| Trump back in rally form in Tulsa, but the promised crowd doesn't show Posted: 20 Jun 2020 06:42 PM PDT  President Trump's reelection campaign got off to a rocky start Saturday, with a rally in Tulsa, Okla., that he had hoped would draw a much larger audience than the one that showed up.
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| What’s the future for Dreamers? Posted: 21 Jun 2020 08:51 AM PDT  The Supreme Court blocked the Trump administration's latest attempt at ending the DACA program. What does the decision mean for hundreds of thousands of Dreamers?
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| Black Lives Matter wants to oust first Black Los Angeles DA Posted: 21 Jun 2020 10:17 AM PDT |
| 'Do you feel any remorse?': Officer charged in killing of George Floyd confronted while buying groceries in Minnesota Posted: 21 Jun 2020 12:12 PM PDT  One of the four officers charged in the killing of George Floyd was confronted by a shopper while buying groceries on Saturday in Minnesota.J. Alexander Keung, 26, was released from Hennepin County Jail on Friday night on a $750,000 bond. He was approached by a woman while shopping at a Cub Foods grocery store the next day.
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| Hackers just leaked sensitive files from over 200 police departments that are searchable by badge number Posted: 22 Jun 2020 08:46 AM PDT  Police departments have been sharing information about COVID-19, George Floyd protesters, and even tweets critical of the police.
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| New York City police chief defends police driving into protesters Posted: 22 Jun 2020 09:09 AM PDT  New York Police Commissioner Dermot Shea testified on Monday that officers who drove their cars into protesters were complying with department standards, and he defended the arrests of legal observers monitoring police conduct at demonstrations. Shea's testimony was part of a series of online public hearings held by New York Attorney General Letitia James, who is investigating the police response to widespread protests following last month's killing of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis. Last week, scores of protesters testified that New York Police Department officers kicked or shoved them, hit them with night sticks, doused them with pepper spray or cuffed wrists so tightly that hands turned blue.
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| Trudeau points to 'direct link' between detained Canadians and arrest of Huawei executive Posted: 22 Jun 2020 10:57 AM PDT  China has denied that the arrests of Kovrig and Spavor are tied to Meng's case.
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| ICC judges erred by acquitting Ivory Coast's Gbagbo: prosecutors Posted: 21 Jun 2020 05:52 PM PDT  International Criminal Court judges made "fundamental and serious" errors when they cleared former Ivory Coast president Laurent Gbagbo of crimes against humanity last year, prosecutors said as they launched an appeal on Monday. Gbagbo and his right-hand man Charles Ble Goude were acquitted in January 2019 of charges over post-electoral violence in the restive West African nation in 2010-11 in which around 3,000 people died. Prosecutors want the acquittal overturned and a retrial at the court in The Hague, which was set up in 2002 to deal with the world's worst crimes.
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| Florida reports record of more than 4,000 new COVID-19 cases Posted: 22 Jun 2020 04:03 AM PDT  Governor Ron DeSantis isn't rolling back reopening plans as the state sees a record-breaking week.
