| Conspiracy-mongering Republican seeking John Lewis seat gets social media boost from Trump Posted: 08 Aug 2020 08:47 AM PDT  Besides parroting many of President Trump's talking points, Angela Stanton-King, a Republican congressional candidate, has frequently repeated ideas related to the conspiracy theory QAnon.
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| After fatal great white shark attack in Maine, debate intensifies over culling seals Posted: 07 Aug 2020 07:06 PM PDT  Some business owners and politicians in the Northeast, worried that more shark sightings and beach closures could lead to a downturn in tourism, want the seal population culled, but not everyone thinks that's the answer.
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| A woman claiming to be from the 'Freedom To Breathe Agency' filmed telling a grocery employee that she could face legal action for making people wear face masks Posted: 09 Aug 2020 04:51 AM PDT  The mask-less woman gave the employee a piece of paper claiming she could go to prison for up to five years for telling customers to wear a face mask.
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| Riot declared as fire burns in Portland police union offices Posted: 09 Aug 2020 11:05 AM PDT  A fire inside a police union building led authorities in Portland, Ore., to declare a riot and turn protesters away from the offices as demonstrations continue in the city after federal agents withdrew more than a week ago.
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| Coronavirus: Nine test positive at Georgia school where photo of crowded corridor went viral Posted: 09 Aug 2020 05:52 AM PDT  Nine people have tested positive for Covid-19 at a Georgia high school just days after a photo of a packed hallway went viral.Six students and three staff members who were at North Paulding High School in Dallas, Georgia last week have tested positive, according to a letter sent to parents on Saturday.
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| A father, a sister, a son: Beirut blast takes a heavy toll Posted: 08 Aug 2020 12:03 AM PDT  A close twin sister, now separated forever. Tuesday's enormous explosion that killed scores of people, injured thousands and caused widespread destruction across Lebanon's capital touched off widespread mourning for the victims.
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| Trump calls audience at his Bedminster golf club a 'peaceful protest' Posted: 07 Aug 2020 06:05 PM PDT  President Trump said his audience of well-to-do supporters was involved in a "peaceful protest" and therefore did not need to adhere to state coronavirus guidelines prohibiting large gatherings.
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| French passengers sue Costa Cruises over virus ship ordeal Posted: 09 Aug 2020 05:04 PM PDT  Around 850 French passengers who were onboard a coronavirus-riddled cruise ship that was turned away from numerous ports in March have filed a collective suit in Paris with 180 complaints, including manslaughter, against Costa Cruises, their lawyer said Sunday. The class action, which includes complaints from the families of three passengers who died of COVID-19, accuses the Italy-based cruise giant of negligence and various faults during their trip on the Costa Magica. In the absence of stopovers, the crew encouraged the passengers to use the ship's shops, spas, restaurants and casino without sufficiently putting health measures in place -- or informing them there were suspected infections onboard -- the complainants said in their suit.
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| She Was Charged With Murder After Her Baby Was Stillborn. Now California’s AG Has Stepped In. Posted: 08 Aug 2020 12:55 PM PDT  For more than nine months, five of them during a global pandemic, a 26-year-old woman named Chelsea Becker has been sitting in Kings County Jail, under a $2 million bail, for giving birth to a stillborn baby.Becker has been there since November, when police arrested her and prosecutors charged her with murder. The District Attorney argued that Becker's methamphetamine addiction had caused the stillbirth, citing a 50-year-old law that civil rights advocates say was never supposed to apply to pregnant women. It has put Becker at the heart of a national debate over criminalizing fetal death. On Friday, however, California's Attorney General Xavier Becerra intervened. In an amicus brief to end the case against Becker, Becerra argued the prosecution's legal interpretation would lead to "absurd—and constitutionally questionable—results.""We believe the law was misapplied and misinterpreted," Becerra said in a statement about the brief. "Our laws in California do not convict women who suffer the loss of their pregnancy, and in our filing today we are making clear that this law has been misused to the detriment of women, children, and families." An American Surrogate Had His Baby. Then Coronavirus Hit.Back in September, Becker, then 25, was eight and a half months pregnant when she thought her water broke, only to discover it was blood. Becker's mother called an ambulance to her home in the San Joaquin Valley, according to The Los Angeles Times. Three hours later, Becker gave birth in Adventist Health Hanford hospital to a boy with no pulse, whom she had planned to name Zachariah.Suspicious that the fetus suffered from drug exposure, hospital employees alerted the Kings County Medical Examiner's Office, which conducted an autopsy. The exam found methamphetamine in the fetus' system, a Times report states, that amounted to more than five times the level thought to be toxic. They ruled the case a homicide. Becker had grown up in Hanford, a working class town in Kings County, that serves as a trading hub in the agrarian San Joaquin Valley. The nearly half Hispanic town recently made headlines