| Night of rage on Pennsylvania Avenue as protesters clash with Secret Service in front of the White House Posted: 30 May 2020 12:00 PM PDT  Hundreds of protesters marched through the nation's capital and engaged in hours of violent clashes with Secret Service officers.
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| Journalists Under Attack Show How Trump’s Hate for the Press Has Spread Posted: 31 May 2020 06:39 AM PDT  Journalists have been attacked all over the world while on the job covering protests for years, but never like they were this week in the United States during the George Floyd protests.At least half a dozen incidences of arrests and attacks were reported in protests across the United States this weekend. Some were high profile, like the live-on-air arrest of CNN journalist Omar Jimenez and his crew Friday morning. Others got less attention, like Los Angeles Times reporter Molly Hennessy-Fiske getting pelted with rubber bullets and tear gas or the two Los Angeles Times photographers who were briefly taken into custody. To All Black Journalists: We See You, We Support YouWAVE-TV reporter Kaitlin Rust, who was covering protests in Louisville Saturday night, was shot with pepper bullets while live on air. Video showed a police officer aiming directly at her and her crew. "I've been shot! I've been shot!" Rust, who was wearing a fluorescent vest, carrying a microphone, and standing in front of a camera, can be heard screaming. Police later apologized for the incident. A crew in Denver tweeted after they were targeted by police there with paintballs and tear gas. "Luckily, I ducked," one of the journalists wrote. The video journalist who was shooting the protests wasn't so lucky and was struck.Anti-Trump protesters in front of the White House turned their anger to Fox News journalist Leland Vittert who told the Associated Press, "We took a good thumping. The protesters stopped protesting whatever it was they were protesting and turned on us and that was a very different feeling."Briana Whitney, a reporter in Phoenix, was attacked on air and tweeted, "THIS IS NOT OKAY. This is the moment I was intentionally tackled by this man while I was on air trying to report what was happening during the protest at Phoenix PD headquarters. I feel violated, and this was terrifying. Let us do our jobs. We are trying our very best."In Chicago, freelance reporter and Daily Beast contributor Jonathan Ballew said he was pepper-sprayed even as he brandished his press credentials.KDKA TV journalist Ian Smith said he was attacked while covering protests in Pittsburgh. "They stomped and kicked me," he wrote under a photo of him in the back of an ambulance. "I'm bruised and bloody but alive. My camera was destroyed. Another group of protesters pulled me out and saved my life. Thank you!"Journalists have been attacked in the U.S. before, but not nearly as often or as brutal as this weekend. Speaking to The Washington Post, Suzanne Nossel, chief executive of PEN America, blamed animosity towards the press on Trump. "By denigrating journalists so often, he has degraded respect for what journalists do and the crucial role they play in a democracy," she said. "He's been remarkably effective in contributing to this topsy-turvy sense that journalists are the opposition."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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| Letters to the Editor: Stacey Abrams lost in Georgia, but she could lift Biden as his VP. Posted: 31 May 2020 03:00 AM PDT  Even with alleged voter suppression, Stacey Abrams came very close to winning in Georgia. She would make a great VP pick for Biden.
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| Supreme Court rejects challenge to limits on church services Posted: 29 May 2020 09:34 PM PDT  A divided Supreme Court on Friday rejected an emergency appeal by a California church that challenged state limits on attendance at worship services that have been imposed to contain the spread of the coronavirus. Over the dissent of the four more conservative justices, Chief Justice John Roberts joined the court's four liberals in turning away a request from the South Bay United Pentecostal Church in Chula Vista, California, in the San Diego area.
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| Iran says virus cases surpass 150,000 Posted: 31 May 2020 11:49 AM PDT  Iran said its caseload of novel coronavirus infections passed the grim milestone of 150,000 on Sunday, as the country struggles to contain a recent upward trend. The government has largely lifted the restrictions it imposed in order to halt a COVID-19 outbreak that first emerged in mid-February. Ministry spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour said 2,516 new cases were confirmed across the country in the past 24 hours, bringing the total to 151,466.
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| Coronavirus: Brazil now fourth-highest nation in Covid-19 deaths Posted: 31 May 2020 07:33 AM PDT  Brazil records almost 1,000 deaths in a day, taking its overall number of fatalities past France.
