- PoliticsYahoo News
Former top Justice Department official warns Trump may 'not cede power'
A former top Justice Department official told Yahoo News she is deeply worried that President Trump could “delegitimize a lawful election” this November “and not cede power.” Vanita Gupta ran the civil rights division at the Department of Justice from 2014 to 2017 and is now part of an informal, bipartisan group that has spent the past year preparing for Trump to potentially contest the results of the election. “He's already talking about how this will be a rigged election and saying if more and more people are voting using these so called mail-in ballots, that the election will be rigged,” Gupta told Yahoo News' “Skullduggery” podcast.
- U.S.INSIDER
Police across the country draw outrage for excessive force against protesters and media
Police across America drew outrage amid protests and riots on Saturday, the fifth night in a row of unrest in the wake of George Floyd's death. In a number of different cities, police officers were seen on cellphone videos mowing down protesters with their cruisers, shoving people, pepper spraying protesters who were not resisting, and arresting or using force against journalists. One incident in New York City was filmed from various angles, when two police cruisers surrounded by protesters hurling water bottles and pylons suddenly lurched into the crowd, mowing down a metal barricade and sending bodies flying.
- HealthYahoo News
Can you contract coronavirus from a surface or object?
While the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says contaminated surfaces are not the main way the virus is transmitted, the agency hasn't ruled surfaces out as a possible mode of infection. “If you want a reliable way to prevent yourself from getting the coronavirus, worry less about the surfaces you touch, and worry more about how frequently you wash your hands,” says Dr. Dara Kass, a Yahoo News Medical Contributor and associate professor of emergency medicine at Columbia University Medical Center. Confusion over how the virus is transmitted was reignited last week when the CDC edited the “How COVID-19 Spreads” page on their COVID-19 website to mention contaminated surfaces and objects under a new heading entitled, “The virus does not spread easily in other ways.”
- U.S.The Daily Beast
Journalists Under Attack Show How Trump’s Hate for the Press Has Spread
Journalists have been attacked all over the world while on the job covering protests for years, but never like they were this week in the United States during the George Floyd protests. At least half a dozen incidences of arrests and attacks were reported in protests across the United States this weekend. Others got less attention, like Los Angeles Times reporter Molly Hennessy-Fiske getting pelted with rubber bullets and tear gas or the two Los Angeles Times photographers who were briefly taken into custody.
WorldAFPIsrael police kill Palestinian they mistakenly thought was armed
Israeli police in annexed east Jerusalem on Saturday shot dead a disabled Palestinian they mistakenly thought was armed with a pistol, prompting furious condemnation from the Palestinians. The incident happened in the alleys of the walled Old City near Lions' Gate, an access point mainly used by Palestinians. "Police units on patrol there spotted a suspect with a suspicious object that looked like a pistol," an Israeli police statement said.
- U.S.CBS News
Cuomo pleads for calm after night of statewide protests
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo used his daily coronavirus briefing on Sunday to plead for calm after a night of unrest in cities throughout the state. "Violence never works," Cuomo said. Mr. Floyd wasn't even charged or accused of a violent crime.
- WorldReuters
EU urges U.S. to reconsider decision to cut ties with WHO
The European Union urged the United States on Saturday to reconsider its decision to cut ties with the World Health Organization over its handling of the coronavirus pandemic. "In this context, we urge the U.S. to reconsider its announced decision," they said a day after President Donald Trump announced the move, accusing the U.N. agency of becoming a puppet of China. German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas also condemned the move and pledged intensive talks with Washington on the issue.
- U.S.Associated Press
Boy Scout victims' choice: Sue rashly, or wait and risk loss
Some victims of childhood sex abuse who are considering suing the Boy Scouts of America face a choice: an anguished rush to meet a deadline earlier than what lawmakers intended, or wait and sue local councils, perhaps putting them at greater risk of losing. Attorneys for the Scouts and victims agreed during federal bankruptcy proceedings this month on a Nov. 16 deadline by which victims must come forward with a claim or be barred from bringing one later, with the victims' lawyers seeking a cutoff in December and the Boy Scouts pushing for October. New Jersey, New York, California and a few other states loosened their statute of limitations last year.
