- PoliticsYahoo News
Americans might face a long wait for the COVID economic relief Trump promised in executive order
Unemployed Americans hoping for additional help from the government might have to wait weeks for it, if they ever get it at all, as governors say they are unsure whether and how they can implement the plan President Trump outlined in his proclamation of an executive order extending supplemental benefits, which expired at the end of July. On Saturday, after the White House and congressional Republicans were unable to come to an agreement with Democrats on a new COVID-19 relief deal, Trump signed an executive order that would extend supplemental benefits at the reduced rate of $400 per week instead of the $600 extra benefit included in the virus relief deal passed in March.
- U.S.Associated Press
Immigration officials detain 2 men, sparking protest in Bend
Protesters rallied to block Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials from detaining two men in Bend. Immigration attorney Micaela Guthrie is working with the men and says they were detained Wednesday morning, Oregon Public Broadcasting reported. Bend Mayor Sally Russell said on Twitter that the arrests were not an immigration sweep and that she had been informed the men have warrants out for their arrest.
- ScienceThe Telegraph
'Terror crocodiles' with teeth the size of bananas once roamed North America preying on dinosaurs
"Terror crocodiles" which had teeth the size of bananas and could reach 33 feet in length once roamed North America preying on dinosaurs, according to a new study. Researchers say the Deinosuchus, which means "terror crocodile", was the largest predator in its ecosystem when it roamed the earth between 75 to 82 million years ago, outweighing the largest predatory dinosaurs which existed at the same time. The new study, published in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, revisited fossil specimens of the gigantic creatures and found the Deinosuchus had teeth “the size of bananas”, capable of taking down even the very largest of dinosaurs.
- U.S.INSIDER
Critics say Portland protests have been co-opted by 'white spectacle,' but Black activists say they're staying focused on Black lives
Demonstrations in Portland took the national spotlight in July when the Trump Administration deployed federal authorities from the Department of Homeland Security to the city, further raising tensions between protesters and law enforcement. On July 23, E.D. Mondainé, the president of the Portland chapter of the NAACP, wrote in an op-ed for The Washington Post that city's movement had been co-opted by white activists and lost its focus around Black lives. For more than two months, protests and demonstrations have persisted in Portland, Oregon.
- WorldUSA TODAY Opinion
Chinese Communist Party's new Red terror in Hong Kong
The dramatic arrest of Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai and the invasive raid of Apple Daily, the pro-democracy newspaper he founded, this week signals the start of a new Red Terror for the formerly free city. When China imposed a new national security law for Hong Kong on June 30, activists knew they may soon be living under the same repressive laws that keep the rest of China in line. Now the worst fears of freedom lovers in Hong Kong are confirmed as authorities ramp up arrests of high-profile pro-democracy leaders.
- WorldAFP
Duterte to skip Philippine trial of Russia virus vaccine
The Philippines will begin large-scale human testing of Russia's coronavirus vaccine in October, but President Rodrigo Duterte will not receive the inoculation until regulators guarantee its safety, his spokesman said Thursday. Duterte had offered himself up as a guinea pig for the very first jab, expressing "huge trust" in the vaccine, despite growing scepticism about its effectiveness. But his spokesman Harry Roque said the president was scheduled to receive the vaccine no earlier than May 1 -- weeks after the Russian-funded Phase 3 clinical trial in the archipelago is due to end in March.
- U.S.Yahoo News Video
South Dakota Governor to get $400,000 security wall around residence
South Dakota officials said Wednesday they plan to build a security fence budgeted for $400,000 around the official governor's residence to protect Gov. Kristi Noem.
- U.S.The Independent
Police officers set dog on black man and say ‘good boy, good boy’ as it bites his leg
A police dog in Salt Lake City was ordered to attack an African American man who was on his knees with his hands in the air. Police officers arrived at Jeffery Ryans's house in April in Salt Lake City, Utah, after they responded to a call made by someone who said they had heard him arguing with his wife, according to the Daily Mail. Mr Ryans is facing charges of domestic violence, as his wife filed a protective order against him in December 2019, but the 36-year-old said he had been staying at the house for weeks after his wife had asked for the order to be lifted.
- LifestyleArchitectural Digest
In These Uncertain Hours, the Classic Cool of a Gentleman’s Watch Endures
Shop watches for every occasion Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest
- PoliticsBusiness Insider
Trump tells Americans they'll have to 'learn to speak Chinese' if he loses to Biden in 2020
President Donald Trump on Tuesday said China would "own" the US if he loses to former Vice President Joe Biden. "If I don't win the election, China will own the United States—you will have to learn to speak Chinese!" Trump said. The Biden campaign in response told Insider that Trump has been "the weakest president in American history with respect to China."
