| Biden, in fiery speech, goes after Trump's coronavirus response Posted: 17 Jun 2020 12:41 PM PDT  An impassioned former Vice President Joe Biden hammered the president's coronavirus response in a speech Wednesday, lambasting Donald Trump's recent remarks suggesting that cases would go down if the country stopped testing.
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| Atlanta Police Walk Out over Murder Charge as Mayor Admits Morale is ‘Down Tenfold’ Posted: 18 Jun 2020 05:56 AM PDT  A number of Atlanta police officers did not show up for their Wednesday-night shifts in protest of murder charges brought against a former officer who shot and killed Rayshard Brooks after he resisted arrest.Hours after Fulton County district attorney Paul L. Howard said officer Garrett Rolfe would be charged with felony murder, Atlanta police union spokesman Vince Champion told NBC News that officers had decided to walk off the job and go silent on radios to protest the decision."This is not an organized thing, it's not a blue flu, it's not a strike, it's nothing like that. What it actually is, is officers protesting that they've had enough and they don't want to deal with it any longer," he said.In an interview with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Champion added that "there are officers saying they are not going to leave the precinct unless to help another officer. Some are walking off and sitting in their personal vehicles."The Atlanta Police Department released a statement after Champion's comments, calling claims that officers were walking off the job "inaccurate.""The department is experiencing a higher than usual number of call outs with the incoming shift," the police explained. "We have enough resources to maintain operations & remain able to respond to incidents."> Earlier suggestions that multiple officers from each zone had walked off the job were inaccurate. The department is experiencing a higher than usual number of call outs with the incoming shift. We have enough resources to maintain operations & remain able to respond to incidents.> > -- Atlanta Police Department (@Atlanta_Police) June 18, 2020But Atlanta police scanner traffic conflicted with the statement. "We are not answering 911 calls right now due to personnel issues," a police dispatcher said Wednesday.In announcing the charges against Rolfe on Wednesday, Howard said that the Atlanta Police Department's initial account of events — that Rolfe shot Brooks because he appeared ready to fire a taser that had been wrestled from one of the officers — was inaccurate."We concluded that Mr. Brooks was running away at the time that the shot was fired," the district attorney said. Howard also told reporters that the taser had already been discharged twice, rendering it unusable, and said the officers would have known that.Howard added that Rolfe's former partner Devin Brosnan, who was also at the scene where Brooks was shot, would testify against his former partner. Howard said that after Brooks was shot in the back by Rolfe while fleeing arrest, Rolfe kicked him and Brosnan stood on his shoulders."There is an Atlanta policy that requires that the officers have to provide timely medical attention to Mr. Brooks, to anyone who is injured," Howard said. "But after Mr. Brooks was shot, for a period of two minutes and 12 seconds, there was no medical attention applies to Mr. Brooks."But Brosnan's attorney Don Samuel denied Howard's account of events, saying his client had not agreed to be the state's witness and did nothing wrong."The decision to initiate charges by the Fulton County DA's office is irrational, unethical and obviously based on factors which should have nothing to do with the proper administration of justice," Samuel said in a statement.Howard, who said his office was able to bring charges after reviewing eight videos of the incident, is locked in a reelection battle and faces multiple civil sexual-harassment lawsuits and is being criminally investigated by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation for funneling nonprofit funds to boost his salary.Following the announcement of charges, the GBI — which is conducting a separate investigation of the shooting — said it was "not aware of today's press conference before it was conducted" and was "not consulted on the charges filed by the District Attorney."> Despite today's occurrence, the GBI will complete its mission of completing an impartial and thorough investigation of this incident and we will submit the file, once completed, to the Fulton County District Attorney's Office. (2/2)> > Full statement ⬇️:https://t.co/Cfnboi9DCu> > -- GA Bureau of Investigation (@GBI_GA) June 17, 2020In an interview on CNN Wednesday night, Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms warned that police morale "is down ten-fold.""This has been a very tough few weeks in Atlanta and with the tragedy of Mr. Brooks, and then on top of that the excessive force charges that were brought against the officers involved with the college students," Bottoms explained. "There's a lot happening in our city, and the police officers are receiving the brunt of it quite frankly."> Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms says morale in her city's police department "is down ten-fold" amid reports officers are calling in sick tonight.> > "We expect our officers will keep their commitment to our communities," she added. https://t.co/yHd6ZAY3vs pic.twitter.com/XsrvktkItX> > -- Cuomo Prime Time (@CuomoPrimeTime) June 18, 2020
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| Paulinho Paiakan: Amazon indigenous chief dies with coronavirus Posted: 18 Jun 2020 05:37 AM PDT  Paulinho Paiakan was best known for the fight against the Belo Monte hydroelectric project in Brazil.
