| US aircraft carriers conduct drills in South China Sea Posted: 04 Jul 2020 07:21 AM PDT  Two US aircraft carriers have carried out drills in the South China Sea, a US Navy spokesman said Saturday, after the Pentagon expressed concerns over Chinese military exercises around a disputed archipelago. The USS Nimitz and USS Ronald Reagan conducted dual carrier operations in the waterway to "support a free and open Indo-Pacific," the spokesman said. The drills came as the Pentagon said it was "concerned" about Chinese military exercises in the South China Sea, warning the manoeuvres will "further destabilise" the region.
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| Soaring U.S. coronavirus cases, hospitalizations overshadow July 4 celebrations Posted: 05 Jul 2020 07:30 AM PDT  In the first four days of July alone, 15 states have reported record increases in new cases of COVID-19, which has infected nearly 3 million Americans and killed about 130,000, according to a Reuters tally. Florida's cases have risen by over 10,000 for three out of the last four days, including climbing by 10,059 on Sunday, surpassing the highest daily tally reported by any European country during the height of the coronavirus outbreak there. Cases are also soaring in Arizona, California and Texas and trending upwards in Midwest states that once had infections declining such as Iowa, Ohio and Michigan, according to a Reuters analysis of how much cases rose in the past two weeks compared with the prior two weeks.
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| To send a message to China, President Trump should visit Taiwan Posted: 05 Jul 2020 12:15 AM PDT  With the loss of Hong Kong to China, Trump should visit Taiwan to show that the U.S. is serious about advancing its interests and values in the region.
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| Iran records highest daily death toll from COVID-19 Posted: 05 Jul 2020 05:17 AM PDT  The 163 deaths reported on Sunday exceed the previous record from last Monday, when the health ministry reported 162 deaths in a day. The Islamic Republic has recorded a total of 11,571 deaths and 240,438 infections from the coronavirus, health ministry spokeswoman Sima Sadat Lari said in a statement on state TV. Iranians who do not wear masks will be denied state services and workplaces that fail to comply with health protocols will be shut for a week, President Hassan Rouhani said on Saturday as he launched new measures to try to curb the coronavirus.
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| Bellagio error leads to one of biggest sports betting losses in Las Vegas history Posted: 05 Jul 2020 08:47 AM PDT  Almost a quarter of a million dollars in winning wagers reportedly placed at MGM Resorts last Sunday may have been the largest sportsbook loss in the history of Las Vegas.The bets were made after the sporting events had started.
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| Trump sows division at Mount Rushmore speech as U.S. grapples with crises Posted: 04 Jul 2020 08:41 AM PDT  President Trump made a direct appeal to disaffected white voters four months before Election Day.
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| Rockets target US interests despite arrests: Iraq military Posted: 05 Jul 2020 03:15 AM PDT  Two rocket attacks targeted American diplomatic and military installations overnight, Iraq's security forces said Sunday, a little over a week since unprecedented arrests prevented a similar incident. Since October, US diplomats and troops across Iraq have been targeted by around three dozen missile attacks which Washington has blamed on pro-Iranian armed factions. In the first move of its kind, elite Iraqi troops in late June arrested more than a dozen Tehran-backed fighters who were allegedly planning a new attack on Baghdad's Green Zone, home to the US and other foreign embassies.
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| Rare case of brain-destroying amoeba confirmed in Florida Posted: 05 Jul 2020 11:24 AM PDT  Naegleria fowleri is contacted when contaminated water enters through a person's nose and is found in warm freshwater.
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| A Nigerian Instagram star conspired to launder millions of dollars while flaunting his 'extravagant lifestyle' on social media, prosecutors allege Posted: 04 Jul 2020 12:26 PM PDT  Alleged scammer, "Ray Hushpuppi," 37, is facing charges related to his role as "key player in a large, transnational conspiracy," prosecutors said.
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| Hong Kong officials disappointed at Canada's move to suspend extradition pact Posted: 03 Jul 2020 10:00 PM PDT  Senior officials in Hong Kong said on Saturday they were "very disappointed" at Canada's decision to suspend its extradition treaty with the Chinese-ruled city and again slammed Washington for "interfering" in its affairs. Beijing imposed a new national security law this week on the former British colony, despite protests from Hong Kong residents and Western nations, setting China's freest city and a major financial hub on a more authoritarian track. "The Canadian government needs to explain to the rule of law, and explain to the world, why it allows fugitives not to bear their legal responsibilities," Hong Kong's security chief, John Lee, told a radio programme on Saturday.