when 183 meatpacking workers came down with COVID-19. According to the Census Bureau, 18 percent of residents live below the poverty line. Before the pandemic, county unemployment levels hovered at 7.9 percent—they have since soared to 14.6 percent.Becker told the Times that as a teen, she spent some time living with her father in Minnesota, where she became addicted to methamphetamine. She came home to Hanford at 19, where she had two other children, both of whom were removed from her care. In early November, prosecutors charged Becker with murder, holding the mother on a $5 million bail, later reduced to $2 million. Their case hinged on an amendment, passed in 1970, to the state's murder statute: Penal Code section 187. Earlier that year, the California Supreme Court had overturned the murder conviction of man who had assaulted his pregnant wife, causing the death of their fetus. The code, the court had concluded, only addressed the killing of "a human being," making the man ineligible for a murder charge. In response, the legislature amended the statute to include the "unlawful killing" of a "fetus." That was the language prosecutors seized on to charge Becker with murder."The conduct of the defendant resulted in the death of a fetus, which is a crime in California," said District Attorney Keith Fagundes told The Los Angeles Times. He did not respond to The Daily Beast's request for comment on Saturday.At her arraignment, Becker pleaded not guilty, and later filed a motion calling the code's application to a pregnant woman unconstitutional. The amendment had been made to protect victims of domestic violence, Becker's lawyers argued, not criminalize women who miscarried, had stillbirths, or sought abortions. "Penal Code 187(b)(3) by its own plain terms," they wrote, "precludes the prosecution of a woman for the consensual acts in which she may engage while pregnant." Becker's attorney, Roger Nuttall, and Becerra did not immediately return requests for comment. "Ms. Becker had experienced a stillbirth that the prosecutor claims (without scientific basis) was caused by her methamphetamine use during pregnancy," the National Advocates for Pregnant Women wrote in a statement on Becker's case. "Ms. Becker was charged with this crime despite the fact that §187 does not authorize, nor has it ever been interpreted to authorize prosecution of a woman in relation to her own pregnancy or any outcome of a pregnancy."https://www.facebook.com/NationalAdvocatesforPregnantWomen/photos/a.190808107181/10157715445342182/?type=3&theaterIn the decades since 1970, California prosecutors have tried to charge women for stillbirths, but none has secured a conviction until 2018, when another woman was arrested for the same crime in the same town of Hanford.Like Becker, Adora Perez was in her late 20s and addicted to methamphetamine when she gave birth to a stillborn baby at Adventist Health. Also like Becker, hospital employees alerted the Medical Examiner's Office when the fetus tested positive for the drug, according to reports in The Fresno Bee. Fagundes charged her with murder. Perez, however, took a plea deal. Now 32, she is serving an 11-year sentence in state prison for voluntary manslaughter—the first time in decades that a charge of this kind ended in jail time. The unprecedented charges against Becker and Perez have alarmed pregnancy advocates, medical professionals, drug policy organizations, and civil rights groups across the country. In April, the American Civil Liberties Union filed an amicus brief in support of Becker. The same day, a coalition of 15 organizations, from the Drug Policy Alliance to California Latinas for Reproductive Justice, filed another."Broadly accepted medical, public health, and scientific evidence supports the Legislature's drafting of the statute to avoid criminalizing women with respect to their pregnancies," the coalition wrote. "Pregnancy and use of controlled substances is a medical and public health issue, not an issue that should be subject to state intervention and control."Attempts to criminalize pregnant women who suffer from addiction have backfired in the past. In 2014, Tennessee passed a wildly controversial bill, attempting to target what they called "fetal assault." The bill allowed prosecutors to bring charges against women with drug addictions, if their fetuses were born still or disabled. It proved so polarizing that it was given a two-year trial phase and then, in 2016, deemed a failure and discontinued. "As a result of the law," the National Advocates for Pregnant Women wrote in a statement, "women steered clear of prenatal care and drug treatment and avoided delivering their babies in hospital settings."Nevertheless in June, the superior court denied Becker's motion to have the case declared unconstitutional. The next month, she filed a writ of prohibition––a motion to stop the court proceedings––arguing that "a woman cannot be prosecuted for murder as a result of her own omissions or actions that might result in pregnancy loss." In his amicus brief on her case, Becerra agreed: "The superior court erred in concluding otherwise." "The Legislature's purpose in adding the killing of a fetus to Penal Code section 187 was not to punish women who do not—or cannot, because of addiction or resources—follow best practices for prenatal health," Becerra wrote. "The courts should not assume that the Legislature intended such a sweeping and invasive change to the criminal law affecting women's lives without clear evidence of that intent. And such evidence is absent here."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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| Niger attack: French aid workers among eight killed by gunmen Posted: 09 Aug 2020 01:54 PM PDT  The attack happened in a region which draws visitors to the last giraffe herds in West Africa.
