| PHOTOS: Some of the many times Trump has appeared in public without covering his face Posted: 06 Oct 2020 02:09 PM PDT  One of the most pressing questions raised by President Trump falling ill with COVID-19 has been when, exactly, he contracted the coronavirus. It's impossible to know for sure, in part because he has had so many interactions with aides, family members, political figures and strangers.
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| ISIS terrorists known as the 'Beatles' likely to be brought to U.S. in coming days Posted: 06 Oct 2020 02:03 AM PDT  Alexanda Kotey and El Shafee Elsheikh, who are in U.S. military custody in Iraq, are accused of taking part in kidnappings of U.S. aid workers and reporters.
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| Surgeon general reportedly cited for violating Hawaii's coronavirus policies Posted: 06 Oct 2020 11:54 AM PDT  Surgeon General Jerome Adams went to Hawaii to aid in its coronavirus response — and reportedly ended up violating the state's coronavirus policies himself.According to a police citation dated Aug. 23, Adams was spotted in Kualoa Regional Park, which was closed amid the pandemic, Axios reports. Adams told the officer he was there to work with the governor, but was still issued a citation and has a court date set for Oct. 21.Adams was seen "with two other males standing, looking at the view taking pictures," the citation said. He put on his mask once he started to walk back to his car. When the officer confronted Adams, he said he didn't know the park was closed, per the citation. But Adams joined Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell just two days later when he announced Honolulu's parks, beaches, and trails had been and would remain closed.Adams is among tens of thousands of Honolulu residents who have recently faced citations for violating pandemic rules, Honolulu Civil Beat reports. Violators face up to a year in jail and a $5,000 fine. Hundreds of cases have been dismissed, but Adams' is still listed as active on the court system's website, Axios reports.Axios also notes Adams' violation "is very minor," even in comparison to instances where Trump administration officials have violated coronavirus safety protocols.More stories from theweek.com President Superspreader Trump is finally doubling down on COVID skepticism 5 worrying red flags from Trump's doctor
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| Venice successfully stopped a flood for the first time by raising a mile-long network of barriers to hold back the sea Posted: 06 Oct 2020 09:37 AM PDT  The mile-long network of barriers, named MOSE in a nod to the the Biblical figure Moses, blocked high water from entering Venice's lagoon.
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| Trump administration will cease federal funding to hospitals that do not report COVID-19 data Posted: 06 Oct 2020 03:10 PM PDT  Starting Wednesday, hospitals will be given 14 weeks to provide daily reporting to HHS on COVID-19 cases and deaths, as well as other information such as influenza cases and use of personal protective equipment, the officials said. Hospitals that fail to comply will lose access to reimbursement from Medicare and Medicaid, federal insurance programs for seniors, the disabled, and people with low incomes, they said. The data will help coordinate the federal government's response to COVID-19, including helping allocate supplies of antiviral drug remdesivir, and distribute its stockpile of personal protective equipment, such as surgical masks, said Deborah Birx, the White House Coronavirus Task Force coordinator.
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| Who is Susan Page? Meet the moderator for the vice presidential debate Posted: 06 Oct 2020 12:36 PM PDT  The USA Today Washington bureau chief will be in charge when Vice President Mike Pence and Sen. Kamala Harris face off on Wednesday.
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| In California: Newsom’s nominee for state Supreme Court would make history Posted: 05 Oct 2020 06:11 PM PDT  If confirmed, Martin Jenkins would be the court's first gay Black member. Plus, California is the 6th happiest state and Uber and Lyft spend nearly $100M to overturn a state law that would make them classify drivers as employees.
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| Vigil for black man killed by white officer in Texas thrown into chaos as white gunman arrives ‘to protect my city' Posted: 06 Oct 2020 12:22 PM PDT  A vigil for a black Texas man shot and killed by a white police officer turned tense when a white gunman arrived
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| DNI Releases CIA Documents on Clinton’s ‘Plan’ to Tie Trump Campaign to Russia Posted: 06 Oct 2020 01:43 PM PDT  Former CIA Director John Brennan briefed former President Obama on Hillary Clinton's "plan" to tie the Trump campaign to Russia as a means of distracting the public from her private email server scandal before the 2016 election, according to newly declassified documents.Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe on Tuesday declassified Brennan's handwritten notes along with a CIA memo showing that officials referred the alleged scheme to the FBI for potential investigation."Today, at the direction of President Trump, I declassified additional documents relevant to ongoing Congressional oversight and investigative activities," Ratcliffe said in a statement.Brennan's notes, which were taken after he briefed Obama on the intelligence, cite "a proposal from one of her foreign policy advisers to vilify Donald Trump by stirring up a scandal claiming interference by the Russian security service," which was "alleged approved by Hillary Clinton."The heavily-redacted CIA memo references "an exchange discussing U.S. presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's approval of a plan concerning U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump and Russian hackers hampering U.S. elections as a means of distracting the public from her use of a private email server."In 2016, the Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee contracted Fusion GPS and former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele to compile the controversial Russian dossier, which purported to draw a connection between the Trump campaign and Russia and contained salacious allegations about Trump, then the Republican nominee.The dossier was later used in applications to surveil Trump associate Carter Page. The Justice Department's inspector general has since concluded that the FBI did not inform the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court that the dossier was unreliable."The following information is provided for the exclusive use of your bureau for background investigative action or lead purposes as appropriate," states the CIA memo, which was sent to then-FBI Director James Comey and Peter Strzok, then the deputy assistant director of counterintelligence.Last week, Comey told the Senate Judiciary Committee that he did not remember whether he received an investigative referral on Clinton in September 2016."That doesn't ring any bells with me," Comey said."That's a pretty stunning thing that it doesn't ring a bell," Republican Chairman Lindsey Graham responded. "You get this inquiry from the intelligence community to look at the Clinton campaign trying to create a distraction, accusing Trump of being a Russian agent or a Russian stooge."The newly declassified documents have been forwarded to the House and Senate Intelligence Committees by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.
