| People in the US have been receiving packages of jewelry that actually contain mysterious seeds from China, report says Posted: 26 Jul 2020 01:06 PM PDT  The Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services has asked recipients not to plant the seeds that might be an "invasive plant species."
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| Poll: Biden leads Trump in battleground Arizona Posted: 26 Jul 2020 06:00 AM PDT  The presumptive nominee is up five points in a new NBC News/Marist poll while Democrats also enjoy double-digit lead in state's Senate contest.
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| Refugee who volunteered at French cathedral confesses to setting blaze, lawyer says Posted: 25 Jul 2020 10:54 PM PDT  A Rwandan refugee who volunteered as a warden at France's 15th-century Nantes cathedral has confessed to setting the blaze that gutted its interior a week ago, his lawyer said on Sunday. "With these confessions, there's a kind of relief: it's someone who is scared, who is somehow overwhelmed," his lawyer, Quentin Chabert, told a news conference on Sunday. The July 18 blaze engulfed the inside of the Gothic structure of the Cathedral of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, destroying its grand organ, stained-glass windows and a painting.
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| Putin attends naval parade, promises new ships to navy Posted: 26 Jul 2020 03:22 AM PDT  President Vladimir Putin said the Russian navy will get 40 new ships and vessels this year, as he attended a naval parade in St. Petersburg on Sunday marking the Navy Day in Russia. The parade in St. Petersburg and the nearby town of Kronshtadt featured 46 ships and vessels and over 4,000 troops and aimed to "demonstrate the growing power of our navy," Putin said Friday.
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| James Carville still thinks Trump might pull out of race rather than risk losing by a landslide Posted: 25 Jul 2020 07:37 AM PDT  Veteran Democratic strategist James Carville doubled down on his prediction on Friday that President Trump may yet abandon his run for reelection.
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| Malaysia arrests Bangladeshi migrant who criticised government on TV Posted: 25 Jul 2020 09:24 AM PDT  The Bangladeshi man criticised the treatment of undocumented workers during the Covid-19 pandemic.
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| Portland protests: Federal agents swarm American-flag bearing demonstrator as clashes continue through night Posted: 25 Jul 2020 05:44 AM PDT  Federal agents were seen wrestling a protester holding a US flag and a leaf blower to the ground as the latest violent crackdown on demonstrations in Portland lasted through the night.The footage, posted to social media, shows at least four heavily-armoured officers subduing a protester as he lies in the road. The sounds of flash bangs can be heard in the background as other armed officers stand by and smoke from tear gas drifts past.
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| North Korea may be 'reaching out to the world for help' after finally announcing a suspected coronavirus case Posted: 26 Jul 2020 05:25 AM PDT  North Korean leader Kim Jong Un declared an emergency and imposed a lockdown in the border city of Kaesong after the country reported its first suspected coronavirus case, state media said Sunday, adding that a person who defected three years ago to South Korea returned last week and exhibited COVID-19 symptoms after "illegally crossing the demarcation line."Pyongyang shut its borders and put thousands of people in isolation six months ago when the coronavirus pandemic began, but Kim's regime has not acknowledged any coronavirus cases during that span, a feat analysts say was always unlikely. Still, the announcement appears to be a significant step for the secretive state — experts believe it may represent a cry for help. "It's an ice-breaking moment for North Korea to admit a case," said Choo Jae-woo, a professor at South Korea's Kyung Hee University. "It could be reaching out to the world for help. Perhaps for humanitarian assistance."The description of the infected person, and the fact that the alleged case was imported, also may be meaningful. "North Korea is in such a dire situation, where they can't even finish building the Pyongyang General Hospital on time," said Cho Han-bum, a senior fellow at the Korea Institute for National Unification in Seoul. "Pointing the blame at an 'imported case' from South Korea, the North can use this as a way to openly accept aid from the South." Read more at Reuters and BBC.More stories from theweek.com 5 scathing cartoons about Trump's use of federal force Trump's old tricks aren't working Actress Olivia de Havilland dies at 104
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| Police in Australia won their Supreme Court bid to stop a Black Lives Matter protest Posted: 26 Jul 2020 10:16 AM PDT  The protest was blocked after police raised concerns that it would "breach public health orders" and lead to a spike in coronavirus infections.
