| New York attorney general unveils investigation into Trump company's finances Posted: 24 Aug 2020 03:33 PM PDT  Court documents made public on Monday reveal that the New York attorney general's office is conducting a wide-ranging investigation into alleged financial improprieties at President Trump's real estate company and is accusing the business of trying to stall the probe.
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| Miami postal workers union chief: Yes, your mail is being delayed. Here’s why Posted: 25 Aug 2020 06:19 AM PDT  The reason for the slowdown, according to Wanda Harris, Miami Area President of the American Postal Workers Union, is the direct result of changes made under Louis DeJoy.
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| Sydney Sutherland: Suspect in death knew victim and joined search party Facebook group Posted: 24 Aug 2020 02:40 PM PDT  The farmer accused of killing Arkansas resident Sydney Sutherland was known to the victim and joined a Facebook group dedicated to finding her after she went missing.Sutherland was last seen running on State Highway 18, near Newport, Arkansas, on Wednesday, and the 25-year-old's body was found on Friday following a two day search involving helicopters and K-9 units, according to the Daily Mail.
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| Jerry Falwell Jr. resigns from Liberty University after day of confusing back-and-forth amid sex scandal Posted: 24 Aug 2020 10:04 PM PDT  Jerry Falwell Jr. told ABC News late Monday that he has officially resigned from Liberty University, the conservative evangelical Christian school founded by his father, hours after flatly denying reports that he had stepped down. Earlier Monday night, Liberty University said Falwell had agreed to "resign immediately as president of Liberty University today but then instructed his attorneys to not tender the letter for immediate resignation." Falwell had been on indefinite paid leave since Aug. 7, after he posted to Instagram then deleted a mildly racy photo from a yacht costume party.His formal resignation Monday comes amid a much more salacious scandal. On Sunday night, Falwell told The Washington Examiner that his wife, Becki Falwell, had an extramarital affair with a much younger business partner, identified elsewhere as Giancarlo Granda. He said in his statement that he "was not involved" in his wife's "inappropriate personal relationship" and claimed Granda was extorting him. Then on Monday, Reuters reported that Granda had produced evidence that Falwell was involved in his seven-year affair with Becki Falwell, in a voyeuristic capacity."Becki and I developed an intimate relationship and Jerry enjoyed watching from the corner of the room," Granda told Reuters. He shared emails, text messages, and other evidence he said backs up his version of events. Granda, now 29, said he met the Falwells when he was a pool attendant at the Fontainebleau Miami Beach hotel in March 2012, and he started having sex with Becki Falwell that month, the affair lasting until 2018. Jerry Falwell is 58 and Becki Falwell, a conservative political figure in her own right, is 53.Granda told Reuters that the relationship soured because he tried to break things off — the opposite of Jerry Falwell's version — and said he now thinks the Falwells exploited his "immaturity, naïveté, instability, or a combination thereof" when they decided he "was the ideal target for their sexual escapades" at age 20.Liberty University has a strict code of ethics for its students, including the rule that "sexual relations outside of a biblically ordained marriage between a natural-born man and a natural-born woman are not permissible at Liberty University."More stories from theweek.com Biden campaign tries to dunk on the Republican National Convention by parodying Simon & Garfunkel Black Monday for the religious right Donald Trump Jr. reportedly thinks his dad is going to lose in November
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| Covid: Woman in Australia jailed for six months over quarantine breach Posted: 25 Aug 2020 09:41 AM PDT  Asher Faye Vander Sanden arrived secretly in Western Australia to avoid a 14-day quarantine.
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| Striking photos from California wildfires show homes, boats engulfed in flames Posted: 24 Aug 2020 04:08 PM PDT  Large wildfires continue to ravage parts of California, threatening the homes and lives of many residents in the northern half of the state.
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| New Hubble image captures comet Neowise after journey around sun Posted: 25 Aug 2020 12:15 PM PDT  Most comets break apart under the intense heat of the sun — but Neowise remained intact.
