- U.S.Yahoo News
As COVID cases spike in Florida, Trump now says he's 'flexible' on convention format in Jacksonville
With coronavirus cases exploding in Florida, President Trump said he is “flexible” about the need for a traditional indoor Republican National Convention in Jacksonville next month. The Republican National Committee had scrapped plans to hold the party's convention in Charlotte, N.C., after Gov. Roy Cooper said he would only allow “a scaled-down convention with fewer people, social distancing and face coverings.” In a television interview with former Fox anchor Greta Van Susteren, Trump suggested the format for the Aug. 24-27 event would depend on the severity of the outbreak in the Sunshine State.
- U.S.INSIDER
An Austin police officer appeared to grope a woman's breast after pulling her over for a traffic violation
In a video that trended on social media Tuesday, an Austin police officer appears to grope the woman's breasts while performing a search, even as she demanded a female officer. In a statement, the Austin Police Department said the officer acted appropriately since the encounter was recorded and another officer was present. The department also said the officer was conducting a search before transporting the woman to jail for "multiple hazardous traffic violations."
- U.S.The Independent
NYPD forced to impose limit on officers filing for retirement amid 400% surge of personnel trying to quit
The New York Police Department (NYPD) has reportedly limited the number of retirement applications it will allow, after it saw a surge in requests in the last couple of months. The NYPD announced on Wednesday that 179 officers filed for retirement between 29 June and 6 July – a 411 per cent increase on the 35 who retired in the same time period in 2019. Additionally, 503 NYPD officers filed for retirement between 25 May - the day George Floyd was killed while in police custody in Minneapolis - and 3 July, representing a 75 per cent increase on the 287 officers who retired in the same period last year.
- U.S.NBC News
'I feel threatened': Unmasked Florida man's viral Costco outburst cost him his job
A man's outburst at a Costco in Florida that was caught on video has cost him his job. A video of the incident was posted to Twitter on Monday night by filmmaker Billy Corben. "Florida man at Fort Myers Costco in 'Running the World Since 1776' shirt flips out on elderly woman who asked him to wear a mask and man who defended her #BecauseFlorida," Corben tweeted.
- U.S.National Review
Poll: 70 Percent of Americans Think ‘Black Lives Matter’ Has Not Improved Race Relations
A majority of Americans believe the Black Lives Matter movement has not improved race relations, according to a new poll from Monmouth University, with 38 percent of respondents saying BLM has hurt racial issues in America, compared to 26 percent who say the movement has helped. The poll's findings, released Wednesday, compared results from June 2020 to a similar poll conducted by Monmouth in 2016. While 71 percent of respondents agreed that Black Lives Matter has “brought attention to real racial disparities in American society” — a double-digit increase from 2016 — 70 percent of respondents think that the movement has not improved race relations, with 38 percent saying Black Lives Matter has made race relations worse.
- U.S.Associated Press
Philadelphia waives 100s of protest-related code violations
Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney says the city will drop all code violation notices handed out to demonstrators during the protests against police brutality and racial injustice that followed the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis while in police custody. Kenney said in a written release Wednesday that he was taking the city Law Department's recommendation and dropping the violations issued to protesters between May 30 and June 30. Kenney said that criminal charges filed during the protests are under the purview of the District Attorney's office and were not included in the dismissal announced Wednesday.
- WorldReuters
Angering China, Australia suspends extradition treaty with Hong Kong, extends visas
Australia said on Thursday it was suspending its extradition treaty with Hong Kong in response to a new security law imposed there and announced measures to attract businesses from the Asian financial hub, provoking an angry response from Beijing. Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the law introduced last week in Hong Kong was a fundamental change of circumstances and Australia would suspend the extradition agreement. "There will be citizens of Hong Kong who may be looking to move elsewhere, to start a new life somewhere else, to take their skills, their businesses," Morrison said, outlining changes to visa programmes.
- WorldThe Telegraph
Militants kill BJP politician Wasim Bari and his family in Kashmir
A Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party politician was killed along with his brother and father in Indian administered Kashmir, officials said on Thursday. Wasim Bari, 38, and his family were attacked by militants at his residence in north Kashmir's Bandipora district on Wednesday night. All three were shot at point-blank range and died on the way to hospital.
