- U.S.Yahoo News
After a Black protester is killed in Omaha, witnesses claim a rushed investigation ignored signs of the shooter's allegedly racist past
More than 300 people have been arrested in Omaha since Friday, May 29, when the city of less than 500,000 was swept up in the tidal wave of protests against police brutality and systemic racism that had erupted in Minneapolis after the brutal killing by police of an unarmed Black man named George Floyd. Jake Gardner, the white bar owner who shot and killed James Scurlock, a 22-year-old Black protester, on the second night of unrest in Omaha — Saturday, May 30 — wasn't one of them. Within just 36 hours of the shooting, Douglas County prosecutor Don Kleine announced that criminal charges would not be filed, finding that Gardner — a 38-year-old ex-Marine with an expired concealed carry permit — had shot Scurlock in self-defense.
- U.S.The Independent
Black Lives Matter: Florida police officers laugh and brag on video about shooting rubber bullets at protesters
Florida police officers responding to a George Floyd protest have been caught on camera laughing and bragging about shooting protesters with rubber bullets. The video shows police forming a line against a group of protesters in Fort Lauderdale on 31 May and eventually tossing tear gas to drive them away. When protesters began throwing the cannisters back at the police, they responded by shooting at demonstrators with rubber bullets.
- WorldBusiness Insider
An Iranian nuclear facility was apparently sabotaged, and a mysterious dissident group called the Homeland Cheetahs claimed responsibility
Reuters An important Iranian nuclear facility was damaged in a fire on Thursday that appears to have been the result of sabotage. A previously unknown group calling itself the Homeland Cheetahs, apparently a dissident group, claimed responsibility for the incident. The incident, which happened at Iran's largest uranium-enrichment facility, occurred amid historic tensions between Washington and Tehran over Iran's nuclear program.
- WorldThe Telegraph
North Korea's response to coronavirus has been a 'shining success', says Kim Jong-un
Kim Jong-un has said that North Korea has stopped the coronavirus making inroads in his country and his response to the pandemic has been a "shining success". According to state news agency KCNA, Mr Kim told a meeting of the politburo of the ruling Workers Party that North Korea had "thoroughly prevented the inroad of the malignant virus and maintained a stable anti-epidemic situation despite the worldwide health crisis, which is a shining success achieved." He warned against complacency or relaxation in the anti-epidemic effort and urged North Koreans to maintain "maximum alert", KCNA said in a statement.
- WorldAssociated Press
Myanmar leader blames joblessness for deadly mining tragedy
Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi expressed sadness Friday over a landslide at a jade mining site in the country's north that took at least 172 lives, blaming the tragedy on joblessness. Suu Kyi, speaking on a scheduled Facebook Live broadcast with representatives of the construction industry, bemoaned what she described as the need for people to illegally sift for jade because they lacked other ways of making a living. Those killed in the accident Thursday in Hpakant in Kachin state had settled next to a mining site to sift for bits of jade left over after heavy machinery excavated the ground and left behind huge mounds of discarded earth.
- U.S.Miami Herald
Pence: Florida can thank President Trump for being prepared to handle COVID cases
The coronavirus case numbers are worse than ever in Florida. “I want the people of Florida to know we're in a much better place thanks to the leadership of President [Donald] Trump, the innovation of American industry and to the partnership that we've forged, not just in testing, but in personal protective equipment,” Pence said in an event with Gov. Ron DeSantis at the University of South Florida Center for Advanced Medical Learning and Simulation. Pence and DeSantis, along with several federal health officials, noted a handful of differences between the current outbreak in Florida and the earlier ones in New York and Seattle this spring.
- WorldBBC
Carlos Ghosn: Japan ask US to extradite ex-Green Beret and son over Japan escape
Japan has asked the US to extradite a former special forces soldier and his son for allegedly helping ex-Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn flee Japan last year. Ex-Green Beret Michael Taylor and his son Peter were held in Massachusetts in May, several months after Japan had issued warrants for their arrest. Mr Ghosn, who was detained in Japan on financial misconduct charges in 2018, made a dramatic escape last year.
- WorldReuters
Indigenous leaders angry about coronavirus risk from Brazilian military visit
Leaders of an isolated indigenous Yanomami community in Brazil have complained that a military mission to protect them from the coronavirus brought greater risk of infection to their people through contact with outsiders including journalists. Federal prosecutors said they were investigating the visit for ignoring the wishes of Yanomami communities to remain isolated from society, violating rules of social distancing and distributing chloroquine to indigenous people. On Tuesday and Wednesday, soldiers brought medical supplies by helicopter to outposts on the border with Venezuela and assembled Yanomami families to be tested for the novel coronavirus, an outreach effort recorded by a contingent of journalists.
