| Q’s your daddy? Republican funders back conspiracy theorists running for Congress Posted: 04 Aug 2020 05:27 PM PDT  Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Georgia businesswoman and mother of three, appears to be on her way to becoming the first elected member of the House of Representative who openly aligns with the online conspiracy theory known as QAnon — and a political action committee with ties to President Trump's allies in Congress is working to help get her there. Greene, a devout Trump acolyte who is seeking the Republican nomination for an open House seat in the Georgia's deeply conservative 14th district, is among a growing field of 2020 congressional candidates who have expressed some degree of support for, or promotion of content related to QAnon, the pro-Trump fringe conspiracy theory whose network of adherents have been labeled by the FBI as "conspiracy theory-driven domestic extremists," who pose a potential domestic terrorist threat.
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| Gun sales spike among African-Americans: 'Our ancestors died for us to vote, they also died for us to be able to carry guns' Posted: 03 Aug 2020 02:59 PM PDT  When Americans panic, they buy guns — lots of them. During the first six months of 2020, amidst the global coronavirus pandemic, gun retailers reported a record 10.3 million firearm transactions, according to a new survey by the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF). And while various demographic groups are buying guns in 2020, African-Americans currently account for the highest increase in gun purchases.
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| George Floyd: Leaked police bodycam footage shows how fatal arrest began Posted: 04 Aug 2020 02:28 AM PDT  Leaked body camera footage shows George Floyd begging for his life in the moments leading up to his arrest and subsequent death at the knee of former Minneapolis Police officer Derek Chauvin.Video recorded on the body cameras of two other former officers, Thomas Lane, 37, and J. Kueng, 26, shows the initial moments of the confrontation between Mr Floyd and officers outside a Minneapolis shop on 25 May.
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| Direct-to-Consumer Furniture Brand Burrow Expands Its Offerings Posted: 04 Aug 2020 02:00 PM PDT |
| Burger King employee reportedly murdered after a woman complained about the drive-thru wait time Posted: 04 Aug 2020 06:07 AM PDT  Retired Dallas police officer C'mone Wingo reacts to the increase in crime and violence in major U.S. cities.
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| Australia: British-Australian woman in Iran prison 'is well' Posted: 03 Aug 2020 10:18 PM PDT  Australia's ambassador to Iran has visited a British-Australian academic who was convicted of espionage before being moved recently to a notorious Iranian prison, and found that she "is well," Australia's government said Tuesday. Kylie Moore-Gilbert was a Melbourne University lecturer on Middle Eastern studies when she was sent to Tehran's Evin Prison in September 2018 and sentenced to 10 years. Australia sought urgent consular access and its ambassador to Iran, Lyndall Sachs, visited Moore-Gilbert in Qarchak Prison on Sunday, Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, or DFAT, said in a statement.
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| Bodies Strewn on the Ground After Apocalyptic Blast in Beirut Posted: 04 Aug 2020 08:46 AM PDT  A huge explosion rocked Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday destroying entire blocks of high-rise buildings and leaving at least 73 people confirmed dead, more than 3,700 wounded, and scores more feared buried under rubble and ash. The country's interior minister said early indications were that highly explosive materials, seized and stored at Beirut's port, had detonated. Footage of the blast showed a large plume of dark red flames and smoke before a massive explosion threw up a mushroom cloud. Powerful shock waves shattered glass, collapsed ceilings and pulled down balconies—even residents on the island nation of Cyprus, 110 miles away, heard the blast.A witness on the ground who works for the United Nations, but does not speak on their behalf, was near the port when the explosion happened. She told The Daily Beast that bodies were scattered from the blast. "There was dark smoke from a fire and then a massive blast and everyone fell to the ground," she said. "A lot of people didn't get up."Entire buildings collapsed, streets glistened under blankets of shattered glass, and injured residents wandered the city covered in blood. Lebanese media carried images of people trapped under rubble. Residents rushed the injured to hospital any way they could, carrying them on their shoulders, on the trunks of cars and on ash-covered pieces of debris."What we are witnessing is a huge catastrophe," George Kettani, head of Lebanon's Red Cross, told local TV network Mayadeen. "There are victims and casualties everywhere."Abbas Ibrahim, director of General Security, told Lebanese media at a press conference that Israel was not to blame for the explosion. He pointed the finger at a depot at the port where highly explosive materials were stored after being confiscated.Local media reports also indicated that the blast may have ripped through a fireworks warehouse. It was not yet clear what ignited a fire that could be seen shortly before the main explosion.CNN's Ben