| North Korea's leader is tapping his own private food reserve to feed the country, and it could be a worrying sign Posted: 15 Aug 2020 05:00 AM PDT  "It reflects the perfect storm of economic stresses that North Korea is suffering right now," a former CIA branch chief in Korea told Insider.
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| Trump says he will look 'very strongly' at granting pardon to whistleblower Edward Snowden Posted: 15 Aug 2020 03:57 PM PDT  Whistleblower Edward Snowden, considered a traitor by some and a hero by others, has been living in exile in Moscow since leaking spy secrets.
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| Truck driver in school bus crash helps free trapped kids, then collapses Posted: 15 Aug 2020 11:30 AM PDT  The 25-year-old driver of the rental truck died of his injuries at a hospital.
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| Mexican government forces out over 1,000 immigration officials accused of corruption Posted: 14 Aug 2020 05:24 PM PDT |
| Far-Right Militia, Pro-Confederacy Groups, Anti-Facists Face Off in Tense Stone Mountain Protest Posted: 15 Aug 2020 10:15 AM PDT  Far-right militia, pro-Confederacy groups and anti-fascist counter-protestors faced off on Saturday in tense scenes at Stone Mountain, Georgia, home of the largest monument to the Confederacy. To prepare for the confrontation, park officials closed off entry to the giant rock carving of Robert E. Lee, Jefferson Davis, and Stonewall Jackson. The city suspended bus services and urged residents to avoid the city center entirely "out of an abundance of caution."Nevertheless, a small number of armed protesters from all sides descended on the city from 9 a.m. local time. Videos on social media showed far-right protestors attacking anti-facism protesters with pepper spray, and anti-facism protesters grabbing Confederate flags and setting them alight. Police presence was initially minimal outside a church where protesters converged, the Atlanta Journal Constitution reported. Some fist fights broke out in the crowd.According to the AJR, a man with a "Don't Tread on Me" flag and an assault weapon pointed his gun on the crowd, though he was "charged down" by his opposition.Around 11:30 am, a message from counter-protesters came over a loudspeaker, warning them to be prepared for tear gas, the newspaper reported.The protest dispersed when police in riot gear moved in on the crowd at around 1 p.m., and ordered demonstrators to leave or be arrested. Photos from the scene showed the National Guard moving in as well.> "Go home, racists, go home!" Members of BLM, Antifa and independents chant during protest in the town of Stone Mountain @11AliveNews pic.twitter.com/Rr75W36hrv> > — Maura Sirianni 11Alive (@MauraSirianni) August 15, 2020> Today right-wing activists and militias are converging on Stone Mountain Park in Georgia to hold a "Defend Stone Mountain" Confederate rally. > > Antifascists are gathering to oppose them. > > Here, III% activists gather about a block East from Antifa, loading and prepping guns. pic.twitter.com/DjmVwBLBtc> > — Ford Fischer (@FordFischer) August 15, 2020A Georgia chapter of the Three Percenters militia, a far-right paramilitary group, initially applied to hold a 2,000-person rally at the Stone Mountain monument on Saturday but they were denied by police, in part because a 2016 Stone Mountain "pro-white" demonstration resulted in nine arrests. But some online groups vowed to turn up anyway, including a group of Confederate-loving protesters calling themselves "Defending Stone Mountain" and a rival group called Atlanta Antifascists.A protest in Kalamazoo, Michigan also turned violent on Saturday when the far-right, white nationalist group Proud Boys attempted to march but were overrun by counter-protesters. After the two groups fought in the street, police arrived and made "a few" arrests, according to local affiliate WOOD-TV. > Fights broke out between protesters and the Proud Boys group when they arrived in Kalamazoo. @wwmtnews pic.twitter.com/bgk0LGa6j7> > — Trisha McCauley (@TrishaWWMT) August 15, 2020Stone Mountain is the largest bas-relief statue in the world, completed in 1925 by Augustus Lukeman, with original work by Gutzon Borglum (who would go on to sculpt Mt. Rushmore). The Ku Klux Klan was a major donor to the project. Since the Charleston church shooting of 2015, many have called for the removal of the monument. The movement has grown urgency over the past few months, as more protestors take down Confederate monuments following the death of George Floyd. Former Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams has called the carving "a blight on our state."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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| New tropical threat could emerge along East Coast Posted: 14 Aug 2020 10:09 AM PDT  Josephine ended a brief lull in Atlantic tropical activity, as it developed and clinched a new Atlantic record on Thursday. However, the storm is expected to take a curved path well away from North America into next week. Now, meteorologists are watching a disturbance closer to home that was born from showers and thunderstorms over the southeastern United States -- and it has a chance at very soon becoming the next tropical storm of the 2020 Atlantic hurricane season. This image, captured during Friday afternoon, August 14, 2020, revealed banding structure to the clouds and the hint of a low-level circulation just off the Delmarva coast. These conditions are indicative of a budding