| KKK 'leader' charged for attack on Black Lives Matter protesters Posted: 08 Jun 2020 03:14 PM PDT  A hate crime investigation is underway after a Virginia man allegedly drove his car into protesters.
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| Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey was booed out of a protest after he said he would not defund the police department Posted: 07 Jun 2020 08:38 AM PDT  Frey left the protest against the death of George Floyd after an officer knelt on his neck, to shouts of "shame on you" and "go home, Jacob, go home."
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| Why Did Iran Want This Florida Man In Exchange For an American Veteran? (Think Herpes) Posted: 08 Jun 2020 11:29 AM PDT  U.S. officials say he was part of a "very large conspiracy" to help Iran research a herpes vaccine.
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| Feds press criminal case against Flynn partner Posted: 07 Jun 2020 08:28 PM PDT  The move occurs even amid ongoing efforts to drop charges against Michael Flynn.
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| China demands proof from U.S. senator for COVID-19 accusation Posted: 08 Jun 2020 12:54 AM PDT  China on Monday challenged U.S. Senator Rick Scott to show evidence supporting his accusation that Beijing is trying to slow down or sabotage the development of a COVID-19 vaccine by Western countries. Scott declined to give details of the evidence when asked during the interview on Sunday but said it had come through the intelligence community.
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| Brazil records big surge as global deaths approach 400,000 Posted: 07 Jun 2020 09:01 AM PDT  Here are the latest coronavirus updates from around the world.
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| Irene Triplett, last person to collect an American civil war pension, dies at 90 Posted: 07 Jun 2020 03:00 AM PDT  Daughter of private who fought for both sides and had children in his 80s lived for years in a North Carolina nursing homeThe last person to receive a US government pension from the American civil war has died.Irene Triplett was 90 when she died last Sunday in Wilkesboro, North Carolina. Her father, Mose Triplett, fought for the Confederacy and the Union in the civil war, which began in 1861 and ended with the defeat of the slave power in 1865. He applied for his Union pension 20 years after the war and in 1930, when his daughter was born, he was 83.The Wall Street Journal, which spoke to Irene Triplett for a story in 2014, reported that she died "from complications following surgery for injuries from a fall, according to the nursing home where she lived".Dennis St Andrew, a commander of the North Carolina Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War, told the Journal Triplett was "a part of history"."You're talking to somebody whose father was in the civil war," he said. "Which is mind-bending."But to Stephanie McCurry, a historian of the civil war and Reconstruction era at Columbia University in New York, Triplett's death acquired a deeper resonance by occurring in the midst of national civil unrest over the killing by Minneapolis police of George Floyd, an African American man."Just like the Confederate monuments issue, which is blowing up right now, I think this is a reminder of the long reach of slavery, secession and the civil war," she told the Washington Post. "It reminds you of the battle over slavery and its legitimacy in the United States."Each month, Triplett collected $73.13 from the Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA), a total of $877.56 a year. Her father earned the sum by defecting north in 1863 after missing the battle of Gettysburg, the turning point of the war."Pvt Triplett enlisted in the 53rd North Carolina Infantry Regiment in May 1862," the Journal reported, citing Confederate records which showed he was then 16.And Triplett "transferred to the 26th North Carolina Infantry Regiment early the following year", "fell ill as his regiment marched north" then "ran away from the hospital … while his unit suffered devastating losses at Gettysburg".A deserter, Triplett "made his way to Tennessee and, in 1864, enlisted in … the 3rd North Carolina Mounted Infantry", Kirk's Raiders, which "carried out a campaign of sabotage against Confederate targets".Mose Triplett was unsurprisingly not popular in post-war North Carolina but eventually, in 1924, still childless, he married a second time. He was nearly 80. His new wife, Elida Hall, was 34. As the Journal put it, "such an age difference wasn't rare, especially during the Great Depression when civil war veterans found themselves with both a pension and a growing need for care."Triplett and Hall had five children but only two survived: Irene, who like her mother suffered from mental disabilities, and Everette, a son born when Mose Triplett was 87. As the Journal wrote in 2014, "Irene and Everette Triplett were born in tough country during tough times. The forested hills ran with white lightning from illegal stills. Ms Triplett said she didn't drink moonshine, but she got hooked on tobacco in first grade.""I dipped snuff in school, and I chewed tobacco in school," Triplett said then. "I raised homemade tobacco. I chewed that, too. I chewed it all."In 1938, aged 92, Mose Triplett attended a reunion at Gettysburg. In his remarks, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt referred to the Gettysburg Address, delivered in November 1863: "Lincoln spoke in solace for all who fought upon this field; and the years have laid their balm upon their wounds. Men who wore the blue and men who wore the gray are here together, a fragment spared by time."Newsreel footage posted to YouTube by CSPAN tells of "2,500 veterans, north and south", black and white, marking "the 75th anniversary of America's Armageddon".Housed in the Confederate camp, Triplett reportedly kept quiet about the double service that placed him in rarefied company. The Victorian journalist and explorer Henry Morton Stanley, for example, also fought for both sides.Triplett died shortly afterwards. His gravestone, in Wilkes county, says only: "He was a civil war soldier."In 1943, Irene and her mother moved to the Wilkes county poor house. In 1960, they moved to a care home. Elida Hall died in 1967. Everette Triplett died in 1996. Irene lived on, her care paid for by Medicaid and the civil war pension.The Journal reported that though Irene "saw little of her relatives … a pair of civil war buffs visited and sent her money to spend on Dr Pepper and chewing tobacco".Jamie Phillips, the home's activities director, told the Post Triplett liked gospel music, cream cheese cheeseballs and laughing."A lot of people were interested in her story," Phillips said, "but she'd always deflect the conversation to something different going on in the news."
