| One of Trump's favorite pollsters shows his approval plummeting Posted: 27 May 2020 11:39 AM PDT  President Trump's approval rating has plummeted since late February, according to the Rasmussen daily tracking poll, which the president frequently cited during his first three years in office.
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| Iran Guards warn US after receiving new combat vessels Posted: 28 May 2020 06:15 AM PDT  Iran's Revolutionary Guards on Thursday warned the United States against its naval presence in the Gulf as they received 110 new combat vessels. "We announce today that wherever the Americans are, we are right next to them, and they will feel our presence even more in the near future," the Guards' navy chief Rear Admiral Alireza Tangsiri said during a ceremony in southern Iran. Iran and the United States have appeared to be on the brink of an all-out confrontation twice in the past year.
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| Protester who hung effigy of Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear fired from job at car dealership Posted: 27 May 2020 12:39 PM PDT  Terry Bush, president of the Kentucky 3 Percenters group, only hoisted the effigy, his wife Patsy said Wednesday morning.
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| Huawei CFO Meng loses key court fight against extradition to United States Posted: 27 May 2020 02:08 AM PDT  Huawei Technologies Co's Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou was dealt a setback by a Canadian court on Wednesday as she tries to avoid extradition to the United States to face bank fraud charges, dashing hopes for an end to her 18-month house arrest in Vancouver. The ruling, which could further deteriorate relations between Ottawa and Beijing, elicited immediate strong reaction from China's embassy in Canada, which said Canada is "accomplice to United States efforts to bring down Huawei and Chinese high-tech companies."
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| Warrants describe nightmarish child abuse case in Tennessee Posted: 27 May 2020 11:19 AM PDT  Arrest warrants in a Tennessee couple's abuse case describe a hellish existence for four children in their legal custody, a nightmare that finally ended after a little boy was spotted walking alone along a Roane County road. Michael Anthony Gray Sr., 63, and his wife, Shirley Ann Gray, 60, were arrested Monday on charges of aggravated child abuse, especially aggravated kidnapping, aggravated child neglect and abuse of a corpse, authorities said. The oldest had been locked in the partially flooded, unfinished basement for stealing food shortly after the family moved to the home in June 2016, authorities said, "and had no contact with anyone outside the basement, only given small amounts of food, being white bread and some water," the warrants state.
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| Surveillance video of the moments leading up to George Floyd being pinned under a policeman's knee shows that he didn't resist arrest Posted: 28 May 2020 10:03 AM PDT  An off-duty firefighter saw Floyd "go from struggling to unresponsive on the ground while handcuffed and subdued" by police, an incident report said.
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| One chart shows a noticeable correlation between how late a country started its coronavirus lockdown and the number of excess deaths Posted: 28 May 2020 06:30 AM PDT  Analysis from the Financial Times has shown that the number of excess deaths correlates to when a country decided to lock down.
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| So-called honor killing of teen girl sparks outcry in Iran Posted: 27 May 2020 02:53 PM PDT  The so-called honor killing of a 14-year-old Iranian girl by her dad, who reportedly beheaded her as she slept, has sparked a nationwide outcry.
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| 'It's a Sad Result.' Mixed Feelings in Hong Kong Over U.S. Announcement on City's Autonomy Posted: 27 May 2020 10:20 PM PDT  One leading pro-democracy figure thanked Washington, others said the move was bad news for Hong Kong people
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| Ann Coulter doesn't know if she will vote for 'defective man' Donald Trump Posted: 27 May 2020 02:29 PM PDT  Conservative author and commentator Ann Coulter told Yahoo News she may cast a write-in vote for former U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions rather than vote to reelect Trump.