- U.S.National Review
Minnesota Riots Hurt Klobuchar’s VP Nomination Prospects, According to Biden Ally
The ongoing riots in Minnesota hurt Senator Amy Klobuchar's prospects for Democratic nomination as vice president, House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D., S.C.) said on Friday. Klobuchar declined to bring charges against multiple Minneapolis police officers involved in shootings over the course of her seven-year tenure as attorney for Hennepin County. Minneapolis has seen four days of riots after resident George Floyd, an African-American man, died following his arrest at the hands of white officers.
- PoliticsYahoo News
Trump’s campaign tries to recapture its magic on the virtual campaign trail. Will it succeed?
There are backlit billboards announcing the upcoming campaign event for President Trump. Outside a large arena footage of Trump plays on giant screens as supporters chant “Four more years!” Inside the arena, Trump's surrogates appear on a large Jumbotron as the crowd roars. While rallies had been Trump's trademark prior to the public health crisis, his reelection team has embraced virtual events and believes they provide a major advantage over his Democratic rival, former Vice President Joe Biden, on the “digital campaign trail.”
- U.S.BBC
George Floyd death: Ex-officer charged with murder in Minneapolis
A former Minneapolis police officer has been arrested and charged with murder following the death of an unarmed black man in custody. Derek Chauvin, who is white, was shown in footage kneeling on 46-year-old George Floyd's neck on Monday. Hennepin County Prosecutor Mike Freeman said Mr Chauvin was charged with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.
- WorldThe Telegraph
British expat on frontline of Hong Kong protests says UK has abandoned former colony
As pepper balls and rubber bullets rained down on the crowd of Hong Kong protesters crouched by the entrance of a carpark tunnel, protecting themselves from the riot police with flimsy umbrellas, a chill of terror swept over one young man as he dived for cover with his girlfriend. Speaking to the Sunday Telegraph as protests got back under way in Hong Kong last week he said he had taken to the streets of his adopted city because his own government had “turned its back” on the people of Hong Kong. The UK government this week offered a "path to citizenship" to almost three million Hong Kong residents as it condemned China's move to crush dissent in the former British colony.
- WorldBusiness Insider
The coronavirus has killed over 100,000 people in the US in just 4 months. This chart shows how that compares to other common causes of death.
Alexi Rosenfeld/Getty Images The novel coronavirus has killed over 100,000 Americans in just the four months since the first confirmed case in the country. To put that into perspective, we compared that death toll to the average number of deaths from several common causes between February and May of recent years. While heart disease and cancer typically kill around 200,000 Americans in those months, the coronavirus has been far deadlier than several other common causes of death, including car accidents and influenza.
WorldAFPIran says virus cases surpass 150,000
Iran said its caseload of novel coronavirus infections passed the grim milestone of 150,000 on Sunday, as the country struggles to contain a recent upward trend. Ministry spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour said 2,516 new cases were confirmed across the country in the past 24 hours, bringing the total to 151,466. Rouhani said COVID-19's reproduction number used to be more than two in Iran but that it was now "less than one".
- U.S.CBS News
Louisville police shoot reporter with pepper bullets on TV
Hours after a CNN reporter was arrested while covering protests in Minneapolis, a crew from an NBC affiliate faced its own violent interaction with police in Louisville, Kentucky. While providing live coverage of the protests in Louisville, the city where Breonna Taylor was shot and killed by police in her own home, a WAVE 3 news reporter and her crew were directly shot with pepper bullets by police outfitted in riot gear. The incident happened while the crew from WAVE 3 was live on air, when reporter Kaitlin Rust was speaking about the dozens of officers in riot gear standing shoulder-to-shoulder near Louisville City Hall, according to CBS affiliate WIVB.
- WorldReuters
People more important than the economy, pope says about Covid crisis
Pope Francis said on Sunday that people are more important than the economy, as countries decide how quickly to reopen their countries from coronavirus lockdowns. Francis made his comments, departing from a prepared script, at the first noon address from his window overlooking St. Peter's Square in three months as Italy's lockdown drew to an end. "Healing people, not saving (money) to help the economy (is important), healing people, who are more important than the economy," Francis said.
