| Biden asks reporter if he's a 'junkie' in testy exchange over cognitive decline Posted: 05 Aug 2020 08:54 AM PDT  Joe Biden asked an African American reporter if he was a "junkie" for questioning whether the former vice president had taken a cognitive test in response to attacks targeting his mental health.At an event for black and Hispanic journalists, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee compared the question to asking CBS News correspondent Errol Barnett if he was using cocaine during the interview.
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| Beirut Ignored Public Warning There Was a Russian ‘Bomb’ at the Port Posted: 05 Aug 2020 02:38 AM PDT  Years before a devastating blast killed at least 100 people and injured more than 4,000 in Beirut Tuesday, a maritime analyst issued a public warning that a Russian "floating bomb" was languishing in the city's docks.Maritime monitoring systems tracked the Rhosus into port in Beirut in September 2013. The ship, which was flagged in Moldova, listed its official cargo as "agricultural commodities." The 2,750 metric ton cargo of ammonium nitrate would primarily be used for fertilizers or high power explosives. To put it in context, less than two metric tons of ammonium nitrate was used in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing. The Russian-owned cargo ship called into port in Beirut for reasons unknown, possibly after running into trouble at sea en route from Georgia to Mozambique. Beirut authorities blocked it from leaving and the dangerous cargo was offloaded and stored in Hanger 12 in the port a year later, according to the maritime monitoring website Fleetmon. Mikhail Voytenko, a Russian maritime analyst based in Thailand, warned in July 2014 that the ship, which he said was owned by a Russian operator, was effectively a "floating bomb." Voytenko said the ship's owners had abandoned the ship and its crew, and the Lebanese authorities had failed to protect the deadly cargo. "There are a lot of restrictions, regulations and rules to stick to when talking about storing explosives like ammonium but they just stored it in a warehouse and forgot about it," he told The Daily Beast by phone from close to the Laem Chabang port in Thailand where he works.The Russian captain of the abandoned ship, Boris Prokoshev, and three Ukrainian crew members Valery Lupol, 3rd mechanic Andrey Golovyoshkin and boatswain Boris Musinchak, were made to stay on the ship with the deadly cargo after the other six crew members were released. They launched an appeal to get out, writing to Russian and Ukrainian journalists and to a group that supports seamen."The shipowner abandoned the vessel. The cargo owner has ammonium nitrate in the hold," Musinchak wrote in an email to both the Assol Seamen Aid Foundation and the diplomatic services of Ukraine. "It is an explosive substance... This is how we live for free on a powder keg for 10 months."A Lebanese court then reportedly gave permission to unload the cargo, but not before asking the sailors to find a buyer for it themselves, which they claimed in the email they could not because all communication was stripped from the ship. On Wednesday, Prokoshev appeared on Russian television, insisting that even the lawyer who tried to free them was corrupt and not concerned about the fate of the ammonium nitrate. "For some reason, the consignee did not lift a finger to get his cargo out," he said.The ship was owned and operated by Igor Grechushkin, a Russian, who now moved to Cyprus, according to the stranded sailors. Calls to Grechushkin were not immediately answered.As well as the public warning, Lebanese officials had repeatedly ignored warnings by port authorities about the ammonium nitrate that sparked the devastating explosion.Badri Daher, the current head of Lebanon's customs authority, told reporters on the scene that the explosion was linked to the ammonium nitrate. Several people in the open source intelligence community later tweeted photos of loosely packed bags of white powder, assumed to be the substance. The Daily Beast has not verified the authenticity of the photos.On June 27, 2014, Shafik Merhi, then head of the Lebanese Customs Authority wrote to Lebanese officials under the heading "urgent matters," asking for help to secure the explosives, according to a copy of the letter shared on Twitter by human rights activist Wadih Al Asmar. Merhi then reportedly sent five more letters, in December 5, 2014, May 6, 2015, May 20, 2016, October 13, 2016, and October 27, 2017, pleading for help, according to Al Jazeera, which reports one as saying, "In view of the serious danger of keeping these goods in the hangar in unsuitable climatic conditions, we reaffirm our request to please request the marine agency to re-export these goods immediately to preserve the safety of the port and those working in it, or to look into agreeing to sell this amount."Another letter, this time written by Daher, the incoming head of Lebanese Customs Authority reiterated the warning of "the danger of leaving these goods in the place they are, and to those working there."Lebanon's new prime minister Hassan Diab, who came to the job in January 2020, alluded to the theory that the devastation could have been avoided, promising that "all those responsible for this catastrophe will pay a price."President Donald Trump referred to the explosion as an attack, though local authorities say it was likely set off by a welder working nearby. "I've met with some of our great generals and they just seem to feel that . . . this was not some kind of a manufacturing explosion type of event," Trump said at a White House briefing. "They seem to think it was an attack. It was a bomb of some kind."On Wednesday, hundreds were still reported missing from the massive explosion, which generated seismic waves similar to a 3.3 magnitude earthquake. Beirut port, which is dubiously nicknamed the Cave of Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves because of the alleged corruption tied to its management, has been under intense scrutiny in recent months after the October Revolution began last fall. 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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| Trump says Florida can provide accurate vote-by-mail results because of its Republican governors Posted: 04 Aug 2020 05:17 PM PDT  Trump continued to sow fear about mail-in voting, claiming that states with Democratic leadership were unprepared.