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| Trump news: President rails at ‘Venezuela on steroids’ Democrats as coronavirus cases climb and unrest continues in Portland Posted: 25 Jul 2020 11:54 AM PDT  Donald Trump lashed out at his Democratic rivals in Washington by branding them "Stone Cold Left – Venezuela on steroids!" after the House of Representatives voted in favour of the No Ban Act, moving to repeal his travel ban on visitors from several Muslim-majority countries.The president has meanwhile described the coronavirus as a "downer" and a "dampner" on his poll numbers as the US came close to its record single-day rise in cases on Friday, seeing 73,400 new infections and 1,100 deaths from the virus.
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| Florida records 9,300 new coronavirus cases, blows past New York Posted: 26 Jul 2020 07:48 AM PDT  Total COVID-19 cases in the Sunshine State rose by 9,300 to 423,855 on Sunday, just one place behind California, which now leads the country with 448,497 cases. New York is in third place with 415,827 cases. On average, Florida has added more than 10,000 cases a day in July while California has been adding 8,300 cases a day and New York has been adding 700 cases.
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| Luck? Genetics? Italian island spared from COVID outbreak Posted: 26 Jul 2020 01:11 AM PDT  Stranded on a tiny Italian island, a cancer researcher grew increasingly alarmed to hear that one, and then three more visitors had fallen ill with COVID-19. Paola Muti braced for a rapid spread of the coronavirus to the 800 closely-knit islanders, many of whom she knows well.
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| Local reparations efforts are good but not enough, advocates say Posted: 26 Jul 2020 01:35 PM PDT  Proponents of federal reparations argue that localized efforts at atonement, while appreciated, cannot make amends for the deep-seated, multigenerational harm done by slavery.
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| 'We, too, are America': How we can work together to overcome systemic racism Posted: 26 Jul 2020 03:00 AM PDT  Instead of attacking "the other," we must embrace and celebrate the richness of true democracy and honor the voices that make us a choir.
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| Nigerian refugee creates N.Y.C.'s first full-time shelter for asylum-seekers Posted: 26 Jul 2020 02:00 AM PDT  Edafe Okporo fled his homeland in 2016 after he was subjected to homophobic violence. He's now helping others who are looking to build lives in the U.S.
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| Hurricane Hanna: Flood threat remains despite weakening Posted: 26 Jul 2020 04:43 AM PDT  The hurricane was downgraded after making landfall, but authorities say heavy rains will continue.
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| New research puts the 'good guy with a gun' idea to rest: Loose concealed-carry laws are linked to more firearm homicides Posted: 26 Jul 2020 07:01 AM PDT  States with looser concealed-carry laws have higher rates of gun homicide. And higher gun-ownership rates are associated with more mass shootings.
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| A woman accidentally injured 3 members of her armed militia in a shooting at a Breonna Taylor protest in Louisville Posted: 26 Jul 2020 07:18 AM PDT  Three members were rushed to the hospital with nonlife-threatening injuries after a trainee from the militia accidentally fired her weapon.
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| John Lewis: Body of civil rights leader carried across Selma bridge on his final journey Posted: 26 Jul 2020 07:48 AM PDT  More than 50 years after police attacked demonstrators marching across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama in a turning point for voting rights, the body of John Lewis – a giant of the civil rights movement and a 30-year member of Congress – has crossed the bridge a final time.He died on 17 July after a pancreatic cancer diagnosis. He was 80 years old.
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| Exclusive: Alibaba, Jack Ma summoned by Indian court on former employee's complaint Posted: 25 Jul 2020 09:05 PM PDT  An Indian court has summoned Alibaba and its founder Jack Ma in a case in which a former employee in India says he was wrongfully fired after objecting to what he saw as censorship and fake news on company apps, documents seen by Reuters showed. The case comes weeks after India cited security concerns in banning Alibaba's UC News, UC Browser and 57 other Chinese apps after a clash between the two countries' forces on their border. Following the ban, which China has criticized, India sought written answers from all affected companies, including whether they censored content or acted for any foreign government.