tropical cyclone. (NOAA/GOES-East) The feature, which the National Hurricane Center has dubbed Invest 96L, is moving away from the East Coast, so there's no threat of a landfall from a budding tropical storm. However, the rapidly organizing and strengthening system has already been playing a role in raising surf along the mid-Atlantic coast and is likely to do the same in southeastern New England this weekend. AccuWeather meteorologists are keeping an eye out for potential tropical development off the East Coast. A Friday, Aug. 14, 2020, satellite loop shows clouds associated with a stalled boundary that could generate the next Atlantic system. (AccuWeather) "There is a high chance this disturbance evolves enough to become a tropical depression and tropical storm as it moves out to sea at any time through this weekend," AccuWeather's top hurricane expert Dan Kottlowski said. "The system will be over sufficiently warm water, and if it stays south of strong wind shear to the north, it can strengthen," Kottlowski added.Rain directly from this system is not likely to fall on the Northeast. However, there are other non-tropical systems that will continue to instigate some weather trouble spots during the weekend. Showers over the lower part of the mid-Atlantic and Southeast states will be triggered by the same stalled weather pattern that has persisted much of this week. Meanwhile, a non-tropical storm at the jet stream level of the atmosphere could produce spotty showers in eastern New England on Saturday.The circulation around the system off the East Coast could actually tend to drag drier air southward over part of the mid-Atlantic coast on Saturday and could prevent the rain dampening the South from spreading northward over New England on Sunday.CLICK HERE FOR THE FREE ACCUWEATHER APP Part of the reason for breezy to windy conditions and rough surf along the mid-Atlantic coast, in addition to the disturbance itself, has to do with the difference in atmosphere pressure from north to south. An area of high pressure was hovering over southeastern Canada. As the air will flow from high to low pressure from the disturbance, it will create breezy, if not windy, conditions. Proximity to the smooth ocean surface and the disturbance itself can add several miles per hour to the strength of the wind.Since some of the flow of air is blowing in from the ocean, that landward breeze is helping to raise surf and cause slightly-above-normal tides from North Carolina to New Jersey and will continue to do so into Saturday. Tides can be a foot or two above normal, which can be enough to cause minor coastal flooding at times of high tide in some communities.As the system drifts northeastward, seas and surf are likely to build along the southeastern New England coast early this weekend, regardless of the official classification of the system. Forecasters urge bathers to be on the alert for increasing rip currents.Small craft advisories were in effect along the East Coast from the Maryland and Delaware up through coastal Maine on Friday. Southeastern New England will be in for a windy day on Saturday. Steering winds should likely keep the system far enough away from Nova Scotia and Newfoundland to avoid direct impact, but a period of rough seas and surf could occur early next week in this part of Canada.With Kyle as the next name on the list of storms for the Atlantic in 2020, if the system forms in the next several days, then it would set an early-season formation record for the letter "K." The current record belongs to the infamous Katrina from Aug. 24, 2005.The 2020 Atlantic tropical cyclone season has already set seven early-season formation records starting with Cristobal in July and then six storms in a row from Edouard through Josephine. All of the last six storms previous early-season records were set during the notorious 2005 season that went on to bring Katrina and Wilma.Most likely, 2020 will continue to set many more early-season formation records, and this year could be second only to the number of named storms set during the historic 2005 season, which generated a record 28 storms. Like the 2005 season, Greek letters, which are used when the seasonal list is exhausted could again be needed this year, forecasters warn.Additional threats from the tropics will warrant a close eye from forecasters into the next week."In addition for the potential for a tropical system to develop from the train of tropical disturbances, known as tropical waves, moving westward from Africa, we will be keeping an eye on the Gulf of Mexico next week," Kottlowski said.Following the name Kyle, the "L" storm for this year in the Atlantic is Laura. The early-season formation record for the "L" storm is Luis set on Aug. 29, 1995.A feature similar to the disturbance along the Atlantic coast could set up over the Gulf of Mexico next week."During the latter part of next week, a tropical disturbance could evolve over the central to northern part of the Gulf of Mexico," added Kottlowski."We continue to expect a very busy time from late August through September and October and especially during the heart of the hurricane season in September, and there is some indication that we may continue to have named systems toward the end of the season," Kottlowski said.AccuWeather is predicting up to 24 named tropical storms with nine to 11 of those expected to strengthen further into hurricanes this season in the Atlantic basin.Keep checking back on AccuWeather.com and stay tuned to the AccuWeather Network on DirecTV, Frontier and Verizon Fios.