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| Trump's election fraud claims 'not feasible,' says top Kentucky elections official Posted: 24 Aug 2020 02:01 AM PDT  "When I ran for this office last year, I cited 22 specific cases of recent election fraud convictions," said Kentucky Secretary of State Michael Adams, a Republican. "It does happen, but it doesn't happen on a widespread basis when it does happen. It typically happens in a small town."
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| Bahamas Paradise settles, will pay crew $875,000 for months of work without wages Posted: 25 Aug 2020 09:06 AM PDT  Bahamas Paradise Cruise Line crew members may finally get paid after months of working without wages on the company's Florida-based ships.
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| Wife of ex-California congressman sentenced for corruption Posted: 24 Aug 2020 09:57 AM PDT  The wife of former California Republican Rep. Duncan Hunter was sentenced Monday in U.S. court to eight months of home confinement after pleading guilty to misusing more than $150,000 in campaign funds in a corruption case that ended her husband's career. Government attorneys noted Margaret Hunter's cooperation with the prosecution of her husband in arguing against putting her behind bars and for allowing her to serve the sentence at home.
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| Wife of Miami police officer dies after being trapped in his patrol car for hours Posted: 25 Aug 2020 11:35 AM PDT  A Miami police officer's wife died after becoming trapped in the back of his patrol vehicle for several hours during a hot afternoon, police said Monday.
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| 20,000 coronavirus cases in Boston stemmed from a single conference in February, researchers say Posted: 25 Aug 2020 11:46 AM PDT  Researchers have connected a "viral forest fire" in Boston to a single biotechnology conference back in February, The Boston Globe reports.Scientists originally attributed 99 coronavirus cases in the Boston area to meeting of international biotech leaders at Biogen's annual conference. But in new research released Tuesday that has yet to be peer reviewed, three scientists revised their estimates to suggest 20,000 cases in the Boston area actually came from the event at a Marriott hotel.Three scientists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University, along with more than 50 other researchers, isolated coronavirus cases from 772 local patients to track where they came from. Of those patients, 289, or more than a third, had a strain of virus traceable to the conference. From there, the scientists extrapolated that "tens of thousands" of people were likely infected after people from around the world mixed at the late February conference. And as of July 1, the conference would've been responsible for 40 percent of coronavirus cases in the Boston area, WBUR notes.The study doesn't mention Biogen by name, but Biogen still responded to the study with a statement and did not dispute its findings. "We never would have knowingly put anyone at risk," Biogen said, noting that the conference happened before much was known about the coronavirus, and saying it "took steps to limit the spread" even before knowing if workers who got sick had COVID-19.More stories from theweek.com Biden campaign tries to dunk on the Republican National Convention by parodying Simon & Garfunkel Black Monday for the religious right Donald Trump Jr. reportedly thinks his dad is going to lose in November
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| 'Secret weapon': How Trump is counting on Melania's RNC speech four years after she crashed and burned in plagiarism row Posted: 25 Aug 2020 11:02 AM PDT  She is the first lady and the Trump campaign hopes Melania Trump won't be the administration's last with a 'secret weapon' speech on Tuesday that they are hoping will win over suburban women voters.Ms Trump's prime time pitch, expected to focus on her husband's female empowerment credentials, comes after a 2016 campaign speech that failed the inspire the same enthusiasm as the 2008 Michelle Obama address it was accused of plagiarising.
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| Kellyanne Conway can quit because she has resources to care for her family. Many of us don't. Posted: 24 Aug 2020 03:10 PM PDT  The risk this pandemic presents to wealthy, white women and their families is minimal compared with poor families and families of color.
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| 'The forest ... is resetting': California wildfires burned hundreds of ancient redwoods, but much of the forest seems to have survived the blaze Posted: 24 Aug 2020 09:48 PM PDT  A wildfire ravaged through the historic Big Basin Redwood State Park Monday, taking down hundreds of ancient trees in a fiery blaze.
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| More than 100 nudists test positive for the coronavirus after visiting France's 'Naked City' Posted: 25 Aug 2020 10:21 AM PDT  Ninety-five nudists tested positive at nudist resort Cap d'Agde in France and an additional 50 tested positive after returning home.