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| Georgia prosecutor asks court to revoke bond for former Atlanta policeman charged with murder Posted: 05 Aug 2020 08:28 AM PDT  A Georgia prosecutor has asked a judge to revoke the bond for the former Atlanta policeman charged with murder in the shooting of Rayshard Brooks, saying in court papers that he had violated its terms by taking an out-of-state vacation. Brooks, a Black man, was fatally shot in June in the parking lot of a Wendy's restaurant in Atlanta, an incident that was caught on video and set off days of protests over racial inequality and social injustice. District Attorney Paul Howard asked the court late on Tuesday to send former officer Garrett Rolfe, 27, back to jail for violating the terms of his bond, which include a 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew and an order that he stays within the court's jurisdiction.
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| A woman allegedly smashed a police officer's head into concrete after being told to wear a mask Posted: 04 Aug 2020 02:20 PM PDT  A woman in Australia allegedly smashed a police officer's head into concrete after being told to wear a mask. The officer was left concussed.
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| A 6-year-old girl in the UK choked on her McDonald's chicken nuggets because they contained bits of a face mask, her mom says Posted: 05 Aug 2020 02:09 PM PDT  McDonald's said it was investigating the incident and had "taken action to ensure any product from this batch is removed from restaurants."
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| Defense: Ex-officer at Floyd arrest only did crowd control Posted: 05 Aug 2020 04:29 PM PDT  An attorney for one of the four former Minneapolis police officers charged in the death of George Floyd argues his client only handled crowd control. Defense attorney Robert Paule filed a memo Wednesday supporting his earlier motion to dismiss charges against Tou Thao for lack of probable cause. The memo said Thao had his back to what was going on as Officer Derek Chauvin, who is white, pressed his knee to the neck of Floyd, a handcuffed Black man.
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| 2nd-grade student tests positive for the coronavirus after 1st day of school Posted: 05 Aug 2020 08:43 AM PDT  The child's school is in Georgia's Cherokee County district, which recommends but does not require masks.
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| Joe Biden cancels plans to travel to Wisconsin to accept presidential nomination amid coronavirus fears Posted: 05 Aug 2020 09:46 AM PDT  Joe Biden announced he will no longer travel to Wisconsin to accept the Democratic presidential nomination during the party's national convention this month because of coronavirus concerns. Instead, Mr Biden, 77, will accept the nomination and deliver a national address from his home state of Delaware. It means the Democratic convention, usually a huge jamboree designed to boost party morale and give maximum media exposure to the presidential candidate, will be almost entirely virtual. The even, which runs from August 17 - 20, had originally been intended to take place in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, a key swing state which Donald Trump narrowly won in 2016 and Mr Biden hopes to retake in November. It comes hours after Mr Trump suggested that he may deliver his own Republican nomination acceptance speech later this month from the White House.
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| This is what it looked like after the US dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima 75 years ago Posted: 05 Aug 2020 02:57 AM PDT  On August 6, 1945, a U.S. bomber famously known as the Enola Gay dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, marking a historic act of nuclear warfare.
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| Trump banned Jeffrey Epstein from Mar-a-Lago after he hit on teenage girl, book claims Posted: 05 Aug 2020 07:54 AM PDT  Donald Trump banned Jeffrey Epstein from Mar-a-Lago after the disgraced financier hit on another member's teenage daughter, a new book has claimed.Epstein was a member of the now-president's Palm Beach, Florida, club until 2007, according to The Grifter's Club, a detail that has contradicted what Mr Trump's company previously said about the president's relationship with the convicted sex predator.
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| Seattle City Council Won’t Slash Police Budget, but OKs Cop Layoffs Posted: 05 Aug 2020 03:28 PM PDT  A majority of Seattle's City Council on Wednesday voted down a proposal to slash the police department's remaining 2020 budget by 50 percent. But the council did pass a slew of other defunding efforts, including ones that would cut 100 officers from the agency this year through layoffs and attrition.The vote by the budget committee—which came one day after the city's mayor and police chief held a press conference to criticize the proposal—signaled some progress for Black Lives Matter and anti-police brutality advocates who've pushed to defund departments across the U.S. and reallocate funds to community services, including housing and youth programs.The budget-cut plan, proposed by council member Kshama Sawant, would have cut $54 million from the Seattle PD immediately through layoffs and reallocated it to programs, including $34 million for affordable housing. Sawant was the only member to vote in favor of the proposal, while another council member abstained and the remaining seven voted against it.While the council's budget committee voted on a variety of amendments related to police funding, activists marched from a King County juvenile detention facility to City Hall. One reporter on scene captured demonstrators chanting, "Bad boys. Bad boys. Whatcha gonna do? Whatcha gonna do when we defund you?"Shootings Rise in Big Cities Along With Calls to Defund the PoliceSeattle's vote comes on the heels of other local governments, including the Washington D.C. Council, passing legislation to dismantle or cut the budgets of police departments. In late June, the Minneapolis City Council unanimously approved a proposal to disband the city's police department—and replace it with a new Department of Community Safety and Violence Prevention—following the death of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man who was killed May 25 by a Minneapolis cop who kneeled on his neck during an arrest.Minneapolis' charter commission voted 10-5 against the city council's proposal on Wednesday, saying they needed more time to review it. The decision meant voters won't get to decide on the amendment on a November ballot. The Seattle council's budget committee unanimously passed a series of amendments, including adding $4 million to the Human Services Department for a community safety initiative which would be an "alternative to traditional policing." The funding for that effort would come from a loan authorized by separate legislation.They also voted to cut $886,000 from the Seattle PD and reallocate it to a proposal that would add $10 million for community-led organizations "to increase public safety." (The remaining $9.1 million would come from interfund loan to be addressed in separate legislation.) The cuts approved included $36,000 from the police department's remaining 2020 budget for implicit bias training; $50,000 from SPD's 2020 travel budget; and $800,000 from the department's recruitment and retention activities. > Protesters gathering near the youth jail for today's march to City Hall. Saw a handful of bike cops on my way over, though they seem to be around the block now. pic.twitter.com/8vf6r3EW9W> > — Heidi Groover (@heidigroover) August 5, 2020The committee also unanimously approved a "consent package" which includes ordering the police chief to eliminate the mounted unit and public affairs unit, each of which has four officers; lay off five members of the community outreach unit; lay off two members of the 29-officer SWAT team; and let go of 30 officers through attrition. All told, the council approved a reduction of 54 officers from the department.This package also included $50,000 in funding to contract with a community-based organization to create a non-police 911 response system.On Monday, KOMO News revealed the proposal to slash the Seattle Police Department's budget by 50 percent appeared to be "losing steam" among the nine council members. The remainder of the Seattle PD's unspent budget is an estimated $188 million, the outlet reported.Council member Sawant slammed her colleagues in an interview with the TV outlet and on Twitter, where she claimed Democrats on the budget committee "ganged up against our movement's proposals to Defund the police..."