- U.S.USA TODAY
'Scared for my life' but needing a salary: Teachers weigh risks of COVID-19
Christy Karwatt teaches social studies, but she's been thinking more like a math teacher the last few days. At 61, the Sarasota High teacher is entering her 27th year in Florida's retirement system, and she loves her job. She had planned on teaching three more years to maximize her retirement payment.
PoliticsFOX News VideosLeft urges Joe Biden to limit debates against President Trump
New York Times opinion writer Tom Friedman says Biden should refuse to debate Trump unless he releases his tax returns; Jacqui Heinrich reports.
- U.S.Yahoo News
CDC says guidelines for reopening schools are 'not requirements' after Trump calls them 'impractical'
After President Trump on Tuesday lashed out at what he called “impractical” and “expensive” guidelines for reopening schools published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the agency's director emphasized that they were meant as recommendations, not mandatory standards, and “should not be used as a rationale to keep schools closed.” “Remember it's guidance, it's not requirements,” CDC Director Robert Redfield said during a briefing by the White House coronavirus task force. “And its purpose is to facilitate the reopening and keeping open the schools in this country.”
- U.S.The Daily Beast
Feds: Top Ohio State Immunologist Lied About Chinese Funding and Ties to Research Groups
Federal prosecutors allege that a top immunologist at Ohio State University illegally concealed Chinese funding for his research and attempted to flee the country before his arrest in Alaska in May. In a criminal complaint unsealed on Thursday, the Justice Department accuses Song Guo Zheng, the Ronald L. Whisler MD Chair in Rheumatology and Immunology at Ohio State's medical school, of fraudulently obtaining federal grant funds from the National Institutes of Health and making false statements to investigators. Zheng, prosecutors say, obtained nearly $5 million in federal research grants without disclosing ties to Chinese entities and additional grant funds provided by them.
- BusinessNBC News
Israel looked like a model for halting coronavirus. Here's how it 'lost its bearings.'
When signs of the coronavirus pandemic appeared in Israel in March, the country shut down hard and fast. Between 8 a.m. Tuesday and 8 a.m. Wednesday morning, Israel recorded a new daily high of 1,528 coronavirus cases, the Health Ministry said. In the West Bank and Gaza, cases have also steadily risen, with more than 300 reported on Tuesday.
- U.S.Miami Herald
Tenant faces eviction for Black Lives Matter banner on his Illinois balcony, he says
A man and his family may soon be evicted from their apartment after refusing to remove a Black Lives Matter banner from their Illinois balcony, he says. Donavan Burton, 22, hung the banner in June to protest police killings of Black people following the death of George Floyd, the Associated Press reported. Burton's lease, however, prohibits any “personal belongings” from being stored on the Bloomington property's balcony and his landlord, First Site, repeatedly asked him to take down the banner, WGLT reported.
- WorldAssociated Press
Rare gorillas in Nigeria captured on camera with babies
Conservationists have captured the first images of a group of rare Cross River gorillas with multiple babies in Nigeria's Mbe mountains, proof that the subspecies once feared to be extinct is reproducing amid protection efforts. Only around 300 Cross River gorillas were known to be alive at one point in the isolated mountainous region in Nigeria and Cameroon, according to the Wildlife Conservation Society, which captured the camera trap images in May. More color images were recovered last month. John Oates, professor emeritus at the City University of New York and a primatologist who helped establish conservation efforts for the gorillas more than two decades ago, was excited about the new images.
- PoliticsReuters
U.S. Supreme Court deems half of Oklahoma a Native American reservation
The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday recognized about half of Oklahoma as Native American reservation land and overturned a tribe member's rape conviction because the location where the crime was committed should have been considered outside the reach of state criminal law. The justices ruled 5-4 in favor of a man named Jimcy McGirt and agreed that the site of the rape should have been recognized as part of a reservation based on the historical claim of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation - beyond the jurisdiction of state authorities. The decision means that for the first time much of eastern Oklahoma is legally considered reservation land.
