| Former FDA commissioner sees 'a lot of risk' of 2nd coronavirus wave Posted: 07 Jun 2020 04:58 PM PDT  Dr. Scott Gottlieb told Yahoo News' "Skullduggery" podcast that he is worried Americans are on track to confront a second wave of the coronavirus pandemic.
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| Portuguese prosecutors to trawl German suspect's records in McCann case Posted: 06 Jun 2020 04:42 AM PDT  Portugal's prosecutor's office said on Saturday it would pore over its files to see if a German man suspected of murdering British girl Madeleine McCann, who disappeared in the southern Algarve region in 2007, has a criminal record there. Germany is investigating a 43-year-old German national on suspicion of murder, the Braunschweig state prosecutor said on Thursday.. Lawyer Jan-Christian Hochmann confirmed to Reuters on Saturday he was representing the suspect, Christian B., but declined to comment.
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| Embattled NY Times Opinion Editor James Bennet Resigns After Staff Revolt Posted: 07 Jun 2020 01:21 PM PDT  New York Times opinion editor James Bennet on Sunday announced that he has resigned, effectively immediately, following an internal revolt over Republican Sen. Tom Cotton's "Send in the Troops" column published last week.The newspaper announced that Katie Kingsbury will step in as an interim opinion page editor through the election; and that Bennet's deputy editor Jim Dao is being reassigned back to the newsroom.In a statement, Times publisher A.G. Sulzberger said: "James is a journalist of enormous talent and integrity who believes deeply in the mission of The Times. He oversaw a significant transformation of the Opinion department, which broadened the range of voices we publish and pushed us into new formats like video, graphics and audio. I'm grateful for his many contributions."Bennet came under intense scrutiny late last week after publishing a column from pro-Trump Sen. Cotton calling upon President Donald Trump to send in the military as a response to nationwide protests against police brutality.The Wednesday afternoon column, which Bennet did not read before its publication, caused an open revolt at the paper as dozens of employees from across various departments all tweeted its headline along with the caption: "Running this puts Black @NYTimes staff in danger."Bennet initially defended the decision to run the opinion piece, but on Friday, during a tense company-wide meeting, he and the paper's bosses issued a mea culpa, lamenting that he allowed the opinion page to be "stampeded by the news cycle," and that it would be necessary to rethink the section altogether. He additionally admitted that the Times did "invite" Cotton to submit the piece."I just want to begin by saying I'm very sorry, I'm sorry for the pain that this particular piece has caused," Bennet said. "I do think this is a moment for me and for us to interrogate everything we do in opinion."Bennet also took several questions from the paper's staff, including why he did not personally read Cotton's column before it was published. That failure, Bennet said, was "another part of the process that broke down." He added: "I should have been involved in signing off on the piece... I should have read it and signed off."In a memo sent to staff following news of Bennet's departure, Sulzberger emphasized that "None of these changes mark a retreat from The Times's responsibility to help people understand a range of voices across the breadth of public debate. That role is as important as it's ever been."He added: "Because we have faced questions in recent days about our core values, I want to say this plainly: As an institution we are opposed to racism in every corner of society. We are opposed to injustice. We believe deeply in principles of fairness, equality and human rights. Those values animate both our news report and our opinion report."Seth Meyers Demolishes New York Times for Running 'Fascist' Tom Cotton Op-EdRead more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| Palestinian Islamic Jihad group buries ex-leader in Damascus Posted: 07 Jun 2020 10:22 AM PDT  Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad buried its former leader Ramadan Shalah in Syria Sunday, an AFP correspondent said, a day after he died in neighbouring Lebanon. The 62-year-old died in a Beirut hospital before his body was transported across the border to Syria, a Palestinian source said. Shalah led Iran-backed Islamic Jihad from 1995 until 2018 when he was replaced by his deputy Ziad al-Nakhala.
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| Fact check: Huntington Beach photos comparing coronavirus protest, BLM protest are real Posted: 05 Jun 2020 06:57 PM PDT  A recent Facebook post compares two photos from protests at Huntington Beach, California.