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| Israeli forces shot and killed an autistic Palestinian man in Jerusalem as he walked to special needs school Posted: 31 May 2020 09:57 AM PDT  Israeli forces shot and killed an unarmed autistic Palestinian man on his way to a special needs school in Jerusalem's Old City on Saturday, prompting comparisons to the police violence in the US and accusations of excessive force by Israeli forces. In a statement, Israeli police said they spotted a suspect "with a suspicious object that looked like a pistol" and opened fire on 32-year-old Iyad Halak, when he failed to stop. No weapon was found on him. Israel's Channel 12 news station said members of the paramilitary border forces fired at Mr Halak's legs and chased him into an alley. A senior officer was said to have called for a halt to fire as they entered the alley, but a second officer ignored the command and fired six or seven bullets from an M-16 rifle. Mr Halak's father told AP that police later came and raided their home, but didn't find anything. The shooting has caused widespread outcry on social media with many comparisons to the racially-charged shooting and killing of George Floyd in the US last week. Benny Gantz, Israel's 'alternate' prime minister and defence minister apologised for the death of Mr Halak in a cabinet meeting on Sunday morning. Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister, made no mention of the incident in his opening remarks. Both officers were taken into custody and interrogated for several hours and an investigation has been opened. "We must resist the expected cover-up and make sure that the police will sit in jail," Ayman Odeh, the leader of the main Arab party in parliament, wrote on Twitter. "Justice will be done only when the Halak family, their friends and the rest of the Palestinian people know freedom and independence." Mr Halak had been on his way to the school for students with special needs when he was shot and killed, a trip that he made every day. According to the Times of Israel, his father told public broadcaster, Kan, that he suspected Mr Halak had been carrying his phone when he was spotted by the police. "We tell him every morning to keep his phone in his hand so we can be in contact with him and make sure he has safely arrived at the educational institution," his father reportedly said. In west Jerusalem, about 150 protesters, some pounding drums, gathered to demonstrate against police violence on Saturday. "A violent policeman must stay inside," they chanted in Hebrew. At a smaller protest in Tel Aviv, one poster read "Palestinian lives matter."
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| Louisville police appear to shoot pepper rounds at reporters Posted: 29 May 2020 08:02 PM PDT  Footage from Wave 3 local news in Louisville, Ky., appears to show police shooting pepper rounds directly at news crew.
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| Former top Justice Department official warns Trump may 'not cede power' Posted: 29 May 2020 06:05 PM PDT  A former top Justice Department official told Yahoo News she is deeply worried that President Trump could "delegitimize a lawful election" this November "and not cede power."
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| A black congresswoman was pepper-sprayed by police while marching with George Floyd protesters in Ohio Posted: 31 May 2020 12:36 PM PDT  "While it was peaceful, there were times when people got off the curb, into the streets, but too much force is not the answer to this," she said.
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| Fire and Fury: Crowd Attacks CNN Center in Atlanta Posted: 29 May 2020 06:10 PM PDT  CNN Center, the cable network's Atlanta headquarters, came under attack Friday night during protests over police brutality sparked by the death of an unarmed black man in Minneapolis.A largely peaceful demonstration erupted first in vandalism, then in violence. Cops used pepper spray, and then some in the crowd were seen smashing windows and defacing the giant CNN sign with spray-paint. Down the street, a police car was set ablaze.CNN correspondent Nick Valencia began reporting on the frightening scene from a stairway inside the building, behind a phalanx of SWAT officers in the lobby, with an angry mob standing on the other side of the broken and missing plate glass."I have a daughter and wife I want to get home to tonight," Valencia told anchor Chris Cuomo.Protesters lobbed objects at the windows and into the lobby, and at least one officer was struck. What appeared to be a flash-bang device landed in front of police and large gusts of smoke went up into the air.One protester breached the building and was immediately arrested by cops as Valencia shouted questions at him, asking why he was there. "Change," he replied.As the violence flared and the situation in the lobby became more precarious, cops began firing tear gas and the crowd quickly began to thin out. Live footage showed over a dozen police officers holding the line with shields, barricades, and armored vehicles pushing protesters away from the building as objects continued to be hurled. The tense scene unfolded just hours after CNN found itself at the center of the story about protests in Minneapolis, where George Floyd died, pleading "I can't breathe" while a police officer kneeled on his neck.Reporter Omar Jimenez and members of his crew were arrested by state police while covering fiery demonstrations in the city—prompting the governor of Minnesota to issue a public apology."There is absolutely no reason something like this should happen. Calls were made immediately. This is a very public apology to that team. It should not happen," Gov. Tim Walz said in a Friday news conference, adding that he took "full responsibility" for the early-morning incident. "I failed you last night in that."President Trump, on the other hand, appeared to gloat, retweeting a message that read, "In an ironic twist of fate, CNN HQ is being attacked by the very riots they promoted as noble & just."In a Friday evening press conference, Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms was visibly angry as she told protesters to "go home" after thousands marched from the Georgia capitol to the Centennial Olympic Park before gathering outside CNN. "What I see happening on the streets of Atlanta is not Atlanta. This is not a protest, This is not in the spirit of Martin Luther King, Jr. This is chaos. A protest has a purpose," Bottoms said, stating that the protests are "disgracing the life of George Floyd.""When Dr. King was assassinated, we didn't do this to our city. If you want to change in America, go and register to vote...that is the change we need in this country."Rapper T.I. also spoke at the mayor's press conference, stating that Atlanta "has already been here for us" and does not deserve to be burnt down. "This is a moment where people are fed up. I have to make an appeal to my brothers and sisters because I realize the only way to get constructive change is through nonviolent means," Bernice King, the daughter of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., added. Their pleading did not not sway everyone. As midnight neared, looters descended on upscale malls in Buckhead, and firefighters were blocked from reaching a blaze at Del Frisco's Grille."There have been multiple instances of shots being fired in close proximity to our officers and shots were fired at an officer in a patrol vehicle on Peachtree Road at Lenox Road. We continue our efforts at restoring peace in our city," Sgt. John Chafee said in a statement.Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp declared a state of emergency and activated 500 National Guard members in an attempt to restore order.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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| Boy Scout victims' choice: Sue rashly, or wait and risk loss Posted: 31 May 2020 06:08 AM PDT |
| China says 2 new coronavirus cases, asymptomatic case on German charter Posted: 30 May 2020 06:58 PM PDT  China announced on Sunday two new confirmed cases of coronavirus and four new asymptomatic cases, including one person without symptoms of COVID-19 on a chartered flight from Germany. The two confirmed cases in Shandong province on Saturday compared with four cases the day before, data from the country's health authority showed. The National Health Commission (NHC) confirmed three new asymptomatic cases on Saturday.