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| Oakland protesters set fire to courthouse, smash windows Posted: 25 Jul 2020 11:52 PM PDT  A protest in Oakland, California, in support of racial justice and police reform turned violent when a small group of demonstrators wearing helmets and goggles and carrying large signs that doubled as shields set fire to a courthouse, vandalized a police station and shot fireworks at officers, authorities said. About 700 demonstrators participated in what started as a peaceful march Saturday night but then some broke from the larger group and smashed windows, spray-painted graffiti and pointed lasers at officers, said Officer Johnna Watson, an Oakland Police Department spokesperson.
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| Supreme Court says Nevada can impose tighter virus limits on churches than casinos Posted: 24 Jul 2020 06:16 PM PDT  The court, over four dissents, said limiting church gatherings to 50 people while allowing bars, restaurants and casinos 50% capacity is permissible.
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| Invasion! The threat from Asian giant hornets Posted: 26 Jul 2020 06:07 AM PDT  Desperate times call for desperate measures in the ongoing battle against the terrifying insect, recently discovered in the Pacific Northwest, which can swiftly slaughter honeybee colonies and even bite out chunks of a human being's flesh
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| China turns a blind eye as North Korea evades sanctions Posted: 25 Jul 2020 02:00 AM PDT  North Korea relies on front-companies registered in China to export coal and sand and import oil in violation of U.N. sanctions.
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| Mnuchin says virus aid package will come soon, $1,200 checks by August Posted: 26 Jul 2020 08:37 AM PDT  Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Saturday that Republicans were set to roll out the next COVID-19 aid package Monday and assured there was support from the White House.
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| A Texas man died from coronavirus after his granddaughter spread infection to him from attending a party Posted: 25 Jul 2020 06:09 PM PDT  The "20-something" girl was not showing symptoms when she unknowingly infected her grandfather after going to a party, according to Dr. Joseph Chang.
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| 'It’s my constitutional freaking right': Black Americans arm themselves in response to pandemic, protests Posted: 26 Jul 2020 04:00 AM PDT  Conservatives are using images of Black protesters with guns to justify their calls for law and order.
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| Black armed protesters march in Kentucky demanding justice for Breonna Taylor Posted: 25 Jul 2020 06:53 PM PDT  A group of heavily armed Black protesters marched through Louisville, Kentucky on Saturday demanding justice for Breonna Taylor, a Black woman killed in March by police officers who burst into her apartment. The Black militia dubbed NFAC want justice for Taylor, a 26-year-old emergency medical technician who died in a hail of gunfire when drug investigators bearing a "no-knock" warrant entered her Louisville home four months ago. One police officer involved in the raid was fired by the city's police department in June.
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| Mountain rescuers heft ailing St. Bernard off English peak Posted: 26 Jul 2020 01:12 PM PDT  St. Bernards are known for helping to rescue distressed travelers in the mountains, but the tables were turned Sunday in northern England. Sixteen volunteers from the Wasdale mountain rescue team took turns carrying Daisy, a 121-pound (55 kilogram) St Bernard, from England's highest peak, Scafell Pike. The mountain rescue team spent nearly five hours rescuing Daisy, who had collapsed Friday evening while descending the mountain with her owners.
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| Nasa Mars rover: Meteorite to head home to Red Planet Posted: 26 Jul 2020 01:56 AM PDT  The Perseverance robot will take Martian rock with it when it launches from Earth on Thursday.
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| Judge's ruling reopens Kennedy cousin's murder case to the public Posted: 25 Jul 2020 12:06 PM PDT |
| Kudlow says next round of coronavirus relief will include $1,200 checks and extension of eviction moratorium Posted: 26 Jul 2020 09:05 AM PDT  "There's a $1,200 check coming, that's going to be a part of the new package," Kudlow said during an interview with "State of the Union" on CNN.
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| New York COVID hospitalizations at new low since mid-March, Cuomo says Posted: 25 Jul 2020 02:55 PM PDT  NEW YORK - Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Saturday that the state's COVID-19 hospitalizations and ICU patients were at a new low since mid-March, and urged its residents to continue following the protocols that fueled New York's declining coronavirus numbers. The latest statewide figures indicated hospitalizations on Friday were down to 646, the lowest figure since March 18, while the number of ...
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| A plane crashed in a Utah neighborhood, killing three people and setting a woman on fire in her home Posted: 26 Jul 2020 11:59 AM PDT  Six people were on board the plane that took off from South Valley Regional Airport in Utah Saturday. The three survivors are being hospitalized.
