| Amid reports of White House clashes with CDC, experts raise alarms about lack of coronavirus screening at airports Posted: 16 May 2020 07:41 AM PDT  As the nation begins to reopen amid the coronavirus pandemic, some people are looking to the skies — and experts don't necessarily like what they see, arguing there are not enough safeguards in place to protect passengers and crew.
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| Trump pushes 'warp speed' effort on coronavirus vaccine, ignoring lessons from a long-ago drug calamity Posted: 16 May 2020 07:03 AM PDT  Along with everyone else in the world, President Trump wants a coronavirus vaccine now. The most optimistic time by which a coronavirus vaccine might be ready, according to Dr. Anthony Fauci, the leading infectious disease specialist on the president's coronavirus task force, is 12 to 18 months.
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| Biden plans to pick a female running mate. Would it make a difference if she's black? Posted: 17 May 2020 10:31 AM PDT  Analysis: The former vice president is undertaking a very public selection process.
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| Polish archbishop refers child abuse negligence case to Vatican Posted: 16 May 2020 11:29 AM PDT  The Polish Catholic Church's most senior archbishop notified the Vatican on Saturday of a Polish bishop accused of shielding priests known to have sexually abused children. The referral, unprecedented in the deeply religious country, will test procedures introduced by the Vatican last year to hold to account bishops accused of turning a blind eye to child sex abuse. The Vatican is now expected to assign an investigator to the case.
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| Report: Airstrikes in east Syria kill Iran-backed fighters Posted: 17 May 2020 09:56 AM PDT |
| 13 People Shot, With One in Critical Condition, at Louisiana Memorial Service Posted: 17 May 2020 11:18 AM PDT  The memorial service was apparently for Dominique James, who was recently murdered
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| A tourist from New York was arrested after violating Hawaii's self-quarantine orders and documenting the breach on Instagram Posted: 16 May 2020 10:59 AM PDT  The 23-year-old from New York City was arrested after locals saw him posting photos of himself around Waikiki tanning and spending time at the beach.
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| Italy announced that foreign travelers can visit again from June 3, as it seeks to revive its battered tourism industry Posted: 16 May 2020 07:36 AM PDT  Italy suffered the first major coronavirus outbreak outside of Asia. After more than 30,000 deaths, it is gradually reopening.
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| Gedhun Choekyi Niyima: Tibetan Buddhism's 'reincarnated' leader who disappeared aged six Posted: 16 May 2020 04:58 PM PDT  Twenty-five years after the Panchen Lama disappeared, Tibetans abroad urge China to reveal his fate.
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| Harry Dunn's mother says UK must 'stand up to US' and refuse extradition requests Posted: 17 May 2020 05:24 AM PDT  The mother of teenage motorcyclist Harry Dunn has urged the British government to "stand up to" the US amid a continuing diplomatic row.Donald Trump's administration has refused to extradite suspect Anne Sacoolas, the wife of a US intelligence official, for prosecution over Mr Dunn's death.
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| Egypt tightens measures during celebrations marking Ramadan's end Posted: 17 May 2020 07:36 AM PDT  Egypt on Sunday announced a lengthening of its night-time curfew and other measures to prevent large gatherings during Eid al-Fitr holidays marking the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. "All shops, malls, restaurants, entertainment facilities, beaches and public parks will be closed for six days from May 24-29," said Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouli. Public transport will be halted and the nationwide curfew in force from 5 pm during that period, he told a Cairo press conference.
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| Wisconsin nurse went to bar to help sister reopen, now apologizes Posted: 16 May 2020 02:30 PM PDT  "I let my guard down and apologize for making anyone feel uncomfortable or at risk," said nurse Katie Koutsky, who was not wearing a mask when interviewed on TV at the bar.
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| Chinese state media slams "lawless" Hong Kong schools after history test row Posted: 16 May 2020 09:01 PM PDT |
| Legal experts say Trump's emergency powers are worrisome Posted: 16 May 2020 09:35 AM PDT  The day he declared the COVID-19 pandemic a national emergency, President Donald Trump made a cryptic offhand remark.
