- U.S.Yahoo 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.
- 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.Associated Press
Long Island serial killer victim IDed 2 decades later
A woman whose skeletal remains were found along a suburban New York beach highway, in an area where body parts of 10 other people had been strewn, was identified as a Philadelphia escort who went missing two decades ago, police said Thursday. Suffolk County police said the woman previously known as “Jane Doe No. 6” was identified through genetic genealogy technology as Valerie Mack, who also went by Melissa Taylor and was last seen in 2000 near Atlantic City, New Jersey. Determining the victim's identity has brought clarity to a long-running Long Island mystery that attracted national headlines, was featured on true-crime TV shows and was the subject of a recent Netflix film, Police Commissioner Geraldine Hart said.
WorldAFPIran Guards warn US after receiving new combat vessels
Iran's Revolutionary Guards on Thursday warned the United States against its naval presence in the Gulf as they received 110 new combat vessels. The vessels included Ashura-class speedboats, Zolfaghar coastal patrol boats and Taregh submarines, state television reported. "We announce today that wherever the Americans are, we are right next to them, and they will feel our presence even more in the near future," the Guards' navy chief Rear Admiral Alireza Tangsiri said during a ceremony in southern Iran.
- U.S.Yahoo News
Republican lawmakers accused of hiding positive COVID-19 test result from Democrats, who call it 'immoral'
Democratic lawmakers in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives are demanding answers after learning that one of their Republican colleagues tested positive for COVID-19, shared that information with GOP leadership, but never informed them. On May 20, Republican Rep. Andrew Lewis learned he had tested positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. Two other Republican House members who came in contact with Lewis were told to self-quarantine for 14 days, but Democratic lawmakers, some of whom also had contact with Lewis or with the two other Republicans before May 20, say they first learned of the positive test result on Wednesday.
- WorldReuters
China plans to extend curbs on international flights until June 30: U.S. embassy
Chinese civil aviation authorities plan to extend until June 30 their curbs on international flights to contain the spread of the coronavirus, the U.S. embassy in Beijing said in a travel advisory on Friday. China has drastically cut such flights since March to allay concerns over infections brought by arriving passengers. A so-called "Five One" policy allows mainland carriers to fly just one flight a week on one route to any country and foreign airlines to operate just one flight a week to China.
- U.S.The Daily Beast
Fire & Fury: Crowd Attacks CNN Center in Atlanta
CNN Center, the cable network's Atlanta headquarters, came under furious attack Friday night during protests over police brutality sparked by the death of an unarmed black man in Minneapolis. A largely peaceful demonstration erupted first in vandalism, then in violence. Cops used pepper spray, and then some in the crowd were seen smashing windows and defacing the giant CNN sign with spray-paint.
- SciencePopular Mechanics
Welp, SpaceX's Starship Prototype Just Blew Up
prototype, SN4, erupted in a ball of flames at the company's testing facility in Boca Chica, Texas. The test vehicle had just completed its fifth static fire test. On Thursday, SpaceX received FAA clearance to conduct a 150 m hop with the vehicle.
- WorldThe Telegraph
Five UK mercenaries offered $150,000 each to fly helicopters for Gen Haftar in Libya, say UN
Five British mercenaries involved in an operation to fly assault helicopters for Libya's renegade General Khalifa Haftar were offered bounties of up to $150,000 each for their role in the daring plot which went awry. The men, comprised of former Royal Marines and RAF personnel, were among 20 foreign mercenaries who traveled to Libya last June in an operation to pilot assault helicopters and speed boats to intercept Turkish ships ferrying weapons to Haftar's opponents – the UN-backed government in Tripoli. The Telegraph can reveal that the UN investigation concluded that the operation was led by Steven Lodge, a former South African Air Force officer who also served in the British military.
- HealthYahoo News
White House encourages hydroxychloroquine use for coronavirus again
The White House continued on Thursday to promote the use of hydroxychloroquine, the antimalarial drug that President Trump and some of his supporters have held out as a treatment for the coronavirus, against the advice of the Food and Drug Administration and in the face of studies that have shown it can be harmful in some cases. Routinely touted by prominent conservative allies of the president, including primetime Fox News anchor Laura Ingraham, it has been denounced by members of the medical establishment as an unproven therapy that poses the risk of potentially fatal heart complications. The FDA recommends that COVID-19 patients, if they choose to use it, do so only in a hospital or under medical supervision in a clinical trial.