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| George Floyd murder suspect Derek Chauvin has bail set at $1.25m Posted: 08 Jun 2020 02:29 PM PDT  Ex-policeman Derek Chauvin is accused of murdering the unarmed black man by kneeling on his neck.
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| Minneapolis City Council President Claims Fear of Dismantling Police ‘Comes From A Place of Privilege’ Posted: 08 Jun 2020 07:50 AM PDT  Fears of dismantling local police forces come from a "place of privilege," Minneapolis City Council president Lisa Bender told CNN on Monday."What if in the middle of the night my home is broken into. Who do I call?" CNN anchor Alisyn Camerota asked Bender after the city council president laid out her vision for a post-police city."I hear that loud and clear from a lot of my neighbors, and I know — and myself, too, and I know that that comes from a place of privilege," Bender responded. "For those of us for whom the system is working, I think we need to step back and imagine what it would feel like to already live in that reality where calling the police may mean more harm instead."> Minneapolis City Council President Lisa Bender on the intent to defund and dismantle the city's police department: "[We] have looked up ways we can shift the response away from our armed police officers… the groundwork is laid already." https://t.co/h0eSepelHE pic.twitter.com/wBASgjsIbq> > -- CNN (@CNN) June 8, 2020Bender and eight other City Council members, who together form a veto-proof majority on the twelve-seat body, have already signed a pledge to dismantle the Minneapolis Police Department. Mayor Jacob Frey has backed reform but refused to defund the city's police force entirely.However, Bender appeared to temper a push to defund the MPD immediately, saying it would take "years" before police would not be necessary. She and other Council Members had come out in support of a "police-free future" in 2017."To me, [a police-free future] is a long way away, and it would take an enormous amount of investment in things that we know work to keep people safe," Bender said. "I know the statement was bold, and I stand by that bold statement, but the work ahead of us will be long."Calls to defund and dismantle police departments have grown after the death of George Floyd, an African American man killed during his arrest by four Minneapolis police officers. The city saw widespread demonstrations and riots following Floyd's death, with rioters looting and burning down buildings including the headquarters of the city's 3rd precinct, where the four officers were stationed.
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| Hong Kong seethes one year on, but protesters on the back foot Posted: 08 Jun 2020 02:00 PM PDT  Hong Kong on Tuesday marks a year since pro-democracy protests erupted, but a resumption of city-wide unrest is unlikely as activists reel from mass arrests, coronavirus bans on public gatherings and a looming national security law. Seven months of massive and often violent rallies kicked off on June 9 last year when huge crowds took to the streets to oppose a bill allowing extraditions to mainland China. Student groups and unions have also announced plans to canvas members over possible strike action in coming days, but Hong Kong's labour movement has limited influence.
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| A US Marine veteran stood outside the Utah Capitol with the words 'I can't breathe' taped over his mouth for so long that his shoes started melting into the ground Posted: 07 Jun 2020 10:31 PM PDT  Todd Winn, a two-time Purple Heart recipient, stood outside for three hours in complete silence as temperatures rose to 100 degrees Fahrenheit.
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| Saudi Arabia considers limiting haj pilgrims amid COVID-19 fears Posted: 08 Jun 2020 07:32 AM PDT  Saudi Arabia could drastically limit numbers at the annual haj pilgrimage to prevent a further outbreak of coronavirus after cases in the country topped 100,000, sources familiar with the matter said on Monday. Official data show haj and the lesser, year-round umrah pilgrimage earn the kingdom about $12 billion a year. Saudi Arabia asked Muslims in March to put haj plans on hold and suspended umrah until further notice.