- WorldAssociated Press
Israel successfully tests advanced missile defense system
Israel's Defense Ministry said Thursday it conducted a successful test of the country's advanced missile defense system against long-range ballistic attacks. Defense Minister Benny Gantz said the successful flight test of the Arrow-2 interceptor was part of Israel's technological effort that "ensures that we will always be one step ahead of our enemies.” The test was conducted overnight in central Israel, jointly with the U.S. Missile Defense Agency.
- HealthUSA TODAY
Is COVID-19 worse than the Spanish flu of 1918? New study shows deaths in New York quadrupled in early months
The study, published Thursday in the medical journal JAMA Network Open, compares the two months since the first recorded death of COVID-19 in New York City – the epicenter of the U.S. epidemic for weeks – with the deadliest two months of the 1918 calamity. Although the number of New Yorkers per 100,000 who died monthly was higher at the time – 287, significantly more than the average of 202 from March 11 to May 11 of this year – the deviation from the norm in 2020 is considerably higher. About 100 New Yorkers per 100,000 died of all causes every month in the four years before the Spanish flu, a figure that nearly tripled in October and November of 1918, the peak of the pandemic in the city.
- U.S.NBC News
Mother says son with autism was 'kicked out' of church by priest
Vicidomini said she and her family members attended Christ the King Church in Hillside, New Jersey, on Saturday for the baptism of her daughter, Sofia. Vicidomini, 38, said she'd been attending the Roman Catholic church since she was a child and that her two other children, Nicholas and Christopher, 16, had been baptized there. "We just wanted Nicholas to be part of the celebration," Vicidomini said, adding that she did not disclose that he had autism because she didn't think it was necessary as the ceremony was a private family event.
- U.S.INSIDER
Protesters in Minneapolis say they won't clear barricades around the George Floyd Memorial until the city leaders meet their 24 demands
REUTERS/Callaghan O'Hare Protesters in Minneapolis say they won't allow the city to remove the cement barricades around the George Floyd memorial until the city meets 24 demands, WCCO reported. The demands include recalling Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman, firing four employees of the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, and ending qualified immunity. George Floyd died on May 25 after a police officer knelt on his neck for several minutes until he became unresponsive.
- U.S.The Daily Beast
Pro Poker Player Was Bound, Sexually Assaulted, ‘Lit on Fire’ After Motel Meeting
Susie Zhao, the professional poker player whose charred remains were found in a remote Michigan park in July, was allegedly bound with zip ties and sexually assaulted before she was “lit on fire until she died” after meeting with a convicted sex offender, according to new court documents. Zhao, 33, was last seen around 5:30 p.m. on July 12 by her mother, the White Lake Township Police Department previously told The Daily Beast. The next day, her “badly burned” body was discovered at around 8:05 a.m. in a parking lot near the Pontiac Lake Recreation Area, about an hour outside of Detroit.
- U.S.National Review
Black N.Y. City Council Members Claim Progressive Calls to Defund Police ‘Have Overshadowed Our Fight’
In the wake of calls to address racism and police brutality, some black and Latino lawmakers in New York and New Jersey are urging their colleagues to pump the brakes on proposals to slash police department budgets. City councilwoman Vanessa Gibson, a liberal Democrat who represents a West Bronx district where over half of residents are Hispanic and 40 percent are black, said her constituents “want to see cops in the community.” New York City passed a new budget last month that cut $1 billion from the police department budget and re-purposed the funds for education and social services.
- U.S.NY Daily News
Hawaii has highest coronavirus transmission rate in the nation: 'We are super spreaders'
Monday marked Hawaii's 12th straight day of triple-digit coronavirus-case increases, giving it the highest transmission rate in the U.S. Scientists tracking the rate of spread, known as the reproduction rate, pegged Hawaii as the highest in the nation, KHNL-TV reported Monday. Hawaii's rate is 1.6, meaning every person who gets sick is passing it on to an average of 1.6 other people, reported KHNL. That is very, very high,” Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell told the station.
- U.S.Miami Herald
Air Force helicopter shot at from ground while flying over Virginia, crew injured
An Air Force helicopter was forced to make an emergency landing at a Virginia airport Monday after someone shot at it, injuring a member of the crew, local and military officials told McClatchy. The UH-1N Huey helicopter is assigned to the 1st Helicopter Squadron at Joint Base Andrews. It was flying about 1,000 feet off the ground, about 10 miles northwest of Manassas Regional Airport when the incident occurred, the Air Force said in a statement.