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| 'White as hell': Portland protesters face off with Trump but are they eclipsing Black Lives Matter? Posted: 25 Jul 2020 11:00 PM PDT  On another night of confrontation with federal agents, activists said their message was in danger of being forgotten * America 'staring down barrel of martial law' – Oregon senator * 'Made-for-TV fascism': how Trump's ploy could backfireTeal Lindseth surveyed the sea of mothers she was about to lead into the firing line."I look at this crowd and I don't see many black people," lamented the 21-year-old African American activist. "Oregon is white as hell. Whitewashed."Lindseth has been a stalwart of the Black Lives Matter protests that have continued for nearly 60 days without interruption in a city that was derided as "Little Beirut" over the intensity of its demonstrations against a visit by George HW Bush four decades ago.Portland has cemented that reputation in the Trump era, as the protests evolved into nightly showdowns with federal paramilitaries sent by the president to end what he described as anarchy.But Portland has another reputation alongside its radical image. That of the whitest large city in America in a state with a constitution that once barred African Americans from living there. An 1850s law required black people to be "lashed" once a year to encourage them to leave Oregon, and members of the Ku Klux Klan largely controlled Portland city council between the world wars. Housing was effectively segregated in large parts of the city.Many of today's protesters say their support for racial justice in a city where the police department has a history of disproportionately killing African Americans is driven at least in part by an attempt to atone for Oregon's racist past. But as Portland's battles play out on the national stage, and Donald Trump stokes unrest for political advantage, some black leaders are asking whose interests the televised nightly confrontations really serve – and whether they are a continuation of white domination at the expense of black interests.> The children of the privileged are dancing on the stages of those that gave their lives for this movement> > ED Mondainé, NAACPThe president of the Portland branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), ED Mondainé, warned that the Black Lives Matter movement in the city is being coopted by "privileged white people" with other agendas. He said the confrontations with the federal officers sent by the president are little more than a "spectacle and a distraction that do nothing for the cause of black equality".Mondainé accused groups of young white people at the forefront of confronting federal officers of rising to Trump's bait and using the campaign against racial injustice to provoke a fight in pursuit of other causes, such as anti-capitalism."The children of the privileged are dancing on the stages of those that gave their lives for this movement," he told the Guardian.Trump's dispatch of a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) taskforce reinvigorated the protests in Portland as federal agents in camouflage snatched protesters off the streets in unmarked vans and severely beat others.Outrage in the city, and nationally, at what smacked of police state tactics only fuelled the demonstrations, which did not displease the president. Trump presented the pictures of protesters in helmets and gas masks confronting federal agents as evidence of a city overrun by anarchists and antifa, and the Democrats as either helpless or complicit in the chaos.Trump raised the ante by vowing to send a "surge" of federal forces to other Democratic-run cities such as Chicago, ostensibly to quell gun killings. He said Operation Legend, named after a four year-old boy shot dead in Kansas City, would see thousands of agents from the FBI, US Marshals Service and other agencies deployed to end a "rampage of violence".The mayors of Chicago, Los Angeles, Atlanta and 11 other cities wrote to the administration on Tuesday, accusing the president of an abuse of power and alleging that "federal law enforcement is being deployed for political purposes" amid suspicions that Trump is more interested in creating conflict than ending it in the run-up to the election."Unilaterally deploying these paramilitary-type forces into our cities is wholly inconsistent with our system of democracy and our most basic values," they wrote.The mayors also said they were disturbed at the actions of federal agents in Portland, calling their failure to wear proper identification and the snatching of protesters off the streets "chilling"."These are tactics we expect from an authoritarian regime – not our democracy," the letter said.Mondainé, who led a rally on Thursday evening to "bring back the focus" on to Black Lives Matter, said "empty battles" were serving Trump's agenda because the president creates political theatre for electoral advantage. He said Trump is baiting protesters in Portland to light the fuse on a racist backlash across the country before the presidential election."We have to change that narrative. We cannot let teargas and rubber bullets define the moment that we're in now. We must seize the moment and assure the world that this time racism will no longer live," he said. A dark stainMondainé and other black leaders want to shift the focus of protests in Portland back to one of the enduring legacies of Oregon's racist past – reform of a police department with a long history of violence against the supposedly liberal city's relatively small black population, and which has seen a sharp rise in the killing of African American men since Trump came to power.African Americans make up just 6% of Portland's 650,000 residents but