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| Iran outraged by 'honour killing' of 14-year-old girl Romina Ashrafi Posted: 28 May 2020 03:36 AM PDT  The killing of an Iranian teen by her father after she eloped with an older man sparked outrage on Wednesday, with local media denouncing "institutionalised violence" in "patriarchal" Iran. Iranian media covered the apparent "honour" crime extensively, with Ebtekar newspaper leading its front page with the headline "Unsafe father's house". According to local media, Romina Ashrafi was killed in her sleep on May 21 by her father, who decapitated her in the family home in Talesh in northern Gilan province. The reports said her father had refused her permission to marry a man fifteen years her senior, spurring her to run away, but she was returned home after her father reported her. The legal marriage age in Iran is 13 for women. Iranian media reported that after authorities detained the teenager, she told a judge she feared for her life if she was returned to home. But what most outraged public opinion was the lenient punishment the father is likely to face, Ebtekar wrote. The newspaper notes that Iran's normal "eye for an eye" retributive justice does not apply to fathers who kill their children. Accordingly, he is likely to face three to 10 years in prison, a sentence that could be reduced further, the newspaper wrote, denouncing the "institutionalised violence" of Iran's "patriarchal culture". With the farsi hashtag Romina_Ashrafi focusing outrage on Twitter, President Hassan Rouhani "expressed his regrets" in a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, pleading for the speedy passing of several anti-violence bills, his office said. On Twitter, Vice President for Women and Family Affairs, Masoumeh Ebtekar, said a bill on the protection of young people was in the "final phase" of validation by Iran's Guardian Council. The council, which vets legislation to ensure compliance with Iran's constitution and Islamic sharia law, has thrice previously called for changes to the law after it was passed by lawmakers, Ebtekar newspaper wrote. The publication fears that if the council sends back the bill, it will be buried by Iran's new parliament, which held its first session Wednesday and is dominated by conservatives and hardliners opposed to Rouhani.
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| ICC allows former I.Coast president Gbagbo to leave Belgium Posted: 28 May 2020 03:02 PM PDT  The International Criminal Court on Thursday said former Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo can leave Belgium under certain conditions following his acquittal last year over post-electoral violence that killed 3,000 people. Gbagbo and his deputy Charles Ble Goude were both cleared of crimes against humanity a year ago, eight years after the former West African strongman's arrest and transfer to the Hague-based court. Belgium agreed to host Gbagbo, 73, after he was released in February last year under strict conditions including that he would return to court for a prosecution appeal against his acquittal.
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| Mexican drug lord pleads poverty in bid to escape arrest Posted: 27 May 2020 05:23 PM PDT  Drug lord Rafael Caro Quintero, a notorious underworld figure who is on the FBI's most wanted list for the murder of a federal agent over three decades ago, said in a legal appeal that he has no money, is too old to work and has no pension. The odd plea was filed Tuesday by Caro Quintero's lawyer seeking an injunction against his arrest or extradition to the United States for the kidnapping and murder of DEA Special Agent Enrique Camarena in Mexico in 1985. The U.S. government says Caro Quintero and his family remain in the drug trade.
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| Senate Democrats take on GOP court-packing in blistering new report Posted: 27 May 2020 03:12 PM PDT  The senators pointed to conservative activist Leonard Leo as the driving force behind the many of the president's appointments.
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| Elon Musk told NASA astronauts' kids ahead of the SpaceX launch, 'We've done everything we can to make sure your dads come back OK' Posted: 27 May 2020 12:17 PM PDT  NASA has estimated a 1-in-276 chance that the astronauts on the SpaceX rocket could die during the company's first crewed mission.
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| Coronavirus infections are rising as states reopen, potentially signaling a second wave Posted: 27 May 2020 08:48 AM PDT  Twenty states reported an increase in new infections during the week ending May 24, up from 13 states the week before.
