| 'I'll be right eventually': Donald Trump defends his handling of COVID-19 and the presidency Posted: 19 Jul 2020 02:38 PM PDT  Under siege over the coronavirus, protests and bad polls versus Joe Biden, the president had a contentious interview with Fox News.
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| California church defies governor's orders to close Posted: 20 Jul 2020 07:25 AM PDT  "I want us to pray right now that we will win that court case," Pastor Ché Ahn said after his church and several others sued the governor of California.
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| New York restaurant owner burns table where Epstein and Weinstein used to sit Posted: 20 Jul 2020 04:12 AM PDT  A restaurant owner in New York burnt a table that Jeffrey Epstein and Harvey Weinstein used to dine at.Zach Erdem, who owns 75 Main in Southampton, New York, said Table 1 – which both men had dined at – provided only "bad energy".
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| Ky. couple on house arrest after wife tests positive for coronavirus but refuses to sign quarantine order Posted: 20 Jul 2020 12:45 PM PDT  The ankle monitors the couple was ordered to wear will alert law enforcement if they travel more than 200 feet from their house.
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| White Boy Rick, the Youngest FBI Informant in History, Released After 32 Years Posted: 20 Jul 2020 08:15 AM PDT  The youngest paid drug informant in the history of the FBI has spent his entire adult life in prison. He is finally free, released Monday from a halfway-house prison facility in Florida.Richard J. Wershe Jr.—known to the public as White Boy Rick—was picked up by his fiancee at 10:30 a.m., Detroit TV station WXYZ reported.That means Wershe is tasting freedom for the first time since he was a teenager. He's been behind bars since 1988 for a non-violent drug crime, even though he was one of the FBI's most productive paid drug informants.To say he got screwed by the criminal justice system is an understatement.Two years ago, I wrote a book about him called Prisoner of War: The Story of White Boy Rick and the War on Drugs.In a very real sense Wershe was a prisoner of the war on drugs. His story typified the nation's years-long failed effort to stop the relentless flow of illegal drugs on our streets.Over time his story attracted worldwide media attention.Is Cocaine Legend White Boy Rick Serving Life for Busting Crooked Cops?Rick Wershe was a white kid living in Detroit's black ghetto. He got to know and consorted with major, politically-connected black drug dealers. That led to his recruitment as a secret, underage paid informant for the FBI.Sony Pictures made a movie about him starring Matthew McConaughey. The film, White Boy Rick, tried to tell a tale of a lower-class father-and-son-against-the world, which missed the real story of a 14-year old kid paid to snitch on powerful and dangerous drug dealers in a sorry episode of questionable judgment and motives by adults. Law enforcement taught him the dark art of drug dealing. Young Wershe, with all the common sense of a teen, succumbed to the allure of fast cash and fast women in the drug underworld. He tried to become a wholesaler, a "weight" man. He got busted by the local police with a large load of cocaine, enough to trigger a state drug law with a mandatory life sentence. The feds abandoned their snitch rather than face public criticism for using a teen informant.Richard Wershe Sr. was a street hustler and con man, always chasing get-rich-quick schemes and seldom home. Richard Wershe Sr. didn't drink, but police records show a history of domestic violence against his family, including his son, Rick.Rick Wershe Jr. roamed the streets and adapted to the changing complexion of the neighborhood. When he befriended some rising stars in the ghetto drug underworld, it caught the attention of the FBI.Through his father, the FBI recruited Rick—age 14—to become the Bureau's youngest drug informant. Richard Wershe Sr. readily agreed to put his adolescent son in a dangerous high-stakes secret life in exchange for FBI cash.Since father and son were Richard Wershe Sr. and Jr. the FBI cleverly listed the father as a secret paid informant in FBI files but it was the son who was the real snitch. The informant on the books in the FBI's files was simply known as Richard J. Wershe.'White Boy Rick' Whitewashes the Real Story of the FBI's Teenage Drug Dealing InformantYoung Rick was a gold mine of information about top-level drug dealing. When he told the FBI about possible connections between a drug gang and city officials, the feds assigned special agent Herman Groman to be his so-called "handler." Groman worked with Rick Wershe on and off for years.When Wershe was busted, the FBI and Justice Department didn't come to his aid most likely because they would face intense criticism for recruiting a teenager in the war on drugs. To avoid criticism and a possible congressional inquiry, the federal government was apparently willing to let one of their best informants go to prison for under a life sentence.I recently spoke by phone with Groman about Wershe finally becoming a free man:"It's a difficult thing for me to process," Groman said. "He was locked up when he was 17 years old for a non-violent drug crime—possession—and largely in part because of his cooperation with the FBI, and more specifically with me, on a major police corruption case, he essentially wound up not getting any credit for that and he ended up spending more than 30 years in prison."As a result of his informant work on corrupt cops, Wershe was put in the federal Witness Security Program for criminals who cooperated with the government. For a time Wershe was in a Witness Security prison with Salvatore "Sammy the Bull" Gravano, the government's star witness against the late Mafia boss, John Gotti. Wershe would call Groman from prison and occasionally put Gravano on the phone. Groman recalls Gravano once told him, "I don't understand it. I whacked 19 guys for John Gotti and I cooperated. I'm getting out of this place in April. This kid, who's never pulled the trigger on anybody... has got to stay here for the rest of his life. That don't make no sense."Wershe has been a model prisoner for three