- U.S.The Guardian
Bolton: Trump claim he wasn’t told of Russia bounty report is 'not how system works’
Donald Trump's claim not to have been briefed about intelligence suggesting Russia paid Taliban-linked militants to kill US soldiers is “just not the way the system works”, former national security adviser John Bolton said on Sunday. Elsewhere, former Obama national security adviser Susan Rice said Bolton would have known about the bounties intelligence while he was in the role, which he left in September 2019, and would therefore have briefed Trump himself. I don't buy this story that he was never briefed,” Rice told NBC's Meet The Press.
- BusinessBusiness Insider
Aggressive anti-mask customers are forcing some restaurants to shut dining rooms to protect employees from abuse
Brendan McDermid/Reuters Some restaurants are shutting down or closing dining rooms back up after employees faced harassment and violence from anti-mask customers. Restaurants in states, including Texas, California, and Michigan, have announced plans to once again shutter dining rooms due to rude customers who refused to wear masks. Other restaurants are struggling to find ways to protect employees without closing dining rooms or shutting down entirely.
WorldAFPVirus pushes US hospitals to the brink, India hits record new cases
Officials at the epicenter of the worsening coronavirus crisis in the United States warned Sunday their hospitals were in danger of being overwhelmed by the upsurge, as India registered a record number of new cases. In signs of progress, Formula One returned with the season-opening Austrian Grand Prix held behind closed doors, while the Louvre museum in Paris will reopen on Monday after a 16-week shutdown. The US has struggled to respond to the devastation wrought by the virus, with its national death toll rising to near 130,000 out of 2.8 million confirmed cases, and many states hit by increasing infections after lockdowns were eased.
- BusinessThe National Interest
Why U.S. F-35s, Stealth Bombers and Attack Drones Could Fail in a War
Fighter jets, stealth bombers, attack drones and air-traveling missiles all need to “operate at speed” in a fast-changing great power conflict era. When faced with fast, multi-frequency, long-range precision fire from enemy air defenses, air attackers simply must “operate at speed,” according to U.S. Air Forces, Europe Commander General Jeffrey Harrigian, who used the phrase in a discussion with The Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies. Harrigian, who is also now the Commander of U.S. Air Forces Africa, ran much of the air campaign during Operation Inherent Resolve against ISIS; he offered a first-hand war perspective in a conversation with retired Lieutenant General David Deptula, Dean of the Mitchell Institute.
- U.S.USA TODAY
Judge grants bond to ex-Atlanta cop charged with murder in Rayshard Brooks shooting
ATLANTA – The former Atlanta police officer charged with fatally shooting Rayshard Brooks can be released on bond, a judge ruled Tuesday. Fulton County Judge Jane Barwick said she does not believe Garrett Rolfe is a flight risk or would intimidate witnesses. Barwick set Rolfe's bond at $500,000.
- SportsThe Independent
Bellagio error leads to one of biggest sports betting losses in Las Vegas history
Almost a quarter of a million dollars in winning wagers reportedly placed at MGM Resorts last Sunday may have been the largest sportsbook loss in the history of Las Vegas. Seven longtime Las Vegas bookmakers can't recall a larger loss, The Las Vegas Review-Journal reports. Almost all of the approximately 50 bets were placed using self-serve kiosks at the Bellagio resort between 1.30am and 3am West Coast time.
- U.S.NBC News
Florida surpasses 200,000 coronavirus cases
Florida surpassed 200,000 coronavirus cases as the state reported another 10,059 new positives on Sunday. The state has reported more than 10,000 new cases for a fourth straight day as the country sees another surge in the pandemic. Florida is among 11 states where numbers have spiked, at least doubling over the past two weeks.
- HealthMiami Herald
COVID-19 could lead to increase in tick-borne illness, experts say. Here’s why
As if you needed anything else to worry about in 2020, summer is here — which means tick season is, too. While experts say ticks are expected to be about average this year, they say the U.S. may see an uptick in Lyme disease cases due to the coronavirus pandemic. While experts don't expect to see more ticks than usual this year, 2021 could be a different story, Richard Ostfeld, a distinguished senior scientist at the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, told The New York Times.