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| The coronavirus has killed over 100,000 people in the US in just 4 months. This chart shows how that compares to other common causes of death. Posted: 31 May 2020 10:29 AM PDT  Heart disease typically kills about 200,000 Americans between February and May each year, but COVID-19 has been deadlier than other common causes.
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| #JusticeForUwa trends in Nigeria after student murdered in church Posted: 31 May 2020 08:42 AM PDT  The hashtag JusticeForUwa is trending after the killing of the 22-year-old woman.
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| 'They didn't start the situation': NYC mayor defends police after NYPD trucks drive into protesters Posted: 31 May 2020 09:43 AM PDT  "If a police officer is in that situation, they have to get out of that situation," di Blasio said.
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| Burkina Faso gunmen 'kill dozens' at cattle market in Kompienga Posted: 31 May 2020 08:22 AM PDT  The gunmen arrived on motorbikes, shooting into the crowded market, reports say.
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| Venezuela raises fuel prices after arrival of Iranian oil tankers Posted: 30 May 2020 05:01 PM PDT  Venezuela will increase fuel prices in June, the president said, putting a limit on state subsidies that for decades had allowed citizens to fill their gas tanks virtually for free. Although the country has huge oil reserves, production has collapsed and Venezuelans are facing dire shortages -- exacerbated by the impact of COVID-19 on the economy. Beyond that, individuals will be required to pay international prices.
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| China's 'nervous' Xi risks new Cold War, last Hong Kong governor says Posted: 30 May 2020 12:12 AM PDT  Chinese President Xi Jinping is so nervous about the position of the Communist Party that he is risking a new Cold War and imperilling Hong Kong's position as Asia's pre-eminent financial hub, the last British governor of the territory told Reuters. Chris Patten said Xi's 'thuggish' crackdown in Hong Kong risked triggering an outflow of capital and people from the city which funnels the bulk of foreign investment into mainland China. The West, he said, should stop being naive about Xi, who has served as General Secretary of the Communist Party since 2012.
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| Israeli police probe false claims in case against PM's wife Posted: 31 May 2020 11:59 AM PDT  Israeli police on Sunday said they were investigating whether two employees at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's official residence gave false testimony in a civil case against his wife, Sara Netanyahu — reportedly in order to help her fend off accusations of mistreating a housekeeper. Sara Netanyahu faces a civil lawsuit from former employee Shira Raban, who claims the premier's wife mistreated her during a brief stint working at the residence. Israeli police confirmed an investigation "is being conducted with the approval of the Attorney General and the supervision of the State Attorney's Office."
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| Family of Grand Princess passenger who died of coronavirus files suit against Carnival Posted: 31 May 2020 12:39 PM PDT  The family of a California cruise ship passenger who died of coronavirus has sued Princess Cruises and its parent company Carnival in federal court.
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| This high-tech Embraer private jet design seamlessly blends sustainability and technology. Take a look at Praeterra. Posted: 31 May 2020 05:26 AM PDT  The design is featured on the Praetor 600, the newest super-midsize private jet from Embraer that boasts a range of over 4,000 nautical miles.
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| Coronavirus' latest target? Rural counties. Posted: 31 May 2020 05:57 AM PDT  The number of COVID-19 cases is dropping nationally. But for rural counties, the worst appears yet to come.