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| Amazon reportedly wants to take over JCPenney and Sears stores to turn malls into giant fulfillment centers Posted: 09 Aug 2020 12:03 PM PDT  Amazon would benefit by gaining well-located warehouse space in cities and could decrease delivery time on orders.
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| Wave in eastern Atlantic may develop into a tropical depression this week, forecasters say Posted: 09 Aug 2020 01:26 PM PDT  The National Weather Service is monitoring a storm that has the potential to become a tropical depression in the eastern Atlantic this week.
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| Three parks and wildlife employees die in helicopter crash during bighorn sheep survey Posted: 09 Aug 2020 11:53 AM PDT  Officials say the pilot survived the crash in south-western Texas and cause of crash is under investigationThree Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) employees have been killed in a helicopter crash while conducting aerial surveys for desert bighorn sheep in the south-western part of the state, according to officials.The crash happened on Saturday in the remote wilderness of Black Gap Wildlife Management Area, which is adjacent to Big Bend National Park, on the Rio Grande that marks the border with Mexico.The victims of the crash were identified as wildlife biologist Dewey Stockbridge, fish and wildlife technician Brandon White, and state wildlife veterinarian Bob Dittmar, according to the TPWD.Officials said the pilot survived the crash and was taken to El Paso, the most westerly city in Texas, on the border with New Mexico, for further treatment, and the patient's condition is currently not public."No words can begin to express the depth of sadness we feel for the loss of our colleagues in this tragic accident," said Carter Smith, TPWD executive director, in a statement.Smith said they were "highly regarded … for the immense passion, dedication, and expertise they brought to their important work in wildlife management and veterinary medicine" and that they were carrying out "their calling to help survey, monitor and protect the bighorns of their beloved west Texas mountains".The Texas governor, Greg Abbott, asked Texans to pray for the families of the victims of the crash, adding as part of a statement that "our hearts ache today".Details of the crash are so far limited and an official investigation by the authorities is underway, according to local media reports.Desert bighorn sheep are carefully studied in the wildlife management area. They were a ubiquitous native animal in previous times and were successfully reintroduced after being hunted out by the 1960s for their meat and to reduce competition with farmed sheep.
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| Celebrate the VP nominee, not Biden's decision to pick a woman. It's the least he can do. Posted: 09 Aug 2020 11:19 AM PDT  Our country has endured high opportunity costs for keeping white men in power for so long while ignoring the political contributions women could make.
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| Afghanistan to release 400 'hard-core' Taliban prisoners in bid for peace Posted: 08 Aug 2020 11:43 PM PDT  The Afghan government agreed on Sunday to release 400 "hard-core" Taliban prisoners, paving the way for peace talks aimed at ending almost two decades of war. Under election-year pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump for a deal allowing him to bring home American troops, the country's grand assembly, or Loya Jirga, on Sunday approved the release. The Taliban militant had demanded the release of the 400, the last batch among 5,000 prisoners to be freed, as a condition to join peace talks.
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| Florida's COVID-19 death toll tops 8,200 as cases trend higher again Posted: 08 Aug 2020 11:27 AM PDT |
| Man who was given life sentence for $30 marijuana sale to be freed Posted: 09 Aug 2020 06:32 AM PDT  A man in Louisiana serving a life sentence for selling less than a gram of marijuana is due to be released from prison, his lawyer has said.Derek Harris, who is a military veteran, was arrested in 2008 for selling 0.69 grams of marijuana — an amount worth less than $30 (£23) — to an undercover officer who came to his door.