- U.S.NBC News
Minnesota Gov. Walz vows to restore order to Twin Cities rocked by protests
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz vowed to restore order to the Twin Cities on Friday, a day after crowds torched a police station and looted stores in reaction to the death of George Floyd. Walz pleaded with Minnesotans to bring peace to the streets and an end to unrest that broke out in Minneapolis and St. Paul on Thursday, culminating with a police station being burned. "We have to restore order to our society before we can start addressing the issues, before we turn back to where we should be spending our energy, making sure that justice is served," Walz told reporters in St. Paul on Friday.
- BusinessYahoo News
Defense secretary says coronavirus vaccine will be available within months, but experts skeptical
Pentagon leaders expressed strong confidence Thursday that a coronavirus vaccine will be available by January, and perhaps as early as this fall — claims that were met with skepticism by scientific experts. Defense Secretary Mark Esper said that he and Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar “will be co-chairing Operation Warp Speed,” the effort by the administration of President Trump to produce 300 million vaccine doses by January. “I'm confident that we will be able to deliver a vaccine at scale in time” by partnering with other government agencies and the private sector, Esper said.
WorldAFPRwanda court sentences ex-mayor to life for role in genocide
Rwanda's High Court on Thursday sentenced a former mayor to life in prison for his role in the country's 1994 genocide, which included leading attacks that resulted in the deaths of around 25,000 ethnic Tutsis in his town. Ladislas Ntaganzwa was one of the top fugitive suspects, accused of playing a key role in the massacre of some 800,000 mostly Tutsi but also moderate Hutus, when he was arrested in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2015. A statement from Rwanda's prosecution authority said the court "convicted him for genocide, extermination as crime against humanity and rape as crime against humanity and sentenced him to life imprisonment."
U.S.Yahoo News VideoMinneapolis mayor responds after night of protests and violence in wake of George Floyd's death
At a press conference on Thursday, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said protests and unrest after the death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man seen on video pinned to the ground by the neck while being arrested by a white police officer, were the result of “built-up anger and sadness” in the black community over the past 400 years.
- WorldReuters
China and U.S. should respect each other's core interests - Premier Li
China and United States should respect each other's core interests and manage their differences, Premier Li Keqiang said on Thursday, adding that a decoupling of their economies is not good for the world. "I believe both countries should respect each other and develop a relationship on the basis of equality, respect each other's core interests and major concerns and embrace cooperation," Li said in his annual news conference after the close of the annual meeting of parliament.
- U.S.INSIDER
It's a bad week to be named Amy Cooper
Several women named Amy Cooper have found themselves on the receiving end of online hate this week. People have mistaken those women for the Amy Cooper who called the police on a Central Park bird-watcher. Two women named Amy Cooper told Insider that when the messages started rolling in, they weren't yet familiar with the now-infamous incident.
WorldAFP Relax NewsGreece to open airports to arrivals from 29 countries from June 15
Greece said Friday it would reopen its airports in Athens and Thessaloniki to arrivals from 29 countries from June 15, the start of the tourist season. Visitors would be allowed to fly into Greece from 16 EU countries, including Germany, Austria, Denmark, Finland, the Czech Republic, Baltic countries, Cyprus and Malta, the tourism ministry said in a statement. Outside the European Union, holidaymakers from Switzerland, Norway, and neighbouring Balkan countries such as Albania, Serbia and North Macedonia will be allowed to land at Greece's main airports from June 15.
- WorldThe Telegraph
Marauding monkeys attack lab technician and steal Covid-19 tests
A band of marauding monkeys has attacked a laboratory technician and stolen three Covid-19 test samples, raising fears they will infect themselves and then spread the deadly disease to humans. The worker was attacked outside a medical college in Meerut, northern India, while transporting samples from patients suspected of having coronavirus. Others saw the funny side of the monkey attack, with the incident coming days after the Indian authorities detained a pigeon in Jammu & Kashmir on suspicion of spying for Pakistan.