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| Trump justice department forces out top FBI lawyer in Flynn case – report Posted: 30 May 2020 02:52 PM PDT  * NBC News: general counsel Dana Boente forced out on Friday * Fox News host Lou Dobbs slammed lawyer in April * Flynn transcripts show he discussed sanctions with RussianA top FBI lawyer who was criticised on Fox News for his role in the investigation of Michael Flynn has resigned after being asked to do so by senior figures at the Department of Justice, NBC News reported on Saturday.The FBI confirmed to NBC that Dana Boente, its general counsel and a former acting attorney general, announced his resignation on Friday after a near-40-year career. NBC cited two sources anonymous sources as saying the decision came from "Attorney General William Barr's justice department".Boente joined the DoJ in 1984 and in 2015 became the US attorney for the eastern district of Virginia, after being nominated by Barack Obama.In January 2017, he briefly served as acting attorney general, after Trump fired Sally Yates, an Obama-era deputy, for refusing to defend an executive order on immigration.Temporarily overseeing the investigation of Russian election interference, Boente signed a warrant authorising FBI surveillance of Flynn.The retired general, Donald Trump's first national security adviser, was fired for lying to the vice-president about contacts with the Russian ambassador during the presidential transition.Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about the conversations and cooperated with the special counsel Robert Mueller as he took over the investigation of Russian election interference and links between Trump and Moscow.Flynn sought to withdraw his guilty plea before sentencing. Earlier this month, Barr said the justice department would drop the case, although a federal judge put that decision on hold.On Friday, the same day Boente was forced out of the FBI, Trump's new director of intelligence and Senate Republicans released transcripts of the calls in question, between Flynn and the then Russian ambassador, Sergey Kislyak.Opponents of the president said the transcripts proved that Flynn had been treated fairly. Supporters of Trump said they showed Flynn had been treated unfairly.As Trump attempts to construct a scandal called "Obamagate", with the surveillance of Flynn at its centre, his administration is releasing material it hopes will put Obama officials in a bad light.Boente also wrote a leaked memo concerning material put into the public domain about Flynn, which he said was not exculpatory.Trump is notoriously open to the views of key Fox News contributors.On 27 April, the Fox News host Lou Dobbs told viewers: "Shocking new reports suggest FBI general counsel Dana Boente was acting in coordination with FBI director Christopher Wray to block the release of that evidence that would have cleared General Flynn."Trump has reportedly been urged to fire Wray, whom he appointed to replace James Comey, the man he fired in May 2017 in an attempt to close the Russia investigation.Comey's firing led to the appointment of Mueller, who concluded a near-two-year investigation without proving criminal conspiracy between Trump and Russia.Mueller did, however, obtain convictions of Trump aides and says in his report the campaign was receptive to Russian help. He also laid out extensive evidence of attempts by the president to obstruct his investigation.Trump has fired or forced out FBI and DoJ figures including Andrew McCabe, Comey's deputy, lawyer Lisa Page and Peter Strzok, an FBI agent who worked on the case.On Friday, Wray issued a statement about Boente."Few people have served so well in so many critical, high-level roles at the department," he said. "Throughout his long and distinguished career as a public servant, Dana has demonstrated a selfless determination to ensure that justice is always served on behalf of our citizens."
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| George Floyd protests: Woman who ‘lost eye’ tells people to keep demonstrating Posted: 31 May 2020 08:17 AM PDT  A woman who says she lost an eye during a protest over George Floyd's death has urged people to keep demonstrating.Linda Tirado, a journalist and photographer covering the protests in Minneapolis, the city where Floyd died after a police officer knelt on his neck for eight minutes, told people to "stay in the streets" for her.
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| Russia and Turkey risk turning Libya into another Syria Posted: 31 May 2020 04:16 PM PDT  Gen Haftar's forces have been beaten back from Tripoli but that does not mean peace is at hand.
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| VIDEO: George Floyd protesters block off-ramp in San Francisco Posted: 30 May 2020 07:01 PM PDT  The group of demonstrators can be seen on the streets of San Francisco. They first met at UN Plaza, then to City Hall.
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| Brazil virus death toll hits 28,834, surpassing hard-hit France Posted: 30 May 2020 04:32 PM PDT  Brasília (AFP) - Brazil on Saturday reached 28,834 coronavirus fatalities, authorities said, surpassing hard-hit France and becoming the country with the world's fourth-highest death toll. At the epicenter of South America's coronavirus outbreak, Brazil also saw an increase of 33,274 cases in the past 24 hours -- a new daily record, the Health Ministry said. Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro remain the hardest-hit states in Brazil in terms of sheer numbers, while per capita rates are higher in the country's impoverished north and northeast, where health facilities are reaching capacity.
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| Philippine police arrest 90 Chinese for illegal gambling Posted: 31 May 2020 12:41 AM PDT  Philippine police have arrested 90 Chinese for allegedly running an online gambling hub without permits and for violating quarantine restrictions, officials said Sunday.
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| Italy records 111 new coronavirus deaths, 416 new cases Posted: 30 May 2020 09:31 AM PDT  Deaths from the COVID-19 epidemic in Italy climbed by 111 on Saturday, against 87 the day before, the Civil Protection Agency said, while the daily tally of new cases fell to 416 from 516 on Friday.
