| Trump, for some reason, compares coronavirus death toll (over 98,000) to that of swine flu (under 20,000) Posted: 26 May 2020 02:43 PM PDT  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.
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| U.S. accuses ex-Venezuelan lawmaker of drug conspiracy tied to Middle East militants Posted: 27 May 2020 03:03 PM PDT |
| Pompeo declares Hong Kong no longer autonomous from China in a move that threatens to escalate US-China tensions Posted: 27 May 2020 02:28 PM PDT  The action follows a new China national security law for Hong Kong that bans treason and other perceived offenses in the semiautonomous territory.
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| US priest who founded Knights of Columbus to be beatified Posted: 27 May 2020 05:01 AM PDT  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.
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| Pakistani villager urges India to return 'spy' pigeon Posted: 27 May 2020 06:29 AM PDT  The owner of a pigeon "arrested" by India for spying says his bird was freed for Eid and is innocent.
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| A pharmacist known as 'the Mask Man' has been charged with hoarding $200,000 worth of N95 masks and price-gouging customers Posted: 27 May 2020 02:35 PM PDT  The DOJ said the pharmacist, 66-year-old Richard Schirripa, sold $2,690 of masks to an undercover officer and said he felt "like a drug dealer."
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| Russian Jets Blocked US Plane in Unsafe Maneuvers Over Mediterranean, Navy Says Posted: 27 May 2020 06:47 AM PDT  It was the third time in two months that Russian aircraft have intercepted Navy aircraft in the Sixth Fleet of operations.
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| Levi’s Is Taking 50% off These Best-Selling Jeans Right Now Posted: 27 May 2020 07:23 AM PDT |
| 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 Posted: 26 May 2020 07:56 PM PDT  Some experts have said Sweden's risky strategy will eventually yield positive results, while others have highlighted serious pitfalls.
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| Huawei CFO Meng to find out if a U.S extradition case against her will proceed Posted: 27 May 2020 08:41 AM PDT  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. Her arrest infuriated Beijing, which sees her case as a political move designed to prevent China's rise.
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| Twitter employees 'very unhappy' the platform won't correct Trump falsehoods about Scarborough and staff member Posted: 26 May 2020 05:12 PM PDT  Twitter employees are outraged by the company's refusal to stop President Trump from using the platform to promote a conspiracy theory involving Joe Scarborough and a former staffer, according to tech journalist Kara Swisher.
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| Special Report: U.S. takes aim at the power behind Venezuela's Maduro - his first lady Posted: 27 May 2020 09:10 AM PDT  The man, Yazenky Lamas, worked as a bodyguard for the person widely considered the power behind President Nicolas Maduro's throne: first lady Cilia Flores. Now, with help from Lamas' testimony, the United States is preparing to charge Flores in coming months with crimes that could include drug trafficking and corruption, four people familiar with the investigation of the first lady told Reuters. If Washington goes ahead with an indictment, these people said, the charges are likely to stem, at least in part, from a thwarted cocaine transaction that has already landed two of Flores' nephews in a Florida penitentiary.
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| Pompeo says Hong Kong is no longer autonomous from China Posted: 27 May 2020 08:56 AM PDT  Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has notified Congress that the Trump administration no longer regards Hong Kong as autonomous from mainland China, setting the stage for U.S. to withdraw the former British colony's preferential trade and financial status it has enjoyed since it reverted to Chinese rule 23 years ago. The move does not carry any immediate penalties, which would have to be decided by President Donald Trump in consultation with Congress. "Hong Kong does not continue to warrant treatment under United States laws in the same manner as U.S. laws were applied to Hong Kong before July 1997," Pompeo said in a statement Wednesday.
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| Fauci wears a mask as a 'symbol' of what 'you should be doing' amid coronavirus pandemic Posted: 27 May 2020 11:52 AM PDT  Infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci acknowledged masks aren't "100% effective" but are a "valuable safeguard" and part of "respect for another person."
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| Zambia probes Chinese clothes factory murders Posted: 27 May 2020 06:40 AM PDT  The killings of three Chinese nationals come amid a crackdown on firms accused of discrimination.
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| Amphibious Ship Obliterates Drone with Laser Weapon in 1st-of-its-Kind Sea Test Posted: 26 May 2020 10:51 AM PDT  The Portland was equipped with the Solid State Laser Weapons System Demonstrator for the at-sea test.