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| Letters to the Editor: The Supreme Court futher erodes the wall between church and state Posted: 05 Jul 2020 03:00 AM PDT  Taxpayer money should never subsidize tuition at private religious schools, but the Supreme Court wrongly believes otherwise.
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| An asymptomatic coronavirus carrier infected an apartment neighbor without sharing the same space. A study blames the building's elevator buttons. Posted: 05 Jul 2020 07:29 AM PDT  A woman infected her downstairs neighbor even though the two never came into close contact. Transmission likely occurred in the elevator.
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| Woman dies and another fighting for life after car hits Seattle protesters Posted: 04 Jul 2020 06:52 AM PDT  A 24-year-old woman died on Saturday of her injuries after she and another woman were hit by a car on a closed highway in Seattle while protesting against police brutality, authorities said. Summer Taylor of Seattle died in the evening at Harborview Medical Center, spokeswoman Susan Gregg said. Ms Taylor and Diaz Love, 32, of Portland, Oregon, were hit by the car that barreled through a panicked crowd of protesters on Interstate 5 early on Saturday morning, officials said. Dawit Kelete of Seattle drove the car around vehicles that were blocking I-5 and sped into the crowd about 1:40 am, according to a police report released by the Washington State Patrol. Video taken at the scene by protesters showed people shouting "Car! Car!" before fleeing the roadway. Ms Love is in serious condition in the intensive care unit, Harborview, Ms Gregg said. Ms Love was filming the protest in a nearly two-hour-long Facebook livestream captioned "Black Femme March takes I-5" when the video ended abruptly; with about 15 seconds left, shouts of "Car!" can be heard as the camera starts to shake before screeching tires and the sound of impact are heard.
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| Applebee’s employee dies in parking lot while celebrating July 4, Texas police say Posted: 05 Jul 2020 09:26 AM PDT  Workers had just closed the restaurant for the night, police say.
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| Bolton: Trump claim he wasn’t told of Russia bounty report is 'not how system works’ Posted: 05 Jul 2020 11:55 AM PDT  Ex-national security adviser also says any decision to withhold intelligence would 'certainly not' be 'made only by the briefer' * Trump uses Fourth of July to stoke division on virus and raceDonald Trump's claim not to have been briefed about intelligence suggesting Russia paid Taliban-linked militants to kill US soldiers is "just not the way the system works", former national security adviser John Bolton said on Sunday.Bolton was appearing on Face the Nation, the Sunday talk show from ViacomCBS, the communications giant which owns Simon & Schuster, the publisher which put out Bolton's Trump White House memoir, The Room Where It Happened, over the president's objection.Elsewhere, former Obama national security adviser Susan Rice said Bolton would have known about the bounties intelligence while he was in the role, which he left in September 2019, and would therefore have briefed Trump himself."I don't buy this story that he was never briefed," Rice told NBC's Meet The Press. "I believe that … when the information first came to light in 2019, my successor, John Bolton, would have walked straight into the Oval Office, as I would have, and informed the president of this intelligence."Bolton's book, a tell-all which sold nearly 800,000 copies in its first week in stores, is named for the Oval Office and contains numerous shocking descriptions of Trump's behaviour. But it does not mention the alleged bounties plot."I'm not going to disclose classified information," Bolton told CBS. "I've got the struggle with the president trying to repress my book on that score already."Bolton submitted his book to a national security review but was scolded by a federal judge for "likely publishing classified materials", "gambling with the national security of the United States" and "exposing … himself to civil (and potentially criminal) liability".On Sunday, Bolton said: "I will say this. All intelligence is distributed along the spectrum of uncertainty. And this intelligence in 2020, by the administration's own admission, was deemed credible enough to give to our allies. So the notion that you only give the really completely 100% verified intelligence to the president would mean you give him almost nothing. And that's just not the way the system works."The existence of intelligence about a bounties plot, which Russia has denied, was first reported by the New York Times then confirmed by other outlets. Trump attacked the Times on Twitter this weekend.Amid inconsistent White House explanations for Trump's supposed ignorance on the matter, current national security adviser Robert O'Brien said