WorldThe TelegraphPoland and Baltics block Merkel and Macron's push for talks with Putin
France and Germany's call for European Union summit talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin were blocked on Thursday night after fierce opposition from Poland and the Baltic countries. At a European Council meeting, EU leaders considered overhauling their foreign policy towards Moscow, a week after US President Joe Biden met Mr Putin in Geneva. Member states, especially those which border Russia, had been infuriated after Paris and Berlin blindsided them with a last minute proposal on Wednesday.
U.S.The WeekAnthony Fauci was hosed down, naked, 'in what looked like a kiddy pool' after being mailed mysterious white powder
Last summer, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases chief Anthony Fauci was reportedly sent mail containing white powder that "literally blew up in his face," Politico writes, per a preview of the new book Nightmare Scenario by Yasmeen Abutaleb and Damian Paletta. Luckily, chemical testing came back negative for both anthrax and ricin, but not before Fauci was hosed "down to his skivvies in a chemical lab," standing "naked in what looked like a kiddy pool" while his team awaited results, per Politico. Previously reported excerpts of Nightmare Scenario revealed Trump once joked he hoped COVID-19 would "take out" former National Security Adviser John Bolton, and had even proposed the U.S. house COVID-19 patients at Guantanamo Bay.
U.S.Kansas City StarKansas City man gets life in prison for stabbing father to death: prosecutors
A Kansas City man convicted of stabbing his father to death three years ago was sentenced Thursday to a term of life in prison, according to the Jackson County Prosecutor's Office. Curtis V. Lee, 43, was found guilty by a jury in April on charges of first degree murder and armed criminal action, court records show. Lee was arrested by Independence police in the early hours of April 18, 2018 in the 3500 block of South Lynn Court after officers responded to a residence and found Charles and Clyde Burton — Lee's uncle and father — stabbed to death.
WorldThe TelegraphChina's first Covid case could have been in October 2019, says UK study
The virus that causes Covid-19 could have started spreading in China as early as October 2019, two months before the first case was identified in the central city of Wuhan, a new study showed on Friday. Researchers from Britain's University of Kent used methods from conservation science to estimate that SARS-CoV-2 first appeared from October to mid-November 2019, according to a paper published in the PLOS Pathogens journal. The most likely date for the virus's emergence was November 17, 2019, and it had probably already spread globally by January 2020, they estimated.
U.S.Fort Worth Star-Telegram911 operator didn’t send Fort Worth officer on call and 3 people died, news report says
An overworked 911 call-taker didn't send a Fort Worth police officer on a June 1 domestic call that ended in a double-murder and suicide, according to a news report. Ex-911 operator Kate Colley told KXAS-TV that the stressed 911 dispatcher received a call from Holly Beverly, who reported that her estranged husband was on his way to her apartment in west Fort Worth to harm her. The operator didn't send an officer because the suspect wasn't actually on the scene yet, Colley told the TV station.
U.S.Kansas City StarKansas City police officer ‘violently’ threw man to ground in wrongful arrest, lawsuit says
A man has filed a lawsuit against the Kansas City Police Department alleging he was “violently” thrown to the ground during a wrongful arrest last year. Murray Anderson, Jr., 47, claims Officer Jose Romero Jr. placed a knee on his neck after he was handcuffed and taken to the ground following a nearby assault. The assault Romero and other officers responded to occurred on the afternoon of May 24, 2020, outside reStart Inc., a shelter for the homeless community at 918 E. 9th St., according to the lawsuit filed in Jackson County Circuit Court in May.
WorldMiami HeraldIsrael offers aid to Florida, local communities after Surfside condo collapse
Israel's consul general in Miami said he offered immediate aid to Surfside after the Champlain Towers condo collapsed on Thursday. Maor Elbaz Starinsky, the newly appointed consul general, said he received phone calls from Israel's ministers of foreign affairs and diaspora instructing Starinsky to offer “any possible help” to the communities impacted by the collapse. “We bought medications, a couple thousand dollars worth of medications for Hatzalah,” Starinsky said, referring to the South Florida branch of the Jewish-led volunteer emergency services group that has aided first responders.