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| Trump's press secretary criticises AOC and says president 'appalled' by 'defund the police' movement Posted: 08 Jun 2020 11:28 AM PDT  Donald Trump is "appalled" by activists and some Democratic lawmakers calling to "defund" police departments in the wake of George Floyd's killing, with the president top spokeswoman criticising Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez over the matter."The fact that you have sitting congresswomen wanting to defund the police ... it is extraordinary. When you think the left has gone far, and they want to go farther," White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said on Monday.
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| Ku Klux Klan leader drove truck into crowd of peaceful protesters, Virginia officials say Posted: 08 Jun 2020 01:35 PM PDT  "We lived through this in Charlottesville in 2017," Henrico Commonwealth Attorney Shannon Taylor said. "This egregious criminal act will not go unpunished."
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| Brazil expunges virus death toll as data befuddles experts Posted: 06 Jun 2020 09:02 PM PDT  Brazil's government has stopped publishing a running total of coronavirus deaths and infections in an extraordinary move that critics call an attempt to hide the true toll of the disease in Latin America's largest nation. Saturday's move came after months of criticism from experts that Brazil's statistics are woefully deficient, and in some cases manipulated, so it may never be possible to understand the depth of the pandemic in the country. Brazil's last official numbers showed it had recorded over 34,000 deaths related to the coronavirus, the third-highest number in the world, just ahead of Italy.
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| The WHO supports face shields as a tool to curb coronavirus spread, but warns that no face covering will stop the virus entirely Posted: 08 Jun 2020 11:20 AM PDT  "Masks alone will not protect you, face shields alone will not protect you from infection," the WHO said, arguing social distancing's still important.
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| North Korea: Call from South to North goes unanswered for first time Posted: 08 Jun 2020 12:01 AM PDT  Break comes after the North threatened to shut down the inter-Korean liaison office at the border.
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| Madera County Sheriff's Deputy fired after using racial slur on social media Posted: 06 Jun 2020 06:59 PM PDT  Madera County Sheriff's Deputy Damian Tabatabai has been fired from his position due to racially insensitive comments on social media accounts.
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| Army Considering Renaming Bases Named After Confederate Leaders Posted: 08 Jun 2020 03:42 PM PDT  Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy on Monday reversed his stance on renaming U.S. Army bases currently named for Confederate leaders and is now reportedly "open" to renaming them."The Secretary of the Army is open to a bipartisan discussion on the topic," Army spokesperson Colonel Sunset Belinsky told Politico.The reversal comes on the heels of the U.S. Marines' decision to ban the display of the Confederate flag on its military bases, including on bumper stickers, clothing, and coffee mugs. The ban was made official on Friday."The Confederate battle flag has all too often been co-opted by violent extremist and racist groups whose divisive beliefs have no place in our Corps," the Marines said in a statement. "Our history as a nation, and events like the violence in Charlottesville in 2017, highlight the divisiveness the use of the Confederate battle flag has had on our society."Some of the white supremacist protesters who demonstrated in Charlottesville, Virginia during the summer of 2017 sported Confederate flag paraphernalia as they protested the removal of a statue of General Robert E. Lee. The protests turned violent, and one white supremacist protester purposefully rammed his car into a crowd of counter-protesters, killing one woman.The Army previously said in February that it had no plans to rename the nearly dozen major bases and facilities named in honor of Confederate leaders. However, the service branch has faced pressure more recently to rename some of its military installations, including Fort Bragg in North Carolina, Fort Hood in Texas, Fort A.P. Hill in Virginia, and Fort Benning in Georgia.The reversal comes amid national protests and riots over the death of George Floyd, a black man who died in police custody after a white Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for close to nine minutes until after Floyd passed out. Both peaceful protests against police brutality as well as riots and looting have broken out in metropolitan areas around the country in the wake of Floyd's death.
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| New York starts reopening as WHO says virus 'worsening' worldwide Posted: 08 Jun 2020 03:21 PM PDT  New York City -- the epicenter of America's coronavirus outbreak -- began partially reopening its shattered economy Monday after almost three months of lockdown, as the World Health Organization warned the health crisis was "worsening" worldwide. "It's good to be back," said Michael Ostergren, manager of the Shakespeare and Co bookshop on Manhattan's Upper West Side, where a trickle of customers arrived shortly after the doors reopened. As New York entered phase one of its reopening and some of Europe's hardest-hit nations lurched back to a new kind of normal, the WHO reported a record number of new cases globally.