- WorldBBC
Katsina: The motorcycle bandits terrorising northern Nigeria
Motorcycle-riding armed bandits operating out of abandoned forest reserves are ransacking communities in Nigeria's north-west. The groups are the latest to join Nigeria's lucrative kidnap for ransom industry, and are quite brazen in their operations. In the last decade more than 8,000 people have been killed in the states of Kebbi, Sokoto, Niger and Zamfara, according to the International Crisis Group.
- PoliticsUSA TODAY Opinion
Trump and Barr are making false claims about mail-in ballots to scare us out of voting
Nevertheless, last month, when he wasn't busy ineffectually trying to replace the U.S. Attorney in Manhattan with a Trump loyalist, Attorney General William Barr took out after voting by mail as rife with fraud. In this, he was echoing his master, President Trump. In an interview he gave to Fox News, the attorney general said voting by mail “opens the floodgates to fraud.
- U.S.The Guardian
‘They feel invincible’: how California’s coronavirus plan went wrong
People began to fixate on individual liberties without understanding that one of the most fundamental civil liberties in the US is the right to health Lee Riley In Orange county, where more than 15,000 people have been infected, health director Nichole Quick resigned in mid-June after being confronted with a banner depicting her as a Nazi, protests outside her house and personal threats. Quick had issued an order requiring residents to wear masks in public, which the county sheriff insisted he wouldn't enforce. After she became the third high-level health official in Orange county to quit, the county quickly reversed Quick's order – recommending, but not insisting that residents wear masks.
WorldAFPUS aircraft carriers conduct drills in South China Sea
Two US aircraft carriers have carried out drills in the South China Sea, a US Navy spokesman said Saturday, after the Pentagon expressed concerns over Chinese military exercises around a disputed archipelago. The USS Nimitz and USS Ronald Reagan conducted dual carrier operations in the waterway to "support a free and open Indo-Pacific," the spokesman said. The drills came as the Pentagon said it was "concerned" about Chinese military exercises in the South China Sea, warning the manoeuvres will "further destabilise" the region.
U.S.Yahoo News VideoPredominantly Black armed protesters march through Confederate memorial park in Georgia
A predominantly Black group of heavily armed protesters marched through Stone Mountain Park near Atlanta on Saturday, calling for removal of the giant Confederate rock carving at the site that civil rights activists consider a monument to racism.
- U.S.Business Insider
Michael Cohen may have violated the terms of his prison release by eating out at a restaurant in Manhattan
The New York Post obtained photos showing Michael Cohen eating out at a Manhattan restaurant Thursday night. Cohen is currently serving a three-year sentence under home confinement, and eating out appears to be a violation of the conditions of his release from a federal prison camp. Business Insider reached out to the Bureau of Prisons for comment but did not immediately receive a response Saturday morning.
- WorldReuters
Constitutional changes are the 'right thing' for Russia: Putin
President Vladimir Putin said on Sunday constitutional amendments approved in a nationwide vote created the conditions for Russia's "progressive development" for decades to come. One of the changes approved in the week-long vote that ended on July 1 makes it possible for Putin to seek two more terms as president and, if re-elected, to stay in power until 2036. Other changes grant former presidents immunity from prosecution, enshrine a reference in the constitution to God, offer pensions protection and define marriage as a union of a man and a woman.
- WorldThe National Interest
This Chinese Submarine Could Drop a Nuclear Weapon on America
Here's What You Need To Remember: The nuclear submarine club is indeed a highly exclusive club—and those with nuclear ballistic missiles even more so. China's Type 094, or Jin-class nuclear submarines are capable, but they may be tools for promoting national prestige rather than true nuclear deterrence. The Type 094, or Jin-class as it is also known, is operated by the People's Liberation Army Submarine Force.
- U.S.Miami Herald
Florida breaks record with 11,458 new virus cases. Miami-Dade and Broward hit highs, too
Saturday's update on new confirmed COVID-19 cases from the Florida Department of Health reflected the state, Miami-Dade and Broward record new single-day highs, rocketing past previous peaks. Florida added 11,458 cases, beating the previous record of 10,109 by 13%. Of Florida's total, Miami-Dade County accounted for 2,418, and 1,348 came from Broward County.
