| Trump brags he 'made Juneteenth very famous' despite learning about it just last week Posted: 18 Jun 2020 10:10 AM PDT  President Trump credited himself on Wednesday for bringing attention to the holiday commemorating the end of slavery in the United States after receiving pressure from African-Americans over scheduling a campaign rally on that day.
|
| The emerging face of COVID: Younger patients, more cases, but fewer deaths Posted: 18 Jun 2020 08:52 AM PDT  Case counts are climbing in more than 20 states. But so far COVID-19 death counts have not been climbing along with them. Is that because patients are starting to skew younger?
|
| NYPD officer bragged about taking off protester's mask and pepper-spraying him, bodycam footage shows Posted: 18 Jun 2020 10:48 AM PDT  Since protests erupted around the country last month, the NYPD has come under fire for numerous instances of violence against peaceful protesters.
|
| Slave's grave vandalized in UK city in apparent retaliation Posted: 18 Jun 2020 08:33 AM PDT  British officials said Thursday the grave of an enslaved African man has been vandalised in an apparent "retaliation attack" after protesters in the city of Bristol toppled the statue of a prominent slave trader. Two headstones in memory of Scipio Africanus, who lived in Bristol in the 18th century, were smashed. A message scrawled in chalk nearby called for the statue of Edward Colston to be put back or "things will really heat up."
|
| China not forthcoming in Hawaii talks, but made commitment on trade: U.S. diplomat Posted: 18 Jun 2020 02:58 PM PDT  China's attitude in talks with the United States this week in Hawaii cannot be described as forthcoming, although it did commit to following through on Phase One of the U.S.-China trade deal, the senior U.S. diplomat for East Asia said on Thursday. David Stilwell, who spoke after U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met China's top diplomat, Yang Jiechi, in Hawaii on Wednesday, told reporters the next couple of weeks would show whether the talks were productive. "The PRC (People's Republic of China) side could not be described as really forthcoming," said Stilwell.
|
| Two Jet Pilots from Carrier Roosevelt Safe After Ejecting in Philippine Sea Posted: 18 Jun 2020 09:40 AM PDT  An F-A-18F Super Hornet assigned to the carrier Theodore Roosevelt took a swim in the Philippine Sea.
|
| Colombian army rescues abducted Swiss and Brazilian tourists Posted: 18 Jun 2020 08:53 PM PDT  The Swiss and Brazilian tourists were kidnapped by dissidents from the former Farc rebel movement.
|
| Hundreds of armed counter-protesters confront Black Lives Matter rally in Ohio Posted: 18 Jun 2020 07:19 AM PDT  Counter-protesters harassed group of peaceful demonstrators with rifles, bats and racial slurs in mostly white town of BethelA small and peaceful demonstration in an Ohio town to support the Black Lives Matter movement at the weekend was overwhelmed when hundreds of counter-protesters – some armed with rifles or baseball bats – harassed the group.Alicia Gee, a 36-year-old substitute school teacher, expected about 50 people to attend a demonstration – the first protest she had ever organized, she told the Cincinnati Enquirer – but almost twice as many turned out.The rally was intended to show solidarity with the minority black community in Bethel, a mostly white town of about 2,800 people 30 miles east of Cincinnati, she added.But the small group of protesters were overwhelmed when roughly 700 counter-protesters turned up to show their opposition to the kind of rallies and marches against racism and police brutality sweeping the nation since the killing of George Floyd by a police officer in Minneapolis in May.Gee's gathering demonstrated the renewed reach of the Black Lives Matter movement to small, majority white towns in the midwest that haven't seen protests in years, spurred by recent, high-profile examples of killings of black people by white police officers or armed individuals acting as vigilantes.Some small towns holding rallies now did not see such events after the killing of Michael Brown by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, in 2014.Gee referenced violent tragedies such as the alleged murder of Floyd by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, the shooting death of Breonna Taylor by Louisville police, and the killing of Ahmaud Arbery by two armed white men in Georgia.She said in a Facebook post before the rally that such brutality made it "perfectly clear to me it's time for my comfort to be put by the wayside. It is time for me to use my body, my voice, and my privlShe said in a Facebook post that such brutality made it "perfectly clear to me it's time for my comfort to be put by the wayside, it is