accounted for 30% of shootings by police over the past three years. Black people were also several times more times likely to be arrested or stopped. The police department has proved so trigger happy that the Obama administration placed it under federal court oversight, although it sidestepped the issue of race in doing so.But African Americans in Portland remain sceptical that the city or the police department are committed to change, particularly when officers are accused of siding with far-right groups such as the Proud Boys who regularly use the city as a platform for protests knowing it will create a backlash.Accusations that the force tolerates neo-fascist sympathies are not new. Critics regard the case of Mark Kruger as a particularly dark stain on the police department and city government.In about 2000, the then Portland police sergeant built a shrine in a public park to five Nazi soldiers including a member of Hitler's SS and a war criminal. Kruger nailed plaques with their names to what he called an "Ehrenbaum" or honour tree. They were positioned so he could see them from the road when driving to work as a police officer, and he kept them polished.The shrine remained in the park for several years until Kruger removed it when he was the target of federal lawsuits for use of excessive force against anti-Iraq war protestors. Portland attorney's office stored the plaques until they were discovered years later by an internal affairs investigator.That led to an investigation which concluded Kruger brought "discredit and disgrace" upon Portland police and the city. But he kept his job after a brief unpaid suspension for illegally posting the plaques on public property, and was later promoted to captain and head of the vice squad.> Trump ripped the band aid off of the racism that was bubbling under the surface of the country for a very long time> > Dan Handelman, Portland CopwatchKruger admitted wearing Nazi uniforms but said it was because of his interest in history. He said the plaques were to honour the Germans' military prowess not their crimes against humanity."Many military historians have erected similar remembrances all over the world," he claimed at the time.He remained a captain in the police department until his recent retirement.People pressing for police reform saw Kruger's continued employment and promotion as a reflection of the values of a police department with a reputation for brutality. The Obama justice department finally intervened over the level of police shootings in Portland, prompted by the case of Aaron Campbell in 2010.The young black man's brother had died earlier in the day. Campbell's family feared he might be suicidal and called the police. The officers who went to check on him quickly established that he was not a threat to himself or anyone else, and even exchanged a lighthearted text message that put everyone at ease. But a second police unit arrived as Campbell emerged from a building. They shot him with a bean bag.When he instinctively reached for where he had been hit, officers said he was going for a gun and shot him dead. Campbell was unarmed.The civil rights leader Jesse Jackson called Campbell's killing "an execution". A Portland grand jury said the officer who shot him acted within the law but that did not mean he was innocent."This was very difficult for us as a grand jury, as our sympathies lie with the Campbell family and the mood of the community. As a group, we are outraged at what happened," the grand jury said in a letter to the district attorney. The city paid Campbell's family $1.2m.The Obama administration demanded reforms and placed the police department under federal court oversight in 2014. But in a move some critics suspected was to save Portland's Democratic leadership from embarrassment, the justice department said Campbell had been shot because the police had a pattern of using excessive force against people with mental health problems, not because he was black. Campbell's family disagreed. 'An often tense relationship'A justice department report found "a pattern of dangerous uses of force against persons who posed little or no threat" but who had mental illness. These include the case of a 42-year-old local musician with schizophrenia, James Chasse, who was shot multiple times with a taser and beaten so badly by the police he had a punctured lung, 16 fractured ribs and 26 broken bones in all. He died in custody.In another case, Portland police repeatedly tasered a naked and unarmed man who was acting oddly because he was suffering a diabetic emergency.Although the justice department sidestepped a full investigation of racism by the Portland police, it did note "the often tense relationship" between the force and the African American community. It said there was a widespread perception among black people of racial profiling and that the police "protect the white folk and police the black folk".Dan Handelman of Portland Copwatch, which monitors police killings, said eight years of justice department oversight has not fundamentally changed how the Portland police act because, while the agreement between the city and the federal government requires new policies and training, it does not measure whether they are successful."If the Portland police continue to use violence against the general public, they're still in compliance with that agreement. Have some changes have been made? Yes. But does it did it get at the root problems and the issues that people were worried about the first place? Not at all," he said.Handelman said that if anything, the situation has worsened."We had not actually had a shooting death of an African American Portlander by the police between early 2010 and February of 2017, which is rather remarkable. A