Wedeman, who is based in Beirut, was in the bureau about a kilometer away before the blast. He reported on CNN that people were tweeting photos of a fire in the port about 15 minutes before a massive blast shook the building, destroying the bureau. He described a large red cloud hanging low over the city. "The city is in a state of panic," he said on CNN. "The city is in a state of shock."France 24 correspondent Leila Molana-Allen wrote on Twitter that her apartment was blown apart. "All the buildings in my block are destroyed. Huge explosion in Beirut. Everyone covered in glass and blood," she wrote.Hours after the blast at 6 p.m. local time, fires were still burning in the port district. Hospitals, already buckling under the coronavirus pandemic, were overwhelmed with patients.The blast came as the city braces for the verdict in a long-awaited trial over the assassination of former Sunni prime minister Rafik al-Hariri who was killed in a truck bomb 15 years ago. The defendants, from the Iran-backed group Hezbollah, are being tried in absentia. That verdict is expected Friday. Beirut has been under siege by angry protesters demonstrating against economic strife and alleged corruption since the October Revolution kicked off in the fall of 2019. Daily demonstrations and widespread resignations have crippled the government. Before that, the city buckled under the a civil war that lasted from 1975 to 1990. Tuesday's blast was by far the biggest explosion to hit the city since the 2006 war with Israel. Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| Poll gives Democrats bad news in key Senate race Posted: 03 Aug 2020 11:39 AM PDT  Republican Montana Sen. Steve Daines, running for reelection, holds a 6-point lead against Democratic Gov. Steve Bullock in a race that will help decide the balance of power in the U.S. Senate, according to a poll released Monday by Emerson College.
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| US jails man who bought Lamborghini with government loan Posted: 04 Aug 2020 02:57 PM PDT  Instead of speeding off in a $200,000 Lamborghini Urus, a Texas man got a slower ride to jail Tuesday after US authorities arrested him for using $1.6 million in government pandemic aid to go on a spending spree. Lee Price III, 29, was charged with fraud after he secured two government loans under the Paycheck Protection Program to pay employees he did not have, the Justice Department said in a statement. Price secured two loans: Price Enterprises Holdings allegedly received more than $900,000, while 713 Construction was approved for over $700,000, but neither has employees and "the individual listed as CEO on the 713 Construction loan application died in April 2020, a month before the application was submitted," according to the complaint.
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| Four killed as Tropical Storm Isaias pounds U.S. Northeast Posted: 04 Aug 2020 05:59 AM PDT  Tropical Storm Isaias killed at least four people on Tuesday as it made its way up the U.S. Atlantic Coast, including two deaths at a North Carolina trailer park that was struck by a tornado spun off by hurricane-force winds. The storm knocked out power to more than 2.8 million homes and businesses from New York to North Carolina, according to electric companies. Isaias, which was briefly a Category 1 hurricane when it made landfall in North Carolina late on Monday, reduced the mobile home park in the north of the state to rubble hours later, leaving two people dead.
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| Mexico hails 'Sledgehammer' arrest but murder crisis still a tough nut to crack Posted: 03 Aug 2020 11:11 AM PDT  The capture of José Antonio 'El Marro' Yépez, a top gangster in violence-stricken Guanajuato state, gives a boost to the presidentMexico's president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, has hailed the capture of one of the country's most notorious gangsters as an important victory in his so far fruitless struggle to slash murder rates.In a Sunday night video message to the nation, López Obrador said security forces had seized "El Marro" or "the Sledgehammer" – the head of the Santa Rosa de Lima cartel – at about 6am that morning in the violence-stricken state of Guanajuato."How is it that this cartel was able to grow so much – to the extent that Guanajuato became our country's most violent state?" asked Mexico's populist leader, who took power in late 2018 vowing to slow the killing with a policy of "hugs, not bullets"."If there were 100 murders each day, 15 were being committed in Guanajuato – and some days there were 20 or 25 murders. How could this happen?" added López Obrador, who is best known as Amlo.Sledgehammer – whose real name is José Antonio Yépez Ortiz - was the widely feared head of a gang of fuel thieves that controlled large swaths of the central Mexican state and was also involved in drug trafficking, cargo theft and extortion.When the Guardian visited one of the villages at the heart of El Marro's empire in 2018, the driver refused to enter, warning: "We wouldn't make it out again."The Guanajuato-based group grew rich siphoning off billions of dollars worth of petrol from pipelines that crisscross the state, which is located to the north-west of Mexico's capital and is home to one of its most important refineries.El Marro, who had run the group since 2017, was reportedly apprehended on a rural ranch where he had been hiding following a brief gunfight