> To see Democratic Party politicians in their real role, watch today's Seattle City Council Budget Committe, where they ganged up against our movement's proposals to Defund the police by at least 50%, fund community programs, and increase significant funds for affordable housing.> > — Kshama Sawant (@cmkshama) August 4, 2020"I'm not surprised," Sawant told KOMO News, "but it's quite interesting to see how council members are now displaying how they actually stand and I hope members of the public are watching."Last month, protesters targeted the homes of two council members who supported reducing the police budget but wouldn't commit to slashing it by 50 percent, the Seattle Times reported. The demonstrations allegedly included making noise outside one councilor's home at night and leaving notes on his door warning, "Don't be racist trash."In June, another group visited Mayor Jenny Durkan's residence, which was tagged with spray paint, according to the Times. Durkan asked the council to probe Sawant for taking part in that protest but council president Lorena González declined. Meanwhile, Police Chief Carmen Best said her neighbors had to stop a "large group of aggressive protestors" from trespassing at her home on Saturday. One of the demonstrators, Nicole Gitaka, told King 5, a local news station: "All we were doing was walking and they met us with guns, I don't know who the aggressor is at that point, but I don't think it's us."> Crowd gathers across from the site for the new youth jail for a march and rally pertaining to the city council's vote today on defunding the SPD seattleprotest seattleprotests pic.twitter.com/MuTzTIU74h> > — Elizabeth Turnbull (@LizTurnbull5) August 5, 2020This summer, Seattle police swept through an autonomous protest zone known as the Capitol Hill Organized Protest Area (CHOP) with blast balls and pepper spray, arresting at least two dozen people after Durkan issued an executive order to clear the area.Previously called the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone (CHAZ), the six-block stretch near downtown was occupied by demonstrators in the wake of Floyd's death and Black Lives Matter protests. But the site also brought multiple shootings, including the fatal shooting of a 16-year-old boy, and injuries to both cops and protesters. One Tacoma man was charged with arson for torching the police department's East Precinct building during the CHOP protest.Last week, the head of Seattle's police union warned defunding cops would bring higher crime rates and make CHOP or CHAZ "look like child's play."Was Seattle's Notorious Protest Zone Doomed by Recent Shootings?On Tuesday, Durkan and Best held a press conference to ask council members to hold off on deep cuts to the police budget until 2021.Durkan said the city shouldn't make "hasty decisions" when it comes to defunding the police department. "We should make right decisions," Durkan told reporters. "That doesn't mean slow; it just means thoughtful.""The chief and I, again, we are absolutely committed, committed to reimagining how policing works in the city, to having a better community-based response, to have a public health and harm reduction based response," Durkan added. "But we also know that policing is complicated and that sometimes you do need a police officer to respond."For her part, Best said "there are some good approaches" in the council's proposals and that "some of the ideas SPD already had and has raised before.""But what is problematic is these are approaches without any clarity on how they will become reality. What is the plan? " Best asked. "The push from Council and some of our community is to do these large-scale changes in 2020 with no practical plan for community safety. And I believe wholeheartedly that is completely reckless."Council has directed me to lay off 70 or more officers basically overnight," the chief added. "And I cannot do that in good faith knowing there are no systems in place to bridge the gap."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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| Poll: Most Black Americans Want Police to Remain in Their Areas Posted: 05 Aug 2020 10:04 AM PDT  Most black Americans say they want police to continue their current presence in local areas, even as protests against racism and police brutality sweep the nation, and calls to reform and even defund police departments persist.Close to two-thirds, 61 percent, of black Americans said they want the police presence in their area to remain the same, while 20 percent said they would like to see police spend more time in their neighborhood, according to a new Gallup poll. Another 19 percent said they would like to see the police presence in their area decrease.Among the general population, 67 percent of Americans say they want the police presence near them to remain the same, with 71 percent of white Americans saying so. A majority of other minority communities also said they do not want to see fewer police officers patrolling their neighborhoods, with 59 percent of Hispanics preferring the current police presence.Black Americans said they observe police in their neighborhoods slightly more than other groups, 32 percent saying they see police officers often or very often in their area, above the national average of 24 percent of all Americans who say the same. About 27 percent said they rarely or never see police in their neighborhoods. Only 22 percent of white Americans said they see police often or very often around where they live.Of black Americans who see police frequently in their areas, only about a third say they think police should curtail their time in the neighborhood, similar to the overall percentage who say so.Despite most black Americans approving of the level of police presence in their neighborhoods, less than one in five say they are very confident that they would be treated with courtesy and respect during an encounter with police. Meanwhile, over half, 56 percent, of white Americans say they are confident in the same.The Gallup poll was taken after weeks of unrest in metropolitan areas around the country over police tactics involving interactions with minority communities, particularly black Americans. Protests and riots broke out in May in many cities following the police custody death of George Floyd, a black man who died after a white Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck as he pleaded for air.Calls to defund police have been particularly prevalent in Portland, Ore. and Seattle, Wash., both of which are predominantly white cities.The survey was conducted online from June 23 to July 6.