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| Most college students ‘absolutely certain’ they’ll vote, report finds. But for whom? Posted: 24 Aug 2020 01:17 PM PDT  The poll surveyed 4,000 full-time four-year students.
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| Postmaster General Louis DeJoy: 'I'll submit that I know very little about postage stamps' Posted: 25 Aug 2020 07:27 AM PDT  "I'll submit that I know very little about a postage stamp," Postmaster General Louis DeJoy said when asked about postage rates for a greeting card.
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| CDC reverses COVID-19 guidance, says testing may not be needed after exposure Posted: 25 Aug 2020 01:18 PM PDT  The change comes as experts continue to push for more testing, not less.
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| Ghislaine Maxwell loses bid to be moved into general population at U.S. jail Posted: 25 Aug 2020 10:50 AM PDT  A U.S. judge rejected Ghislaine Maxwell's request to be moved into the general population at the Brooklyn jail where she is awaiting trial on charges she aided the late financier Jeffrey Epstein's sexual abuse of girls. Maxwell had objected to being treated worse than other pretrial inmates at the Metropolitan Detention Center, citing "onerous" conditions including round-the-clock surveillance, numerous body scans, and being isolated in her cell most of the time.
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| Just Like Your Pup, This Dog Gear is Ready for Adventure Posted: 25 Aug 2020 03:44 PM PDT |
| Donna Brazile accuses Fox News pundit of ignoring ‘400 years’ of racism in tense exchange about 2020 election Posted: 25 Aug 2020 04:02 PM PDT  Former Democratic National Committee chair Donna Brazile accused conservative commentator Tammy Bruce of ignoring "400 years" of racism in the US, during a tense exchange about November's presidential election.The pair were being interviewed about the first night of the Republican National Convention by host Brian Kilmeade during Fox and Friends on Tuesday, when the conservative pundit praised president Donald Trump.
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| A Saudi dissident suing Twitter over a massive 2016 hack says the platform's incompetence got multiple whistleblowers killed Posted: 25 Aug 2020 06:42 AM PDT  Ali al-Ahmed told Business Insider that his sources in were exposed when Saudi spies unwittingly employed by Twitter accessed his account.
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| RNC Speaker Cancelled After Boosting QAnon Conspiracy Theory About Jewish Plot to Enslave the World Posted: 25 Aug 2020 03:43 PM PDT  One of the speakers for the second night of the Republican National Convention was pulled from the program after The Daily Beast surfaced a tweet from her, earlier in the day, urging her followers to investigate a supposed Jewish plot to enslave the world."Do yourself a favor and read this thread," Mary Ann Mendoza, who is a member of the Trump campaign's advisory board, tweeted to her more than 40,000 followers Tuesday morning.> Do yourself a favor and read this thread. https://t.co/BfxVokBE3k> > — Angel Mom Mary Ann Mendoza��TEXT EMPOWER TO 88022 (@mamendoza480) August 25, 2020Mendoza, an "angel mom," was scheduled to speak Tuesday about her son's 2014 death at the hands of a drunk driver who was in the country illegally. But a Republican source familiar with the programming said the speech had been cancelled amid uproar over her tweet.Hours earlier, Mendoza had linked to a lengthy thread from a QAnon conspiracy theorist that laid out a fevered, anti-Semitic view of the world. In its telling, the Rothschilds—a famous Jewish banking family from Germany—created a plot to terrorize non-Jewish "goyim," with purported details of their scheme that included plans to "make the goyim destroy each other" and "rob the goyim of their landed properties." Fox Regular Claims George Soros 'Controls a Very Large Part' of the State DepartmentDrawing on more than a century's worth of anti-Semitic hoaxes and smears, the thread claimed that malevolent Jewish forces in the banking industry are out to enslave non-Jews and promote world wars. Riddled with QAnon references, the thread from Twitter user @WarNuse claimed that the Titanic had been sunk to protect the Federal Reserve, and that every president between John F. Kennedy and Donald Trump was a "slave president" in the thrall of a global cabal. The thread also promoted "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion," an anti-Semitic hoax popular in Nazi Germany, and claimed that its allegations about a Jewish plot to control the world are real. "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion is not a fabrication," the thread that Mendoza shared reads. "And, it certainly is not anti-semetic (sic) to point out this fact." After The Daily Beast published this article, Mendoza deleted her tweet and tweeted an apology "for not paying attention to the intent of the whole message." While Mendoza had initially urged her followers to read the thread, she claimed on Tuesday evening that she had not read all of the posts in the thread."That does not reflect my feelings or personal thoughts whatsoever," Mendoza tweeted.Though her speech was cancelled, the Mendoza