time for me to use my body, my voice, and my privilege to show my town that it is not 'fine,' that it's not just 'city folks' that have the right to peacefully assemble, and that Black Lives Matter even if there are just a few in our town."But the demonstration was engulfed by a combination of armed gun-rights defenders, "back the blue" pro-police groups and about 250 people on motorcycles, which forced the group to move two blocks from its original location and led to tumult.Videos from what turned into a two-hour clash, several of which circulated on Twitter and Facebook, show the counter-protesters shouting racial slurs and "all lives matter" and accosting demonstrators."They were grabbing me, and grabbing my mom, and they just seemed to have no respect for the law," Andrea Dennis, a Bethel resident whose Facebook live from the demonstration shows a man ripping a fellow demonstrator's sign from her hands, told the Enquirer.Bethel police said they were investigating 10 "incidents" from Sunday afternoon.In another Facebook live video, Heather Bratton, also from Bethel, asserts "this is my hometown too!" to a white women who repeatedly uses the N-word.A few counter-demonstrators "started coming over and ripping signs out of our hands, ripping the hats and masks off of our faces, ripping things out of our pockets," wrote demonstrator Abbi Remers on Facebook, along with a photo of a man's bloody cheek, a bloodied mask, and video of men shouting "This ain't Seattle!" and "This is a Republican state!"Another widely circulated video shows a man wearing what appears to be a Confederate flag bandana sucker-punching a protester in the back of the head in front of a police officer, who makes no arrest attempt. The video drew condemnation from Ohio senator Sherrod Brown."These officers' inaction is shameful," Brown tweeted. "This is why we need the Justice in Policing Act – to hold police accountable," he added, referring to legislation introduced by House Democrats earlier this month.> A BlackLivesMatter protestor in Bethel Ohio got sucker punched DIRECTLY IN FRONT OF A COP & nothing was done by the officer to protect and serve the protestor. > > ����♂️ pic.twitter.com/BPeKhOjxb3> > — Josh Martinez (@YoJoshMartinez) June 15, 2020In a virtual village council meeting on Tuesday, Bethel police chief Steve Teague said the officer present had not witnessed the incident because his attention was pulled to the side. All six of Bethel's officers were present on Sunday, Teague said, as well as some county deputies.On Wednesday, Bethel police issued an arrest warrant for assault, citing the video as evidence.Because of tension and intimidation on Sunday, Gee said in a Facebook live video posted Monday that she did not plan to schedule another demonstration. "I want us to heal, I want our community to heal, I want peace and love to be spread," she said. "And I'm worried that what we saw yesterday with more counter-protesters coming out – I'm worried that's going to happen again."By Monday evening, Bethel mayor Jay Noble imposed a 9pm curfew, citing "the threat of continued and escalating violence."Gee urged supporters to "not come to Bethel right now", in a chilling echo of so-called "sundown towns" – majority-white towns where black people were evicted, barred from buying property, and banned after dark by threat of violence earlier in the 20th century."It is not a time for any type of Black Lives Matter supporters to be in Bethel right now," Gee said. "It's not safe.""Our purpose was to show our community that it cares," she said. "That it loves the people within our community, and right now, that cannot happen."
|
| Trump threatens Tulsa protesters as mayor lifts curfew Posted: 19 Jun 2020 08:12 AM PDT  The president's top advisers repeatedly referenced the potential for violence on the streets this weekend.
|
| More than 2 weeks after start of nationwide protests, little sign of COVID spike, but officials remain cautious Posted: 19 Jun 2020 01:54 PM PDT  When protests started after the killing of George Floyd, health experts worried they could spark outbreaks of the coronavirus. There is little evidence that has happened, though officials caution it is far too early to draw conclusions.
|
| Just 39 migrant kids avoided expulsion at the border in May Posted: 18 Jun 2020 03:42 PM PDT  U.S. officials at the southern border carried out 1,001 arrests of unaccompanied migrant children in May. Just 39 were allowed to stay.
|
| Honduras says its president has been hospitalized with COVID-19. Many don't believe it Posted: 18 Jun 2020 05:29 PM PDT  President Juan Orlando Hernández of Honduras is a polarizing figure who has been named in a U.S. drug trafficking case. He says he has the coronavirus. Some don't believe him.