seven-year stretch with no black man being killed. Since then, there have been at least five shootings of African Americans, and four of them died," he said."For me, part of that is the national situation that we're in. That the election of President Trump kind of ripped the Band-Aid off of the racism that was bubbling under the surface of the country for a very long time."The police response to protests in Portland after the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis in May reinforced the perception that the force was resistant to change and raised questions about accountability.In recent days, Portland's mayor, Ted Wheeler, has made a show on national television of denouncing Trump's deployment of federal forces, accusing the president of conducting "urban warfare" in his city. But when Wheeler turned out to speak at a protest on Wednesday, he faced hostility from demonstrators who accused him of hypocrisy.The mayor is also the city's police commissioner. In May, Wheeler declared a state of emergency amid escalating protests over Floyd's death which saw storefronts smashed and some looted. Critics accused the police of overreacting by being too quick to fire teargas to break up demonstrations until a federal judge barred its use except where the police declare a riot.When Wheeler arrived at Wednesday's demonstration, a protester emptied a bag of spent teargas canisters at his feet as others peppered him with questions and accusations about his oversight of the police. Later, the mayor faced a barrage of derision after he denounced federal agents for an unprovoked firing of teargas that left him gasping for breath.Teressa Raiford, the African American founder of Don't Shoot Portland, accused the mayor of using the presence of the federal agents as cover for his own failure to address police reform."Our leaders now say: 'Donald Trump's attacking you and we care about you'. But the people on the front line realise we were being attacked by them before Donald Trump started attacking us," he said. "They're trying to claim that they stand as allies with the protesters. It is political. What you're seeing with the mayor being sprayed with teargas, that is political propaganda."Raiford said Portland's political leadership did not care to substantially change the system of policing because much of the city was comfortable with policies that, as the justice department noted, protect whites and police blacks. 'All these liberal cities have extreme inequality'The failure of so many American cities run by Democrats to address reform of racially biased policing hangs over Democratic political leaderships that claim to support the Black Lives Matters campaign.Hyung Nam, who has been closely observing police reform as a member of a city committee that advises on how the police budget is spent, said the lack of political will reflects economic realities."All these liberal cities have extreme inequality, economic inequality, and there's a major racial dimension to that. As long as we have that kind of economic inequality we're going to see some form of policing like this," he said.> Inequality has grown enormously and the way we're dealing with that is through tougher policing> > Hyung NamNam said there is a pattern of more prosperous whites gentrifying black Portland neighbourhoods and then demanding increased policing which often makes the remaining African American residents feel insecure."Just the other day when I was testifying at the city council, there were people from the Irvington neighbourhood complaining to the council about homeless people that were engaged in illicit activities and basically calling for the cops to do something, which means criminalise them and sweep them somewhere."This is what's happening in all these Democratic liberal cities. Inequality has grown enormously and the way we're dealing with that is through tougher policing."However, Nam thinks that the scale of popular protest over Floyd's death may finally have pushed the administration to get serious about reform including "significant" cuts to the police budget for its paramilitary teams and enforcing proper civilian oversight.For now though, attention in and on Portland remains focused on the nightly theatre outside the federal courthouse – and where Trump will target next.
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| Rare Hawaiian hurricane, packing strong winds and rains, approaches islands Posted: 26 Jul 2020 02:06 PM PDT  Hurricane Douglas bore down on Hawaii on Sunday packing torrential rains and damaging winds as it churned just east of the islands in the central Pacific, forecasters said, with one local leader urging residents to be prepared for the worst. Douglas was expected to make landfall or pass close to the main Hawaiian islands from Maui to Kauai later in the day or into the evening, the Miami-based U.S. National Hurricane Center said. Sirens blared on Maui on Sunday morning as palm trees swayed in the wind and white-cap waves crashed against the island's shores, video aired on local television showed.
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| India's PM to attend temple groundbreaking at disputed site Posted: 26 Jul 2020 02:40 AM PDT  Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will attend a groundbreaking ceremony next month for a Hindu temple on a disputed site in northern India where a 16th century mosque was torn down by Hindu hard-liners in 1992, according to the trust overseeing the temple construction. The ceremony is set for Aug. 5, a date organizers said was astrologically auspicious for Hindus but that also marks a year since the Indian Parliament revoked the semi-autonomous status of its only Muslim-majority state, Jammu and Kashmir.