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| Chris Wallace Shreds Trump Campaign Adviser: ‘You Guys Look Silly’ for Denying Poor Rally Attendance Posted: 21 Jun 2020 08:42 AM PDT  Fox News anchor Chris Wallace was apparently not in the mood for Team Trump's spin on Sunday morning, repeatedly pushing back at Trump campaign adviser Mercedes Schlapp's excuses for President Donald Trump's poor campaign rally attendance.For days ahead of Saturday night's lightly attended rally in Tulsa, the Trump campaign set sky-high expectations for the turnout, boasting about the roughly 1 million tickets that had been requested while setting up an outdoor stage for an expected overflow crowd. In the end, however, only 6,200 attendees showed up to the 19,000-capacity BOK Center, resulting in large swaths of empty seats.Interviewing Schlapp on Fox News Sunday, Wallace noted that the arena was far from packed and that the overflow crowd stage event had to be canceled, asking the campaign aide what happened.After hyping the large number of RSVPs, which could be due to a concerted troll effort by TikTok teens, Schlapp went on to boast about the digital audience before blaming the dismal turnout on protesters blocking the entrances.Wallace, meanwhile, noted that Trump has always made a big issue about the attendance of his events and loves to contrast that with his opponents' supposed lack of ability to draw huge crowds. After Schlapp tried to interject, the Fox anchor fired back.'Fox & Friends' Confronts Kayleigh McEnany With Chris Wallace Criticism"He didn't fill an arena last night," he stated. "And you guys were so far off that you had planned an outdoor rally and there wasn't an overflow crowd and watching the coverage and talking to [Fox News correspondent] Mark Meredith on the ground today, protesters did not stop people from coming to that rally."Schlapp continued to insist that protesters prevented Trump supporters from attending before pivoting to presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden's rally sizes, prompting Wallace to jump back in to refocus the conversation."Mercedes, please don't filibuster," the veteran host fumed. "Please don't filibuster. We're showing pictures here and it shows big empty areas. Frankly, it makes you guys look silly when you deny the reality of what happened.""We are not denying the reality—I don't know what you're saying," Schlapp contended."There are empty seats there," Wallace retorted. "At least a third if not a half of the rally was empty—the arena was empty. You can't deny it."The longtime Republican operative—and former Fox News contributor—once again tried to turn the focus on Biden, resulting in Wallace calling her out."Mercedes, you're shifting to a campaign speech, which has nothing to do with the attendance of the rally," he proclaimed before eventually moving on to recent polls showing Trump is way behind Biden.Stephen Colbert Confronts Fox News' Chris Wallace for Defending Trump Tear-Gassing ProtestersRead 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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| Indian prime minister says China lost at least 40 soldiers during border clash Posted: 22 Jun 2020 12:20 PM PDT  China and India clashed at their disputed border this week, resulting in the lost of at least 40 Chinese soldiers.
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| Mexican drug cartel leader issues tearful threats to government after arrest of his mother Posted: 22 Jun 2020 06:29 AM PDT  One of the most wanted Mexican cartel leaders threatened the government and his arch-foes in highly unusual video messages, including one where he can be seen fighting back tears after his mother was detained over the weekend. Jose "El Marro" Yepez, leader of the Santa Rosa de Lima Cartel, has been a thorn in the side of the President Andres Lopez Obrador's government due to his gang's industrial-scale siphoning of petroleum from state-run oil company Pemex. In one of the videos widely shared on social media, Yepez can be seen lashing out against the government after his mother was allegedly arrested in a major security operation in the city of Celeya in Mexico's bloodiest state, Guanajuato. "I'm going to be a stone in your shoe. I'm going to blow up, you will see," Yepez, wearing jeans with a rifle slung over his shoulder, said in the video. Reuters was not able to independently verify the videos. Mexican security forces on Sunday said they arrested members of an organised crime group in a raid in Celeya, where they found a about one kilogramme of a something resembling methamphetamine and 2 million pesos ($88,000). "Among the detainees are Maria "N", Juana "N" and Rosalba "N", alleged financial operators of the criminal organization," Mexico's security agencies said in a joint statement, without naming the Santa Rosa cartel or its leader. El Universal newspaper said Yepez' mother, sister and girlfriend were all arrested. Yepez said he feared the authorities would frame his mother as one of the leaders of the cartel. "In my mother's and my people's name...I don't fear you," he said. Yepez also said he could form a coalition with the Sinaloa cartel or other crime groups in the north to fight Santa Rosa's arch-foe Jalisco New Generation cartel, which has been on a bloody expansion drive to take over rivals' territories across the country.
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| UK police: Park stabbing that killed 3 was a terror attack Posted: 21 Jun 2020 01:51 AM PDT  A stabbing rampage that killed three people as they sat in a British park on a summer evening is being considered a terrorist attack, police said Sunday as a 25-year-old man who was believed to be the lone attacker was in custody. Authorities said they were not looking for any other suspects and they did not raise Britain's official terrorism threat level from "substantial." Three people were killed and three others seriously wounded in the stabbing attack that came out of the blue Saturday in Forbury Gardens park in Reading, a town of 200,000 people 40 miles (64 kilometers) west of London.