with his security chief.The newspaper El Universal claimed he had unsuccessfully tried to flee on a quad bike as a spy drone hovered overhead and troops closed in."Who betrayed me?" the "wild-eyed" kingpin reportedly asked his captors before conceding: "Everything has a beginning and an end – and my end has come."Experts called El Marro's capture a triumph for López Obrador, whose security policy has come under growing scrutiny following a series of humiliating challenges from Mexico's cartels, although few believe it will fundamentally solve the crisis facing his country.Last year, as Latin America's No 2 economy suffered a record 34,582 murders, gunmen working for the Sinaloa cartel seized control of the northern city of Culiacán and forced the release of one of the group's key leaders, the son of the jailed capo Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán.In June assassins, reputedly deployed by the ascendant Jalisco New Generation cartel, launched a brazen attempt to murder Mexico City's police chief in one of the capital's wealthiest neighbourhoods.Jalisco cartel infantrymen subsequently appeared in a viral video, toting automatic rifles and swearing allegiance to their leader, El Mencho."It's undoubtedly an important victory [for Amlo] … and he will no doubt use this in next year's midterm elections to show he's effective when it comes to security," said Eduardo Guerrero, a Mexico City-based security specialist.In fact, Guerrero said he believed El Marro's arrest was part of a shrewd political gamble on the part of the federal government to force down the country's sky-high murder rate."Guanajuato is responsible for about 15% or 16% of the total number of murders in the country. So if you can reduce violence in this state you can have a considerable impact on the national statistics," said Guerrero who runs the group Lantia Consultores."If you can cut Guanajuato's murders in half you can bring down the nationwide levels of violence by 7% or 8%. This would be a major PR coup for this administration," added Guerrero, predicting that the city of Tijuana, where murder rates are also soaring, might also be targeted for the same reason.Guerrero said security chiefs appeared to be wagering that dealing a body blow to El Marro's faction would allow the more powerful Jalisco cartel to seize monopoly-like control over Guanajuato, thus reducing violence."El Marro was a very skilful, elusive and strategic leader and it seems to me that his replacements – who will certainly be relatives – don't have the skills he had to keep this organization afloat," said Guerrero, who expected the Santa Rosa cartel to splinter into dozens of smaller groups."It's possible that by the end of the year there has been a significant drop in violence in Guanajuato and this would give the federal government something to show off ahead of next July's elections."Other observers are less sure the arrest will do anything to end Mexico's seemingly interminable conflict, which saw more than 2,800 peopled murdered in Guanajuato last year – 73 of them law enforcement officers."It's a temporary victory," said Chris Dalby, the managing editor of InSight Crime, which tracks Latin American organized crime."The violence in Guanajuato was the most important criminal threat to surge during López Obrador's presidency and this allows him to show that he has done something about it – but it's a very narrow victory."Yes, El Marro was a major, savage factor in the violence in Guanajuato. But removing him probably doesn't change much," Dalby added, noting that before taking power Amlo had explicitly vowed not to pursue the so-called "kingpin strategy" of targeting cartel leaders which critics say does little to reduce violence or stop drugs flowing north into the US.On Monday, Mexican newspapers stamped photographs of the fallen capo across their front pages.El Universal called El Marro's arrest the end of a "dark chapter" for Guanajuato, which is home to several of Mexico's best-known tourist destinations, including the picturesque colonial town of San Miguel de Allende.But in his video message Mexico's president, who is facing growing criticism over his handling of the coronavirus epidemic, admitted there was more work to do."We must continue tackling the root causes of violence – first of all poverty, and secondly, making sure there is no corruption and no impunity," López Obrador said. "Our authorities must not protect these criminals."
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| Florida man once bitten by alligator is chomped by 8-foot shark while on vacation Posted: 02 Aug 2020 06:41 PM PDT  Justin Stuller is now sporting two dozen stitches and a small limp after tangling with an eight-foot lemon shark in the Florida Keys.
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| REVIEW: The Jeep Gladiator pickup truck is a monster off road, but might be too beastly for its own good on the highway Posted: 03 Aug 2020 06:17 AM PDT  The Jeep Gladiator is the Jeep of all pickup trucks, rugged and ready for off-roading. But highway cruising is a completely different story.
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| California takes starring role in VP search as Karen Bass ascends and Kamala Harris comes under fire Posted: 04 Aug 2020 05:00 AM PDT  Joe Biden's shortlist for vice president includes two prominent Californians — Sen. Kamala Harris and Rep. Karen Bass — and politicos in the Golden State are divided over the choice.