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| The children of Korean War prisoners who never came home Posted: 26 Jul 2020 04:01 PM PDT  South Korea largely forgot its prisoners of war. Now their children are fighting for recognition.
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| Yes, Neowise is fading. But meteor showers Delta Aquariids and the Alpha Capricornids are on the horizon. Posted: 26 Jul 2020 01:25 PM PDT  Comet Neowise may be fading away, but that doesn't mean there's nothing to look at it in the night sky.
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| A lawyer who helps ultra-wealthy families get secondary citizenships says business is booming in 2020 — and not just because of the coronavirus Posted: 26 Jul 2020 07:31 AM PDT  Wealthy Americans are already looking to the election and are prepared to "vote with their feet" if taxes go up.
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| She Flew Missions Against ISIS-Backed Terrorists—and Died in a Suspicious ‘Accident’ Posted: 26 Jul 2020 02:06 AM PDT  ABUJA, Nigeria—She was so young and daring, and a thorn in the side of ISIS-backed terrorists and bandits in north-central Nigeria. Her profile was rising fast and in her already extraordinary career she'd broken through the military glass ceiling. But the life of Tolulope Arotile, Nigeria's first-ever female combat helicopter pilot, was cut short on July 14 when she died in a strange and sudden accident. According to the Nigeria Air Force (NAF), Arotile was "inadvertently hit by the reversing vehicle of an excited former Air Force secondary school classmate while trying to greet her" inside the NAF base in the northwestern city of Kaduna. But not many in Nigeria are convinced the death of the 24-year-old was indeed accidental, especially because her nationwide fame as a talented combat helicopter pilot, and her regular bombardment of terrorist hideouts, had made her a target of armed militants. The manner in which Arotile was said to have died—from the impact of a reversing car—raised suspicion across Nigeria that she was murdered. The country's leading activists and politicians, including the outspoken former senator Shehu Sani, joined her family in immediately demanding an inquiry into the pilot's death. The NAF quickly responded by announcing a preliminary investigation into the tragedy. Arotile had just come back from an operation in north-central Nigeria, where she was deployed in the fight to rid the region of ISIS-backed militants and other criminal elements by flying combat missions. The NAF said she served as a squadron pilot in what the military named Operation Gama Aiki and flew "anti-banditry combat missions to ensure a safer, more secured Nigeria."Russians Are Using African Troll Factories—and Encrypted Messaging—to Attack the U.S.Since last year, armed bandits and militants, including those with links to the so-called Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), have terrorized a number of villages in north-central Nigeria, killing hundreds of villagers and displacing thousands from their homes. The military's response has been through airstrikes, many of which had been carried out by attack helicopters like those flown by Arotile and her fellow fighter pilots.Arotile's last combat mission was devastating for the terrorists she targeted, a senior NAF official told The Daily Beast privately. She was said to have carried out airstrikes targeting bandits at Kasuwan Ango Community in Nigeria's north-central Niger State in late June. The Nigeria military had stated last month that strikes by the air component of Operation Gama Aiki at Kasuwan Ango on June 28 and 29 led to the "neutralization of some of the bandits" and the arrest of two foreigners, while the country's press release distribution agency, PR Nigeria, reported that corpses of bandits littered the area of the operation, an indication that the airstrikes killed numerous terrorists. Arotile herself was targeted by the bandits who shot repeatedly at her helicopter before she managed to overcome them. "Much of our success in the north-central can be attributed to Tolulope [Arotile]," said the NAF official who didn't want his name mentioned as he wasn't authorized to speak. "She was extremely daring and fearless."The manner in which Arotile was said to have died—from the impact of a reversing car—raised suspicion across Nigeria that she might have been murdered. The country's leading politicians and activists have joined her family in demanding an inquiry into the pilot's death. The NAF stated on Sunday that its preliminary investigation found that three of Arotile's secondary school classmates—all civilians who live outside the Kaduna NAF base, and who were on their way to visit another friend living in the same vicinity—were in the Kia Sorento SUV that hit her. The driver, Nehemiah Adejo, recognized Arotile after passing her, and "reversed the vehicle, ostensibly in an attempt to quickly meet up with the deceased, who was walking in the opposite direction.""In the process," said Ibikunle Daramola, NAF director of public relations