episode is just the latest example of a convention speaker with a checkered background. As the Republican festivities enter their second night, several scheduled speakers have already been exposed for holding bizarre beliefs. Public school teacher Rebecca Friedrichs, who spoke at the convention on Monday, has claimed that public schools use their curricula to "groom" children for sexual predators like Jeffrey Epstein. On Tuesday, Vice reported that anti-abortion activist and convention speaker Abby Johnson praised the idea of police racially profiling her biracial son as "smart." "Statistically, my brown son is more likely to commit a violent offense over my white sons," Johnson said in a video. Mendoza's tweet urging her followers to check out the anti-Semitic thread came on the eve of her Republican convention appearance. While the thread includes extensive anti-Semitism and references to QAnon, it also alleges that Hillary Clinton is a "Satanic High Priestess" and that Barack Obama's Washington home smells like sulfur — a reference to the idea, popular with InfoWars host Alex Jones, that Obama somehow smells like sulfur because he's connected to the devil and Hell.The Trump campaign and Mendoza didn't respond to requests for comment. Mendoza is also on the advisory board of We Build the Wall, the privately funded border wall effort whose leaders, including former Trump adviser Steve Bannon, were recently indicted for fraud.In addition to the thread she encouraged people to read, Mendoza also has posted her own tweets that push conspiracy theories about Democratic billionaire George Soros. One tweet from June 2019 claimed that Soros was pushing for more immigration to install a "one world government.""These are the violent types of people that SOROS, the ROTHCHILDS (sic) and the United Nations have NO problem using as pawns and uprooting them and bringing them to the USA to accomplish their ONE WORLD GOVT!" Mendoza tweeted.Mendoza has alleged that public health advice advocating for mask-wearing are using the "Soros playbook," and claimed that Dr. Anthony Fauci, the government's lead infectious disease expert, is paid by Soros.In a Sept. 2019 tweet, Mendoza called Soros, a Holocaust survivor, a "Nazi." "This Nazi is still at it & the progressives love him for it," she wrote. 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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| Hillary Clinton Urges Biden Not to Concede ‘Under Any Circumstances’ in November Election Posted: 25 Aug 2020 06:53 AM PDT  After suffering a loss in the 2016 presidential election herself, Hillary Clinton is warning 2020 Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden not to concede "under any circumstances" in the upcoming election to avoid falling victim to Republican efforts to disrupt the vote count.In an interview with The Circus on Showtime, the former secretary of state accused Republicans of trying to "mess up" absentee balloting to gain "a narrow advantage in the electoral college." She claimed that in Wisconsin's primary in April, Republicans "did everything they could to mess up voting." "But because courts had ordered absentee ballots to be counted if they were postmarked on election day, Democrats actually won some important races there," she said. While Republicans had pushed back against Democratic governor Tony Evers' proposal to mail almost every voter in the state an absentee ballot application, more than 80 percent of GOP members in the Wisconsin Legislature voted by mail in April. Wisconsin Senate majority leader Scott Fitzgerald said in May that he opposed mailing people absentee ballot applications because the voter list had not been "cleaned up" to remove people who shouldn't be on there, primarily because they moved."Wisconsin has online registration, excuse-free absentee voting, early in-person voting, and Election Day registration, making it easier to vote in Wisconsin than most other states," Fitzgerald, who ultimately voted absentee in April himself, said.> Hillary Clinton has some advice for Joe Biden: Don't concede in a close race.> > The 2016 nominee sits down with @jmpalmieri and @sho_thecircus to urge Dems to pay close attention to GOP strategy. pic.twitter.com/REwfLf1QjS> > -- The Recount (@therecount) August 24, 2020While Democrats have been quick to push for mail-in voting amid the coronavirus pandemic, many Republicans have warned that voting by mail can leave elections open to widespread fraud or can lead to ballots being sent to people who have died and to incorrect addresses. Republicans' skepticism has led many Democrats to accuse the GOP of voter suppression."We have to have our own teams of people to counter the force of intimidation that the Republicans and Trump are going to put outside polling places," Clinton said, urging people to become poll workers in November. She later added, "Joe Biden should not concede under any circumstances because I think this is going to drag out and eventually I do believe he will win if we don't give an inch and if we are as focused and relentless as the other side is."Earlier in the interview, Clinton also bitterly acknowledged the importance of the electoral college saying, "You can win 3 million more votes and still, you know, not get elected because of the electoral college."