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| Anger as Brazil's Jair Bolsonaro removes surging coronavirus death toll from official websites Posted: 07 Jun 2020 02:57 AM PDT  Brazil's government was accused of trying to cover up the scale of its catastrophic coronavirus epidemic after it stopped publishing its total rates of deaths and infections. The Federal Health Ministry closed the webpage showing daily, weekly and monthly figures on infections and deaths in Brazilian states on its Website on Friday. The move came as president Jair Bolsonaro, who has previously dismissed the deadly virus as "a little flu," claimed that the official count was "not representative" of the country's situation and threatened to pull Brazil out of the World Health Organisation. The last figures released before counting stopped showed Brazil had recorded over 34,000 deaths from Covid-19, the third highest in the world after the United States and the United Kingdom. It had 615,000 infections, the second-highest behind the United States. The webpage reappeared on Saturday, but only showing the numbers of infections for states and the nation recorded over the previous 24 hours - not cumulative totals.
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| ‘Shame!’: Minneapolis mayor booed out of protest for refusing to commit to abolish police Posted: 07 Jun 2020 06:37 AM PDT  Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey faced a chorus of boos and chants of "shame" when he refused to commit to abolishing the city's police department this weekend.Saturday was the 12th day of protests over the killing of George Floyd while in the custody of the Minneapolis Police Department.
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| 10-foot great white shark kills surfer in Australia Posted: 07 Jun 2020 08:09 AM PDT  A 60-year-old surfer was attacked and killed by a 10-foot great white shark off the coast of New South Wales state on Sunday, according to officials.
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| A majority of voters are uncomfortable attending large gatherings, dining out Posted: 07 Jun 2020 06:01 AM PDT  As states continue to ease restrictions, Americans remain wary about the pandemic's spread according to a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll.
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| Treasure chest hidden in Rocky Mountains finally found Posted: 07 Jun 2020 11:58 AM PDT  A bronze chest filled with gold, jewels, and other valuables worth more than $1 million and hidden a decade ago somewhere in the Rocky Mountain wilderness has been found, according to a famed art and antiquities collector who created the treasure hunt. Forrest Fenn, 89, told the Santa Fe New Mexican on Sunday that a man who did not want his name released — but was from "back East" — located the chest a few days ago and the discovery was confirmed by a photograph the man sent him. "It was under a canopy of stars in the lush, forested vegetation of the Rocky Mountains and had not moved from the spot where I hid it more than 10 years ago," Fenn said in a statement on his website Sunday that still did not reveal the exact location.
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| NYC official and ex-cop says police profession has been "hijacked" Posted: 06 Jun 2020 10:22 AM PDT  "I know what it is to have people call you Uncle Tom and hate you, and not realize it was just a few minutes ago I was marching next to you," Eric Adams said.
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| Storm Cristobal slows advance, dropping heavy rains on Louisiana Posted: 07 Jun 2020 11:31 AM PDT  Tropical Storm Cristobal on Sunday slowed its advance through the Gulf of Mexico, bringing a coastal storm surge, high winds and rain to southeast Louisiana, where it is expected make landfall later today. The storm was about 30 miles (48 km) southeast of Grand Isle, Louisiana, at 1 p.m. on Sunday and moving at north at about 5 miles per hour. It is not expected to become a hurricane but will drop up to 12 inches (30 cm) of rain in some areas as bands move through the central and eastern Gulf Coast, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said.