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| Air strikes break truce in rebel towns in Syria's northwest: witnesses Posted: 08 Jun 2020 10:28 AM PDT |
| 2020 election: George W Bush, Mitt Romney, and other GOP establishment figures refuse to support Trump Posted: 07 Jun 2020 07:26 AM PDT  Several longtime Republicans who have held political and military offices as high up as secretary of state and even the presidency will not vote for Donald Trump in 2020, as criticism of the 45th president's handling of anti-police-brutality protests intensifies in the wake of the death of George Floyd and other black Americans.Former President George W Bush will not vote for Mr Trump this November, The New York Times has reported. His brother, former Florida Governor and 2016 GOP presidential candidate Jeb Bush, is still deciding who he'll vote for, the Times said.
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| White suburbanites flocked to Detroit's protests. Black residents are divided on their role. Posted: 08 Jun 2020 01:59 PM PDT  As Detroit's black community copes with the death of George Floyd, residents are split over how to respond — and the role of white suburban protesters.
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| Anti-racism protesters rally around world, topple statue Posted: 07 Jun 2020 03:54 AM PDT  Thousands of people took to the streets of European cities Sunday to show their support for the Black Lives Matter movement, with protesters in the English port of Bristol venting their anger at the country's colonial history by toppling a statue of a 17th-century slave trader. Demonstrators attached ropes to the statue of Edward Colston before pulling it down to cheers and roars of approval from the crowd. Images on social media show protesters appearing to kneel on the statue's neck, recalling the death of George Floyd in Minnesota on May 25 that has sparked worldwide protests against racism and police violence.
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| The UK steps up its fight with China by preparing tough new laws to prevent hostile takeovers of British firms Posted: 08 Jun 2020 02:57 AM PDT  New laws could make it compulsory for British firms to report attempted takeovers that could create risks to national security.
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| Coronavirus: Hard-hit Brazil removes data amid rising death toll Posted: 06 Jun 2020 08:51 PM PDT  Brazil will now only report numbers for the past 24 hours, no longer giving the cumulative data.
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| Mexican cartels are stockpiling drugs and money amid COVID-19 pandemic Posted: 08 Jun 2020 07:30 AM PDT  Travel restrictions at U.S.-Mexico border crossings have made it harder for cartels to move drugs and drug profits without detection, DEA agents said.
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| Satellite images of packed Wuhan hospitals suggest coronavirus outbreak began earlier than thought Posted: 08 Jun 2020 09:07 AM PDT  Coronavirus may have broken out in the Chinese city of Wuhan much earlier than previously thought, according to a new US study looking at satellite imagery and internet searches. The Harvard Medical School research found that the number of cars parked at major Wuhan hospitals at points last autumn was much higher than the preceding year. It also found that searches from the Wuhan region for information on "cough" and "diarrhea", known Covid-19 symptoms, on the Chinese search engine Baidu spiked around the same time. It has led researchers to suggest that the outbreak began much earlier than December 31, the date the Chinese government notified the World Health Organisation of the outbreak. The findings add weight to US calls for Beijing to cooperate with investigators attempting to understand the origins of a virus which has now claimed more than 400,000 lives worldwide.
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| Mulberry Harbors: The Crazy D-Day Tech That Helped Crush Hitler for Good Posted: 08 Jun 2020 05:16 AM PDT  Instead of capturing a harbor, the Allies opted to bring it with them.
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| Over half of people tested in Italy's Bergamo have COVID-19 antibodies Posted: 08 Jun 2020 11:44 AM PDT  More than half the residents tested in Italy's northern province of Bergamo have COVID-19 antibodies, health authorities said on Monday, citing a sample survey. Of 9,965 residents who had blood tests between April 23 and June 3, 57% had antibodies indicating they had come into contact with the coronavirus, the survey showed. Health authorities in Bergamo said the results were based on a "random" sample which was "sufficiently broad" to be a reliable indicator of how many people had been infected in the province, which became the epicentre of Italy's outbreak.
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| Colin Powell announces support for Biden, saying Trump "lies all the time" Posted: 07 Jun 2020 07:49 AM PDT  "I certainly cannot, in any way, support President Trump this year," Powell said on CNN.