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| Mount Rushmore climber plunges 100 feet off George Washington’s head, officials say Posted: 25 Aug 2020 10:04 AM PDT  The climber will be fined $1,500.
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| Marco collapses after making landfall, but threat looms from Laura Posted: 24 Aug 2020 09:05 PM PDT  Ahead of Laura, hurricane and storm surge watches were issued for parts of the Gulf Coast. Marco made landfall but was expected to weaken further.
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| China protests at U.S. spy plane watching drills Posted: 25 Aug 2020 06:47 AM PDT |
| Phoenix to pay $475K to family after officer pointed a gun at them in viral shoplifting case Posted: 24 Aug 2020 11:40 AM PDT  Phoenix City Council is expected to approve a $475,000 payout to a couple after a police officer pointed a gun at the man and threatened to shoot him.
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| 'I'd Like to Punch You in the Mouth.' Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro Enraged by Reporter's Question About Payments to His Wife Posted: 25 Aug 2020 02:33 AM PDT  Yet despite mounting scandals, polls suggest right-wing leader's popularity is on the rise
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| A white man shot at a group of Black Lives Matter activists on a 730-mile march from Wisconsin to DC. One protester was hospitalized and demonstrators refused to leave him behind. Posted: 25 Aug 2020 12:19 PM PDT  Frank Nitty, of Milwaukee, has been walking to Washington, DC for the 57th anniversary of the "I Have a Dream" speech. On Monday a supporter was shot.
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| 6 days after reopening, the University of Alabama has over 500 coronavirus cases. Now the student newspaper is telling the administration: 'We won't be your PR.' Posted: 25 Aug 2020 12:11 PM PDT  Since the first day of class on August 19, the University of Alabama campuses have reported 566 cases for students, faculty, and staff.
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| Couple who pointed guns at protesters tell Republican convention of suburban peril Posted: 24 Aug 2020 08:08 PM PDT  A white St. Louis couple who brandished guns at Black Lives Matter protesters outside their home in June were given a prominent speaking slot at the Republican National Convention on Monday, repeating unfounded claims by President Donald Trump that Democrats will destroy America's suburbs. Speaking amid new protests over the police shooting of a black man in Wisconsin on Sunday, Mark and Patricia McCloskey, who face felony weapons charges for threatening protesters with guns, said US neighbourhoods would be overrun by crime and lawlessness if Democrat Joe Biden wins in November. "No matter where you live, your family will not be safe in the radical Democrats' America," Patricia McCloskey said. That message follows repeated allegations by Mr Trump, as part of his "law-and-order" campaign, that vengeful "mobs" are tearing down Democratic-run cities. In one recent tweet, Mr Trump - keen to win back the votes of white, college-educated women - declared that "suburban housewives" wanted safety and that a Democrat in the White House would bring chaos to neighbourhoods. Mr Biden has decried violent protests and has resisted activist calls to "defund the police". Instead, he says his focus is on ending systematic racism inside law enforcement agencies.
