- PoliticsYahoo News
Twitter flags Trump tweet on Minneapolis protests for 'glorifying violence'
For the second time, Twitter flagged a message from President Trump with a warning, saying that his post-midnight tweet calling for the military to shoot protesters in Minneapolis was “glorifying violence. As protests over the death of George Floyd escalated to the burning of a police station Thursday, Trump took to Twitter after midnight to write, “I can't stand back & watch this happen to a great American City, Minneapolis. A total lack of leadership.
- U.S.Yahoo News
Lessons from Japan on containing coronavirus could help U.S. reopen safely
In Japan, seven people have died for every 1 million residents — a death rate about 45 times lower than America's. The number of daily new cases peaked at 743 on April 12, but has varied between 90 and 14 for the past week, according to the World Health Organization; the number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients has dropped from 10,000 about a month ago to 2,000 today. On Monday, the Japanese government lifted the state of emergency over greater Tokyo, effectively ending the country's version of a lockdown.
- WorldYahoo News 360
How should the U.S. respond to China's Hong Kong power grab?
China's legislature on Thursday approved a controversial national security law that gives the mainland government new powers to police subversion and foreign intervention in Hong Kong. Critics of the new law say it's a violation of the “one country, two systems” agreement that has granted Hong Kong certain levels of autonomy — like its own police force and judicial system — since the island became part of China in 1997 after more than a century of British rule. Similar laws have been pursued by pro-Beijing members of Hong Kong's legislature several times in recent years, but none were passed.
- PoliticsNBC News
FBI's top lawyer, Dana Boente, ousted amid Fox News criticism for role in Flynn investigation
After a 38-year career with the Justice Department, the FBI's top lawyer Dana Boente was asked to resign on Friday. Two sources familiar with the decision to dismiss Boente said it came from high levels of the Justice Department rather than directly from FBI Director Christopher Wray. His departure comes on the heels of recent criticism by Fox News for his role in the investigation of former Trump National Security Advisor Michael Flynn.
- HealthYahoo News
Can you contract coronavirus from a surface or object?
While the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says contaminated surfaces are not the main way the virus is transmitted, the agency hasn't ruled surfaces out as a possible mode of infection. “If you want a reliable way to prevent yourself from getting the coronavirus, worry less about the surfaces you touch, and worry more about how frequently you wash your hands,” says Dr. Dara Kass, a Yahoo News Medical Contributor and associate professor of emergency medicine at Columbia University Medical Center. Confusion over how the virus is transmitted was reignited last week when the CDC edited the “How COVID-19 Spreads” page on their COVID-19 website to mention contaminated surfaces and objects under a new heading entitled, “The virus does not spread easily in other ways.”
- U.S.Reuters
As Minneapolis rioters set buildings ablaze, grocer pleads to save his stores
At a little past midnight on Saturday as smoke billowed and flames rose from the tops of a nearby bank and a post office building, Minneapolis grocery store owner Mohammad Abdi knew he had a critical business decision to make. Either go out into the street and confront the dangerous vandals and looters who were preparing to torch his Tawakal Halal Grocery or standby and watch them destroy his livelihood. "I told them this is my business, this is my building, please don't do it," he said late on Saturday morning, pointing to the alcove in the front of his building where footprints remained from the looters, who were armed with accelerant.
- U.S.INSIDER
'If you say you can't breathe, you're breathing': A Mississippi mayor defended the officer who stood on George Floyd's neck
Hal Marx, the mayor of Petal, Mississippi, tweeted that George Floyd wasn't choking when a Minneapolis police officer stood on his neck because he could still speak. Seth Stoughton, co-author of "Evaluating Police Uses of Force," told Insider the position Floyd was placed in easily could have led to his death. The Petal Board of Aldermen has called for Marx's resignation and residents have staged protests calling for his removal.
- WorldThe Telegraph
Denmark and Norway cut coronavirus-hit Sweden out of free travel deal
The governments of Denmark and Norway have cut Sweden out of a deal allowing each other's tourists to travel freely between the two countries — citing their Nordic neighbour's higher levels of coronavirus infection. The deal, announced at parallel press conferences in Oslo and Copenhagen on Friday afternoon, showed Sweden has failed in its diplomatic efforts to be included in the first stage of a Nordic travel bubble. Under the deal, people from Denmark will from June 15 be allowed to enter Norway without needing to quarantine, while tourists from Norway will be able to enter Denmark, so long as they have booked accommodation for at least six days.
