- PoliticsYahoo News
Trump, for some reason, compares coronavirus death toll (over 98,000) to that of swine flu (under 20,000)
On a day when the U.S. death toll from the coronavirus pandemic neared 100,000, President Trump sought to direct the nation's attention back to the 2009 H1N1 swine flu pandemic as a way to smear the reputation of his Democratic rival Joe Biden, who was vice president at the time. Joe Biden's handling of the H1N1 Swine Flu was a complete and total disaster. In the early weeks of the coronavirus outbreak in the U.S., Trump repeatedly sought to show that he was doing a good job dealing with the pandemic compared with how Biden and then-President Barack Obama had responded to the H1N1 pandemic.
- WorldNBC News
Hundreds arrested in Hong Kong as tensions over proposed security law boil over
Riot police flooded central Hong Kong as people of all ages took to the streets to protest the territory's legislators preparing to debate another bill, one that would make it illegal to insult or abuse the Chinese national anthem. Pro-democracy protesters and politicians say the bill, which carries penalties of up to three years in jail and fines of up to $50,000 Hong Kong dollars ($6,450), is yet another sign of increasing interference from Beijing. Hong Kong Police said they have arrested more than 300 people on a number of charges, including possession of weapons and illegal assembly in the city center, Mong Kok, the Causeway Bay area and Wan Chai area.
- U.S.USA TODAY
What we know about the death of George Floyd: 4 Minneapolis police officers fired after 'horrifying' video hits social media
Government officials and Minnesota locals alike expressed outrage after a video surfaced showing a white police officer kneeling on the neck of a black man and ignoring his pleas for help until first responders put him, unresponsive, on a stretcher. The man, identified at 46-year-old George Floyd, died at a local hospital, according to police. The four officers involved in the Monday incident were fired Tuesday, and the attorney for Floyd's family, Ben Crump, called for their arrests.
- U.S.INSIDER
A new 'parking lot Karen' is going viral on TikTok for physically blocking someone's car from an open parking spot
The TikTok video shows a woman blocking a car from taking an open parking spot. A viral video from TikTok user @savsoares shows a woman physically blocking a car from moving in a parking lot while directing another car to take an open parking spot. The video has amassed over 4 million likes and 18 million views in the four days since it was posted, with both @savsoares and people in the comments calling the woman a "Karen."
- WorldBBC
Pakistani villager urges India to return 'spy' pigeon
A Pakistani villager has urged Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to return his pigeon, currently being held in India on charges of spying. The Pakistani villager, who claims the arrested pigeon is his, says the code is actually his mobile phone number. Pakistan's Dawn newspaper has identified the man as Habibullah and reports that he owns a dozen pigeons.
WorldYahoo News VideoHuawei CFO Meng to find out if a U.S extradition case against her will proceed
A top executive of Chinese tech giant Huawei is scheduled to learn Wednesday if a U.S extradition case against her can proceed. Canada arrested Meng Wanzhou, the daughter of Huawei's founder, at Vancouver's airport in late 2018. The U.S. wants her extradited to face fraud charges.
- WorldAssociated Press
US priest who founded Knights of Columbus to be beatified
The founder of the Knights of Columbus, the influential U.S.-based lay Catholic organization, is moving a step closer to possible sainthood. Pope Francis has approved a miracle attributed to the intercession of the Rev. Michael McGivney, a Connecticut priest who died at age 38 of pneumonia in 1890 during a pandemic similar to the current coronavirus outbreak. The Vatican said Wednesday that Francis had signed off on the miracle required.
- WorldMilitary.com
Russian Jets Blocked US Plane in Unsafe Maneuvers Over Mediterranean, Navy Says
A pair of Russian planes restricted a Navy pilot from safely maneuvering over international waters for more than an hour, service officials said on Tuesday. Two Russian Su-35 aircraft on Tuesday simultaneously flew close to each wing of a Navy P-8A Poseidon patrol aircraft over the Mediterranean Sea, according to Navy news release describing the incident. It was the third time in two months that Russian aircraft have intercepted Navy aircraft in the Sixth Fleet of operations, the release states.
