| Michael Cohen may have violated the terms of his prison release by eating out at a restaurant in Manhattan Posted: 04 Jul 2020 06:50 AM PDT  The New York Post obtained photos showing Cohen, Trump's former lawyer, eating out with his wife and another couple in Manhattan Thursday night.
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| The One Reason Donald Trump Needs to Fear Joe Biden (And Could Lose) Posted: 04 Jul 2020 11:00 AM PDT  Likeability matters. It's not everything, of course, and Joe Biden has weaknesses. But the 2020 contest is not a race between two people with similar high negative ratings, and that may matter to the public in November — it certainly could help explain Biden's lead in the polls.
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| Judge blocks Portland police from using physical force against journalists Posted: 03 Jul 2020 05:49 AM PDT  As protests originally sparked by the death of George Floyd continue in Portland, Oregon, a US District Court has issued a two-week restraining order barring the Portland Police Bureau from arresting journalists and legal observers or using force against them.The order comes after the police arrested journalists who were covering a protest on Tuesday. One of them, Lesley McLam, was taken into custody.
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| 'How the hell are we going to do this?' The panic over reopening schools Posted: 04 Jul 2020 04:00 AM PDT  The CDC issued additional guidance this week on safely reopening schools, with infections spiking in the South and West.
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| Copenhagen's Little Mermaid labelled 'racist fish' Posted: 03 Jul 2020 03:24 AM PDT  Denmark woke up on Friday to the words "racist fish" scrawled across the base of the "Little Mermaid", the bronze statue honouring Hans Christian Andersen's famous fairy tale that perches on a rock in the sea off a pier in Copenhagen. "We consider it vandalism and have started an investigation," a spokesman for the Copenhagen police said. Protesters of the Black Lives Matter movement around the world have in recent months rallied against statues of historical figures who played a role in racist oppression, such as slave traders and colonialists.
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| For nearly 160 years, St. George has been known as Utah's 'Dixie.' The name is all over the city. Is it time to change? Posted: 02 Jul 2020 10:48 PM PDT  The word "Dixie" is everywhere in St. George, Utah. The controversy over its Confederate ties is back in the public eye — but it's not a new debate.
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| Why U.S. F-35s, Stealth Bombers and Attack Drones Could Fail in a War Posted: 04 Jul 2020 01:00 AM PDT  Fighter jets, stealth bombers, attack drones and air-traveling missiles all need to "operate at speed" in a fast-changing great power conflict era. What that means is that "sensor to shooter" time (how fast data can go from a sensor to a war-fighter) needs to be drastically sped up. Without that speed, warfighters won't be able to react as quickly to threats and it will be harder to win.
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| 5 Americans who flew by private jet to Italy were reportedly denied entry due to the EU ban on visitors from countries with high coronavirus infection rates Posted: 04 Jul 2020 04:47 AM PDT  Officials on the island of Sardinia expressed frustration at having to exclude the US travellers after their long flight, said reports.
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| Biden evokes MLK and George Floyd in Fourth of July message Posted: 04 Jul 2020 09:56 AM PDT  Biden's video message came hours after President Trump accused protesters who have pushed for racial justice of engaging in a "merciless campaign to wipe out our history."
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| 'A dereliction of duty': Former CIA director says Trump has gone 'Awol' in handling of coronavirus Posted: 03 Jul 2020 04:46 PM PDT  Donald Trump has gone "Awol" in his leadership of the US through the coronavirus pandemic, former CIA Director and Defence Secretary Leon Panetta has said in a scathing attack on the president."This president has essentially gone Awol from the job of leadership that he should be providing a country in trouble," Mr Panneta told CNN's Anderson Cooper on Wednesday, branding the situation a "major crisis".
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| Thomas Jefferson alongside Black great-grandson holds 'a mirror' to U.S. Posted: 04 Jul 2020 02:37 PM PDT  Shannon LaNier, a TV host in Houston, is pictured in a photo in Smithsonian Magazine alongside his direct ancestor, Thomas Jefferson.