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| Hillary Clinton would 'consider' working for a Biden administration Posted: 14 Aug 2020 06:53 AM PDT  Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she would consider a role in Joe Biden's administration if the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee is elected in November."I'm ready to help in any way I can because I think this will be a moment where every American – I don't care what party you are, I don't care what age, race, gender, I don't care – every American should want to fix our country," Ms Clinton said.
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| Authorities to allow sea lion killing to help struggling salmon population Posted: 14 Aug 2020 03:27 PM PDT  U.S. authorities on Friday gave wildlife managers in Washington, Oregon and Idaho permission to start killing hundreds of sea lions in the Columbia River basin in hopes of helping struggling salmon and steelhead trout.
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| Fauci slammed Tucker Carlson, saying he 'triggers some of the crazies' to attack him and that it's 'ridiculous' that he needs personal security to protect him Posted: 15 Aug 2020 02:21 AM PDT  Fox News host Tucker Carlson has repeatedly criticized infectious-diseases expert Anthony Fauci's expertise of late.
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| Ex-FBI lawyer to plead guilty in Trump-Russia probe review Posted: 14 Aug 2020 08:41 AM PDT  A former FBI lawyer plans to plead guilty to making a false statement in the first criminal case arising from U.S. Attorney John Durham's investigation into the probe of ties between Russia and the 2016 Trump campaign, his lawyer said Friday. Kevin Clinesmith is accused of altering a government email about a former Trump campaign adviser who was a target of secret FBI surveillance, according to documents filed in Washington's federal court.
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| Coronavirus spread in Georgia is 'widespread and expanding,' says report Posted: 15 Aug 2020 01:19 PM PDT  Georgia's governor is expected to sign a new order Saturday that will allow local governments to require masks on public property but not in businesses.
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| New Jeffrey Epstein Victims, Including 11-Year-Old Girl, Come Forward in Lawsuit Posted: 14 Aug 2020 02:30 PM PDT  A Florida woman who alleges Jeffrey Epstein sexually assaulted her when she was 11-years-old is among nine accusers who have filed a new lawsuit against the millionaire pedophile's estate.The lawsuit, filed Thursday in Manhattan Supreme Court, alleges Epstein sexually abused them from as early as 1978—far earlier than Epstein's previously known instances of abuse—and continued until 2004. Five of the women in the lawsuit claim they were underage when they were abused, including a Tennessee woman who says she was 13 when the financier raped her multiple times. The other four women in the lawsuit were over 18. They were part of a "massive sex trafficking network" run by Epstein for him and his wealthy and powerful friends, it claims.Victoria's Secret Mogul May Finally Have to Explain His Epstein Ties"These nine Plaintiffs come forward to stand up for themselves and others, after they were sexually abused and assaulted by Epstein," the lawsuit says. "Some... were raped by Epstein, repeatedly."Epstein, 66, was found dead by suicide in his jail cell at Manhattan Correction Center last month. The sex offender was awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges for allegedly abusing dozens of underage girls over two decades, beginning in the 1990s. The charges came 12 years after the disgraced businessman pleaded guilty in state court in Florida to soliciting prostitution. He was sentenced to 18 months behind bars in a widely criticized plea deal, and served 13 before he was released.Some of the most shocking claims detailed in the new suit relate to the woman from Tennessee, whose alleged abuse started in 1978 when she was 13, and continued for a long period. Epstein "sexually assaulted, abused, battered and raped her multiple times," the lawsuit says.This assault is the oldest abuse allegation against Epstein, who would have been 25 at the time and working on Wall Street after leaving his teaching gig at the Manhattan prep school Dalton. A woman from Florida alleges in the suit that, in 1993, when she was just 11 years old, Epstein "sexually assaulted, abused, battered and digitally penetrated her on three, separate occasions." She also alleges Epstein forced her "to perform oral sex on him," according to the lawsuit. How We Got the Scoop on Jeffrey Epstein's Arrest"As a result of the aforementioned sexual abuse, [the woman] suffered and continues to suffer from severe and serious injuries including... severe emotional distress and physical manifestations thereof," the lawsuit states.The women were allegedly sexually abused by Epstein and his associates in New York, Florida, New Mexico, California, and the United States Virgin Islands—but the suit also claims abuse happened in South Carolina, a location not mentioned in previous lawsuits and criminal cases against Epstein. The suit doesn't detail how the females met Epstein, or how they came to file a lawsuit together. They were able to sue Epstein's estate due to New York's Child Victims Act—which allows individuals abused as children to bring claims regardless of the statute of limitations.Dozens of victims have laid claim to Epstein's estate, which includes his unsold $88 million Manhattan mansion.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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| The US said federal agents have seized millions of dollars in bitcoin from terrorist groups al-Qaeda and Hamas Posted: 14 Aug 2020 11:38 AM PDT  Officials said it's the US government's "largest-ever" seizure of cryptocurrency accounts controlled by terrorist organizations.