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| Navarro Defends Trump, Claims ‘the Lord’ Created Executive Orders Posted: 09 Aug 2020 09:05 AM PDT  White House trade adviser Peter Navarro continued his reputation for saying outrageous things on Sunday, claiming "the Lord" created executive orders to cut through partisanship and calling Donald Trump the "hardest-working president in history" when confronted on Trump's latest golf weekend.Amid stalled coronavirus relief negotiations between Democrats, Republicans, and the White House, the president issued a series of executive actions and memos from his New Jersey golf club this weekend. The potentially illegal orders Trump signed reduces the unemployment benefit bonus to $400 a week, requires states to fund 25 percent, provinces a payroll tax holiday, and calls for a continued eviction moratorium.Appearing on NBC News' Meet the Press to defend the president's orders, Navarro was asked by host Chuck Todd whether he's confident that the orders will stand up to legal scrutiny since Congress is the branch tasked with budgetary powers."Well, one of the things I learned here, Chuck, at the White House going through a lot of work on executive orders is what we have the statutory authorities to do, and I'm confident that every single one of those orders which cleared through the office of legal counsel will stand up," Navarro declared, adding that the orders deliberately included non-decisive language.The Trump aide then shifted course and laid blame for the stalled negotiations at Democrats' feet, taking personal potshots at House Speaker Nancy Pelosi while suggesting Democrats purposely want a coronavirus relief package to fail."The question the president has is whether the Democrats really are sincere when they come to the table, and I'm not sure," he huffed. "It doesn't help when Speaker Pelosi goes out after every day, with her scarves flying and just beats the heck out of us for being cruel people."Todd, meanwhile, followed up by pressing Navarro on the president's own role in the failed negotiations."Where is the president? Why was he at his golf club all weekend?" Todd wondered aloud. "Why isn't he negotiating? Look, I understand you guys don't like each other, that Nancy Pelosi and the president — where is he? Why isn't he involved?""You have to understand this is the hardest-working president in history," Navarro shot back. "He works 24/7."After that bit of obsequiousness, Navarro insisted the real problem is "the swamp" in Washington before heaping praise on executive orders—a tool the president had previously derided when used by his predecessor."The Lord and the Founding Fathers created executive orders because of partisan bickering and divided government," Navarro exclaimed. "That's what we have here, but the president has taken action.""His constituency is mainstream Republicans and blue-collar Democrats and independents who are sick and tired of the swamp and he reached out and he took action," he added. "He didn't have to — he could have just let this keep going, and he did not. He took action, action, action, and action."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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| Canada's last fully intact ice shelf has suddenly collapsed, forming a Manhattan-sized iceberg Posted: 08 Aug 2020 08:41 PM PDT  The 4,000-year-old ice shelf fell apart at the end of July as summer temperatures soared, scientists said.
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| Coronavirus: New Zealand marks 100 days without community spread Posted: 09 Aug 2020 07:54 AM PDT  The prime minister hails the milestone as "significant", but warns against complacency.
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| Thousands of bikers heading to South Dakota rally to be blocked at tribal land checkpoints Posted: 08 Aug 2020 09:13 AM PDT  Clampdown comes as fears mount that mask-free bikers headed to large gathering could spread coronavirus to tribal groupsThousands of bikers heading to South Dakota's 10-day Sturgis Motorcycle Rally will not be allowed through Cheyenne River Sioux checkpoints, a spokesman for the Native American group said on Saturday.The decision to prevent access across tribal lands to the annual rally, which could attract as many as 250,000 bikers amid fears it could lead to a massive, regional coronavirus outbreak, comes as part of larger Covid-19 prevention policy. The policy has pitted seven tribes that make up the Great Sioux Nation against federal and state authorities, which both claim the checkpoints are illegal.A duty officer for the Cheyenne River Sioux told the Guardian on Saturday that only commercial and emergency vehicles will be let through the checkpoints onto reservation land.A number of bikers had tried to enter but had been turned back, they said. Other reservations in the region, including the Oglala Sioux, were also turning away bikers that had attempted routes to Sturgis that pass through sovereign land.Under Cheyenne River tribal guidelines non-residents driving non-commercial out-of-state vehicles are never allowed through the reservation. During the rally, non-commercial vehicles with South Dakota plates are also not allowed through.The clampdown comes as fears mount that mask-free bikers visiting Sturgis for the largest gathering of people since the start of the Covid-19 epidemic could spread the virus to tribal groups that are already experiencing a rise in cases.Oglala Sioux recorded 163 cases last week, while the Cheyenne River Sioux has seen cases rise to 79, according to the tribe's website.The restrictions come as local law enforcement reported a convergence of bikers from all directions. According to reports, many bikers heading for Sturgis expressed defiance at rules and restrictions that have marked life during the coronavirus pandemic.While South Dakota has fared better than most states – it ranks 38th in Covid deaths per capita, according to a Reuters tally – cases have risen in recent weeks as hotspots move into the midwest.During the rally, people are expected to cram bars and pack concerts with at least 34 acts playing. "Screw COVID," read the design on one T-shirt on sale. "I went to Sturgis."