| Three killed in Bangalore clashes over Prophet Muhammad post Posted: 12 Aug 2020 03:00 AM PDT  Police in the southern city of Bangalore opened fire on protesters angered by the Facebook post.
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| New Jersey's Atilis Gym, which reopened against COVID-19 emergency orders, loses business license Posted: 12 Aug 2020 04:46 PM PDT  The 5-1 vote by the Bellmawr Borough Council came nine days after the owners of Atilis Gym kicked in a plywood barrier installed by authorities.
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| Ammonium Nitrate Blew Up Beirut. It Also Fuels Africa’s Most Dangerous Illegal Mines. Posted: 13 Aug 2020 01:43 AM PDT  ABUJA, Nigeria—The ammonium nitrate that exploded last week in Beirut—killing 154 people, injuring more than 5,000 and causing widespread destruction—was destined for Mozambique, a transit point for raw materials in the explosives trade, where shipments often end up in the hands of illegal Chinese-owned mining companies with dubious human rights records. Almost seven years ago, Fábrica de Explosivos de Moçambique (FEM), a Mozambican firm that produces explosives, ordered 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate from a Georgian company known as Savaro for the purpose of manufacturing explosives for mining companies. But the substance was transported in September 2013 on the Russian ship Rhosus, which docked in Beirut, where it tried to make more money by picking up several pieces of heavy machinery, and never made it to Mozambique, as Lebanese authorities impounded the cargo for failing to pay port fees.FEM, a company majority-owned by the Portuguese explosives company Moura Silva e Filhos, has come under intense scrutiny since the ammonium nitrate it ordered caused the blast in Beirut on Aug. 4. A spokesperson for the company admitted to CNN that FEM had ordered the substance from Georgia but was told several months later by the company that was supposed to facilitate the transfer to Mozambique that the vessel carrying ammonium nitrate had been seized in Lebanon and that the order was "not going to be delivered." As a result, according to the spokesperson, FEM "never paid for it." Beirut Government Was Warned Over Explosives in Port Two Weeks Before Deadly Blast: ReportBut FEM's claim that it didn't pay for the ammonium nitrate has been disputed by a number of sources. Baroudi and Partners, a Lebanese law firm representing the ship's crew, said in a statement on Aug. 5 that the substance was purchased by the International Bank of Mozambique (IBM) for FEM. An official in Mozambique's Justice Ministry who didn't want to be named also told The Daily Beast that IBM "did the transaction on behalf of FEM."Conflicting reports regarding the final destination of the ammonium nitrate have also raised questions regarding the transparency of the purchase. While the Mozambican port authorities said on Aug. 6 that the substance was meant to be transported from a port in the eastern city of Biera, where the Russian ship would have arrived from Beirut, to either Zambia or Zimbabwe, Mozambique's largest weekly newspaper, Savana, reported that the ammonium nitrate was actually supposed to be used for the manufacturing of explosives for the Brazilian mining company, Vale, which operates the country's largest coal mine in the western Tete province. FEM did not respond to The Daily Beast's request for comments.The explosives market across Mozambique, as well as in neighboring Zambia and Zimbabwe, is huge, with dozens of mining firms depending on big companies like FEM for explosives. (Landlocked Zambia and Zimbabwe also depend on Mozambique's seaports for imports that come across the water). But the three countries are also the preferred places for a high number of illegal miners who, despite not being licensed to operate, are still able to obtain explosives from manufacturers on the black market.A Mozambican customs official informed The Daily Beast privately that explosives are usually transported by land from FEM offices in Mozambique to Zambia where they are sold to mining companies in the country. The company itself does have an office in Zambia and there are allegations that it sells explosives to illegal miners, including unscrupulous Chinese nationals."Explosives companies including FEM do not carry out serious background checks on some of these so-called mining companies," the official said. "Because of that, criminal companies, especially those owned by Chinese people, are mining in Zambia simply because they have explosives."FEM's presence in Africa is quite significant. The company, which specializes in the manufacture and application of explosives for commercial purposes, also has subsidiary companies in Zambia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Angola and commercial agreements in Malawi. But it is in Mozambique, where it has its head office, that its operations are most known.FEM is said to have sold explosives to Mineradora Industrial de Cassassole, a Chinese company operating in Tete province whose illegal mining operations led to the death of one of its workers two years ago.It was revealed after the worker—29-year-old Sakson Lobiano—died in 2018 that Mineradora Industrial de Cassassole, which was only licensed by Mozambican authorities to operate an open cast gold mine in Tete's northern Macanga district, decided to operate underground and opened an illegal shaft 90 meters deep, where Lobiano was killed. The miner died from inhaling dust and toxic particles from an explosion that was ignited by a Chinese co-worker, who had no training in underground work or license to handle explosives."We believe the company got those explosives from FEM," Alex Camacho, a local environmental activist in Tete, told The Daily Beast. "[FEM] is where virtually every mining company gets it explosives from."In its website, FEM boasts that it has been the main company "responsible for manufacturing and supplying the Mozambican explosives market" since its founding in 