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| 'Delta may be onto something': Experts describe how the company is winning with customers even though rival airlines can fit more passengers Posted: 05 Aug 2020 07:37 AM PDT  A new survey and financial figures indicate travelers are willing to pay higher fares for social distance.
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| Mitch McConnell says negotiations on COVID relief are progressing but two sides remain 'long way apart' Posted: 05 Aug 2020 04:13 PM PDT  Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell joins Mike Emanuel with insight on 'Special Report.'
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| Latin America now has world's highest coronavirus death toll Posted: 05 Aug 2020 12:03 PM PDT  The region has now recorded more than 206,000 deaths, approximately 30% of the global total.
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| Police charge alleged MS-13 members with trafficking teen Posted: 05 Aug 2020 01:38 PM PDT  Federal prosecutors have charged 11 alleged members and associates of the MS-13 street gang with sex trafficking and other charges after they say a 13-year-old runaway was repeatedly beaten with a baseball bat and forced into prostitution in northern Virginia. A 48-page FBI affidavit says the 13-year-old girl ran away from a group home in Fairfax in August 2018 with a 16-year-old friend who was connected to MS-13. A child trafficking task force found the 13-year-old girl nearly two months later at an apartment in Mount Rainier, Maryland.
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| Massive blast rips through Beirut, killing 78 and injuring thousands Posted: 04 Aug 2020 08:24 AM PDT  A powerful blast in port warehouses near central Beirut storing highly explosive material killed 78 people, injured nearly 4,000 and sent seismic shockwaves that shattered windows, smashed masonry and shook the ground across the Lebanese capital. It was the most powerful explosion in years in Beirut, which is already reeling from an economic crisis and a surge in coronavirus infections. President Michel Aoun said that 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate, used in fertilisers and bombs, had been stored for six years at the port without safety measures, and said it was "unacceptable".
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| Looking for a face shield? What to know and where to buy them Posted: 05 Aug 2020 01:06 PM PDT  Face shields are rising in popularity amid the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Here's everything you need to know and where to buy face shields.
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| One American is dying every 80 seconds from coronavirus as Trump shrugs off death toll: ‘It is what it is’ Posted: 05 Aug 2020 12:19 PM PDT  At least one person in the United States has died every 80 seconds on average over the last seven days, according to new research, as President Donald Trump said the nation's soaring death toll "is what it is" in a recent interview.The grim figures were first reported by NBC News on Wednesday, which noted its own tally revealed 7,486 people died in the last seven days due to Covid-19.
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| A nuclear sea-launched cruise missile will help deter nuclear aggression Posted: 05 Aug 2020 08:16 AM PDT  A Pentagon official argues a nuclear sea-launched cruise missile is a measured response to a growing threat from America's adversaries.
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| Biden Scraps Plan to Travel to Milwaukee for DNC Convention Due to COVID Concerns Posted: 05 Aug 2020 09:43 AM PDT  Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden will no longer travel to the Democratic National Convention in Milwaukee to deliver his acceptance speech as planned.The former vice president was expected to deliver his acceptance speech at Milwaukee's Wisconsin Center on August 20, but will now give the speech from his home state of Delaware in light of coronavirus concerns, according to a statement from the DNC."After ongoing consultation with public health officials and experts—who underscored the worsening coronavirus pandemic—the Democratic National Convention Committee announced today speakers for the 2020 Democratic National Convention will no longer travel to Milwaukee, Wisconsin in order to prevent risking the health of our host community as well as the convention's production teams, security officials, community partners, media and others necessary to orchestrate the event," the statement said."In accordance with this guidance, Vice President Joe Biden will no longer travel to Milwaukee and will instead address the nation and accept the Democratic nomination from his home state of Delaware," it continued.Further details about the location of Biden's speech will be released at a later time, the DNC said. The convention, which had originally been scheduled to take place in mid-July, had already been delayed to August and dramatically scaled down due to the coronavirus pandemic. The convention would normally draw an expected 50,000 travelers."Today's announcement represents a small adjustment to the overall planning, as the majority of speeches and segments were already taking place in locations across the country," the DNC said. "Democrats will offer four nights of programming, which will include a mix of both pre-recorded segments and live broadcasts from locations across the country."The news comes as President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he is considering delivering his Republican National Convention speech from the White House after canceling his plans to deliver the speech in front of a crowd in Charlotte, N.C. due to coronavirus concerns."Well we are thinking about it. It would be easiest from the standpoint of security," he said during an interview with "Fox and Friends." "We are thinking about doing it from the White House because there's no movement. It's easy, and I think it's a beautiful setting and we are thinking about that. It's certainly one of the alternatives. It's the easiest alternative, I think it's a beautiful alternative."