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| Man arrested after 73-year-old woman punched in face on subway platform Posted: 22 Jun 2020 03:39 AM PDT  New York police have arrested a homeless man suspected to be the Bronx subway station attacker who pushed a 73-year-old woman last week.Authorities announced on Saturday night that 23-year-old Ahmed Kromah had been apprehended and charged with assault after an appeal, reported CBS News.
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| A Japanese-Inspired Home in the Middle of Texas Posted: 22 Jun 2020 06:27 AM PDT |
| Yes, Even Saddam Hussein Could Have Attacked and Sunk an American Battleship Posted: 22 Jun 2020 04:30 PM PDT  Nothing is impossible.
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| China warns of reprisal as Japanese city changes disputed area name Posted: 22 Jun 2020 12:56 AM PDT  China said on Monday it reserves the right to respond to a Japanese city's decision to rename the administrative area that includes remote islands claimed by both China and Japan and have long been a source of friction between the neighbours. The row over the uninhabited East China Sea islets may add to recent tension caused by Japan's criticisms of Beijing's plan to impose a new national security law in Hong Kong. China has said Japan should not interfere in Beijing's internal affairs.
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| Trump opens door to another round of stimulus checks, direct deposits Posted: 22 Jun 2020 01:30 PM PDT  The president said in an interview the amount would be "generous" but didn't put a dollar figure on it.
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| The Reason Why Team Obama Is Gunning for This Powerful Democrat Posted: 22 Jun 2020 12:45 AM PDT  Rep. Eliot Engel and President Barack Obama didn't always see eye-to-eye on issues of foreign policy. The New York congressman, as staunch a Middle East hawk as there currently is in the Democratic Party, was the most high-profile House Democrat to oppose Obama's nuclear deal with Iran, the biggest foreign policy initiative of his presidency. Now, Engel, the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, is fighting for his political life amid a primary challenge to his left from Jamaal Bowman, a former high school principal. Obama administration alumni want him to know they haven't forgotten his vote—and that they don't especially like what he's gotten done since. As some key figures in the party establishment, from Hillary Clinton to Speaker Nancy Pelosi to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, have lined up to support Engel, high-profile former Obama advisers, some of whom have immense sway with liberals nationwide through the popular podcasts from Crooked Media, have joined forces with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) in an effort to eject him from the House. "Bowman is the kind of progressive, exciting young leader that Democrats should be electing," said Tommy Vietor, co-host of Crooked's Pod Save America podcast and a former Obama national security spokesman. "I also think that [the Foreign Affairs Committee] should be more progressive when it comes to oversight, fighting annexation [of the West Bank], supporting diplomacy like the [Iran Deal] and unwinding parts of the U.S.-Saudi relationship that allow for the continued humanitarian catastrophe in Yemen.""We need fresh thinking on that committee," Vietor wrote in an email to The Daily Beast. On a June 10 episode of "Pod Save the World," co-hosts Vietor and Ben Rhodes, the former top Obama foreign policy hand, encouraged their listeners to check out Bowman. "Despite my briefings—I hope not because of them—he opposed the Iran nuclear deal," Rhodes said of Engel. "He's taken a pretty conventional line on issues related to Iran, Saudi, the Middle East more generally."As Engel's primary becomes the party's next big proxy battle, virtually no one is projecting that if Engel loses on June 23—an outcome seen as increasingly possible in Democratic circles—it will be because of his hawkish foreign policy views. At a June 3 event in his district, Engel was caught on a hot mic saying he "wouldn't be here" if he didn't have a primary. In May, The Atlantic reported that he'd ridden out the worst of COVID-19 in his Maryland home, not in the New York City-area seat he represents, which was one of the hardest-hit places in the country.House Chairman Demands Briefing on Kushner's Trip to Saudi ArabiaThe toppling of the Foreign Affairs Chairman, however, would reverberate far beyond his district. "There's a pretty profound desire in Democratic foreign policy circles for a more progressive approach, and that's not where Eliot Engel is or who he is," a former Obama official told The Daily Beast. "He's not bad—he's not creatively moving us in the direction a lot of us would like to go."Over his 31 years