1955. It also noted that in the last two decades it has expanded to become a reference in the whole of southern Africa. But its growth has also come with accusations of negligence."That Mozambique has so many illegal miners who all have access to explosives should tell everyone that the manufacturers are letting their explosives get to the wrong hands," said Camacho who is individually campaigning against illegal mining in Tete. "In Mozambique, once you think about explosives, you think about FEM."Mozambique, the world's seventh-poorest country, has suffered years of illegal mining as well as logging of its natural forests by Chinese companies that take advantage of widespread corruption in the impoverished country to gain access.According to the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), an international NGO with offices in London and Washington, D.C., Chinese companies in 2012 imported between 189,615 and 215,654 cubic meters of timber that had been illegally exported from Mozambique. The illegal action comprised a huge 48 percent of China's imports from the African nation.But it is in the mining sector that exploitation by Chinese-owned companies in southeast Africa have been mostly noted.There are several Chinese mining and explosives companies operating in Zambia and many of them have been accused of human rights abuses and negligence towards safety regulations.In 2005, 52 Zambian workers were killed at a Chinese-owned explosives factory near Chambeshi, a town in Zambia's copper belt. In 2010, Zambia charged two Chinese managers with attempted murder after they opened fire on protesting Zambian workers. Seven years later, Zambian authorities arrested 31 Chinese nationals for illegal mining in the copper belt.In Zimbabwe, Chinese-run mines have been dogged with several allegations of human rights violations of local workers.Early this year, local miners in Matabeleland South province protested their sacking by their Chinese employer, whom they also accused of constantly beating up workers. Their protest was followed by complaints in April by workers in another mining company of being underpaid and working without protective clothing as COVID-19 began to spread. Then came the shooting of two Zimbabwean mining workers in June by their Chinese boss during a row with workers over outstanding pay in central Zimbabwe."Chinese mining companies do what they like in southeastern Africa and no one can question them," said Camacho, the environmental activist. "It is sad that the government agencies that are supposed to regulate their activities are only concerned about the money they can generate from these companies."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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| In These Uncertain Hours, the Classic Cool of a Gentleman’s Watch Endures Posted: 12 Aug 2020 05:00 AM PDT |
| China warns US against 'playing with fire' over Taiwan visit Posted: 12 Aug 2020 03:20 AM PDT  China warned Washington not to "play with fire" on Wednesday as a US delegation wrapped up a historic trip to the self-ruled island of Taiwan. Beijing has been infuriated by the highest-profile visit in decades to Taiwan, which it sees as part of its territory, as US-China relations plunge to a record low over a range of issues from trade to military and the coronavirus pandemic. Health chief Alex Azar finished a three-day visit to Taiwan, during which he criticised China's handling of the pandemic and visited the shrine of a former Taiwan president hated by the Communist Party leadership.
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| Drake Bell has denied allegations of abuse made by his ex-girlfriend on TikTok Posted: 13 Aug 2020 05:33 AM PDT  In her first video, Lingafelt said that Bell verbally abused her when they lived together and that he turned violent, allegations which he denies.
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| Georgia shop that said it would charge only white people $20 booking fee apologizes Posted: 13 Aug 2020 08:57 AM PDT  Black people and customers of color were exempt from the refundable fee.
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| Trump campaign tweets mugshots of alleged criminals, all of them Black, to claim Biden is pro-crime Posted: 11 Aug 2020 12:10 PM PDT  Trump campaign Twitter account @TrumpWarRoom has tweeted and retweeted some questionable things in the past. Lately, it's been all systems go against former Vice President Joe Biden, who is set to oppose President Trump in November's election.The latest effort to bring down Biden is a series of tweets that seem to claim Biden is pro-crime. In a blog post, the campaign points to Biden staffer's donations to bail funds amid the nationwide protests against police brutality. The campaign highlighted four alleged "regular criminals," all of them Black, who were supposedly freed from jail thanks to Biden.> Remember Willie Horton? > > President Trump's campaign is tweeting mugshots of black people to attack Joe Biden. pic.twitter.com/ursYZoXv5b> > — Chris Megerian (@ChrisMegerian) August 11, 2020The mugshots were posted alongside rhetorical questions like "Does Joe Biden regret his campaign putting women in danger?" The donations to the bail fund were made by individual staffers, not by the Biden campaign as a whole. Still, the post asserts the streets are now less safe "thanks in part to the Biden campaign."The Trump campaign's strategy was quickly denounced as racist fearmongering. The Washington Post's Philip Bump pointed out that Biden himself is only loosely connected to the bailouts, and that it's not clear those pictured have been convicted of the crimes listed. Given Trump's insistence on respecting "due process," it seems like a significant oversight.More stories from theweek.com The case against American truck bloat Trump has reportedly privately said he intends to replace Mark Esper after November election Trump has pretty much eliminated daily intelligence briefings. Biden has already started receiving them.