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| Bill Gates issued a stark warning for the world: 'As awful as this pandemic is, climate change could be worse' Posted: 05 Aug 2020 07:44 AM PDT  Gates said to understand the impact climate change will have, we need to "look at COVID-19 and spread the pain out over a much longer period of time."
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| Narendra Modi lays Ayodhya temple foundation, delighting Hindus and dismaying Muslims Posted: 05 Aug 2020 04:57 AM PDT  Narendra Modi, the Indian Prime Minister, has invigorated his Hindu support base after laying the foundation stone of a controversial new temple on a site contested by Muslims. In November, after a decades-old legal battle, India's highest court ruled a temple could be built in the city of Ayodhya, where a mosque had stood until it was destroyed by Hindu mobs in 1992. Mr Modi made its construction a key pledge as part of his Hindu nationalist campaign, which saw him re-elected with a landslide victory last year. Many Hindus believe the deity Ram was born at the temple site in Ayodhya, and soil was gathered from more than 2,000 holy sites for its building work. Calling it the "dawn of a new era", Mr Modi said: "India is emotional as decades of wait has ended. For years, our Ram Lalla [the infant Lord Ram] lived beneath a tent; now he will reside in a grand temple."
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| $50,000, wooden huts and edible plants: Inside one school's unorthodox reopening plan Posted: 05 Aug 2020 02:14 PM PDT  While some educators remain skeptical, others see outdoor classrooms as a way to make in-person learning safer during the pandemic.
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| A white woman spent years posing online as a Native American scientist and professor, and was caught after claiming the woman contracted coronavirus and died Posted: 05 Aug 2020 10:40 AM PDT  BethAnn McLaughlin admitted Tuesday that she created the @Sciencing_Bi account on Twitter, which had been active from 2016 until July 31.
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| McConnell says will support any coronavirus aid deal worked out by White House and Democrats Posted: 04 Aug 2020 12:43 PM PDT  U.S. Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell said on Tuesday he would support any coronavirus aid deal worked out between the Trump administration and Democrats in Congress, adding no agreement this close to November elections would win unanimous support. "Wherever this thing settles between the president of the United States and his team that have to sign it into law, and the Democrat -- not insignificant minority in the Senate and the majority in the House -- is something I'm prepared to support, even if I have some problems with certain parts of it," Republican McConnell told reporters on Capitol Hill.
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| US announces 'highest level' visit in decades to Taiwan Posted: 04 Aug 2020 07:34 PM PDT  The United States on Wednesday announced its "highest level" visit in decades to Taiwan, a move sure to infuriate China at a time when relations between Washington and Beijing are at historic lows. Washington's trade office in Taipei confirmed that health chief Alex Azar would lead an upcoming delegation to the self-ruled island, which China's communist leaders claim and have vowed to one day seize. "This marks... the first Cabinet member to visit in six years, and the highest level visit by a US Cabinet official since 1979," the American Institute in Taiwan said.
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| Your Face Mask in the Garbage Could Make a Great Biofuel Posted: 05 Aug 2020 07:37 AM PDT  The world's disposable PPE doesn't have to go to waste.
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| Susan Rice on what she could bring to a Biden 2020 ticket Posted: 04 Aug 2020 07:32 AM PDT  As presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden hones in on his pick for running mate, potential "Veepstakes" candidate and former U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice joins "CBS This Morning" to talk about what strengths she could bring to the role of vice president. She also weighs in on what a Biden administration's foreign policy aims should be, and why she says America is facing a "tough love" moment.
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| Pakistani court sparks outrage by ruling 14-year-old Christian girl must stay married to alleged abductor Posted: 05 Aug 2020 06:24 AM PDT  A Pakistani court has sparked outrage by ruling a 14-year-old Christian girl was legally married to a Muslim man who allegedly abducted her at gunpoint. In a case that has renewed focus on the persecution of Pakistan's Christian minority, the Lahore High Court ruled on Tuesday that Maira Shahbaz had willingly converted to Islam and married Mohamad Nakash. The girl and her family claim that she was kidnapped in April by Mr Nakash and two accomplices from near her home in the city of Faisalabad. If the ruling is not reversed, Ms Shahbaz will have to return to Mr Nakash's home from the shelter she was temporarily placed in. Around 1,000 Christian and Hindu women are abducted each year in Pakistan and typically forced to convert to Islam, according to the Movement for Solidarity and Peace. Mr Nakash, who is already married, tried to claim Ms Shahbaz was 19-years-old but this was discounted by the victim's family who produced birth certificates and school records to show she was a minor. After this evidence was provided last week, a local court ruled Ms Shahbaz should be removed from Mr Nakash's house and placed in a girls' shelter, pending further investigation. However, that decision was reversed on Tuesday by a court with a greater jurisdiction in Pakistan. The victim's lawyer, Khalil Tahir Sandhu, claimed 150 of Mr Nakash's associates arrived at the court. "It is unbelievable. What we have seen today is an Islamic judgement. The arguments we put forwards were very strong and coherent," Mr Sandhu told the Independent Catholic News (ICN). "With this ruling, no Christian girl in Pakistan is safe," echoed Pakistani Christian advocate, Lala Robin Daniel.