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| WHO sees first results from COVID drug trials within two weeks Posted: 03 Jul 2020 08:26 AM PDT  The World Health Organization (WHO) should soon get results from clinical trials it is conducting of drugs that might be effective in treating COVID-19 patients, its Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Friday. "Nearly 5,500 patients in 39 countries have so far been recruited into the Solidarity trial," he told a news briefing, referring to clinical studies the U.N. agency is conducting. "We expect interim results within the next two weeks."
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| Concern over coronavirus mars Trump's Mount Rushmore trip Posted: 03 Jul 2020 08:23 AM PDT  President Trump will visit Mount Rushmore in South Dakota for a Fourth of July celebration, despite controversy about large crowd gatherings during the coronavirus pandemic.
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| Locals remain anxious amid India-China border stand-off Posted: 03 Jul 2020 12:46 AM PDT  Even as tensions are rising, locals along the border are worried their land is at stake.
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| It Would Cost Trillions: The Day North Korea Collapses Posted: 03 Jul 2020 02:30 AM PDT  The prospect of a peaceful Korean Unification, however remote it seems, would be a historical event worth planning for. While preparing for the worst, we should hope for the best. Hoping for the best means there is a scenario where North Korea's collapse and regime change occur miraculously, opening doors to South Korea and the West to take over North Korea in what one hopes would be a peaceful absorption. As unlikely as this sounds, it is important to remember that it is not without historical precedent.
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| Trudeau: Canada to restrict sensitive exports, suspend extraditions to Hong Kong Posted: 03 Jul 2020 01:36 PM PDT  Canada's steps arrive with its relationship with China already at a low point.
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| Hillary Clinton says she 'would have done a better job' at handling the coronavirus pandemic Posted: 03 Jul 2020 05:14 PM PDT  "I know I would have done a better job," the former secretary of state told a Hollywood Reporter podcast on Friday.
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| Crusading ex-cop's arrest sparks police pushback in Russia Posted: 02 Jul 2020 11:31 PM PDT  When police moved in to arrest Vladimir Vorontsov in May, they didn't bother to knock. Instead, two commando teams stormed the former policeman's top-floor apartment in southeast Moscow at around 7:00 am, one abseiling down the high-rise while the other broke down the door. "Our daughter thinks that bandits came and took daddy away," Aleksandra Vorontsova told AFP, describing the swoop on her husband, an activist for police labour rights.
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| 'Eviction crisis': Housing advocates fear waves of homelessness as moratoriums expire Posted: 04 Jul 2020 01:30 AM PDT  "It's really unfathomable that we would put low-income, already marginalized groups through even greater uncertainty," one legal aid provider said.
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| Sikh pilgrims in deadly Pakistan train crash Posted: 03 Jul 2020 07:10 AM PDT  At least 21 die as an express train hits a van carrying the pilgrims near the city of Lahore.
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| Iran's Military Is Armed to the Teeth with Lots of Missiles Posted: 04 Jul 2020 06:30 AM PDT  And it has built the region's largest missile force.