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| AP PHOTOS: Terror, death, devastation in Lebanon explosion Posted: 04 Aug 2020 02:01 PM PDT  As they watched a huge mushroom cloud rise over the seaport capital, many who felt the massive explosion in Beirut on Tuesday thought it was a nuclear detonation. Others described the popping and bursting of fireworks and a raging fire that spread to another building, triggering the blast felt kilometers (miles) away. The explosion collapsed balconies, shattered windows and ripped bricks from buildings, killing more than 70 people and injuring more than 3,000.
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| Navarro Throws Another White House Health Expert Under Bus Over Hydroxy Posted: 03 Aug 2020 09:25 AM PDT  White House trade adviser Peter Navarro publicly bashed yet another White House public health expert on Monday while touting an unproven anti-malarial drug, saying he took "exception" to coronavirus testing czar Brett Giroir dismissing hydroxychloroquine as an effective coronavirus treatment.Days after CNN cut short a Navarro interview after he kept repeating the racist phrase "China virus," the network invited him on for yet another contentious segment that featured the combative Trump aide disseminating coronavirus disinformation.Navarro, who has been an outspoken proponent of hydroxychloroquine and has repeatedly attacked top infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci for warning about the drug's lack of efficacy, doubled down on his embrace of the drug while taking aim at Giroir."One of the president's chief advisers on the coronavirus pandemic, Adm. Giroir, he said given five studies now that have found the drug hydroxychloroquine—that there's no proof that it helps with COVID-19 patients," host Jim Sciutto noted. "I just wonder, given your past public support for it, is it time for the administration to focus on proven treatments for COVID rather than one that has not been proven?"Navarro—who recently groused that the government is "sitting on millions of doses" of the drug—shot back that he takes "exception to Giroir's analysis, adding that the HHS official "hasn't looked at the data" within the past two weeks."It's his job to look at data," Sciutto interjected.After demanding that CNN bring on a couple of doctors who claim the drug is beneficial for COVID-19 patients—CNN had actually interviewed one of them hours earlier—Navarro brushed off the large number of experts criticizing hydroxychloroquine."My view of this now is doctors' opinions are a dime a dozen and some doctors say it doesn't work," he exclaimed. "You've got some doctors who say it does."The CNN host, meanwhile, retorted that this isn't a "both sides thing," prompting Navarro to insist that is exactly what it is."No, it is a both sides. It is—it is both sides," he declared.Sciutto went on to note that several high-quality double-blinded clinical trials show that there is no benefit to the drug and that the FDA has revoked emergency use of hydroxychloroquine due to concerns over potentially deadly side effects."This hasn't passed muster so why all the focus on that drug," the CNN anchor wondered aloud. "Why not focus on things that work like remdesivir?"Undeterred, Navarro claimed that there is now a study that shows hydroxychloroquine "works better" than remdesivir—even though White House coronavirus coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx said just last week that randomized trials have shown the anti-viral drug has no efficacy as a treatment. She also reiterated that there appears to be no benefit to hydroxychloroquine.Team Trump has suddenly rallied back around the controversial malaria drug after a fringe doctor—who believes that demon sperm causes female medical problems and "alien DNA" is being used in medication—proclaimed it a coronavirus "cure" in a viral video last week. Despite that doctor's bizarre past claims, President Donald Trump has called her "spectacular," "very respected," and an "important voice."Chris Wallace Confronts Trump Campaign Spox Jason Miller: Admit 'You're Losing'Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| ‘You can’t do that’: Trump refuses to discuss coronavirus death rate and says US beating rest of world on cases Posted: 04 Aug 2020 01:43 AM PDT  Donald Trump has maintained that the US is beating the rest of the world on the coronavirus death rate, even as thousands of Americans are still dying every week.Mr Trump's analysis, which he advanced during a discussion with Axios interviewer Jonathan Swan, is based on deaths as a proportion of cases but ignores deaths per capita — a measure that puts the US among the worst countries in the world.
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| From Manhattan to Hiroshima: the race for the atom bomb Posted: 03 Aug 2020 08:41 PM PDT  The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki capped six years of top-secret work by scientists from Europe and North America. In 1939, Albert Einstein signs a letter warning US president Franklin D. Roosevelt of the destructive potential of nuclear fission, which was discovered by the German chemist Otto Hahn. Roosevelt creates the Advisory Body on Uranium.
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| Hannity: Democrats float bizarre theory about Trump not leaving office Posted: 03 Aug 2020 06:35 PM PDT  Democrats turn back to conspiracy theories and hoaxes ahead of 2020 presidential election.
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| Colorado police apologise for detaining mother and children Posted: 04 Aug 2020 12:47 PM PDT  A black mother and four children - aged six to 17 - were mistakenly detained over a stolen vehicle.