decades. In 2017, he was paroled in Michigan on the drug conviction after years of appeals work by his attorney, Ralph Musilli. But Wershe had an outstanding conviction and prison sentence in Florida in a car theft fraud case that happened while Wershe was in the federal witness program. Wershe has been in prison in Florida since 2017."As a result of his cooperation, a lot of major crimes were [prosecuted] and it was always my thought that at some point he would be given some consideration by the government for that and it never really happened," Groman said.After three decades in prison, Richard Wershe Jr. is going to have challenges adjusting to freedom, even if he gets plenty of help and support."I think it's going to be an interesting journey for him," Groman said. "I think it can be fraught with a lot of peril. Think how much the world has changed in the last 30 years. You know, in every way. His world is going to be completely different."FBI Made Him Into a Cocaine Dealer, Now 'White Boy Rick' Is Going Free After 30 YearsGroman is pleased and relieved that one of his best informants who was screwed by the criminal justice system is finally able to have a life. "My feelings are, I'm very, very happy for him. I'm happy for his family and I wish him a lot of success."While he's been in prison, Wershe has been keeping a low media profile. At the time of his 2017 parole hearing in Michigan, Rick Wershe Jr. said the person known as White Boy Rick doesn't exist anymore. He said once he's free, he wants to disappear from the headlines and public view. It's a worthy goal and he's earned the chance to achieve it.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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| Portland Police Union Head Slams City Officials: They ‘Have Condoned the Destruction and Chaos’ Posted: 20 Jul 2020 06:25 AM PDT  Portland Police Association president Daryl Turner slammed elected officials at a press conference on Sunday, a day after the union's offices were set on fire amid continuing riots in the city.Since the death of George Floyd, an African American man killed during his arrest by Minneapolis police officers, Portland has seen 50 days of protests and riots. Federal law enforcement officers have deployed to the city over the past several weeks, clashing with protesters.Turner alleged that Oregon officials have allowed the violence to continue unabated."The elected officials have condoned the destruction and chaos," Turner said on Sunday, standing with 20 faith and business leaders from Portland. "They have placed their political agenda ahead [of the] safety and welfare of the community. This must stop."Turner continued, "This is no longer about George Floyd, racial equity, social justice reform or the evolution of policing….This is about violence, rioting and destruction. Our city is under siege by rioters."Portland mayor Ted Wheeler on Friday accused the Trump administration of fanning the violence by ordering federal law enforcement to crack down on the riots and protests."Last week, we were seeing the deescalation of the violence. We were seeing things calm down. But the intervention of federal officers reignited tensions," Wheeler said in an online press conference with Portland Police Chief Chuck Lovell. "I think we would have seen the end of this nightly engagement by now."Lovell indicated that federal officers and local police were not coordinating with each other."The federal officers have their objectives, and the Portland police has our objectives. We don't direct federal officers' actions, and they do not direct ours," Lovell said.
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| More than 50 Florida hospitals have run out of ICU beds as coronavirus cases soar Posted: 20 Jul 2020 02:16 PM PDT  The Florida Education Association filed a lawsuit against Gov. Ron DeSantis over his order to reopen schools and resume in-person classes in August.
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| What the U.S. Can Learn From Other Countries About Reopening Schools in a Coronavirus Pandemic Posted: 20 Jul 2020 09:06 AM PDT  Lessons from Denmark, South Korea and Israel
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| Caught flouting curfew in bar, Kenyan official quits COVID committee Posted: 20 Jul 2020 04:36 AM PDT  The chairman of Kenya's senate committee overseeing the government's response to the coronavirus crisis has quit the post after police said he flouted an overnight curfew to enjoy drinks with others in a Nairobi bar. "I will bear responsibility ... I apologise to Kenyans and I will face the full consequences of the law," Johnson Sakaja, who represents Nairobi county and is a close ally of President Uhuru Kenyatta, told reporters on Monday. Kenya began easing its lockdown earlier this month, but kept the curfew in place as well as a prohibition on bars.
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| Trump not ready to commit to election results if he loses Posted: 19 Jul 2020 10:07 PM PDT  President Donald Trump is refusing to publicly commit to accepting the results of the upcoming White House election, recalling a similar threat he made weeks before the 2016 vote, as he scoffs at polls showing him lagging behind Democrat Joe Biden. Trump says it's too early to make such an ironclad guarantee. Trump also hammered the Pentagon brass for favoring renaming bases that honor Confederate military leaders — a drive for change spurred by the national debate about race after George Floyd's death.
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| Coronavirus: 13-year-old dies while self-isolating with Covid symptoms after virus test came back negative, family says Posted: 20 Jul 2020 11:44 AM PDT  A 13-year-old boy in California has died while self-isolating with Covid-19 symptoms after a test for the disease came back negative, his family has said.Maxx Cheng of Claremont fell ill on the Fourth of July and died on Thursday after suffering symptoms of the coronavirus, KCBS-TV reported.
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| McFarland on possible indictments in Durham probe Posted: 20 Jul 2020 08:13 AM PDT  K.T. McFarland, former Trump administration deputy national security adviser, weighs in on 'America's Newsroom.'