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| Man faces charges after 80-year-old dies following mask dispute Posted: 06 Oct 2020 09:05 AM PDT  "We see it everywhere, where people are confronting one another and having arguments about not wearing masks," the district attorney said." It's unfortunate "this escalated" into a man's dying.
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| Report: White House chief of staff blocking new coronavirus vaccine guidelines Posted: 05 Oct 2020 08:13 PM PDT  The White House is blocking strict new coronavirus vaccine guidelines proposed by the Food and Drug Administration due to a provision that would likely prevent any vaccine from being authorized before the November election, several people familiar with the matter told The New York Times. The guidelines are intended to reassure the public that coronavirus vaccines are being held to a common standard, the Times reports. They were submitted to the Office of Management and Budget for approval on Sept. 21, but White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows has intervened, questioning the need for researchers to follow vaccine trial volunteers for two months after they receive their final dose. Per the guidelines, this would have to happen before authorization is granted for a vaccine, with FDA officials saying it's necessary to determine if there are side effects and to make sure the vaccine protects people for longer than a few weeks.Trump has been promising a vaccine and pushing for one to be released before the Nov. 3 presidential election, and under the guidelines it is highly unlikely a vaccine would be authorized before then. The FDA is now going around the White House, the Times reports, and will share the guidelines with an outside advisory committee with the hope that they will enforce the standards. Read more at The New York Times.More stories from theweek.com President Superspreader Trump is finally doubling down on COVID skepticism 5 worrying red flags from Trump's doctor
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| As Bangladesh hosts over a million Rohingya refugees, a scholar explains what motivated the country to open up its borders Posted: 06 Oct 2020 05:17 AM PDT  Over 1.1 million Rohingyas continue to remain stranded in crowded camps in Bangladesh while the international community fails to provide a resolution to the crisis. When in 2017 this lower-middle-income, majority Muslim country opened its borders to the Rohingya fleeing ethnic cleansing in Myanmar, they were largely welcomed. Bangladesh's Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina stated back then: "We have the ability to feed 160 million people of Bangladesh and we have enough food security to feed the 700,000 refugees." It wasn't just the government. Many private citizens came forward to offer assistance. Existing data indicates that 86% of residents in Teknaf, which is the closest administrative region to the Rakhine state from which most Rohingya originate, were involved in providing emergency relief and housing to the new arrivals. In an era when many rich nations have tried to stop the entry of refugees, Bangladesh's decision to accept refugees in the early days of the crisis could seem puzzling. A scholar of refugees and forced migration, I spent the summer of 2019 in Bangladesh to understand the forces that shaped this initial humanitarian response. Faith and moralityMy ongoing research indicates that many factors played a critical role in Bangladesh's political decision to host the Rohingya, including the country's cultural and religious identity, which centers around ideas of community and responding to those in need.Interviews conducted with political leaders, NGOs and local volunteers revealed that the shared Islamic faith and the Muslim identity of many of the Bangladeshis and the vast majority of the Rohingya galvanized humanitarian assistance in two specific ways. First, the Islamic concepts of "zakat," obligatory charity, which is one of the five pillars of Islam, and that of "sadaqa," or voluntary charity, played crucial roles in motivating private citizens to offer emergency assistance. Both these concepts emphasize the imperative to give to those in need. Religious leaders also used these concepts to encourage donations. In her 2019 address to the United Nations, Prime Minister Hasina referred to humanitarianism in Islam to explain her border policy. Second, the fact that the Muslim Rohingya in particular were being persecuted because of their faith compounded the sense of urgency among those who identified as Muslim to assist the Rohingya. While the vast majority of the Rohingya who fled to Bangladesh were Muslim, smaller numbers of Hindu and Christian Rohingya who arrived with the influx also received emergency assistance and shelter.However, not all those who were interviewed invoked religion to explain their actions. A medical volunteer interviewed for the research said, "Why did we respond? Because it was … the moral thing to do, the humanitarian thing to do. Why shouldn't we? The crisis had literally arrived at our house. How could we even think of turning them away?" Role of culture and historyA recurrent theme in my research was the emphasis around Bangladeshi culture with its focus on sharing one's resources with others in need. Furthermore, like many other countries in Latin America, Asia, Africa, and Oceania, which are commonly referred to as the global south, Bangladesh has historically had a fluid border – with Myanmar and India. People move across these borders for agricultural purposes. Marriages between Rohingya and Bangladeshis have been common, and the local population and the Rohingya are able to understand one another's languages.According to a 2018 survey, 81% of respondents believed that the local integration of the Rohingya is possible given that the vast majority of the local population and the Rohingya share many religious, cultural and linguistic practices. Memories of past traumaThe legacy of a painful past also played a role for many Bangladeshis. In 1971, during Bangladesh's war of independence from then West Pakistan (now Pakistan) 10 million Bengalis sought refuge in India to escape a campaign of genocide by the then West Pakistan military. A number of those interviewed for my research underscored the historical memory of this event as being a catalyst for explaining Bangladesh's decision to open its borders. Prime Minister Hasina invoked this history in her 2017 address at the United Nations. She talked about her own experience as a refugee following the 1975 assassination of her father, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Known as the "Father of the Nation," Mujibur Rahman played a key role in Bangladeshi's independence movement.A researcher of Bangladesh's independence struggle stated, "The loss she suffered with the assassination of her whole family except her one sister who was abroad at the time, and the inability to return to her country following the tragedy has had a lasting impact on her life … something about the desperation of those people connected with her on a very personal level and she