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| Felicien Kabuga captured: Africa's most wanted and the mastermind behind Rwandan genocide seized in Paris Posted: 17 May 2020 03:26 AM PDT  French police seized the man regarded as the intellectual and financial mastermind behind the Rwandan genocide on Saturday, ending a transcontinental 26-year manhunt for "the Eichmann of Africa". Félicien Kabuga, Africa's most wanted fugitive, was arrested in the northern outskirts of Paris after a dawn raid on his flat in the commune of Asnières-sur-Seine. Officers said the 84 year-old had been living there under an assumed identity. French authorities released few details about the operation, beyond hailing the capture of "one of the world's most wanted fugitives". It is believed that a series of simultaneous raids were carried out on addresses across France, some linked to Kabuga's children, to ensure that he did not escape. Those familiar with the investigation suggested that the operation, at least in terms of the painstaking intelligence work involved, had echoes of the Mossad mission to seize the Nazi war criminal Adolph Eichmann from Buenos Aires in 1960. The British security services played an "essential" role in the operation that led to Kabuga's capture, according to United Nations prosecutors. So, too, did investigators in the United States, which has long had a $5 million (£4.1m) bounty on his head, Germany, the Netherlands, Austria, Luxembourg and Switzerland. Kabuga will not be sedated and spirited away to Rwanda in the way Eichmann was smuggled into Israel, where he was tried and hanged for his role as a primary architect of the Final Solution. Instead he will eventually be handed over to a United Nations tribunal to answer longstanding charges of crimes against humanity.
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| Iran stock market booms, but analysts fear a growing bubble Posted: 16 May 2020 10:22 PM PDT  Even as U.S. sanctions, unemployment, inflation and low oil prices batter the Iranian economy, there seems to be at least one refuge for investors. The Tehran Stock Exchange has seen gains of 225% in the last year, with sharp increases even as the country struggled with one of the first serious coronavirus outbreaks outside of China. Encouraged by a government eager to privatize state-owned firms, average people now have access to the market and can trade shares, earning returns they'd never see in a savings account or a certificate of deposit.
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| New York might have avoided becoming the US epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak if Gov. Cuomo hadn't reportedly dismissed shelter-at-home advice Posted: 17 May 2020 12:28 PM PDT  Gov. Cuomo reportedly said 'shelter in place' sounded 'like it was in response to a nuclear apocalypse,' and he had no plan of locking down cities.
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| Jorge Armenta: Mexican journalist killed in 'armed attack' Posted: 17 May 2020 04:25 AM PDT  Jorge Armenta, director of Medios Obson, had received threats and was under government protection.
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| Afghan president and rival announce power-sharing agreement Posted: 17 May 2020 05:17 AM PDT  Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and political rival Abdullah Abdullah signed a power-sharing agreement, two months after both declared themselves the winner of last September's presidential election, Ghani's spokesman said Sunday. The political deal would see Ghani remain president of the war-torn nation, tweeted his spokesman Sediq Sediqqi. The deal also calls for Abdullah to lead the country's National Reconciliation High Council, and he will be able to appoint half of Ghani's Cabinet and issue executive orders.
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| China tells US to stop 'unreasonable suppression' of Huawei Posted: 15 May 2020 10:39 PM PDT  Beijing has urged the United States to stop the "unreasonable suppression of Huawei and Chinese enterprises" after Washington announced new export controls to restrict the tech giant's access to semiconductor technology. "The Chinese government will firmly uphold Chinese firms' legitimate and legal rights and interests," the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement Saturday. "We urge the US side to immediately stop its unreasonable suppression of Huawei and Chinese enterprises."
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| ICE keeps kids detained because parents don't "wish to separate" Posted: 17 May 2020 06:07 AM PDT  A federal judge has ordered ICE to seek the prompt release of all minors in its custody. The agency detains migrant families with children.
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| India should talk to Taliban if Delhi feels it will bolster peace push -Pakistan's U.S. envoy Posted: 16 May 2020 11:06 AM PDT |
| Massive fire at condominium complex on South Padre Island, Texas Posted: 16 May 2020 09:20 AM PDT  The fire sent a cloud of flames and thick black smoke into the air.