- WorldThe National Interest
Terrifying: Why France Once Pointed Its Nuclear Weapons at Germany
Key Point: During the Cold War, France had Germany zeroed in with tactical nuclear missiles—in case of a Soviet invasion. Today, France has the third-largest nuclear arsenal in the world, behind the United States and Russia. Unlike the American or Russian nuclear triad, which is made up of air- land- and sea-based nuclear weapons, France maintains a nuclear dyad of air- and sea-based nuclear missiles.
- U.S.USA TODAY Opinion
There is no epidemic of fatal police shootings against unarmed Black Americans
The video of George Floyd's tragic death under the knee of a Minneapolis police officer has led many to ask whether it represents the tip of an iceberg of police brutality. For centuries, United States law enforcement was interwoven with slavery and segregation, and that memory cannot be easily erased. Much of modern policing is driven by crime data and community demands for help.
- U.S.National Review
Harvard Grad Says She Was Fired from Deloitte Job for Threatening ‘All Lives Matter’ Supporters
A recent Harvard graduate who threatened to “stab” anyone who told her “all lives matter” has been fired from her job, she announced in a tearful video. Claira Janover, who said in a viral but since-deleted TikTok post that she would “stab” those with “the nerve” to say “all lives matter,” posted several tearful videos explaining that her new employer, Deloitte, had fired her. “I know this is what Trump supporters wanted because standing up for Black Lives Matter put me in a place online to be seen by millions of people,” Janover explained.
- WorldThe New York Times
Afghan Contractor Handed Out Russian Cash to Kill Americans, Officials Say
He was a lowly drug smuggler, neighbors and relatives say, then ventured into contracting, seeking a slice of the billions of dollars the U.S.-led coalition was funneling into construction projects in Afghanistan. On his regular trips home to northern Afghanistan, he drove the latest model cars, protected by bodyguards, and his house was recently upgraded to a four-story villa. Now Rahmatullah Azizi stands as a central piece of a puzzle rocking Washington, named in U.S. intelligence reports and confirmed by Afghan officials as a key middleman who for years handed out money from a Russian military intelligence unit to reward Taliban-linked fighters for targeting U.S. troops in Afghanistan, according to American and Afghan officials.
- U.S.Business Insider
Why bars are a breeding ground for the coronavirus, and you should always take your drink to-go
Associated Press Bars are closing — again — in several states across the US, as more people who head out for drinks with friends are getting infected with the coronavirus. But in other places, including the UK, bars are opening for the first time this week. Dr. Anthony Fauci said earlier this week that bars are "really not good" places to be hanging out right now.
- WorldAssociated Press
US tries to seize Iranian gas heading toward Venezuela
U.S. federal prosecutors are seeking to seize four tankers sailing toward Venezuela with gasoline supplied by Iran, the latest attempt to disrupt ever-closer trade ties between the two heavily sanctioned anti-American allies. The civil-forfeiture complaint filed late Wednesday in the District of Columbia federal court alleges that the sale was arranged by a businessman, Mahmoud Madanipour, with ties to Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps, a U.S.-designated foreign terrorist organization. “The profits from these activities support the IRGC's full range of nefarious activities, including the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and their means of delivery, support for terrorism, and a variety of human rights abuses, at home and abroad,” prosecutor Zia Faruqui alleges in the complaint.
- LifestylePopular Mechanics
The Best Bike Lights to Illuminate Your Ride
See what's coming and stay visible with these 11 bicycle lights. From Popular Mechanics
PoliticsYahoo News VideoCourt lifts restriction on Mary Trump's tell-all book
A restriction placed on a tell-all book by President Trump's niece was lifted by a New York appeals court on Wednesday, clearing the way for its distribution.
- WorldBBC
Coronavirus in North Korea: Kim Jong-un claims 'shining success'
Has coronavirus spread through North Korea? The International Federation of the Red Cross had volunteers in the border area working on virus prevention measures and there have been a number of unconfirmed reports of cases within the country. Domestically this is a strong message that the strict measures Kim Jong-un took to keep the virus at bay have worked.