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| New tropical hotspot may emerge in Atlantic amid busy start to hurricane season Posted: 28 May 2020 01:21 PM PDT  Two tropical storms have already formed prior to the official start of the 2020 Atlantic hurricane season, which begins on June 1- and AccuWeather meteorologists say there are two factors behind the unusual occurrence. These weather factors could soon cause more storms to brew, but this time, forecasters are watching a new tropical hotspot of the basin.Tropical Storm Arthur, the first storm of the season, was named by the National Hurricane Center (NHC) on May 16, the earliest-named tropical system to form in the Atlantic since Tropical Storm Arlene in April 2017. The system first developed into a tropical depression about 125 miles off Melbourne, Florida. As the disturbance gained strength and moved northward over warm waters in the western Atlantic, Arthur avoided landfall in North Carolina. But, the system still unleashed wind gusts of up to 49 mph in the state. Fortunately, no major impacts were reported, and Arthur went out to sea before it could directly strike land.Less than two weeks later, Tropical Storm Bertha became the second-named storm of the season on May 27 in a similar area to where Arthur had developed. Bertha will also go down as the first-named storm to make landfall in the U.S. this year. Bertha struck about 20 miles south of Charleston, South Carolina, on Wednesday, and unleashed flooding rainfall across the Carolinas and portions of the mid-Atlantic. Before officially being named the system drenched South Florida with flooding rainfall, which pushed monthly rain totals to more than two times the normal amount for May in places like Miami.The last time two named storms preceded the official start of hurricane season in the Atlantic was in 2016, when Hurricane Alex and Tropical Storm Bonnie both formed before June 1. This GOES-16 satellite image taken Wednesday, May 27, 2020, at 11:40 UTC and provided by THE National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), shows Tropical Storm Bertha approaching the South Carolina coast. (NOAA via AP) "You get early season development when you get an interaction between the jet stream and the tropics," AccuWeather Chief Broadcast Meteorologist Bernie Rayno said. "It's still early enough in the year that, at times, the jet stream can take pronounced dips into the south."A southward plunge in the jet stream causes weather systems to interact with the warm water of the Atlantic, explained Rayno."The jet stream brings down frontal boundaries that stall, frontal boundaries are locations where showers and thunderstorms could form, and in time, if you can get that area to sit, you start to get lower pressure to form, and in time this could turn into a tropical system," said Rayno.Arthur and Bertha both formed from a similar set of weather factors, and a third-named tropical storm could form as early as next week, fueled by another big dive of the jet stream."On Monday, this dip in the jet stream [is] gonna push a frontal boundary into the northwest Caribbean. That frontal boundary will stall as we get into Monday. [On] Tuesday, showers and thunderstorms start to form and by mid- to- late-next week, I think we are going to get an area of low pressure to form," said Rayno. The Miami skyline is shrouded in clouds as a cyclist rides along Biscayne Bay at Matheson Hammock Park, Friday, May 15, 2020, in Miami. A trough of low pressure moved through the Florida Straits and organized over the northwest Bahamas to become Tropical Storm Arthur. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky) Rayno said that he believes there is a 50/50 chance that the third named storm, which would be called Cristobal, could be the result of this setup.AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist David Samuhel said tropical trouble could first brew in the East Pacific before emerging into the Atlantic. Forecasters have been monitoring an area of disturbed weather in the East Pacific this week that could soon churn out a tropical entity, which could take an unusual track into Central America."We are watching an area south of Mexico and Central America. It is expected to become a tropical depression or even a named storm as it approaches the coast of El Salvador, Guatemala and southern Mexico," Samuhel said.Even though the storm that is being monitored will likely dissipate over land, Samuhel said that, "There will be abundant moisture associated with the system and when that moisture moves northward into the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico, it could reform into a new tropical system."The last three tropical cyclones to make landfall in the U.S. during the month of June were all Gulf of Mexico storms, similar to the hotspot currently being monitored. The most recent Gulf of Mexico storm to result in a June landfall was Tropical Storm Cindy, which came ashore in western Louisiana in 2017.Samuhel advised that while the reformation of the storm would not happen until several days into June, the conditions could be favorable for development as water temperatures in the Gulf of Mexico are above normal and upper-level conditions in the atmosphere could remain favorable.It has been a few years since the third-named storm of the season formed as early in the season as June and made landfall in the U.S., with the last occurrence being Tropical Storm Cindy in 2017 and then again in 2016 when Tropical Storm Colin developed and slammed into the Gulf Coast of Florida, north of Tampa.Before that, it had been several decades since this happened with the last time prior to 2016 being back in 1968, when Tropical Storm Candy formed in late June.Having three named storms this early in the season is a rare occurrence, and only twice in the last decade has a fourth-named storm formed in June with Tropical Storm Danielle in 2017 and Tropical Storm Debby in 2012. Tommy and Dorothy McIntosh