- WorldBBC
The Grand Old Man of India who became Britain's first Asian MP
How was an Indian elected to the British Parliament in 1892? What relevance could this historical event have for us today? Dadabhai Naoroji (1825-1917) is an unfamiliar name these days.
- PoliticsUSA TODAY
Billy Graham, Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass: Who Trump wants in the 'National Garden of American Heroes'
President Donald Trump announced during a speech in front of Mount Rushmore on Friday an executive order to establish a "National Garden of American Heroes" featuring statues of "historically significant Americans." The executive order includes a list of former American presidents and historical figures to feature – with Ronald Reagan, Abraham Lincoln, Amelia Earhart, and Billy Graham among them. Trump's effort to build more statues comes as protesters across the U.S. have torn down statues in protest of police violence against Black people in the wake of George Floyd's death in May.
- WorldAssociated Press
Rocket fired toward US Embassy in Iraq injures child
The Iraqi military said Sunday that a rocket aimed at Baghdad's fortified Green Zone, home of the U.S. Embassy, struck a residential house and injured a child. Iraqi officials said the embassy's recently installed C-RAM air defense system may have attempted to intercept the rocket as the system was operational late Saturday. A recent spate of rocket attacks have struck close to the U.S. Embassy and targeted American troops in Iraqi bases.
- HealthThe Guardian
Think a 'mild' case of Covid-19 doesn’t sound so bad? Think again
Just last week, Mike Pence, the US vice-president, claimed it's “a good thing” that nearly half of the new Covid-19 cases surging in 16 states are young Americans, who are at less risk of becoming severely ill than their older counterparts. While that may be the case for some people who get Covid-19, emerging medical research as well as anecdotal evidence from recovery support groups suggest that many survivors of “mild” Covid-19 are not so lucky. In May, Keller told Healthline that Mount Sinai had implemented a plan to give anticoagulant drugs to people with Covid-19 to prevent the strokes they were seeing in “younger patients with no or mild symptoms”.
- WorldNBC News
'That didn't last long': Arrests as revelers defy distancing rules after pubs reopen in England
Lockdown restrictions were eased, the pubs opened and crowds flocked onto the streets of English cities Saturday, many ignoring social distancing rules and prompting complaints from the police. John Apter, chair of the Police Federation for England and Wales, warned that it was "crystal clear" that drunk people cannot observe social distancing. Apter, who was on patrol in Southampton, a city on England's south coast, wrote on Twitter that officers dealt with "anti-social behavior, naked men, possession of class 'A' drugs, happy drunks, angry drunks, fights, more angry drunks."
- U.S.Business Insider
An asymptomatic coronavirus carrier infected an apartment neighbor without sharing the same space. A study blames the building's elevator buttons.
According to a new study, transmission likely occurred in the elevator, when the neighbor touched the same buttons that the quarantined traveler had. The neighbor was later linked to 70 other coronavirus infections in the local community. Coronavirus particles can live on surfaces like plastic and stainless steel, which are common in elevators, for up to seven days.
- U.S.The Telegraph
Protester killed and another fighting for life after car hits Seattle march
A 24-year-old protester died on Saturday of her injuries after they and another protester were hit by a car on a closed highway in Seattle while marching against police brutality, authorities said. Summer Taylor of Seattle died in the evening at Harborview Medical Center, spokeswoman Susan Gregg said. Taylor and Diaz Love, 32, of Portland, Oregon, were hit by the car that barreled through a panicked crowd of protesters on Interstate 5 early on Saturday morning, officials said.
- WorldThe National Interest
Iran's Military Is Armed to the Teeth with Lots of Missiles
Here's What You Need To Remember: Iran's missile collection is quite remarkable and draws on lessons gained during the Iran-Iraq war. During that conflict, Tehran learned that it's cheaper and easier to have a strong defense (many varied missiles) than a strong offense, such as airplanes that are expensive, require lots of maintenance, and could result in pilot deaths. Tehran's missile collection is among the most diverse in the Middle East because Iran relies on modifications to Soviet/Russian and Chinese designs—although there are some domestic improvements thrown into the mix.