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| Sen. Johnson: Obama administration totally corrupted the transition of power Posted: 31 May 2020 10:04 AM PDT  Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson, chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, joins 'Sunday Morning Futures.'
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| Coronavirus live updates: Trump says U.S. will end support for WHO, as death toll nears 103,000 Posted: 30 May 2020 01:10 AM PDT  Here are the latest coronavirus updates from around the world.
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| George Floyd protesters condemn 'opportunistic' looting and violence Posted: 31 May 2020 07:40 AM PDT  Minneapolis protesters spoke out in interviews, saying looting and violence is not being done in the name of George FloydProtesters in Minneapolis have condemned as "opportunistic" looting and violence taking place in cities across the US, saying it is not being done in the name of George Floyd, the 46-year-old African American man who was killed during an arrest this week.A police officer was charged with murder on Friday but Saturday night again saw widespread violence and unrest. In Minneapolis, some protesters spoke out in interviews with CNN, footage of which spread swiftly online.In one interview, a man who did not give his name addressed looters directly, saying: "Something is wrong with you."He said: "This is what I've got to say to the people who are destroying things. If you really feel like you have to take an opportunity, like if you're going to be opportunistic, something is wrong with you."If you cannot stand up and fight the good fight and you want to be a cheater and go ahead and take what we're trying to do, something is wrong with you. Because what we're trying to do is stand up for the basic right of humanity. And that's what we're trying to do and we're trying to do in a peaceful way."He added: "We do not want to go through this any more. OK? I want to be able to go in a white neighbourhood and feel safe. I want to be able, when a cop is driving behind me, I don't have to clench and be tense, OK?"I want to be able just to be free and not have to think about every step I take because at the end of the day, being black is a crime. At the end of the day, being born black is a crime to them and I don't understand why because we're all humans and that's sickening."Another protester said demonstrations staged in Floyd's name were peaceful."I don't think the looting and rioting is being done in George Floyd's name," he said. "What's being done in George Floyd's name is this type of gathering right now and we're going to try to keep this peace and morale the way it is."Our goal tonight is to keep the energy high and the tension low, we're going to keep that up."From the White House, Donald Trump has tweeted remarks interpreted as threatening protesters and claimed the demonstrations have been taken over by political agitators.Joe Biden, his presumptive opponent at the polls in November, has spoken in support of peaceful protest.On Sunday, mayors of cities affected by the violence voiced similar sentiments.Keisha Lance Bottoms, the Democratic mayor of Atlanta, told CBS's Face the Nation: "I think that there is a place in America for peaceful protest, and we know that peaceful protests have had a history of changing things in this country."But it has to be organised and it has to be for a purpose. And when you have violent eruptions like we've seen across America, then we lose sight of even what we are talking about."
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| Florida’s Seen a ‘Statistically Significant’ Uptick in Pneumonia Deaths. The CDC Says It’s Likely COVID. Posted: 30 May 2020 11:08 PM PDT  Since the beginning of this year, Florida has experienced an uptick in the number of pneumonia and influenza deaths, according to data from the Centers for Disease and Control. Experts and Trump administration officials responsible for keeping tabs on mortality rates across the country believe that many of those individuals had likely contracted and died from COVID-19.According to the data from the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics, since the beginning of the year there has been a total of 1,519 deaths in Florida where pneumonia and influenza were listed as the underlying cause. By comparison, in the same time period last year, Florida recorded 1,207 such deaths. The CDC has historically counted pneumonia and influenza deaths together. CDC officials told The Daily Beast that most of the deaths included in that category are pneumonia. Bob Anderson, the chief of the Mortality Statistics Branch in CDC's National Center for Health Statistics, told The Daily Beast that the increase of deaths in Florida where pneumonia and influenza were the underlying cause was "statistically significant" and that those mortalities were "probably COVID cases that weren't reported as such." The coronavirus can cause lung complications such as pneumonia.The increase has sparked a conspiracy theory on the left, that Florida is deliberately trying to undercount coronavirus fatalities by labeling them as something else. There's no evidence to suggest any such underhand efforts, or that the state is unique across the country. But officials, including Anderson, do believe that a portion of the pneumonia and influenza deaths in Florida involved patients who were infected with, but never tested for, COVID-19. In such scenarios, though the virus likely contributed to the death, it may not have been recorded as the cause of death by the physician, coroner or medical examiner. "We're definitely experiencing an underreporting issue nationwide," Anderson said, pointing to the CDC's study of "excess deaths" during the coronavirus. "[In Florida] most likely what we're seeing are folks dying without having been tested and the best evidence that the doctors or whoever is filling out the death certificate had pointed to the person dying of pneumonia."Anderson added that the numbers currently reflected on the CDC's website for pneumonia and influenza deaths for 2020 are lower than reality because the death certificate reporting system lags by several weeks, especially in states that do not have digitized systems to process the papers. 