walk away from their daughters flooded home in Live Oak Fla., Wednesday, June 27, 2012. Dozens of homes and businesses were flooded by torrential rains from Tropical Storm Debby. (AP Photo/Dave Martin) Landfalling hurricanes are even more rare during the month of June. Hurricane Bonnie in 1986 was the last hurricane to make landfall in the U.S. during the month. The Category 1 storm generated peak winds of 85 mph before rolling into High Island, Texas. Bonnie claimed five lives in the U.S. and it triggered more than a foot of rainfall in parts of Texas, including 13 inches in Ace, Texas."Only one major hurricane has made landfall in June anywhere in the U.S.," Samuhel said, adding that Hurricane Audrey dealt a devastating blow to southwestern Louisiana when it crashed onshore as a Category 3 storm, packing 125-mph winds, in 1957, and killed more than 400 in the U.S. According to the National Weather Service (NWS), Bonnie ranks as the seventh deadliest storm to make landfall in the U.S. and the third deadliest in Louisiana history.Dan Kottlowski, AccuWeather's top hurricane expert, and his team of long-range meteorologists, have been hard at work analyzing weather patterns for the upcoming Atlantic hurricane season since late in winter. Kottlowski warned about early season risks in the Gulf of Mexico in his initial forecast for the season, which was released on March 25.Kottlowski upped the numbers projected for the 2020 season in an early May forecast update. He expressed "growing concern" for an active season due to a La Niña pattern that is expected to develop during the season. La Niña is the cool phase and counterpoint to El Niño -- and it is characterized by three consecutive months of below-normal temperatures in the central and eastern Pacific, near the equator. The team is now predicting 14 to 20 tropical storms and seven to 11 hurricanes, since La Niña patterns can limit episodes of high winds that can disrupt tropical development in the Atlantic.Four to six of the storms could strengthen into major hurricanes - Category 3 or higher. And Kottlowski warned that four to six named tropical systems could make direct impacts on the U.S mainland, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.The AccuWeather TV Network on Thursday night will host its first-ever hurricane town hall. The exclusive one-hour event will be moderated by AccuWeather Broadcast Meteorologist Brittany Boyer who will lead a roundtable discussion with several of the top minds in hurricane forecasting and weather preparedness.Among those joining the discussion will be National Hurricane Center Director Ken Graham, AccuWeather's own hurricane expert Dan Kottlowksi and Trevor Riggen of the American Red Cross, along with several others. Chief among the topics being discussed will be the impact the coronavirus pandemic will have on preparing for hurricanes this season, which AccuWeather forecasters believe will be very active. Tune in to the AccuWeather TV Network at 9 p.m. EDT Thursday evening and check AccuWeather.com for highlights and a recap.Keep checking back on AccuWeather.com and stay tuned to the AccuWeather Network on DirecTV, Frontier and Verizon Fios
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| Philippines eases capital's strict virus lockdown Posted: 28 May 2020 08:51 AM PDT  The Philippines will lift key coronavirus lockdown measures in the nation's capital, President Rodrigo Duterte said Thursday, aiming to resuscitate a faltering economy after nearly three months of strict home quarantine. Manila has endured one of the world's longest lockdowns, which has hit the livelihoods of millions of workers but not halted a steady stream of new infections. "Remember that the entire nation is under quarantine," Duterte said in a late-night speech.
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| Biden on 100,000 coronavirus deaths: 'To those hurting, the nation grieves with you.' Posted: 27 May 2020 04:39 PM PDT  Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden released a video message on Wednesday marking the grim milestone of 100,000 American lives lost to the coronavirus pandemic, telling the bereaved: "The nation grieves with you." Biden spoke after various tallies of COVID-19 deaths, including one compiled by Reuters, showed that the novel coronavirus has killed over 100,000 people in the United States, even as the slowdown in deaths encouraged businesses to reopen and Americans to emerge from more than two months of lockdowns. Biden, speaking from his home in Delaware, drew on his own family loss when making his remarks.
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| Outrage in Iran over gruesome 'honour killing' of teenage girl Posted: 28 May 2020 05:03 AM PDT  Iran's president has called for so-called honour killings to be outlawed following the gruesome murder of a teenage girl, allegedly by her father, for running away from home with an older man. Romina Ashrafi, 14, was allegedly beheaded by her father as punishment for fleeing her home in Talesh, near Tehran, with a 29-year-old man. The couple were detained and Romina was handed back to her family as her father appeared to have forgiven her, according to the state news agency IRNA. But on May 21, the girl's father attacked her while she was sleeping and cut off her head with a sickle, according to a local news website called Gilkhabar. The father has since been arrested, as well as the man Romina eloped with according to local media reports. Under Iranian law, young girls can marry from 13 although most women get married in their early 20s according to the Associated Press. If convicted, the girl's father would face a prison sentence of ten years. Iran's penal code currently reduces the penalties for fathers, or other family members, who carry out honour killings on their relatives. Romina's death has shocked Iran and prompted Hassan Rouhani, the president, to order his Cabinet to speed up legislation against so-called honour killings.