- StyleArchitectural Digest
15 Platform Beds to Elevate Your Bedroom Style
You'll love these contemporary styles and budget-friendly price points Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest
- PoliticsThe Independent
Fox News host Tucker Carlson accused of echoing white supremacist slogan on air
Fox News host Tucker Carlson has been accused of echoing a 14-word white supremacist phrase during one of his on-air segments. During a segment on his Monday evening show, Mr Carlson showed side-by-side images of Representative Ilhan Omar and Senator Tammy Duckworth, both of whom are Democrats on Capitol Hill and were born overseas. Critics said the phrase across the screen mirrored that of the white supremacist 14-word slogan: “We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children.”
WorldAFPNile dam dispute spills onto social media
As Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan struggle to resolve a long-running dispute over Addis Ababa's mega-dam project on the Nile, some of their citizens are sparring online over their rights to the mighty waterway. For nearly a decade, multiple rounds of talks between Cairo, Addis Ababa and Khartoum have failed to produce a deal over the filling and operation of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD). Anxiety has mounted in downstream Sudan and Egypt, which fear for their vital water supplies after upstream Ethiopia declared plans to start filling Africa's largest dam reservoir in July.
- U.S.CBS News
CEO apologizes after racist rant targeting Asian American family
A San Francisco tech CEO issued an apology this week after he was seen in a viral video yelling racial slurs and expletives at an Asian American family on the Fourth of July. Raymond Orosa and his family were celebrating his wife's birthday at Bernardus Lodge and Spa's Lucia restaurant when Michael Lofthouse can be seen on camera harassing them, saying, "F— you Asians," "Go back to whatever f— Asian country you're from" and "You don't belong here." The video begins with the woman who filmed the vulgar encounter asking Lofthouse, sitting one table over, to repeat what he had just said to them.
- WorldBBC
Vikas Dubey: On-the-run gangster arrested in India
Police in India have arrested a man in connection with the killings of eight policemen earlier this month. Vikas Dubey, who was on the run for nearly a week after the incident, was held in the state of Madhya Pradesh. The policemen were fired upon during a raid in search of the notorious local gangster in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh last week.
- PoliticsNBC News
Trump admin plans to block asylum seekers from U.S. by citing risk of COVID-19
The Trump administration has proposed a new rule that would allow it to deny asylum to immigrants who are deemed a public health risk. The soon-to-be published rule would let the Department of Homeland Security and Department of Justice to block immigrants from seeking asylum in the U.S. based on "potential international threats from the spread of pandemics," according to a notice announcing it Wednesday. The rule would apply to immigrants seeking asylum and those seeking "withholding of removal" — a protected immigration status for those who have shown they more likely than not would face danger if returned to their home countries.
- U.S.USA TODAY
Thomas Lane, former Minneapolis police officer who held George Floyd's legs, seeks dismissal of charges
Thomas Lane, the former Minneapolis police officer who held George Floyd's legs while Derek Chauvin kept his knee pressed to Floyd's neck, wants his charges dismissed. Lane's attorney, Earl Gray, on Tuesday filed a motion to dismiss Lane's charges. The fired officer is charged with aiding and abetting Chauvin, who has been charged with second-degree murder and manslaughter in Floyd's death, which sparked nationwide protests against racial inequality and police brutality.
- U.S.Associated Press
Tyler Perry to pay funeral expenses for girl shot in Atlanta
Tyler Perry has offered to pay the funeral expenses for an 8-year-old girl who was fatally shot in Atlanta over the weekend, a representative for the actor and filmmaker confirmed Wednesday. Secoriea was riding in a Jeep Cherokee with her mother and another adult on Saturday night when they encountered “a makeshift roadblock that was manned by numerous armed individuals,” Atlanta police Lt. Pete Malecki said. Malecki said the video comes from a surveillance camera near where Secoriea was shot.
- ScienceReuters
Study shows ancient contact between Polynesian and South American peoples
New genetic research shows that there was mingling between ancient native peoples from Polynesia and South America, revealing a single episode of interbreeding roughly 800 years ago after an epic transoceanic journey. The question of such contact - long hypothesized in part based on the enduring presence in Polynesia of a staple food in the form of the sweet potato that originated in South and Central America - had been keenly debated among scientists. Scientists said on Wednesday an examination of DNA from 807 people - from 14 Polynesian islands and Pacific coastal Native American populations from Mexico to Chile - definitively resolved the matter.