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| Angry US protests for second night over police killing of black man Posted: 27 May 2020 05:44 PM PDT  Demonstrators gathered Wednesday for a second night of protests in the US over the killing of a handcuffed black man by a policeman who held him to the ground with a knee on has neck. As dusk fell police formed a human barricade around the Third Precinct in Minneapolis, where the officers accused of killing George Floyd worked before they were fired on Tuesday. Minneapolis police chief Medaria Arradondo cautioned protestors to remain peaceful.
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| A Eurowings plane with just 2 passengers on board was forced to turn around after learning its destination airport was closed due to coronavirus Posted: 27 May 2020 04:11 AM PDT  The flight from Düsseldorf, Germany, to Sardinia, Italy, made it all the way to its destination before it had to turn around.
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| $11,000 in personal items stolen from doctor visiting New York to fight coronavirus, report says Posted: 26 May 2020 11:25 AM PDT  A Texas doctor who moved to New York temporarily to assist in the fight against coronavirus has had $11,000 worth of personal items stolen from her hotel room, according to a report.Police sources told The New York Post that a woman who was believed to be in her 20's reportedly broke into the unidentified doctor's room at the Brooklyn Hotel on Atlantic Avenue at around 9am on Saturday.
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| Trump's press secretary says there are 'real concerns' with mail-in voting. She's voted by mail 11 times. Posted: 27 May 2020 10:30 AM PDT  Do as I say, not as I have done for the last decade.White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany has voted by mail 11 times in the past 10 years, sending in a ballot for every Florida election she's participated in since 2010, The Tampa Bay Times reports. She reportedly last voted by mail in Florida's primary just two months ago, shortly before she told reporters there is supposed "bipartisan consensus on the fact that mass mail-in voting can lead to fraud."McEnany's voting history is similar to that of her boss, President Trump, who has routinely voted by mail while making a stink over others who do the same."The president is, after all, the president, which means he's here in Washington. He's unable to cast his vote down in Florida, his state of residence," McEnany said last week about the president's voting decisions.McEnany's defense of Trump came after he incorrectly asserted that Michigan illegally distributed millions of absentee ballot applications to its residents and threatened to withhold funding to the state, which had just suffered a severe dam break.She told reporters at the time that Trump "supports mail-in voting for a reason, when you have a reason that you are unable to be present," although an ongoing pandemic didn't seem to pass the test.This week, McEnany wrote a series of tweets blasting the "real concerns" with mail-in voting, which included bribery, lost ballots, and ballot harvesting. It is unclear whether McEnany knew about these concerns before she cast 11 mail-in ballots.More stories from theweek.com It only took two hours for Trump's administration to contradict his threat to shut down Twitter Why Biden benefits by disappearing CNBC's Andrew Ross Sorkin explodes on co-host Joe Kernen: '100,000 people died and all you did was try and help your friend the president'
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| U.S. to end sanctions waivers allowing some work at Iran nuclear sites Posted: 27 May 2020 11:13 AM PDT  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.
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| This Neo-Futuristic Home Found Its Inspiration in the British Countryside Posted: 27 May 2020 01:14 PM PDT |
| Protester who hung effigy of Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear fired from job at car dealership Posted: 27 May 2020 12:39 PM PDT  Terry Bush, president of the Kentucky 3 Percenters group, only hoisted the effigy, his wife Patsy said Wednesday morning.
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| Death and denial in Brazil’s Amazon capital during pandemic Posted: 26 May 2020 10:25 AM PDT  As the white van approached Perfect Love Street, chatting neighbors fell silent, covered their mouths and noses and scattered. Men in full body suits carried an empty coffin into the small, blue house where Edgar Silva had spent two feverish days gasping for air before drawing his last breath on May 12. "It wasn't COVID," Silva's daughter, Eliete das Graças insisted to funerary workers.
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| SpaceX's launch of NASA astronauts was scrubbed and rescheduled for Saturday because of poor weather, just 17 minutes before liftoff Posted: 27 May 2020 01:23 PM PDT  Stormy weather can endanger the Crew Dragon spacecraft and the astronauts on board. Forecasts previously showed a 50% chance of unsafe conditions.
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| Senate Democrats take on GOP court-packing in blistering new report Posted: 27 May 2020 03:12 PM PDT  The senators pointed to conservative activist Leonard Leo as the driving force behind the many of the president's appointments.