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| Parents in a school district in Georgia, are demanding in-person classes. But hundreds of employees have tested positive or been exposed to COVID-19, revealing the biggest blind spot in the fight to reopen schools Posted: 03 Aug 2020 07:58 PM PDT  "The primary consideration should always be the safety, the health of the welfare of the children, as well as the teachers...," Anthony Fauci said.
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| Lebanon's devastating blast came in the middle of an unprecedented economic crisis, frequent power outages, and hospitals struggling to contain the coronavirus Posted: 05 Aug 2020 04:27 AM PDT  Tuesday's explosion at the port in Beirut, the capital city, killed at least 100 people and injured thousands more.
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| 'It is what it is': Trump addresses COVID-19 deaths Posted: 04 Aug 2020 07:00 AM PDT  President Trump discussed the growing number of American deaths caused by COVID-19, the legacy of Rep. John Lewis and the Civil Rights Act during a contentious Axios interview, saying the citation is "under control."
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| George Floyd: Leaked police bodycam footage shows how fatal arrest began Posted: 04 Aug 2020 02:28 AM PDT  Leaked body camera footage shows George Floyd begging for his life in the moments leading up to his arrest and subsequent death at the knee of former Minneapolis Police officer Derek Chauvin.Video recorded on the body cameras of two other former officers, Thomas Lane, 37, and J. Kueng, 26, shows the initial moments of the confrontation between Mr Floyd and officers outside a Minneapolis shop on 25 May.
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| This May Be the Most Absurd, Trumpian Drama Ever Posted: 05 Aug 2020 01:34 AM PDT  The federal agency primarily responsible for the distribution of foreign aid has been roiled in recent days by the most Trumpian of dramas, one involving an anti-LGBT political appointee, blundering conservative operative Jacob Wohl, accusations of stalking, prostitution, and the potential hiring of a young conservative with past racist writings. The chaos seemed set to crest with a slap-dash press conference scheduled for this Thursday. But within a day of the presser's announcement, the main protagonist was apparently recanting her accusations and insinuating that Wohl had stolen her phone and signed into her Twitter account to send the offending messages that set off the fireworks that got her fired. The setting of the entire mess was the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), an agency known largely as a bit of a backwater when it comes to the government's foreign policy apparatus, but one with a $16.8 billion foreign aid budget. On Monday a political appointee and deputy White House liaison there, Merritt Corrigan, took to Twitter to accuse her employer of "anti-Christian" bias. Corrigan's appointment at USAID has been under fire for months over anti-gay tweets she made in 2019 and 2020, including accusing the United States of being a "homo-empire" devoted to a "tyrannical LGBT agenda," tweeting that "female empowerment is a civilizational calamity," and advocating for the creation of a "Christian patriarchy." But on Monday, her targets were both USAID itself and House Foreign Relations Affairs Committee Chair Eliot Engel (D-NY), whom she accused of soliciting prostitutes. As Corrigan's initial tweets went up, she claimed USAID gave her a 3 p.m. deadline to resign or be fired. When the deadline passed, Corrigan said she was fired.On its own, the episode was bizarre. But then it got much weirder. Jacob Wohl Charged With Felony in CaliforniaCorrigan, who is/was apparently dating Wohl, announced that she'd be appearing Thursday in front of Wohl associate Jack Burkman's Northern Virginia house—a site that has previously hosted farcical attempts to smear Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Kamala Harris (D-CA) with lurid sexual allegations. There, she would further denounce USAID, accuse a Politico reporter who covered her resignation of stalking her, and demand that Engel debate her and Burkman. In a press release announcing the press conference, Burkman and Wohl claimed that Wohl, who is currently facing two felony charges related to security sales in California, had "been working behind the scenes with Corrigan for months."Jacob Wohl's Bogus Warren Accuser Exaggerated His Military Service RecordEngel's office did not return a request for comment. And, perhaps, for good reason. The accusations have no proof or merit, and as the story unfolded it became increasingly difficult to get a read on where the truth actually began and the innuendo and smears ended. On Tuesday afternoon, Corrigan deleted her tweets attacking USAID and stopped responding to messages from The Daily Beast. Wohl claimed in an interview Tuesday that a coterie of Trumpworld personalities had convinced Corrigan to backtrack on her claims. And Burkman claimed that Corrigan had "buyer's remorse" after sending her tweets. "Somebody does something and then they regret it," Burkman said. But later in the day, a conduit sent a statement from Corrigan herself that was darker in implication. Corrigan now claimed she'd become the pawn of individuals who had attempted to "ruin" her. "I would like to apologize," it read. "Especially to the people who have been affected or hurt by the messages sent from my Twitter account, and the claims made in my name over the past 24 hours. I did NOT send these messages, and while I vehemently protested about them being sent in my name, my devices were not in my control. I see now that I was part of an abusive scheme and I was used to attack people that have nothing to do with me."I will not be participating in any press conferences as claimed in my name, and will have nothing to do with individuals who forced me to hand over my devices so they could control me and the output in my name. Due to naivete and inexperience, I became involved with people who abused my trust, conned me, and claimed they were working in my interest. I became powerless in a situation, and I deeply regret not reaching out to people who knew better, or could help me."Corrigan is far from the first Wohl associate to bail on one of his press conferences. But she does appear to be the first to have formally held such a high post at a government agency. And her drama illustrates the degree to which the once-staid USAID has become a stomping grounds for a twisted, absurdist circus involving Trumpian figures who despise one another and are notorious for trying to conduct