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| Prince William's pub pint wish comes true after lockdown Posted: 03 Jul 2020 04:02 PM PDT  The Duke of Cambridge's wish for a pint in his local after months of lockdown was granted when he visited a pub ahead of bars and restaurants reopening. A few weeks ago William joked he was looking forward to having a drink and on Friday he was able to savour a cider when he visited the Rose and Crown in the Norfolk village of Snettisham. The duke and his family have visited the 600-year-old pub, hotel and restaurant, which is a few miles from their home of Anmer Hall, and William returned to show his support for Britain's hospitality industry on the eve of customers returning. After following health protocols and sanitising his hands with gel he asked landlords Anthony and Jeannette Goodrich: "Can I have a pint of cider please? I'm a cider man," ordering a £4.15 pint of Aspall Suffolk Draught Cyder and a plate of chips. The duke took a seat in the pub's garden with the landlords, their head chef Philip Milner and duty manager Lucy Heffer, and when his drink and food arrived he joked: "I don't know where I pay, I'll do that before I leave, I promise." Concerns have been raised about pubs and bars reopening on the weekend dubbed "Super Saturday" rather than a weekday, and the Prime Minister has already appealed to pubgoers to show restraint. William quizzed the landlords about their expectations for the weekend when they welcome customers on Saturday: "It could end up with everyone at the pub, because people just want a change of scene, being at home for so long. "Are you worried about people getting a bit out of hand this weekend? I guess it's more of a problem with the larger pub chains." Mr Goodrich, 65, admitted: "We are a bit concerned but we are ready for it." He told the duke that it was part of the business to be prepared for rowdy behaviour: "The only real worry is if we have 100 people in the garden and it rains. But we'll have to deal with that." William replied: "I am sure people will want to get out and explore locally. I don't think they'll want to go far afield." Anthony and Jeannette Goodrich have owned the pub for 25 years and had to close their premises and furlough more than 25 full-time employees, who are bolstered by another 10 or 15 temporary weekend workers, when the outbreak struck. They were able to reopen partially a couple of weeks ago and start selling takeaway drinks. "We have been doing takeaway beer, which has been going down well," Mrs Goodrich, 64, said. Saturday will see the return of their cherished locals, who will have a choice of socially distanced drinking in three bars or the pub garden, where a marquee had also been erected. Some parts of the pub will remain closed on health and safety advice, a popular children's play area set up like a galleon will have to remain closed because of the difficulty in enforcing social distancing among the children. William said his own children loved it. "The children have been in there a few times," he said, staring at the ropes preventing anyone entering. "They will see that as a challenge." He told the staff that customers would have to learn to get used to the new normal in pubs: "We all have to take responsibility for our own two-metre bubble."
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| Texas Gov. Moves to Stop COVID-19 but It’s Already Out of Control Posted: 03 Jul 2020 12:54 AM PDT  Democratic officials angry at Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's handling of surging coronavirus numbers in the state this week had one lackluster place to voice their frustrations about the rapidly escalating public health crisis killing their constituents: a Zoom press conference."While some states followed the advice of public health experts, Texas did not," Dallas-area State Rep. Toni Rose said from a webcam on Wednesday, a photograph of the Texas Capitol superimposed behind her. It was certainly not the first time Democrats in the state had inveighed against a pandemic approach criticized by some as too reckless, and followed months of power struggles between local and state leaders in Texas over lockdowns, masks, and more.But the politics of the COVID-19 situation in the state—Democrats yelling into the void, at least until Gov. Greg Abbott ordered mask use in hot zones across the state Thursday—had already given way to hard numbers, not just of cases, but also of hospitalizations, with the state's medical system suddenly under pressure that seemed unthinkable even a few weeks ago."If rates [of infection] continue to increase 50 percent week over week, you can only do that for so long," said Dr. David Lakey, vice chancellor for health affairs and chief medical officer at the University of Texas system and a member of the Texas Medical Association COVID-19 Task Force.He added that chief medical officers across the state, at least this week, are "really busy, but they're managing it." The fear, he explained, is what next week, or the week after, will look like. And while beds, ventilators, and ICU rooms are holding up overall so far, "they're starting to see some challenges in staff," like respiratory therapists and nurses. As those challenges rise with the climbing