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| What happened when Black Lives Matter came to a notorious KKK town in Texas Posted: 17 Jun 2020 04:33 PM PDT  The town of Vidor, in east Texas, has a reputation. It's the kind of reputation that causes its residents to pause when someone asks where they're from.For years it was known as a sundown town — a place where non-whites were threatened with violence if they stayed after dark, and where they were barred from living through intimidation and discriminatory practices. It has a long history of Ku Klux Klan activity, and was once described by a local magazine as "the most hate-filled town in Texas."
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| 'Career criminal' arrested over 100 times accused of attacking 92-year-old woman Posted: 17 Jun 2020 07:57 PM PDT  Raymond Arroyo breaks down this week's Seen and Unseen on 'The Ingraham Angle.'
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| Turkey plans more military bases in north Iraq after offensive: official Posted: 18 Jun 2020 12:41 AM PDT  Turkey plans to set up more temporary military bases in northern Iraq after stepping up its strikes against Kurdish militants there, a senior Turkish official told Reuters, saying the effort would ensure border security. Ankara launched two separate operations in northern Iraq against the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) on Sunday and Tuesday, in response to what it said was an increase in militant attacks on Turkish army bases along the border between the countries.
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| The US wants to kill part of an 8,000 mile-long undersea cable linking Hong Kong with LA over China spying fears Posted: 18 Jun 2020 02:17 AM PDT  A DOJ committee is worried a cable connecting the US with Hong Kong could be vulnerable to hacking by the Chinese government.
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| Trump's attacks on mail-in voting hurt Republican chances — including his own, says former GOP Gov. Ridge Posted: 17 Jun 2020 01:50 PM PDT  President Trump is hurting the electoral chances of Republicans in the fall elections, and likely even his own, by making false claims that voting by mail is not secure, said former Pennsylvania Gov. and Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge.
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| Neighbors in Georgia teamed up to protect a group of Black teens after a police officer pointed a gun at them Posted: 17 Jun 2020 01:05 PM PDT  The officer pointed the gun at the teens while responding to a 911 call about a group of teenagers fighting in a store parking lot and holding a gun.
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| Atlanta police department morale "is down ten-fold," mayor says Posted: 18 Jun 2020 04:31 AM PDT  Eight officers have resigned from the Atlanta Police Department this month.
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| Florida health care worker and 15 of her friends contract coronavirus on first night out at a bar after months of lockdown Posted: 17 Jun 2020 06:17 AM PDT  A healthcare worker and all 15 of her friends reportedly contracted Covid-19 after spending a night out together at a bar in Jacksonville, Florida as the state moved to reopen amid the coronavirus pandemic.Erika Crisp, 40, told local news outlets she and her friends had been staying at home and social distancing because of the novel coronavirus — until they decided to go out earlier this month for drinks.
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| 'It got ugly': What happened when Black Lives Matter protests came to small town Ohio Posted: 18 Jun 2020 09:01 AM PDT  In Bethel, Ohio, peaceful protesters were seen by some as no different than looters. Here, the protesters' message was a challenge to a way of life.