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| Cape Verde court rejects Maduro envoy's appeal against US extradition Posted: 04 Aug 2020 08:43 AM PDT |
| Experts no longer expect seasonal coronavirus waves: The pandemic is like 'a forest fire looking for human wood to burn' Posted: 04 Aug 2020 02:01 PM PDT  In April, US experts suggested there might be a second peak of coronavirus infections in the fall. But new data suggests it's not seasonal.
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| Beirut explosions: Blast detonated 2,000 tons of chemicals - latest news and video Posted: 04 Aug 2020 09:57 AM PDT  At least 78 dead and more than 4,000 injured, officials say Fears that thousands of tons of ammonium nitrate were detonated Everything we know so far 'It was like a nuclear explosion': How terrified residents fled the fireball In pictures: Ancient city ripped apart The president of Lebanon has said that 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate were detonated in massive blasts in Beirut that have killed 78 and injured at least 4,000. Explosions shook Lebanon's capital on Tuesday and the death toll is expected to rise. Lebanon's health minister said residents who are able to leave should, saying the hazardous materials in the air after the explosion can have long-term deadly effects. Officials said the chemicals were stored in a warehouse for six years without safety measures. Lebanon's Prime Minister Hassan Diab said that those responsible for would "pay the price" and said the warehouse at the epicentre of the blast had been "dangerous". "I promise you that this catastrophe will not pass without accountability," he said in a televised speech. "Facts about this dangerous warehouse that has been there since 2014 will be announced and I will not preempt the investigations."
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| Joe Biden holds final interviews with VP candidates as he looks to announce pick next week Posted: 04 Aug 2020 09:53 AM PDT  California Sen. Kamala Harris, former national security advisor Susan Rice and California Rep. Karen Bass are reported to be on Biden's short list.
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| CNN Anchor Drags Trump Campaign Adviser: ‘You’re Just Saying a Bunch of Crap!’ Posted: 04 Aug 2020 01:17 PM PDT  CNN anchor Brianna Keilar on Tuesday got fed up with Trump campaign senior advisor Mercedes Schlapp during a heated exchange on mail-in voting, eventually telling the longtime lobbyist that their conversation was "pointless" because she was "just saying a bunch of crap."Keilar, who in recent weeks has held various pro-Trump figures' feet to the fire in combative interviews, brought on Schlapp to talk about President Donald Trump's sudden pivot to encouraging Floridians to vote by mail after baselessly warning for months that mail-in ballots are rife with fraud."Whether you call it Vote by Mail or Absentee Voting, in Florida the election system is Safe and Secure, Tried and True," Trump tweeted on Tuesday. "Florida's Voting system has been cleaned up (we defeated Democrats attempts at change), so in Florida I encourage all to request a Ballot & Vote by Mail!"Schlapp was left with the unenviable task of defending the president's whiplash-inducing hypocrisy, attempting to not only make the distinction between absentee and mail-in voting but also trying to justify why some states' mail vote is "safe and secure" while others are not.Schlapp continually insisted to definitively claim that a persistent "fraud issue" with mail-in voting exists, prompting Keilar to fire back that voter fraud is "statistically insignificant" with mail ballots. The CNN anchor also called out Schlapp for conflating the problems with mail-in voting in recent New York City primaries—which largely revolve around delays in counting a surge of ballots—with voter fraud.Schlapp eventually veered away from alleging widespread voter fraud to expressing concerns that Democrats would harvest ballots this election, causing the CNN host to note that "only evidence of ballot harvesting was by Republicans in North Carolina.""You know that," Keilar added. "They had to redo the election."Nevertheless, the Trump flack continued to fret that mail-in voting would cause problems "like we've seen in states like New York," again pushing Keilar explaining to viewers that those issues have nothing to do with fraud.At one point, when Schlapp said it was "very problematic" to move towards universal mail-in voting while simultaneously claiming voters should have options that include mail and absentee ballots, Keilar asked her if she could explain the difference between absentee and mail-in voting."I've learned this as well as we go through this process, there are some that are interchangeable and then absentee voting is you're absent from your home state and you request a ballot and you send it back and it is verified," Schlapp replied. "And in mail-in voting, you're mailing in these ballots across the board unverified and that is where it produces a problem.""They're not unverified," an exasperated Keilar snapped back. "You know there are safety precautions in place such as barcodes. There are some people who even worry about they don't necessarily want to use snail mail. There are places that they could drop off ballots. You know there are precautions to ensure that the ballots will be counted."As the increasingly hostile back-and-forth wound down and Keilar accused Schlapp of "sowing doubt" and fear into the minds of voters, the CNN anchor finally let her frustration boil over when the Trump flack claimed people will vote after Election Day."This is just pointless, okay," Keilar exploded. "This is pointless. I get it, you're just saying a bunch of crap! Okay. You're saying a bunch of crap."As Keilar pointed out that we're in the middle of a pandemic and Team Trump appears to be trying to put obstacles in the way of voters rather than providing more options, Schlapp asserted that Nevada was making it legal to vote after the date of the election."We'll be checking that. Mercedes, it is very nice to have you," Keilar snarked at the end.Nevada, which recently approved a plan to mail ballots to all registered voters, has extended the deadline for ballots to be counted up to one week after Election Day. The ballots, however, must be postmarked no later than the day of the election.'Tooning Out the News' Busts Matt Schlapp for His Big 'Pandemic Payday'Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| An Arkansas Black Lives Matter group was confronted by an armed militia. One protester carried a flamethrower as a 'deterrent.' Posted: 04 Aug 2020 01:22 PM PDT  An organizer told Insider that he received more than 100 death threats from people who oppose the Black Lives Matter movement.