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| NOW Board Members Demand President Toni Van Pelt Resign Amid Racism Claims Posted: 07 Jun 2020 07:25 AM PDT  Nine national board members of the National Organization for Women are calling on the president, Toni Van Pelt, to resign after a Daily Beast investigation revealed a pattern of racism at the storied women rights group.The revolt comes as the organization's black vice president says she has also been the subject of discrimination and tokenism—and was not even personally consulted before NOW sent out a statement on the death of George Floyd."I was so upset and mad I called my mom crying," Christian Nunes told The Daily Beast. As The Daily Beast reported this week, interviews and internal documents show Van Pelt was accused of racist behavior by more than fifteen former NOW staffers and interns. Her former vice president, Gilda Yazzie, has filed a racial discrimination lawsuit accusing Van Pelt of pushing her out of her role, in part because she is a Native American woman.'Don't Forget the White Women!': Members Say Racism Ran Rampant at NOWIn an email to the entire board sent shortly before The Daily Beast story was published, the nine board members said that the organization "should be led by an individual who has the full confidence of its leadership and members to not only carry out but also represent the mission of the organization.""It has become clear to us that President Toni Van Pelt no longer has that confidence and we respectfully request she resign within 24 hours," they wrote.There are 17 people on the national board. Twelve votes are required to forcibly remove the president from her position.State chapter leaders were also organizing a call Saturday night to draft a letter calling on Van Pelt to resign, according to emails reviewed by The Daily Beast.Van Pelt did not respond to texts, calls, or emails, and NOW also did not reply to requests for comment.On Friday, after The Daily Beast inquired about the racism accusations, Van Pelt sent an email to all NOW Board members, state presidents, staff and PAC members apologizing for any hurt she had caused and committing to five action items to improve racial justice within the organization. "All Black Lives matter," she wrote. "As a White woman, I'll never understand the experiences of women of color. I challenge myself to address structural racism and recognize that this is a lifelong, ongoing process. I do understand it is critical to acknowledge my own privilege and strive to be a better ally. As the leader of NOW, and a leader within the intersectional feminist movement, I must hold myself and our organization accountable to do more."On Saturday, however, Vice President Christian Nunes—a black woman who took over the role of vice president after Yazzie left—said more needs to be done to address the problems at the organization. Nunes told The Daily Beast she had experienced almost the exact same pattern of discrimination Yazzie described since taking office."I thought that I was really going to be able to help this organization," Nunes said. "But ultimately I feel like I've just been a token.""When I communicate my experience, people want to give me [Van Pelt's] resume and tell what NAACP meetings she's been to," Nunes added. "But you can't tell me this isn't my experience. You can't tell me this isn't real." Nunes said that while her tenure at NOW started well, she began experiencing retaliation as soon as she pushed back on what she saw as racism within the organization. (In one particularly upsetting incident, she said, Van Pelt put her head on a desk and fell asleep during a racial justice training.)In recent months, Nunes said, she has been left out of executive meetings, excluded from budget discussions, and seen almost all of her responsibilities reassigned to white women in the organization. A former employee who worked closely with Nunes told The Daily Beast she had also witnessed this treatment. "Slowly but surely, you could see Christian's power, her role, her opportunity to even speak be taken away," she said.When the organization issued a statement on the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police officers earlier this month, Nunes says, she was not asked to help craft it. She says she saw the statement at the same time all the other members did, when it was sent out under the subject line "'I Can't Breathe' — We All Can't Breathe"—a phrase reminiscent of the right-wing rallying cry, "All lives matter.""I try to be professional and not talk about it to other people because I'm trying to handle it the right way… but that hasn't worked," Nunes said."When it comes down to it, some in power are just not listening and would rather believe that the black vice president has communication issues and it's just not working, rather than believe I am experiencing racial discrimination," she added. After Nunes and multiple other members complained about the statement, NOW removed it and replaced it with a different one quoting the vice president. A War Over Sex Work is Raging Inside The Nation's Biggest Feminist GroupIn 2018, 15 former employees signed onto a 2018 letter accusing Van Pelt of racist behavior—including referring to NOW's social media director, an Asian-American woman, as the "IT person;" talking over women of color in meetings and conference calls; and asking staffers of Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal, "What's her name? Punjabi?" The staffers also claimed Van Pelt told two of them that she had only chosen Yazzie as a running mate because she needed a woman of color in order to win.Yazzie, meanwhile, claims in her lawsuit that Van Pelt pushed her out of her responsibilities, then scapegoated her to the national board for financial issues that were outside her purview. In one incident, Yazzie claims, Van Pelt chased her around the office, screaming, "You won't be here for three years!" Despite her repeated complaints of a hostile work environment, the board voted to remove Yazzie in May of last year."They wanted me, but they wanted me as a token," Yazzie previously told The Daily Beast. "They did not want me as a full, functioning vice president."Board member Cheryl Wapes'a-Mayes, a Native American woman, told The Daily Beast that she, too, had faced discrimination from Van Pelt. She called on the entire executive team—including Nunes—to step aside for their role in Yazzie's ouster."I want the executive committee that is in place to leave right now and let us heal," she said. "The racism isn't going to go away. It's systemic and it dates way, way back. But we can start healing and deal with this in a meaningful manner."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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| India eases lockdown even as virus cases jump in capital Posted: 08 Jun 2020 02:39 AM PDT  With shopping malls, places of worship, restaurants and state borders reopening Monday, some of the last vestiges of India's 10-week-long coronavirus lockdown disappeared even as the country reported its highest single-day death toll and experts said things would get worse. In the capital of New Delhi, shoppers applied hand sanitizer and underwent temperature checks before entering Ambience Mall, where a sign read: "Welcome back to the lifestyle you love." The doors were also reopened at New Delhi's historic Jama mosque.