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| Cops’ Most Deranged Lies and Bizarre Claims About the Protests Posted: 18 Jun 2020 01:03 AM PDT  Protesters are not filling ice cream containers with concrete. Shake Shack employees are not putting bleach in milkshakes. And buses full of anti-fascists are not about to descend on a small town near you.That's just what police are saying.As protests over racial justice and police brutality unfold across the country, police departments are taking to social media to tell their side of the story. The trouble is, they're frequently wrong—and sometimes so wildly so that it begs the question of why they even bother.Christopher Slobogin, director of Vanderbilt University's criminal justice program, said cops can be mistaken, just like everyone. But sometimes police lie because they view themselves as in opposition to criminals, who also lie."It's possible that police concoct lies because even though they know what they're saying isn't true, they believe the lie is in service of a greater good," Slobogin told The Daily Beast. "If cops are convinced that, overall, they're in the right, what's a little lying here and there? I think that's human nature, not just cops. But the problem, the cops have the power, they have the weapons, and people in authority tend to believe them."New York Cops Beat Protesters for Crime of Being ThereWhat follows is a smattering of the most impactful, egregious, or just plain weird fibs, panicky projections, falsehoods, or exaggerations about protests to come from cops, their spokespeople, and their unions in recent weeks. Dairy DisinfoThe New York City Police Benevolent Association, which represents city police officers, claimed this week that workers at Shake Shack had put a bleach-like substance in officers' milkshakes. The PBA—which joined a similar claim made by the Detectives' Endowment Association—cited no evidence, aside from officers' apparent gastrointestinal distress after they purchased Shake Shack's notoriously heavy drinks while on the job. An official NYPD investigation quickly cleared Shake Shack workers of wrongdoing. No Concrete ProofNew York City police also claimed internally this month that protesters were filling ice cream containers with concrete—presumably to throw at cops as projectile weapons—and leaving them at a construction site. Twitter users quickly noted that, not only was the concrete in coffee cups instead of ice cream containers, but that mixing concrete samples in coffee cups is standard practice for construction workers. The cups were even labeled with workers' notes on the concrete composition. The construction site where the cups were apparently recovered even had a permit for concrete work. Phantom Brick PilesIn Brooklyn, NYPD hyped up a rumor about protesters gathering brick piles to throw during protests. "This is what our cops are up against," NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea tweeted, parroting the rumor, which has also been promoted by President Donald Trump. "Organized looters, strategically placing caches of bricks & rocks at locations throughout NYC." Reporting by The Daily Beast and other outlets cast doubt on those claims, pointing out that they were near a construction site, and nowhere near protests. Time TravelOn Monday, New York City's Sergeants Benevolent Association (another police union) tweeted a video of protesters running through a Brooklyn street and throwing things at a cop car. "This was tonight," the SBA tweeted, "Flatbush Ave Brooklyn." The tweet also implied that a program that discourages unnecessary arrests was responsible for the chaos. In fact, there was no chaos that night in Brooklyn. The video was from May, and that area of Flatbush Avenue had long been calm, reporters covering the protests noted. Murder BusIn Columbus, Ohio, police tweeted evidence of what they said was a clear violent scheme: a bus full of rocks, clubs, and a meat cleaver. "There was a suspicion of supplying riot equipment to rioters," Columbus Police tweeted. "Charges pending." In fact, Columbus Alive reported, police had stumbled across a colorfully painted circus bus. The frightened circus troupe told the outlet that the "clubs" were juggling clubs, the rocks were crystals, and the meat cleaver was pulled from the troupe's cooking utensils. "Yeah, there's a hatchet on the bus—with a bunch of wood sitting next to a wood-burning stove," the bus's owner said, noting that the vehicle was literally his house. Technically Tear GasU.S. Park Police offered an oft-changing explanation for firing irritants at protesters in Washington D.C.'s Lafayette Park in order to clear it for a Trump photoshoot in early June. Police initially denied using "tear gas" in a statement, then walked that back, claiming that, technically, the projectiles were "smoke canisters and pepper balls." Nevertheless, reporters for D.C.'s WUSA9 recovered tear gas casings from the scene—and as Vox noted, "tear gas" can be a broad term, sometimes referring