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| Two huge Beirut explosions kill 73, injure thousands Posted: 04 Aug 2020 04:44 PM PDT  Two enormous explosions devastated Beirut's port on Tuesday, leaving at least 73 people dead and thousands injured, shaking distant buildings and spreading panic and chaos across the Lebanese capital. Prime Minister Hassan Diab said that 2,750 tonnes of the agricultural fertiliser ammonium nitrate that had been stored for years in a portside warehouse had blown up, sparking "a disaster in every sense of the word". Bloodied and dazed wounded people stumbled among the debris, glass shards and burning buildings in central Beirut as the health ministry reported 73 dead and 3,700 injured across wide parts of the country's biggest city.
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| New evidence in Thai Red Bull hit-and-run case, says prosecutor's office Posted: 04 Aug 2020 12:11 AM PDT |
| Apple Fire: Massive California wildfire forces evacuations Posted: 03 Aug 2020 11:04 AM PDT  Around 7,800 people are told to leave their homes in southern California because of the fire.
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| Governor Cuomo begs wealthy New Yorkers to come home to save ailing city Posted: 04 Aug 2020 08:09 AM PDT  The governor of New York has begged the city's wealthy, who fled the coronavirus outbreak, to return and help it recover. Andrew Cuomo said he was extremely worried about New York City weathering the Covid-19 aftermath if too many of the well-heeled taxpayers who fled to second homes decide there is no need to move back. "They are in their Hamptons homes, or Hudson Valley or Connecticut. I talk to them literally every day. I say. 'When are you coming back? I'll buy you a drink. I'll cook,' " Mr Cuomo told MSNBC, naming popular getaways for the rich. "They're not coming back right now. And you know what else they're thinking, if I stay there, they pay a lower income tax because they don't pay the New York City surcharge. So, that would be a bad place if we had to go there." Lawmakers have proposed a wealth tax targeting the city's 100 billionaires to help fill a $30 billion (£23bn) budget shortfall created by the Covid-19 crisis.
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| Miner who discovered the largest tanzanite gems ever has now found a third - and it's worth millions Posted: 04 Aug 2020 11:59 AM PDT  A Tanzanian miner, who became a millionaire off of his first findings in June 2020, discovered a third rare Tanzanite gem.
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| Despite What the White House Says, Unemployment Aid Doesn’t Encourage Americans to Stay Out of Work Posted: 03 Aug 2020 10:39 AM PDT  In almost every political fight, you can count on one thing: the creation of a stereotype to summon critics' outrage.
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| Netanyahu warns Hezbollah after Israeli strike in Syria Posted: 04 Aug 2020 05:21 AM PDT |
| Army Special Forces Colonel Faces Court-Martial on Sexual Assault Charges Posted: 04 Aug 2020 01:31 PM PDT  Col. Kevin M. Russell is facing five counts of violating Article 120 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice.