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| Coronavirus: The misinformation circulating in Africa about Covid-19 Posted: 07 Jun 2020 01:24 AM PDT  We examine claims of bribes and poison, a positive virus test that was not and anti-virus "badges".
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| 'This is not a dictatorship': Democratic congressman accuses Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of trying to 'anoint' his successor because she backed his primary opponent Posted: 08 Jun 2020 09:05 AM PDT  Ocasio-Cortez has long argued that robust primaries strengthen democracy and she's has endorsed a slate of progressive challengers this cycle.
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| Analysis: Why the Government introduced quarantine despite their own scientists' doubts Posted: 08 Jun 2020 12:46 PM PDT  It was in late March that it first emerged Priti Patel was pressing for quarantine to restrict arrivals coming to the UK from high-risk countries like Iran, the US and China but it was not until late last month that it was officially announced. Home Office figures show 18.1 million people entered the UK between January 1 and end of March without any health checks, including people from coronavirus hotspot countries. Of these, just 273 were quarantined and as many as 20,000 infected people may have entered the UK in that time. The question this data begs is why quarantine is being introduced now when the Government's own chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance says it is most effective if the infection rate in the receiving country is lower than those from which they are arriving. Imposing quarantine made sense when at the start of the pandemic Britain lagged behind Italy, Spain, France and China but now our rate is higher than theirs. Professor Robert Dingwall, a member of the SAGE advisory group, summed it up: "We would really need to get the level [of infection] significantly further down before quarantine started to become a useful tool." This has led Michael O'Leary, the boss of Ryanair which is taking joint legal action against quarantine, to claim it is a "political stunt" especially when our half-hearted approach is compared with other countries' quarantines. Unlike New Zealand, which yesterday declared itself coronavirus-free and quarantined people in Government-paid-for hotels, international arrivals to the UK are largely being trusted to self-isolate for 14 days, with minimal checks on their movements. Ministers maintain it is necessary to prevent a second wave of coronavirus which would not only be economically damaging if lockdown had to be re-imposed but also politically devastating for trust in the Government's ability to manage a major crisis. But Henry Smith, the Tory MP who chairs the new cross-party Future of Aviation group, believes it is more a case of Government stubbornness and a desire to provide a fearful public psychological reassurance "rather than hard public health evidence." This is supported by ministers and officials frequently citing polls showing as many as 73 per cent of the public say fear of coronavirus will stop them flying this summer. "A feature of most Governments in my experience is that once they have announced something publicly even if it subsequently emerges that it is not such a great idea, they don't back down for a period. It's almost a matter of face-saving," he said. Which comes to the theory that quarantine will help fuel a surge in staycations to help revive the ailing UK tourist industry. Announcing an investment package to support UK holidays, Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden declared: "I much prefer British holidays to holidays overseas." Others suspect a more machiavellian reasoning that to adopt a more scientifically valid approach by barring visitors from high-risk countries while allowing in those from low-risk states would anger the US and Donald Trump at a key moment in trade talks. What most agree is that Dominic Cummings, Boris Johnson's senior adviser, has been a key driver of the quarantine policy. Paul Charles, one of the organisers behind the Quash Quarantine campaign chief executive of PC Consultancy, said: "This comes from Dominic Cummings fighting a pro Brexit policy. There is no doubt that is what is behind this. There is no scientific evidence. "Dominic Cummings and Priti Patel are using this as a tactic within the EU negotiations to be able to prove to the EU how powerful the British consumer is to the European countries. "By stopping them from going abroad this summer, they are hurting European economies because the British are the number one tourists market in Spain and Italy." With the Tory MPs, airports, airlines and more than 500 of the biggest names in the travel industry now ranged against the "economically-damaging" quarantine, there is a growing expectation it will be watered down, if not scrapped, to salvage at least some of the remaining summer holiday season.