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| Vanessa Guillén's grandmother travels from Mexico to Houston to say goodbye to the soldier Posted: 20 Jul 2020 09:08 AM PDT  "Let justice be done," asked the grandmother, who traveled from Zacatecas, Mexico.
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| Missing Kansas dog makes 50-mile trip to old home in Missouri Posted: 20 Jul 2020 05:13 AM PDT  Cleo, a four-year-old labrador, walks from Kansas to Missouri, leaving her owner "speechless".
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| Missouri's GOP governor says kids who go back to school will get COVID-19 but they'll 'get over it' Posted: 20 Jul 2020 08:34 AM PDT  "These kids have got to get back to school," Missouri Gov. Mike Parson said. "They're at the lowest risk possible."
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| Pence Tells Governors Masks Are Helping Turn the Tide on Coronavirus in Arizona Posted: 20 Jul 2020 03:49 PM PDT  During a meeting with governors on Monday, the White House Coronavirus Task Force trotted out decreased COVID-19 case counts in Arizona as proof that masks and social distancing work, encouraging other states to impose similar measures as a way to contain and prevent surges."Masks, closing indoor bars, decreasing indoor dining capacity to 25 percent, continued social distancing and personal hygiene messaging, according to the model, dramatically decrease the rate of community spread," Vice President Mike Pence, chair of the White House Coronavirus Task Force, said in the meeting, according to a recording obtained by The Daily Beast. Pence said that evidence of the effectiveness of widespread mask use in particular was visible "today" in Arizona. The Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center on Monday put the state—which recently had one of the worst case trends on the planet and saw a testing "shitshow"—with the steepest current decline in the nation."The modeling suggested to us that Phoenix was supposed to be at more than 5,000 cases daily and rising, and instead I was informed by our health experts this morning that they are [at] less than 2,300 cases," Pence said on Monday. "Again, we believe that the three actions I just described that are being implemented by Gov. [Doug] Ducey are having a dramatic impact on community spread, and it's a clear example of transmitting science into action and proving this works."Trump's Surgeon General Literally Begs Fox News Viewers to Wear MasksThe call put a stark positive spin on a situation that was, as recently as a few days ago, being panned by local doctors on the front lines who told The Daily Beast they felt abandoned by state leaders. Ducey was one of the first governors to lift lockdown restrictions after a nationwide response to the pandemic caused unprecedented closures and shelter-in-place orders.And though Pence and Dr. Deborah Birx, the task force's response coordinator, thanked Ducey and others for their "leadership," the governor has come under harsh criticism for refusing to issue a mask mandate or reinstitute a lockdown order. Ducey did eventually allow cities to pass their own mask ordinances, and as The Daily Beast reported last week, nearly 90 percent of the state is under some kind of local mask mandate.Birx emphasized that models showed those measures, including 100 percent mask use, "came very close to the impact of sheltering-in-place, and it was theoretic, but it was implemented in Phoenix and in the Tucson area, and we can see now the impact."As of Monday, Arizona had hit 143,624 cumulative coronavirus cases, and 2,761 had died, according to Johns Hopkins data."I think this is a very exciting moment for all of us to really see that translation of a model into recommendations that were then executed on the ground and are now having a positive impact," said Birx. "Hospitalizations and mortality are lagging indicators, but we are seeing a decline in test positivity and new cases." Meanwhile, despite his opposition to a national mask mandate, President Donald Trump on Monday tweeted a photo of himself with a face mask, calling it "patriotic" to wear one. Despite widespread science on the effectiveness of masks, Trump had refused to publicly wear one for the first nearly six months of the pandemic's presence in the U.S.On the call, when he reported from the ground, Ducey profusely thanked Pence and Birx for visiting his state, reinforcing that state leaders "continue to encourage and support and advocate and resource for masks," as well as closures and capacity reductions at establishments."We're instructing people they're safer at home," said Ducey, adding, "There's really no victory lap at all. We're going to stay the course."Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, emphasized that these "fundamentals" have the power to turn around surges, as Arizona's turnaround has proved. "This is something everyone should be seriously considering," said Fauci. "If we all do that, not only will we contain the surges, but we will prevent surges."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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| Trump’s health officials are trying to speed up testing. Here’s why their plan won’t work. Posted: 20 Jul 2020 01:30 AM PDT  The approach, called pooled testing, combines samples from multiple people and then screens the individual samples only if the batch comes back positive.