'F*cking Dangerous': Dems in Pennsylvania Lose It After GOP Kept Virus Diagnosis a SecretThough other states are experiencing a similar phenomenon, there has been notable scrutiny placed on Florida, due to Gov. Ron DeSantis' (R) handling of the coronavirus response and his decision to move to quickly reopen the state. DeSantis allowed some Florida beaches to reopen in the middle of April, even as the number of coronavirus cases and related deaths continued to rise across the state. The governor has since criticized members of the press for rushing to warn that Florida would experience a spike in COVID-19 cases, and calling his actions cavalier. Conservative and Trump supportive commentators have pointed to the absence of a notable uptick as evidence that fears of a hasty reopening were overblown. DeSantis' office did not return a request for comment. But the actual story, like much related to the pandemic, appears to be more complicated. And it underscores how much of the public's understanding of, and opinions about, the pandemic are affected by bureaucratic decisions and accounting formulas related to categorizing fatalities. As The Daily Beast previously reported, President Trump and members of his coronavirus task force have pressed the CDC to change how the agency works with states to count coronavirus-related deaths, arguing for revisions that could lead to far fewer deaths being attributed to the disease. The administration has also moved to allow nursing homes the ability to only report coronavirus deaths that occurred after May 6—well after facilities across the country experienced a massive uptick in coronavirus-related deaths. States, as well, have different methods of collecting relevant data and calculating COVID-19 death counts and that, in turn, has sowed speculation about political motivations. On that front, few governors have been as closely watched as DeSantis. Part of that is because of his close relationship with the president. Part of that is because of decisions he has made. Earlier this month the DeSantis administration fired Rebekah Jones, the data manager for the Florida Department of Health who worked on the state's coronavirus online dashboard. In a statement posted to her website, Jones said she was removed from her position because she pushed back when officials in the health department asked her to "manipulate and delete data in late April as work for the state's reopening plan started to take off." The DeSantis administration has since said Jones was fired for insubordination.FL Gov. Overrides County Officials to Allow Church During Coronavirus LockdownWith Florida already under a national microscope, news of the state's pneumonia fatalities circulated on social media this week as liberals accused DeSantis and members of his administration of manipulating data and deliberately downplaying the number of coronavirus deaths. Howard Dean, the former Democrat governor from Vermont, commented on Florida's statistics Thursday, going so far as to accuse Florida of "cooking the books on COVID-19 deaths." Andy Slavitt, the former Acting Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said while Florida appears to have the coronavirus under control, it was experiencing an "unprecedented 'pneumonia' crisis."But Anderson said it is unlikely that a physician with a patient who tested positive for the coronavirus would have marked anything other than COVID-19 as the underlying cause on the death certificate. If individuals die, for example, in their homes or in nursing facilities without having been tested, a medical examiner or coroner could hypothetically mark the individual as having died of pneumonia. That scenario would have likely played out in the early days of the coronavirus outbreak when testing was difficult to access and when physicians were still learning how the coronavirus presented itself, Anderson said. According to a report by the Miami Herald, officials inside the DeSantis administration kept the Florida public in the dark in February for about two weeks as they scrambled to come up with a plan on how to respond to the state's outbreak. A similar phenomenon took place in Flint after a switch in water supply exposed thousands of people to lead poisoning and caused one of the largest outbreaks of Legionnaires' disease in U.S. history. Last year, a team of reporters at PBS Frontline found that there may have been about 70 more deaths from Legionnaires' during the outbreak than the 12 that were officially recorded. But because the government was not forthcoming about the crisis, doctors were not alerted to it and therefore did not know to look or test for the disease. Many people who died of Legionnaires' disease were originally reported as having died from other causes, such as pneumonia. Donald Trump Is Gaslighting Andrew Cuomo and Sucking Up to Ron DeSantisCurrently, health officials and statisticians are researching how many of the states' "excess deaths" over the last several months should be attributed to the coronavirus. One study by the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene published earlier this month said that there were thousands of "excess deaths" in the city from March 11 to May 2. About 18,879 of those deaths were explicitly tied to the coronavirus. But the study said there were also an additional 5,200 deaths that were not identified as either laboratory-confirmed or probable COVID-19-associated cases, but could have been tied to the virus in some other way. At the CDC, officials found 1,500 individuals who were mistakenly overlooked in the first few weeks the agency was calculating the coronavirus death count, and Anderson's team is now going back and correcting those calculations to produce a more accurate death toll.The CDC relies largely on the state department of health systems and a reporting system that is more than 100 years old to calculate the annual death toll in the U.S.. When an individual dies, a doctor, coroner or medical examiner records on the death certificate a sequence of events that contributed to that person's demise and what ultimately caused it. The certificate then goes to the state's registrar, or sometimes a funeral director, who examines the certificate and determines whether to send it back to the physician, coroner or medical examiner for more information. Once the state registrar is satisfied with the certificate, he or she sends it on to the state's department of health. Then, the state sends portions of data from the death certificate onto the CDC. Anderson's team is charged with using that death certificate data, along with data from a national digital coding system, to tabulate causes of death per state each year. The emergence of the coronavirus strained the reporting system in a way that has led to a significant national undercounting, Anderson said, adding that the death-certificate count usually lags anywhere from two to eight weeks. "We've never experienced anything like this before," Anderson said. "We're still learning new things about this virus every day. The reporting will only get better."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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| Iran suggests up to 225 killed in November protests Posted: 31 May 2020 09:46 AM PDT  Iran's interior minister has suggested that up to 225 people were killed in November protests sparked by a petrol price hike, ISNA news agency reported on Sunday. Officials in Iran have yet to issue an overall death toll for the unrest, while London-based human rights group Amnesty International has put the number at more than 300. The protests erupted on November 15 in several cities and rapidly spread to at least 100 cities and towns, with petrol pumps torched, police stations attacked and shops looted, before being put down by security forces amid a near-total internet blackout.
