- PoliticsYahoo News
Here are the likely contenders on Biden's vice president shortlist
During the early stages of the campaign, Harris was questioned on whether she was open to being Biden's vice president — a question she often suggested should be asked of Biden too. Suffice it to say, Harris has been answering questions about her place in a potential Biden administration longer than many other contenders as an early favorite; some have taken to national publications to push their pick to the top of the list. Several top aides and members of Biden's camp say Harris — who has hosted multiple campaign events and been able to rake in cash — is the top pick too, according to recent reporting in Politico.
- U.S.Yahoo News
Coronavirus infections are rising as states reopen, potentially signaling a second wave
Two days later, both Reuters and the New York Times reported that new daily cases of COVID-19 — which have been falling for weeks, both nationally and in the hardest-hit metropolitan areas — suddenly and simultaneously started to rise in more than a dozen states. The Times counted 14 states where the rolling seven-day average of new infections has climbed over the last two weeks. Narrowing the timeframe and focusing on the total weekly case count, Reuters found that 20 states reported an increase in new infections during the week ending May 24, up from 13 states the week before.
- U.S.Associated Press
Violence again rocks Minneapolis after man's death; 1 killed
A man was shot to death as violent protests over the death of a black man in police custody rocked Minneapolis for a second straight night, with protesters looting stores near a police precinct and setting fires that continued to burn Thursday morning. Police said they were investigating Wednesday night's death as a homicide and had a suspect in custody, but were still investigating what led to the shooting. Protesters began gathering in the early afternoon near the city's 3rd Precinct station, in the southern part of the city where 46-year-old George Floyd died on Memorial Day after an officer knelt on his neck until he became unresponsive.
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.
- WorldBusiness Insider
The Chinese CDC now says the coronavirus didn't jump to people at the Wuhan wet market — instead, it was the site of a super-spreader event
Experts think the new coronavirus originated in bats, then jumped to humans via an intermediary animal species. Initially, authorities in Wuhan, China — where the first cases were reported— thought that jump happened at a local wet market. Now, the Chinese CDC has ruled out the market as a possible origin site for the outbreak.
- WorldBBC
Rohingya refugee crisis: 'The bodies were thrown out of the boat'
The 50-year-old was among 396 Rohingya Muslims who had tried to reach Malaysia but who finally returned to the Bangladeshi shore after the boat carrying them was stranded at sea for two months. Khadiza had to run away from her home in Myanmar because of violence that UN investigators described as a "textbook example of ethnic cleansing". Neighbouring Bangladesh gave her shelter, settling the fleeing Rohingya Muslims in what has now become the world's largest refugee camp.
- 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.
- 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.
- PoliticsNBC News
Senate Democrats take on GOP court-packing in blistering new report
Senate Democrats on Wednesday unveiled a new report on Republican efforts to pack the courts with conservative-leaning judges and the outsized influence of one conservative activist. "Our report exposes a twisted web of dark money, and special interest groups who behind the scenes are investing millions and millions to plant ideological activist judges completely remake the courts, and ultimately rewrite the Constitution," said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. As part of their report, the senators pointed to activist Leonard Leo, the former head of the conservative Federalist Society, as the driving force behind the many of the president's appointments, including Supreme Court Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch.
- WorldThe Telegraph
Spain holds minute's silence at start of 10-day mourning period
Spain on Wednesday began a 10-day mourning period with a minute's silence to remember the dead from the country's coronavirus crisis. Flags flew at half mast and black crepe bows were attached to the national banner at the beginning of the longest period of mourning since Spain returned to democracy in the 1970s. King Felipe, Queen Letizia and their two daughters wore black as they marked the minute's silence outside their Zarzuela Palace residence.
- PoliticsYahoo News
One of Trump's favorite pollsters shows his approval plummeting
President Trump's approval rating has plummeted since late February, according to the Rasmussen daily tracking poll, which the president frequently cited during his first three years in office. As of Wednesday, 42 percent of Americans told Rasmussen that they approved of the job Trump was doing as president, while 57 percent disapproved. While 42 percent approval is in line with the overall aggregation of polls tracking Trump's approval rating, it is notable from Rasmussen, which tends to show more favorable numbers for Republicans and the president.
- U.S.Associated Press
Mexican drug lord pleads poverty in bid to escape arrest
Drug lord Rafael Caro Quintero, a notorious underworld figure who is on the FBI's most wanted list for the murder of a federal agent over three decades ago, said in a legal appeal that he has no money, is too old to work and has no pension. The odd plea was filed Tuesday by Caro Quintero's lawyer seeking an injunction against his arrest or extradition to the United States for the kidnapping and murder of DEA Special Agent Enrique Camarena in Mexico in 1985. The court papers state: “The plaintiff argues insolvency, because he says he is more than 60 years old, is neither retired nor has a pension, and given the fact that he is a fugitive from the law, cannot work or perform any activity to ea...
WorldYahoo News VideoSo-called honor killing of teen girl sparks outcry in Iran
The so-called honor killing of a 14-year-old Iranian girl by her dad, who reportedly beheaded her as she slept, has sparked a nationwide outcry.
- WorldBusiness Insider
The UK now has the highest coronavirus death rate in the world
Chris J Ratcliffe/Getty Images The UK has recorded the highest coronavirus death rate, according to new analysis. Prime Minister Boris Johnson's decision to lock down the country at a relatively late stage of the pandemic may have significantly influenced the high number of COVID-19 deaths in the UK, according to a Financial Times analysis. The UK has the second-highest total excess death count since March — behind only the US — and the highest death rate when adjusted for population.