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| Sandinista leaders fall victim to coronavirus outbreak they downplayed Posted: 08 Jun 2020 02:15 AM PDT  Nicaragua's government denies community spread in the country but an independent tally says deaths are 20 times the official figureEarlier this year, as countries enforced strict social-distancing rules to slow the spread of coronavirus, Nicaragua's Sandinista rulers organized a string of pro-government rallies and marches under the banner "Love Walk in the Time of Covid-19".Among those who joined one of those crowds in Managua was Dr Félix Bravo, a doctor in the country's public health system, whose loyalty to the Nicaraguan government apparently outweighed the World Health Organization's warnings against large gatherings.A month and a half later, Bravo was dead.Officially, his death was caused by "atypical pneumonia" – a diagnosis which Nicaraguan doctors and epidemiologists say is routinely used by the country's authorities to hide the country's Covid-19 death toll.President Daniel Ortega and his wife and vice-president, Rosario Murillo, insist that Nicaragua has so far avoided community spread of the virus, and seen just a handful of deaths from the pandemic.But in the past month the virus appears to have reached the inner circle of the country's political elite: at least 20 prominent Sandinistas – including ministers, members of the national assembly, senior advisers and a police commander – have died after displaying symptoms typical of Covid-19.Several of the dead stand accused of playing a key role in the repression of a popular uprising against the Sandinista government in 2018, in which more than 300 people were killed.Some had openly dismissed the threat posed by the pandemic. In March, Edwin Castro and Wilfredo Navarro, two Sandinista deputies in the national assembly, were caught on camera, mocking other legislators who entered the chamber wearing face masks.Not longer after, Castro was taken to hospital for two weeks with coronavirus symptoms, and has not been seen in public since. Meanwhile Navarro's cousin and parliamentary aide, Roberto Moreira, has died of Covid-19. Nicaragua's health ministry says the country has 1,118 confirmed coronavirus cases and 46 deaths, but independent estimates say the figure is closer to 4,000 cases, with at least 980 deaths.Last Monday, more than 30 local medical associations called for a "national lockdown" of three or four weeks, warning in an open letter that: "The exponential increase of Covid-19 cases has caused the collapse of the public and private health systems."The next day, Murillo named seven officials and senior Sandinistas who had died – or as she put it, "journeyed to another plane of life"."What remains is their legacy, their bravery and above all, the love with which they served the Nicaraguan people at every moment," she said.Among the dead were two senior Sandinista figures The telecoms minister, Orlando Castillo, was sanctioned by the US last year for "silencing independent media" after journalists were beaten, harassed and arrested in the wake of the civil revolt.Also on the list was Orlando Noguero, mayor of Masaya, who led troops and hooded paramilitaries in a brutal counter-attack against mortar-wielding rebels who held the city for months during the uprising.Murillo did not mention any cause of death in her eulogy for the dead officials, but medical sources told the Guardian that Castillo and Noguera both died in hospital wards which have been dedicated to patients with Covid-19 symptoms.Noguera was swiftly buried in Masaya at private ceremony in which the gravediggers wore PPE – following a pattern of "express burials" in which coronavirus victims are interred behind closed doors.The deaths of senior Sandinista figures are personal tragedies for their families, but some opposition activists see them as a kind of "divine justice".Other victims named by Murillo were Olivio Hernández Salguera, the national police's public security chief who helped lead the crackdown on opposition protesters, and the union boss and deputy Rita Fletes, who once described herself as "Daniel Ortega's daughter".As Noguera was laid to rest, opposition activists in Masaya lit rockets and firecrackers to celebrate the death of a man they accused of masterminding the crackdown on their city. "Covid-19 delivered the justice that all my brothers who were murdered in 2018 never saw," said one local.
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| U.S. sanctions imposed on Iranian shipping network over proliferation take effect Posted: 08 Jun 2020 01:10 PM PDT  U.S. sanctions imposed on Iran's shipping network took effect on Monday, months after they were announced in December following accusations of supporting proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in a statement on Monday warned commercial and maritime industries, governments and others that they risked U.S. sanctions if they did business with the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL) and its Shanghai-based subsidiary, E-Sail Shipping Company. The State Department had announced the designations in December but allowed a delay for them to take effect, giving time for exporters of humanitarian goods to Iran to find different shipping methods, according to the statement.
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| Russia’s new nuclear policy could be a path to arms control treaties Posted: 08 Jun 2020 08:18 AM PDT  The document offers a valuable window into Russia's strengths and vulnerabilities as they appear from Moscow.
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| Florida chapter of Fraternal Order of Police tells disciplined, jailed cops 'we are hiring' Posted: 08 Jun 2020 05:18 PM PDT  A Fraternal Order of Police chapter is being criticized for a Facebook post telling the "Buffalo 57" and "Atlanta 6" to join local police departments.