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| Buffalo Cops Who Shoved Elderly Man Charged With Second-Degree Assault Posted: 06 Jun 2020 08:16 AM PDT  Two Buffalo cops were arraigned on Saturday on one count each of assault in the second degree, after they allegedly shoved a 75-year-old demonstrator during anti-police brutality protests. Martin Gugino, a longtime peace activist in the upstate New York city, hit his head on the pavement and was left on the ground as blood pooled around his head on Thursday evening. He remained in hospital in a serious but stable condition on Saturday.Initially, city officials claimed Gugino had tripped and fell. However, a video surfaced showing riot police, who were clearing Niagara Square at the time, clearly pushing Gugino over and walking by his motionless body. The video had been viewed 78 million times by Saturday.When the two officers, Aaron Torgalski and Robert McCabe, were suspended without pay on Friday, all 57 officers in the department's Emergency Response Team quit the elite unit in protest. Hundreds of Buffalo police officers showed up to the courthouse to back the pair on Saturday, after the Buffalo Police Benevolent Association reportedly circulated text messages drumming up support. Police and other supporters reportedly cheered when one of the officers exited the courthouse.Some supporters wore "We Back The Blue" t-shirts and held up umbrellas to block news cameras attempting to show the pro-police protesters. Torgalski, 39, and McCabe, 32, both pleaded not guilty to a class D felony and were both released on recognizance after brief virtual appearances in Buffalo City Court.Shortly after, Erie County District Attorney John Flynn said in a press conference that the two officers "crossed the line" and "violated the law." He cited a New York State law which says if a victim is 65 or older, and is assaulted by someone at least 10 years younger, a felony can be charged.Flynn added that the officers could have arrested Gugino if he was committing a crime. "You arrest him. You don't take a baton and shove him, along with the officer next to him... You properly arrest him, if he was committing a crime."The Terrifying History of Bad Cops in BuffaloHe denied any suggestions of unfairly targeting police, pointing out that his office had prosecuted 39 "protesters that became agitators" as well.The city's black mayor, though, stood by the police officers, saying he had not asked for them to be fired, and it was very important that they "know they are getting due process."Byron Brown also argued that the 75-year-old man was an "agitator" who had been asked to leave previously. "What we were informed of is that that individual was an agitator," Brown said. "He was trying to spark up the crowd of people. Those people were there into the darkness. Our concern is when it gets dark, there is a potential for violence."John Evans, president of the Buffalo Police Benevolent Association, said the officers were following orders to clear the square of all people, regardless of age. "They were simply doing their job. I don't know how much contact was made. He did slip in my estimation. He fell backwards," he told The Buffalo News on Friday.However, Erie County Executive Marc Poloncarz said Friday he was "exceptionally disappointed" by the mass resignation. "It indicates to me that they did not see anything wrong with the actions last night," he said at a press conference.Gov. Andrew Cuomo said the video made him nauseous and he supported a criminal investigation by the Erie County District Attorney."What we saw was horrendous, disgusting and, I believe, illegal," Cuomo, a former attorney general, said Saturday.Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| Aerial footage shows colossal crowds gathered in Philadelphia to protest against police brutality Posted: 06 Jun 2020 07:13 PM PDT  A video of a massive protest in Philadelphia began trending on Saturday as demonstrators took over the city.
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| AG Bill Barr says he didn't know about Trump's bible photo-op and 'riots' led to controversial Lafayette Park clearance Posted: 07 Jun 2020 03:17 PM PDT  US Attorney General William Barr defended the clearing of protesters from Lafayette Park in Washington DC through the use of "pepper balls" and denied that the use of force had anything to do with President Donald Trump's photo-op with a Bible outside St John's Church that day.Speaking with CBS News on Sunday, Mr Barr also said that he did not believe that systemic racism is an issue in police forces.
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| Venezuela's Guaido reappears after claim he hid in French embassy Posted: 06 Jun 2020 08:59 PM PDT  Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido reappeared in the street in videos distributed Saturday by his team and parliamentary allies, after foreign minister Jorge Arreaza claimed he had taken refuge in the French embassy in Caracas. Guaido, the parliamentary speaker who is recognized as interim president of Venezuela by 50 countries, was referring to the accusation by the United States of "narcoterrorism" against the socialist government of Nicolas Maduro. The videos -- which did not specify the date or location they were filmed -- were released after Arreaza on Thursday said Guaido was hiding in the French embassy, and demanded he be handed over to "Venezuelan justice."
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| Coronavirus live updates: Protesters defy lockdown rules as U.S. death toll tops 110,000 Posted: 07 Jun 2020 08:23 AM PDT  Here are the latest coronavirus updates from around the world.
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| Why Comparisons Between the 1918 Flu Pandemic and COVID-19 Require Caution Posted: 07 Jun 2020 03:30 AM PDT  The past is not always a prediction.