> I trusted my people, they trusted me, and South Dakota is in a good spot in our fight against COVID-19. > > The Sturgis motorcycle rally starts this weekend, and we're excited for visitors to see what our great state has to offer! https://t.co/UiHvaYviqa> > — Kristi Noem (@KristiNoem) August 6, 2020Stephen Sample, who rode his Harley-Davidson from Arizona, told the Associated Press that the event was a break from the routine of the last several months."I don't want to die, but I don't want to be cooped up all my life either," Sample, 66, said, adding that he had weighed the risks of navigating the crowds, but the same thrill-seeking that attracted him to riding motorcycles seemed to win out."I think we're all willing to take a chance," he said, but acknowledged the trip "could be a major mistake."South Dakota's Republican governor, Kristi Noem, has supported holding the Sturgis rally, pointing out that no virus outbreak was documented from the several thousand people who turned out to see Donald Trump at Mount Rushmore last month.The rally is marking its 80th anniversary and typically injects $800m into South Dakota's economy. Meade county sheriff, Rob Merwin, said: "It's going to be a lot of people and a lot of motorcycles all over the place. People are tired of being penned up by this pandemic."On Friday, a worker at the event told the Guardian crowds seemed larger than in previous years and warned that Sturgis attendees were paying little heed to medical advice."I've not seen one single person wearing a mask," said bartender Jessica Christian, 29. "It's just pretty much the mentality that, 'If I get it, I get it.'""In downtown Sturgis it's just madness," Christian added. "People not socially distancing, everybody touching each other. It'll be interesting to see how that turns out."Over 60% of Sturgis 6,900 residents who responded to a city council survey in May said they wanted the rally canceled.A month later, the council voted to move ahead, although it canceled all city-sponsored events associated with the rally and included measures such as hand-sanitizing stations. Sturgis mayor Mark Carstensen said throughout the pandemic, "the state of South Dakota has been the freedom state and the city of Sturgis has stayed true to that".
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| Israeli military strikes Hamas target in northern Gaza Strip Posted: 09 Aug 2020 01:59 PM PDT |
| A stranded tanker carrying 4,000 tons of fuel has breached and is leaking oil into the pristine, azure waters of the Indian Ocean Posted: 08 Aug 2020 07:23 AM PDT  The MV Wakashio ran aground off Mauritius on July 25. Cracks emerged in the hull on Friday after the ship was battered by strong winds.
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| Trump allows some unemployment pay and defers payroll tax Posted: 09 Aug 2020 08:12 AM PDT  President Trump on Saturday claimed the authority to defer payroll taxes and replace an expired unemployment benefit with a smaller amount after negotiations with Congress on a new COVID-19 rescue package collapsed.
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| Ecuador navy surveils large Chinese fishing fleet near Galapagos Posted: 09 Aug 2020 08:04 AM PDT  Ecuador's navy is conducting surveillance of a large Chinese fishing fleet that is operating near the protected waters of the Galapagos Islands, amid concerns about the environmental impact of fishing in the area of the ecologically sensitive islands. The fishing fleet has since 2017 been arriving in the summer months and fishing just outside the Galapagos territorial waters, drawn by marine species such as the endangered hammerhead shark. Such fishing is not illegal because it takes place in international waters.
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| Myanmar to probe deaths of two teens at juvenile centre Posted: 09 Aug 2020 05:39 AM PDT  Authorities said Sunday they would investigate the deaths of two teenagers at a Myanmar juvenile centre after the family of one victim alleged abuse, in a scandal plaguing the country's notorious detention system. Myanmar's state-run juvenile centres, like its prisons, have faced long-running complaints of overcrowding, poor sanitation and a lack of food. The two 17-year-old boys, Pyae Phyo Maung and Khaing Zaw Tun, were sentenced last month to two years at the Mandalay Community Rehabilitation Centre for robbery.
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| Battleground Tracker: Biden leads in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania Posted: 09 Aug 2020 07:30 AM PDT  The vast majority of voters in these two states say things in the U.S. are going badly. They think Joe Biden would do a better job of handling coronavirus by significant margins.