in Congress, Engel has become one of the eminent voices in either party pushing for a hawkish view on Middle East policy. In 2003, he supported the invasion of Iraq. In 2004, he led a group of lawmakers pushing for cuts in the U.S. contribution to the United Nations office that aids Palestinian refugees. In early 2015, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave an address to Congress that Democratic lawmakers either boycotted or excoriated as an "insult" to them and to President Obama. Engel, however, called Netanyahu's speech "compelling" and said he communicated "legitimate concerns." When Engel announced his opposition to the nuclear deal later that year, he said that the agreement Obama had worked at "may in fact strengthen Iran's position as a destabilizing and destructive influence." He was one of 25 House Democrats who voted against ratifying it. That record has earned Engel the ironclad support of pro-Israel groups—several of which have rallied to the 16-term incumbent in an expensive last-ditch effort to save him. The political action committee for a group called Democratic Majority for Israel, for example, has dropped over $1 million in ads boosting Engel and attacking Bowman—including a Wednesday spot that hit the challenger over a years-old unpaid tax bill. At least two other pro-Israel groups have run ads in support of Engel on social media. "He's been both a champion and a leader of pro-Israel efforts in the House," said Mark Mellman, president of Democratic Majority for Israel. "He would be much missed and that's why we're making a real effort to keep him in office."Obama's own views and vision on Middle East policy, meanwhile, earned him a famously icy relationship with the right-wing Israeli government and this constellation of American pro-Israel groups—such as the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, which has ties to the PAC now bankrolling Engel's rescue. At their annual Washington convention one year during Obama's tenure, AIPAC delegates had to be told not to boo the sitting president. Engel and Obama didn't prioritize the same things when it came to foreign policy, according to a former Obama official, who said that the congressman's opposition to the Iran Deal "colored private perceptions" of him through the end of the Obama presidency. "I think the important thing is what got Eliot Engel to that vote. It was the opposite of what President Obama stood for." And that vote, the official added, "was not the first sour taste he left in the prior administration's mouth."As chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Engel has used his perch to contribute to Democratic investigations of President Donald Trump, from the Ukraine-driven impeachment inquiry to probes of Secretary Mike Pompeo's handling of the State Department. That side of Engel's record is the one more frequently touted by big-name endorsers such as Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), the lead prosecutor of the case against Trump in the Senate impeachment trial."Ever since Trump took office, Eliot has helped expose the abuses of his administration, and hold this lawless president accountable," Schiff said in his endorsement of Engel. Bowman, for his part, has not made Engel's foreign policy record a centerpiece of his campaign, though he has criticized the incumbent's positions and has touted endorsements from progressive foreign policy groups that oppose Engel's hardline stances. Ironically, if Engel were to lose, it's possible he'd be replaced as chairman by another hawk, Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA), who also voted against the Iran deal and is currently the next most senior Democrat on the panel. Obama alumni insist that their enthusiasm for ousting Engel is nothing personal; many of them like him. "The real story here is he's got this energetic, charismatic, young challenger who talks about a lot of the issues that are at the heart of today's progressive agenda," said a former administration official. "It's not that he lost people on foreign policy, but despite being chairman… the Obama wonk foreign policy constituency is not lined up for him."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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| Iran rial plunges to virus-induced lows Posted: 22 Jun 2020 07:45 AM PDT  The Iranian rial plunged to new depths against the US dollar on Monday in what economists said was a slump partly induced by the Middle East's deadliest coronavirus outbreak. At Tehran's foreign exchange hub on Ferdowsi Street, the currency was being traded at around 192,800 to the dollar at midday, according to AFP journalists. The rial has hit rock bottom in the past month, collapsing even below the 190,000 rate it fell to in the wake of the US decision in 2018 to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal and reimpose sanctions.