wanted to do something to help." Leadership in uncertain timesIn recent years, Bangladesh has demonstrated a growing interest in matters of international peace and security. It has received awards from the United Nations for fighting climate change and meeting goals of its immunization program, and it remains the largest contributor to U.N. peacekeeping operations. Since 2017, Bangladesh has submitted three proposals at the United Nations General Assembly to address the Rohingya crisis, including in 2019, drawing support from Rohingya activists. Bangladesh, however, is not a state party to the 1951 Refugee Convention, the post-World War II legal document that defines the term "refugee," the obligations of states to protect them, including not returning any individual to a country where they would face torture, or degrading treatment. Instead, Bangladesh refers to the Rohingya as Forcibly Displaced Myanmar Nationals (FDMNs). This means that, officially, the Rohingya do not have a legally protected status in Bangladesh. Nevertheless, low-and middle-income countries like Pakistan and Bangladesh, which are not state parties to the convention, are among the largest refugee-hosting countries in the world. Disproportionate burdenHowever, in recent times, as the Rohingya situation becomes more protracted, Bangladesh is starting to face internal tensions as prospects for repatriation become less likely.The large refugee population has imposed significant infrastructural, social, financial and environmental pressures and has raised concerns about land insecurity – a serious issue in an overpopulated country. My research further indicated that the significant presence of international NGOs in the Cox's Bazar area, home to the world's largest refugee camp, is impacting the local economy by driving up prices. Local tensions have emerged over government and international aid that has been largely geared toward the Rohingya. In a change of tone, at a three-day Dhaka Global Dialogue in 2019, Prime Minister Hasina referred to the Rohingya as a "threat to the security" of the region. In 2020, Bangladesh began building barbed-wire fencing and installing watchtowers around the camps, citing security concerns. A restriction on access to high-speed internet in the camps was imposed but recently lifted. With the emergence of COVID-19 in the camps, additional challenges have emerged. These have included the spread of infection in cramped camps that lack access to water and testing as well as limited understanding about the virus. [Deep knowledge, daily. Sign up for The Conversation's newsletter.]Meanwhile, Myanmar's reluctance to ensure a safe return for the Rohingya, and the realities of COVID-19, have made the prospects of repatriation increasingly dim. As Bangladesh grapples with the pandemic while serving as one of the world's largest refugee host countries, it serves as a reminder of the disproportionate responsibility carried by low-income countries of hosting refugees and the challenges therein.This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts.Read more: * I visited the Rohingya camps in Myanmar and here is what I saw * Myanmar charged with genocide of Rohingya Muslims: 5 essential readsTazreena Sajjad does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
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| Arkansas Republican County Chair Dies of COVID-19 Weeks After His Committee Hosted Maskless Gathering Posted: 06 Oct 2020 10:28 AM PDT  The chairman of an Arkansas county Republican committee died from complications associated with COVID-19 on Tuesday—less than one month after his organization hosted a maskless gathering with other elected leaders. Steven Farmer, who served as the chairman of the Craighead County Republican Committee, died on Tuesday after a weeks-long battle with the coronavirus that resulted in a stay at the ICU and a ventilator, his daughter and the organization announced. The news comes just three weeks after his committee hosted an event with Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) and Rep. Louis Gohmert (R-TX), who contracted COVID-19 in July, for Reagan Day. Photos of the event show few attendees wearing masks and minimal social distancing. Arkansas state Rep. Dan Sullivan, who is currently spearheading a lawsuit to overturn the mask mandate and other health directives in his state, also appears to have spoken at the event.A committee spokesperson told The Daily Beast that Farmer, who also served as the superintendent of the Jonesboro Human Development Center, did not attend the Sept. 14 event. Now Kayleigh McEnany Has COVID, Making a Dozen From Rose Garden Ceremony"Dad's soul is singing today even though ours aren't. But grief is the price you pay for being blessed enough to experience the kind of love that dad gave and lived through his actions every day," Audrey Haynie, Farmer's daughter, said in a Tuesday Facebook post. "I'm sorry we couldn't save you....but I know that you're even more perfect now than when you were here. We will see your face and hear your voice in everyone and everything you left here.....in your legacy. Thank you for that. For the gift of you. We'll be seeing you."Haynie has chronicled her father's illness since Sept. 18, posting on Facebook that he was admitted to the ICU the same week as the Reagan Day event. Over several posts, Farmer's daughter described how the GOP county chair had been showing some signs of recovery until Sept. 25—when his condition took a turn for the worse. "We got a horrible report this morning. The doctor called me and said he was very worried that dad was not going to make it through this," Haynie wrote, adding that her father was beginning to show signs of shock. On Monday, Haynie posted, "Breathe easy, dad. Just breathe," while sharing that his EEG showed that Farmer had minimal brain activity.Following Haynie's announcement about her father's passing, the Craighead County Republican Committee released a statement, calling Farmer a "great caring friend to all and a dedicated leader." In addition to his duties as chairman of the GOP committee, Farmer has also served as coordinator for the Craighead County Crisis Response Team. According to KAIT, Farmer was a former board member of the Arkansas Crisis Response Team, and served as a chaplain for the Jonesboro Fire Department.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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| North Cyprus to reopen beach abandoned in no-man's land since 1974 conflict Posted: 06 Oct 2020 07:27 AM PDT  Northern Cyprus said on Tuesday it will reopen the beach area of an abandoned resort in no-man's land, a move condemned by Greek Cypriots and likely to conjure up memories of the 1974 Turkish invasion that partitioned the island. Ersin Tatar, premier of the breakaway state of Northern Cyprus, made the announcement in Ankara alongside Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, who said he backed the decision on Varosha, sealed off within barbed wire for decades. The move could weigh on Turkey's dispute with European Union members Cyprus and Greece over territorial rights in the Eastern Mediterranean.