- BusinessPopular Mechanics
Levi’s Is Taking 50% off These Best-Selling Jeans Right Now
It's a great time to stock up on the classic 501s. From Popular Mechanics
WorldAFPICC allows former I.Coast president Gbagbo to leave Belgium
The International Criminal Court on Thursday said former Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo can leave Belgium under certain conditions following his acquittal last year over post-electoral violence that killed 3,000 people. Gbagbo and his deputy Charles Ble Goude were both cleared of crimes against humanity a year ago, eight years after the former West African strongman's arrest and transfer to the Hague-based court. Belgium agreed to host Gbagbo, 73, after he was released in February last year under strict conditions including that he would return to court for a prosecution appeal against his acquittal.
- WorldReuters
Fourth Iranian tanker docks at Venezuelan port, U.S. slams 'distraction'
The Venezuelan navy said it escorted a fourth tanker bringing Iranian fuel through its waters on Thursday, while the United States called the shipments to the gasoline-starved country a distraction from problems facing President Nicolas Maduro. The oil industries of Iran and Venezuela are both under U.S. sanctions. Iran is providing its fellow OPEC member up to 1.53 million barrels of gasoline and refining components to help ease an acute shortage, the result of the near-complete breakdown in its refining network as well as the sanctions.
- HealthUSA TODAY
CDC changes its 'confusing' guidelines on coronavirus and surfaces. Here's what we know.
Though the coronavirus could be transmitted by touching a surface – and then your nose, mouth or eyes – the likelihood of that is lower than person-to-person contact, which is believed to be the primary way the coronavirus is transmitted. "This is not thought to be the main way the virus spreads, but we are still learning more about how this virus spreads," the CDC's recently updated guidelines say. Dr. Manisha Juthani, an infectious disease doctor and associate professor of medicine at Yale University, told USA TODAY that the newly issued guidelines were "trying to reduce fear and paranoia about methods of transmission."
- WorldThe Telegraph
British mercenaries 'involved in botched operation' backing rebel leader in Libya, according to secret UN report
Six British citizens including two former Royal Marine commandos have been accused of taking part in a botched mercenary mission to Libya to fight on behalf of renegade general Khalifa Haftar. The five men and one woman are named in a confidential report by the United Nations panel of experts on Libya into a botched mission that ended with the mercenaries making a remarkable sea-borne escape after falling out with their hosts. The men, including former Royal Marines Sean Callaghan Louw and Andrew Scott Ritchie, were among around 20 mercenaries who travelled to Benghazi in eastern Libya in June 2019 in a contract organised by a UAE based company called Opus, according to the report seen by the Daily Telegraph.
- WorldArchitectural Digest
This Neo-Futuristic Home Found Its Inspiration in the British Countryside
Located in the rolling hills of southeast England, the design was meant to mimic the beer-brewing structures that once dotted the landscape Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest
- WorldLA Times
Trump likely to slap limited sanctions on China over Hong Kong crackdown
Under political pressure to take a hard line against China for its crackdown on Hong Kong, President Trump instead is planning to impose relatively mild new sanctions on visas and Chinese access to the global financial system. The president wants to cool the growing confrontation between the world's two most economically powerful nations, in part to salvage their trade deal and his personal relationship with Chinese President Xi Jinping, according to some supporters, including Stephen K. Bannon, the former senior White House strategist. “Beijing holds all of the cards in this dispute and has made it quite clear that it is willing to take actions that will harm the well-being of Hong Kong in order to protect national security as the Chinese Communist Party defines it,” said Robert Daly, a China-U.S. relations expert at the Wilson Center.
- U.S.Associated Press
Warrants describe nightmarish child abuse case in Tennessee
Arrest warrants in a Tennessee couple's abuse case describe a hellish existence for four children in their legal custody, a nightmare that finally ended after a little boy was spotted walking alone along a Roane County road. The boy's legal guardian soon confessed, the warrants said, to burying the remains of a little girl in a barn and locking a 15-year-old boy in the basement for four years. The two other children spent time in a wire dog cage, while all were supposedly homeschooled and appeared to be “stunted in growth,” the warrants said.
- PoliticsBusiness Insider
White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany, who has promoted conspiracy theories about mail-in-voting fraud, voted by mail 11 times over the past 10 years
White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany has voted by mail 11 times in the past decade, the Tampa Bay Times reported Wednesday. The report comes as McEnany has aggressively defended the president's false claims that mail-in voting is rife with fraud and expanding the practice would lead to "a Rigged Election." Trump also regularly votes by mail and believes he should be afforded that right despite his claims about fraud.
- BusinessThe New York Times
Cheered by Private Schools, DeVos Demands Public Education Shares Pandemic Aid
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, defiant amid criticism that she is using the coronavirus pandemic to pursue a long-sought agenda, said she will force public school districts to share a large portion of federal rescue funding with private school students, regardless of income. DeVos announced the measure in a letter to the Council of Chief State School Officers, which represents state education chiefs, defending her position on how education funding from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act, or CARES Act, should be spent. “The CARES Act is a special, pandemic-related appropriation to benefit all American students, teachers and families,” DeVos wrote in the letter Friday.
WorldAFPSri Lanka to reimpose selective lockdown after virus cases spike
Sri Lanka will reimpose selective lockdown restrictions from Sunday to restrict large gatherings after recording its biggest daily surge in coronavirus infections -- most found in citizens repatriated last week from Kuwait. The island nation on Tuesday lifted a shutdown on the capital and a neighbouring district, two weeks after easing it in other parts of the nation. But after more than 250 returnees from Kuwait were found to be infected with coronavirus, authorities decided to impose lockdowns on days when crowds were likely to form -- including the planned funeral of a popular minister.