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| Cities Ask if It's Time to Defund Police and 'Reimagine' Public Safety Posted: 06 Jun 2020 07:07 AM PDT  After more than a week of protests against police brutality and unrest that left parts of the city burned, a growing chorus of elected officials, civic leaders and residents in Minneapolis are urging the city to break up the Police Department and reimagine the way policing works."We are going to dismantle the Minneapolis Police Department," Jeremiah Ellison, a member of the City Council, said on Twitter this week. "And when we're done, we're not simply gonna glue it back together," he added. "We are going to dramatically rethink how we approach public safety and emergency response."At least three others, including the City Council president, Lisa Bender, have also called for taking the Police Department apart.Minneapolis is not the only city asking the question. Across the country, calls to defund, downsize or abolish police departments are gaining new traction after national unrest following the death of George Floyd, a black man who died after a white police officer pressed a knee into his neck for nearly nine minutes on a busy Minneapolis street.On Wednesday, Mayor Eric Garcetti of Los Angeles announced that he would cut as much as $150 million from a planned increase in the Police Department's budget. And in New York, Corey Johnson, the City Council speaker, and Daniel Dromm, a council member from Queens, vowed even before the latest protests to cut the Police Department's $6 billion budget, which they noted had been left almost untouched even as education and youth programs faced steep cuts.The calls to redirect money away from the police come as cities face steep budget shortfalls because of the economic fallout from the coronavirus, and as public anger against police brutality has roiled the country. Redirecting funding is one of the few levers that elected officials have over the police, who are frequently shielded by powerful unions and labor arbitrators who reinstate officers fired for misconduct.Dromm, chair of the city's finance committee, said that in order to restore some funding to youth programs he was considering a delay in the next class of police cadets and scrutinizing the $700 million in police overtime that has been budgeted for this year. He said the events of recent days -- including police officers' treatment of peaceful protesters -- had shown that years of efforts to reform the department had not succeeded."The culture in the New York City Police Department has not changed," he said. "The white shirts, the commanding officers, they kind of get it and talk the talk, but the average beat cop doesn't believe in it and we've seen this over and over again."In Minneapolis, calls to dismantle the police are likely to further demoralize a force that already is reeling from the killing of Floyd, the criminal charges filed against four former officers, looting in the city and the burning of a police precinct."That's not the answer," said Gwen Gunter, a retired lieutenant of the Minneapolis Police Department who is also a member of a black police officers association."There's a part of me that hopes they do succeed," she said, "because I want to see how long it takes before they say, 'Oh, no we do need a Police Department.'"The Minneapolis police chief, Medaria Arradondo, pledged Friday to "continue to work on efforts to improve public trust, public safety and transformational culture change of the MPD." His statement did not address the recent calls to dismantle the department.Those who support the movement to scale back the responsibilities of the police say officers frequently abuse their power and instigate violence rather than prevent it. They say many social welfare tasks that currently fall to armed police officers -- responding to drug overdoses and working with people who have a mental illness or are homeless -- would be better carried out by nurses or social workers.One model that members of the Minneapolis City Council cite is Cahoots, a nonprofit mobile crisis intervention program that has handled mental health calls in Eugene, Oregon, since 1989. Cahoots employees responded to more than 24,000 calls for service last year -- about 20% of the area's 911 calls -- on a budget of about $2 million, probably far less than what it would have cost the Police Department to do the work, said Tim Black, the program's operations coordinator."There's a strong argument to be made from a fiscally conservative perspective," Black said. "Public safety institutions generally have these massive budgets and there's questions about what they are doing."But handing over one aspect of police work is not a panacea. Eugene has had at least two officers shoot people in the past year.Last year, after a campaign by a group called Durham Beyond Policing, the City Council in Durham, North Carolina, voted against hiring 18 new police officers and began discussing a "community safety and wellness task force" instead.Minneapolis took a step in that direction last year when it redirected funding for eight new police officers into a new office for violence prevention."We have an opportunity to reimagine what the future of public safety looks like," said Steve Fletcher, a City Council member who pushed that effort. But he acknowledged that the effort