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| Indian villagers tire of coronavirus rules just as rural cases surge Posted: 12 Aug 2020 01:24 AM PDT  Harmahan Deka doesn't wear a mask anymore to avoid the novel coronavirus nor does he try to keep a safe distance from others. For the 25 men and women he works with in his construction materials business near the small town of Baihata Chariali in India's Assam state, life is more or less as it used to be, Deka says. In two dozen small towns and villages visited by Reuters reporters in recent weeks, people have largely given up on social distancing and masks after months of sticking to the rules, believing the virus is not such a serious threat.
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| Nick Cave compares cancel culture to 'bad religion' Posted: 13 Aug 2020 10:02 AM PDT  The musician believes political correctness online is having an "asphyxiating effect" on society.
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| South Dakota Governor to get $400,000 security wall around residence Posted: 12 Aug 2020 03:21 PM PDT  South Dakota officials said Wednesday they plan to build a security fence budgeted for $400,000 around the official governor's residence to protect Gov. Kristi Noem.
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| Family removed from Southwest flight after 3-year-old son with autism would not wear a face mask Posted: 12 Aug 2020 07:18 AM PDT  A Texas woman and her family were forced off a Houston-bound Southwest flight after her three-year-old son with autism would not wear a face mask.
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| Pro Poker Player Was Bound, Sexually Assaulted, ‘Lit on Fire’ After Motel Meeting Posted: 12 Aug 2020 09:29 AM PDT  Susie Zhao, the professional poker player whose charred remains were found in a remote Michigan park in July, was allegedly bound with zip ties and sexually assaulted before she was "lit on fire until she died" after meeting with a convicted sex offender, according to new court documents. Zhao, 33, was last seen around 5:30 p.m. on July 12 by her mother, the White Lake Township Police Department previously told The Daily Beast. The next day, her "badly burned" body was discovered at around 8:05 a.m. in a parking lot near the Pontiac Lake Recreation Area, about an hour outside of Detroit. Last week, Jeffrey Bernard Morris, 60, was charged from his hospital bed with first-degree premeditated murder. Authorities discovered the convicted sex offender allegedly met Zhao in a motel room the night before her body was found. Morris, who is homeless and has a "lengthy criminal history" is currently in jail after being denied bail. A Pro Poker Player Was Found 'Badly Burned.' Was She Murdered Over Gambling?"This is not the end of the investigation into Susie's death but the beginning of the pursuit of justice for her and her family," White Lake Township Detective Chris Hild said in a press conference. "We can only hope that where we are today brings some level of comfort to the healing process."In new court documents, first obtained by WXYZ, authorities revealed what occurred the night the pro poker player, known on the circuit as "Susie Q," went missing. Cell phone records indicate Morris and the rising poker star first met on July 12. In an interview with police the night of his arrest on July 31, Morris admitted to picking up Zhao on Watkins Lake Road before they both checked into the Sherwood Motel at around 9:26 p.m. Morris told investigators the pair left the motel at some point to buy some alcohol and that Zhao left the motel at around midnight and took everything with her. Cell phone records, however, show the 33-year-old's phone didn't leave the motel until around 5 a.m on July 13, according to the court documents. Surveillance footage near the motel and cell phone records also show Morris left the room at around 5 a.m., before driving to a secluded section of the Pontiac Lake Recreation area—where Zhao was found. Court documents say that evidence suggests Morris was at the 3,745-acre park for about seven minutes. When Zhao was found the following morning, she was identified by fingerprints and was bound with zip ties. She had been sexually assaulted with a large object before being "lit on fire until she died," the court documents state. A spokesperson for the Oakland County Medical Examiner told The Daily Beast that Zhao's cause of death is currently unknown, pending an autopsy and toxicology results. When authorities pulled Morris over on a warrant in Ypsilanti weeks later, investigators found several hairs and other evidence with possible bloodstains. They also found duffle bags with a fitted bed sheet that appeared to have blood on it and a wooden baseball bat that also appeared to have a bloodstain. The items were taken to Oakland County Crime Lab for testing. Authorities are now scrambling to understand the motive behind the "mysterious death" that occurred just weeks after Zhao moved back to her home state of Michigan from California on June 9. Two childhood friends of Zhao previously told The Daily Beast that the poker player bounced between several cities—including Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and Florida—both for her job and because she was "a jet-setter." According to PokerNews.com, Zhao was successful in the professional worker world, garnering several deep runs in the World Series of Poker Main Event—placing 90th in 2012 to earn $73,805. Over the course of her career, Zhao won $224,671, according to the poker database The Hendon Mob. Despite earlier speculation, authorities have said there is no evidence that Zhao's death was connected to her gambling."I don't think there was ever anything else that she wanted to do. She was playing poker from a very young age," Meredith Rogowski, a childhood friend, told The Daily Beast. "It was not a surprise. She was very bold and did whatever she wanted to do. Whenever we talked about her job, she was very nonchalant. But I do know it was exhausting to be in that world—it was long hours and some of the people she met weren't always genuine."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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| Why are COVID-19 cases in kids rising? It's mostly the adults around them Posted: 12 Aug 2020 03:07 PM PDT  The pediatric cases are a direct reflection of what's happening in their surrounding communities, experts said.