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| Turkey hits out at France in Mediterranean gas crisis Posted: 14 Aug 2020 11:25 AM PDT  Turkey on Friday accused France of acting like a bully and hit out at Greece as EU foreign ministers confronted an emerging crisis in the energy-rich eastern Mediterranean.
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| Female member of Afghan peace team survives attack by gunmen Posted: 14 Aug 2020 11:39 PM PDT  A female member of Afghanistan's peace negotiating team was lightly wounded in an assassination attempt, officials said Saturday. Tariq Arian, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry, said Fawzia Koofi, who is also a former parliamentarian, was attacked Friday afternoon near the capital Kabul while returning from a visit to the northern province of Parwan. Koofi is part of a 21-member team charged with representing the Afghan government in upcoming peace talks with the Taliban, following a U.S. deal with the militants that was struck in February.
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| Wild boar who stole German nudist's clothes to be culled Posted: 14 Aug 2020 08:24 AM PDT  A trained marksman is to be deployed to shoot a wild boar that stole the clothes of a naked German man, Berlin authorities said on Friday. The boar made international headlines last week after photographs of the portly nudist giving chase were shared on social media. But in a sad postscript to the incident, the local forestry department said yesterday (FRI) the boar would have to be killed as it has lost its fear of humans and presents a danger to public safety. The boar in question emerged from the forest with two cubs last week and made its way through crowds of Berliners seeking to cool off in the Teufelsee, one of the city's many lakes. "You have to put yourself in the boar's position," Katja Kammer of the Grunewald forestry department told local RBB television. "The sun is hot on its black fur. So it heads for water or into a swamp." Forestry officials have been tracking the boar in question for some time, Ms Kammer said. "Fortunately, there have not been any serious incidents involving wild boar at the Teufelssee." Wild boar numbers are regularly controlled by licensed hunters around Berlin and many other major German cities. When the population becomes too high. the boars emerge from the forests to look for food and can turn aggressive when they encounters humans. In one famous incident, four people including a police officer were injured when they were attacked by a 265-pound boar that had wandered into the Berlin neighbourhood of Charlottenburg in 2012.
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| ‘Wish I had my baby back.’ Suspect who shot Indiana toddler in mom’s car wanted by FBI Posted: 14 Aug 2020 09:08 AM PDT  "This little girl's life was stripped from her in an act of senseless violence."
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| Greece has secretly sent away more than 1,000 migrants, taking them to the edge of the country's territorial waters and then abandoning them at sea Posted: 14 Aug 2020 08:11 PM PDT  "I left Syria for fear of bombing — but when this happened, I wished I'd died under a bomb," Najma al-Khatib told The Times.
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| TikTok's US employees are scared they won't get paid if the app is banned, and now they're planning to sue the Trump administration Posted: 14 Aug 2020 12:25 AM PDT  "The fear is that we will not be able to receive our paychecks," Patrick Ryan told Business Insider.