to build a viable alternative to the police on social and mental health issues would take years and that no one could be sure what it would look like in the end."It's very easy as an activist to call for the abolishment of the police," said Fletcher, himself a former activist who protested a 2015 police shooting. "It is a heavier decision when you realize that it's your constituents that are going to be the victims of crime you can't respond to if you dismantle that without an alternative."Black activists in the city have been calling for the police to be dismantled for years, issuing a report in 2018 that argued that the oppression of poor people and black people was baked into the very founding of the department in 1867. Police reform has roiled politics in the city for years, and politicians who have been seen as slow to reform have been defeated. But only recently have calls to dismantle the police been widely embraced by white leaders in the city.In Linden Hills, a predominantly white Minneapolis neighborhood near a golf course and two lakes that has not seen very many of the overly aggressive police tactics that the city's black residents complain about, residents acknowledge that the department needs to be significantly reformed. But they have been leery of pledges to abolish the police."What does that even mean?" asked Steve Birch, the chair of the Linden Hills Neighborhood Council. "Then who provides the public service of policing? I don't even know how to answer that."But in Kingfield, a neighborhood in South Minneapolis not far from where Floyd died, Chris DesRoches, the president of the neighborhood association, said he supported defunding the department."The killing of George Floyd has opened the eyes of people to the worst case scenario of police," he said, adding that the case has created an opportunity "for white people to start hearing what communities of color and community leaders have been saying all along, which is that the police are an organization which has been actively harmful to our communities."Mayor Jacob Frey has said he does not support calls to dismantle the department. On Friday, City Council members voted to accept a civil rights investigation by the Minnesota Department of Human Rights and to adopt updates to the Police Department's use of force policy that include a ban on chokeholds. The topic of eliminating some of the department's functions was not discussed.Still, council members acknowledged during their debate that something had changed fundamentally in the way that city residents view the police. The University of Minnesota, as well as the school board and the parks department in Minneapolis, decided in recent days to cut ties with the Police Department.Many in Minneapolis have said that Floyd's death provided a stark illustration of how far efforts to institute reforms in the wake of the 2015 police shooting of Jamar Clark, a 24-year-old African American man, had fallen short.After that shooting, police officers received implicit bias training and body cameras. The department appointed its first black police chief. Community policing was emphasized. Policies were rewritten to include a "duty to intervene" if an officer saw a colleague endangering a member of the public -- a policy that was key to the swift firing and arrest of the four officers involved in Floyd's death.But those reforms were not sufficient to prevent Floyd's death."The fact that none of the officers took the initiative to follow the policy to intervene, it just became really clear to me that this system wasn't going to work, no matter how much we threw at it," said Alondra Cano, who heads the City Council's public safety committee.Cano, who says she was part of a "prosecute the police" campaign while she was a college student, acknowledged that it might take years to build viable alternatives. But she said many city residents, some of whom have formed mutual protection neighborhood groups in the wake of the unrest, were ready to try."There's a moment of deep commitment that I've never seen before, and that gives me leave as an elected official to start experimenting with other systems," she said.This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2020 The New York Times Company
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| Iran says it is ready for more prisoner exchanges with U.S. Posted: 07 Jun 2020 10:44 AM PDT  Michael White, a U.S. Navy veteran detained in Iran since 2018, was freed last Thursday as part of a deal in which the United States allowed Iranian-American physician Majid Taheri to visit Iran - a rare instance of U.S.-Iranian cooperation. White's release came two days after the United States deported Sirous Asgari, an Iranian professor imprisoned in the United States despite having being acquitted of stealing trade secrets.
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| California is set to reopen its schools, bars, film studios, and more on June 12 Posted: 06 Jun 2020 04:22 PM PDT  Citizens are still advised to practice social distancing, and the Governor's Office will distribute health supplies to schools across the state.
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| Coronavirus: This is not the last pandemic Posted: 06 Jun 2020 05:30 AM PDT  Pandemic hunting scientists warn of a 'perfect storm' for new diseases to emerge from wildlife.