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| Hurricane Delta now Category 4 storm Posted: 06 Oct 2020 11:46 AM PDT  Hurricane Delta intensified into a Category 4 hurricane with 130 mph winds on Tuesday on a course to batter southeastern Mexico on its approach to the U.S. Gulf Coast this week.
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| US court orders Iran to pay $1.4 bn damages to missing intelligence agent Robert Levinson's family Posted: 06 Oct 2020 05:03 AM PDT  A US court has ordered Iran to pay $1.45 billion to the family of a former FBI agent who is believed to have been detained by the Iranian government while on a secret CIA mission to an Iranian island. Robert Levinson, who disappeared aged 58 on Kish island in March 2007, is believed by his family and the US government to have died in Iranian custody aged 71 or 72 after becoming the longest-held hostage in US history. US District Judge Timothy Kelly signed an order last Thursday awarding his family $107 million in compensation and punitive damages of $1.3 billion. Iranian state media and officials have not acknowledged the ruling in the case, which Iran did not defend. The order is unlikely to be paid in full, with damages coming from a US government fund for victims of state-sponsored terrorism, but Mr Levinson's family welcomed the judgement. "This judgment is the first step in the pursuit of justice for Robert Levinson, an American patriot who was kidnapped and subjected to unimaginable suffering for more than 13 years," his family said. "Until now, Iran has faced no consequences for its actions. Judge Kelly's decision won't bring Bob home, but we hope that it will serve as a warning against further hostage taking by Iran," the family said, adding: "We intend to find any and every avenue, and pursue all options, to seek justice for Robert Levinson." In March, Mr Levinson's family said information they received from US officials suggested he had died in Iranian custody. Iran denied this, saying he had left the country "years ago". Mr Levinson disappeared on Kish island after meeting an American Islamic militant who fled to Iran while facing charges over the murder of an Iranian embassy official in Washington. Months later, US government sources acknowledged that Mr Levinson had an informal contractual relationship with the Central Intelligence Agency. Shortly after he went missing, Iran said its security forces had detained Mr Levinson. That statement was later retracted and nothing was heard of him until 2010, when a video was released showing him looking haggard and thin. "I am not in very good health," he said in the footage in which he appealed to the US government to "answer the requests of the group" holding him. "I am running very quickly out of diabetes medicine," he said.
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| Kidnapped Mexican model’s body found in mass grave Posted: 06 Oct 2020 10:27 AM PDT  The disappearance led to street protests in Mexico demanding justice, with police since arresting three men over the crime
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| Trump campaign discussing plans to appoint its own state electors, no matter the results: report Posted: 06 Oct 2020 02:00 AM PDT  A real nightmare scenario: The eight closest battleground states might send competing sets of electors to Congress
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| India police book hundreds over 'foreign involvement' in gang-rape protests Posted: 06 Oct 2020 07:58 AM PDT  Indian police on Tuesday accused foreign human rights groups and Muslim organisations of inciting caste tensions after widespread protests against their handling of a gang-rape and murder of a young Dalit woman.
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| US trade deficit up to $67.1 billion in August, 14-year high Posted: 06 Oct 2020 05:43 AM PDT  The U.S. trade deficit rose in August to the highest level in 14 years. The Commerce Department reported Tuesday that the gap between the goods and services the United States sells and what it buys abroad climbed 5.9% in August to $67.1 billion, highest since August 2006. The U.S. deficit with the rest of the world in the trade of goods such as airplanes and appliances set a record $83.9 billion in August.