hospitalizations, staffers have gotten sick or been forced to quarantine after exposures. And the numbers are getting more ominous. Texas broke another record for daily new cases on Tuesday, at 8,076 infections, according to state data. The previous record, on Monday, was 6,975. Days earlier, the record was 5,996. On June 16, the state broke the 4,000-mark for the first time.As Democratic State Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer, who represents San Antonio, said during the press conference, Gov. Greg Abbott "gambled" with Texas lives with an aggressive reopening, and "we have lost."After a slew of mayors and judges tried to drag their feet on the governor's swift reopening plan earlier this spring, the state's attorney general sent letters to leaders in Dallas, Austin, and San Antonio warning that rules stricter than the state's might be met with legal action. As the surges worsened across the state, though, Abbott gave his tacit consent for local officials to impose masking requirements on businesses, and urged individual Texans to mask up. 'If People Die, People Die': Texas COVID Hot Spots Keep Getting WorseThis week, Abbott went much further, shutting down bars statewide and suspending elective medical procedures in eight counties. Bar owners who previously said they supported Abbott's reopening turned against the governor, with some protesting in front of the state Capitol holding signs that read "Bar Lives Matter." And on Thursday, Abbott made a remarkable turnaround, ordering residents to wear face masks in all counties with at least 20 COVID-19 cases, and empowering local authorities to break up gatherings of more than 10 people.But conversations with health experts and medical professionals in the state suggested the emerging crisis at medical facilities in Texas was already deeply advanced.Texas Medical Center, the world's largest medical complex, indicated last Thursday that its base intensive care capacity hit 100 percent and that it was "on pace to exceed an 'unsustainable surge capacity' of intensive care beds by July 6," The Houston Chronicle reported this week. Last week, the Texas Children's Hospital in Houston began admitting adult patients because of the surge, according to the paper. Internal communications at Houston hospitals revealed a lack of space and therapeutic drugs as the region's medical facilities worked to treat more than 3,000 COVID-19 patients, including about 800 in intensive care, NBC News and Propublica reported Wednesday.Meanwhile, as of Tuesday, about 75 percent of Tarrant County's intensive care unit beds were occupied, The Fort Worth Star-Telegram first reported.At recent hospitalization growth rates, facilities in Tarrant and Dallas counties could reach their surge capacities in as few as four weeks, according to Rajesh Nandy, an associate professor of biostatistics and epidemiology in the University of North Texas's School of Public Health."The simplest way to look at is this: Let's say the trend doesn't change, and hospital capacity stays the same as it is currently. Under those assumptions, it would be two to three weeks before they're operating at max capacity," Nandy, whose team has studied local and national COVID-19 data since the pandemic began, told The Daily Beast on Wednesday. "It probably would be three to four weeks when we'd be overloaded even with surge capacities. At that point, we'd have to consider creating new facilities at convention centers."Despite those warnings, Dallas-area hospitals have repeatedly said they don't need to prepare a pop-up facility at a nearby convention center, with the chair of the Texas Medical Associations' board of trustees telling the newspaper that there are "a number of safety valves that could be pushed."Still, said Nandy: "Our health-care system will be overwhelmed if it continues like this."And ragged, frustrated medical providers all over the state have said they're anxious about the days to come."We are in an entirely different place now than what we were just four weeks ago," said Dr. Pritesh Gandhi, an Austin-based primary care doctor and the associate chief medical officer at People's Community Clinic, which serves uninsured and underinsured Central Texans. "In the last few days, our clinic has seen three or four times as many patients for drive-through testing than we had weeks ago, and it's reflective of massive community spread." Gandhi, a Democratic candidate for Texas' 10th Congressional District, called the medical community's efforts to provide care for Texans during the past month of surges "extraordinarily challenging" and said it has been "complicated by failures at both the federal and state level.""We're testing more, having more positives, having more symptomatic patients, doing more drive-through testing," Gandhi told The Daily Beast on Wednesday. "Staff are getting sick, just like anywhere else."Gandhi, and the group of Democratic state representatives who held the press conference, decried an undercurrent of "science denialism" and "hostility towards public health" perhaps best embodied by an interview Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick gave to Fox News hours earlier. He said Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top infectious disease expert in the country—and