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| Nashville's protest of thousands was organized by 6 teenagers who met on Twitter united by their outrage over George Floyd's death Posted: 06 Jun 2020 10:27 AM PDT  Six teenage girls aged between 14 and 16 organized Nashville's peaceful protest attended by up to 20,000 people.
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| Police arrest cyclist who confronted young people posting racial injustice fliers Posted: 06 Jun 2020 02:33 PM PDT  A cyclist whose videotaped confrontation with three young people posting fliers protesting racial injustice on a nature trail outside Washington drew widespread attention has been arrested and charged, police said Friday.
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| Mike Huckabee ‘Livid’ at Republicans Who Won’t Bow Down to Trump Posted: 07 Jun 2020 09:16 AM PDT  Former Governor Mike Huckabee (R-AR) expressed his shock and dismay Sunday morning that several prominent Republicans will reportedly not support President Donald Trump in the 2020 election."Well I don't know if it's true because it's in The New York Times," Huckabee snarked on Fox & Friends Weekend, claiming that the paper is "wrong more than they're right." "But if that's true and if you have people who were nominated, and in the case of President Bush actually elected to be president by Republicans, and they will no longer support the Republican nominee who went through the process and got elected," Huckabee said, "then I'm going to be not just unhappy, I'm going to be livid." He went on to say that he and his fellow conservatives "didn't all agree on some of the policies of Bush or McCain or Romney" but "when it came down to it" they knew they could either "choose a far-left liberal or we could choose somebody that was closer to our views."Huckabee admitted that Trump might not have the best "bedside manner," but still, he added, "Here's what I just don't understand with these never-Trumpers." "This president is more pro-life than we've ever had, period," he said. "He's more pro-Israel. He has deregulated so much government so that the businesses of America can thrive and they have until this COVID stuff happened." He notably neglected to mention that the president's inaction on COVID-19 made that situation much worse.LeBron James Calls Out Fox News Host Laura Ingraham Over Drew Brees HypocrisyAfter baselessly claiming that Trump has "done more for minorities than any president in my lifetime in actually helping people to have good, decent jobs and a future," Huckabee told Republicans who don't like Trump's "personality" to "get over it!" "This is not about electing a personality," Huckabee said. "This isn't Hollywood. This is the rough, tumble world of politics. And maybe he's not as genteel as some of us would like. But, by gosh, he's getting the job done, and it's time Republicans rally because if they don't, they're going to get Joe Biden, who isn't pro-life, who is for higher taxes, open borders, he's going to succumb to China. Everything that we find disgusting he's going to embrace it, including the socialists out here. That's why we have to realize this is a simple choice and we better make the right move." After Huckabee delivered his fear-based rant Sunday morning on Fox, yet another prominent Republican, former Secretary of State Colin Powell, officially endorsed Joe Biden on CNN. Calling Trump's rhetoric "dangerous for our democracy" and "dangerous for our country," Powell said he believes "the country is getting wise to this and we're not going to put up with it anymore." Joe Biden Gets Super Unhelpful Defense from Mike HuckabeeRead more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| Buffalo mayor says elderly protester pushed to ground by police was an 'agitator' Posted: 06 Jun 2020 05:17 AM PDT  The mayor of Buffalo has said that the elderly protester filmed being knocked to the ground by police in a now viral video was an "agitator" who has been asked to leave the area "numerous" times.Byron Brown said that the 75-year-old man, Martin Gugino, was trying to "spark up the crowd of people".
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| Migrant worker virus exodus plunges India's factories into crisis Posted: 07 Jun 2020 12:40 AM PDT  An acute shortage of workers has turned the roar of machines to a soft hum at a footwear factory near New Delhi, just one of thousands in India struggling to restart after an exodus of migrant workers during the virus lockdown. India is slowly emerging from strict containment measures imposed in late March as leaders look to revive the battered economy, but manufacturers don't have enough workers to man the machinery. Kharbanda said the company's sports shoe unit had been sitting idle as there were no skilled workers to operate the high-tech machines.