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| ‘Vanished Into Thin Air’: Florida Mom Disappears After Withdrawing $20 From ATM Posted: 06 Oct 2020 12:11 PM PDT  Authorities on Tuesday continued their frantic search for a Florida mother who disappeared over a week ago after withdrawing $20 from an ATM.Stephanie Hollingsworth, 50, left her home around noon on Sept. 25 and drove to a local Bank of America to withdraw $20, the Belle Isle Police Department said. The mother of three then stopped by a Walmart around 2 p.m., where she was caught on store cameras walking through an aisle near the entrance. Belle Isle Police Chief Laura Houston told The Daily Beast on Tuesday that during her brief trip to the superstore, Hollingsworth was caught on camera buying "a small bottle of vodka.""She's a beautiful soul that was dedicated to her family and community," one family friend told The Daily Beast. "It's completely out of character for her to just completely disappear without telling anybody."Missing Amish Teen Went to Church on Sunday—and Never Came HomeThe Belle Isle Police Department has launched a massive multi-county search and announced a $5,000 reward for helpful information related to the case. Despite coordinating with the woman's family, who have created a makeshift "command post" and distributed hundreds of flyers throughout the Orlando area, a police spokesperson told The Daily Beast their office has not yet received any "meaningful leads.""I am extremely concerned about her well-being, but we have no idea what happened yet. Did someone accost her? We don't know. It could be anything," Houston told The Daily Beast on Tuesday. > PLEASE SHARE: Belle Isle PD & the family of the mother of 3 StephanieHollingsworth need your help locating her. She was last seen on Friday, Sept. 25th in her Chevy Tahoe FL/ Y50XUR at a nearby Walmart on S Goldenrod Rd. Any info? Contact @CrimelineFL or call 407-836-4357. pic.twitter.com/3cdnJBenAi> > — Orlando Police (@OrlandoPolice) October 6, 2020Multiple municipalities in Central Florida have joined the search and are hoping to locate the yoga instructor's silver Chevy Tahoe."Right now, we got 50 tips today, so things are moving along, and we have the support from the governor's office and other Florida counties. So we are hopeful," Houston said. She added that while Hollingsworth's husband suspects foul play was involved in his wife's disappearance, police are "not there yet."On Sept. 25, Hollingsworth left her house, which is about 20 minutes outside of Orlando, in her Tahoe and went to the Bank of America drive-thru to withdraw $20 in cash. "Stephanie took her purse and left her cell phone at the residence," police said in a Sept. 29 statement, adding that Hollingsworth "suffers from some mental conditions and needs care."Houston said that additional footage from Walmart shows Hollingsworth using a $20 bill to purchase a small bottle. Authorities believe the purchase and her hasty departure from home implies she was in an "vulnerable state.""We don't have any more information than that," her husband, Scott Hollingsworth, told People. "But she couldn't have made it far with only $20. She hasn't been seen, and the Tahoe hasn't been picked up on any intersection or toll road cameras.""She basically vanished into thin air. It makes no sense," he added.Larry Miles, another family friend, told The Daily Beast that it was completely out of Hollingsworth's character to leave for several hours without a way to be reached.Police Search for Missing Texas Mom and Her 2-Week-Old BabyPolice say surveillance video from the bank does not seem to show Hollingsworth in distress. According to a surveillance video released Monday, Hollingsworth entered an Orlando Walmart around 2 p.m. wearing a face mask and dark clothing and then abruptly walked out. The 50-year-old appeared to be holding something in her hand.Hollingsworth's friend said she has a "heart of gold," and her family is desperate to find her. Since her disappearance, hundreds of community members have helped the Hollingsworth family pass out flyers and conduct searches. Miles added that Hollingsworth was "very spiritual" and "a very strong Christian woman."Hollingsworth's family did not immediately respond to The Daily Beast's requests for comment."She's got three boys and we just want her back safe," the friend added.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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| UK court overturns Venezuela judgment in $1 billion gold tug-of-war Posted: 05 Oct 2020 03:49 AM PDT  A tug-of-war over $1 billion worth of Venezuelan gold stored at the Bank of England took a new turn on Monday as the English Court of Appeal overturned an earlier High Court ruling on who the UK recognised as Venezuela's president. The Court of Appeal granted the Nicolas Maduro-backed Banco Central de Venezuela's (BCV) appeal and set aside July's High Court judgement, which had found that Britain's recognition of opposition leader Juan Guaidó as "constitutional interim president of Venezuela" was conclusive. The BCV sued the Bank of England in May to recover control of the gold, which it says it will sell to finance Venezuela's response to the coronavirus pandemic.
