- U.S.INSIDER
People in the US have been receiving packages of jewelry that actually contain mysterious seeds from China, report says
A number of people across the country have been receiving packages of jewelry that actually contain mysterious seeds from China. Residents of Utah have shared incidents of receiving small packages with Chinese writing that indicated the items as jewelry, according to FOX 13. The Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services also made an announcement Friday, stating that they were aware of several residents receiving "packages containing seeds that appear to have originated from China."
- U.S.BBC
Hurricane Hanna: Flood threat remains despite weakening
Heavy rain is likely to lead to "life-threatening" flash flooding in southern Texas and north-eastern Mexico even as Hurricane Hanna weakens, US officials have warned. The hurricane made landfall on Saturday but has since been downgraded to a tropical storm. But the US National Hurricane Centre (NHC) says that rains and strong winds "remain a threat".
U.S.Associated PressJudge blocks Seattle law banning police use of pepper spray
A federal judge late Friday blocked Seattle's new law prohibiting police from using pepper spray, blast balls and similar weapons that was passed following confrontations with protesters. The Seattle Times reports that U.S. District Judge James Robart at an emergency hearing granted a request from the federal government to block the new law, which the Seattle City Council passed unanimously last month. The U.S. Department of Justice, citing Seattle's longstanding police consent decree, argued that banning the use of crowd control weapons could actually lead to more police use of force, leaving them only with more deadly weapons.
- BusinessBusiness Insider
Trump's new 'somber tone' on the coronavirus isn't a reversal of his denial of the seriousness of the pandemic — it's a realization that denial could cost him the election
President Donald Trump began to acknowledge the growing threat and impact of the coronavirus pandemic during Tuesday's coronavirus task force press briefing. According to CNN, Trump and his team discussed polls that showed him trailing behind presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden the morning of the briefing. Despite that change, it's not clear how long this apparent acknowledgment of the pandemic will last and if it can reverse some of the damage of his response in the first six months.
- WorldReuters
Refugee who volunteered at French cathedral confesses to setting blaze, lawyer says
A Rwandan refugee who volunteered as a warden at France's 15th-century Nantes cathedral has confessed to setting the blaze that gutted its interior a week ago, his lawyer said on Sunday. "With these confessions, there's a kind of relief: it's someone who is scared, who is somehow overwhelmed," his lawyer, Quentin Chabert, told a news conference on Sunday. The July 18 blaze engulfed the inside of the Gothic structure of the Cathedral of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, destroying its grand organ, stained-glass windows and a painting.
- U.S.CBS News
Christopher David: "Our city has been turned into a war zone intentionally"
He recently attended a Black Lives Matter protest in Portland, where he was attacked by federal officers, as seen in a video that went viral. He talked with "CBS Sunday Morning" about his experience: I saw on Twitter or on TV, there's video of men wearing combat fatigues with no insignia, essentially abducting people from the streets of Portland and putting them in unmarked vans. I was very concerned about that.
- WorldNBC News
Nigerian refugee creates N.Y.C.'s first full-time shelter for asylum-seekers
Before Edafe Okporo founded New York City's first and only shelter for asylum-seekers and refugees, he was wandering the streets of Elizabeth, New Jersey, a refugee with nowhere to go. Although he was homeless, Okporo was happy to be in the United States. "Everything just changed when I stepped my feet into this country," said Okporo, 30, an LGBTQ activist who fled his homeland, Nigeria, in 2016, "because there is an opportunity to dream of a better future, to have a path here as a gay man."
- U.S.Yahoo News
Local reparations efforts are good but not enough, advocates say
Reparations for Black Americans are gaining traction among local U.S. governments, but advocates say federal restitution is needed for the multigenerational harm done by slavery and other forms of oppression. Earlier this month, Asheville, N.C., city council members unanimously approved a measure supporting “community reparations” for Black residents. In Rhode Island, Providence Mayor Jorge Elorza recently signed an executive order to begin examining the viability of a reparations program for residents of African or indigenous backgrounds.