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| Pope presides over virus prayer in hint normalcy returning Posted: 30 May 2020 12:14 PM PDT  Pope Francis prayed Saturday for an end to the coronavirus pandemic and the development of a vaccine as he presided over an outdoor gathering that signaled a semblance of normalcy returning to the Vatican after a coronavirus lockdown lasting more than two months. Francis was joined in the Vatican Gardens by a representative sampling of people on the front lines of the emergency: a doctor, a nurse, a hospital chaplain, a pharmacist, a journalist and a civil protection official. A recovered COVID-19 patient, a person with a relative who died during Italy's outbreak, and the parents of a baby born during the emergency also were among the pope's more than 100 guests for the prayer at the grotto dedicated to the Virgin Mary.
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| Sajid Javid warns of surge in child sex abuse due to 'perfect storm' created by lockdown Posted: 30 May 2020 07:21 AM PDT  The economic impact of the lockdown will pale by comparison to the "perfect storm" leaving vulnerable children "isolating alongside their abusers", Sajid Javid has warned. Writing for The Telegraph, the former Home Secretary said the current restrictions appeared to be facilitating a "surge" in sexual abuse of children which he predicted would be reflected in figures later this year. Mr Javid is to lead a new "no holds barred" investigation into child sexual abuse in Britain, along with the Centre for Social Justice think tank. Mr Javid said the inquiry would not be impeded by "cultural and political sensitivities" after the men convicted in recent high-profile cases were disproportionately of Pakistani, Kashmiri, Bangladeshi and Bengali heritage. His intervention follows repeated warnings by children's charities about the increased risks of child abuse while children are being kept at home during the lockdown. Last month The Telegraph disclosed that the number of vulnerable children "out of contact" as a result of the lockdown was causing alarm among ministers studying the cost of measures designed to halt the spread of coronavirus. Ministers fear that the "usual oversight" available to youngsters at risk of abuse has been absent, with as many as nine in ten vulnerable children kept at home, rather than taking up places available to them at local schools. Mr Javid said: "Children are less likely to be abused in person by an unknown predator at school than they are to be assaulted by their own family members, friends or acquaintances – often in their own home. Images and videos from sexual assaults such as these are often shared online for the gratification of others. "For these children, lockdown is the perfect storm. Left to isolate alongside their abuser, these young people will suffer damage so severe and long lasting as to make our concerns about the economy seem insignificant by comparison. "The surge in child sexual abuse happening right now won't be reflected in statistics until later this year."
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| Pandemic historian: Don't rush reopening. In 1918, some states ran straight into more death. Posted: 31 May 2020 03:00 AM PDT  Over a decade ago, I looked at state lockdown measures during the 1918 influenza pandemic. My takeaway: Longer is better than shorter.
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| George Floyd protests: Police officers filmed being dragged along street in Chicago as unrest escalates across America Posted: 30 May 2020 04:25 PM PDT  Protests have erupted in more than two dozen cities across the US, as unrest continues to explode in the wake of the police killing of George Floyd, an African American man who died after being pinned to the ground by Minneapolis police officers and choked with a knee pressed against his throat.His death has galvanised furious protests as well as peaceful calls to action among Americans exhausted by police killings and disparate policing.