botched operations against their political foes.Prior to the apparent change of course, Corrigan had also made one other noteworthy assertion—that USAID was set to hire yet another controversial political appointment: conservative personality Kyle Kashuv, whose admission to Harvard was revoked last year over racist remarks he made in high school. Kashuv, a survivor of the 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, Florida, rose to fame on the right in the aftermath of the shooting as a conservative counterweight to pro-gun control Parkland students. Kashuv's opposition to the gun control measures pushed by his classmates earned him a visit to the White House, and a position at conservative campus group Turning Point USA. Along the way, Kashuv antagonized Wohl and some of his right-wing associates for actions like criticizing anti-Muslim activist Laura Loomer for wearing a Nazi-era Jewish star to protest her Twitter ban. Harvard Pulls Pro-Gun Parkland Survivor Kyle Kashuv's Admission Over Racial SlursBut Kashuv's star on the right imploded in May 2019, when he was exposed by a fellow classmate for writing racist messages and Google Doc notes. In one text message, Kashuv complained that a classmate dated "ni**erjocks." In the aftermath of the reporting on Kashuv's remarks, Harvard revoked Kashuv's admission to its undergraduate class.Corrigan claims Kashuv has been offered a political appointment to be a special assistant to USAID Deputy Administrator Bonnie Glick, after initially being considered for a congressional liaison position. That job offer, she adds, was one point of disagreement with her fellow USAID officials that ultimately led to her speaking out against the agency. "I don't believe that he's a real conservative, and his prior media was going to bring a lot of negativity to USAID," Corrigan told The Daily Beast. The Daily Beast wasn't able to confirm that Kashuv has been offered a position at USAID, but did obtain a document dated July 31 purporting to be an offer letter from USAID, offering Kashuv a position with roughly $50,000 annual salary as an assistant to Glick, pending a security clearance. The purported offer letter to Kashuv listed the phone number of a USAID employee. When a reporter for The Daily Beast called the number, the woman who answered identified herself as a USAID employee but refused to answer questions about the letter."I'm sorry, I can't answer your call," the woman said, before hanging up.USAID declined repeated requests to comment on whether the agency had offered Kashuv a position, but a spokesperson said USAID would investigate "any complaints of anti-Christian bias" made by Corrigan.Kashuv didn't respond to multiple requests for comment. Glick, who called Kashuv a "rockstar" in a May tweet, also didn't respond to requests for comment. 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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| 2020 prediction from professor who called every election since 1984 Posted: 05 Aug 2020 11:10 AM PDT  Allan Lichtman accurately predicted in 2016 that Donald Trump would win, and then be impeached.
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| Syrian refugee hailed as hero in Germany after saving woman from rapist Posted: 05 Aug 2020 07:46 AM PDT  A Syrian refugee has been hailed as a hero in Germany after he stopped a man raping a woman. The 30-year-old Syrian, named only as Faner O under German privacy laws, intervened after he saw a woman being attacked by a man in the early hours of Sunday morning. With the help of another passerby, he overpowered the rapist and held him until police could reach the scene. The rape victim, who has not been named, is understood to be a trainee police officer. Faner O, who fled to Germany from his native Syria four years ago, works as a car mechanic in the west German city of Wuppertal. He was driving home in the early hours of Sunday morning when he saw a woman being pursued by a man. "It was around half past three in the morning. I had just dropped a friend off and was driving home to my wife and daughter, when I saw a woman walking along Friedrich-Engels-Allee and a man in a red T-shirt running after her. Then they disappeared into the bushes," he told Bild newspaper. Concerned, Faner O stopped his car and followed them into the bushes, where he found the man pinning the woman to the ground. "He had one hand over her mouth and was choking her with the other. She was resisting, but he was very strong." The would-be rapist fled but Faner O gave chase. A 20-year-old passerby who had heard the sounds of struggle came to his help, and together they were able to overpower the perpetrator. The rapist has not been named but is understood to be a 20-year-old Afghan migrant known to local police in connection with similar incidents. The woman suffered only minor injuries, according to local police. "She fought hard and cried out for help. This alerted witnesses who rushed to her aid and drove off her attacker. They then gave chase and were able to seize him after a short pursuit. They held him until officers arrived," police said in a statement. Faner O said he was not afraid during the encounter. "At that moment I was only thinking of helping the woman," he told Bild. "If something like that happened to my daughter, I'd want some one to help her."
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| Student wearing 'Black Lives Matter' mask at graduation told to remove it Posted: 04 Aug 2020 12:48 PM PDT  Dean Holmes, 18, was allowed to march in the ceremony with the rest of his classmates after removing the mask.
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| Army to Speed Up Testing of Planned Hypersonic Missile Posted: 05 Aug 2020 12:02 PM PDT  The Army has been designing the Common-Hypersonic Glide Body, which will be used by all U.S. services.
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| Subject of 'Audrie & Daisy' documentary dies by suicide Posted: 05 Aug 2020 03:56 PM PDT |
| Argentina secures deal on 'impossible' debt Posted: 04 Aug 2020 02:44 PM PDT  Recession-hit Argentina announced on Tuesday it has reached an agreement with three major creditors over the restructuring of a $66 billion debt, which the IMF described as a "very significant step" to solving its latest sovereign default crisis. The government of President Alberto Fernandez had set an August 4 deadline to complete a deal but it has now pushed the date to August 24 "to give effect to the agreement," which came after months of wrangling and extensions. "We resolved an impossible debt in the biggest economic crisis in memory and in the midst of the pandemic," said a delighted Fernandez.