the face of the federal response to the pandemic—was "wrong every time on every issue.""He doesn't know what he's talking about!" Patrick told Fox News on Tuesday evening. "I don't need his advice anymore."Dr. Lakey—a former commissioner of the Texas Department of State Health Services who was appointed by former Texas Gov. Rick Perry—was more forgiving of Abbott than others in the state. He said he doesn't envy those, like the governor, who've had to navigate the middle ground between complete statewide shutdowns and complete light-switch openings."It's a very fraught time in public health," said Lakey. "No one has a crystal ball. There's no perfect plan.""You make your plan, and then you have to be ready to adjust your plan," said Lakey. "That's not a sign of failure, it's a sign that you're looking at the data and trying to make the best decision."But both Rose and Rep. Donna Howard, who represents Austin, said their constituents would likely benefit from a second statewide shutdown, and that Abbott's decisions had been deeply damaging. Martinez-Fischer emphasized that stay-at-home orders were a tool that should never have been taken out of local hands."We know that it worked before," said Howard. "That contained the spread before. We have to do what we have to do here, and unfortunately shutting down may be our only option."Whether or not that's true, it remains unclear if Abbott would do it, as he's said "closing down Texas again will always be the last option." Then again, many public health experts question whether it would be necessary.As Lakey noted: It's no longer March. Those trying to battle the crisis in Texas have the benefit of months of nationwide observation, studies about intubation, clinical trials, and promising therapeutic treatments like Remdesivir. And the mask order could help turn the tide."We have learned from that experience and are bringing those lessons to the response," said Lakey. Still, he and others point to the myriad unknowns in the coming days, from July 4 weekend celebrations to college students possibly returning to campuses in just a few weeks.As Gandhi said on Wednesday, "We're angry and we're exhausted because of the incompetence." "It didn't have to be like this."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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| Cities around the US have already cut at least $1.19 billion from police budgets since George Floyd was killed Posted: 04 Jul 2020 02:00 AM PDT  Cities including New York, Los Angeles, Oakland, and Boston have answered calls to reduce police funding as Black Lives Matter protests continue.
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| Woman calls police on black couple building patio at their own home Posted: 03 Jul 2020 11:37 AM PDT  A video of a New Jersey woman calling the police on her black neighbours went viral and eventually spawned a protest outside the woman's home.The incident occurred on Monday when Fareed Nassor Hayat, an attorney and a professor of law at City University of New York, and his wife, Norrinda, were in the backyard building a stone patio.
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| Do cloth face masks really work? We did an experiment to find out Posted: 03 Jul 2020 05:02 AM PDT  ABC30 teamed up with a Fresno State microbiologist in an attempt to settle the great mask debate.
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| China rebukes Canada over criticism of Hong Kong security law Posted: 04 Jul 2020 06:00 AM PDT  China fired back at Canada on Saturday for criticising Beijing's national security law for Hong Kong, the second rebuke in a week that has added to strains of their bilateral ties. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Friday that Canada was suspending its extradition treaty with Hong Kong due to the law and Canada's foreign minister called the legislation "a significant step back" for liberty. China's embassy in Ottawa said in a statement on its website that Canada had "grossly interfered" in Chinese affairs, adding that the new legislation would safeguard security in Hong Kong.
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| Scientists are studying poop to understand how COVID-19 spreads Posted: 03 Jul 2020 02:53 AM PDT  "One of the very few positive things that could come out of COVID-19 is that we recognize that there is data within our wastewater," said one researcher.
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| Florida breaks record with 11,458 new virus cases. Miami-Dade and Broward hit highs, too Posted: 04 Jul 2020 08:33 AM PDT  Saturday's update on new confirmed COVID-19 cases from the Florida Department of Health reflected the state, Miami-Dade and Broward record new single-day highs, rocketing past previous peaks.
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| Russia Has a Nuclear Missile That Can Kill Nearly Anything on the Planet Posted: 04 Jul 2020 07:00 AM PDT  How? Think range.
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| Black family sues Hilton after white clerk calls police over hotel's own billing mistake Posted: 03 Jul 2020 01:02 AM PDT  A billing mistake by the hotel results in a dispute that led to police being called to the Hampton Inn. Now the guests are suing.