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| North Korea reinstalls propaganda speakers along border with South Posted: 22 Jun 2020 05:41 AM PDT  North Korea is reinstalling propaganda loudspeakers along the border with the South amid growing hostilities between Pyongyang and Seoul, military officials confirmed on Monday. According to South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff, the loudspeakers, which were dismantled on both sides during a diplomatic thaw in 2018, have been set up again in "multiple places" inside the demilitarised zone that separates the two nations. "We are closely monitoring the North's moves to wage psychological warfare," an official source told the Yonhap news agency. Since the end of the Korean War in the 1950s until a 2018 agreement, both sides engaged intermittently in blasting propaganda at each other – the North choosing blistering condemnations of Seoul and the South opting for news about democracy, capitalism or popular K-pop songs to encourage defections. The return to the broadcasts marks another escalation in tensions, stemming apparently from Pyongyang's anger over defector groups sending messages and food parcels across the border using balloons. The North retaliated last week by blowing up an inter-Korean liaison office set up in 2018 to foster better relations, and by threatening to send troops back into border areas.
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| 2nd shooting in Seattle protest zone in less than 48 hours Posted: 22 Jun 2020 05:06 AM PDT  A second shooting in less than 48 hours in Seattle's occupied protest zone has left one person wounded, police said.
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| 8 nonwhite corrections officers say their supervisor forbade them from guarding Derek Chauvin, saying they would be a 'liability,' according to discrimination lawsuit Posted: 22 Jun 2020 05:13 AM PDT  Derek Chauvin is the former Minneapolis police officer charged with murder in the fatal arrest of George Floyd.
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| Why America's Aircraft Carriers Are Great But... Posted: 21 Jun 2020 03:00 PM PDT  Time for a change?
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| India reports record coronavirus cases, embassies warn on stretched hospitals Posted: 22 Jun 2020 05:37 AM PDT  India reported a record number of new coronavirus cases on Monday and a death toll of more than 400 people in the past 24 hours as foreign embassies warned their citizens in the country that hospitals might not have beds for them. The 15,000 new cases brought India's total to more than 425,000, behind only the United States, Brazil and Russia, according to data from the federal health ministry. Nearly 14,000 people have now died from the disease caused by the virus since the first case in India in January.
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| News Analysis: Joe Biden is no Hillary Clinton, and that's a problem for President Trump Posted: 22 Jun 2020 06:00 AM PDT  Trump's best hope for reelection is dragging Biden down. That's harder when many voters like the guy.
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| Suspending work permits for foreign graduates would be a terrible mistake for US economy Posted: 22 Jun 2020 04:00 AM PDT  A college education is a major U.S. export that benefits both the universities and economy.
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| Army confirms body found near Fort Hood is missing soldier Gregory Morales Posted: 22 Jun 2020 10:30 AM PDT |
| An Indian businessman just became the first Asian member of the world's 10 richest people. Meet the Ambanis, who live in a $1 billion skyscraper and mingle with royals and Bollywood stars. Posted: 22 Jun 2020 09:29 AM PDT  Mukesh Ambani is worth $44.6 billion. His family made headlines in 2018 for throwing one of the most lavish wedding celebrations in recent memory.