information was withheld by a CIA official, even though it was included in the president's daily brief."The president's career CIA briefer decided not to brief him because it was unverified intelligence," O'Brien told Fox News, adding: "She made that call and, you know what, I think she made the right call, so I'm not going to criticize her. And knowing the facts that I know now, I stand behind that call."O'Brien was widely criticised. Ned Price, a former CIA analyst, told the Guardian: "This is the same scapegoating play that the White House ran in the coronavirus context – blaming Trump's intelligence briefer for something that is chiefly and fundamentally a failing of the White House staff."Bolton said any decision to withhold intelligence would "certainly not" be "made only by the briefer who briefs the president twice a week. That's a decision that at least when I was there, would have been made by the director of national intelligence, the director of the CIA, myself and the briefer together."Though his book is a brutal and extensive anatomisation of Trump's personality and fitness or otherwise for office, Bolton sidestepped a chance to criticise O'Brien, saying: "I don't want to make this a matter of personalities."Nor would he say if he had known of the bounties intelligence or not."What was made public in 2018," he said, "was Russian assistance to the Taliban, and that's been known for some time. That alone is troubling."What is particularly troubling, if true, is this latest information that they were … providing compensation for killing Americans. And that is the kind of thing that you go to the president on and say, 'Look … we may not know everything on this, but a nuclear power is reportedly providing bounties to kill Americans.'"That's the kind of thing you need to have in the president's view so that he can think about it as he develops – well, at least as normal presidents develop strategy to handle Russia, to handle Afghanistan."
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| The Grand Old Man of India who became Britain's first Asian MP Posted: 04 Jul 2020 04:55 PM PDT  Indian-born Dadabhai Naoroji was the first Asian to sit in the House of Commons.
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| This Aircraft Carrier Was Built for Waging War During World War II. It Made History a Different Way. Posted: 05 Jul 2020 10:30 AM PDT  Today the supercarrier isn't really such a novel concept, but in the early Cold War, this wasn't so readily apparent. This carrier changed that.
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| A white man, woman vandalized a Black Lives Matter mural on July 4, called racism 'a leftist lie,' California police say Posted: 05 Jul 2020 03:59 PM PDT  Police are looking for two white people who vandalized a Black Lives Matter mural in downtown Martinez, California, on the Fourth of July.
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| Christopher Columbus statue toppled and thrown into water in Baltimore Posted: 05 Jul 2020 06:13 AM PDT  The statue of Christopher Columbus in Baltimore's Inner Harbour has been pulled from its pedestal and thrown into the water, according to video posted on social media.One video shows the statue being pulled down after a loop has been draped around its chest.
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| Ghislaine Maxwell may 'never' speak about Prince Andrew and his ties to her and Epstein, her friend told the BBC Posted: 04 Jul 2020 12:31 PM PDT  A friend of Maxwell told the BBC on Saturday that the socialite saw the prince as a friend and "she was never, ever, going to say anything about him."
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| 'We call them land yachts': The wealthy are spending millions to travel in luxury RVs this summer, and it's reshaping the entire look of high-end travel Posted: 04 Jul 2020 07:05 AM PDT  With coronavirus travel restrictions still in place, interest in luxury RVs is surging, and elite travelers are willing to pay top dollar for them.
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| COVID-19 treatments enter new testing phase as cases surge in U.S. Posted: 04 Jul 2020 02:00 AM PDT  Research on therapeutics is accelerating as cases of COVID-19 surge across the United States.
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| Strip club employees, customers hit with coronavirus outbreak, Michigan officials say Posted: 05 Jul 2020 02:12 PM PDT  The outbreak comes as more than 150 cases of coronavirus have been linked to a bar in a Michigan college town.
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| Predominantly Black armed protesters march through Confederate memorial park in Georgia Posted: 05 Jul 2020 08:35 AM PDT  A predominantly Black group of heavily armed protesters marched through Stone Mountain Park near Atlanta on Saturday, calling for removal of the giant Confederate rock carving at the site that civil rights activists consider a monument to racism.