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| Ahmaud Arbery: new focus on district attorney’s flawed prosecutions of black women Posted: 17 May 2020 02:00 AM PDT  * George Barnhill eventually recused himself from Arbery case * Prosecutions include woman wrongfully imprisoned for murderThe local prosecutor who argued two white men were legally justified in chasing down and killing Ahmaud Arbery, an unarmed black man, has been at the center of aggressive and flawed prosecutions of at least two black women in recent years.One of the women was wrongfully imprisoned for over a decade on a murder conviction secured by later discredited forensic evidence, and another woman was unsuccessfully tried twice for helping people vote.George Barnhill, the district attorney for the Waycross judicial circuit in south-east Georgia, advised police in April that Gregory and Travis McMichael should not be charged over the death of Arbery, suggesting that the two had attempted to "stop and hold this criminal suspect" before fatally shooting him.Arbery had been jogging in the area, with numerous accounts stating there was no evidence of any burglary.Barnhill eventually recused himself from the case, under pressure from the Arbery family, as his son had worked in the Brunswick prosecutor's office alongside Gregory McMichael.The McMichaels have since been charged with murder after the emergence of video showing the shooting and the intervention of Georgia state investigators. Barnhill faces harsh scrutiny, allegations of racial bias and a state investigation over his handling of the case and why he recommended not bringing charges shortly before officially recusing himself. Barnhill defended his office's handling of the Arbery case."As a member of the State Bar of Georgia I am not allowed by State Law and State Bar rules to have any public comment on the facts, or on the law, or on the news stories about the case, to ensure a fair and just trial for all parties," he said in an emailed statement. "As far as any investigation into my office's handling of the case; I welcome the investigation and look forward to the review."Court documents obtained by the Guardian reveal that just months before Barnhill advised against charging both men, his office aggressively opposed a motion filed on behalf of a 53-year-old African American woman, Sheila Denton, requesting a new trial due to flawed forensic evidence used to convict her of a 2004 murder.Denton was sentenced to life in prison in 2006 for the murder of 73-year-old Eugene Garner, but she has maintained her innocence. Her prosecution, first brought by Barnhill's predecessor in the district attorney's office, relied heavily on "bite mark" evidence and the account of a sole witness who defense lawyers said gave conflicting evidence and was heavily pressured by local police into testifying against Denton. Court filings indicate police threatened the witness, Sharon Jones, with being charged over murder herself unless she testified that Denton had confessed to her. Jones was a known crack cocaine dealer and drug addict.An autopsy on Garner's body identified a potential bite mark, which was used alongside a photograph of Denton's arm, which prosecutors argued also showed an alleged bite mark, to deduce Denton had carried out the murder. There was no DNA evidence linking her to the case.Although forensic dentistry experts testified at trial that the markings were "probable bite marks" that linked the two together, guidance issued by the American Board of Forensic Odontology (ABFO) in 2016, which strictly limited testimony on "probabilistic" bite markings, essentially nullified the critical evidence from the 2006 trial.Despite this, attorneys working for Barnhill argued in court filings in December 2019 that the new ABFO guidance was "not evidence at all" and the court should continue to rely on the old, flawed testimony because the forensic dentist who testified in 2006 "would not change the opinion he offered". The motion was written by the assistant district attorney Michelle McIntire, who reports to Barnhill.Ultimately, on 7 February this year, just two weeks before the Arbery shooting, Judge Dwayne Gillis disagreed with Barnhill's office and allowed Denton a new trial, later ordering her release from prison.Denton was released on 9 April but remains under indictment.Sources close to the case told the Guardian that Barnhill indicated, at around the same time he advised against charging the McMichaels, that he would continue to examine pursuing a new case against Denton.Barnhill said in an email that the original trial was "many years ago" and he was not personally involved. He said his office had agreed to a low bond for Denton after a new trial was ordered so she could live with family in Atlanta.In recent years Barnhill also drew national attention for his decision to prosecute Olivia Pearson, the first African American woman elected to the city commission in Douglas, Georgia, and three others for improperly assisting others at the polls during the 2012 general election. The three other people pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges, but Pearson chose to take her case to trial.Georgia restricts who can get assistance at the polls and Barnhill's office brought felony charges against Pearson, saying she had unlawfully helped her nephew and another woman at the polls and signed a form swearing that the voters met the necessary conditions for assistance when they didn't.