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| A 17-year-old high school student developed an app that records your interaction with police when you're pulled over and immediately shares it to Instagram and Facebook Posted: 09 Aug 2020 05:40 AM PDT  PulledOver is "like a community where you can share videos — you can see how other people are being treated," its creator told Business Insider.
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| Sweden looks to US model to curb deadly gang shootings Posted: 09 Aug 2020 06:33 AM PDT  Police in Stockholm are considering using a strategy against gun violence pioneered in gang-ridden US cities to counter a wave of shootings including an incident in which a 12-year-old girl was killed in crossfire last week. Senior officers from the Swedish capital have visited the southern city of Malmö, which has greatly reduced its shootings by using the Group Violence Intervention (GVI) methods pioneered in the 1990s in US cities. "They reacted very positively," Rolf Landgren, the police commissioner who leads the Group Violence Intervention (GVI) programme in Malmö, said. The shooting of the girl at a petrol station in Stockholm has led to renewed calls for police to clamp down on the gang violence that has resulted in close to 100 shootings in the first four months of this year alone. Police believe she was hit by a bullet fired at two men with links to a known gang. Malmö is on track this year to record its lowest number of shootings in a decade, with only nine registered so far, down from a peak of 65 in 2017. This is in line with results in US cities. A study of GVI in Boston found that it led to a 63 per cent fall in youth homicide. Mr Landgren said it had taken years of deadly violence before Malmö's police began to consider GVI – a method developed by David Kennedy, a criminologist, for Boston during the peak of its gun violence in the Nineties. "We had figures way, way higher than we had ever seen before. We needed to break that spiral," he said. In Malmö, the programme, called Ceasefire, was launched in late 2018. Known or suspected gang members are offered help to leave gang life and warned that if they continue to engage in gun crime, they risk continual police harassment. Suspects are continually targeted using laws that were designed to tackle football hooligans. The bullet-proof car owned by a 30-year-old suspected gang leader was stopped so frequently that he reported the police to Sweden's parliamentary ombudsman for harassment. The man has since been sentenced to five-and-a-half years in prison, after drugs and weapons were found during a raid. He has appealed the sentence.
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| Chicago's Montrose Harbor blocked by police, fence after Mayor Lori Lightfoot shuts down large beach party: 'It's being addressed' Posted: 09 Aug 2020 02:07 PM PDT  CHICAGO - For months, memes have appeared to show Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot watching for crowds and threatening to close parts of the city if residents don't abide by orders and closures during the coronavirus pandemic. But on Saturday, Lightfoot herself - not just an edited photo of her, like those used in such memes - apparently had a hand in breaking up a large gathering at Montrose ...
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| Small farmers left behind in Trump administration's COVID-19 relief package Posted: 09 Aug 2020 03:12 AM PDT  The uneven distribution of funds is stark. The top 10 percent got over 60 percent of the pot, while the bottom 10 percent got just 0.26 percent.
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| A Florida teacher wrote her own obituary, calling herself a 'human shield' as schools prepare to reopen Posted: 09 Aug 2020 10:28 AM PDT  As Florida school prepare to reopen August 20, a Duval County teacher wrote her own obituary in protest of the risks educators face from coronavirus.
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| Thousands throng central Jerusalem in anti-Netanyahu protest Posted: 08 Aug 2020 11:42 AM PDT  Thousands of demonstrators thronged the streets near the official residence of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in central Jerusalem on Saturday night, in a renewed show of strength as weeks of protests against the Israeli leader showed no signs of slowing. Throughout the summer, thousands of Israelis have taken to the streets to call on Netanyahu to resign, protesting his handling of the country's coronavirus crisis and saying he should not remain in office while on trial for corruption charges. Self-employed workers whose businesses have been hurt by the economic crisis also joined Saturday's march.
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| Gov. Mike Huckabee weighs in on religious voters, 2020 election Posted: 09 Aug 2020 07:36 AM PDT  Fox News contributor and former Arkansas Republican Governor Mike Huckabee joins 'Fox & Friends Weekend.'
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| India landslide: Dozens feared dead after flooding in Kerala Posted: 08 Aug 2020 12:17 AM PDT  Up to 20 houses are buried under debris in the state of Kerala, with rescue efforts under way.