and information, "the vehicle struck Flying Officer Arotile from the rear, knocking her down with significant force and causing her to hit her head on the pavement.""The vehicle then ran over parts of her body as it veered off the road beyond the kerb and onto the pavement, causing her further injuries," Daramola said while reporting on the NAF's initial findings on the pilot's death on July 19.The three schoolmates were subjected to toxicology tests but no traces of alcohol or psychotropic substances were found in their systems, according to the NAF findings, which also revealed that the driver of the vehicle, Adejo, did not have a valid driver's license. The trio are expected to be handed over to police, who are set to begin an investigation into Arotile's death. The late pilot, who was commissioned into the air force as a Pilot Officer in 2017, made history last October when she was winged as the first-ever female combat helicopter pilot in the NAF after completing her flying training in South Africa. Arotile held a commercial pilot license and had undergone tactical flying training on the Agusta 109 Power attack helicopter in Italy. When Nigeria acquired an Agusta 109 Power early in the year, Arotile was asked to introduce the aircraft to President Muhammadu Buhari, during the induction ceremony in Abuja in February.Arotile once said she joined the NAF simply out of "passion" for the military. In an interview with a local publication after Arotile's death, her father, Akintunde Arotile, recalled when she first developed a passion for flying: "One day—when she was very small—she pointed to one small aircraft parked on a field and said, 'Dad, one day I am going to fly that aircraft,' and I said, 'Amen,'" Arotile told The Punch newspaper. Nigeria's leading politicians and institutions have paid tribute to her outstanding contribution to the country's long fight against terrorism. President Buhari recalled her "bravery" and "deft skills in manoeuvring combat helicopters" in a statement his office released shortly after her death, while the House of Representatives said she was "a heroine whose contribution in the war against terrorism and other criminal elements in the country cannot be wished away easily."Arotile's death comes at a period when Nigeria is facing increased attacks from armed bandits and ISWAP militants in the north-central and northeast regions. A series of ISWAP attacks last month in the northeastern state of Borno killed close to 150 people, including 20 soldiers. The Islamic State-affiliated group suddenly became active in parts of the north-central region, where Arotile embarked on most of her missions, this year.At a time when Nigeria needs its best hands to contain brutal terror groups like ISWAP, Arotile's death will definitely be a blow to its effort to defeat terrorists."I was heartbroken when I received the sad news," Nigeria's chief of the Air Staff, Sadique Abubakar, tweeted. "[Arotile] was one of our shining young stars."Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| Portland protests: Police declare riot as demonstrators break through court fence Posted: 26 Jul 2020 05:51 AM PDT  Police in Portland, Oregon have declared a riot after protesters breached a fence surrounding a court building where federal officers have been stationed during ongoing protests against police brutality and the presence of militarised law enforcement.A police announcement condemned protesters' "violent conduct" that created a "grave risk of public alarm" after a group of protesters had pulled down a section of fencing around 1.20am on Sunday.
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| Nearly 2 dozen lifeguards in New Jersey test positive for coronavirus after hosting social gatherings Posted: 26 Jul 2020 09:51 AM PDT  After hosting two social gatherings two weeks ago, 11 lifeguards from Harvey Cedars and 12 from Surf City have tested positive for COVID-19.
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| Hill Republicans begin jockeying for power in a possible post-Trump world Posted: 26 Jul 2020 11:30 AM PDT  A fight over coronavirus aid has revealed lawmakers looking past a dire November and toward potential new power structures to come.
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| British royals share anguish over Indian rhino park's floods Posted: 25 Jul 2020 05:03 AM PDT  More than 100 animals, including 10 one-horn rhinoceroses, have died due to massive flooding at the famed Kaziranga game reserve in northeastern India, prompting Britain's Prince William and his wife, Kate Middleton, to express their concern in a letter to park authorities, officials said Saturday. "Since the first week of June, we are having no respite with wave after wave of flood that has wreaked havoc inside the Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve," said Kaziranga's park director, P. Sivakumar. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge wrote to Sivakumar expressing their distress about the devastation to Kaziranga National Park and its precious wildlife.
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