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| US indicts ex-Venezuelan lawmaker linked with Maduro Posted: 27 May 2020 02:25 PM PDT |
| The man who filmed his encounter with a woman in Central Park says her actions were 'definitely racist,' but he's asking people to stop making death threats against her Posted: 27 May 2020 10:58 AM PDT  Christian Cooper told CNN that he thinks Amy Cooper's apology is sincere, and has asked people to stop making death threats toward her.
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| Pelosi calls on Trump to 'take responsibility' for coronavirus response Posted: 27 May 2020 01:15 PM PDT  In a press conference Wednesday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called on President Trump to "stop making excuses. Take responsibility" for his response to the coronavirus pandemic.
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| The Chinese CDC now says the coronavirus didn't jump to people at the Wuhan wet market — instead, it was the site of a super-spreader event Posted: 28 May 2020 03:49 PM PDT  The origin of the new coronavirus still isn't known. But according to the Chinese CDC, it isn't the wet market in Wuhan.
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| Coronavirus: How the pandemic in US compares with rest of world Posted: 28 May 2020 04:55 AM PDT  More than 100,000 people have died and the country is now slowly reopening amid fears of new spikes.
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| Russia slams 'dangerous' US foreign policy moves Posted: 28 May 2020 03:00 PM PDT  Russia said on Thursday the United States was acting in a dngerous and unpredictable way, after Washington withdrew from a key military treaty and moved to ramp up pressure on Iran. Foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova made the comments after Washington announced it would end sanctions waivers for nations that remain in a nuclear accord signed with Iran.
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| In lean times, fierce dinosaur Allosaurus resorted to cannibalism Posted: 27 May 2020 01:47 PM PDT  The dreaded dinosaur Allosaurus was the scourge of the Jurassic Period landscape some 150 million years ago, an apex predator just as Tyrannosaurus rex was 80 million years later during the Cretaceous Period. The researchers unearthed 2,368 fossil bones including several different dinosaurs and other creatures. Remarkably, 29% of the bones bore evidence of bite marks, a much-higher percentage than usual, indicative of heavy scavenging in what may have been a stressed ecosystem caused by a seasonal drought or potentially a wildfire.
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| Sen. Cortez Masto withdraws name from Biden VP consideration Posted: 28 May 2020 03:00 PM PDT  Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada said Thursday that she's not interested in serving as running mate to presumptive presidential nominee Joe Biden. Cortez Masto, who in 2016 became the first Latina elected to the U.S. Senate, said in a statement that she supports the former vice president but does not want to join the Democratic presidential ticket.
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| Gang of 26 arrested for allegedly smuggling people from Vietnam to Europe in investigation prompted by Essex lorry deaths Posted: 27 May 2020 07:29 AM PDT  A gang of 26 suspected people smugglers have been arrested in France and Belgium in an investigation prompted by the deaths of 39 Vietnamese migrants found in the back of a lorry in Essex last year. The early morning raids took place in Paris and Brussels, with 13 people detained in each country. In Belgium, 11 Vietnamese and two Moroccans were held, while in France, authorities said the suspects were "mostly Vietnamese and French". The suspects are allegedly part of an organised crime group that smuggles refugees from Asia, particularly from Vietnam, and that likely has transported up to several dozen people every day for several months, Europol said in a statement. "Prompted by the discovery of 39 deceased Vietnamese nationals inside a refrigerated trailer in Essex in the United Kingdom in October 2019, a joint investigation team (JIT) was created between Belgium, Ireland, France, the United Kingdom, Eurojust and Europol," Europol said.
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| Study: Death Rates for Drivers Vary by Car Size Posted: 27 May 2020 09:01 PM PDT  When it comes to vehicle crashes, size and weight matter a great deal. That's the conclusion of a comprehensive, three-year study into how drivers fared in their vehicles over time by the Insuran...