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| Mexico's COVID deaths pass 30,000, world's 5th highest total Posted: 04 Jul 2020 02:48 PM PDT  Mexico topped 30,000 COVID-19 deaths Saturday, overtaking France as the country with the fifth-highest death toll since the coronavirus outbreak began. Officials reported 523 more confirmed coronavirus deaths for the day, bringing the nation's total to 30,366 for the pandemic. Mexico's total confirmed infections rose by almost 6,000 to 251,165, about on par with Spain, the eighth highest caseload.
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| Native American protesters blocked the road leading up to Mount Rushmore and faced off with the National Guard in the hours before Trump's fiery speech Posted: 04 Jul 2020 02:22 AM PDT  The protesters were sprayed with pepper spray and 15 people were arrested during the demonstration on Friday.
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| White couple charged for threatening black family Posted: 03 Jul 2020 09:04 AM PDT  Footage of the incident in Orion Township near Detroit has been viewed millions of times.
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| American pride falls to record low, poll shows Posted: 04 Jul 2020 08:25 AM PDT  American patriotism has fallen to its lowest point in nearly 20 years.
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| Rocket Lab vehicle fails to reach orbit, loses payload of satellites Posted: 04 Jul 2020 03:39 PM PDT |
| CNN reporter mugged at knifepoint live on air in Brazil Posted: 03 Jul 2020 01:31 AM PDT  A CNN journalist was mugged at knifepoint during a live broadcast in Brazil.Bruna Macedo and her team had set up near the Bandeiras Bridge in Sao Paulo on Saturday to report on rising water levels in the Tete River due to heavy rain.
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| Coronavirus outbreak among students at University of Washington's frat houses Posted: 03 Jul 2020 01:28 PM PDT  The school said Friday that it confirmed that at least 89 fraternity house residents, along with four other students, have tested positive for COVID-19.
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| California continuing to see rise in coronavirus cases Posted: 02 Jul 2020 11:58 PM PDT  Los Angeles County officials on Thursday confirmed an additional 55 deaths and 2,204 COVID-19 cases, making it the fifth day in a row that the county has reported over 2,000 new cases in one day.
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| Kim Jong Un urges North Koreans to keep up virus fight Posted: 02 Jul 2020 10:38 PM PDT  North Korean leader Kim Jong Un urged officials to maintain alertness against the coronavirus, warning that complacency risked "unimaginable and irretrievable crisis," state media said Friday. Despite the warning, Kim reaffirmed North Korea's claim to not have had a single case of COVID-19, telling a ruling party meeting Thursday that the country has "thoroughly prevented the inroad of the malignant virus" despite the worldwide health crisis, the Korean Central News Agency said. Outsiders widely doubt North Korea escaped the pandemic entirely, given its poor health infrastructure and close trade and travel ties to China, where the coronavirus emerged late last year.
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| Trump abuses our national parks, and he's doing it again at Mount Rushmore Posted: 03 Jul 2020 02:05 AM PDT  Past presidents used the parks to inspire and unite. Trump sees them as backdrops for self-serving, divisive campaign rallies In the United States, parks have always been used as spaces for public protest, places for commemorating acts of resistance and the struggle for a more perfect union, and stages for presidents to call for national unity or celebrate civic purpose.As his Mount Rushmore event scheduled for Friday makes clear, Donald Trump misunderstands and misuses all these precedents.Consider the national park areas in Washington, especially those around the White House, which have been the sites of peaceful protests for generations. A women's suffrage march in 1913 disrupted Woodrow Wilson's inauguration in the public park named Lafayette Square. The Reflecting Pool and Lincoln Memorial were the center of the peaceful 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, when more than 250,000 demonstrators listened to Martin Luther King give his "I Have a Dream" speech. In contrast, when Trump decided to use Lafayette Square as a photo opportunity last month, he had police and military personnel disperse peaceful protesters with flash grenades and pepper-ball munitions.Throughout history, other US presidents have employed national parks to unify and inspire the American people. Theodore Roosevelt spoke at the 1903 commemoration of the Gateway Arch at Yellowstone national park, reminding the American people: "We have fallen heirs to the most glorious heritage a