- WorldReuters
Botswana investigating mystery deaths of at least 275 elephants
Botswana is investigating a growing number of unexplained deaths of elephants, having confirmed 275 had died, up from 154 two weeks ago, the government said on Thursday. The dead elephants were first spotted months ago in the Okavango Panhandle region, and the authorities say they have since been trying to discover the cause. "Three laboratories in Zimbabwe, South Africa and Canada have been identified to process the samples taken from the dead elephants," the Ministry of Environment, Natural Resources, Conservation and Tourism said in a statement.
- U.S.NBC News
Detroit man sentenced to life in prison for killing two gay men and a transgender woman
A 19-year-old Detroit man has been sentenced to three life terms in prison with no chance of parole for gunning down two gay men and a transgender woman who authorities believe were targeted because of their sexual orientation. A Wayne County jury convicted Devon Kareem Robinson of first-degree premeditated murder in March in the May 2019 killings of 21-year-old Alunte Davis, and 20-year-olds Timothy Blancher and Paris Cameron. Robinson was also sentenced Tuesday to 10 to 20 years for each of two counts of assault with intent to murder and two years consecutively for five felony firearm counts.
- U.S.USA TODAY
Black family sues Hilton after white clerk calls police over hotel's own billing mistake
A Black family is alleging discrimination in a lawsuit filed Thursday against Hilton and a Hampton Inn franchisee in Wilson, North Carolina, after a white female hotel clerk called police over a dispute regarding a billing mistake. Dolores Corbett, who stayed at the hotel on the night of Nov. 23, 2018 with her husband and two teenagers, says that in addition to humiliating and degrading her, the clerk's decision to call police "put our family in imminent danger." The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court, arises from a dispute over a billing error.
- WorldThe National Interest
Did a Cyber-Weapon Blow Up an Iranian Missile Factory—And Is This Cyber-War?
An Iranian general would not rule out that a massive explosion east of Tehran last week was caused by “hacking,” amidst speculation that the incident was an act of sabotage. Iranian authorities had attempted to downplay the blast—which tore through a missile factory east of Tehran—as a gas tank explosion at a different industrial park. “On the explosion of the Parchin gas facilities, it has been mentioned that the incident was caused by hacking the center's computer systems,” said Brig. Gen. Gholamreza Jalali, head of the Passive Defense Institution, at a conference on anti-chemical weapons defense.
- WorldThe Telegraph
Finland's air force drops swastika emblem after century in use
Finland's air force has quietly removed the last swastikas from unit emblems after over a century in use. Until recently the country's Air Force Command emblem depicted a pair of wings around a swastika, a symbol which pre-dates its associations with Nazism. The change was first observed by Teivo Teivainen, a politics professor at the University of Helsinki, who argued its negative associations made the swastika's ongoing use politically fraught.
- U.S.Associated Press
Court record shows St. Louis couple pulled gun before
O'FALLON, Mo. (AP) — The white St. Louis couple who became internationally famous for standing guard with guns outside their mansion during a protest have pulled a gun before in defense of their property, according to an affidavit in an ongoing case. As demonstrators marched near the Renaissance palazzo-style home of Mark and Patricia McCloskey on Sunday, video posted online showed him wielding a long-barreled gun and her with a small handgun. The protesters, estimated at around 500 racially mixed people, were passing the house on the way to the nearby home of Mayor Lyda Krewson.
- U.S.The Independent
Police officer filmed punching black woman at Miami International Airport
The police department in Miami-Dade has dismissed two officers after one punched a black woman at Miami International Airport. The department ordered an investigation into the incident on Wednesday night when a video – dated 1 July – was shared online. Miami-Dade Police Director Alfredo Ramirez III wrote on Twitter that he was “shocked and angered” at the video, which showed an argument between two masked cops and one black woman.
- WorldThe Daily Beast
Trump Says Coronavirus Will Just ‘Disappear,’ Brags He Looks Like ‘Lone Ranger’ in Mask
With coronavirus cases surging to all-time highs and states reversing reopening plans, President Donald Trump once again claimed on Wednesday that the deadly virus would eventually just “disappear.” At the same time, the president appeared to change his tune on face-coverings, telling Fox Business that he's “all for masks” while boasting about the single time that he was spotted wearing one, claiming he thought he “looked OK” and that he resembled the “Lone Ranger.” Speaking to Fox Business host Blake Burman from the White House, the president bragged that the economy is recovering in a “very strong fashion” as states reopen businesses and public spaces following stay-at-home orders.