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| Trump and Barr are making false claims about mail-in ballots to scare us out of voting Posted: 04 Jul 2020 01:45 PM PDT  The one thing most likely to undercut public confidence in the integrity of the ballot is the false narrative Trump and Barr are peddling.
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| Constitutional changes are the 'right thing' for Russia: Putin Posted: 05 Jul 2020 09:51 AM PDT  President Vladimir Putin said on Sunday constitutional amendments approved in a nationwide vote created the conditions for Russia's "progressive development" for decades to come. One of the changes approved in the week-long vote that ended on July 1 makes it possible for Putin to seek two more terms as president and, if re-elected, to stay in power until 2036. "They will strengthen our nationhood and create conditions for the progressive development of our country for decades to come," he said.
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| Japan flooding: Fourteen dead in flooded care home Posted: 05 Jul 2020 02:26 AM PDT  At least 16 people have died and a dozen are missing on the island of Kyushu amid devastating rains.
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| Immigrant workers at Michigan greenhouse: We were cheated, tricked into deportation Posted: 05 Jul 2020 12:25 PM PDT  Migrants from Mexico came to Michigan to work at a greenhouse, but were cheated of pay and tricked into being detained, according to a lawsuit.
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| ‘We didn’t knock politely’: Details emerge of FBI raid at Ghislaine Maxwell hideout Posted: 05 Jul 2020 12:45 PM PDT  Fresh details have emerged of the FBI raid leading to the arrest of Ghislaine Maxwell, who is accused of grooming young girls on behalf of her former partner, the convicted paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein.The 58-year-old British heiress is due to appear in a New York court this week to face four charges of aiding Epstein in the trafficking and sexual exploitation and abuse of minors, and two counts of perjury, which could see her imprisoned for 35 years.
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| Keeping COVID-19 outside of camps is a near impossible challenge Posted: 05 Jul 2020 05:25 AM PDT  Campers and staff promise to isolate before they arrive at camp but in several cases the pandemic has arrived with them.
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| COVID-19 could lead to increase in tick-borne illness, experts say. Here’s why Posted: 05 Jul 2020 07:52 AM PDT  "I'm a little nervous that their guard may be down just a slight bit."
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| Army Specialist Killed in Afghanistan Vehicle Rollover Accident Posted: 04 Jul 2020 07:17 PM PDT  A 21-year-old soldier from Texas was killed Friday in southwestern Afghanistan, Pentagon officials announced Saturday night.
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| ‘We all need to come together’: Ernst distances herself from Trump’s weekend rhetoric Posted: 05 Jul 2020 09:44 AM PDT  The Iowa senator said many of the nation's protesters are peaceful.
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| Australians widen protests backing Black Lives Matter, indigenous people Posted: 05 Jul 2020 12:52 AM PDT  A month since Australia's first such rallies, the crowds were smaller amid health warnings about the spread of the coronavirus, as infections grow in the state of Victoria, home to Melbourne, the second-largest city. At the Sydney protest, masks and hand sanitiser were given out and organisers pleaded with people to maintain social distance. The greater global awareness over the treatment of minorities as a result of Black Lives Matter comes as Australia holds an inquiry into mining giant Rio Tinto's destruction of two ancient and sacred Aboriginal caves.
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| Katsina: The motorcycle bandits terrorising northern Nigeria Posted: 04 Jul 2020 05:31 PM PDT  Insecurity has worsened in the north-west as kidnapping for ransom becomes a lucrative trade.
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| Puerto Rico hit by 2 earthquakes in latest in series of tremors Posted: 04 Jul 2020 08:21 AM PDT  Puerto Rico was shaken by two strong earthquakes on Friday, but the island reported zero injuries in the latest series of tremors.
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| How America Captured a Russian MiG-15 Fighter (Thanks, North Korea) Posted: 04 Jul 2020 05:30 AM PDT  This was Operation Moolah.