- WorldReuters
Venezuela's Maduro vows to raise gasoline price as Iranian tanker nears
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Wednesday pledged to begin charging citizens for gasoline, as the fourth cargo of a five-tanker flotilla bringing fuel from Iran approached the South American nation's exclusive economic zone. Iran is providing the country with up to 1.53 million barrels of gasoline and components to help it ease an acute scarcity that has forced Venezuelans to wait in hours-long lines at service stations or pay steep prices on the black market. With the arrival of the gasoline, Maduro said he would end the policy of providing fuel effectively for free after more than two decades of frozen pump prices.
- U.S.The Daily Beast
Anti-Lockdown Protesters Now Calling for Dems to Die
As the head of Cowboys for Trump, Couy Griffin has led pro-Trump horse rides through Washington, D.C., and posed for a photo in the White House with Donald Trump. “I've come to a place where I've come to a conclusion where the only good Democrat is a dead Democrat,” Griffin said to cheers at a rally at a New Mexico church. Griffin, a county commissioner in the state, hastily added that he only meant Democrats who were dead in “the political sense”—an effort at cleanup he repeated in an interview with The Daily Beast on Tuesday.
- U.S.NBC News
UConn student wanted in connection to 2 deaths is captured
The University of Connecticut student wanted in connection with two deaths has been captured after a nearly weeklong manhunt, officials said Wednesday night. "Peter Manfredonia has been found & is in custody," Connecticut State Police tweeted. Manfredonia, who was captured in Maryland, was not injured, officials said.
- U.S.USA TODAY
White woman fired after calling police on black man who asked her to leash her dog
A video of a woman in Central Park calling New York police on a black man who says he asked her to leash her dog has gone viral, and the woman has been fired from her job with Franklin Templeton. The incident occurred Monday in the Ramble, a wooded area of Central Park where dogs are required to be on leashes. Christian Cooper, who is black, said he was bird-watching in the area when he saw Amy Cooper, who is white, with her dog.
- WorldThe Telegraph
Gang of 26 arrested for allegedly smuggling people from Vietnam to Europe in investigation prompted by Essex lorry deaths
A gang of 26 suspected people smugglers have been arrested in France and Belgium in an investigation prompted by the deaths of 39 Vietnamese migrants found in the back of a lorry in Essex last year. In Belgium, 11 Vietnamese and two Moroccans were held, while in France, authorities said the suspects were “mostly Vietnamese and French”. The suspects are allegedly part of an organised crime group that smuggles refugees from Asia, particularly from Vietnam, and that likely has transported up to several dozen people every day for several months, Europol said in a statement.
- WorldBBC
Zambia probes Chinese clothes factory murders
Police in Zambia have arrested three people suspected of murdering three Chinese nationals, dragging the bodies into a factory and setting it alight. Home Affairs Minister Stephen Kampyongo has promised a full investigation into Sunday's "barbaric" crime. The attack comes amid a controversial crackdown in the capital, Lusaka, on Chinese businesses accused of discriminating against Zambians.
- WorldBusiness Insider
A Eurowings plane with just 2 passengers on board was forced to turn around after learning its destination airport was closed due to coronavirus
A Eurowings flight from Düsseldorf, Germany, to Sardinia, Italy, was forced to turn around at the last minute because the destination airport was closed due to coronavirus lockdowns in Italy. The plane made it all the way to Sardinian airspace on Saturday when they were told that the airport was closed to commercial traffic. An aviation blog theorized that the mistake was made because the airport was ordered to reopen earlier this month, but that decision was immediately overruled by the local government.
- WorldArchitectural Digest
This Neo-Futuristic Home Found Its Inspiration in the British Countryside
Located in the rolling hills of southeast England, the design was meant to mimic the beer-brewing structures that once dotted the landscape Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest
- WorldAssociated Press
Pandemic probe: Brazil police raid Rio governor's residence
Brazilian police targeted a staunch opponent of President Jair Bolsonaro's push to lift measures to contain the spread of COVID-19 in one of the world's disease hot spots, searching the residence of the Rio de Janeiro state governor on Tuesday. The federal prosecutor´s office said in a statement that Gov. Wilson Witzel, a former federal judge, was personally targeted by the 12 search and seizure warrants in Rio and Sao Paulo states. An ongoing investigation pointed to irregularities in contracts awarded for the construction of emergency field hospitals in Rio, and involved health officials, police said in a statement.