> I was just blown away that I got indicted on something like that. They aggressively prosecuted me> > Olivia PearsonBut during the trial, one of the women Pearson helped, a first-time voter, testified that she didn't know how to use the voting machine, according to BuzzFeed News. She said Pearson showed her how to do so without touching the machine or telling her how to vote."I was just blown away that I got indicted on something like that," said Pearson "They aggressively prosecuted me."All but one of the jurors, a black woman, voted to convict Pearson, resulting in a mistrial. Barnhill's office immediately moved to try the case again. In the second trial, held in another town, the jury acquitted Pearson after just 20 minutes of deliberation.The fact that the group was prosecuted after encouraging people to vote was stunning, said Charlene Green, an attorney who represented one of the men who pleaded guilty. Many saw the prosecutions as an attempt to intimidate minority voters."These are not people who are a blight on the community. These are individuals who are actively working to galvanize marginalized people in that community," she said. Some noted it was alarming that Barnhill so aggressively brought prosecutions for minuscule voting infractions but didn't think charges were warranted in Arbery's case, where there was video evidence showing two men chasing down an unarmed man and shooting him."When you look at the fact pattern that has come to light in Mr Arbery's case, that this same DA looked at that video and decided that there was no probable cause to prosecute, it says to me that his judgment is informed by race discrimination," said Sara Totonchi, executive director of the Southern Center for Human Rights, which represented Pearson in her second trial.Barnhill said he did not have an active role in either of Pearson's trials and that if people asked him about the case, he would tell them Pearson was not guilty."I have a 36-year prosecution history which is open for inspection. I'm proud of the work I've done," he said.Barnhill has spent almost his entire career as a prosecutor in the Waycross judicial circuit, a jurisdiction situated across six counties in rural south-east Georgia. According to biographies in local news, he began tenure as an assistant district attorney in June 1983, rising to chief assistant district attorney in 1994.Archives indicate that Barnhill has been a mainstay on the local Republican political scene for many years. He was elected to district attorney in 2014 in a close and, at times, bitterly fought battle with a second Republican candidate, Brad Collins.Local news reports from the time indicate that Barnhill campaigned on a harsh, tough-on-crime agenda and touted his active support of capital punishment. According to one story in the Waycross Journal-Herald, he also once blamed "high numbers of pirates and unfriendly Indians" from Georgia's colonial past for the state's "criminal element".
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| Rep. Adam Kinzinger calls Nancy Pelosi's $3 trillion coronavirus relief bill 'disappointing' Posted: 16 May 2020 08:01 AM PDT  The House Democrats' HEROES Act is not a real attempt to govern, says Illinois Rep. Adam Kinzinger, Republican member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
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| The CDC now forecasts 100,000 US coronavirus deaths by June 1 Posted: 15 May 2020 07:51 PM PDT  The estimate is based on an analysis of a dozen separate models, all of which predict an increase in the rate of death over the coming weeks.
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| Letter from Africa: Spare a thought for stranded migrants Posted: 17 May 2020 02:54 AM PDT  Ismail Einashe writes that migrants are facing a tougher time since the outbreak of coronavirus.
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| Nevada Rep. Horsford acknowledges he had extramarital affair Posted: 16 May 2020 01:50 PM PDT  Democratic Congressman Steven Horsford of Nevada on Saturday acknowledged he had an extramarital affair with a woman who said the on-and-off relationship began in 2009 before ending last September. Horsford, 47, in a statement released to The Associated Press responded to a report by the Las Vegas Review-Journal that he had an affair with Gabriela Linder, who previously had shared her story on podcasts and Twitter posts through a pseudonym before she was interviewed Friday by the newspaper. "It is true that I had a previous consensual relationship with another adult outside of my marriage, over the course of several years," Horsford said the statement.
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| US-China war of words clouds WHO meet focused on pandemic Posted: 15 May 2020 08:33 PM PDT  As the World Health Organization prepares to host its main annual meeting next week, fears abound that US-China tensions could hamper the strong action needed to address the COVID-19 crisis. The UN health agency, which for months has been consumed by the towering task of trying to coordinate a global response to the novel coronavirus pandemic, will for the first time invite health ministers and other dignitaries to participate virtually in its annual meet. The World Health Assembly, which has been trimmed from the usual three weeks to just two days, on Monday and Tuesday, is expected to focus almost solely on COVID-19, which in a matter of months has killed more than 300,000 globally, and infected nearly 4.5 million.
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| 'Significant explosion' in downtown Los Angeles injures at least 11 firefighters Posted: 16 May 2020 11:18 PM PDT  Several firefighters were injured and multiple buildings caught fire after an explosion rocked downtown Los Angeles, according to authorities.
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| Salvadoran president declares emergency without OK from congress, sparking controversy Posted: 17 May 2020 10:10 AM PDT  Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele on Saturday night declared a state of emergency to extend coronavirus measures without approval by congress, touching off a torrent of criticism that the move had been unconstitutional. Salvadoran lawmakers and prosecutors on Sunday vowed to challenge the decree, which they said had overstepped Bukele's powers. Less than a year into his administration, Bukele, a brash 38-year-old leader, has repeatedly angered rights groups, who say he has shown authoritarian tendencies.