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| Border Patrol is out of control Posted: 20 Jul 2020 02:56 AM PDT  Want to defund the police? A good place to start might be the U.S. Customs and Border Protection.The latest Trumpist assault on American democracy reached a boiling point over the weekend in Portland, Oregon. Video showed two men in military gear — later revealed to be CBP agents — plucking a demonstrator off the street and putting him in an unmarked car. Another protester told The Washington Post a similar story about being detained by unidentified agents, only to be released later without an arrest report. (The agency says its officers identified themselves during arrests, contradicting witness reports.)That wasn't the worst of it: Federal agents reportedly shot another demonstrator in the head with a rubber bullet, fracturing his skull.The result was widespread alarm and anger. "Mr. President, federal agencies should never be used as your own personal army," Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler (D) said during a Friday press conference. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) referred to the agents as "unidentified stormtroopers." Oregon's attorney general filed suit against the federal government — including CPB, the U.S. Marshals Service, and the Department of Homeland Security — alleging it had violated the rights of protesters. The ACLU filed a similar lawsuit to protect the rights of journalists and legal observers. Even the local U.S. attorney called for an inquiry.While several federal agencies are involved in the mayhem in Portland, the use of border patrol agents here should arouse the most scrutiny — they aren't enforcing immigration law by cracking down on the city's protesters, after all. But even before the recent demonstrations, U.S. Customs and Border Protection was a rogue agency with a toxic culture. The agency might not serve as President Trump's "personal army," precisely, but it has long been ripe for use and abuse by an authoritarian-minded executive. Trump fits the bill.Scandals emerge from CBP's toxic soil with regularity — just last week, the Government Accountability Office revealed the agency was misusing its funds, taking money meant to be spent on medical care for migrants in its custody and using it instead to buy dirt bikes and boats. That follows outrageous stories in recent years involving widespread racism among agents, and reports of officials turning a blind eye toward migrant deaths.Even if the agency were somehow free of corruption, its official duties and authorities would still be disquieting.In carrying out Trump's immigration policies, for example, CBP held children as young as 2 or 3 "in jail-like border facilities for weeks at a time without contact with family members, or regular access to showers, clean clothes, toothbrushes, or proper beds," according to Human Rights Watch. Just as alarming is the agency's jurisdiction: The "border" where it carries out its enforcement duties extends 100 miles inland from the country's actual borders — an area that encompasses roughly two-thirds of the U.S. population, as well as the entire state of Hawaii.Within that zone, CBP can act as a law unto itself. The government holds that the protections of the Constitution do not fully apply at the border, and agents conduct themselves accordingly — stopping cars and buses without cause to check the citizenship status of passengers, even when those vehicles haven't been involved in actual border crossings. "In practice, Border Patrol agents routinely ignore or misunderstand the limits of their legal authority in the course of individual stops, resulting in violations of the constitutional rights of innocent people," the ACLU says in a fact sheet on the matter.The protests sparked by George Floyd's death have broadened CBP's apparent mandate. Agents have been increasingly deployed to do domestic law enforcement — deputized as marshals in Washington, D.C., and ordered to defend monuments and federal property against vandals. That almost seems reasonable. But as The New York Times noted, many of those agents are often trained in dealing with violent drug smugglers, not protesters whose primary crime is scrawling graffiti on a courthouse.In short, this is not an agency predisposed to act humanely or respect Constitutional niceties. Like Trump himself, CBP seems prone to enforcing law and order while shrugging off the actual rule of law."CBP is operating as a shadowy paramilitary force in Portland and other places throughout the country, and this is absolutely horrific and unacceptable," Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) told The Daily Beast.Portland may just be the beginning. The Trump administration plans to expand the enforcement techniques it is using in Oregon to additional U.S. cities. It is up to Congress and the courts to put a stop to this. How? Congress can narrow CBP's mandate, so that it only deals with border issues. It can redraw the border zone down to just 25 miles. Legislators can also reduce the agency's size, which has ballooned since 9/11. They can require the CBP to demilitarize, encouraging it to use caseworkers to track and keep touch with asylum-seeking migrants. They can make an agency that is less empowered and amenable to abuse.Trump and his cronies would surely look for other ways to crack down on protesters. He will abuse any power he has, and claim powers the Constitution doesn't actually grant him. Congress, however, doesn't need to make it easy for him. It is time to defund U.S. Customs and Border Protection.Want more essential commentary and analysis like this delivered straight to your inbox? Sign up for The Week's "Today's best articles" newsletter here.More stories from theweek.com Joe Biden vs. the most interesting man in the world Former Obama adviser lays out why Biden's VP would likely be the 'most powerful in history' Will Congress throw the American economy off a cliff?
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| Black Lives Matter skirts North Africa despite everyday racism Posted: 19 Jul 2020 07:11 PM PDT  The global wave of anti-racism protests sparked by the US police killing of George Floyd has barely touched North Africa, despite everyday discrimination in a region with a long slave-trading history. Black citizens in Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia, as well as migrants from sub-Saharan Africa who come to work, study or try to reach Europe, say they suffer endemic day-to-day racism. "Floyd's death awakened the anger and rage dormant within us," said Fabrice, an undocumented Cameroonian in his 40s who lives in Algiers, adding that it twisted "the knife in the wound".
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| Congresswoman Maxine Waters jumps out of her car to intervene as black man stopped by police Posted: 20 Jul 2020 02:32 AM PDT  California congresswoman Maxine Waters went to assist a black man who was pulled over by police in Los Angeles this weekend.In a video shared online, Ms Waters parked her SUV and said she intervened to see what Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) officers were doing when they pulled a black man over.