- WorldReuters
U.S. to end sanctions waivers allowing some work at Iran nuclear sites
The United States said on Wednesday it will terminate sanctions waivers that had allowed Russian, Chinese and European companies to carry out work originally designed to make it harder for Iranian nuclear sites to be used for weapons development. The waivers, which officials said expire on July 27, covered the conversion of Iran's Arak heavy water research reactor, the provision of enriched uranium for its Tehran Research Reactor and the transfer of spent and scrap reactor fuel abroad. In a statement, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo gave no precise justification for the move, which will halt some work originally designed to make it more difficult for Iran to potentially develop fissile material for nuclear bombs.
- WorldThe Daily Beast
Iranian Tankers Arrive in Venezuela Despite the U.S. Navy
The Iranian oil tanker Fortune slipped into Venezuelan waters in the pre-dawn dark of Monday morning, the first of five tankers from the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL) bringing vitally needed gasoline to a regime the Trump administration has, for years, tried and failed to bring down. Four days before the Fortune arrived in Venezuelan waters, Secretary of State Michael Pompeo announced that sanctions slapped on Iran's shipping lines last December will take effect on June 8. The message seemed to get through.
- PoliticsThe Independent
Mitt Romney calls out ‘vile’ Donald Trump murder accusations against ‘psycho’ Joe Scarborough
“Never Trumper” Mitt Romney stepped in to defend his friend and former Republican congressman Joe Scarborough on Wednesday after the president renewed his Twitter feud against the MSNBC host. The Utah senator called the accusations vile and baseless after Donald Trump escalated his campaign against “psycho Joe” over the death of a former staffer Lori Klausutis, who died in Mr Scarborough's office when he was a Florida congressman, also empathising with Klausutis' husband. Joe is a friend of mine.
BusinessYahoo News VideoDemand has ‘just dried up’ for U.S. small firms in requesting coronavirus stimulus
When the U.S. government first rolled out forgivable loans to small businesses in April under the Paycheck Protection Program, loan officers at Bank of the West in Grapevine, Texas, worked nights and weekends to process a tsunami of applications.
- U.S.NBC News
Bay Area woman accused of posting notes on homes targeting Asian Americans
A woman in the San Francisco Bay Area has been arrested on suspicion of posting handwritten messages at several homes, targeting Asian Americans and suggesting that those not native to the United States should leave the country immediately. Police in San Leandro, a suburb of 89,000 just south of Oakland, said officers were called to the Heron Bay neighborhood Friday evening after receiving reports of notes containing "insensitive messages towards minorities" taped to five homes. "If you are a woman or man and was born in other country, return, go back to your land immediately, fast, with urgency," the note said.
- BusinessUSA TODAY
Justice Department clears 3 senators in stock sales investigation, but Burr's case appears ongoing
The Justice Department has closed its investigation into three senators over stock sales made just before the market slide triggered by the coronavirus outbreak, according to people familiar with the matter. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.; Kelly Loeffler, R-Ga.; and James Inhofe, R-Okla.; that the Justice Department will not be pursuing insider trading charges against them, people familiar with the matter said. A Justice Department spokeswoman declined to comment on the development, which was first reported by the New York Times.
- WorldBusiness Insider
Sweden touts the success of its controversial lockdown-free coronavirus strategy, but the country still has one of the highest mortality rates in the world
JONATHAN NACKSTRAND/AFP via Getty Images Swedish officials praised the success of the country's lockdown-free coronavirus strategy on Tuesday, saying the relaxed policies had helped slow the transmission of COVID-19. "Transmission is slowing down, the treatment of COVID-19 patients in intensive care is decreasing significantly, and the rising death toll curve has been flattened," Swedish Foreign Minister Ann Linde said at a press briefing. But the wider picture of the country's coronavirus response is a bit more complicated.
- WorldThe Telegraph
British mercenaries 'involved in botched operation' backing rebel leader in Libya, according to secret UN report
Six British citizens including two former Royal Marine commandos have been accused of taking part in a botched mercenary mission to Libya to fight on behalf of renegade general Khalifa Haftar. The five men and one woman are named in a confidential report by the United Nations panel of experts on Libya into a botched mission that ended with the mercenaries making a remarkable sea-borne escape after falling out with their hosts. The men, including former Royal Marines Sean Callaghan Louw and Andrew Scott Ritchie, were among around 20 mercenaries who travelled to Benghazi in eastern Libya in June 2019 in a contract organised by a UAE based company called Opus, according to the report seen by the Daily Telegraph.