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| Two French ex-spies on trial accused of espionage for China Posted: 05 Jul 2020 08:29 AM PDT  In a case that could be from a spy thriller, two former French intelligence agents go on trial on Monday accused of having passed on secrets to a foreign power. While French officials have been at pains to avoid releasing details of the affair, the pair are accused of working for China, according to several media reports. Pierre-Marie H. and Henri M. will appear in a special court accused of "delivering information to a foreign power" and "damaging the fundamental interests of the nation". Both men worked for France's foreign intelligence service, the DGSE. They face 15 years in prison if convicted. Both men, now retired, were charged and detained in December 2017, although Pierre-Marie H. has since been released on bail. His wife, Laurence H., also faces trial, accused of "concealment of property derived from intelligence with a foreign power likely to harm the fundamental interests of the nation". The court that tries them will be made up exclusively of professional magistrates, and given the sensitive nature of the case, will probably be tried behind closed doors. When the story was finally revealed in May 2018, French officials described it as an "extremely serious" case. The then armed forces minister Florence Parly said that the two were suspected of having committed what could be described as "treasonous" acts that could have jeopardised national defence secrets. It was the DGSE itself that detected the leak and presented its findings to prosecutors, said the defence ministry. Officials have said little about the details of the case or even for which country they were allegedly working. According to several media reports however, the two men, colleagues at the DGSE in the 1990s, were working for China. In 1997, Henri M. was appointed as the DGSE's man in Beijing, where he was the second secretary at the embassy. He was recalled early in 1998 after having had an affair with the ambassador's Chinese interpreter. He retired a few years later and returned to China in 2003, where he married the former interpreter, setting up home on Hainan island in southern China. Pierre-Marie H., who had never been posted abroad, was arrested at Zurich airport carrying cash after having met a Chinese contact on an Indian Ocean island, according to media reports. Apart from the China connection, AFP has obtained no independent information linking the two men. While there have been a number of different theories put forward, both men appear to have been under surveillance for several months before being arrested. Journalist Franck Renaud covered the Henri M. affair in his book on the French diplomatic service, "Les Diplomates". During the 1990s, when Henri M. served in Beijing, tensions were running high between China and France, in the wake of China's 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown and the 1991 sale of French frigates to Taiwan, he said. "It's an affair that has caused more than a few problems to the DGSE," which had to repatriate operatives in China at the time, Renaud told AFP. The verdict is due to be handed down on July 10.
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| Police clear officer who appeared to flash white power sign at Oregon protest Posted: 05 Jul 2020 03:06 PM PDT |
| Indian man wears gold face mask to ward off coronavirus Posted: 04 Jul 2020 06:46 AM PDT  An Indian man said he paid about $4,000 for a bespoke gold face mask to protect him from the coronavirus raging in the country. The precious metal covering weighs 60 grams (two ounces) and took craftsmen eight days to make, said businessman Shankar Kurhade, from the western city of Pune. "I am not sure if it will be effective to protect me from a coronavirus infection but I am taking other precautions," he added.
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| Fact check: Common cold does not produce positive coronavirus test Posted: 05 Jul 2020 10:45 AM PDT  People are misinterpreting COVID-19 viral testing for antibodies testing, falsely claiming colds are responsible for positive coronavirus tests.
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| Trump wants a park for statues of 'American heroes.' Just how might that work? Posted: 04 Jul 2020 02:58 PM PDT  Against a backdrop of tensions over Confederate monuments, Trump's executive order hits at a main theme of his reelection campaign.
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| Berlin metro to complete change of derogatory station name by year-end Posted: 04 Jul 2020 08:32 AM PDT  Berlin's public transport company BVG said on Saturday that completing the renaming of a city centre metro station with a name based on a derogatory word for Black people will take until the end of the year. "Mohrenstrasse" metro station literally means Moor Street, using the medieval term for people from North Africa. BVG said on Friday it would change the station name, amid a worldwide reckoning with buried legacies of racism and colonial crimes underpinning many western societies, sparked by the death in the United States of George Floyd, a Black man, at the hands of a police officer.
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| India coronavirus: Questions over death of man 'turned away by 18 hospitals' Posted: 03 Jul 2020 08:57 PM PDT  Bhawarlal Sujani breathed his last at the doorstep of a hospital that had refused to admit him.
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| PortMiami renegotiates terminal deals, local workers brace for more cruise-less months Posted: 05 Jul 2020 03:00 AM PDT  Just last November, PortMiami was bustling with construction workers bringing to life five new cruise terminals and two cruise company headquarters. Future cruise business was all but guaranteed: Fiscal year 2020 was set to break the port's 2019 record of 6.8 million passengers, up 22 percent from 2018.
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