to the pepper projectiles Park Police admitted to using. Attorney General William Barr also falsely claimed that pepper spray "is not a chemical irritant. It's not chemical." The Washington Post's fact-checking department awarded the claim "four Pinnochios," which is the maximum number of Pinnochios. A Bad TripPolice in Buffalo, New York, became the focus of national ire after they were filmed pushing a 75-year-old man to the ground, causing him to lose consciousness and bleed from the head. But before the video went viral, Buffalo Police offered a different characterization of the incident. "During [a] skirmish involving protestors, one person was injured when he tripped & fell," police said in a statement. The video would later reveal that the man was alone when he calmly approached officers. He has a fractured skull and is still unable to walk, his lawyer said this week. Small Biz ShakedownAfter protesters took over a six-block area in Seattle, the city's police claimed—without evidence—that the activists were extorting businesses in the area. Police appeared to walk back that claim several days later, after the local business association and prominent businesses in the area said they'd seen no indication of the alleged protection racket. Some businesses even said they were volunteering with the protests. The Antifa ExpressMultiple police departments have promoted a hoax about anti-fascists coming to their towns by the busload to wreak havoc. In Oregon, Curry County Sheriff John Ward shared a Facebook post warning that "3 buss loads of ANTIFA protestors are making their way from Douglas County headed for Coquille then to Coos Bay." Hundreds of locals reportedly stood outside with guns overnight awaiting the menace that never came.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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| Brutal details emerge of India soldier 'ambush' on contested border with China as Modi tries to calm tension Posted: 17 Jun 2020 02:19 AM PDT  As the sun began to set over the Himalayan peaks, Colonel Santosh Babu and his unarmed platoon of 50 Indian soldiers on Monday set off on a patrol across the strategically crucial Galwan Valley in Ladakh. Their mission was probably the most important in recent Indian history - to ascertain whether Chinese troops had withdrawn, as per an agreement between senior army officers from the two nations, from territory which had previously been administered by India for decades. Instead, to their surprise, what Colonel Babu's men found were temporary Chinese all-weather tents and roughly enemy 100 soldiers waiting at a location called Patrolling Point 14. Despite being outnumbered, the Indian soldiers confronted the Chinese troops. Some started to remove the tents, sparking a long and brutal man-to-man brawl that has brought the two superpowers to the brink of war. In an initial clash, Colonel Babu and two other soldiers were killed. Soon after 17 Indian troops met the same fate, many either falling or being pushed off a ledge into the freezing waters of the Galwan River below.
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| Chinese fighter jets buzz Taiwan again, stoking tensions Posted: 18 Jun 2020 12:07 AM PDT  Chinese air force aircraft approached Taiwan on Thursday for the fifth time in 10 days, before being warned away by Taiwanese fighters, the island's air force said, in a further ratcheting up of tensions across the sensitive Taiwan Strait. The Chinese J-10 and J-11 fighter aircraft flew into the southwestern part of Taiwan's air defence identification zone in the morning, Taiwan's air force said in a statement. Taiwanese fighters, which regularly patrol the air space around the Chinese-claimed island, warned the Chinese aircraft over the radio, whereupon they left Taiwan's air defence zone, it added, without giving further details.
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| Taiwan unveils plan to help Hong Kongers looking to leave Posted: 18 Jun 2020 05:14 AM PDT |
| Trump's lack of self-esteem results in 'dangerous' decisions, psychoanalyst says Posted: 17 Jun 2020 04:51 PM PDT  A prominent psychoanalyst who specializes in understanding narcissistic personalities says that President Trump suffers from a grievous lack of self-esteem.
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| 68 Outdoor Patio Ideas and Designs for Backyards and Rooftops Posted: 18 Jun 2020 10:17 AM PDT |
| Look at the facts in the Rayshard Brooks case. The George Floyd killing was different. Posted: 18 Jun 2020 04:02 AM PDT  There is no shortage of police misconduct due to racism. But claiming it where it may not exist weakens the righteous cause of stamping it out.
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| Coronavirus' return to Beijing disrupts life and rattles nerves Posted: 18 Jun 2020 01:59 PM PDT  While residents of China's capital feel like they're living under "soft lockdown," it's still a limited outbreak, and authorities are determined to keep it that way.