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| Brazil Bolsonaro's low approval rating improves despite rising COVID-19 cases Posted: 20 Jul 2020 12:43 PM PDT  Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro's low approval ratings rose for a third consecutive month, a poll showed on Monday, as the perception of his handling of the coronavirus crisis and the economy's direction continued to improve gradually. The latest monthly XP/Ipespe poll findings come as the coronavirus-related deaths and cases also continue rising, cementing Brazil's place as the world's second-biggest hotspot for the pandemic after the United States. Bolsonaro's overall approval rating rose two percentage points to 30% this month, the highest since April, while the share of those who think he is doing a bad or terrible job fell three percentage points to 45%, the lowest since April.
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| CBS New York reporter Nina Kapur dead at 26 after moped accident Posted: 20 Jul 2020 09:47 AM PDT  Fellow journalists expressed their grief following the young and promising reporter's death.
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| It’s official: US Air Force to buy Turkish F-35s Posted: 20 Jul 2020 03:27 PM PDT  A $862 million contract modification gives another 14 F-35As to the U.S. Air Force...including some Turkish jets.
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| Replace the Alexander Hamilton Stephens Statue With One of John Lewis Posted: 19 Jul 2020 03:06 AM PDT  It's time for Americans to make a choice about who should be honored in the Capitol.
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| Trump's chief of staff reportedly wants him to 'avoid drawing attention' to COVID-19 Posted: 20 Jul 2020 05:49 AM PDT  As new COVID-19 cases continue to climb in the United States, President Trump's chief of staff reportedly wants the White House to publicly ignore the pandemic as much as possible.A new report in The New York Times focused on Republicans breaking from Trump on the coronavirus crisis describes how White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows "has been particularly forceful in his view that the White House should avoid drawing attention to the virus." In fact, the report says that even amid a surge in new COVID-19 cases around the country, some of Trump's "closest advisers" insist that the "best way forward is to downplay the dangers of the disease."This advice is evidently getting through to Trump, who in a recent interview with Fox News again asserted that the coronavirus is "going to disappear," a prediction he said he'll be right on "eventually."Although the Times report describes how some Republican lawmakers have pushed the White House to bring back regular coronavirus briefings led by Dr. Anthony Fauci and Dr. Deborah Birx, Meadows has reportedly "for the most part opposed any briefings about the virus." Meanwhile, Trump, the Times writes, now "seems less interested in the specific challenges the virus presents," and David Carney, an adviser to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R), told the Times, "The president got bored with it."More stories from theweek.com Joe Biden vs. the most interesting man in the world Former Obama adviser lays out why Biden's VP would likely be the 'most powerful in history' Will Congress throw the American economy off a cliff?
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| Kuwait's ruler, 91, undergoes a 'successful' surgery Posted: 19 Jul 2020 01:22 AM PDT  Kuwait's 91-year-old ruler underwent a "successful" surgery Sunday that required the oil-rich nation's crown prince to be temporarily empowered to serve in his place, its state-run news agency reported. Kuwait has yet to elaborate what required Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah to seek a previously unannounced medical treatment beginning Saturday. The state-run KUNA news agency had described Sheikh Sabah's hospitalization Saturday as "medical checks," citing a statement from the country's royal court.
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| NYPD scraps traffic and homeless units and reassigns officers to fight rising gun crime Posted: 20 Jul 2020 03:06 PM PDT  The NYPD has cut traffic and homeless units to focus on rising gun violence following mayor Bill DeBlasio's move to defund police, according to reports.Senior police leadership transferred 114 members of the traffic congestion mitigation and 85 members of the homeless outreach units, according to official documents seen by The New York Post.
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| Manhunt in Florida after three friends are 'massacred' on fishing trip Posted: 20 Jul 2020 03:32 AM PDT  Polk County, Florida Sheriff Grady Judd gives an update on the murder investigation.
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| 3 killed, 9 injured from Thin Blue Line motorcycle club in Texas by suspected drunk driver Posted: 19 Jul 2020 09:50 AM PDT  Members of the Thin Blue Line Law Enforcement Motorcycle Club were out for a ride when an allegedly drunk driver crossed lanes hit them head on.