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| A slogan whose ambiguity serves a purpose Posted: 13 Aug 2020 03:00 AM PDT  The fact that the slogan "Defund the police" needs explanation is a plus because it serves as a quick, catchy way into a larger, more complex story.
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| Air Force helicopter shot at from ground while flying over Virginia, crew injured Posted: 12 Aug 2020 08:13 AM PDT  FBI investigating shot fired at UH-1N Huey flying over Virginia which injured a crew member.
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| Warning on Russia adds questions about Senate's Biden probe Posted: 12 Aug 2020 09:21 PM PDT  Even before last week's intelligence assessment on foreign election interference, Republican Sen. Ron Johnson was facing criticism from Democrats that his investigation of presidential candidate Joe Biden and Ukraine was politically motivated and advancing Russian interests. The investigation is unfolding as the country, months removed from an impeachment case that had centered on Ukraine, is dealing with a pandemic and confronting the issue of racial injustice.
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| Taiwan says discussing purchase of U.S. mines, cruise missiles Posted: 12 Aug 2020 10:00 AM PDT  Taiwan is in discussions with the United States on acquiring underwater sea mines to deter amphibious landings as well as cruise missiles for coastal defense, Taiwan's de facto ambassador to United States said on Wednesday. Speaking to the Washington's Hudson Institute think tank, Hsiao Bi-khim said Taiwan was facing "an existential survival issue," given China's territorial and sovereignty claims over the island and needed to expand its asymmetric capabilities. Hsiao said Taipei was currently working with the United States on acquiring a number of hardware capabilities, including cruise missiles that would work in conjunction with Taiwan's indigenous Hsiung Feng missile system to provide better coastal defense.
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| An admitted KKK leader has been sentenced to 6 years in prison after driving a truck through a crowd of protesters in June Posted: 12 Aug 2020 11:48 AM PDT  A Virginia man who boasted to police of his Ku Klux Klan rank was sentenced to six years in prison after driving his truck into a crowd of protesters.
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| AOC responds to apparent Democratic party convention speech snub: 'Eternity is in it' Posted: 13 Aug 2020 05:03 AM PDT  Firebrand lawmaker Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has hit back at an alleged snub by the Democratic party after being given just 60 seconds to deliver a speech a next week's convention.AOC responded on Twitter by posting the poem 'I have only just a minute', written by the late Dr Benjamin E. Mays, an American Baptist minister and civil rights leader.
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| Huge fire north of Los Angeles prompts evacuations Posted: 12 Aug 2020 08:38 PM PDT  A fast-moving brush fire north of Los Angeles prompted mandatory evacuation orders for some 500 homes on Wednesday as firefighters battled the flames that had burned 10,000 acres by early evening, authorities said. Rapidly-spreading flames had scorched some 10,000 acres (4,050 hectares) within a little more than three hours, according to the Los Angeles County Fire Department. "Multiple agencies are battling a brush fire near the Lake Hughes area in the Angeles National Forest," the department said in a tweet.
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| What Do All of Your Favorite Summer Beverages Have in Common? Posted: 13 Aug 2020 07:00 AM PDT |
| Is COVID-19 worse than the 1918 Spanish flu? Study shows deaths in New York quadrupled in early months Posted: 13 Aug 2020 09:57 AM PDT  The study compares the two months since the first recorded death of COVID in New York City with the deadliest two months of the 1918 calamity.