- U.S.The Daily Beast
Don Lemon Erupts: ‘No One Wants to Hear From the Birther-In-Chief’ on George Floyd
CNN anchor Don Lemon unloaded on President Donald Trump after the Justice Department said Thursday that the president was “actively monitoring” the investigation of four Minneapolis police officers over the death of an unarmed black man, exclaiming that nobody “wants to hear from the Birther-in-Chief.” During a press conference late Thursday afternoon, local and federal investigators insisted that they “can't rush” bringing charges for the death of George Floyd, who was pronounced dead after an officer kneeled on his neck for several minutes. With protests raging across the country, U.S. Attorney Erica MacDonald said the investigation was a “top priority” for the feds before adding that Trump and Attorney General William Barr were paying high attention to the case.
- U.S.The Independent
‘If you can say you can’t breathe, you’re breathing’: Mississippi mayor faces backlash over George Floyd comments
A mayor in Mississippi is facing fierce backlash and calls to resign after saying that he “didn't see anything unreasonable” about the death of George Floyd. Mr Floyd, who was black, died while in police custody in Minneapolis after a white officer was filmed pinned him to the ground by his neck for a prolonged period of time. In the footage, Floyd can be heard saying “I can't breathe” to officers multiple times.
- WorldAssociated Press
Hard-line former Tehran mayor named Iran parliament speaker
Iran's parliament elected a former mayor of Tehran tied to the Revolutionary Guard as its next speaker Thursday, solidifying hard-line control of the body as tensions between the U.S. and the Islamic Republic remain high over its collapsed nuclear deal. Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf's assumption of power comes after a string of failed presidential bids and 12 years as the leader of Iran's capital city, in which he built onto Tehran's subway and supported the construction of modern high-rises. Many, however, remember Qalibaf for his support as a Revolutionary Guard general for a violent crackdown on Iranian university students in 1999.
- WorldNBC News
IKEA manager in Poland charged for firing worker over anti-gay comments
A Polish prosecutor has charged an IKEA manager with religious discrimination for firing an employee who called homosexuality "an abomination" on the company's internal website. The employee at IKEA's Krakow store was fired last year after quoting passages from the Bible referring to homosexuality on the company's intranet and refusing to remove his comments, a spokesman for the Warsaw prosecutor's office said. "As an employer, we will provide all the help and support to our charged employee," said a spokeswoman from Ingka Group, which owns most IKEA stores including those in Poland.
WorldAFPBurundi first lady hospitalised in Nairobi: government sources
Burundi's first lady was in hospital in Nairobi on Friday, after being flown in on a late-night medical flight, according to sources at the airport and in the presidency. First lady Denise Bucumi was flown out of Burundi on a Pilatus plane by the AMREF air ambulance service, according to a source at the Melchior Airport in Bujumbura. A high-ranking government official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP that Bucumi had gone to Nairobi "for treatment as she caught the coronavirus".
- BusinessReuters
Moderna starts dosing patients in mid-stage coronavirus vaccine study
Moderna Inc said on Friday it had started dosing patients in a mid-stage study with its experimental coronavirus vaccine and eventually plans to enroll 600 patients for the trial. There are currently about 10 coronavirus vaccines being tested in humans and experts have predicted that a safe and effective vaccine could take 12 to 18 months from the start of development. Earlier this month, Moderna had released https://in.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-moderna/coronavirus-vaccine-from-moderna-appears-safe-shows-promise-in-data-from-eight-people-idINKBN22U1KQ early-stage data that showed the vaccine, mRNA-1273, was safe and produced protective antibodies in a small group of healthy v...
- WorldBBC
Why India must battle the shame of period stain
Coronavirus sparks a sanitary pad crisis in India Stripped for standing up to 'period-phobic' college Of course, period poverty does not only affect women in India. According to Plan International UK, an international development charity, one in 10 disadvantaged girls below the age of 21 cannot afford sanitary products and uses unhygienic substitutes such as newspaper, toilet paper and socks. From an early age, girls learn to live with the pain and fear and seldom do we see a girl seek help when in physical or mental discomfort due to periods.