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| U.S. no longer considers Hong Kong autonomous from China, Pompeo announces Posted: 27 May 2020 11:21 AM PDT  The U.S. State Department has determined Hong Kong no longer holds autonomy under Chinese rule, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced Wednesday."No reasonable person can assert today that Hong Kong maintains a high degree of autonomy from China, given facts on the ground," Pompeo said in a Wednesday statement. Pompeo informed Congress of the department's decision on Tuesday, and there's a strong chance the move will change Hong Kong's trade relationship with the U.S., CNBC reports."While the United States once hoped that free and prosperous Hong Kong would provide a model for authoritarian China, it is now clear that China is modeling Hong Kong after itself," Pompeo said. America's economic and trade relationship with Hong Kong is separate of that with China, largely exempting Hong Kong from the tariff war between the two nations. But with the U.S. now considering Hong Kong to be more closely tied with the mainland, the region will now likely be subject to America's heavy trade restrictions.The announcement comes just a day before Beijing is slated to pass a law that will let it curtail civil liberties in the administrative region — something Pompeo called a "death knell for Hong Kong," The New York Times reports. Hong Kong has long operated as an administrative region autonomous from mainland China, but Beijing has increasingly tightened its grasp on the area. Widespread protests by pro-democracy Hong Kong residents were a constant for months until COVID-19 spread throughout the country, and more demonstrations took place ahead of debate over the law at the city's legislature early Wednesday.More stories from theweek.com It only took two hours for Trump's administration to contradict his threat to shut down Twitter Why Biden benefits by disappearing CNBC's Andrew Ross Sorkin explodes on co-host Joe Kernen: '100,000 people died and all you did was try and help your friend the president'
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| Venezuela's Maduro vows to raise gasoline price as Iranian tanker nears Posted: 27 May 2020 08:03 AM PDT  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.
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| Biden says nation grieves for 100,000 US coronavirus victims Posted: 27 May 2020 04:58 PM PDT  Joe Biden released a video Wednesday evening marking the grim U.S. milestone of 100,000 Americans killed by the coronavirus, saying somberly, "To all of you hurting so badly, I'm so sorry for your loss" and "This nation grieves with you." Evoking the personal tragedies he's faced in his own life, Biden said, "I think I know what you're feeling." "You feel like you're being sucked into a black hole in the middle of your chest," said Biden, who lost his first wife and young daughter in a 1972 car crash and an adult son to cancer in 2015.
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| CDC changes its 'confusing' guidelines on coronavirus and surfaces. Here's what we know. Posted: 27 May 2020 11:48 AM PDT  This new CDC update may quell some major concerns about how COVID-19 is transmitted, but plenty of questions still remain. Here's what to know.
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| America Should Never Conduct Another Nuclear Test Posted: 27 May 2020 05:30 AM PDT  The U.S. government hasn't tested a nuclear weapon in 28 years, and for good reason.
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| White Woman Who Called Police on a Black Man at Central Park Apologizes, Says 'I'm Not a Racist' Posted: 26 May 2020 10:17 AM PDT  A white woman apologized for calling the police on a black bird watcher in Central Park who asked her to put her dog on a leash.
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| 2 prominent members of an LA TikTok house were arrested on drug charges during a cross-country quarantine trip Posted: 26 May 2020 10:14 AM PDT  Bryce Hall, 20, and Jaden Hossler, 19, of the TikTok collective "Sway House" have been arrested on drug charges in Lee County, Texas.
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| Arbery case exemplifies how 'stand your ground' is a right, hate crime laws are hypothetical Posted: 26 May 2020 09:33 AM PDT  "The only advantage for the McMichaels is they are alive to tell their version of the story."
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| Hong Kong police arrest hundreds and fire pepper pellets amid fresh unrest Posted: 27 May 2020 09:14 AM PDT  The latest clashes come as MPs debate a bill to criminalise insulting China's national anthem.
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| Total number of coronavirus cases in Gulf Arab states surpasses 200,000: Reuters tally Posted: 27 May 2020 10:54 AM PDT  The number of coronavirus cases in the six Gulf Arab states doubled in less than a month to surpass 200,000 on Wednesday, according to a Reuters' tally, at a time the region's two biggest economies move to resume activity. Coronavirus infections in the energy producing region, which crossed the 100,000 mark on May 11, had initially been linked to travel but then spread among low-income migrant workers in overcrowded quarters, prompting authorities to increase testing. Saudi Arabia, which has the most infections, said restrictions would be lifted in three phases, culminating in a curfew completely ending from June 21, with the exception of the holy city of Mecca.