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| 'Latinx' Is Gaining Popularity. But New Research Says Only 3% of U.S. Hispanics Use the Gender-Neutral Term Posted: 11 Aug 2020 12:54 PM PDT  Only 3% of people in the U.S. describe themselves as Latinx, a gender-neutral and inclusive alternative to Latino or Hispanic.
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| MBS is stamping out the final threat to his rule, bringing an end to his 3-year coup marked by power grabs, forced disappearances, and assassinations Posted: 12 Aug 2020 08:23 AM PDT  Crown Prince Mohammed is gunning for Saad al-Jabri and Mohammed bin Nayef, but they are old friends of the US, who want answers from the kingdom.
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| Trump Campaign Playbook: Paint Kamala as ‘Ruthless’ and ‘Power-Hungry’ Posted: 11 Aug 2020 03:12 PM PDT  Sen. Kamala Harris may be on the bottom of the Democratic presidential ticket, but President Donald Trump's allies plan to portray her as far more than just a running mate. If Joe Biden prevails in November, the line from Team Trump will go, the California Democrat will effectively be the president of the United States.It's an extension of a line of attack against Biden that the Trump campaign has hammered for weeks: that he is incapable of governing and would effectively be a vessel for other interests in the Democratic Party to govern by proxy. In Harris, Trump allies say, Biden has selected a perfect foil to ramp up that line of attack."The playbook on Kamala is pretty simple," a plugged-in Trumpworld source told The Daily Beast. "Right now the message on Biden—and it's the first effective frame the campaign has sustained on Biden—is that he's an empty shell for the radical left. Kamala Harris is a power-hungry politician. She comes across as ruthless. So it's a believable frame that she'd be running the administration for empty shell Joe Biden."The source, who, like others, requested anonymity to speak candidly about Trump re-election strategy, acknowledged that the strategy will likely elicit cries of sexism from Biden, Harris, and other Democrats. But Trump's political machine nonetheless sees it as both consistent with recent Biden messaging that they feel has been effective and a line of attack against Harris that Trump and his allies can make stick.Sen. Kamala Harris Tapped as Joe Biden's VP"Anything Trump says about her will be [portrayed as] sexist," a former White House aide who worked closely with Trump's political team told The Daily Beast. "That won't determine the strategy and it shouldn't."Sure enough, the Trump campaign issued a statement moments after Harris was announced as Biden's pick."Not long ago, Kamala Harris called Joe Biden a racist and asked for an apology she never received," Trump campaign senior adviser Katrina Pierson said in a statement. "Clearly, Phony Kamala will abandon her own morals, as well as try to bury her record as a prosecutor, in order to appease the anti-police extremists controlling the Democrat Party." In fact, Harris specifically said she was not calling Biden a racist in that first Democratic debate last year.Despite the campaign's use of "Phony Kamala" on Tuesday, President Trump is still workshopping "effective nicknames" for Biden's now-announced running mate, a source with direct knowledge said.Trump's Twitter feed also blasted out a "Trump War Room" web video that bashed the Democratic VP selection as someone who started running in the 2020 primary by "rushing to the radical left," and who later trashed Biden's "racist policies" before primary voters decisively "rejected" her. The Team Trump video goes on to mock "Slow Joe" for not being "smart" enough to reject her, as well.Trump, for his part on Tuesday, called Harris "nasty" during his daily press conference and rambled for several minutes about various parts of her record he didn't like. But it was her questioning of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh in the Senate Judiciary confirmation hearings that truly raised his ire. "I thought she was the meanest, the most horrible, most disrespectful of anybody in the U.S. Senate," he said. Indeed, the tactic resembles some Democratic efforts to steer Biden away from selecting Harris as his running mate. Behind the scenes, some Biden allies told the campaign that they felt Harris was too "ambitious," CNBC reported last month. Efforts by Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT) to encourage a VP pick other than Harris were interpreted in similar fashion.The recriminations and allegations of sexism were loud enough to warrant public pushback from the Biden campaign. "Ambitious women make history, change the world, and win," tweeted Jen O'Malley Dillon, Biden's campaign manager. "Our campaign is full of ambitious women going all out for Joe Biden."The portrayal of Biden as an "empty shell," as the other Trumpworld source put it, has largely fed an effort by the Trump campaign to portray Biden as in thrall to, and at the mercy of, more radical elements of the Democratic Party. Biden's selection of Harris complicates that line of attack a bit. She's considered more progressive than Biden, but not as far to the left as other 2020 Democratic contenders such as Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren.Nonetheless, in conversations prior to Biden's announcement with three other individuals working on the Trump reelect, each conceded that whether it is Harris