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| US passes 5m Covid-19 cases as Joe Biden says pandemic 'breaks heart' Posted: 09 Aug 2020 03:52 PM PDT  US has the highest number of cases and the highest number of deaths in the world as former vice president attacks Donald Trump over coronavirus 'failures'The US on Sunday passed the grim milestone of 5m coronavirus cases, as Donald Trump's executive orders seeking to break a political impasse over further economic relief were denounced by a Republican as "unconstitutional slop" and Joe Biden accused the president of issuing little more than "excuses and lies".Recriminations have been flying in Washington since talks on further aid for the unemployed and for states struggling with a public health crisis collapsed on Friday.Trump intervened on Friday and Saturday, holding press conferences at his luxury golf club in New Jersey, cheered on by well-heeled members crowding close together, a jarring setting amid a pandemic and recession. On Sunday, there was loud criticism of the president's unilateral proposals on reduced federal enhanced unemployment benefits, payroll tax cuts and protection against evictions.New York's governor, Andrew Cuomo, dismissed Trump's executive orders as "laughable" and another chapter in the federal government's botched response to the pandemic. Cuomo said Trump's plan would likely cost New York state $4 billion: "The concept of saying to states, you pay 25%t of the insurance, is just laughable," he said. "It's just an impossibility. So none of this is real on the federal side. This is going to have to be resolved."The New York governor said he didn't know if Trump was "genuine in thinking the executive order is a resolution or if this is just a tactic in the negotiation. But this is irreconcilable for the state. And I expect this is just a chapter in the book of Washington Covid mismanagement."Trump's plan encroaches on Congress's control of federal spending, drawing claims it is illegal, as well as accusations of his proposals being unworkable and failing to address the most pressing financial hardships facing American families."These are illusions," Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic speaker of the House of Representatives, told Fox News Sunday.The row intensified as the US continued its unwelcome role as the nation with the highest number of Covid-19 cases, crossing the 5m threshold according to figures from the Johns Hopkins University data tracker.The pandemic in the US is far from under control, according to repeated warnings in recent days and weeks by top federal public health experts.The US also has the highest number of deaths in the world from the virus, at nearly 163,000, according to Johns Hopkins..The Democrats have proposed a $3tn package of new economic measures to address the crisis. The Republicans so far have offered $1tn-worth of short-term measures. Talks in which Pelosi proposed they meet in the middle at $2tn broke down on Capitol Hill on Friday.Trump then put forward measures including resuming the federal unemployment benefit enhancement that ran out last month, but cutting it from $600 a week to $400 – $100 of which would have to be supplied by the states themselves, via a new system.He also talked about extending protections against eviction for renters, but it turned out to be a proposal to examine such a move.And a proposal for a tax cut would need the cooperation of America's employers.Pelosi on Sunday concurred with the assessment of Republican senator from Nebraska Ben Sasse, who tweeted that Trump's unilateral economic relief measures amounted to "unconstitutional slop".> BREAKING: Senator Ben Sasse becomes the first Republican to criticize Trump's illegal executive order, saying: "The pen-and-phone theory of executive lawmaking is unconstitutional slop." NotAKing pic.twitter.com/QlbcinINMT> > — Republicans for Joe Biden (@RepsForBiden) August 9, 2020The White House chief economics adviser, Larry Kudlow, said on CNN on Sunday that money had been allocated by the federal government already that would allow states to contribute $100 per person of the new $400 a week benefit on offer from the White House, with some 30 million Americans newly out of a job since the coronavirus pandemic cratered the US economy.He acknowledged: "There is still a lot of hardship out there. There is a lot of heartbreak." He also demurred on questions of whether the president's proposals as presented were legal.Pelosi said that what the president is putting forth "is not workable".Pelosi said: "What [Kudlow] said really shows the weakness and the meagerness of what the president proposed. First of all he's saying the states have the money. No they don't, they have expenses from the coronavirus. They have lost revenue, because of that they are firing health care workers, first responders, teachers, sanitation, transportation workers because they don't have the money."She added: "Something's wrong. Either the president doesn't know what he's talking about – clearly his aides don't know what he is talking about – or something's very wrong here about meeting the needs of the American people at this time."> House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Trump's executive actions: "Something's wrong. Either the President doesn't know what he's talking about. ... Or something's very wrong here about meeting the needs of the American people at this time" CNNSOTU pic.twitter.com/Id401eeMdc> > — CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) August 9, 2020Peter Navarro, the trade adviser to the president, defended Trump to NBC's Meet the Press, while taking a personal slant on Pelosi."It doesn't help when Speaker Pelosi goes out … with her scarves flying and beats the heck out of us," he said.Host Chuck Todd asked why Trump spent the weekend at his golf club with the coronavirus pandemic raging alongside the economic crisis.Navarro simply said Trump is "the hardest working president in history".Trump has been to golf clubs he owns in Virginia, New Jersey and Florida, repeatedly during the pandemic.The Democratic Senate minority leader, Chuck Schumer, told ABC on Sunday: "The event at the country club is just what Trump does: a big show, but it doesn't do anything."The Democrats' presumptive presidential candidate, Joe Biden, published a statement on Medium late on Saturday night about the forthcoming milestone of cases."It's a number that boggles the mind and breaks the heart," he wrote. "Five million is more than the entire population of Alabama – or of more than half the states in our union, for that matter. Each time the number clicks up, it represents a life altered, a family stricken with anxiety, a community on edge. And for the families of the more than 160,000 souls who have died because of this virus, it is a pain that can never be undone."He added: "And yet, we continue to hear little more from President Trump than excuses and lies in an effort to cover for his repeated failures of leadership – failures that worsened the pandemic here at home, and in turn deepened our economic crisis." *
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| New Zealand has now gone 100 days with no new local COVID-19 cases — and it hasn't been on lockdown since June Posted: 09 Aug 2020 08:20 AM PDT  Life has returned to normal for most New Zealanders, with bars, restaurants, and sporting events open for business.