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| McEnany bashes Romney for supporting Black Lives Matter movement Posted: 08 Jun 2020 01:02 PM PDT  White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany on Monday criticized Sen. Mitt Romney for supporting the Black Lives Matter movement after he marched with demonstrators in Washington, D.C.
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| Treasure chest worth millions found in the Rocky Mountains after deadly decade-long search Posted: 08 Jun 2020 05:35 AM PDT  Multiple people died searching for the treasure hidden 10 years ago in the Rocky Mountains by Forrest Fenn.
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| Coronavirus: US-China virus row flares with senator's comments Posted: 07 Jun 2020 04:18 AM PDT  Rick Scott tells the BBC, without evidence, China is trying to "slow down" vaccine development in the West.
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| Protesters topple Confederate statue in Virginia capital Posted: 06 Jun 2020 10:47 PM PDT  A small group of demonstrators toppled a statue of a Confederate general in the the former capital of the Confederacy late Saturday, following a day of largely peaceful protests in the Virginia city. The statue of Gen. Williams Carter Wickham was pulled from its pedestal in Monroe Park, a Richmond police spokeswoman said. A rope had been tied around the Confederate statue, which has stood since 1891, The Richmond Times-Dispatch reported, adding that someone urinated on the statue after it was pulled down.
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| Tyson reverts to its pre-pandemic absentee policy. More than 7,100 workers have tested positive for COVID-19, including hundreds in recent weeks Posted: 08 Jun 2020 08:32 AM PDT  Tyson returned to its pre-coronavirus pandemic absentee policy last week, after relaxing its policy to avoid punishing sick workers who stay home.
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| Kamala Harris Schools Meghan McCain on ‘Defund the Police’ Posted: 08 Jun 2020 09:32 AM PDT  Meghan McCain asked Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) what she may have thought was going to be a "gotcha" question Monday morning on The View. Harris wasn't having it. "Many activists right now are calling for a defunding of the police," McCain said when it was her turn to question the senator, citing the Minneapolis City Council vote that would go even further in dismantling that city's police department. "I want to know from you, do you support defunding and removing the police from American communities, and if not, why do you think there is such a hard time being differentiated right now between defunding and reforming police departments?" "So Meghan, I think that a big part of this conversation really is about reimagining how we do public safety in America," Harris began. "We have confused the idea that to achieve safety, you put more cops on the street instead of understanding to achieve safe and healthy communities, you put more resources into the public education system of those communities, into affordable housing, into home ownership, into access to capital for small businesses, access to health care regardless of how much money people have. That's how you achieve safe and healthy communities." Kamala Harris Shuts Down Meghan McCain for Siding With Joe BidenThe senator went on to explain that "in many cities in America, over one-third of their city budget goes to police." She asked, "What about the money going to social services? What about the money going to helping people with job training? What about helping with mental health issues that communities are being plagued with, for which we're putting no resources?" "Senator, I hear you loud and clear, and I don't think there's any rational American right now that doesn't think we need to take a cold, hard look at reforming our police," McCain replied. But she still wanted a yes or no answer on one question: "Are you for defunding the police?" "How are you defining 'defund the police?'" Harris shot back."Well, I'm not for anything remotely for that," McCain replied, seeming to jumble her words a bit. "I assume, and again, this is something that is new to me, I assume it's removing police." She went on to quote her nemesis Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and repeated a talking point about how it would be a "privilege" to call the police if someone broke into her home. After Harris once again explained that "defund the police" means a reimagining of "how we are achieving public safety in America," Sunny Hostin was forced to jump in to make it even simpler for her co-host."Just to add to the conversation, defunding the police doesn't mean abolishing the police," Hostin said plainly. "It means taking some of those funds that are typically one-third of the budget of a city and giving some of those funds to services like education and mental health resources." Hostin then moved on to one more yes-or-no question for Senator Harris: "Given the current climate," should Joe Biden commit to picking a black female running mate? "It's not that simple," Harris, who is considered a frontrunner for that position, replied. "I just want him to win. He has to win." Ricky Gervais on 'After Life,' Fox News, and Getting Called 'Alt-Right'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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| North Korea's Kim stresses self-sufficient economy as tensions with South Korea rise Posted: 07 Jun 2020 03:47 PM PDT  North Korean leader Kim Jong Un focused on domestic economic issues at a meeting of the politburo of the country's ruling Workers Party, state media said on Monday, as the North ramped up pressure on South Korea over defector activities. The two-day politburo meeting comes at a time of economic uncertainty amid the global COVID-19 pandemic that is putting additional pressure on the North's economy, already battered by international sanctions aimed at stopping its nuclear program. The meeting discussed "crucial issues arising in further developing the self-sufficient economy of the country and improving the standard of people's living," state news agency KCNA said.
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