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| ‘I’m Not Supposed to Be Talking to You’: Doomsday Mom Called Hubby From Jail as FBI Searched His Home Posted: 04 Aug 2020 11:41 AM PDT  The day her two children's remains were found gruesomely buried in her new husband's Idaho backyard, Lori Vallow called her spouse from jail. "Are they seizing stuff again?" Vallow asked several times during the June 9, 2020 call from Madison County Jail, after Chad Daybell told her police were at his property. "What can I do for you?"Daybell, an author of apocalyptic novels for a Mormon audience, somberly told his incarcerated wife—who was being held on charges related to the disappearance of her kids J.J Vallow, 7, and Tylee Ryan, 17—that although police were at his home, he was "glad" that she called. Doomsday Mom Told Me to Lie to Cops Because Grandma Wanted to 'Kidnap' Son: Pal"I'm not really supposed to be talking to you," Daybell mumbled at one point, later stating that authorities were "searching for the kids." "We'll see what transpires.""I'm feeling pretty calm," he later added in the recorded call played in Fremont County Courthouse on Tuesday during a preliminary hearing in the case against Daybell.The two, who appeared unconcerned that officers were searching the home as part of a nearly nine-month investigation into Vallow's children, said "I love you" at least half a dozen times before hanging up. Less than an hour later, Daybell was arrested after investigators found the two children's remains—one "tightly" wrapped in plastic and the other badly burned—in his backyard. Court Docs Reveal How Police Found Bodies of Doomsday Mom's KidsDaybell, 52, is accused of hiding evidence when authorities began to investigate the disappearance of the kids. Daybell and Vallow, who are members of a community of doomsday preppers and were married two weeks after Daybell was widowed, have not been charged in the deaths of the two children. Both, however, are facing charges related to hindering the investigation.Authorities say Vallow's two children disappeared in September, but they weren't registered as missing until November. Two weeks before the children disappeared, Daybell texted his ex-wife, Tammy Daybell that stood out as longer and oddly detailed compared to their other messages regarding bills and errands, FBI intelligence Benjamin Dean testified Tuesday."Well, I've had an interesting morning! I felt I should burn all of the limb debris by the fire pit before it got too soaked by the coming storms," it said. "While I did so, I spotted a big raccoon along the fence. I hurried and got my gun, and he was still walking along. I got close enough that one shot did the trick. He is now in our pet cemetery. Fun times!"A month later, Tammy Daybell had died of unknown causes. Chad Daybell ultimately declined an autopsy—a move that raised eyebrows—and married Vallow weeks later.Wedding Ring Purchase Is Latest Twist in Doomsday Couple's SagaDavid Warwick, a friend of Daybell and Vallow, testified Tuesday that the day after J.J. was last seen on September 22, Vallow told him that the autistic 7-year-old he had been "acting like a zombie.""She said J.J. was being a zombie [and] that he climbed up on to the cabinets," Warwick testified Tuesday, adding that Vallow said "he was out of control" so she had her brother, Alex Cox, "come get him."In January, after Vallow repeatedly lied about the kids' whereabouts and then fled to Hawaii with her new husband, she was served an order instructing her to return the two minors. Idaho Doomsday Couple Found in Hawaii—Without Missing KidsVallow was eventually arrested in Hawaii after failing to produce her children. Authorities tracked the cellphone movements of her brother, Alex Cox, which showed he was on Daybell's property on September 23, the same day Vallow told friends he had allegedly taken the 7-year-old. The cellphone data led authorities to locate the children's remains on June 9, Rexburg Police Department Detective Ray Hermosillo testified on Monday.Cox died in his bathroom in December. The prior July, he shot Vallow's ex-husband, Charles Vallow, dead in what he said was self-defense during a domestic dispute. While Cox and his sister were questioned by police, neither was charged. Wedding Ring Purchase Is Latest Twist in Doomsday Couple's SagaOn Monday, Hermosillo described in graphic detail how authorities found a small child's body in a "shallow grave" near a tree that had "three large white flat rocks" placed "in a row" with "thin wood paneling" underneath during the June 9, 2020, search of Daybell's property."As soon as we lifted the wood paneling out of the hole in Chad Daybell's backyard, I could immediately smell the odor of a decomposing body," Hermosillo said, noting that the 7-year-old was "tightly" wrapped in a black plastic bag. Idaho Attorney General Takes Over Doomsday Couple InvestigationSeveral feet away, authorities discovered "a mass of burnt flesh and charred bone" they later determined to be the remains of Tylee, in a "pet cemetery" on Daybell's property.FBI Special Agent Steven Daniel, who was also at Daybell's property on June 9, said that the "pet cemetery" was marked with a small dog statute and was near a fire pit. Soon after excavating the area, Daniel said that he instantly smelt decomposing flesh and investigators began to use hand tools in what he called "a mess of burned human remains.""Eventually we're able to excavate a few pieces; the major piece ends up being a pelvic piece," Daniel said. "At the bottom of the mass we found a melted green bucket and in the bucket a skull and mandible with teeth."During his closing statement in Tuesday's hearing, Madison County Prosecuting Attorney Rob Wood urged Judge Faren Eddins to send Daybell's case to a district court for trial, stating that the testimony of over a dozen witnesses show the graphic state that Tylee and J.J. were found and the mysteriousness around their disappearance. "Those bodies were concealed. One of them was destroyed. They were located on Chad Daybell's property. Alex Cox, whose phone pinged near those locations, became his brother-in-law less than two months later," Wood said. However, defense attorney John Prior argued that being married to Vallow was "not an overt act" and the state didn't "come close" to having enough evidence to prove Daybell committed any wrongdoing.After less than 15 minutes of deliberation, Eddins sided with the state and ruled there was "sufficient cause" that Daybell committed the four counts against him. As Eddins gave his ruling, J.J.'s grandparents, Kay and Larry Woodcock, high fived and embraced one another behind Daybell, who remained emotionlessRead more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| Coronavirus: Melbourne lockdown to keep a million workers at home Posted: 03 Aug 2020 03:26 AM PDT  The Australian city announces further business closures as it struggles to contain the coronavirus.