|
| Ben Carson Inadvertently Makes the Case for ‘Systemic Racism’ on Fox News Posted: 17 Jun 2020 05:54 PM PDT  During an appearance with Martha MacCallum on Fox News Wednesday night, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson accidentally made the exact opposite argument of the one he was trying to make.After once again defending the police officers who have now been charged with the killing of Rayshard Brooks, saying there was "wrong on both sides," Carson addressed the larger debate over "systemic racism" in America. "We live in a period of time where, if there's any incident that goes on that involves a Black person and a white person, you can be guaranteed that the term 'racism' is going to be thrown into it," he said. "The fact of the matter is, there are lots of interactions that occur between people that have nothing to do with race, but we impose that on everything." Ben Carson Defends Atlanta Police Officer Who Killed Rayshard Brooks on 'Fox News Sunday'From there, Carson outlined what might happen in the United States if systemic racism is acknowledged."If we say the system is systemically racist, then it gives us the excuse that we need to try to completely change the system," he said. To those who say they want to "remake America," Carson said, "First you have to make the case that America is broken," something he obviously believes not to be the case."Do we have defects? Absolutely," he added. "We're inhabited by imperfect people. But why don't we look at situations like what just occurred in Atlanta, let's dissect this and let's make sure that we put in place policies so that people don't continue to have these types of situations arise. That would be much smarter than getting into our respective corners and demonizing each other and getting angry all the time." Nodding in agreement, MacCallum finally chimed in with, "Wise words, Dr. Carson." For the activists who have been wanting America to address systemic racism in policing and other aspects of American society for years, that "excuse" for change that Carson describes is exactly what they have been fighting for. They probably couldn't have put it better themselves. Trevor Noah's Emotional Plea to Cops After Rayshard Brooks Killing: 'When Is It Enough?'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.
|
| Indian families demand justice as they await bodies of soldiers killed in clash with China Posted: 18 Jun 2020 01:38 AM PDT  In their last phone conversation, Neha Ojha, the wife of an Indian soldier, said she laughed off her husband's idea to name their daughter Snow White because he received the news of her birth while patrolling a snow-covered valley on the border with China. Sixteen hours later, Ojha was informed that her husband was among 20 soldiers killed by Chinese troops in the disputed Galwan Valley. The Indian army on Thursday began handing over the bodies of the soldiers killed in the fight - the worst clash in over half a century between the nuclear-armed neighbours.
|
| Galwan Valley: The fake news about India and China's border clash Posted: 19 Jun 2020 08:48 AM PDT  With feelings running high between the two Asian nations, plenty of misleading content has been shared.
|
| McEnany says she will not wear a face mask at Trump’s Tulsa rally Posted: 19 Jun 2020 11:31 AM PDT  At a press conference on Friday, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany says she will not wear a face mask at President Trump's campaign rally in Tulsa, Okla., on Saturday. The CDC recommends that adults wear face coverings to stop the spread of coronavirus.
|
| Senate confirms Trump's pick to the D.C. Circuit Posted: 18 Jun 2020 11:34 AM PDT  Senate Republicans and the conservative legal community lauded Trump's decision to nominate Justin Walker.
|
| Photos show famed hidden treasure found after 10-year search Posted: 18 Jun 2020 05:00 AM PDT  Forrest Fenn posted three photos on his blog, saying the bronze chest filled with gold, jewels, and other valuables is indeed his famed treasure.
|
| Rise in coronavirus cases in L.A. puts Latinos at even greater risk, doctors say Posted: 19 Jun 2020 02:06 PM PDT  "We can't let the discrimination of this pandemic continue this way," a clinic director said.
|
| U.S. slaps sanctions on Mexican firms, individuals linked to Venezuelan oil trade Posted: 18 Jun 2020 11:43 AM PDT  The United States on Thursday blacklisted Mexico's Libre Abordo and a related company, accusing them of helping Caracas evade U.S. sanctions in the first formal action by the U.S. Treasury Department against Mexican firms involved in trading Venezuelan oil. The Treasury said in a statement it imposed sanctions on three individuals, eight entities and two vessels for activities related to a network attempting to skirt U.S. sanctions on Venezuela aimed at ousting President Nicolas Maduro.
|
| Coronavirus Beijing: Why an outbreak sparked a salmon panic in China Posted: 18 Jun 2020 03:46 AM PDT  Beijing is seeing a rise in virus cases - but is frozen salmon really the cause?
|
| The officer accused of killing Rayshard Brooks was moved to a different jail over security concerns Posted: 19 Jun 2020 11:19 AM PDT  Garrett Rolfe, who was scheduled to appear in court today, has moved correctional facilities due to security concerns.