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| Paraguay violence flares as smugglers battle coronavirus border closure Posted: 20 Jul 2020 02:30 AM PDT  * Marine killed in shootout with suspected smugglers * Military allegedly responds by torturing 35 civiliansViolence has escalated along the triple border between Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil, as smugglers attempt to get round strict frontier controls imposed to stop the spread of the coronavirus.One marine was killed in a fierce shootout between smugglers and the Paraguayan military last week, in an episode which then allegedly led to the detention and torture of 35 civilians.While Brazil and Argentina are struggling with surging coronavirus caseloads, Paraguay boasts some of the lowest rates of Covid-19 infection in Latin America – thanks in part to the fact that its borders have been closed since 24 March.But the lockdown has hit businesses in the country's second city, Ciudad del Este – both legitimate and otherwise – which rely on Brazil for 90% of their sales.Smuggler groups – who move billions of dollars in drugs, cigarettes and electronic goods across the tri-border from Paraguay each year – have adapted to continue their trade despite pandemic restrictions.In addition to the more than 250 clandestine smuggling ports on the Paraná river, smugglers are reportedly using remote control speedboats and drones to take high-value goods over the river.Such tactics appear to be working. According to Brazilian police, drug confiscations in the border state of Paraná – almost all smuggled in from Paraguay – were up 500% in the first half of 2020 compared with the same period in 2019.The naval commander of Ciudad del Este said that Paraguayan border forces – as well as those of Brazil and Argentina – were seeing escalating violence and a strong presence of notorious Brazilian gangs such as Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC) in the region."The situation here has been getting more and more dangerous", he told local press. "Every night in multiple locations … we are being fired at". However, Paraguay's anti-contraband minister, Emilio Fúster, told local press that large-scale smuggling was largely enabled by official corruption."There are agents who have become corrupted through the illegal trafficking of all types of different products," he said.On 16 July, tensions came to a head when a patrol boat from the Paraguayan navy was fired upon by suspected smugglers in what military sources have described as an ambush. One marine, was shot and later died.Following the gun battle, military personnel arrested 35 people, including several adolescents, from the poor riverside neighbourhood of San Miguel in Ciudad del Este, claiming that they had aided the smugglers.Witnesses said that arrests were made at gunpoint and that officials had entered homes without permits. CCTV video was circulated of men being beaten while they were forced into the back of a 4x4 vehicle.Photos and videos were subsequently circulated of deep wounds on many of the men's bodies. One man said that he had been tortured."We all have marks from violence and torture," he said. "They poured hot water and alcohol on my head. A vein exploded inside."José Galeano of the Paraguayan National Mechanism for the Prevention of Torture said the marines had clearly committed human rights violations."They may have been affected by the loss of their colleague, but under absolutely no circumstances should this have happened," he said. "These men were flung about like bits of meat."Adm Carlos Velázquez, head of the Paraguayan navy, has called for an official investigation and suspended the local naval commander.
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| Iran has executed an alleged CIA and Mossad agent who it says helped spy on Qassem Soleimani before his assassination Posted: 20 Jul 2020 02:27 AM PDT  Qassem Soleimani, who led Iran's Revolutionary Guard, was killed by a US drone strike in January. His death almost brought the US and Iran to war.
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| Saudi King Salman, 84, admitted to hospital Posted: 19 Jul 2020 06:50 PM PDT  Saudi Arabia's 84-year-old ruler, King Salman bin Abdulaziz, has been admitted to hospital in the capital Riyadh, suffering from inflammation of the gall bladder, state news agency SPA said on Monday. The king, who has ruled the world's largest oil exporter and close U.S. ally since 2015, is undergoing medical checks, the agency added, without giving details. After the news, Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi postponed a visit scheduled to Saudi Arabia, said Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud.
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| Indonesia says it wants to buy Austria’s entire Typhoon fighter fleet Posted: 20 Jul 2020 11:05 AM PDT |
| A California city removed its Black Lives Matter mural in the middle of the night after a Trump supporter asked to paint 'MAGA 2020' on the same street Posted: 20 Jul 2020 09:15 AM PDT  Officials scrubbed the mural late on Thursday after a local lawyer asked whether she could paint "MAGA 2020" on the street, CBS San Francisco said.
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| China floods: Huai river alert level raised amid heavy rains Posted: 19 Jul 2020 01:13 AM PDT  Heavy rains have swept across China for weeks, from the southwest to the east coast.
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| Anti-feminist lawyer, sole suspect in killing of judge's son Posted: 20 Jul 2020 03:02 PM PDT 
The sole suspect in the shooting of the son and husband of New Jersey federal judge Esther Salas was found dead from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound on Monday, according to media reports. The suspect, identified as Roy Den Hollander, was a self-described anti-feminist lawyer who had a case before Salas in 2015, court records show. He was reportedly found in his car in Sullivan County, New York, about two hours north of New York City. Investigators have preliminary information that someone dressed as a FedEx driver arrived at Salas' home at about 5 p.m. on Sunday, ABC News reported. Her husband was shot as he opened the door to the gunman, who then shot and killed Salas' 20-year-old son. Salas was home at the time of the shooting but was in the basement and was not injured, according to media reports and a friend of the family. New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy on Monday called the shooting "a horrific crime." "I want to start today by offering my prayers and I know my colleagues join me, to federal court Judge Esther Salas, whose son was murdered and husband seriously wounded yesterday in a brazen and cowardly act of gun violence at their home in North Brunswick. (flash) This is an unconscionable tragedy." The motive behind the killing remains unclear.