or anyone else on the shortlist, tagging Biden with the "radical left" label was going to be the pitch to voters in these final months regardless. Even if Harris' radicalism remains an elusive sell to voters, the tactic, Trump allies hope, will drive home their central line of attack against Biden: as one source put it, "he's not going to be running the country." Indeed, Trump himself largely ignored Harris during her run for the Democratic presidential nomination, even as he frequently railed against rivals such as Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT). When he did go after Harris, Trump was uncharacteristically mild in his criticism.Some allies of the president and veterans of his political operation shrugged off the process entirely, suggesting the line of attack would hold no matter who was at the bottom of the ticket. "The VP pick matters much more the day before it's made than it does the day after," said Ed Brookover, who served as a senior Trump adviser during the 2016 campaign. "It's always about the presidential nominees... The differences between the potential selections is very narrow."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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| Japan appeals court order to recognize 'black rain' victims Posted: 12 Aug 2020 12:17 AM PDT  Japan's government and the city of Hiroshima have appealed a court ruling ordering them to certify dozens of people who were exposed to radioactive "black rain" in the aftermath of the 1945 U.S. atomic bomb attack. The appeal comes after the Hiroshima District Court for the first time on July 30 recognized the "black rain" victims outside of a government-set physical boundary used as a basis for deciding survivors' eligibility for medical benefits. Both the city and the prefectural government joined the appeal.
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| Protesters in Minneapolis say they won't clear barricades around the George Floyd Memorial until the city leaders meet their 24 demands Posted: 12 Aug 2020 08:50 PM PDT  Some of the demands include recalling Hennepin County Attorney, Mike Freeman, and ending qualified immunity.
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| Suspects in recent Chicago looting will likely bail out of jail quickly; Kim Foxx weighs in Posted: 12 Aug 2020 10:44 AM PDT  Suspects in this week's looting across Chicago will likely bail out of jail quickly.
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| Israel halts fuel shipments to Gaza over fire balloons Posted: 12 Aug 2020 10:28 PM PDT  Israel said on Thursday it would stop shipments of fuel into Gaza in response to Palestinians in the enclave launching incendiary balloons that have torched tracts of farmland on the Israeli frontier. Palestinians in Islamist Hamas-ruled Gaza have launched dozens of helium balloons laden with incendiary material in recent days to pressure Israel to ease its blockade of the territory. Fuel shipments were stopped "in light of the continued launching of incendiary balloons from the Strip toward (Israel) and of the undermining of security stability," a defence ministry statement said.
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| Bill Cosby files new appeal over sexual assault conviction Posted: 12 Aug 2020 08:36 AM PDT  US comedian Bill Cosby, who is serving three and a half years in jail, has filed a new appeal against his conviction for drugging and sexually assaulting a woman 15 years ago. In court documents filed Tuesday with Pennsylvania's Supreme Court, Cosby's lawyers argue that five women should not have been allowed to give evidence at his trial as witnesses. The attorneys also argue it was "fundamentally unfair" that deposition testimony Cosby gave in a civil case regarding his use of sedative drugs and his sexual behaviors in the 1970s was heard in court.
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| Dogs are biting more children during the pandemic, doctors say. Here’s why Posted: 12 Aug 2020 03:17 PM PDT  Emergency room visits for dog bites this spring in Colorado have nearly tripled those of last year at the same time.
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| Police officers set dog on black man and say ‘good boy, good boy’ as it bites his leg Posted: 12 Aug 2020 10:08 AM PDT  A police dog in Salt Lake City was ordered to attack an African American man who was on his knees with his hands in the air.Police officers arrived at Jeffery Ryans's house in April in Salt Lake City, Utah, after they responded to a call made by someone who said they had heard him arguing with his wife, according to the Daily Mail.
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| Scientists, UC San Francisco develop COVID-19 antiviral nasal spray, inhaler Posted: 12 Aug 2020 08:07 PM PDT  Scientists and UC San Francisco announced an inhalable protection against COVID-19 with the goal of being produced into an affordable, over-the-counter antiviral medication in the coming months. UCSF is working to start human trials on what they have called "AeroNabs." Get the full story in the video above.
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| Fox News host baselessly claims that 'something's going to happen' to Joe Biden, forcing her colleague to walk her comment back Posted: 12 Aug 2020 03:59 PM PDT  "I have a sense that something's going to happen before the election, and he's not even going to be on the ticket," she said.