|
| Elderly Black Lives Matter protester injured by police and trolled by Trump in hiding after death threats Posted: 19 Jun 2020 08:21 AM PDT  Martin Gugino, the protester shoved to the ground by Buffalo police officers during the George Floyd protests, is recuperating in a secret location due to threats he's received.Mr Gugino's attorney said on Thursday that his client had received "concerning and threatening messages and one letter" since he was assaulted by police officers in Buffalo.
|
| China says it has not seized any Indian soldiers Posted: 19 Jun 2020 01:18 AM PDT  China said Friday that it has not detained any Indian soldiers, following Indian media reports that China had released 10 of them late Thursday. "As far as I know, currently China has not seized any Indian personnel," Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said when asked about the report at a daily briefing. Indian officials have also denied that Indian troops were in Chinese custody.
|
| Jean Kennedy Smith, last surviving sibling of President John F. Kennedy, dies Posted: 18 Jun 2020 06:45 AM PDT  The last surviving sibling of President John F. Kennedy, Jean Kennedy Smith, has died at 92.
|
| McEnany won't wear mask at Tulsa Trump rally Posted: 19 Jun 2020 12:05 PM PDT  The Centers for Disease Control recommends that Americans wear masks in public.
|
| Al-Qaeda North Africa confirms chief is dead: SITE Posted: 18 Jun 2020 04:24 PM PDT  Al-Qaeda's North Africa wing has confirmed that its Algerian chief Abdelmalek Droukdel is dead, according to SITE, the US watchdog for extremist groups. France said early this month that its forces killed Droukdel in northern Mali near the Algerian border, where it says the group has bases it uses to carry out bombings and abductions of Westerners. "After nearly two weeks, AQIM (Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb) has officially acknowledged the death of its long time leader Droukdel (Wadud), with a video eulogy narrated by AQIM's head of media, pledging continued battles against occupying French forces and others in N. Africa and the Sahel," SITE director Rita Katz said Thursday on her Twitter account.
|
| Poland accuses Putin of re-writing history over WWII surrender jibe Posted: 19 Jun 2020 12:09 PM PDT  Poland has accused Vladimir Putin of manipulating history after he wrote an article claiming the pre-war Polish government threw "its own people under Hitler's machine of destruction". The article comes out just a week before Mr Putin is to host the annual Victory Day parade previously cancelled because of the coronavirus outbreak, and ahead of a nationwide vote that could allow him to stay in power until 2036. Mr Putin has used the Soviet Union's decisive contribution to defeating Nazi Germany in 1945 as an argument to justify Russia's special place in the world. Dwelling on the events of 1939 Mr Putin writes that Poland only has itself to blame for the Nazi invasion of September. "The blame for the tragedy that Poland then suffered lies entirely with the Polish leadership, which had impeded the formation of a military alliance between Britain, France and the Soviet Union and relied on the help from its Western partners, throwing its own people under the steamroller of Hitler's machine of destruction," he states. Later, he says Red Army units were sent into "the so-called Eastern Borderlines" instead of writing that the Soviet Union invaded Poland under the terms of Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. Poland reacted furiously. Stanislaw Zaryn, director of the National Security Department of the Polish prime minister's office, said: "It is not the first time the Russian president has manipulated history with the goal to present a false picture of WWII. "Russia's continued 'memory war' aims to whitewash the disgraceful Soviet past, erase from collective memory the fact that during the war Stalin and Hitler colluded with each other, and underpin the myth of the Soviet Union as a sole conqueror of Nazi Germany." While Russian authorities in the 1990s publicly condemned and apologised for multiple crimes committed by the Soviet regime, the Kremlin in recent years has sought to defend its wartime record, arguing among other things that a 1939 non-aggression pact between the Soviet Union and Germany, carving up Europe into spheres of influence, was a necessary evil.
|
| Man arrested in shooting of eight people outside San Antonio bar Posted: 18 Jun 2020 08:18 PM PDT  All of the victims are expected to survive. The shooting happened after a group was denied entry to a bar because they were inebriated.
|
| Nazis used red triangles to mark political prisoners. That symbol is why Facebook banned a Donald Trump reelection campaign ad. Posted: 18 Jun 2020 05:07 PM PDT  Political prisoners filled Nazi concentration camps, and they were marked with red triangles. Learn the history of the symbol.
|
| Bernie Sanders criticises Republican policing bill and says ‘we need to abolish qualified immunity’ Posted: 18 Jun 2020 02:42 PM PDT  Vermont senator Bernie Sanders has criticised the proposed Republican police reform bill, and has demanded the end to qualified immunity.On Wednesday, Republican senators announced a new bill that aims to reform police forces in the US, amid mass protests in response to the death of George Floyd, who died after being detained by a Minneapolis police officer.