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| California wildfires spawn first ‘gigafire’ in modern history Posted: 06 Oct 2020 09:11 AM PDT  August complex fire expanded beyond 1m acres, elevating it from a mere 'megafire' to a new classification: 'gigafire'California's extraordinary year of wildfires has spawned another new milestone – the first "gigafire", a blaze spanning 1m acres, in modern history.On Monday, the August complex fire in northern California expanded beyond 1m acres, elevating it from a mere "megafire" to a new classification, "gigafire", never used before in a contemporary setting in the state.At 1.03m acres, the fire is larger than the state of Rhode Island and is raging across seven counties, according to fire agency Cal Fire. An amalgamation of several fires caused when lightning struck dry forests in August, the vast conflagration has been burning for 50 days and is only half-contained.The August complex fire heads a list of huge fires that have chewed through 4m acres of California this year, a figure called "mind-boggling" by Cal Fire and double the previous annual record. Five of the six largest fires ever recorded in the state have occurred in 2020, resulting in several dozen deaths and thousands of lost buildings.There is little sign of California's biggest ever fire season receding. The state endured a heatwave this summer, aiding the formation of enormous wildfires even without the seasonal winds that usually fan the blazes that have historically dotted the west coast.Vast, out-of-control fires are increasingly a feature in the US west due to the climate crisis, scientists say, with rising temperatures and prolonged drought causing vegetation and soils to lose moisture.This parched landscape makes larger fires far more likely. Big wildfires are three times more common across the west than in the 1970s, while the wildfire season is three months longer, according to an analysis by Climate Central."We predicted last year that we were living with the chance of such an extreme event under our current climate," said Jennifer Balch, a fire ecologist at the University of Colorado Boulder. "Don't need a crystal ball."The 2020 fire season has caused choking smoke to blanket the west coast and at times blot out the sun. But experts warn this year may soon seem mild by comparison as the world continues to heat up due to the release of greenhouse gases from human activity."If you don't like all of the climate disasters happening in 2020, I have some bad news for you about the rest of your life," said Andrew Dessler, a climate scientist at Texas A&M University.Parts of California are expected to receive some relief this week, with temperatures in northern California dropping up to 15F by Friday, according to the National Weather Service. Meteorologists are forecasting some light to moderate showers that could aid in firefighting efforts in the north, but climate scientists warn that it likely won't be a season-ending storm."The temperatures will start dropping closer to seasonal normals, the relative humidity will slowly start climbing up and we'll start to see lighter winds," said Tom Bird, incident meteorologist on the Glass fire, which has devastated parts of wine country and continues to burn. Rain forecasted for this weekend would be a "temporary dip" in the fire weather, but, come next week, "we will warm up, dry up again", Bird said. "By no means are we looking to end the fire season with this event."> CA fire weather update: pattern change still looks likely for Fri-Sat, but models trending drier (as ensembles had suggested was possible). Still a good chance of light-mod showers from Bay Area northward. Will help w/fires & smoke, but will not be season-ending. CAwx CAfire pic.twitter.com/TAASIhj5OQ> > — Daniel Swain (@Weather_West) October 6, 2020Much of the Central Valley is still under an air quality alert because of wildfire smoke from the Creek fire, which has burned more than 326,000 acres, and the SQF Complex fire, which has burned nearly 159,000 acres in the Sierra National Forest.Northwest California, where the August Complex fire rages, had air quality "in the unhealthy to locally hazardous category" as well. Meanwhile, coastal swathes of the state woke up to dense fog on Tuesday, a confusing contrast to the smoke-filled haze that many got used to seeing during the peak of the wildfires.
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| UK looks to expand Five Eyes alliance to 'send message to China' Posted: 06 Oct 2020 02:26 AM PDT  Ben Wallace has warned that the UK is looking at "deepening our Five Eyes" by recruiting more countries in order to "send a message to China". The Defence Secretary told a ConservativeHome event at the Tory Party Conference that the UK would look to partner with other countries as part of the intelligence alliance which consists of the US, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. He said: "We would absolutely continue to explore new working with new partners in Asia and deepening our Five Eyes. "New Zealand and Australia are obviously over there. Mutual help and mutual signalling about standing by each other is really important for us sending a message to China. "I would absolutely consider doing more with it and in fact we are already working around some of those Asia groupings that allow international observers or indeed partner status. So we will be doing more of that, that's really the best way we can do it." Relations have been strained between Beijing and the UK after Boris Johnson bowed to the demands of backbench MPs in July and banned Huawei from the 5G network, with the agreement to strip out all of its existing infrastructure over the next few years. Huawei is viewed as a security threat because of laws in China that oblige private companies to hand over data to the government if required. Earlier this year Mr Wallace wrote in this newspaper that the UK will bolster its ability to fend off threats from China in space, as he warned "China too are developing offensive space weapons". Mr Wallace has previously said that the UK needs to be able to fight wars without leaning on the US. Earlier this year he said that rather than always expecting to go into conflicts in coalition with the US, "we are going to have to make decisions that allow us to stand with a range of allies, the Five Eyes and our European allies where our interests converge".
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| Supreme court launches attack on gay marriage ahead of Amy Coney Barrett nomination Posted: 06 Oct 2020 04:30 AM PDT  Two conservative justices made an unexpected statement attacking 2015 decision, causing alarm amongst campaigners
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| 'That makes no sense': Doctors say Trump is either getting overtreated for the coronavirus, which could be risky, or is more seriously ill than we know Posted: 05 Oct 2020 10:24 AM PDT  The decision to give the president steroids raises questions about how severe his coronavirus infection is, doctors say.
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| Case of biracial woman saying she was set on fire by white men closed for lack of evidence Posted: 06 Oct 2020 03:19 PM PDT  The U.S. attorney's office in Madison, Wisconsin, said that "authorities could not establish that the attack, as alleged by the complainant, had occurred."
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| Canada suspends weapons sales to Turkey Posted: 05 Oct 2020 12:35 PM PDT  Canada announced Monday the suspension of arms exports to NATO ally Turkey as Ottawa investigates the alleged use of its military technologies in the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict.
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| CDC says COVID-19 can spread indoors in its updated guidance Posted: 06 Oct 2020 01:13 PM PDT  The CDC said on Monday that COVID-19 can spread more than 6 feet through the air, especially in poorly ventilated and enclosed spaces. Agency officials maintained that this type of spread is uncommon and current social-distancing guidelines still make sense.
