- PoliticsYahoo News
White House defends Trump's claim that 99 percent of COVID-19 cases are 'harmless' with chart showing 5 percent are fatal
White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany came to her press briefing on Monday prepared to defend President Trump's claim over the weekend that “99 percent” of U.S. coronavirus cases are “totally harmless” with two charts illustrating the country's COVID-19 death rate. But McEnany's slides showed a case fatality rate — the percentage of confirmed cases that result in death — of 4.6 percent, not the 1 percent implied by Trump. During a July 4 “Salute to America” speech on the South Lawn of the White House, Trump boasted that the administration has conducted more than 40 million coronavirus tests.
- U.S.The Independent
‘Let me borrow your bike’: Atlanta police officer takes passing man’s bicycle to chase fleeing murder suspect
Police in Atlanta were able to apprehend a murder suspect thanks to a passerby's bicycle. The Atlanta Police Department said in a statement that the suspect had been seen around the Old Fourth Ward area last Tuesday when one cop commandeered a bicycle to chase the man down. The department said on Twitter afterwards that a cyclist had assisted with 21-year-old Nicholas Fonseca's arrest, who was wanted in connection with a 28 June shooting.
U.S.AFPSurge in NYC shootings fuels police reform debate
New York reeled from a spate of holiday weekend shootings Monday, with police fueling controversy by partially attributing them to reforms undertaken following the death in custody of George Floyd. The Big Apple was rocked by 45 shootings -- which resulted in 11 deaths -- over the long July 4th weekend, up from just 16 shootings for the same period in 2019. Terence Monahan, the NYPD's highest-ranking uniformed officer, said "tremendous animosity" shown towards officers following the recent Black Lives Matter protests had contributed by lowering police morale.
- WorldReuters
FBI chief says China threatens families to coerce overseas critics to return to China
FBI Director Christopher Wray on Tuesday urged China-born people in the United States to contact the FBI if Chinese officials try to force them to return to China under a program of coercion that he said is led by Chinese President Xi Jinping. Wray issued the unusual appeal in an address to the Hudson Institute think tank in which he reiterated U.S. charges that China is using espionage, cyber theft, blackmail and other means as part of a strategy to replace the United States as the world's dominant economic and technological power.
- U.S.Time
Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms Tests Positive for COVID-19
Keisha Lance Bottoms, the mayor of Atlanta, announced on Monday afternoon that she tested positive for COVID-19. In a tweet, Mayor Bottoms said that she has had no symptoms and that the virus had “literally hit home.” In recent weeks, the city of Atlanta and Mayor Bottoms has been in the spotlight as a result of the widespread protests over police brutality, racial discrimination and the killing of Rayshard Brooks, a Black man who was shot and killed by an Atlanta police officer in a Wendy's parking lot.
- WorldBusiness Insider
Coronavirus herd immunity may be 'unachievable' after study suggests antibodies disappear after weeks in some people
Fourteen percent of people who previously tested positive for antibodies tested negative just weeks later. The study suggests people who experience mild symptoms do not have long-lasting protection. "Immunity can be incomplete, it can be transitory, it can last for just a short time and then disappear," Raquel Yotti, the director of Spain's Carlos III Health Institute, said.
- WorldThe National Interest
Could 'Baby' Aircraft Carriers Be the Next U.S. Navy Super Weapon?
The Navy can buy smaller, cheaper carriers rather than the $13 billion Ford-class behemoths it is currently constructing, according to a new study by RAND Corporation. The RAND study is a public version of a classified study conducted in 2016 at the behest of the U.S. Navy, which was ordered by Congress to examine cheaper options than the Ford-class carriers. It would be powered by forty-year nuclear reactors that couldn't be replaced, rather than the current twenty-five-year reactors on the Fords that can replaced to extend the life of the ship.
- U.S.INSIDER
A rare case of brain-eating amoeba has been confirmed in Florida. Officials are telling residents to avoid tap water, and to swim with nose clips.
One Florida resident was infected with a rare and dangerous brain-eating amoeba. The Florida Department of Health warned residents to avoid nasal contact with tap water, and to avoid swimming in warm freshwater. The Florida Department of Health is warning residents of Hillsborough County to avoid nasal contact with tap water after confirming that someone in the region has been infected by a rare, brain-eating amoeba.