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| Op-Ed: Hong Kong is the front line of a new cold war. If it burns, the world gets burned too Posted: 28 May 2020 12:14 PM PDT  Beijing is using the coronavirus crisis to crush Hong Kong's demands for more freedom, thinking the world is too busy to care.
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| Ford made its police SUV heat itself up to more than 133 degrees to kill the coronavirus Posted: 27 May 2020 08:45 AM PDT  Ford worked with Ohio State and police departments to develop the tech. Ford has a longstanding relationship with law enforcement.
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| This casino owner is giving away 1,000 free flights to Las Vegas Posted: 27 May 2020 10:22 AM PDT  The flights to Las Vegas are available on a first-come, first-served basis online. Travelers must pay for return flights, hotels and other trip costs.
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| It looks like Trump's draft executive order targeting Facebook and Twitter got leaked online Posted: 28 May 2020 04:48 AM PDT  President Donald Trump is expected to sign such an order on Thursday.
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| Venezuela's opposition-led assembly backs Guaido over Maduro choice Posted: 28 May 2020 04:06 PM PDT  Venezuela's National Assembly on Thursday ratified opposition leader Juan Guaido as legislative speaker, defying a Supreme Court ruling approving a rival opposition figure more favorable to President Nicolas Maduro. The endorsement for Guaido continued a months-long stand-off with opposition rival Luis Parra, who Guaido has dismissed as "an accomplice to dictatorship". "I will continue to exercise my functions," Guaido told reporters in Caracas after a session held by video-conference rejected the "illegal" Supreme Court's decision.
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| U.S. unit to arrive in Colombia to help fight drug trafficking Posted: 27 May 2020 07:04 PM PDT  A U.S. army unit will arrive in Colombia in the coming days to help the Andean country's armed forces fight against drug trafficking for a four-month period, the U.S. embassy in Bogota said on Wednesday. The U.S. Security Force Assistance Brigade (SFAB) will arrive in Colombia in early June, the embassy said, without specifying the size of the unit. "SFAB's mission in Colombia is an opportunity to demonstrate our mutual commitment against drug trafficking and support for regional peace, respect for sovereignty and the lasting promise to defend shared ideals and values," said U.S. Southern Commander Admiral Craig Faller in a statement.
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| Violence again rocks Minneapolis after man's death; 1 killed Posted: 27 May 2020 07:40 PM PDT  A man was shot to death as violent protests over the death of a black man in police custody rocked Minneapolis for a second straight night, with protesters looting stores near a police precinct and setting fires that continued to burn Thursday morning. Protesters began gathering in the early afternoon near the city's 3rd Precinct station, in the southern part of the city where 46-year-old George Floyd died on Memorial Day after an officer knelt on his neck until he became unresponsive. News helicopter footage showed protesters milling in streets near the city's 3rd Precinct station, with some running in and out of nearby stores.
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| More than £3 million in drugs and cash seized in biggest Government-backed assault on county lines gangs Posted: 28 May 2020 12:31 PM PDT  Cash and drugs worth £3 million have been seized by police in the biggest operation against county lines gangs backed by a dedicated Government fund. The campaign - by four forces - saw police make more than 650 arrests, close nearly 140 "deal" lines supplying drugs from cities to suburban and rural towns and seize more than 100 weapons including guns and knives. Some 140 children being exploited by the gangs were also safeguarded in the raids conducted over five months from November to March this year. Priti Patel, the Home Secretary, said: "I am determined to roll up county lines drugs gangs and stop them from terrorising our towns and exploiting our children. "I have seen first-hand the important work the police are doing to tackle county lines, and these impressive results show just how much of an impact our investment is having." The "surge" operations - British Transport Police, the Metropolitan Police, Merseyside Police and West Midlands Police -were funded by £5 million from the Government's £25 million package to tackle county lines. The Met and Merseyside forces closed 131 lines, while the British Transport police made the most arrests at 276 as drug couriers were caught on their way to and from the county drug dealerships. Merseyside seized £1.5 million class A drugs, thought to be predominantly cocaine. Andy Cooke, Merseyside Police Chief Constable, said: "It is vital that we keep up this relentless level of activity targeting criminals and protecting the young and vulnerable who they groom to do their dirty work. "Those responsible for these County Lines bring misery to our local communities through their drug dealing." Met deputy assistant commissioner Graham McNulty, national lead for county lines, said: "This issue is not being tackled in isolation. Dedicated teams in forces across the nation are identifying lines, locating those running them and dismantling their operation entirely. "This work will not cease – it will increase and intensify over the coming months."