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| Coronavirus news and updates: Global deaths top 400K; US officials urge demonstrators to get tested; New York to allow in-person graduations Posted: 07 Jun 2020 03:33 PM PDT  Global deaths top 400,000. U.S. officials urge demonstrators to get tested. NY to allow in-person graduations. The latest coronavirus news.
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| U.S. coronavirus deaths top 110,000 as cases approach 2 million: Reuters tally Posted: 07 Jun 2020 09:00 AM PDT  About 1,000 Americans have died on average each day so far in June, down from a peak of 2,000 a day in April, according to the tally of state and county data on COVID-19 deaths. Total U.S. coronavirus cases are approaching 2 million, the highest in the world followed by Brazil with about 672,000 cases and Russia with about 467,000. Globally, coronavirus cases are approaching 7 million with about 400,000 deaths since the outbreak began in China late last year and then arrived in Europe and the United States.
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| 'Clinics will be forced to close': Abortion rights backers fearful of upcoming Supreme Court ruling Posted: 07 Jun 2020 03:55 PM PDT  A Louisiana law in question requires clinic doctors to have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles.
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| The president of the Chicago Police Board said he was struck five times by officers with batons after trying to defuse tensions at a protest Posted: 05 Jun 2020 11:42 PM PDT  "This is the duality I live with as a black man in America, even one who is privileged to be part of systems of power," Ghian Foreman said.
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| Deputy killed in California ambush by Air Force sergeant Posted: 07 Jun 2020 09:39 AM PDT  A Northern California sheriff's deputy was killed and two law enforcement officers wounded Saturday when they were ambushed with gunfire and explosives while pursuing a suspect, authorities said. The U.S. Air Force confirmed Sunday that the suspect was an active duty sergeant stationed at Travis Air Force Base. Sgt. Damon Gutzwiller, 38, was shot and killed in Ben Lomond, an unincorporated area near Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz County Sheriff Jim Hart said.
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| Al-Qaeda chief in north Africa Abdelmalek Droukdel killed - France Posted: 06 Jun 2020 01:44 AM PDT  Veteran jihadist Abdelmalek Droukdel was killed in an operation in Mali, the defence minister says.
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| Coronavirus: Factory discards Covid-19 swab tests after Trump visit Posted: 06 Jun 2020 11:44 AM PDT  A medical swab manufacturer was forced to discard coronavirus tests following Donald Trump's visit to its Maine facility, according to USA Today.While workers in lab coats and personal protective equipment worked on the factory floor during the president's visit to Puritan Medical Products on Friday, Mr Trump — who did not wear a mask — walked through the facility and visited with workers.
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| New Orleans Braces for Deadly Storm Surges and Heavy Rainfall as Tropical Storm Cristobal Approaches Posted: 07 Jun 2020 07:59 AM PDT  Life-threatening storm surges could affect regions from "the mouth of the Mississippi River to Ocean Springs, Miss."
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| Marines order Confederate flags removed in ban that includes bumper stickers and clothing Posted: 06 Jun 2020 06:30 PM PDT  The order directs Marine Corps commanders to find and remove displays of the Confederate flag in public areas, including bumper stickers and clothing.
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| 'Numerous' reports of looting in retaken Libyan towns, UN says Posted: 07 Jun 2020 08:49 AM PDT  The United Nations has received "numerous" reports of looting and destruction in two towns outside Tripoli retaken by the forces of Libya's internationally recognised government, it said on Sunday. Forces of the Turkish-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) on Thursday recaptured Tarhouna as part of an advance ending a 14-month offensive on the capital by the eastern-based Libyan National Army (LNA) of Khalifa Haftar. Since the LNA -- backed by Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Russia -- retreated, videos have been posted online purportedly showing looting of shops and torching of homes of families associated with the LNA and its local backers.