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| 'It's insane': DC police look for 3 men after 1 killed, 8 injured in daytime shooting in busy area Posted: 20 Jul 2020 06:28 AM PDT |
| Why Indian American spelling bee success is more than just an endearing story Posted: 20 Jul 2020 04:08 AM PDT  Over the past 20 years, Indian Americans have come to dominate the Scripps National Spelling Bee even though they comprise only about 1% of the U.S. population.The bee was canceled in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic. But there were eight co-champions in 2019, seven of whom were Indian American – bringing the total number of Indian American champions since 1999 to 26. There's even a documentary on this this endearing story, "Spelling the Dream." But I contend that their commitment to these competitions stems partly from perceived hurdles they face in higher education. And I believe that their achievements inadvertently further educational inequalities. The academic trackI spent years with Indian American, white and other families engaged in spelling bees, math competitions and other after-school academics while doing research for my book, "Hyper Education: Why Good Schools, Good Grades, and Good Behavior Are Not Enough."In one chapter, I explained why Indian Americans have come to dominate bees. I believe that their success has to do with a firm commitment by families to spend the time and money necessary to help their kids fully prepare. These children excel not just in spelling bees but also in geography, math and other academic competitions.Most of my book addresses a more revealing question: why families care about such competitions and advanced academics in the first place and the implications around that.Most U.S. kids participate in activities outside school, usually involving sports, the arts, religious or civic activities. Indian immigrant children do these things too, but many of their parents also make them at least try extracurricular academic activities, especially competitive ones.The more than 100 Indian American parents I interviewed between 2011 and 2018 believed that for their children to have a good shot at getting into a prominent university their children would need an undeniably strong academic record to compensate for what they saw as weak networks and a lack of college legacy status.Parents also worried that college admission officers might hold their children, as Asian Americans, to a higher standard in expected test scores. "We have to have 130 points above other groups," one father of a spelling contestant said about the SAT college entrance exam. He assured me that tutoring centers and spelling bees would help his daughter get a higher score, an attitude echoed by other parents and children alike. [Expertise in your inbox. Sign up for The Conversation's newsletter and get expert takes on today's news, every day.]Pursuing after-school education to help their children eventually become more competitive college applicants makes sense to these immigrant parents given their own upbringing with similar tutoring. I think it's only natural for parents to promote what they are most familiar with, and many of these parents have advanced degrees and grew up with intense academic expectations. A cost of achievementAs Indian American children boost their test scores and other academics through studying words, mastering quadratic equations and other intellectual endeavors, they inadvertently contribute to what I see as a troubling trend: the widening educational gaps between higher-income and lower-income families.Achieving in these competitions often requires spending hundreds or even thousands of dollars. Hexco, a publisher specializing in contest preparation, sells word guides and packages of eight coaching sessions that cost US$1,725. According to its website, 94% of spellers who "advanced to the Scripps finals on ESPN were Hexco customers" in 2019. Indian Americans have an average household income of $100,000, well above the national average of $53,600. Many use this economic edge to advance their children's grades and scores.So, while Indian Americans gravitate toward academic competitions because they worry about otherwise their children will lack equal opportunities, they reinforce educational inequality in the process.This is related to the growing trend of supplemental education by higher-income families generally, which I also studied. The expansion of after-school learning for children who are not struggling at school seems bound to continue as the COVID-19 pandemic keeps going. A fear for parentsMany parents are worried that their children aren't going to learn much while school buildings are closed due to the coronavirus pandemic. Many tutoring companies are advertising their services to families who can afford them as a way to stop the academic backtracking known as the the "COVID slide."The pursuit of after-school education, whether through competitions or tutoring centers, is increasingly common for middle class families. I'm certain that it's prone to grow even more. Why parents pay for and encourage it can have something to do with their ethnic backgrounds, but one outcome is the same: growing educational inequality.This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts.Read more: * The Scripps spelling bee is off this year, but the controversy over including foreign words is still on * What does the spelling success of Indian American kids tell us?Pawan Dhingra volunteered as a spelling bee pronouncer at a North South Foundation regional spelling bee in 2016.
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| Puerto Rico governor, others face formal corruption probe Posted: 20 Jul 2020 03:18 PM PDT  Puerto Rico's governor and other top officials on Monday became the formal targets of an in-depth government investigation into recent corruption allegations. The U.S. territory's Special Independent Prosecutor's Panel agreed to probe the allegations against Gov. Wanda Vázquez and others following a referral from the island's Department of Justice that ended with two justice secretaries stepping down earlier this month and led to calls for impeachment against the governor. "This is very serious," Edgardo Román, president of the Bar Association of Puerto Rico, told The Associated Press.
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| Poland to propose limits on foreign media soon, Kaczynski says Posted: 19 Jul 2020 10:50 AM PDT  Poland will seek to craft rules limiting the concentration of foreign-owned media outlets well before the ruling nationalists finish their term in power, Poland's de facto leader said on Sunday, with parliamentary elections expected in 2023. Poland's ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party has long said foreign-owned media outlets have meddled in Poland's affairs and that Polish-owned media should have a stronger place.
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| Republican governors have been holding secret conference calls to complain about Trump's chaotic coronavirus response, report says Posted: 20 Jul 2020 05:58 AM PDT  Several Republican governors and lawmakers have in recent weeks broken with Trump to support increased coronavirus restrictions in their states.
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| ACT exams were canceled with little warning this weekend, and some teens say they weren't notified until they arrived at testing sites Posted: 20 Jul 2020 01:45 PM PDT  The ACT canceled exams at 21 testing sites on Saturday, and around 1,400 students were unable to take the exam.