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| Cuomo Blames Federal Government for New York Nursing Home Deaths Posted: 22 Jun 2020 10:50 AM PDT  New York Governor Andrew Cuomo pushed back against accusations that his nursing home coronavirus policies resulted in dozens of unnecessary deaths, instead blaming the federal government for not relaying information about the pandemic soon enough."Let's look at the facts, right? Rather than the political rhetoric. Yes, we had more people die in nursing homes than anywhere else because we had more people die," Cuomo said Monday on MSNBC. "Because the federal government missed the boat and never told us that this virus was coming from Europe and not from China.""The federal government and the CDC and all of them failed to handle this pandemic and warn this nation," the Democratic governor continued. "So New York had more cases and more deaths and more deaths in nursing homes because that's who the virus affects. It affects senior citizens. We know that. You look at any state, and they had a tremendous number of deaths in nursing homes."Cuomo has faced criticism for his policies aimed at fighting the virus in nursing homes, in particular his state regulation requiring nursing homes to accept recovering coronavirus patients and the prohibition against nursing homes testing returning patients for coronavirus. The state was also criticized for the lack of personal protective equipment for caretakers working in nursing homes.In early May, New York announced 1,700 previously undisclosed suspected coronavirus deaths that occurred at nursing homes and adult care facilities. The report came after critics expressed skepticism about the official death tallies from coronavirus at nursing homes compared to rising death rates among elderly residents.During January, February, and March — before the Trump administration temporarily banned travel from Europe over coronavirus fears — three million people brought the virus to New York from Europe unbeknownst to the federal government, Cuomo said, an apparent reference to his earlier statement that three million travelers from Europe passed through New York's airports between December and March.The Europe travel ban was implemented on March 13. Research later indicated that the coronavirus was seeded in New York and other East Coast states by travelers from Europe rather than from China, where the outbreak originated."It's all a political charade, and it's an ugly one, frankly, to talk about a number of deaths and suggest there was politics added," Cuomo said of criticism about his nursing home policies, blaming Republicans for "playing politics."He touted New York's coronavirus testing rates as well the state's declining rate of hospitalizations and deaths. New York performed 57,000 tests on Sunday with less than one percent coming back positive.Meanwhile, the state saw 10 deaths from the infection on Sunday, down from a high of 800 deaths in one day at the peak of the outbreak. Currently, the state has 100 hospitalizations for coronavirus, the lowest level since the pandemic's height.Cuomo also said he may release guidelines to handle a potential influx of visitors to New York from states with higher infection rates.
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| National labor groups mostly close ranks to defend police unions Posted: 21 Jun 2020 05:30 PM PDT  While some in the labor movement are seeking to distance themselves, most are supportive even as they call for reforms.
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| Police kill Canadian man during mental health check Posted: 22 Jun 2020 03:31 PM PDT  A man with schizophrenia was killed by police who were called to help him.
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| S Korea urges North not to send leaflets amid high tensions Posted: 21 Jun 2020 08:41 PM PDT  South Korea on Monday urged North Korea to scrap a plan to launch propaganda leaflets across the border, after the North said it's ready to float 12 million leaflets in what would be the largest such psychological campaign against its southern rival. Animosities on the Korean Peninsula rose sharply last week, after North Korea destroyed an inter-Korean liaison office on its territory in anger over South Korean civilian leafleting against it. Yoh Sangkey, a spokesman at Seoul's Unification Ministry, told reporters that North Korea must suspend its plan to send anti-Seoul leaflets that "are not helpful to South-North (Korea) relations at all."
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| Pompeo urges China to release detained Canadians after 'groundless' charges Posted: 22 Jun 2020 09:03 AM PDT  U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Monday called for the immediate release of two Canadians charged by China for alleged espionage, saying the United States was "extremely concerned" and that the two men's detention was unjustified. "These charges are politically motivated and completely groundless," Pompeo said in a statement. Chinese prosecutors announced the charges on Friday against former diplomat Michael Kovrig and businessman Michael Spavor, who were arrested in late 2018.
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| Trump campaign seeks to reset after flubbed rally Posted: 21 Jun 2020 08:46 PM PDT  US President Donald Trump's reelection campaign hit out at protesters and the media on Sunday as it scrambled to reset after a disappointing relaunch at a rally beset by missteps. The event in Tulsa, Oklahoma was marred by empty seats, coronavirus infections within the campaign and a rambling speech by Trump that was criticized for having nothing of substance to say on the pandemic or racial tensions gripping America. The White House had promised Saturday's much-hyped event -- Trump's first rally in three months -- would be flooded with up to 100,000 people, but large sections of the 19,000-capacity BOK Center were empty.