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| GoFundMe Suspends Candace Owens After She Trashes George Floyd Posted: 07 Jun 2020 08:06 AM PDT  GoFundMe suspended pro-Trump personality Candace Owens from its fundraising platform on Sunday, after Owens raised more than $200,000 on the site for an Alabama cafe whose owner called George Floyd a "thug." Owens has become one of the right's most prominent critics of Floyd and the protests held after his killing, with one video she made highlighting his criminal record going viral on Facebook. Those same remarks appear to have prompted GoFundMe to ban Owens. She later repeated the same attacks on Floyd during a chat with right-wing star Glenn Beck, and that video was then boosted by President Donald Trump. In a statement, GoFundMe said that Owens, who is black, had spread "falsehoods against the black community." "GoFundMe has suspended the account associated with Candace Owens and the GoFundMe campaign has been removed because of a repeated pattern of inflammatory statements that spread hate, discrimination, intolerance and falsehoods against the black community at a time of profound national crisis," the fundraising platform said in a statement. "These actions violate our terms of service." Owens had been raising money for the Parkside Cafe in Birmingham, Alabama, which has been embroiled in social-media controversy after co-owner Michael Dykes called Floyd a "thug" and described protesters as "idiots" in a text message that was later posted online. In his text message, Dykes also discussed raising prices and charging a "protest tax."The cafe has since apologized for Dykes's tweet. And in its statement, GoFundMe said it would transfer the money Owens raised to the cafe after ending the fundraising campaign.Owens reacted to her GoFundMe suspension on Twitter, saying it was proof that conservatives live in a "a world that tells us that our very existence is unacceptable."Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| Yes, the Air Force Will Arms Its Jets With Hypersonic Missiles Posted: 06 Jun 2020 12:30 PM PDT  Here's what they can do.
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| Dispatch: 'A bad officer can just laugh' - George Floyd's killing and Minneapolis police failures Posted: 07 Jun 2020 09:20 AM PDT  On Sept 9, 2010 David Cornelius Smith, 28, an unarmed black man, died face down on a YMCA basketball court in Minneapolis as a white officer knelt on him for four minutes. Police had been called because Mr Smith was "throwing a basketball aggressively". No criminal charges were brought, and the officer was not disciplined. No one on the court had a smartphone and there was little coverage of the incident, even locally. America has not heard the name of David Cornelius Smith. A decade later, two miles away, and in remarkably similar circumstances - they both suffocated - George Floyd, an unarmed black man, died on a street corner beneath the knee of Derek Chauvin, a white officer. Bystanders filmed it, and America erupted in protest. But, shocking as it was, Mr Floyd's death was no isolated case.
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| Column: Trump finds an unexpected center of resistance: the Pentagon Posted: 07 Jun 2020 04:00 AM PDT  What we're seeing is a quiet revolt — and a warning to Trump that he can't count on his generals if he issues orders they find profoundly wrong.
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| Great white shark kills surfer off Australia's New South Wales Posted: 07 Jun 2020 12:29 AM PDT  The surfer was brought back to the New South Wales beach by "heroic" boarders but died of his wounds.
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| Libya govt says Sirte offensive launched as general backs ceasefire Posted: 06 Jun 2020 09:56 AM PDT  Forces loyal to Libya's UN-recognised government said they launched an offensive Saturday to seize the strategic city of Sirte, as rival strongman Khalifa Haftar backed an Egypt-proposed ceasefire following a string of military setbacks. "The air force has carried out five strikes in the outskirts of Sirte," slain dictator Moamer Kadhafi's hometown and the last major settlement before the traditional boundary between Libya's west and east, GNA spokesman Mohamad Gnounou said. Sirte was taken by General Haftar's forces virtually without a fight in January after one of Libya's myriad local militias switched sides.
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| Italy reports 53 COVID deaths on Sunday, 197 new cases Posted: 07 Jun 2020 09:10 AM PDT  Italy reported 53 new COVID-19 deaths on Sunday against 72 a day earlier and 197 new cases, down from 270 the day before, the Civil Protection department said. With a total number of confirmed cases at 234,998, Italy now has the seventh highest global tally. The northern region of Lombardy, where the outbreak was first identified, remains by far the worst affected region, accounting for 125 of the 197 new cases reported on Sunday.
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| Is the Confederate Flag Unconstitutional? Posted: 07 Jun 2020 04:30 AM PDT  For those who want the flag to come down, the message is a reminder of white supremacy and the war fought to maintain slavery.
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