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| Men’s Rights Lawyer Eyed in Shooting of NJ Judge’s Family Posted: 19 Jul 2020 07:43 PM PDT  The gunman who shot the husband and son of a federal judge in New Jersey is believed to be an "anti-feminist' lawyer who was found dead of an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound hours later, two law-enforcement sources told The Daily Beast.Roy Den Hollander, 72, was discovered by a cleaning crew in the upstate New York town of Rockland, the sources said. He had with him a package addressed to U.S. District Judge Esther Salas—as well as papers that contained the name of another men's rights lawyer, Marc Angelucci, who was gunned down at his home last week.Den Hollander had a case—a challenge to the military's male-only draft—pending before Salas, according to court documents. And in an essay posted online last year about his battle with melanoma, he made clear his animus toward the trail-blazing jurist, referring to her as "a lazy and incompetent Latina judge."On his website, Den Hollander spewed invective about women and anyone else he felt had wronged him. "Now is the time for all good men to fight for their rights before they have no rights left," he wrote. The site also contained a list of his media appearances and a compilation of misogynistic comments under the heading "Jokes."His family could not be reached for comment.The Manhattan attorney's emergence as the suspect was a shocking twist in the Sunday evening shooting—when a man possibly dressed as a FedEx delivery driver showed up on Salas' doorstep in North Brunswick, New Jersey.Daniel Anderl, 20, the judge's only child, who was home from college, was shot through the heart and did not survive the attack. His father, criminal-defense lawyer Mark Anderl, 63, was said to be in critical condition after surgery. NBC New York reported that Salas—whose caseload has included cases involving Real Housewives celebs and Jeffrey Epstein—was in the basement and was unharmed when the gunfire erupted shortly after 5 p.m. At 8:15 a.m. Monday, two Sullivan County Department of Public Works employees were doing storm clean-up when they saw a blue Toyota drive past, heading towards a dead end, sources said. When they finished work, they saw the car parked on the shoulder of the road and found Den Hollander on the passenger side with a gunshot wound to the head.There was a .380 pistol, and the FedEx package, which investigators believe the lawyer may have intended to use to get face-to-face with the judge, the law enforcement sources said. The sources did not know the nature of the papers that mentioned Angelucci, an attorney who worked on similar cases and was shot dead at his house in California a week ago. The San Bernardino Sheriff's Office said Monday that no arrests have been made in Angelucci's death but had no futher comment.Men's Rights Activist Marc Angelucci Shot Dead at His California HomeAccording to a GoFundMe account under his name and his Facebook page, Den Hollander had recently battled cancer and was angry about his medical care, posting a jeremiad about doctors who he felt were not responsive or were trying to push certain treatments on him. "The Stones in their song 'Sympathy for the Devil' left out one category—cancer doctors, not all, but many," he wrote. "Nine alleged followers of the Hippocratic Oath sent me (Roy Den Hollander) on an end of life horror crossing the river Styx that one cancer doctor said would end during the holiday season of 2019. Hopefully, things improve once I reach the other side."Den Hollander was well known for filing suits that alleged women get unconstitutional special treatment, and for pushing to outlaw Ladies' Nights at bars and nightclubs and women's studies programs at universities. According to his website, it appears his foray in the men's rights movement was sparked by his marriage to a Russian woman he met while working for the investigative firm Kroll Associates in the late 1990s; he alleges she was really a prostitute who swindled him.In 2016, he also filed a ludicrous suit against reporters from CBS News, NBC News, ABC News, CNN, PBS News Hour, The New York Times and The Washington Post, claiming their stories on President Trump amounted to a violation of the anti-racketeering statute used to prosecute mobsters.In a 2013 interview with the New York Daily News about the latest in his string of legal defeats, Den Hollander expressed frustration."I'm beginning to think it's time for vigilante justice—civil disobedience," he said, telling the newspaper that he "may pull a Carrie Nation on the Ladies' Nights clubs." The case Den Hollander was involved in as an adviser that ended up in Salas' courtroom was filed in 2015 on behalf of the mother of a 17-year-old New Jersey girl and argued that the Selective Service System barring females from registering for the draft while making it mandatory for males was illegal. Oral arguments on a motion were scheduled for last month but then postponed due to "unforeseen circumstances," according to the case docket.His insulting reference to Salas in his writings, first reported by NBC News, was in a series of screeds he posted online that formed a sort of memoir stretching all the way back to his breech birth in 1947.Salas, the first Latina to serve on the New Jersey federal bench, was appointed as a magistrate judge in 2006 and a district judge in 2010. Raised in New Jersey, she previously worked as a county prosecutor and then a federal public defender.Last Thursday, Salas was assigned to be the judge on a lawsuit brought by investors against Deutsche Bank and its CEO over its business dealings with the late convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.but prior to Sunday, Salas was probably best known as the judge who presided over the fraud case of Real Housewives of New Jersey stars Teresa and Joe Giudice; she sentenced the couple to prison after a tongue-lashing in 2014.Teresa Giudice's attorney told ABC News that her client was "very shaken by the news and was very emotional when she heard about it. She told me that she would be praying very heavily for Judge Salas and her family. This is absolutely devastating."Daniel Salas was about to start his junior year at Catholic University in Washington, D.C., where he played golf and was on the dean's list. "He was planning on going to law school," a friend, Joe Mauro, told the Newark Star-Ledger. "He had his whole future ahead..."Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet 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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| Aboriginal Australians 'still suffering effects of colonial past' Posted: 20 Jul 2020 08:24 AM PDT  The BBC's Shaimaa Khalil explores how the life chances of indigenous Australians are rooted in colonialism.
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| Oxford coronavirus vaccine induces strong immune response Posted: 20 Jul 2020 06:57 AM PDT  The vaccine was found to produce both antibodies and virus-killing T cells.
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