- ScienceBusiness Insider
5 ways to watch SpaceX's historic first rocket launch of NASA astronauts live online
SpaceX is about to launch its highest-stakes mission since Elon Musk founded the company in 2002: Its first launch of people. NASA is working with the company to launch the mission, called Demo-2, which will fly the astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley inside a Crew Dragon spaceship. Liftoff is scheduled for 3:22 p.m.
- U.S.The Daily Beast
George Floyd's Brother: Trump Wouldn’t Even Let Me Talk in Rushed Call
The brother of George Floyd said Saturday that he spoke to President Donald Trump but the conversation was so quick that he “he didn't give me the opportunity to even speak.” “It was hard, I was trying to talk to him, but he just kept pushing me off like 'I don't want to hear what you are talking about,”' Philonise Floyd told MSNBC's Al Sharpton. Floyd said he also spoke to Joe Biden and poured out his heart to the Democratic presidential candidate.
- WorldBBC
Ethiopian army ‘shot man dead because phone rang’ - Amnesty
An Ethiopian soldier shot a man dead in front of several people after his phone rang during a public meeting, Amnesty International says. It is one of many incidents the rights watchdog recorded from a security crackdown in Oromia regional state at the end of 2018 and 2019. This was the year that Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed won the Nobel Peace Prize.
- WorldLA Times
Deleting Facebook, downloading VPNs: How Hong Kongers are preparing for a draconian law
As a veteran political cartoonist, Justin Wong is rarely at a loss for the right image. Wong, an illustrator for the Ming Pao, a newspaper with a six-decade tradition of journalistic independence, has long used his platform to defend Hong Kong's autonomy and satirize Beijing's leaders. The new law, if applied as arbitrarily as it is across the border in mainland China, is seen by many as a “death knell” for the former British colony's freedoms, placing Wong and others like him at risk for simply expressing their opinions.
- BusinessAssociated Press
Powell: Fed to soon begin 'challenging' Main Street lending
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell acknowledged Friday that the Fed faces a major challenge with the launch in the coming days of a program that will lend to companies other than banks for the first time since the Great Depression. The Fed's Main Street Lending is geared toward medium-sized companies that are too large for the government's small business lending program and too small to sell bonds or stock to the public. The individual loans, which could reach $600 billion, will technically be made by banks.
ScienceYahoo News VideoElon Musk's SpaceX rocket launches into space
A Falcon 9 rocket with two U.S. astronauts aboard lifted off Saturday en route to the International Space Station. It had been nine years since NASA astronauts had been sent into space.
- WorldReuters
Italy records 87 new coronavirus deaths, 516 new cases
Deaths from the COVID-19 epidemic in Italy climbed by 87 on Friday, against 70 the day before, the Civil Protection Agency said, while the daily tally of new cases fell to 516 from 593 on Thursday. The total death toll since the outbreak came to light on Feb. 21 now stands at 33,229 the agency said, the third highest in the world after those of the United States and Britain. However, the Marche region said on Friday it had reduced its overall death tally by 11, saying these fatalities had not been caused by the coronavirus.
- U.S.INSIDER
Minneapolis police release a transcript of the 911 call that resulted in the police encounter with George Floyd
Screenshot/Fox9 The Minneapolis Police Department released a transcript of the 911 call that led to the arrest of George Floyd, a black man who died while in police custody after a white police officer knelt on his neck for several minutes. Floyd's death incited mass protests in several states, some of which have escalated and resulted in a Minneapolis police precinct set ablaze. According to the 911 call, the caller told the operator that Floyd appeared to be inebriated and refused to return his purchase once the caller realized he had used fake bills.
- BusinessNBC News
Coronavirus quietly started spreading as early as January, CDC says
The coronavirus began quietly spreading in the U.S. as early as late January, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Friday — before President Donald Trump blocked air travel from China and a full month before community spread was first detected in the country. It was also the first media briefing from the CDC in more than two months. "As America begins to reopen, looking back at how COVID-19 made its way to the United States will contribute to a better understanding to prepare for the future," Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the CDC, said Friday during a call with reporters.