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| Martin Shkreli: 'Delusional' jailed 'pharma bro' denied early release from prison to find coronavirus cure Posted: 17 May 2020 07:37 AM PDT  A judge has rejected a request by disgraced pharmaceutical executive Martin Shkreli to be released from prison amid the coronavirus pandemic.Shkreli, known as the "Parma Bro", is serving a seven-year sentence after being convicted in 2017 for lying to investors about the performance of two hedge funds he was running, as well as defrauding investors in a drug company.
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| 40 years after its famed eruption, Mt. St. Helens looms as a marvel and a threat Posted: 17 May 2020 04:00 AM PDT  The government is trying to prevent a new disaster on Mt. St. Helens — the breach of a 73-billion-gallon lake held in place by debris from the 1980 eruption.
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| Vaccine is possible by end of year, Johns Hopkins expert says Posted: 17 May 2020 07:18 AM PDT |
| Coronavirus: Trump says US reopening, 'vaccine or no vaccine' Posted: 16 May 2020 07:42 AM PDT  The president hopes a vaccine will come this year, but makes clear the lockdown must end either way.
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| 3 clues in coronavirus patients' blood could help doctors predict their risk of death 10 days in advance, with 90% accuracy Posted: 16 May 2020 04:51 AM PDT  A study suggests three biomarkers in blood can be used to predict which coronavirus patients have the highest risk of death, with 90% accuracy.
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| NY widens testing eligibility as social distancing hits snag Posted: 17 May 2020 09:15 AM PDT  New York City residents who flouted social distancing restrictions for a night on the town got the mayor's wrath Sunday. The city's embattled health commissioner is staying on the job. Gov. Andrew Cuomo played the part of a model patient, getting swabbed for coronavirus on live TV as he announced all people experiencing flu-like symptoms are now eligible for testing.
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| Israel swears in unity govt, PM insists on West Bank annexation Posted: 17 May 2020 10:41 AM PDT  Israel's parliament swore in a new unity government on Sunday led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former rival Benny Gantz, ending the longest political crisis in the nation's history. After more than 500 days without a stable government and three inconclusive elections, lawmakers in the 120-seat parliament approved a three-year coalition, with 73 voting for and 46 against. The new government was set to confront serious crises in its first weeks, including the economic devastation wrought by the coronavirus and a looming battle over Israel's possible annexation of large parts of the occupied West Bank.
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| Germany's far-Right AfD party splinters as Chancellor Angela Merkel climbs in the polls Posted: 17 May 2020 08:09 AM PDT  Bitter divisions within Germany's far-Right AfD party spilled out into the open over the weekend, when the party's more moderate faction succeeded in ejecting a high-profile extremist from their ranks. The rift comes as Angela Merkel's popularity climbs due to what is seen as her calm and efficient handling of the response to the Covid-19 pandemic, and the AfD's popularity sinks. Andreas Kalbitz, AfD leader in Brandenburg, was stripped of his party membership on Friday after the national leadership voted narrowly to dispel him after discovering his previous association with an extremist movement. Mr Kalbitz was found to have concealed from the party that he once attended meetings of the Loyal German Youth, a movement considered by Berlin to be neo-Nazi. His ejection signalled victory for the moderates under party co-leader Jörg Meuthen who have been attempting to position the party as a conservative alternative to Mrs Merkel's centre-Right Christian Democrats.
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| Second round of severe thunderstorms expected tomorrow Posted: 15 May 2020 06:03 PM PDT  Strong storms with torrential rain continue to pound coastal areas. More storms will move in late tonight.
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| In NYC, indigenous Mexicans battle virus and language bias Posted: 16 May 2020 07:25 AM PDT  After the deaths of several community members from COVID-19, "their greatest fear is to end up in a mass grave in New York City, far from home."
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| Afghan maternity ward attackers 'came to kill the mothers' Posted: 15 May 2020 11:20 PM PDT  The attack on an Afghan maternity unit was "methodical" and no mistake, says charity director.