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| The U.S. Navy Is Ready for Trouble in the South China Sea or Near Taiwan Posted: 22 Jun 2020 11:52 AM PDT  Not only do these types of operations extend the Navy's ability to attack inland targets to a larger extent, extend target-searching dwell time and enable coordinated multi-platform strikes, but they also greatly improve destroyer-and-cruiser launched missile attacks.
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| Arctic records its hottest temperature ever Posted: 22 Jun 2020 11:31 AM PDT  Reaching 100 degrees in or near the Arctic is almost unheard of.
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| Florida's daily coronavirus cases have more than quadrupled since reopening Posted: 22 Jun 2020 10:37 AM PDT  Two hospitals in Palm Beach County, Florida's third-most populous county, have no open ICU beds. Across the state, 75% of beds are occupied.
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| Study: Antibody levels in recovered COVID-19 patients decline quickly Posted: 22 Jun 2020 01:47 PM PDT  Levels of an antibody found in recovered COVID-19 patients fell sharply 2 to 3 months after infection for both symptomatic and asymptomatic patients, according to a Chinese study.
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| 7 years ago, this city disbanded its police force. It now serves as a model for others. Posted: 22 Jun 2020 10:57 AM PDT  Crime dropped in Camden, but there's more to the story, say advocates and longtime residents.
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| Mariana Trench: Don Walsh's son repeats historic ocean dive Posted: 21 Jun 2020 02:13 AM PDT  Sixty years after his father did it first, Kelly Walsh dives to the deepest point in Earth's oceans.
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| 2nd wave of virus cases? Experts say we're still in the 1st Posted: 21 Jun 2020 07:55 AM PDT  In The Wall Street Journal last week, Vice President Mike Pence wrote in a piece headlined "There Isn't a Coronavirus 'Second Wave'" that the nation is winning the fight against the virus. About 120,000 Americans have died from the new virus and daily counts of new cases in the U.S. are the highest they've been in more than a month, driven by alarming recent increases in the South and West. "When you have 20,000-plus infections per day, how can you talk about a second wave?" said Dr. Anthony Fauci of the National Institutes of Health.
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| Trump's Berman disaster suggests William Barr is not so smart after all Posted: 21 Jun 2020 05:21 AM PDT  The attorney general lied about the US attorney from New York, had to fire him, and landed the president with a big problemMaybe Bill Barr isn't that smart. With less than 150 days to the election, Roy Cohn 2.0 emerged from his scrum with Geoffrey Berman, the US attorney for the southern district of New York (SDNY), looking the worse for wear. In less than 24 hours, Barr placed Donald Trump in more jeopardy than he was when their brawl with Berman began late on Friday night.Instead of replacing Berman in the near term with a Trump loyalist, the US attorney for New Jersey, and in the long haul with Jay Clayton, the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Audrey Strauss, a career prosecutor, will lead the "sovereign" district until a Trump nominee clears the Senate.The SDNY, remember, has investigated and prosecuted close allies of the president.For Trump and his attorney general, replacing Berman with Strauss is like jumping from frying pan to fire. If the dynamic duo had a difficult time taming Berman, a Trump contributor and a former partner of Rudy Giuliani, reining in Strauss will prove even tougher.Already, Lindsey Graham is heaping praise on Strauss, calling her "highly competent, highly capable" and lauding her for possessing "the knowledge and experience to hit the ground running". That is not good news for the White House. Graham chairs the Senate judiciary committee.As a younger lawyer, Strauss bested the real Roy Cohn in a mob prosecution. Back in the day, Cohn was Trump's personal lawyer. Like Cohn, Barr attended Horace Mann for high school and Columbia for college.Clayton's shot at the SDNY appears to be evaporating. From the looks of things, Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, New York's Democratic senators, will be given the right to spike his nomination. They have already vowed to nix his bid, if Graham is to be believed. Clayton is a savvy corporate lawyer, not a litigator. Being a federal prosecutor calls for hands-on courtroom experience.To be sure, the relationship between the SDNY and the Trump has been fractious. Its prosecutors indicted Michael Cohen, another Trump lawyer, and treated the president as an unindicted co-conspirator. Also, the SDNY went at Giuliani's