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| Paris Declared ‘Red Zone’ as Second COVID Wave Hits Spain and France Posted: 14 Aug 2020 02:42 AM PDT  ROME—Europe is bracing for a second wave of COVID-19 as the busy tourist season reaches its peak this weekend.In France, the government on Friday declared the cities of Paris and Marseilles and the surrounding regions "red zones" after a spike in new cases sent authorities scrambling to contain outbreaks largely driven by visiting tourists and careless young people.On Thursday, France reported more than 2,500 new infections of COVID-19 for the second day in a row, taking the country back to mid-April levels, when much of Europe was on lockdown.The situation isn't much better in Spain, where officials there warn of a "critical moment" after the military was dispatched to the northeastern city of Zaragoza to rebuild a field hospital that was taken down four months ago.There Is No 'Russia Vaccine' Spain has an infection rate of 100 per 100,000, according to the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control, which is the highest in Europe after the tiny country of Luxembourg. France has a rate of 32 cases per 100,000.The United Kingdom, which came into coronavirus restrictions later than much of the rest of Europe, has added France to the list of countries, including Spain, from which visitors must now quarantine for 14 days upon entry, sparking anger among travelers who are still on holiday in France.Italy, which was once the Eurozone's epicenter for the virus, has a rate of just 8.2 cases per 100,000, but the country is still under very strict guidelines, including a face-mask mandate in all public spaces since March. France, by comparison, only mandated face coverings indoors on July 20.Italy has also started an aggressive testing program under which all travelers from Greece, Croatia, Malta, and Spain must be tested on arrival or present a testing certificate within 72 hours, though there are flaws in the system, especially at smaller airports that do not have adequate resources to carry out the tests or follow up on contact tracing. As of Friday, France looked likely to join the list. A smaller spike in Italy of around 500 new cases a day this week, up from the lower hundreds, has been attributed to young people returning from those countries.The Italian government has extended the state of emergency to Sept. 7, which allows regions to impose restrictions and close certain sectors tied to outbreaks. "We must continue to be cautious in order to protect the results obtained thanks to sacrifices made by all in recent months," Health Minister Roberto Speranza said this week.How Is New York Having Crazy Parties With No COVID Surge?In the Netherlands, authorities have warned that young people are also to blame for a spike of about 600 new cases a day, up from 40, according to BBC News. The Dutch health ministry spokesperson Joba van den Berg said 70 percent of cases stemmed from private gatherings held by people trying to skirt restrictions on gatherings."I do understand it is difficult, with summer time, parties, family gatherings, wedding, funerals," van den Berg told the BBC. "But many people are too close together and they are the source of the enormous increase in infections." Europeans are now looking to how other countries are handling their outbreak. New Zealand, which went more than 100 days without a single new case, has gone under partial lockdown after a cluster was found that is potentially tied to a frozen food plant.Australia has also successfully fought back a spike by locking down large swaths of the country to mitigate the spread. It is unclear whether plans in place in many European countries to open schools in person next month will be affected by the threat of what clearly looks like it could be a second wave.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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| 9th Circuit ends California ban on high-capacity magazines Posted: 14 Aug 2020 10:21 AM PDT  A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday threw out California's ban on high-capacity ammunition magazines, saying the law violates the U.S. Constitution's protection of the right to bear firearms. "Even well-intentioned laws must pass constitutional muster," appellate Judge Kenneth Lee wrote for the panel's majority. California Attorney General Xavier Becerra's office said it is reviewing the decision and he "remains committed to using every tool possible to defend California's gun safety laws and keep our communities safe."
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| Killings of two female U.S. service members prompt families to demand change Posted: 14 Aug 2020 06:00 AM PDT  The recent killings of two young servicewomen, Vanessa Guillen and Natasha Aposhian, highlight issues of sexual harassment and assault in the U.S. military. Their families are now leading the fight for a change in the way the military investigates those crimes.
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| He applied to work security at a Key West bar. Police say he’s part of a murder plot Posted: 15 Aug 2020 03:00 AM PDT  Key West police and U.S. Marshals arrested a man this week who recently applied to work security at a bar in the Southernmost City who turned out to be a suspect in a stalking and attempted murder case in Nebraska.
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| An Arizona school district canceled its reopening plans because too many teachers refused to show up Posted: 15 Aug 2020 05:05 AM PDT  Nearly half the teachers in the J.O. Combs Unified School District said they would not show up. Arizona has been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic.
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| Trump is promoting a racist 'birther' lie that Kamala Harris isn't eligible to be vice president because of her immigrant parents Posted: 14 Aug 2020 08:53 AM PDT  Harris, who is of Indian and Jamaican descent, was born in Oakland, California and is indisputably a US citizen.