- U.S.NBC News
U.S. says foreign students may have to leave if their school goes online-only
The government announced Monday that international students will not be allowed to stay in the country if the institution in which they're enrolled is holding online-only courses this fall, and those failing to comply with the rules will risk deportation. Students on F-1 and M-1 visas who face such a situation "must depart the country or take other measures, such as transferring to a school with in-person instruction to remain in lawful status," the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency said in a news release. The news comes as some colleges and universities, including Harvard, have announced they plan to hold online-only courses this fall as the United States struggles to get the coronavirus pandemic under control.
- PoliticsThe Daily Beast
Fox News Anchor Debunks Trump’s ‘99% Totally Harmless’ COVID Claim
Fox News anchor Neil Cavuto on Monday refuted President Donald Trump's false claim that 99 percent of America's confirmed coronavirus cases were “totally harmless,” tallying off a number of statistics to inform Fox viewers about how dangerous the virus is. During his Independence Day remarks, the president downplayed the severity of the disease that has already claimed more than 130,000 American lives, claiming without any evidence that of the millions of American COVID-19 cases that have been identified, “99 percent” of them were “totally harmless.” Speaking with Dr. Qanta Ahmed about a recent study showing the coronavirus is now airborne and can linger indoors, Cavuto—who has regularly drawn the president's ire over his critical coverage—used basic math to debunk Trump's recent claim.
- U.S.Miami Herald
‘I believe in white power.’ Home Depot face mask fight spurs arrest, Illinois cops say
A woman caught on video saying she believes in “white power” during a fight over face masks was arrested, according to Illinois police. The confrontation at a Home Depot in McHenry, Illinois, was caught on video by Sydney Waters, who says the woman removed her mask to complain about other shoppers not wearing face coverings, according to a Facebook post. “The entitlement is disgusting,” Waters told the woman in a video.
WorldAFPAustralia warns of 'arbitrary detention' in China
Australia warned its citizens Tuesday they could face "arbitrary detention" if they travel to China, the latest sign of growing tensions between the two nations. The foreign ministry issued the warning in updated travel advice, which also noted that Chinese authorities had detained foreigners for allegedly "endangering national security". Australia has already told its citizens to avoid all international travel due to the coronavirus pandemic, and the updated advice did not raise the overall level of the warning against travel to China.
PoliticsYahoo News VideoThe Lincoln Project continues anti-Trump ad campaign
On Tuesday, the Lincoln Project, a conservative political action committee formed in late 2019, released an ad titled “Whispers,” which suggests those in President Trump's inner circle are secretly mocking him. This is the latest in a series of attack ads produced and distributed by the committee, whose members include George Conway, Steve Schmidt and other prominent Republicans who oppose Trump. Yahoo News has assembled a compilation of some of the Lincoln Project's most controversial advertisements.
- BusinessThe Independent
Coronavirus: White House insists world sees US as ‘leader’ in pandemic as infections surge
The White House has insisted that the US is being looked at as a “leader” in the fight against coronavirus, even as cases continue to spiral across the country. The latest comments came at a White House press briefing on Monday, when press secretary Kayleigh McEnany was questioned about the country's handling of the coronavirus pandemic. The US remains the country with the highest number of coronavirus infections with over 2.9 million recorded cases, almost double the number of Brazil, the country immediately behind it.
- EntertainmentArchitectural Digest
Olson Kundig’s Latest Design Embraces Its Hawaiian Habitat
On a stunning lava rock field site in Kona, this stunning home seems to hover over the landscape as a series of pavilions Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest
- U.S.Business Insider
US military apologizes to South Korea after its troops fired fireworks and reportedly brawled in the streets
Screenshot via SBS American troops in South Korea celebrated the Fourth of July by lighting fireworks on public sidewalks and beaches, prompting local authorities to shut down the groups. Over 70 police reports were filed and 200 police officers were deployed to Busan, according to South Korean news reports. At least one US Army soldier was briefly detained.