clients, Igor Fruman and Lev Parnas. Proximity to power did not immunize the pair.At the same time, word is that Giuliani's business ventures may be receiving a proctological exam from the SDNY, which he led himself before he was New York mayor. For the president and Barr, targeting Giuliani may have been a bridge too far. But now they have to worry about Strauss. Sometimes the devil you know is safer.Even if Rudy is left untouched, the latest episode will add another coat of mire to Barr's reputation. Being this president's stooge comes with a price. Like Rick Wilson says, everything Trump touches dies.This weekend, Barr was caught in a massive lie. On Friday, he told the world in writing that Berman would be resigning. Berman had promised no such thing. Think of a seven-year old getting busted for raiding the cake batter.Then on Saturday, Barr claimed Trump had fired Berman. Perhaps yes, maybe not. Whatever.On his way to Tulsa, the president punted on whether he ordered Berman's dismissal. The delegator-in-chief told the cameras that was a matter left for Barr. In the end, Berman resigned after Strauss's selection was assured.This was far from Barr's first battle with the truth or the law. Already, he has mischaracterized the Mueller report, interfered with the sentencing of Roger Stone and dropped the prosecution of Michael Flynn, Trump's first national security adviser, despite the general's guilty plea.Practically speaking, Barr preaches law and order for the many but appears to show little concern for the rule of law when it applies to the privileged few. Back at Horace Mann, he reportedly boycotted a school carnival because its proceeds went to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. When peaceful protest stood to impinge on Trump's staged walk to St John's in Washington earlier this month, the attorney general nodded at the use of flash-bangs and pepper spray.The judiciary too appears worried and distrustful of Trump's AG. Earlier this spring, Barr earned the ire of Reggie Walton, a George W Bush appointee to the federal bench. Walton "seriously" questioned the attorney general's integrity and credibility. His opinion deployed words like "distorted" and "misleading" to drive the point across, not language generally associated with the nation's chief law enforcement officer.Barely two months later, John Gleeson, a former federal judge appointed by the court to review the justice department's decision to drop the Flynn case, leveled a similar charge. His brief used the word "corrupt" nine times, and accused Main Justice of "gross abuse of prosecutorial power". By this measure, Eric Holder and Loretta Lynch, attorneys general during the Obama-years, look awesome.Once before, in 1992, Barr served as attorney general, and emerged as a reliable spear-catcher for a beleaguered George HW Bush. But as Bush's re-election bid was tanking, Barr witnessed the Los Angeles riots, resisted congressional oversight and defined what the law was. It didn't end well.Faced with congressional demands for the appointment of an independent prosecutor to investigate possible administration improprieties in the run-up to the Gulf war, Barr declined. Instead, he offered absolution by bandying about such phrases as "not a crime", "simply not criminal in any way", "nothing illegal" and "far from being a crime". After Bush lost the election, Barr successfully pressed for a series of pardons for Reagan administration officials stemming from the Iran-Contra scandal.Right now, the president is trailing Joe Biden. His Tulsa rally looks like a bust. There were empty seats galore, and members of Trump's advance team tested positive for Covid-19. Barr may again be pushed out the door by his countrymen – but not before he and his boss wreak further havoc.
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| Sudan warns against escalation in Nile dam dispute Posted: 21 Jun 2020 03:08 PM PDT  Sudan on Sunday warned against escalation and urged further negotiations with Egypt and Ethiopia over Addis Ababa's controversial dam on the Nile. Tensions are running high between the three countries after recent talks failed to produce a deal on the filling and operation of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam.
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| Yes, China Would Be Willing to Fight Another Korean War If It Had Too Posted: 21 Jun 2020 07:30 AM PDT  But what if nuclear weapons were used?
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| Not every Apple Watch will be able to track your sleep — here are the models that Apple just announced will get the new features in the fall Posted: 22 Jun 2020 03:31 PM PDT  Apple's watchOS 7 update for Apple Watch will bring sleep tracking and hand washing detection, but it's only available for the Series 3 and later.
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