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| Former CEO to serve home confinement in U.S. college admissions scandal Posted: 05 Oct 2020 12:34 PM PDT |
| John Hagee, prominent megachurch pastor, ill with COVID-19 Posted: 06 Oct 2020 01:14 PM PDT  Prominent megachurch pastor and conservative activist John Hagee has been diagnosed with COVID-19, his son announced during services at the Texas church his father founded. The 80-year-old pastor received the diagnosis Friday and was recovering after the illness was detected early, Matt Hagee said during Sunday morning services at Cornerstone Church in San Antonio. John Hagee founded a ministry that the church says now has 22,000 members.
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| Cardinal sent Vatican money to intelligence expert who 'spent it on handbags and shoes' Posted: 06 Oct 2020 08:22 AM PDT  A cardinal sacked by the Pope for alleged embezzlement has been accused of funneling €500,000 to an Italian woman who spent some of the cash on luxury shoes, handbags and accessories. Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Becciu, who was stripped of his rights as a cardinal by Pope Francis last month, allegedly paid the money from Vatican funds to Cecilia Marogna, who claims to be an intelligence operative with links to the Italian secret services. She reportedly spent it on buying shoes, clothes and luxury items from brands such as Prada, Tod's, Moncler and Mont Blanc, according to Corriere della Sera, an Italian daily, basing its report on leaked Vatican documents. Ms Marogna admitted to receiving the €500,000 in Vatican funds through a company she runs that is based in Slovenia. But she said she had spent it on "diplomatic trips, paying sources for information, mediation and donations to humanitarian organisations." It was the latest tangled web of claims and counter-claims to involve Cardinal Becciu, 72, a once powerful Vatican figure who is being investigated for his role in the buying of a £400 million pound property in London. Cardinal Becciu has denied any wrongdoing in the London sale.
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| ‘Only response to this f***ery is vote them out’: Ilhan Omar blasts Trump after he ends Covid relief talks Posted: 06 Oct 2020 03:49 PM PDT  'It's about power and the people need to reclaim that power on 3 November'
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| Trump and coronavirus: Viral picture shows White House chief of staff rubbing his head during president’s health briefing Posted: 05 Oct 2020 08:39 AM PDT  The Reuters picture comes from Dr Sean Conley's press briefing on Sunday
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| 'We have lost a family member': Arkansas police officer killed, another hurt in shooting at motel Posted: 05 Oct 2020 05:33 PM PDT  One Arkansas police officer was killed and another suffered non-life-threatening injuries during a shooting at a motel in Pine Bluff, police say.
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| The key swing states of Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin could take longer to report election results. Here's why. Posted: 06 Oct 2020 08:29 AM PDT  Officials in all three states aren't allowed to begin processing mailed-in ballots until Election Day the day before, which could slow down results.
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| Hong Kong teacher struck off for 'pro-independence' classes Posted: 06 Oct 2020 03:44 AM PDT  A Hong Kong teacher has been struck off for allegedly promoting the city's independence in class, in what the government on Tuesday hailed as a blow against "black sheep" working in the education system.
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| Royal Caribbean cancels cruises until December, likely to start with ‘test cruises’ Posted: 06 Oct 2020 02:14 PM PDT  Royal Caribbean Group won't resume U.S. cruises until at least December, the company announced Tuesday.
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| ‘Proud Boys’ alt-right group reportedly furious at gay men for taking over #ProudBoys hashtag on Twitter Posted: 05 Oct 2020 12:41 PM PDT |
| Japan’s feared ‘yakuza’ gangsters banned from Halloween festivities Posted: 06 Oct 2020 06:37 AM PDT  One of the most fearsome "yakuza" underworld groups in Japan has been told it cannot hand out sweets to trick-or-treating children at Halloween. The local government of Hyogo Prefecture, in central Japan, on Monday unanimously approved a new provision to existing anti-gangster legislation that makes it illegal for members of the Yamaguchi-gumi to hand out treats at its headquarters in the city of Kobe on Halloween. The local authority was acting on a proposal from the prefectural police, which has been waging a war of attrition against the largest "yakuza" group in Japan. The gang operates across Japan, earning millions every year from extortion, underground gambling, the sex industry, weapons trafficking, drug sales and kickbacks in the property and construction sectors. Despite their reputation as violent criminals, members of the gang have been enthusiastic participants in Kobe's Halloween festivities for many years, with gangsters in costumes handing out sweets outside their offices. The new ordinance makes that illegal, with children also banned from entering the gang's offices. Members are also banned from giving money or gifts to children, and contacting minors by phone or email with the intention of encouraging them to join the group. Any gangster found guilty of violating the ordinance faces a sentence of up to six months in prison and fines of as much as £3,640. "The authorities are acting to deprive the Yamaguchi-gumi of any good public relations that might make them appealing to young people", said Jake Adelstein, author of 'Tokyo Vice: An American Reporter on the Police Beat in Japan' and an authority on the nation's underworld groups. "They have been trying to ostracise this gang from society for some years and this is just the latest measure to do that." "By clamping down like this, they are hoping to deprive them of new blood because the average age of a 'yakuza' is now 50 and they're struggling to attract new members", he said. Authorities are also attempting to keep people away from the gang's facilities out of concern that passers-by might be injured or killed in the Yamaguchi-gumi's ongoing feud with a rival group. In October last year, two members of an affiliated group were shot dead on a street in Kobe, while a senior member of the splinter group, the Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi, was killed in November 2019 in the nearby city of Amagasaki. In the last five years, police say there have been 127 incidents of violence involving gangs in and around Kobe.