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| Japanese ship involved in Mauritius oil spill breaks apart Posted: 14 Aug 2020 10:25 PM PDT  The condition of the MV Wakashio was worsening early on Saturday and it split by the afternoon, the Mauritius National Crisis Committee said. The vessel struck a coral reef on July 25, spilling about 1,000 tonnes of fuel oil and endangering corals, fish and other marine life in what some scientists have called the country's worst ecological disaster. On Friday, some residual oil from the ship leaked into the ocean, Mauritius Marine Conservation Society President Jacqueline Sauzier told Reuters on Saturday morning.
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| Far-right demonstrators, counter-protesters and police clash in multiple states Posted: 15 Aug 2020 05:20 PM PDT  Fights broke out at demonstrations in Michigan and Georgia Saturday. Among those involved: far-right Proud Boys, counter-protesters and police.
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| Indiana police to stop blocking roads during executions Posted: 14 Aug 2020 03:38 PM PDT  Indiana State Police agreed Friday to stop blocking roads to a prison where federal executions resumed last month and are set to continue, backing down after anti-death penalty activists said in a lawsuit the roadblocks impeded their free speech rights. During the first three federal executions in July following a 17-year hiatus, troopers shut main roads to the Federal Correctional Complex in Terre Haute, Indiana, where all federal executions are carried out by lethal injection. A joint notice filed in Indianapolis federal court says state police will no longer prevent demonstrators from convening near an intersection across from the sprawling prison.
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| More than 50 Confederate symbols moved, taken down in wake of George Floyd's death, study says Posted: 14 Aug 2020 02:56 PM PDT  In the months since George Floyd died in Minneapolis while in police custody, protests have rippled across the United States, with hundreds of demonstrators rallying against systemic racism and calling for justice. Among some of the more prominent changes sparked by Floyd's death is the speedy removal and renaming of landmarks and monuments representing the Confederacy. Such symbols have come ...
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| A Nevada county mailed out 1.3 million ballots for its primary election but 1 in 5 were never delivered Posted: 15 Aug 2020 09:38 AM PDT  The June primary was Nevada's first election conducted fully through mail-in ballots due to the coronavirus pandemic but 223,000 were never delivered.
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| U.S. Navy carrier conducted exercises in South China Sea on Aug. 14 Posted: 14 Aug 2020 07:33 PM PDT  A U.S. Navy aircraft carrier conducted exercises in the contested South China Sea on Friday, the U.S. navy said in a statement. A strike group led by the USS Ronald Reagan conducted flight operations and high-end maritime stability operations and exercises, the statement said. "Integration with our joint partners is essential to ensuring joint force responsiveness and lethality, and maintaining a free and open Indo-Pacific," U.S. Navy Commander Joshua Fagan, Task Force 70 air operations officer aboard USS Ronald Reagan, was quoted as saying.
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| California wildfires: Rolling blackouts for first time in decade as temperature hits 112F and blazes threaten LA Posted: 15 Aug 2020 06:27 AM PDT  An intense heatwave covering much of the western US and bone-dry conditions across California forced rolling blackouts for the first time in a decade and fuelled wildfires that threatened thousands of homes.Electrical demand surged on Friday as residents dialled up air-conditioning units and fans, prompting the California Independent System Operator, the body that manages the state's power grid, to declare a "stage 3 emergency" that evening, forcing utilities to cut power to hundreds of thousands of residents in the state.
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| Fact check: No, Joe Biden can't ban school choice in Wisconsin, though he opposes vouchers Posted: 15 Aug 2020 06:55 AM PDT  Joe Biden does oppose voucher programs that apply tax dollars to private school tuition bills. But he has no power to "ban" these state-run programs.