- WorldAssociated Press
Putin attends naval parade, promises new ships to navy
President Vladimir Putin said the Russian navy will get 40 new ships and vessels this year, as he attended a naval parade in St. Petersburg on Sunday marking the Navy Day in Russia. The parade in St. Petersburg and the nearby town of Kronshtadt featured 46 ships and vessels and over 4,000 troops and aimed to “demonstrate the growing power of our navy,” Putin said Friday. He said 40 ships and vessels of different classes will enter service this year, and that the Russian navy will be equipped with hypersonic weapons to boost its combat capabilities.
- PoliticsYahoo News Video
James Carville still thinks Trump might pull out of race rather than risk losing by a landslide
Veteran Democratic strategist James Carville doubled down on his prediction on Friday that President Trump may yet abandon his run for reelection.
- U.S.INSIDER
Police in Australia won their Supreme Court bid to stop a Black Lives Matter protest
Paul Kane/Getty Images Police in New South Wales, Australia won a Supreme Court case to stop a Black Lives Matter protest from taking place on Tuesday, July 28th due to coronavirus concerns. The family of a man who died in police custody at a jail in Australia in 2015 organized the protest to demand justice for those who were involved in his death. The protest was blocked after police raised concerns that it would "breach public health orders" and lead to a spike in coronavirus infections.
- U.S.Associated Press
A coronavirus hot spot, South Texas braces for Hanna's rain
South Texas — an area already hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic in recent weeks — was bracing for Tropical Storm Hanna to make landfall Saturday. Local officials said they were prepared for whatever may come, with Hanna expected to strengthen into a hurricane before coming ashore near Corpus Christi sometime Saturday afternoon or early evening. And don't feel like since we've been fighting COVID for five months that we're out of energy or we're out of gas.
- WorldThe Independent
Trump news: President rails at ‘Venezuela on steroids’ Democrats as coronavirus cases climb and unrest continues in Portland
Donald Trump lashed out at his Democratic rivals in Washington by branding them “Stone Cold Left – Venezuela on steroids! after the House of Representatives voted in favour of the No Ban Act, moving to repeal his travel ban on visitors from several Muslim-majority countries. The president has meanwhile described the coronavirus as a “downer” and a “dampner” on his poll numbers as the US came close to its record single-day rise in cases on Friday, seeing 73,400 new infections and 1,100 deaths from the virus.
- U.S.Business Insider
Republican Rep. Ted Yoho resigns from a Christian non-profit's board after verbally attacking Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
AP Photo Republican Rep. Ted Yoho on Saturday resigned from the board of the Christian anti-poverty organization Bread for the World days after he verbally attacked Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. The non-profit announced that it "sought [Yoho's] resignation" after determining that his attack on Ocasio-Cortez didn't reflect "the values of respect and compassion that Jesus calls on us to exhibit every day." Yoho approached Ocasio-Cortez on the steps of the Capitol building on Monday and called her "disgusting" and "out of [her] freaking mind," the congresswoman said.
- BusinessReuters
U.S. House panel reschedules Big Tech CEO hearing for Wednesday
A congressional hearing on digital marketplace competition featuring the chief executives of four of the largest American tech companies has been rescheduled for Wednesday, a House subcommittee said on Saturday. The CEOs of Facebook, Amazon.com, Alphabet's Google and Apple were to have testified on Monday before the House Antitrust Subcommittee. All four tech company CEOs - Jeff Bezos of Amazon, Tim Cook of Apple, Sundar Pichai of Alphabet and Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook - are to appear virtually, the announcement said.
- WorldNBC News
China turns a blind eye as North Korea evades sanctions
After a brief lull due to the COVID-19 pandemic, North Korea is carrying out large-scale smuggling operations off the coast of China in violation of U.N. sanctions, importing oil and selling coal and sand to keep its economy afloat, according to experts and current and former Western officials. Much of the sanctions-busting operations rely on front companies registered in China and take place within China's heavily patrolled territorial waters, where Chinese radar and coast guard vessels closely track commercial shipping traffic, experts said. China has made major investments in its navy and coast guard in recent years, and it seems improbable that Beijing is not able to detect or prevent the North Korean shipments that often employ large barges, said Neil Watts, who served on a U.N. panel investigating North Korea's sanctions violations.
- WorldBBC
Malaysia arrests Bangladeshi migrant who criticised government on TV
Malaysian authorities say they have arrested a Bangladeshi man who criticised on television the country's treatment of undocumented migrants during the coronavirus pandemic. In a documentary on Al Jazeera, Rayhan Kabir said the government discriminated against irregular foreign workers by arresting and jailing them. The detentions were carried out when Malaysia was under lockdown due to Covid-19.