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| These states require travelers to self-quarantine or present negative COVID-19 test Posted: 12 Aug 2020 09:37 AM PDT  States are opening back up, but some still require or recommend visitors self-quarantine for two weeks. Find out where.
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| Residents of Chicago Neighborhood Eject Black Lives Matter Protesters Posted: 12 Aug 2020 10:11 AM PDT  A small group of residents from Chicago's Englewood neighborhood ejected Black Lives Matter protesters who arrived for a demonstration at a local police precinct.Several activist groups had organized a march leading to the 7th police precinct in Englewood. However, an organizer later told Fox 32 that groups decided to leave after confrontations with nearby residents left them feeling "unsafe.""If you ain't from Englewood, get the f*** out of here!" resident Darryl Smith shouted at the protesters. Residents engaged in pushing matches with some of the protesters."They were…gonna come to Englewood, antagonizing our police, and then when they go back home to the North Side in Indiana, our police are bitter and they're beating up our little black boys," Smith told Fox. Charles McKenzie, of a community violence-prevention group called God's Gorillas, concurred, saying "We refuse to let anyone come to Englewood and tear it up."Protesters maintained that they had come to demonstrate peacefully in favor of defunding the police. Organizers from one of the protest groups, GoodKids MadCity, said that they were themselves residents of Englewood, but that others in the neighborhood did not support eliminating the police entirely.Englewood has long been plagued by gun violence, including this year as Chicago sees a spike in shootings and homicides. Chicago police recorded 440 homicides and 2,240 shooting victims in the first seven months of 2020, up from 290 homicides and 1,480 shooting victims the previous year.On Sunday, police shot and wounded a 20-year-old who allegedly fired on officers, an incident that sparked confrontations with police after rumor spread that the wounded suspect was a child. That night, what appeared to be organized looters ransacked Chicago's downtown."A lot of people saying the looting sparked from Englewood. We're not having that. It didn't spark from Englewood," Smith said. "Those [looters] are opportunists, and we're tired of Englewood getting a black eye for any and everything that happens."
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| A man was forcibly carried out of an Arizona grocery store after he screamed profanities at an employee over face mask requirements Posted: 11 Aug 2020 05:08 PM PDT  "You are a bunch of idiots wearing masks. You know it's not real," the man yelled in a video that went viral.
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| North Korea nuclear reactor site threatened by recent flooding, U.S. think-tank says Posted: 12 Aug 2020 07:58 PM PDT  Satellite imagery suggests recent flooding in North Korea may have damaged pump houses connected to the country's main nuclear facility, a U.S.-based think-tank said on Thursday. Analysts at 38 North, a website that monitors North Korea, said commercial satellite imagery from August 6-11 showed how vulnerable the Yongbyon Nuclear Scientific Research Center's nuclear reactor cooling systems are to extreme weather events. The Korean peninsula has been hammered by one of the longest rainy spells in recent history, with floods and landslides causing damage and deaths in both North and South Korea.
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| Appeals court seems wary of ordering dismissal of Flynn case Posted: 11 Aug 2020 11:21 AM PDT  A federal appeals court in Washington appeared inclined Tuesday to let a judge decide on his own whether to grant the Justice Department's request to dismiss the criminal case against former Trump administration national security adviser Michael Flynn. Many members of the court expressed repeated skepticism at arguments from the Justice Department and Flynn's attorneys that a judge was not empowered to probe the motives behind the government's decision to abandon the prosecution of Flynn, who pleaded guilty as part of the special counsel's Russia investigation to lying to the FBI. The case will almost certainly persist for months if the court rejects Flynn's efforts to get a speedy dismissal and returns it to U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan, who refused to immediately grant the department's request to drop the prosecution.
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| $400 Unemployment Insurance Benefit: Who Qualifies, and When Does It Start? Posted: 12 Aug 2020 12:42 PM PDT |
| Chinese Communist Party's new Red terror in Hong Kong Posted: 13 Aug 2020 02:00 AM PDT  Hong Kong advocates for democracy are being targeted and arrested as China seeks to stamp out dissent.
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| U.S. says Iran briefly seizes oil tanker near Strait of Hormuz Posted: 13 Aug 2020 06:44 AM PDT  The Iranian navy held the vessel for some five hours before releasing it Wednesday, said a U.S. military official.
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| 13 Clever-Approved Bookshelves That’ll Make You Look Smart Posted: 12 Aug 2020 07:00 AM PDT |
| Seattle police chief blames City Council as she steps down after vote to cut $4 million in budget, 100 officers Posted: 11 Aug 2020 04:16 PM PDT  Carmen Best announced she would be retiring after the city council approved cutting nearly $4 million from the budget and reducing 100 officers.