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| 26 countries urge Western sanctions lifting to tackle virus Posted: 05 Oct 2020 08:08 PM PDT |
| Trump coronavirus: Morning Joe host says president could be guilty of ‘manslaughter’ if he infects Secret Service and White House staff Posted: 06 Oct 2020 11:26 AM PDT  'At some point isn't this manslaughter?' Ms Brzezinski said
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| Volcanic eruption turned man's brain into glass, 'froze' brain cells 2,000 years ago, scientists find Posted: 06 Oct 2020 06:09 AM PDT  Italian scientists found intact brain cells in a man who was killed during the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD.
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| The Democrats Are Flirting with the Destruction of the Judiciary Posted: 06 Oct 2020 03:30 AM PDT  To this point, Joe Biden hasn't offered any position on court packing, one of the gravest threats to the constitutional order in modern American history. Whether he is too scared of offending a significant faction of his party or he believes it's an idea worth considering, his silence is a reflection of a dangerous shift on the left.Progressives, of course, have a point. If the Supreme Court adheres to even the most rudimentary constitutional limits on state power, rather than surrendering to the impulses of majoritarian politics, it's going to be a huge impediment to their agenda. Indeed, they have the same motivation as President Franklin Roosevelt had when he attempted to expand the Court in 1937: One-party rule.FDR revived a Woodrow Wilson plan to arbitrarily place political allies into the courts, one for every judge over 70 years old, which would have meant 50 additional political allies on the federal bench, and six additional Supreme Court justices. Like today's Democrats, he first softened up the public by attempting to delegitimize the Court — claiming, for instance, that the justices were incompetent geriatric cases incapable of performing their duties. (It is somewhat ironic that most reliably pro–New Deal justice at the time, Louis Brandeis, was the only octogenarian on the Court.)In those days, there were still enough politicians who valued the separation of powers to stop him. Of the ten members of the Senate Judiciary Committee who signed a document opposing FDR's scheme, seven were Democrats. They didn't merely maintain that FDR was wrong or misguided; they argued that the court-packing plan was an "utterly dangerous abandonment of constitutional principle," a transparent scheme to punish justices whose opinions diverged from the executive branch, and "an invasion of judicial power such as has never before been attempted in this country."If enacted, the senators wrote, court packing would create a "vicious precedent which must necessarily undermine our system." They concluded that the plan "should be so emphatically rejected that its parallel will never again be presented to the free representatives of the free people of America."FDR, whose popularity would plummet to historic lows after the court-packing threat, ultimately went on to appoint eight justices, and to largely have his way in fundamentally changing American governance. But he was prevented from destroying the Court as an institution, and modern-day Democrats are now seeking to finish that job.Today, every instance in which Democrats are denied a political victory is immediately transformed into a national "crisis" in which the public has "lost faith" in a system that worked perfectly fine when they were in power. Not that long ago, self-interest was a motivation for defending deliberative politics and republican order. But these days, undeterred by reality, partisans have convinced themselves they'll be in power forever.It's not merely the progressive fringe that demands Democrats blow up the courts. It is the partisan, self-proclaimed defenders of "norms." In a recent piece in The Atlantic, the nation's leading periodical of intellectual anti-constitutionalism, Lawfare's Quinta Jurecic and Susan Hennessey argue that "if Republicans continue the smash-and-grab approach to confirming Barrett," court packing "may be the only way for Democrats to save the Court."The duly elected president and the duly elected Senate are observing the constitutionally stipulated guidelines for placing a highly qualified jurist on the Court. Someone will need to do a better job of explaining how dismantling the Court will "save" it. Now, perhaps if you've lost the ability to differentiate between ends and means, the idea makes intuitive sense to you. Perhaps you nod along as Biden spuriously argues that Amy Coney Barrett's nomination is nothing more than the exploitation of a "loophole" to undo the Affordable Care Act, ignoring the fact that we don't know how she'll rule on the Obamacare lawsuit (and the fact that either way, Obamacare isn't some untouchable edict handed down from Mount Sinai). But back here in the real world, we know that court-packing would be far more destructive to our political order than anything Donald Trump has done, Barrett's nomination very much included.The notion that the Senate shouldn't confirm Trump's nominee because Biden might win the election or Trump lost the "popular vote" is highly dubious. Justices do not need consent of the majority, nor should they seek it. As Clark Neily, the vice president for criminal justice at the Cato Institute, recently noted, some of the Supreme Court's "most reviled cases—including Dred Scott (slavery), Plessy (separate-but-equal), and Buck v Bell (eugenics)—involved acceding to democratically enacted policies. I can think of no higher compliment to pay a judge than to characterize her as antidemocratic."And that's if Democrats take the charge seriously, which all evidence suggests they don't: Remember, they had no problem with this "anti-democratic" institution when it was creating constitutional rights to gay marriage and abortion. It only becomes a problem for them when it threatens to defend the Bill of Rights.
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| Scientists win Nobel physics prize for black hole research Posted: 06 Oct 2020 08:30 AM PDT  Three scientists won this year's Nobel Prize in physics Tuesday for advancing our understanding of black holes, the all-consuming monsters that lurk in the darkest parts of the universe and still confound astronomers.
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