- U.S.INSIDER
A former National Guard colonel apologized but will keep her professor job after saying sexual harassment is the 'price of admission for women' in the military
University of Wisconsin , Fort Hood Betsy Schoeller, a lecturer at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and retired member of the Wisconsin Air Guard, apologized for her comments in a Facebook group on a news article about murdered US Army soldier Vanessa Guillén. Schoeller wrote that "sexual harassment is the price of admission for women into the good ole boy club" and "if you're gonna cry like a snowflake about it, you're gonna pay the price." A petition to remove Schoeller as a lecturer from UWM has amassed more than 135,000 signatures, but the university said "legal reasons" concerning her right to freedom of speech won't let it fire her.
- WorldThe Telegraph
Kremlin vows to retaliate against fresh UK sanctions against Russians
The Kremlin spokesman says that Moscow will respond to new UK sanctions against Russian citizens including a senior investigator and prison officials. Britain on Monday used a new legislation drafted in the memory of a killed Russian tax adviser to sanction 25 Russian nationals linked to prosecution and mistreatment of tax adviser Sergei Magnitsky as well as 20 Saudis involved in the murder of a journalist in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, told reporters on Tuesday that Moscow “can only lament such hostile steps.”
- PoliticsAssociated Press
Mexico president says Trudeau not meeting him in Washington
Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said Monday that Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau won't be joining him and President Donald Trump in Washington this week to mark the start of a new free trade accord. López Obrador said Trudeau had asked to speak with him and they planned to speak by phone on Monday. Late last week, Trudeau had not committed to attending the White House gathering.
- U.S.The Daily Beast
Did Doxxing of an Oklahoma Councilwoman Lead to a Neighbor Being Raped?
A city council member in Norman, Oklahoma, proposed a police budget cut. Alexandra Scott, a Norman council member who won the Democratic nomination for her state Senate seat last month, is an outspoken critic of her city's police force. When racial justice protests swept the nation in June, Scott proposed slashing the Norman Police budget by $4.5 million.
WorldAFPChina detains professor who criticised Xi over coronavirus
Chinese authorities on Monday detained a law professor who published essays criticising President Xi Jinping over the coronavirus pandemic and accusing him of ruling "tyrannically", according to friends of the man. Xu Zhangrun, a rare outspoken critic of the government in China's heavily censored academia, was taken from his home in suburban Beijing by more than 20 people, one of his friends said on condition of anonymity. Xu published an essay in February blaming the culture of deception and censorship fostered by Xi for the spread of the coronavirus in China.
- U.S.Reuters
Mexican military finds plane in flames and truck carrying drugs
Mexican military officials said on Sunday they discovered a small plane from South America in flames after it made an illegal landing on the Yucatan Peninsula possibly carrying hundreds of kilos of drugs. Nearby, military officials said they also found a truck carrying drugs that appeared to be cocaine, packaged into 13 parcels weighting 30 kg (66 pounds) each, and likely coming from the plane. With an estimated value of more than 109 million pesos ($4.9 million), the loss would have a "significant" impact on criminal organizations, said a statement from the Mexican military.
- U.S.USA TODAY
Another Confederate statue in Richmond, Va., comes down along Monument Avenue
Another Confederate statue on Richmond's iconic Monument Avenue was removed Tuesday, the third in a week and the final one owned by the city that was once the capital of the Confederacy. The bronze monument to Confederate Gen. J.E.B. Stuart on horseback was hoisted from its granite base as crowds cheered early Tuesday. The Stuart statue was one of four monuments of prominent Confederate leaders owned by the city of Richmond that have been removed in recent weeks.
- U.S.NBC News
Despite precautions, summer camps have failed to keep out the coronavirus
As summer camps debated whether and how to operate during the coronavirus pandemic this spring, Kanakuk Kamps, a prominent network of Christian sports camps in Missouri, announced that its five overnight camps would open to over 20,000 kids starting May 30. By Monday the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services told the St. Louis Post Dispatch that the number had jumped to 76.
- ScienceBusiness Insider
NASA's powerful Hubble space telescope has beamed back a striking photo of a 'fluffy' galaxy with a ghostly, empty center
By contrast, other spiral galaxies — including the Milky Way — have more distinct arms where stars and gas are compressed. Hubble is NASA's strongest telescope — but not for long NASA launched Hubble into Earth's orbit in April 1990. Since then, the telescope has discovered new planets, revealed strange galaxies, and provided new insights into the nature of black holes.