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| Biden suggests many COVID-19 deaths were avoidable but for Trump's 'lack of attention and ego' Posted: 26 May 2020 06:05 PM PDT  Former Vice President Joe Biden said on Tuesday that President Trump is "supposed to lead by example" when it comes to wearing a mask and social distancing during the coronavirus pandemic, but has failed at that and also keeping the death toll down.The U.S. is close to reaching the grim milestone of 100,000 confirmed coronavirus deaths. In an interview with CNN's Dana Bash, Biden said it is as important as ever to stay safe by social distancing and wearing a face covering, as the COVID-19 threat is "not over."Biden then appeared to reference a recent report by Columbia University researchers who found that enacting federal social distancing measures nationwide just one week earlier in March would have prevented about 36,000 coronavirus deaths, with thousands more deaths averted under earlier closures. The first imported case of COVID-19 in the U.S. was reported on Jan. 20, with community transmission following a few weeks later."One hundred thousand deaths and at least 35,000 to 50,000 were avoidable, but for a lack of attention and ego," Biden said. > "100,000 deaths and at least 35,000 to 50,000 were avoidable but for lack of attention and ego," says former Vice President Joe Biden about President Trump's handling of the coronavirus pandemic. pic.twitter.com/7n87Md5RzQ> > -- CNN (@CNN) May 26, 2020More stories from theweek.com It only took two hours for Trump's administration to contradict his threat to shut down Twitter Why Biden benefits by disappearing CNBC's Andrew Ross Sorkin explodes on co-host Joe Kernen: '100,000 people died and all you did was try and help your friend the president'
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| American virus deaths at 100,000: What does a number mean? Posted: 27 May 2020 12:02 AM PDT  On Wednesday, the United States' official reported coronavirus death toll reached six digits. "We all want to measure these experiences because they're so shocking, so overwhelming that we want to bring some sense of knowability to the unknown," says Jeffrey Jackson, a history professor at Rhodes College in Tennessee who teaches about the politics of natural disasters. In the mid-1800s, a new level of numerical precision was emerging in Western society around the same time the United States fought the Civil War.
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| 20 Republican lawmakers file lawsuit against House Speaker Nancy Pelosi over new proxy voting system Posted: 27 May 2020 11:18 AM PDT  A group of Republican lawmakers filed a lawsuit against House Speaker Nancy Pelosi over the chamber's new proxy voting system, which allows lawmakers to designate another member to vote on their behalf during the coronavirus.
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| British mercenaries 'involved in botched operation' backing rebel leader in Libya, according to secret UN report Posted: 27 May 2020 12:43 PM PDT  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. Amanda Perry, a United Arab Emirate based businesswoman, is identified and is alleged to have been a "facilitator" of the project. She is the managing director of Opus Capital Asset FZE, the company that hired two boats used by the group. She is also company secretary of Lancaster 6, a business owned by Christiaan Durrant, a former Australian fighter pilot and Malta resident who is also named - and accused of being a facilitator in the report.
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| The CEO of Hertz will get a $700,000 payday as his 102-year-old company crumbles into bankruptcy Posted: 26 May 2020 08:04 AM PDT  Hertz's top executives just got a massive payday to keep them on staff. There's no word yet on how workers outside its headquarters might fare.
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| Three European air forces approve performance benchmarks for next-gen fighter jet Posted: 27 May 2020 06:21 AM PDT  The criteria will be used to whittle down the number of design options as the Future Combat Air System program proceeds through the next stages of development.
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| Demand has ‘just dried up’ for U.S. small firms in requesting coronavirus stimulus Posted: 26 May 2020 08:37 AM PDT  When the U.S. government first rolled out forgivable loans to small businesses in early 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.
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| Bay Area woman accused of posting notes on homes targeting Asian Americans Posted: 26 May 2020 01:42 PM PDT  The notes read: "If you are a woman or man and was born in other country, return, go back to your land immediately, fast, with urgency."
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| Head of Italy's Lombardy region given police escort as COVID anger mounts Posted: 27 May 2020 05:19 AM PDT  The governor of Lombardy, the northern region at the epicentre of Italy's coronavirus outbreak, said on Wednesday that he had been given a police escort after growing criticism of his administration's handling of the crisis. Lombardy, Italy's richest and most populous region and the motor of its economy, is one of the worst affected areas of the world by the coronavirus, accounting for around half of the country's more than 32,000 dead. The regional government, controlled by opposition leader Matteo Salvini's anti-immigrant League party, has seen approval ratings plunge amid angry attacks on its response and on health sector reforms by previous League governments that many say left the region badly prepared to face the epidemic.
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| Coronavirus: How the pandemic in US compares to rest of world Posted: 27 May 2020 03:32 PM PDT  More than 100,000 people have died and the country is now slowly reopening amid fears of new spikes.
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