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| Cheered by Private Schools, DeVos Demands Public Education Shares Pandemic Aid Posted: 27 May 2020 12:01 PM PDT  WASHINGTON -- Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, defiant amid criticism that she is using the coronavirus pandemic to pursue a long-sought agenda, said she will force public school districts to share a large portion of federal rescue funding with private school students, regardless of income.DeVos announced the measure in a letter to the Council of Chief State School Officers, which represents state education chiefs, defending her position on how education funding from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act, or CARES Act, should be spent."The CARES Act is a special, pandemic-related appropriation to benefit all American students, teachers and families," DeVos wrote in the letter Friday. "There is nothing in the act suggesting Congress intended to discriminate between children based on public or nonpublic school attendance, as you seem to do. The virus affects everyone."A range of education officials say DeVos' guidance would divert millions of dollars away from disadvantaged students and force districts starved of tax revenues during an economic crisis to support even the wealthiest private schools. The association representing the nation's schools superintendents told districts to ignore the guidance, and at least two states -- Indiana and Maine -- said they would.DeVos accused the state education chiefs of having a "reflex to share as little as possible with students and teachers outside of their control" and said she would draft a rule codifying her position to "resolve any issues in plenty of time for the next school year." The proposed rule would need to go through a public comment process before it could take effect.Private school leaders, who serve about 5.7 million of the nation's children, say they too are in crisis. Enrollment and tuition revenues are plunging along with philanthropic donations and church collections that help some religious schools operate. Many of those schools serve low-income students whose parents have fled failing public schools. Private school groups say 30% of the families they serve have annual incomes below $75,000, and those families are most at risk without federal aid. "I don't understand why we have to pick winners and losers when everything we're asking for is targeted at helping children and families," said Jennifer Daniels, associate director for public policy for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.Under federal education law, school districts are required to use funding intended for their poorest students to provide "equitable services," such as tutoring and transportation, for low-income students attending private schools in their districts. But DeVos maintains the coronavirus rescue law does not limit funding to just poor students, and her guidance would award private schools more services than the law would normally require.Last week, leaders from education committees in the House and Senate, including Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., said DeVos' interpretation was flawed.Democratic leaders called on DeVos to revise her guidance, which they said would "repurpose hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars intended for public school students to provide services for private school students, in contravention of both the plain reading of the statute and the intent of Congress."Carissa Moffat Miller, executive director of the Council of Chief State School Officers, said the organization believed the secretary's guidance "could significantly harm the vulnerable students who were intended to benefit the most from the critical federal COVID-19 education relief funds Congress has provided."DeVos has been unabashed in her use of coronavirus funding to further her decadeslong effort to divert public dollars to private and parochial schools. In a radio interview last week, first reported by Chalkbeat, the Roman Catholic archbishop of New York, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, asked DeVos if she was "utilizing this particular crisis to ensure that justice is finally done to our kids and the parents who choose to send them to faith-based schools." She responded, "Absolutely."In her letter, DeVos said "a growing list of nonpublic schools have announced they will not be able to reopen, and these school closures are concentrated in low-income and middle-class communities."At least 26 schools, the vast majority of them Catholic, have announced closures caused by or attributed to the pandemic, according to the Cato Institute, a libertarian research organization that is tracking such announcements. The National Catholic Educational Association said that at least 100 of its member schools are at risk of not reopening. More than 40 groups that support private schools wrote to House and Senate leaders this month asking for tuition aid, tax credits for families and other measures to prevent "massive nonpublic school closures."Leaders in some religious communities say they cannot fall back on public education."It is unthinkable for us not to give our children a Jewish education, in the same way it is unthinkable for us not to keep the Sabbath or the kosher dietary laws -- it is fundamental to Jewish life," said Rabbi Abba Cohen, vice president for federal affairs at Agudath Israel of America, one of the groups that signed the letter.Earlier this month, the Archdiocese of Newark, New Jersey, announced it would close 10 schools. While the