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| Police Officer Fired After Allegedly Mishandling Explicit Photos of Slain University of Utah Student Posted: 08 Aug 2020 10:22 AM PDT  The Salt Lake Tribune had reported that the officer had downloaded, shared and bragged about the photos
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| Gunmen kill six French aid workers, their driver and guide in Niger, minister says Posted: 09 Aug 2020 08:05 AM PDT  Gunmen on motorcycles killed six French aid workers, a Nigerien guide and a driver in a wildlife park in Niger on Sunday, officials said. The group was attacked in a giraffe reserve just 65 km (40 miles) from the West African country's capital Niamey, the governor of Tillaberi region, Tidjani Ibrahim Katiella, told Reuters. The six worked for an international aid group, Niger's Defence Minister Issoufou Katambé told Reuters.
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| Explosives expert: It's only a matter of time before human error leads to another Beirut blast Posted: 08 Aug 2020 10:57 AM PDT  One of the world's leading experts on ammonium nitrate told The Daily Telegraph: "It's only a matter of time before something similar happens again." Vyto Babrauskas, a fires and explosives forensics expert based in New York, said that there were tens of thousands sites around the world where the chemical was stored unsafely. He carried out an investigation into a disaster seven years ago in West, Texas where 15 died. About 2,750 tonnes ignited to devastate Beirut on Tuesday. In the UK, it is legal to store up to 1,250 tonnes. In the Texas disaster, only 30 tonnes went up.
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| A body was recovered from the wreckage of the New Orleans Hard Rock hotel 10 months after it collapsed Posted: 09 Aug 2020 08:30 AM PDT  The hotel collapsed last October. It killed three construction workers, including 36-year-old Quinnyon Wimberly, whose body was recovered on Saturday.
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| Maskless woman filmed telling grocery store worked she could be sued for enforcing rules Posted: 09 Aug 2020 10:42 AM PDT  A maskless woman was filmed falsely telling a grocery store worker she could be prosecuted for telling customers to wear masks - insisting that she was from an organization called the 'Freedom to Breathe Agency'.The now-viral video shows the woman claiming she's from the 'agency', which she says protects people's "constitutional rights" and makes sure civil and federal laws are not broken.
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| Lebanon priests recount horror as blast rocked church Posted: 09 Aug 2020 08:22 AM PDT  The video shows Father Rabih Thoumy swinging a chain censer sending smoke into the air when abruptly there is a rumble and then a loud bang as the shockwave from Beirut's devastating explosion slams into the church. There were tears and shock.
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| ‘Like Groundhog Day’: Republicans fret over Trump’s fading fortunes Posted: 08 Aug 2020 04:00 AM PDT  Negotiations for coronavirus relief have fallen apart. Coronavirus deaths continues to rise. Several Trump allies acknowledged that if the election was held today, Trump would likely lose.
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| Just 30% of Brits say they would definitely get a coronavirus vaccine, with scientists blaming anti-vaxxer conspiracy theories and mistrust in government Posted: 09 Aug 2020 01:56 AM PDT  Scientists warn that the UK government will have to convince people to get a vaccine amid significant levels of skepticism among Brits.
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