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| Bolsonaro 'led Brazilian people into a canyon', says ex-health minister Posted: 15 Aug 2020 01:00 AM PDT  Luiz Henrique Mandetta accuses president of playing a 'pivotal' role in steering economy towards catastropheHistorians will savage Jair Bolsonaro for leading Brazilians into a deadly "canyon" with his shambling, self-interested and anti-scientific response to Covid-19, according to his former health minister.In an interview with the Guardian, Luiz Henrique Mandetta accused the Brazilian president of playing a "pivotal" role in steering Latin America's largest economy towards a catastrophe. Bolsonaro played politics with citizens' lives at a time of global crisis, he said, as Brazil's death toll rose to more than 105,000. Only the US has suffered more deaths.Mandetta, who has hinted he will challenge Bolsonaro for the presidency in 2022, became a household name in the early stages of this year's pandemic. He drew praise from left and right for his accessible, science-based alerts over the threat of coronavirus during daily press conferences.A 55-year-old orthopedic doctor, Mandetta was elected to congress in 2010 and has faced criticism for opposing the Mais Médicos (More Doctors) health scheme that sent Cuban doctors to remote and deprived parts of Brazil. He was named health minister in November 2018, shortly after Bolsonaro's shock election.But he was sacked in mid-April after publicly challenging Bolsonaro's sabotaging of social distancing. Speaking from his base in the midwestern city of Campo Grande, he said the two had not spoken since.On the day Mandetta was fired Brazil's Covid-19 death toll stood at about 2,000. Four months later it has risen to over 105,000 with the former minister one of many who blames Bolsonaro for the tragedy's scale.Bolsonaro has repeatedly downplayed the pandemic, undermined containment measures and attended protests and barbecues, using face masks incorrectly, if at all.Mandetta said the fight against Covid-19 had been fatally compromised by Bolsonaro's "utter contempt for science" – which saw him belittle the disease as a "little flu" and trumpet ineffective treatments such as the antimalarial drugs chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine."It's interesting that he totally rejects science and mocks all those who speak of science. Yet when there's any prospect of a vaccine he's the first to come knocking on science's door ... as if a vaccine would redeem him from his shambling march through this epidemic."Mandetta also attacked Bolsonaro's "complete sabotage" of the health ministry. After Mandetta and his team were evicted, another health minister, Nelson Teich, took charge but lasted less than a month after also clashing with the president over Covid-19. Since May the ministry has had an army general with no medical experience as its stopgap leader.Mandetta – who said he felt anguished and impotent about the situation – claimed that by forcing out specialists and surrounding himself by yes men Bolsonaro had lost touch with reality."When you're in a situation where you surround yourself with people who say what you want to hear and not what is the truth … the leader ends up blinding himself to what is happening," he said. "He listens but doesn't hear. He looks but doesn't see."The ex-minister suspected Bolsonaro's refusal to comfort grieving families reflected guilt over the realisation his actions had cost lives."He led the Brazilian people into a canyon in quick march and people have fallen off and died – and having to recognize that this was a mistake, that this caused pain, I think must be politically tricky for him right now."Perhaps once the tragedy was over Bolsonaro might publicly express remorse, Mandetta said. But how could Brazilians believe the words of a man who had "openly criticized those who sought to save lives"?He warned that without an urgent change in direction the average number of daily deaths – which has been close to or above 1,000 for nearly three months – was only likely to fall in late September.Mandetta, who is from the rightwing party Democratas, has declined to confirm he will run for president but said Brazil needed a leader who could "pacify" the country after Bolsonaro's "toxic" term."I hope the leader who emerges victorious in 2022 is capable of rebuilding Brazil's broken social fabric, giving this country a sense of unity … and accepting that it just isn't normal to go around saying Brazilians like to roll around in the sewage."Mandetta predicted Bolsonaro would eventually pay a political price for "making a beeline down the path of denial". But on Friday one of Brazil's top pollsters found the president's approval rating had risen to its highest level since he took office in January 2019.
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| China restaurant apologises for weighing customers Posted: 15 Aug 2020 02:08 AM PDT  A restaurant in China has apologised for its controversial policy of asking diners to weigh themselves before entry in an overzealous response to a new national campaign against food waste.
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| Belarus leader says Russia willing to help counter protests Posted: 15 Aug 2020 05:31 AM PDT  Thousands of demonstrators in Belarus took to the streets again Saturday to demand that the country's authoritarian leader resign after a presidential vote they called fraudulent. In response, the president declared that Russian leader Vladimir Putin had agreed to provide security assistance to restore order if Belarus requested it. President Alexander Lukashenko spoke Saturday evening several hours after a phone call with Putin as he struggled to counter the biggest challenge yet to his 26 years in power.
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| Philippines death penalty: A fight to stop the return of capital punishment Posted: 15 Aug 2020 04:26 PM PDT  The death penalty might soon return to the Philippines, but critics warn it targets the most vulnerable.
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