Trump calls audience at his Bedminster golf club a 'peaceful protest'

At a surprise press briefing Friday at his private golf club in Bedminster, N.J., President Trump said his audience of well-to-do supporters was involved in a “peaceful protest” and therefore did not need to adhere to state coronavirus guidelines prohibiting large gatherings. Trump was asked about his earlier assertion that the pandemic was “disappearing” by a reporter who noted that the crowd in attendance seemed to be violating New Jersey restrictions meant to slow the spread of the virus. “You're wrong on that because it's a political activity and they have exceptions, political activity and it's also a peaceful protest,” Trump responded.

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  Trump order could mean $400 in added unemployment benefits — but states would have to help

  Miami Herald
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  Trump signs executive actions on coronavirus economic relief

  NBC News

After fatal great white shark attack in Maine, debate intensifies over culling seals

Two weeks ago Maine recorded its first fatal great white shark attack. Julie Dimperio Holowach, 63, of New York City, was splashing with her daughter approximately 20 yards off the coast of Bailey Island when a large shark, likely mistaking Holowach for a seal, struck her with such force that she was launched out of the water, witnesses said. Beaches across the Northeast have closed repeatedly in recent days after great white sharks were spotted swimming close to shore, a worrying trend that has led some people to suggest that states thin the population of seals, the sharks' primary source of food.

Former US soldiers sentenced to 20 years for bungled Venezuelan coup plot

A Venezuelan court sentenced two former US special forces soldiers to 20 years in prison for their part in a failed beach attack aimed at overthrowing President Nicolas Maduro, prosecutors announced late on Friday. Former Green Berets Luke Denman and Airan Berry admitted to taking part in the May 4 operation orchestrated by a third ex-US soldier who remains in the United States, Venezuelan's chief prosecutor Tarek William Saab announced on Twitter. "THEY ADMITTED THEIR RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE FACTS," Saab wrote, adding that the case will continue for dozens of other defendants.

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  Venezuela jails two Americans over failed 'invasion'

  AFP
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  Venezuela: Former American soldiers jailed over failed coup

  BBC

Should Judge Sullivan Be Disqualified from Flynn Case? An Appeals Court Is Asking

At the time, that court's three-judge panel had not yet heard oral argument on Michael Flynn's mandamus petition — i.e., Flynn's request that the panel find that federal district judge Emmet Sullivan was acting lawlessly. Sullivan had not only failed to grant the Justice Department's motion to dismiss the criminal case against Flynn; he had appointed a former federal judge (the overtly anti-Trump John Gleeson) to posit the argument abandoned by DOJ — to wit, that Flynn should proceed to sentencing because he had pled guilty to a false-statements charge, waiving his right to contest the case any further in exchange for the government's agreement not to file any other charges.

Coronavirus: New Zealand marks 100 days without community spread

New Zealand has gone 100 days without recording a locally transmitted Covid-19 case, a milestone that has both been welcomed and brought warnings against complacency. The last case of community transmission was detected on 1 May, days after the country started easing its lockdown. New Zealand has fared better than other countries, recording 1,219 confirmed cases and 22 deaths since the virus arrived in late February.

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  U.S. coronavirus cases top 5 million as pandemic rages on

  CBS News
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  COVID-19 cases top 5 million in US with odds for highly effective vaccine ‘not great’

  Miami Herald

A woman claiming to be from the 'Freedom To Breathe Agency' filmed telling a grocery employee that she could face legal action for making people wear face masks

In a viral TikTok video, a woman claiming to be from an anti-mask group told a grocery store supervisor in Orange County, California, that she could face legal action for asking people to wear face coverings. The mask-less woman, who claimed she was from the "Freedom to Breathe Agency", was filmed giving the employee a piece of paper that stated she could go to prison for up to three to five years for telling customers to wear a mask. The "Freedom To Breathe Agency" is not a real governmental agency and has previously received a warning from the Department of Justice after it distributed fake "face mask exempt" cards.

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  The Best Skin-care Products to Treat and Prevent Maskne

  WWD
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  A Dermatologist Answers Your Questions About Acne and Masks

  Scary Mommy

Even the Official Motorcycle Brand of the Sturgis Rally Thinks the Mass Gathering Is Too Risky

The plaza at the center of Sturgis is the Harley-Davidson Rally Point, and those who assemble there stand on a huge Harley-Davidson Logo. Bill Davidson, grandson of company founder William Davidson, attended the plaza's official opening in 2015, a ceremony that involved a blowtorch and a chain rather than scissors and a ribbon. As that was the 75th anniversary of the rally, the plaza included 75 bricks from Harley-Davidson's hundred-year-old headquarters in Milwaukee, transported to Sturgis by a fleet of motorcycles.