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| Migrants at center of political tug-of-war in divided Bosnia Posted: 24 Aug 2020 10:05 AM PDT  SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina (AP) — Authorities in a northeastern region of Bosnia, decrying an alleged failure by other parts of the country to share the load of a lingering migration crisis, have set up roadblocks to prevent Europe-bound migrants from entering the territory under their jurisdiction. In an apparent violation of Bosnia's human rights and immigration laws, local authorities deployed police officers to the main highway connecting the Krajina region to the rest of the country with orders to stop and turn back all the migrants they encounter. In response, the police forces of adjacent administrative regions started blocking migrants from walking back to their areas.
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| Palm Beach County man used his unlicensed daycare to shoot child pornography, cops say Posted: 25 Aug 2020 11:03 AM PDT  When David Manas was arrested on 30 counts of child pornography possession in July, the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office says his Google account included something else unsettling: PDFs referencing "Manas Family Daycare" with the suspect's home address.
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| Lovecraft Country Is Packed With Supernatural Symbolism Posted: 25 Aug 2020 02:56 PM PDT |
| Hillary Clinton tells Joe Biden not to concede election ‘under any circumstances’ Posted: 25 Aug 2020 10:32 AM PDT  Hillary Clinton has urged Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden to "not concede under any circumstances," in November's presidential election, as she believes the results are "going to drag out," because of mail-in voting.Officials from both the Democratic and Republican parties have called for voting by mail to be implemented for November's presidential election, due to logistical concerns around the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
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| North Korean leader Kim calls for prevention efforts against coronavirus, looming typhoon: KCNA Posted: 25 Aug 2020 03:35 PM PDT  North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has called for prevention efforts against the novel coronavirus and a typhoon, state news agency KCNA said on Wednesday. An enlarged meeting of the politburo of the Workers Party took place amid a pandemic that is putting additional pressure on the North Korean economy, battered by recent border closures and flood damage. The meeting assessed "some defects in the state emergency anti-epidemic work for checking the inroads of the malignant virus", KCNA said in a statement.
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| 15-year-old was ‘passed off’ to men in sex-trafficking case, Kentucky police say Posted: 25 Aug 2020 12:23 PM PDT  In exchange for sex, the girl received money and pets, police said.
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| Guam needs Aegis Ashore Posted: 25 Aug 2020 02:00 AM PDT  Aegis Ashore is not a perfect solution, but it provides the best hope for addressing urgent threats and creating the space for the additional capabilities that will undoubtedly be necessary.
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| Jerry Falwell Jr. says he was blackmailed because of wife's affair Posted: 24 Aug 2020 09:28 AM PDT  Jerry Falwell Jr., currently on a leave of absence as the leader of evangelical Liberty University, has released a statement saying that he is seeking help for the "emotional toll" from an affair his wife had with a man who he says later threatened his family.
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| TikTok users review-bombed Trump's campaign app so hard that Apple had to reset its star-rating Posted: 24 Aug 2020 04:52 AM PDT  TikTok fans began review-bombing the Trump 2020 app on Apple's App Store in July after Trump signed an executive order targeting ByteDance.
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| Facebook blocks Thai access to group critical of monarchy Posted: 24 Aug 2020 11:45 PM PDT  The social media giant says it's preparing legal action after being ordered to block access in Thailand.
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| Judge won’t dismiss Lee statue lawsuit; case heads for trial Posted: 25 Aug 2020 01:33 PM PDT  A lawsuit seeking to prevent Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam's administration from removing an enormous statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee can proceed, a judge ruled Tuesday, clearing the way for a trial in the fall. Richmond Circuit Court Judge W. Reilly Marchant rejected much of the state's motion to dismiss a lawsuit filed by a group of property owners along the residential boulevard where the statue is situated. The decision at least further delays Northam's plan, which he announced in early June, citing the pain felt across the country about the death of George Floyd, a Black man who died under the knee of a white Minneapolis police officer as he struggled to breathe.
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| 'Obvious lie after obvious lie': Biden campaign blasts RNC as 'incoherent charade' Posted: 25 Aug 2020 03:10 PM PDT  The Democratic nominee shared media fact-checks on the GOP convention on health care, crime and COVID-19.
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