WorldThe TelegraphAustralian man goes on hunger strike after mother dies while he was stuck in hotel quarantine
An Australian man whose mother died while he was in a hotel quarantine has gone on hunger strike to draw attention to the impossible situations facing people who seek exemptions from Covid restrictions on compassionate grounds. James Turbitt, who lives in Belgium, made an emergency dash home last week after he learned his 62-year-old mother was in hospital in Perth, Western Australia. “This is probably the most compelling reason for a compassionate exemption," Mr Turbitt told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
WorldBBCCathay Pacific crew told to get vaccine or risk losing job
Cathay Pacific has told its aircrew that they must get a Covid vaccination by 31 August or risk losing their jobs. The airline said staff rostering has become "difficult and complicated" because of a need to segregate vaccinated and non-vaccinated crew. Cathay Pacific said it could, in the "short-term", accommodate those employees not able to take the vaccine.
U.S.Fort Worth Star-TelegramU.S. Marshals arrest Royce Wood, suspected of shooting a Texas cop, in Arkansas
Royce Wood, the man accused of shooting a Rhome police officer June 13, was arrested without incident by the U.S. Marshals Service in Batesville, Arkansas, early Thursday morning, according to the Wise County Sheriff's Office. Wood and his girlfriend, Tiffany Caswell, were arrested together for separate charges against them in Wise County. Caswell and Wood are believed to have been involved in a home invasion robbery on Coyote Trail on June 12, Akin told the Wise County Messenger.
U.S.Kansas City StarMissouri Gov. Mike Parson says he is not convinced Kevin Strickland is innocent
Missouri Gov. Mike Parson on Wednesday said he is not convinced that Kevin Strickland is innocent, making him the first official to publicly doubt prosecutors' assertions that the Kansas City man was wrongly convicted four decades ago. In an interview with 41 Action News, Parson said he does not know if Strickland, 62, is “innocent or not” in a 1978 triple murder in Kansas City that the Jackson County Prosecutor's Office now says he did not commit. Parson's comments came more than 40 days after Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker announced her office had concluded Strickland, who was 18 when he was arrested, is “factually innocent” in the April 25, 1978, shooting at 6934 S. Benton Ave.
PoliticsBusiness InsiderAlexandria Ocasio-Cortez slams the lack of diversity in an all-white group of lawmakers who drafted a bipartisan infrastructure deal
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez criticized the bipartisan group of lawmakers who negotiated an infrastructure deal. President Joe Biden announced on Thursday that the group reached a deal. The New York lawmaker called out the group for its lack of diversity.
WorldBBCCovid: Sydney city centre and beach suburbs to enter lockdown
Parts of Sydney's central and eastern suburbs, including Bondi Beach, will be locked down after a jump in Covid cases. The city is battling to contain an outbreak of the highly infectious Delta variant. It is the first lockdown in Australia's largest city - home to 5.3 million people - this year.
U.S.Raleigh News and ObserverDurham man arrested for Chapel Hill road rage shooting
The U.S. Marshals Regional Task Force arrested a Durham man Thursday in connection with a road rage incident involving an assault rifle earlier this month on Fordham Boulevard in Chapel Hill. Jose Daniel Rivas-Sanchez, 21, was charged with one felony count of discharging a firearm into an occupied vehicle. Investigators with the Chapel Hill Police Department and other regional police and sheriff's office agencies, state law enforcement agencies, and the U.S. Marshals Service are members of the Regional Task Force for the Middle District of North Carolina.
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Biden on trusting Republicans on infrastructure: “I’ve worked with a lot of these who are people in the room. I know them.”
Delivering remarks after announcing a deal with a group of Republican senators on infrastructure, President Biden responded to a question about trusting Republicans on the agreement. Biden said, “I've worked with a lot of these people who are in the room. I know them.
U.S.Fort Worth Star-TelegramDo buildings show warning signs before collapsing? Expert weighs in after Miami tragedy
The collapse of a 12-story condo near Miami has raised questions about whether there were any warning signs in the months and days leading up to the deadly disaster. “It's likely that one moment things will seem fine, and the next everything falls apart,” McClatchy News reported, citing StoragePrepper. Warning signs will depend on the type of building, its condition and where it's located, said Atorod Azizinamini, chair of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Florida International University.