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| India to investigate universities' Chinese links as talks continue over Ladakh Posted: 03 Aug 2020 06:56 AM PDT  India is to review its Mandarin language courses over fears some universities were receiving funding from the Chinese Government, as talks between the two superpowers over their disputed boundary in Ladakh continue. Tensions between the two neighbours are at the highest level for several decades, after Chinese troops annexed at least 60 square kilometres of Indian territory in Ladakh in May. An unprecedented anti-China backlash has ensued, particularly after details emerged of the nail-studded rods used to beat 20 Indian soldiers to death, with Narendra Modi, the Indian Prime Minister, banning 100 Chinese mobile apps, including WeChat and TikTok. The Indian Government expressed fears over security, claiming users' data could have been harvested through the apps by Beijing. Five Indian universities are now under scrutiny and have been asked to send all details of collaborations with Chinese institutions since 2017. This includes Mumbai University and the Vellore Institute of Technology, both Confucius Institutes, whereby an international university forms a partnership with a Chinese institution and receives funding from an organisation affiliated with the Chinese Government. China says its Confucius Institutes - of which there are over 500 worldwide - have been set up to advance Chinese culture.
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| McConnell says he will likely rely on Democratic votes for coronavirus aid package Posted: 04 Aug 2020 03:07 PM PDT  "If you're looking for total consensus among Republican senators, you're not going to find it," the Senate majority leader said.
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| A woman allegedly smashed a police officer's head into concrete after being told to wear a mask Posted: 04 Aug 2020 02:20 PM PDT  A woman in Australia allegedly smashed a police officer's head into concrete after being told to wear a mask. The officer was left concussed.
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| Outbreak hits Norway cruise ship, could spread along coast Posted: 03 Aug 2020 03:16 AM PDT  A Norwegian cruise ship line halted all trips and apologized Monday for procedural errors after a coronavirus outbreak on one ship infected at least 5 passengers and 36 crew. Health authorities fear the ship also could have spread the virus to dozens of towns and villages along Norway's western coast. The confirmed virus cases from the MS Roald Amundsen raise new questions about safety on all cruise ships during a pandemic even as the devastated cruise ship industry is pressing to resume sailings after chaotically shutting down in March.
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| Protesters Prevent Police from Investigating Stabbing Outside of Portland Courthouse Posted: 04 Aug 2020 06:00 AM PDT  A "hostile crowd" prevented Portland police from investigating a stabbing at the site of nightly racial justice protests and rioting on Monday. A woman had walked into Lownsdale Square park in downtown Portland and was taking photos or recording video just before 6:30 p.m. when an argument began between the woman and other people in the park. The woman who had been taking photos then brandished a knife and stabbed another woman in the chest.Officers were met with a "hostile crowd" on the scene and were forced to bring in reinforcements to the area. As police were trying to secure the crime scene, someone picked up the knife used in the stabbing and ran off with it, Portland police said. Supervisors made the decision to disengage after officers could not safely conduct an investigation in the presence of the crowd.The suspect fled the area but later returned and was interviewed by police. The victim, whom officers found a few blocks away at SW 5th Ave and SW Taylor Street, was taken to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries. The city has experienced months of rioting and unrest following the death of George Floyd, leading to the deployment of federal agents to the city. Rioters have repeatedly used violence to target the federal courthouse there, attacking federal law enforcement with various weapons including Molotov cocktails, and in some cases blinding officers with lasers.While Oregon elected officials demanded the removal of federal law enforcement from the city, President Trump said "there would be no Portland" if Department of Homeland Security personnel had not been sent in.A phased removal of federal law enforcement from the city began last week.
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| CMS chief Seema Verma on President Trump's telehealth executive order Posted: 03 Aug 2020 03:51 PM PDT  President Trump has been delivering on his health care promises, says Seema Verma, administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
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