people ever received and each one must do his part if we wish to show that the nation is worthy of its good fortune."In the summer of 1969, Richard Nixon spoke at the dedication of the Lady Bird Johnson Grove in Redwoods national park. Nixon, hardly a president with a flawless reputation, nevertheless talked of unity and pride in the country as he dedicated the grove to the wife of his former political opponent.Trump neither comprehends nor takes seriously his responsibilities to his fellow citizens, and he can only envision our public spaces and historical parks as taxpayer-funded stage pageant backdrops for his political rallies and photo ops, which divide rather than unite.During his 2016 campaign for president, Trump traveled to the hallowed ground of Gettysburg national military park. At the site of Lincoln's Gettysburg address, he gave a speech that "curdled into bitter resentment", as he railed against his perceived enemies, particularly the media, the government, the opposition party and the intellectual elite.Last month, he held a Fox News town hall television interview inside the Lincoln Memorial, where events are supposed to be prohibited. He was only able to stage this television show at Lincoln's feet because David Bernhardt, the secretary of the interior, specially relaxed the regulations governing use of our most sacred public monuments.> We must rescind the authority of the interior secretary to create exceptions for the partisan uses of national memorials"I assume the show is a big show, right?" Trump asked.It has become clear that we need clearer rules and restrictions on the use of force against peaceful protesters in public parks. We also need to hold national and local leaders to account when they exploit rather than protect parks. And we must rescind the authority of the interior secretary to create exceptions for overtly partisan uses of national memorials.The locations of current tragedies of police brutality, including the 38th Street and Chicago Avenue intersection in Minneapolis, where George Floyd was killed, should be commemorated as national historic landmarks – just as the 54 miles that peaceful civil rights demonstrators walked in 1965 are commemorated as the Selma to Montgomery Trail. Black lives matter.This Friday, Trump travels to Mount Rushmore to watch fireworks over the park, reversing a moratorium on fireworks that has been in place for a decade because of concern about wildfires in the park's 1,200 acres of forest and the surrounding Black Hills national forest. The National Park Service is managing a lottery for the 7,500 tickets to the event – with no social distancing, even as South Dakota faces over 6,000 active Covid-19 cases and the audience will include visitors from around the country.Mount Rushmore, carved over the objections of the Sioux on the stones of their sacred Black Hills, has become a symbol of America. Love it or hate it, it should not be used for partisan politics. The nightly lighting ceremony is powerful theater, as the large halogen lights warm and then illuminate the carved images of Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln and Roosevelt. Trump knows this, and will probably use Mount Rushmore as a stage for a partisan political rally full of rancor, insults, and racial divisiveness.It will probably take Trump's handlers' best efforts to prevent him, as the halogen lights warm, from having the spotlights move from Washington and Jefferson on to himself, and to prevent long, vertical, bright-red Maga banners from being unfolded as he begins his performance. His supporters will cheer, his opponents will shout, and the US national parks – often called America's "best idea" – will be more tarnished from misuse. * Jonathan B Jarvis served 40 years with the National Park Service and was its 18th director * Dr Gary Machlis served as science adviser to the director of the National Park Service and is a professor of environmental sustainability at Clemson University * The opinions expressed here are those of the authors. For more information about how this project is supported, click here
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| Vanessa Guillen: Woman charged over missing soldier 'killed with hammer' Posted: 02 Jul 2020 10:15 PM PDT  Cecily Aguilar is accused of helping to dismember and bury the body of a missing Fort Hood soldier.
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| COVID-19 should make us give Andrew Yang’s ‘get $1,000 every month’ a second look | Opinion Posted: 03 Jul 2020 02:31 PM PDT  On a bitter cold spring night 14 months ago, back in a more magical time when all things seemed possible in the 2020 president race, I stood on the steps leading down to Washington's great Reflecting Pool waiting to hear from the most unlikely and arguably intriguing Democrat of all, the businessman and political neophyte Andrew Yang.
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