U.S.Business InsiderA judge expressed skepticism about arguments from Mike Lindell, Sidney Powell, and Rudy Giuliani, who want Dominion's defamation lawsuits against them dismissed
A federal judge on Thursday weighed whether to dismiss Dominion's defamation lawsuits. Dominion is suing all three Trump allies over election conspiracy theories. A federal judge heard arguments Thursday over whether to allow multibillion-dollar defamation lawsuits from Dominion Voting Systems to proceed against Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell, and MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell.
TechnologyBBCCrackonosh: How hackers are using gamers to become crypto-rich
But hidden inside the code of these games is a piece of crypto-mining malware called Crackonosh, which secretly generates digital money once the game has been downloaded. Criminals have made more than $2m (£1.4m) with the scam, researchers say. The researchers, at Avast, say the "cracked" games are spreading Crackonosh fast and the cyber-security software company is now detecting about 800 cases on computers every day.
U.S.The StateLive updates Thursday: Murdaugh family to offer reward; Vehicle towed from crime scene
The Murdaugh family will soon be offering a $100,000 reward for information that will lead to an arrest and conviction in Paul and Maggie's murders, a Columbia lawyer told The State Media Co. and The Island Packet on Thursday. A local towing company owner also confirmed with The Island Packet that it towed a Chevrolet Suburban from the Murdaugh property to the Colleton County Sheriff's Office the morning after the killings. These are the latest developments as the June 7 double homicide investigation of Paul Murdaugh and his mother Maggie outside their home in Colleton County approaches its third week.
U.S.USA TODAYMom of biracial teen seen on video being shocked with Taser by state trooper plans to sue
Kris Rodeman finally got to see her son Wednesday. The mother of the 16-year-old was beside herself with worry, angry and concerned that her son, currently in the Southwest Florida Juvenile Justice Center, is in pain. At issue is the shocking a week ago of her son with a Taser stun gun in the San Carlos Park neighborhood where his girlfriend lives.
- CelebrityThe Week
Britney Spears apologizes to fans for 'pretending like I've been okay'
Britney Spears got real with her fans on Thursday, writing on Instagram that based on the pictures and videos she posts, "my life seems to look and be pretty amazing," but she doesn't want people to "think my life is perfect because IT'S DEFINITELY NOT AT ALL." During a public hearing on Wednesday, the 39-year-old singer spoke out against the court-ordered conservatorship she's been under for the last 13 years, calling it "abusive." The experience has been "traumatizing," Spears said, and she is depressed. "I apologize for pretending like I've been okay these past two years," she added.
PoliticsBusiness InsiderNancy Pelosi says 'there ain't no bipartisan bill' unless Senate also approves Democrat-only infrastructure package
Schumer and Pelosi are plowing ahead with a separate spending package without the GOP. A bipartisan $1 trillion infrastructure deal is in sight after weeks of sputtering negotiations. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said that a bipartisan infrastructure plan won't get voted on in the House until the Senate approves a Democrat-only package.
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Biden administration extends eviction ban for another month
The Biden administration has extended the nationwide ban on evictions for a month to help tenants who are unable to make rent payments during the coronavirus pandemic, but it said this is expected to be the last time it does so.
U.S.The Daily BeastTennessee Cops Say Summer Wells Missing-Child Case Is ‘Outside the Norm’
Tennessee police said Thursday that they are “frustrated” by the lack of clarity in the disappearance of 5-year-old Summer Wells—who was planting flowers in her garden and then just vanished. While every case is different, this one is definitely outside of the norm,” Tennessee Bureau of Investigation spokesperson Leslie Earhart said at a briefing on the progress, or lack of it, in the case. Typically in an investigation like this one, we have some idea of where the case is headed and what might have happened within a few days.
WorldINSIDERChina lashes out at western countries like the US and UK for 'violations of the rights of refugees and migrants' at the UN Human Rights Council
China has been crossing swords with the West for the last three days at the UN Human Rights Council. China said that the US, UK, Australia, and Canada have records of human rights violations. The day before, more than 40 countries expressed "serious concerns" about China's policies in Xinjiang.
“The pandemic has unequivocally proven the public health value of masks. And they should stick around in certain situations.”
“With the steady thrum of anti-mask sentiment in the U.S., it’s highly unlikely that they will continue to be a ubiquitous sight.”
“Wearing masks on airplanes or other modes of transit ... can help keep everyone safe.”
“Just because masks are common in many other nations ... is hardly a reason to emulate the practice.”
“The fact that the flu all but vanished ... is not evidence alone that masks were responsible.”