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  Defying virus, thousands of motorcyclists flood into small US town

  AFP
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  Quarter of a million bikers defy Covid fears to hold South Dakota rally

  The Telegraph

Hong Kong hits back at 'shameless' U.S. sanctions on leader Carrie Lam

The Chinese and Hong Kong governments strongly criticized Washington Saturday after the United States imposed sanctions on the territory's leader Carrie Lam, and other officials, dismissing the move as "clowning actions" that would not intimidate Chinese people. Hong Kong's government said the sanctions were "shameless and despicable" and represented a "blatant and barbaric" interference in China's internal affairs, warning that Hong Kong was being used as a "pawn" in the U.S.-China relationship. The Trump administration announced Friday it would impose sanctions on Lam and Luo Huining, the head of China's Liaison Office in Hong Kong, along with nine other current and former officials that Washington accuses of curtailing political freedoms, following the imposition of a draconian new security law in June.

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  Beijing's top HK office says U.S. sanctions are "clowning actions" and "ridiculous"

  Reuters
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  HK vows it won't be intimidated by U.S. sanctions

  Reuters Videos

Conspiracy-mongering Republican seeking John Lewis seat gets social media boost from Trump

On Thursday evening, amid a fairly typical burst of presidential Twitter activity, President Trump retweeted two recent posts from the account of Angela Stanton-King, a Republican congressional candidate who has repeatedly used her social media feeds to promote content related to QAnon and other fringe conspiracy theories, including wildly implausible internet rumors about sex trafficking of children. Trump has also flirted with QAnon memes on social media, although his retweets of Stanton-King were not related to the loosely knit group whose followers have been described by the FBI as “conspiracy theory-driven domestic extremists.” In the first tweet, which was originally posted last week, Stanton-King describes herself as “a proud Black woman who supports @realDonaldTrump” and is “done with the Democrat Party lying to my community.”

French passengers sue Costa Cruises over virus ship ordeal

Around 850 French passengers who were onboard a coronavirus-riddled cruise ship that was turned away from numerous ports in March have filed a collective suit in Paris with 180 complaints, including manslaughter, against Costa Cruises, their lawyer said Sunday. The class action, which includes complaints from the families of three passengers who died of COVID-19, accuses the Italy-based cruise giant of negligence and various faults during their trip on the Costa Magica. In the absence of stopovers, the crew encouraged the passengers to use the ship's shops, spas, restaurants and casino without sufficiently putting health measures in place -- or informing them there were suspected infections onboard -- the complainants said in their suit.

Man who was given life sentence for $30 marijuana sale to be freed

A man in Louisiana serving a life sentence for selling less than a gram of marijuana is due to be released from prison, his lawyer has said. Derek Harris, who is a military veteran, was arrested in 2008 for selling 0.69 grams of marijuana — an amount worth less than $30 (£23) — to an undercover officer who came to his door. Harris was initially convicted and sentenced to 15 years in prison.

California Rep. Maxine Waters says Biden 'can't go home' without choosing a Black woman as his running mate

Associated Press/Andrew Harnik California congresswoman Maxine Waters said in a live interview with ESSENCE that former Vice President Joe Biden must choose a Black woman for his running mate. "He can't go home without a Black woman being VP," said Waters in the interview. Meanwhile, with the Democratic National Convention less than 10 days away, Biden is expected to announce his pick for vice president anytime soon.

'I don't want to fly again': Surviving India's worst crash in 10 years

Seated on the last row of the plane, Muhammed Junaid sensed something was amiss when Air India Express flight IX 1344 from Dubai was jerked around by strong winds as it approached the southern Indian city of Kozhikode late on Friday. After an aborted attempt, the aircraft swung around and touched down on the runway, said Junaid, who like many others onboard worked in the Middle East but was forced to return home when his salary halved because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead of slowing down, Junaid said, the Boeing-737 appeared to pick up speed, overshooting the runway slickened by heavy rains, hurtling down a sharp slope and breaking in two.