- WorldAssociated Press
China home-built aircraft carrier conducting sea trials
China's Defense Ministry said the navy's only entirely home-built aircraft is carrying out sea trials to test weapons and equipment and enhance training of the crew. Ministry spokesperson Ren Guoqiang said Friday the exercises were being conducted as planned, apparently unaffected by the country's coronavirus outbreak. The Shandong's commissioning last year by Chinese President Xi Jinping underscored the country's rise as a regional naval power at a time of tensions with the U.S. and others over trade, Taiwan and the South China Sea.
U.S.Yahoo News VideoLouisville police appear to shoot pepper rounds at reporters
Footage from Wave 3 local news in Louisville, Ky. appears to show police shooting pepper rounds directly at news crew.
- U.S.Los Angeles Times Opinion
Letters to the Editor: Stacey Abrams lost in Georgia, but she could lift Biden as his VP.
To the editor: I like what columnist Jonah Goldberg has to say about Joe Biden's potential picks for vice president, yet I disagree with his assessment of former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams. Abrams is a winner. Maybe it behooves Goldberg to take a second look at Abrams and her qualifications.
- U.S.The Independent
George Floyd protests: Police officers filmed being dragged along street in Chicago as unrest escalates across America
Protests have erupted in more than two dozen cities across the US, as unrest continues to explode in the wake of the police killing of George Floyd, an African American man who died after being pinned to the ground by Minneapolis police officers and choked with a knee pressed against his throat. After the National Guard stepped in to try to seize control of the situation in Minneapolis, Donald Trump praised his own Secret Service agents for protecting him when activists picketed the White House, threatening them with his "most vicious dogs, and most ominous weapons” if they breached fencing. The president suggested his supporters would stage a counter-protest, calling for “MAGA NIGHT” at the White House, though he appeared to dismiss accusations that he was provoking violence and told reporters that “MAGA loves the black people”.
- WorldBBC
Burkina Faso gunmen 'kill dozens' at cattle market in Kompienga
Some 30 people have been killed in eastern Burkina Faso in a gun attack on a cattle market, reports say. Gunmen on motorbikes fired into the crowded market in Kompienga town around lunchtime on Saturday, eyewitnesses and residents said. It is unclear who was behind the attack, but Burkina Faso has seen a recent sharp rise in jihadist violence and inter-communal clashes.
- WorldThe Telegraph
Boris Johnson blocks Corbyn’s recommendation for John Bercow peerage
Boris Johnson has blocked Jeremy Corbyn's recommendation for John Bercow to receive a peerage over allegations of bullying by the former Speaker. Downing Street said it would not approve Labour's nomination of Mr Bercow for elevation to the upper chamber because there are outstanding concerns about his “propriety”. Karie Murphy, Mr Corbyn's former chief of staff, was also blocked for appointment to the Lords over an Equalities and Human Rights Commission investigation into alleged institutional anti-Semitism in the Labour Party.
WorldAFPMasks and no ablution: Saudis flock to reopened mosques
Mask-clad worshippers flocked to Saudi mosques that reopened nationwide Sunday -- except in the holy city of Mecca –- over two months after congregational prayers were halted under a coronavirus-triggered lockdown. Complying with stringent social distancing rules, worshippers kept a minimum of two metres apart. "Worshippers rushed to the home of God to perform their obligatory duty (prayers) after the reopening of mosques," the ministry of Islamic affairs said on Twitter.
- ScienceBusiness Insider
SpaceX's new 'Endeavour' spaceship just made history by docking to the International Space Station with 2 NASA astronauts inside
SpaceX on Saturday launched its first humans into space: veteran NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley. On Sunday morning, the astronauts caught up to the International Space Station inside their Endeavour spaceship — their new name for SpaceX's Crew Dragon spacecraft — and docked it there. The docking marks a big milestone in the Demo-2 mission, as it's called; Behnken and Hurley can now stay and work in space for up to 110 days before having to return home.
- LifestyleReuters
U.S. high court rejects church challenges to state pandemic rules
The U.S. Supreme Court rejected challenges on Friday to curbs on religious services in California and Illinois during the coronavirus pandemic. In the California dispute, the nine justices split 5-4 in rejecting a bid by South Bay United Pentecostal Church in Chula Vista to block the rules issued by Governor Gavin Newsom, a Democrat. Conservative Chief Justice John Roberts joined the court's four liberal justices in the majority.