- WorldAFP
Agnes Chow: the former Hong Kong teen activist China wants to silence
Arrested for alleged national security crimes, Agnes Chow hails from a generation of Hong Kong democracy activists who cut their teeth in politics as teenagers and are now being steadily silenced by China. The media cameras flashed incessantly as the 23-year-old was led handcuffed from her apartment on Monday evening by police officers with Hong Kong's new national security unit. She is one of the first opposition politicians to be arrested under Beijing's new security law -- on a charge of "colluding with foreign forces" -- and could face up to life in jail if convicted.
- LifestyleArchitectural Digest
What Do All of Your Favorite Summer Beverages Have in Common?
They're best served cold, and in a stylish pitcher Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest
- PoliticsThe Independent
AOC responds to apparent Democratic party convention speech snub: 'Eternity is in it'
Firebrand lawmaker Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has hit back at an alleged snub by the Democratic party after being given just 60 seconds to deliver a speech a next week's convention. AOC responded on Twitter by posting the poem 'I have only just a minute', written by the late Dr Benjamin E. Mays, an American Baptist minister and civil rights leader. AOC's message appears to be that she intends to make full use of her convention speech – regardless of long she has been given.
- PoliticsAssociated Press
Appeals court seems wary of ordering dismissal of Flynn case
A federal appeals court in Washington appeared inclined Tuesday to let a judge decide on his own whether to grant the Justice Department's request to dismiss the criminal case against former Trump administration national security adviser Michael Flynn. Many members of the court expressed repeated skepticism at arguments from the Justice Department and Flynn's attorneys that a judge was not empowered to probe the motives behind the government's decision to abandon the prosecution of Flynn, who pleaded guilty as part of the special counsel's Russia investigation to lying to the FBI. The case will almost certainly persist for months if the court rejects Flynn's efforts to get a speedy dismissal and returns it to U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan, who refused to immediately grant the department's request to drop the prosecution.
- U.S.The Guardian
Scientists warned Trump's wall would threaten endangered species. Officials ignored them
Stark warnings by federal scientists and wildlife experts about the grave threat posed by Donald Trump's border wall to rare and endangered species were repeatedly ignored by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), according to documents seen by the Guardian. A cache of emails obtained using the Freedom of Information Act (Foia) by environmental groups reveal multiple efforts over several months by experts at the San Bernardino national wildlife refuge in south-eastern Arizona, to save rare desert springs and crystalline streams which provide the only US habitat for the endangered endemic Río Yaqui fish. The expansion of water-intensive cash crops and urban growth have also drained aquifers in the arid region, leaving several endangered and threatened species wholly reliant on the freshwater ponds found in the refuge.
- WorldBusiness Insider
MBS is stamping out the final threat to his rule, bringing an end to his 3-year coup marked by power grabs, forced disappearances, and assassinations
Bandar Algaloud/Saudi Royal Council Since becoming Saudi Crown Prince in June 2017, Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) has moved to eliminate threats to his reputation and rule from activists, journalists, and royals alike. Now he is trying to bury the remaining threats posed by the man he usurped, Mohammed bin Nayef, by accusing him of corruption and treason. Bin Nayef, who worked with US intelligence against al-Qaeda, is a darling of the US, and lawmakers are calling on the Trump administration to help release him.
U.S.USA TODAYFlorida sheriff forbids employees, visitors to wear masks: If they do, 'they will be asked to leave'
As the city of Ocala wrestles with an ordinance requiring face coverings for people inside businesses, Marion County Sheriff Billy Woods told his employees they will not wear masks at work, and visitors to his office can't wear masks either. Woods, in an email dated Aug. 11, said "my order will stand as is when you are on-duty/working as my employee and representing my Office – masks will not be worn." Marion County set a single-day record on Tuesday for the most deaths related to COVID-19, with 13 more deaths reported.
“It may be a campaign tactic, but older workers, be forewarned. Ageism runs deep in our culture.”
“Genuine concerns about the capacities of people who want the world’s most powerful job mingle bizarrely with insults.”
“Joe Biden and Donald Trump are both old. But the media should not be making mental illness a campaign issue, on either side.”
“The Trump campaign is now betting his reelection’s already slim chances on Biden proving Trump’s diagnosis is right.”
“The nightmare scenario for Democrats is that, at a pivotal moment, Biden will struggle to put together a coherent thought.”