- U.S.National Review
Minnesota Riots Hurt Klobuchar’s VP Nomination Prospects, According to Biden Ally
The ongoing riots in Minnesota hurt Senator Amy Klobuchar's prospects for Democratic nomination as vice president, House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D., S.C.) said on Friday. Klobuchar declined to bring charges against multiple Minneapolis police officers involved in shootings over the course of her seven-year tenure as attorney for Hennepin County. Minneapolis has seen four days of riots after resident George Floyd, an African-American man, died following his arrest at the hands of white officers.
- PoliticsYahoo News
Former top Justice Department official warns Trump may 'not cede power'
A former top Justice Department official told Yahoo News she is deeply worried that President Trump could “delegitimize a lawful election” this November “and not cede power.” Vanita Gupta ran the civil rights division at the Department of Justice from 2014 to 2017 and is now part of an informal, bipartisan group that has spent the past year preparing for Trump to potentially contest the results of the election. “He's already talking about how this will be a rigged election and saying if more and more people are voting using these so called mail-in ballots, that the election will be rigged,” Gupta told Yahoo News' “Skullduggery” podcast.
- U.S.INSIDER
George Floyd autopsy shows no signs of traumatic asphyxia or strangulation, attributes death to 'being restrained, his underlying health conditions, and any potential intoxicants in his system'
A criminal complaint against former Minneapolis police officer, Derek Chauvin, shows that George Floyd was "non-responsive" for nearly three minutes before Chauvin took his knee off his neck. The complaint also cited a preliminary autopsy report that showed there were "no physical findings that support a diagnosis of traumatic asphyxia or strangulation." Instead, Floyd died from a "combined effect of being restrained, his underlying health conditions, and any potential intoxicants in his system," the autopsy revealed.
- WorldTime
The U.S. Might Revoke Hong Kong's 'Special Status.' Here's What That Means for Business in the Global Financial Hub
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced on Wednesday that Hong Kong was no longer sufficiently autonomous from mainland China — an assessment that could threaten the city's trading relationship with the U.S. and deal a blow to both American and Chinese companies operating there. The news comes following Beijing's decision late last week to draw up a national security law for Hong Kong. The move came after Hong Kong's Legislative Council failed in its obligations to enact such a law since the former British colony was handed back to China in 1997.
- PoliticsAssociated Press
Transcripts released of Flynn's calls with Russian diplomat
Transcripts of phone calls that played a pivotal role in the Russia investigation were declassified and released Friday, showing that Michael Flynn, as an adviser to then-President-elect Donald Trump, urged Russia's ambassador to be “even-keeled” in response to punitive Obama administration measures, and assured him “we can have a better conversation” about relations between the two countries after Trump became president. Democrats said the transcripts showed that Flynn had lied to the FBI when he denied details of the conversation, and that he was undercutting a sitting president while ingratiating himself with a country that had just interfered in the 2016 presidential election.
- ScienceCBS News
SpaceX launches two NASA astronauts on historic mission
SpaceX — blasted off Saturday with two NASA astronauts aboard — the first purely private sector launch to orbit in space history. It was also the first launch of a crew from U.S. soil since the space shuttle program ended nearly nine years ago. Cheered on by a nation in the grip of a devastating pandemic, the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, carrying the company's first piloted Crew Dragon ferry ship, vaulted away from pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center at 3:22:45 p.m. EDT to kick off a long-awaited test flight to the International Space Station.
- WorldReuters
Israeli police fatally shoot Palestinian in Jerusalem: spokesman
Israeli police officers fatally shot a Palestinian they suspected was carrying a weapon in Jerusalem's Old City on Saturday, a police spokesman said, but the man was later found to have been unarmed, Israeli media reported. Palestinian officials said the man killed suffered mental health issues. "Police units on patrol there spotted a suspect with a suspicious object that looked like a pistol.
U.S.USA TODAYMississippi mayor refuses to resign after facing backlash for George Floyd comments: 'I didn't see anything unreasonable'
Hal Marx, the mayor of Petal, Mississippi, rejected calls for his resignation after his comments in the wake of George Floyd's death in Minneapolis sparked controversy. Marx, who was first elected in 2009, said he was asking people to wait until all the facts were out before throwing stones at the police.