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  Death toll in India plane accident rises

  Reuters Videos
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  Survivors of deadly India crash say plane swayed violently

  Associated Press

A body was recovered from the wreckage of the New Orleans Hard Rock hotel 10 months after it collapsed

Barry Lewis/InPictures via Getty Images A man's body was recovered from a Hard Rock Hotel construction site that collapsed last October, Nola.com reported. Quinnyon Wimberly was one of three workers killed in the collapse. His body was removed from the site on Saturday, after his remains laid in the wreck for 10 months.

Three parks and wildlife employees die in helicopter crash during bighorn sheep survey

Three Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) employees have been killed in a helicopter crash while conducting aerial surveys for desert bighorn sheep in the south-western part of the state, according to officials. The crash happened on Saturday in the remote wilderness of Black Gap Wildlife Management Area, which is adjacent to Big Bend National Park, on the Rio Grande that marks the border with Mexico. The victims of the crash were identified as wildlife biologist Dewey Stockbridge, fish and wildlife technician Brandon White, and state wildlife veterinarian Bob Dittmar, according to the TPWD.

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  Helicopter crash kills 3 Texas wildlife workers during survey of bighorn sheep

  NBC News
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  Helicopter crash kills three Texas Parks and Wildlife workers, officials say

  Miami Herald

Wave in eastern Atlantic may develop into a tropical depression this week, forecasters say

The National Weather Service is monitoring a storm that has the potential to become a tropical depression in the eastern Atlantic this week. The storm, which was located a few hundred miles south-southwest of the Cabo Verde Islands as of Sunday afternoon, has a 40 percent chance of forming into a tropical depression within the next two days and a 50 percent chance of forming by Thursday. A tropical wave located a few hundred miles south-southwest of the Cabo Verde Islands could become a tropical depression during the next few days while it moves westward across the tropical Atlantic Ocean.

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  MEDIA ADVISORY: Tropical Storm Isaias Update

  PR Newswire
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  Thousands still without power due to Tropical Storm Isaias

  WABC – NY

National security adviser: 'Almost nothing' left to sanction 'of the Russians'

Face the Nation host Margaret Brennan repeatedly pushed National Security Adviser Robert O'Brien on Sunday to say whether President Trump has told Russian President Vladimir Putin "to knock it off" when it comes to U.S. election interference. O'Brien said he doesn't get involved with his boss' conversations with other world leaders, but said the Trump administration remains committed to keeping Moscow out of the picture. Trump, O'Brien said, has been tougher than his predecessors.

New 'threat' against former Saudi spy in Canada: media

A former senior Saudi intelligence official who has accused Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of trying to have him assassinated in 2018 has been placed under heightened security after a new threat on his life, a Canadian newspaper reported. The Globe and Mail said Canadian security services had been informed of a new attempted attack on Saad Aljabri, who lives at an undisclosed location in the Toronto region. Aljabri served as a counterespionage chief under a rival prince, Mohammed bin Nayef, who was ousted in 2017 by Prince Mohammed.

She Was Charged With Murder After Her Baby Was Stillborn. Now California’s AG Has Stepped In.

For more than nine months, five of them during a global pandemic, a 26-year-old woman named Chelsea Becker has been sitting in Kings County Jail, under a $2 million bail, for giving birth to a stillborn baby. Becker has been there since November, when police arrested her and prosecutors charged her with murder. The District Attorney argued that Becker's methamphetamine addiction had caused the stillbirth, citing a 50-year-old law that civil rights advocates say was never supposed to apply to pregnant women.

Gunmen kill six French aid workers, their driver and guide in Niger, minister says

Gunmen on motorcycles killed six French aid workers, a Nigerien guide and a driver in a wildlife park in Niger on Sunday, officials said. The group was attacked in a giraffe reserve just 65 km (40 miles) from the West African country's capital Niamey, the governor of Tillaberi region, Tidjani Ibrahim Katiella, told Reuters. The six worked for an international aid group, Niger's Defence Minister Issoufou Katambé told Reuters.

• 6 French citizens, 2 guides killed by gunmen at giraffe park

  Associated Press
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  Niger attack: French aid workers among eight killed by gunmen

  BBC

A 17-year-old high school student developed an app that records your interaction with police when you're pulled over and immediately shares it to Instagram and Facebook

Aaditya Agrawal told Business Insider that he was compelled to create the app in part after a close friend of his, who is Black, was pulled over without cause. "You see it in the news all the time, but when it happens to one of your close friends — and he tells you how it felt for that to happen to him — then you understand the significance," he said. Accountability in law enforcement has been thrust into the national discourse surrounding how Black Americans are treated by police even more so since the police killing of Minneapolis resident George Floyd in May.