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| Sanders says his supporters will vote for Biden but he needs to court them Posted: 17 May 2020 09:16 AM PDT  Sanders: Biden should focus on student debt relief, health insurance coverage, a living wage, climate change and racismFormer Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders has said he thinks his supporters will vote for Joe Biden in November's US election, despite a former aide's warning that Biden was not consolidating Sanders supporters.In a memo released last week, former Sanders adviser Jeff Weaver said Sanders supporters were "currently unsupportive and unenthusiastic" about Biden and "there is a real and urgent need to help Biden consolidate Sanders supporters".Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist, said on ABC News' This Week program on Sunday that Biden was "beginning" to make overtures to his supporters "And I think at the end of the day they will be voting for Joe Biden.""I think, at the end of the day, the vast majority of the people who voted for me who supported me will understand and do understand that Donald Trump is the most dangerous president in the modern history of this country, he is a pathological liar, he's a racist and a sexist, a homophobe, etcetera," said Sanders."But I think what Joe is gonna have to do – and he's beginning to move in that direction – is to say to those working class people, say to those young people, say to those minorities, 'Listen, I understand your situation'."Sanders said Biden's message should focus on student debt relief, health insurance coverage, a living wage, climate change policy and racism in the criminal justice and immigration systems.Biden, who has run on his record as Barack Obama's vice-president, is regarded as a moderate who appeals to more centrist Democrats, and his policy platform has been criticized by some progressive groups who see it as overly cautious and lacking ambition."I think they are going to reach out to our supporters and come up with an agenda that speaks to the needs of working families, of young families and minority communities," Sanders said.Sanders withdrew from the Democratic presidential primary race in April and conceded to Biden, the presumptive nominee.An analysis by CNN on Sunday of the latest state polls found Biden holding a national lead over Trump of about eight points and also leading Trump in key swing states.Democrats had difficulty corralling Sanders supporters behind the 2016 Democratic nominee, Hillary Clinton, with about 12% of Sanders supporters that year voting instead for Trump, according to a 2017 Cooperative Congressional Election study.Sanders supporters in the 2020 cycle appear much less likely to back Trump in the general election, however, according to polling. A Suffolk University/USA TODAY survey conducted last month found that 4% planned to vote for Trump.The Sanders and Biden campaigns have been working together to encourage supporters to join the common cause of defeating Trump. In a joint campaign memo released last month, they announced that the Biden camp would appoint some Sanders supporters as delegates at the national convention and invite the Sanders camp to help craft the official party platform.The 2020 Democratic National Convention is scheduled to be held in late August in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, but the party has made contingency plans for a virtual convention if warranted by coronavirus concerns.
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| Chinese survey team plans to summit deserted Everest Posted: 16 May 2020 07:22 PM PDT  A Chinese government-backed team plans to summit Mount Everest this week at a time when the world's tallest peak has been closed to commercial climbers. Bad weather forced the team charged with measuring the mountain's current height to return to base camp, but they have since taken up their former position, the official Xinhua News Agency reported. As long as the weather holds, the team expects to reach the summit on Friday morning, Xinhua quoted Wang Yongfeng, deputy director of the mountaineering administrative center of the General Administration of Sport, as saying.
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| Tensions rise as Germans clamour to return to Mallorcan homes Posted: 16 May 2020 08:13 PM PDT  Germans with holiday homes in Mallorca are clamouring to return to the sun-soaked island as the coronavirus lockdowns ease, but Spanish authorities are pushing back. Several hundred Germans have in recent weeks sent pleading, sometimes angry letters to the regional government of the Balearic Islands asking them to allow foreign property owners to return to their second homes. The campaign was started by German national and Mallorca resident Ralf Becker, 55, who believes the travel restrictions aimed at halting the pandemic are "completely over the top".
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| China's Wuhan nearly doubles number of COVID-19 tests per day Posted: 17 May 2020 05:31 AM PDT  The city of Wuhan, where the new coronavirus outbreak originated in China, conducted 222,675 nucleic acid tests on May 16, the local health authority said on Sunday, nearly doubling from a day earlier. Wuhan kicked off a campaign on May 14 to look for asymptomatic carriers - people who are infected but show no outward sign of illness - after confirming last weekend its first cluster of COVID-19 infections since its release from a virtual lockdown on April 8. The number of tests carried out on May 16 in the city of 11 million residents was more than the 186,400 tests conducted on May 14-15, and was also the highest since the Wuhan Municipal Health Commission started publishing the data on Feb. 21.
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| Pole dancing and hand sanitizer: Wyoming strip club reopens with 'masks on, clothes off' party Posted: 17 May 2020 10:42 AM PDT  Welcome to The Den, one of the first strip clubs in the country to reopen. The club on Friday night threw a "masks on, clothes off" party.
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