- U.S.CBS News
Invasion! The threat from Asian giant hornets
Ted McFall, of Custer, Washington, loves his bees … like, REALLY loves them. "Some people love their cats. Some people love their dogs.
- BusinessUSA TODAY Opinion
'We, too, are America': How we can work together to overcome systemic racism
These are just the latest, known victims of systemic and racial injustice. Any list of victimized or deceased persons of color can never be exhaustive. Countless others have experienced systemic injustice, racial hatred and varied forms of domestic terror in everyday life.
- U.S.INSIDER
A California grocery store worker was suspended after pepper-spraying a customer who refused to wear a mask and rammed her with a shopping cart
A Ralphs supermarket employee in Central Los Angeles was suspended for five days after an altercation that occurred on July 15. The employee pepper-sprayed the man and called the police, according to CBS Los Angeles. A California supermarket worker was suspended after she pepper-sprayed a man who refused to wear a face mask and allegedly rammed her with a shopping cart.
- WorldAssociated Press
Luck? Genetics? Italian island spared from COVID outbreak
But days passed and none of Giglio's islanders developed any COVID-19 symptoms even though the conditions seemed favorable for the disease to spread like wildfire. The Gigliesi, as the residents are known, socialize in the steep alleys near the port or on the granite steps that serve as narrow streets in the hilltop Castle neighborhood, with densely packed homes built against the remnants of a fortress erected centuries ago to protect against pirates. Dr. Armando Schiaffino, the island's sole physician for around 40 years, shared Muti's worry that there would be a local outbreak.
- U.S.The Guardian
Republicans say Milwaukee murder may be linked to support for Trump
The Wisconsin Republican party has called for a federal investigation of a fatal shooting on Thursday, to ascertain whether it was motivated by animosity towards Donald Trump. Bernell Trammell, a 60-year-old African American man who was a well-known figure in Milwaukee's Riverwest neighborhood, was shot and killed at around 12.30pm on Thursday. Trammell, who ran a business called eXpressions Journal in Riverwest, regularly displayed signs on political and religious matters, including support for Trump as well as the Black Lives Matter movement, according to those who knew him.
- BusinessBusiness Insider
A lawyer who helps ultra-wealthy families get secondary citizenships says business is booming in 2020 — and not just because of the coronavirus
Small countries have long sold residency and passports to those with spare money willing to invest. The old adage says that consumers will vote with their wallets, but David Lesperance has a different analogy: voting with their feet. Lesperance, a double-decade American expatriate who's made his career out of helping wealthy people around the world move their citizenships and acquire secondary passports for any multitude of reasons, says business is booming this year.
- U.S.Reuters
Hurricane Hanna lashes south Texas coast, already beset by COVID
Hurricane Hanna pummeled the south Texas coast on Saturday night with howling winds and a surging sea that threatened a broad area already contending with an intense spike in coronavirus deaths. Hanna is the first hurricane for the 2020 Atlantic storm season, which is expected to be unlike any other in recent memory. Authorities will have to contend with sheltering and evacuating people while also maintaining social distancing protocols and other pandemic restrictions.
- U.S.NBC News
Witness: Driver gunned down armed protester in Texas capital
A protester who was apparently armed with a rifle at a demonstration against police violence in the Texas capital was shot and killed after a witness says he approached a vehicle that had driven through the crowd and the driver opened fire. The shooting happened just before 10 p.m. Saturday as demonstrators were marching through the downtown Austin, police spokesperson Katrina Ratliff told reporters early Sunday. The vehicle honked, turned onto a street and sped through the protesters before he apparently hit an orange barrier and stopped, witness Michael Capochiano, who took part in the demonstration, told the Austin American-Statesman.
“However bad things look for Trump, strange things — perhaps even stranger than we saw four years ago — could happen.”
“If the election were held today, Biden would win the presidency, even if the polls were exactly as wrong as they were four years ago.”
“It’s important to remember that President Trump has yet to unload his full arsenal.”
“To state the obvious: A coronavirus cure would help as would clear evidence that the economy is on the mend.”
“Teflon Don’s superpower of distracting us from one scandal with the next one is finally starting to fail him.”