organization said a plan to consolidate had already been underway, Cardinal Joseph Tobin, archbishop of Newark, wrote in a letter to the community that "this historical moment presents crucial challenges to the sustainability and ongoing success of our schools."Among the closed schools was Cristo Rey Newark High School, part of a network of 37 Catholic college-preparatory schools across the country that exclusively serves low-income students."My concern is that people are painting this with a very large brush stroke that's based on an assumption that Catholic and private means fancy and expensive, and that is not the case," said Elizabeth Goettl, president of the Cristo Rey Network.Ninety-eight percent of the network's 12,000 students are students of color, and all of them are from financially disadvantaged families, Goettl said. Only 10% of the schools' operational revenue comes from tuition, and every family pays what they can on a sliding scale, on average about $900 a year, though some pay as little as $20 a month.Fifty percent of the school's operational revenue comes from a corporate work-study program that could be affected by the economic fallout from the pandemic. Companies employ students in entry-level jobs, and students assign their wages to their tuition."They're literally earning their education at age 14, which is remarkable in itself," she said. "For the federal government to say we're not going to help your kids sanitize, or do whatever COVID-related things that need to be done, seems reprehensible."A recently passed House bill would limit private schools from accessing any new emergency relief funding, including equitable services. But private school leaders have launched an aggressive campaign to lobby Congress and the White House."When all is said and done, people are going to try to do the right thing and not try to pick which students we're not going to keep safe," said Michael Schuttloffel, executive director of the Council for American Private Education.Private school groups lobbying Congress say that mass closures would also hurt public schools. If 20% of private school students have to be absorbed into the public school system, it would cost the public system roughly $15 billion, according to estimates from those groups.Public school groups said that the argument proves their point."I think it's more proof that we need to be focused on public education, because if public education is not fully funded, there is no fallback," said Maggie Garrett, co-chairwoman of the National Coalition for Public Education, which represents more than 50 national organizations that oppose private school vouchers.Ruth Arias, an Amazon warehouse worker and single mother of five in New York City, said moving her children back to their neighborhood school would mean taking them "out of a place where they feel their best and putting them into a school system where they fall apart."With the help of an organization called the Children's Scholarship Fund, Arias said she enrolled her children in a private Christian school to "believe in something better."Arias was battling the coronavirus last month when she saw that the city's Department of Education would help students get iPads for remote learning.Having only one computer and a cellphone for her children to share, she was relieved -- until she was told her children's private schooling made them ineligible."I honestly had one thought," she said, "which I had a lot when I was dealing with the public school system: Are you kidding me?"This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2020 The New York Times Company
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| Kuwait wants to spend over $1.4 billion on Patriot upgrades Posted: 28 May 2020 12:19 PM PDT  Kuwait seeks repairs to its Patriot system, along with new PAC-3 weapons.
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| Army Private's Medal of Honor Sold for More than $15,000 by German Auction House Posted: 28 May 2020 08:44 AM PDT  There was a campaign to stop the auction, but Germany is not subject to U.S. laws.
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| Biden points out he was warning about pandemic unpreparedness in October while Trump tweeted about iPhones Posted: 28 May 2020 09:20 AM PDT  Former Vice President Joe Biden has a humble brag he'd like to share.In October 2019, months before the coronavirus outbreak began, Biden tweeted a warning to the United States, saying "We are not prepared for a pandemic." Biden then called out President Trump for rolling back measures the Obama administration took, likely referring to Trump's 2018 disbandment of the team directly responsible for handling a pandemic response.As Biden's Twitter account conveniently pointed out Thursday, while Biden was urging caution, Trump was tweeting about iPhones. Specifically, the president took issue with the button-less feature in iPhone models released in 2017 onward.> Two tweets from the same day in October. pic.twitter.com/rsSslLCsTW> > — Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) May 28, 2020In fairness to Trump, this was months before the first COVID-19 case had even been reported, and just one month after the newest iPhone model had been released. And we do miss those buttons.More stories from theweek.com Amy Klobuchar declined to prosecute officer at center of George Floyd's death after previous conduct complaints Trump signs executive order seeking regulations on social media Trump retweets video declaring 'the only good Democrat is a dead Democrat'
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