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| Cemeteries braced for surge in Covid-19 dead as Mexico readies to reopen Posted: 30 May 2020 02:15 AM PDT  The president says the pandemic has been tamed but experts, and those who must bury the dead, fear an alarming rise in casesFour generations of Enrique Ruvalcaba's family have worked at the Mezquitán cemetery in the Mexican city of Guadalajara. None of them ever saw anything like this. Before the coronavirus, the burial ground was open to the public, and the deceased were honoured by flower-carrying mourners and mariachis. Now the dead arrive in silence and alone."Only the box came, not a single relative, just the coffin," Ruvalcaba, 32, said of the first Covid-19 burial he witnessed last month. "Absolutely everything has changed."The Guadalajara graveyard, which has added 700 tombs for an anticipated wave of Covid deaths, has yet to see a major increase of victims – but Ruvalcaba said gravediggers had been advised to prepare. "They've told us a more intense phase is coming," he said.Yet as Mexico's daily death toll rises to become one of the highest in the world – a record 501 fatalities were reported on Tuesday alone – the country is simultaneously preparing to reopen and weathering a politically charged battle over the true scale of the crisis."We're doing well, the pandemic has been tamed," Mexico's populist president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, claimed on Thursday as he announced he would resume touring the country when a period of nationwide quarantine was wound down next week.Alejandro Macías, a leading infectious diseases specialist, said he understood and supported the need to plot out a return to some kind of normality for Mexico's 129 million citizens.Covid deaths in Mexico"It's good to have a plan and it is good for this plan to constantly put people's lives first," he said.But Macías, who was Mexico's influenza chief during the 2009 swine flu pandemic, said he was worried things were moving too fast, when the extent of the crisis remained unclear and different parts of the country were at different stages of transmission."The risk is that there will be another substantial rise in the number of cases and that this could cause some hospitals to collapse – and if the hospitals collapse this could put the security and governance of some regions at risk," Macías warned."In many parts of the republic the curve has barely started to rise."Macías said he suspected political pressure from López Obrador's year-old government and the United States – which is highly reliant on Mexican supply chains – explained the authorities' desire to promote the idea the crisis was under control."It is exactly like what is happening in the United States. The government there is also putting pressure on to show a certain normality and tranquillity when clearly they can't yet say they have the situation under control" and were still suffering "terrifying" Covid figures, Macías said."I feel there is a great deal of political pressure – much more in Mexico than in other parts of Latin America – because Mexico's industrial production is so tightly connected to industry in the United States. And they want to reopen but can't do so if Mexican industry doesn't reopen, because we are so integrated."Latin America's number two economy registered its first Covid case in late February and has since recorded more than 9,000 deaths and 81,400 cases, although the government admits the true number is probably considerably higher.One report this week found Mexico City had issued 8,000 more death certificates than usual between January and late May, suggesting a significantly higher death toll.López Obrador, who was criticized for his initially dismissive attitude to the pandemic, has been bullish about Mexico's response. On 26 April, with 1,351 deaths and 14,677 infections, he claimed it had managed "to tame" the coronavirus. But many are not so sure. A month after those claims, Mexico had suffered 9,044 deaths and 81,400 cases.Macías said it was likely many more had died. "Right now we have less than 10,000 recognized deaths. But it's very probable the true figure is substantially bigger – probably double that."Behind those statistics lie thousands of grieving families – some of which have lost multiple members to Covid-19.Karlo Colín, who works at a funeral home in Mexico City, said he and his colleagues had handled 60 coronavirus cases in the last three weeks. One family had lost five members, another four. "Every week a family member dies," Colín said.Despite the rising death toll, many Mexicans seem in denial. Even Colín, on the frontlines of the pandemic, admitted having doubts."A lot of people don't believe in the virus," the undertaker said. "There are times where I say, how is it possible that the guy giving me the body, at the centre of the infection, doesn't have protective equipment? Is this real or isn't it?"Adrián Carranza, a nursing student, has been conducting Covid-19 evaluations at Mexico City's main market, the Central de Abasto – and referring suspected patients for testing. He said that many vendors remained skeptical despite the deaths of several vendors."They'll say, sure, that guy over there died, but we don't know why," Carranza said.Carranza and his colleagues have faced harassment at the market, where about 40% of the stalls have shut down."Because of misinformation, more than anything else, they think we're hurting them, that we're going to inject them with the virus," he said. "They yell that we're murderers."As Mexico prepares to reopen, Guadalajara's gravediggers are readying themselves for the dead.Ruvalcaba, whose father, grandfather and great-grandfather all worked in the same cemetery, called his colleagues the hidden heroes of the Covid-19 crisis."It's a really noble line of work. People talk about the doctors and the nurses but nobody thinks about the people who are laying Covid's victims to rest," said Ruvalcaba, who has been digging tombs since he was 12."It's like doctors' work – only from the moment when the patient has gone to a better life," Ruvalcaba added. "And someone has to do it."
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| India coronavirus: Why is India reopening amid a spike in cases? Posted: 31 May 2020 10:01 AM PDT  India's caseload continues to rise even as restrictions ease across the country.
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| Iran's new parliament speaker says talks with US 'futile' Posted: 31 May 2020 12:08 AM PDT  Iran's parliament speaker Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf said any negotiations with the United States would be "futile" as he delivered his first major speech to the conservative-dominated chamber on Sunday. Ghalibaf, a former commander of the Revolutionary Guards' air force, was elected speaker on Thursday after February elections that swung the balance in the legislature towards ultra-conservatives. The newly formed parliament "considers negotiations with and appeasement of America, as the axis of global arrogance, to be futile and harmful," said Ghalibaf.
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