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| Officials ignored warnings about Trump wall threat to endangered species Posted: 13 Aug 2020 02:00 AM PDT  Emails reveal experts at San Bernardino national wildlife refuge repeatedly sounded the alarm over grave threat to rare speciesStark warnings by federal scientists and wildlife experts about the grave threat posed by Donald Trump's border wall to rare and endangered species were repeatedly ignored by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), according to documents seen by the Guardian.A cache of emails obtained using the Freedom of Information Act (Foia) by environmental groups reveal multiple efforts over several months by experts at the San Bernardino national wildlife refuge in south-eastern Arizona, to save rare desert springs and crystalline streams which provide the only US habitat for the endangered endemic Río Yaqui fish.Even before Trump's water-guzzling concrete barrier, the border region's water reserves were depleted due to prolonged drought linked to the climate crisis. The expansion of water-intensive cash crops and urban growth have also drained aquifers in the arid region, leaving several endangered and threatened species wholly reliant on the freshwater ponds found in the refuge.In an email sent last October, the long-serving refuge manager, Bill Radke, warned colleagues at the US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) that the threat of groundwater depletion was a "dire emergency".It was around the same time that DHS contractors began pumping massive quantities of water from the aquifer relied upon by the refuge to mix concrete for construction of a 20-mile stretch of Trump's 30ft-high border wall.A few weeks later in early December, Radke described the water usage for the border wall as "the current greatest threat to endangered species in the south-west region" – referring to the states of Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and Oklahoma.According to the emails, refuge staff began monitoring the impact and felt forced to take "life support actions", allowing three ponds to dry up in an effort to save some of the fish. "We are monitoring pond levels. We are developing/implementing contingency plans to protect at least a subset of the endangered fish population that once thrived on the refuge. We are hoping for the best, but are planning for the worst," wrote Radke.The documents suggest as much as 700,000 gallons of groundwater was being extracted per day to construct the barrier, and DHS officials ignored direct requests from the FWS to avoid drilling wells in a five-mile buffer around the refuge. "Instead contractors made plans to drill even closer to the refuge, drilling their second new well 480 feet east of [the refuge]," Radke wrote.> The DHS was warned that wall construction would drain artesian pools and kill wildlife … The DHS knew it and did it anyway> > Laiken JordahlThe multibillion-dollar border wall project has avoided proper environmental, scientific and cost oversight as the government suspended 28 federal laws relating to clean air and water, endangered species, public lands and the rights of Native Americans, in order to expedite construction despite multiple legal challenges."The DHS was warned that wall construction would drain artesian pools and kill wildlife, including endangered species. The DHS knew it and did it anyway. None of this would be legal if the environmental laws were still in place," said Laiken Jordahl, the borderlands campaigner at the not-for-profit Center for Biological Diversity which obtained the emails."These documents make it very clear: the survival or extinction of these endangered desert fish is entirely in this administration's hands."An FWS spokeswoman said larger pumps were now required to maintain pond levels and appropriate pond outflows due to a drop in pressure in the aquifer. "The border wall construction contractor has purchased and is currently installing the needed higher capacity pumps," she said.But, pumping water is only a temporary solution and the pumps are already too late for at least three ponds. A document obtained by Defenders of Wildlife, suggests water extraction was still having a detrimental impact to the refuge as late as May 2020.The endangered and protected species under threat from the lowered water levels include the Yaqui catfish, beautiful shiner, Yaqui chub, Yaqui topminnow, Chiricahua leopard frog and Mexican garter snake.The DHS insists that it continues to operate under the spirit of the National Environmental Policy Act (Nepa), considered the cornerstone of environmental protection in the US, and takes into account public and expert comments.A Customs and Border Protection (CBP) spokesman told High Country News that "DHS and CBP have and continue to coordinate weekly, and more frequently on an as needed basis, to answer questions concerning new border wall construction projects and to address environmental concerns from the US Fish and Wildlife Service."
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| Sarah Palin offers advice as Kamala Harris is named VP candidate: ‘Don’t get muzzled’ Posted: 11 Aug 2020 04:27 PM PDT  The 2008 vice presidential candidate has advice for just the third woman picked for the job by a major party.
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| Three people die in Scottish train derailment, carriages piled up Posted: 12 Aug 2020 03:45 AM PDT  Three people died in a train derailment in eastern Scotland on Wednesday that left carriages overturned and piled on top of each other on a steep wooded slope, making it hard for emergency services to access the scene. Aerial footage showed one carriage detached from the rail tracks and lying on its side some distance down the slope. Another was completely overturned and had two carriages resting on it, one of which was also overturned.
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