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| Republicans offer $400/week unemployment benefits, but stimulus bill talks remain divided Posted: 05 Aug 2020 07:49 AM PDT  Republicans and Democrats still remain sharply divided over a replacement for the coronavirus relief bill that expired last week.When the last stimulus bill expired at the end of July, so did the $600/week boost to unemployment benefits that millions of out-work Americans have relied on since the beginning of the pandemic. Extending those benefits still remains a point of contention as Republicans offer a $400/week concession and Democrats stay firm at $600, among other disagreements, Politico reports.The Democratic-controlled House passed its version of the next relief bill a while ago, with $600/week boost that would last until the end of the pandemic. Republicans control the Senate, though, and at first indicated there would be no unemployment boost at all in the next phase bill they'd support. They then upped their offer to $200/week, and as of Tuesday, have proposed a $400/week boost that will last until Dec. 15, Politico reports via a meeting between party leaders and White House officials. But Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) also said Tuesday he would back a $600 enhancement if President Trump does as well, and Trump seemingly indicated his support last week.Also in contention is funding for child care. Democrats want $50 billion for this, while Republicans prefer $15 billion, and the two sides have moved on to closer issues for now. Republicans also think Democrats are also looking for lots of funding for mail-in voting, but Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) has reportedly made it clear states can use election funding for whatever they see fit. A debate over pensions meanwhile remains "a different breed of cat" altogether, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) reportedly said. Read more about the state of stimulus talks at Politico.More stories from theweek.com How the Electoral College made America's pandemic response worse GOP senator questions Trump giving RNC speech from the White House: 'Is that even legal?' The Republican problem no one knows how to solve
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| Photos of mask-less students crammed into a Georgia school hallway show how difficult reopenings could be Posted: 05 Aug 2020 10:00 AM PDT  Photos posted on social media show crowded hallways at North Paulding High School in Dallas, Georgia, where coronavirus cases have been reported.
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| Trump Adm Bails Out Charter Jet Firm That Helps Deport Migrants Posted: 04 Aug 2020 09:01 AM PDT  The Trump administration's efforts to deport undocumented immigrants en masse just got more expensive. And the agency charged with loading people onto planes and flying them back to their home countries is blaming the coronavirus pandemic for the price hike.In April, Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, a division of the Department of Homeland Security, increased its payments under a contract awarded in 2017 to Classic Air Charter, a company that subcontracts chartered deportation flights out of the country, primarily to Mexico and Central and South America, but also, more recently to other regions.ICE attributed the price hike to the novel coronavirus. The increase swells the already high cost that the federal government pays to fly undocumented immigrants out of the country. The two awards to Classic Air under its ICE contract since the pandemic began, each for $50.7 million, were the largest it's received under the contract since it was inked three years ago. The next largest, for $46.6 million, came in May 2019, but prior to the coronavirus pandemic, ICE awards under the contract averaged just $12.7 million.Trump Deportations Helped Spread COVID 'Disaster' to Central AmericaICE would not provide a comment on the record for this story. Classic Air did not respond to inquiries. But in federal procurement notices beginning in April, ICE said the new contract's "guaranteed minimum values have been temporarily adjusted to maintain vendor operability during COVID19 pandemic."Classic Air has brokered deportation flights for ICE for years, primarily by way of two subcontractors that have charged extremely high rates for the service, due largely to the lack of air carriers willing to work with the controversial immigration enforcement agency.According to internal Classic Air records reported by Quartz last year, ICE was paying Classic Air and its subcontractors as much as $33,000 per flight-hour to deport migrants from Arizona to Bangladesh, India, and Vietnam. It's unclear if those same rates apply to other countries. "Many carriers are discouraged by the potential of public backlash or negative media attention," Classic Air wrote. "As a result, our carrier selection pool has been reduced to a single operator," the Oklahoma-based Omni Air International.Under an indefinite delivery vehicle, which is the type of contract that ICE awarded to Classic Air in 2017, the government agency sets a price range for the goods or services it's purchasing, explained Jim Nagle, of counsel at the law firm Oles Morrison and an expert in federal procurement law. "The government decides that it will need a particular product or service but doesn't know exactly how many," he wrote in an email. "So it gives a minimum which is the only amount that is guaranteed to the contractor and a maximum which should be large enough to cover the amount the government might very well have to order."The federal procurement records noting the increase in minimum awards to Classic Air did not provide details on why or how its fee structure has changed. But additional public records indicate that the company has sought federal assistance to maintain its operations as a result of the coronavirus and the resulting economic downturn.According to data released by the Treasury Department last month, Classic Air received a loan through the Paycheck Protection Program worth between $150,000 and $350,000. The loan helped the company retain 18 jobs, according to Treasury records. Omni Air also got a PPP loan worth between $350,000 and $1 million.Nagle said the hike in ICE payments to the company could provide additional financial benefits for Classic Air. "The only amount that the contractor can reliably count on and show its bankers or creditors is the guaranteed minimum," he wrote. "So sometimes the government, to assist its contractor, will raise the guaranteed minimums to a higher number to reflect the government's increased demand for a particular item or service but also to enable the contractor, especially a needed contractor, to be able to get necessary financing from his bankers."Classic Air has received $322 million from ICE through its deportation contract since 2017, according to federal procurement records. Nearly a third of that, more than than $100 million, has come since March.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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