|
| Iran test fires cruise missiles resistant to ‘electronic war,’ says naval chief Posted: 18 Jun 2020 08:52 AM PDT  Iran test fired cruise missiles in a naval exercise in the Gulf of Oman and northern Indian Ocean, state media reported Thursday.
|
| The Royal Navy ‘Tested to the Limit’ in Baltic Exercise as Russia Flexes Muscles Posted: 18 Jun 2020 06:45 AM PDT  The former head of the Royal Navy called the situation dangerous and warned that the drills could become something far deadlier.
|
| Cuomo slams federal government for coronavirus response Posted: 18 Jun 2020 09:27 AM PDT  Florida is among a number of states, like Oklahoma and Arizona, that have seen a surge in new cases. Cuomo called the federal government's guidance an "undeniable mistake" and said the White House had operated since day one on "pure political ideology." "It is a political theory, a public relations theory versus a science-based, fact-based theory," Cuomo said.
|
| Hong Kong children's shop told to remove protester statue Posted: 18 Jun 2020 08:59 AM PDT  The owner of the clothing store is refusing to remove the life-sized statue, called "Lady Liberty".
|
| Michael Gove warns Northern Irish voters will reject EU over bureaucratic customs rules Posted: 18 Jun 2020 08:33 AM PDT  Michael Gove has warned Northern Ireland will vote to break away from EU customs rules if Brussels is too "bureaucratic" about enforcing the new border in the Irish Sea. The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster told MPs on a scrutiny committee that there would be "unfettered access" of Northern Irish products to mainland Britain. Pressed on whether that meant no exit declarations on goods travelling to the mainland, he said, "absolutely". Michel Barnier said at the end of the fourth round of Brexit negotiations that avoiding exit declarations on goods moving from Northern Ireland was "incompatible with the legal commitments accepted by the UK" in the Northern Irish Protocol. Mr Gove, a cabinet minister, warned a heavy-handed approach would mean voters deciding against continued alignment with EU rules in the Stormont Vote planned for four years' time. The British Government secured the vote to bring democratic accountability in negotiations with the EU, which ended in a deal to put a customs border in the Irish Sea rather than on the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, which is an EU member. "If the protocol is seen to be working, it's more likely the alignment provisions can be accepted," Mr Gove said, "if it's the case that it were imposed in an over bureaucratic and burdensome manner that would lead inevitably, I think, to a greater degree of disquiet." "When it comes to goods moving from Northern Ireland into the rest of the United Kingdom, the situation will be exactly the same. Come what may," Mr Gove said before admitting there would be additional checks on British goods going to Northern Ireland.
|
| Washington state mayor says Black Lives Matter movement is ‘domestic terrorism’ after her home was vandalized Posted: 18 Jun 2020 08:32 AM PDT  Mayor Cheryl Selby of Olympia, Washington, is now calling the Black Lives Matter moment 'domestic terrorism' after her home was vandalized.
|
| Armenia's ex-president freed from jail on $4.1-million bail Posted: 18 Jun 2020 11:19 AM PDT |
| Trump describes coronavirus testing as 'overrated' and calls for less if virus reemerges Posted: 18 Jun 2020 11:18 AM PDT  Trump's decision to blame increases in coronavirus cases on testing is likely to be a central theme in how he explains his handling of the crisis this year.
|
| Mark Zuckerberg just got called out by more than 70 employees of his philanthropic initiative who are demanding the charity make big changes to combat systemic racism Posted: 18 Jun 2020 10:39 AM PDT  The rare activism within a major charity comes days after Zuckerberg-funded scientists slammed his inaction on controversial Trump Facebook posts.
|
| Taliban says no threat to West as US troops leave Afghanistan Posted: 19 Jun 2020 02:04 AM PDT  The Taliban on Friday played down concerns that Afghanistan could be used as a launching ground for future attacks on the West, after the US said it had so far upheld its pledge to reduce its military presence in the country. The top US commander for the region said it cut the number of troops to around 8,600 in line with a deal agreed with the insurgents in February, but warned conditions must be met for a full withdrawal by next year. General Kenneth McKenzie, the head of US Central Command, said "conditions would have to be met that satisfy us -- that attacks against our homeland are not going to be generated from Afghanistan".
|