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| US employers step up anti-unionization efforts as pandemic spurs activism Posted: 18 Jun 2020 03:45 AM PDT  The coronavirus crisis is making organization efforts difficult for unions and bosses seem keen to take advantageDuring the coronavirus pandemic, employers have opposed unionization elections even as workers' activism over safety protections, job security and wages has increased in the face of an economic shutdown and health fears.But the pandemic has created difficult conditions for workers to organize elections in – something many employers appear to have taken advantage of, despite the wave of labor activism sweeping the US.The number of resolved union election cases at the National Labor Relations Board dropped from 84 in March 2020 to 13 in April 2020 as the pandemic raged. Several of the delayed union elections then had petitions withdrawn or have yet to be scheduled. During the pandemic, union election petitions have declined significantly. According to the NLRB, union representation case intake in April 2020 decreased by 67.6% compared with April 2019.The NLRB initially froze all union elections, while permitting mail-in ballot elections if employers and workers agreed to proceed. The board lifted the freeze on 6 April, after 116 union elections were delayed, and several other groups of workers had petition hearings postponed.For many workers, the need to have a union has never been greater.Monica Luna, an associate at a T-Mobile retail store in Del Rio, Texas for nearly three years, filed for a union election with the NLRB in April 2020 in response to working conditions during the pandemic and the lack of job security as T-Mobile is shuttering stores around the US."A week and a half after, our district manager started making appearances and we started having union avoidance meetings," said Luna.Her retail store remained opened entirely throughout the pandemic, yet her pay of $13 an hour remained the same. "I think it's funny [that] all of a sudden we're trying to form a union, and the district manager showed up and stayed for the week, was buying us food, giving his opinion regarding the union, trying to give us facts, saying if we didn't pay dues we could get fired."A T-Mobile spokesperson said in an email: "We as a company have the right to educate our employees about the facts around union representation so they can make informed decisions."The Communications Workers of America lost the election. Organizer Tim Dubnau put the defeat down to the anti-union meetings and frequent intervention from the district manager, while organizers were unable to meet with workers due to concerns of spreading the virus.Activists and labor unions and several elected officials in Congress have been pushing for the NLRB to develop procedures to hold union elections electronically, citing employer opposition to mail-in ballot elections and the urgency of safety protections for workers who risk exposure to coronavirus.As union elections resumed during the pandemic, several employers have continued to oppose unionization efforts through captive audience meetings and pushes to postpone or delay elections.Mission hospital in Asheville, North Carolina, has been fighting with nurses working to join National Nurses United, with the hospital pushing for an in-person voting election and to expand the bargaining unit from 1,600 nurses to all nurses, nurse practitioners and nurse anesthetists in the county.The hospital has also argued to postpone the election until after the pandemic, while hiring union avoidance consultants, the Crossroads Group, to hold anti-union meetings with workers and managers through the pandemic."We're still waiting for the NLRB to announce who will be able to vote and when and how the vote will take place," said Sarah Kuhl, a registered nurse at Mission Health's oncology department.Kuhl noted the hospital is still pushing for an in-person election vote, while anti-union meetings continue, and management distributes anti-union flyers. "Our cases of Covid-19 here in Asheville are increasing and staff members have been impacted, so an in-person vote would be irresponsible to patients and staff."A Mission hospital spokesperson told the Guardian: "We respect every colleague's right to decide for themselves whether they desire union representation or not. However, we do not believe unions benefit our facilities, our colleagues, and most importantly our patients."Rose Turner, organizing director at UFCW local 1529, filed a petition for a union election in Byhalia, Mississippi, as soon as the board lifted the election freeze on 6 April to represent workers at Hearthside Food Solutions, the largest private bakery in the US which packages cereal for Kellogg's.Immediately following the petition filing, Hearthside hired a union avoidance firm to hold regular meetings with workers to deter them from voting for the union. The vote was scheduled to be held via mail-in ballot due to the pandemic, but Hearthside Food Solutions pushed to hold a manual election and the NLRB agreed.The union won the election in a 62 to 47 vote."I've been with the union for over 30 years. That was the hardest election I ever experienced," said Turner, citing the difficulty for the union to hold meetings and speak to workers ahead of the vote. "In the end, we prevailed."Epic Academy College Prep and Hearthside Food Solutions did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
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| 'We are going to be patient': Carnival plans phased return to cruising amid coronavirus pandemic Posted: 18 Jun 2020 09:23 AM PDT  Carnival Corp. has announced its cruise lines will take a phased approach to returning ships to cruising: "We are going to be patient."
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| Some of China's Newest and Most Powerful Tanks are On India's Border Posted: 17 Jun 2020 02:30 PM PDT  While leaders on both sides have sought to de-escalate the situation with words, their actions actually speak volumes.
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| New Zealand tightens gun laws further in response to mass shooting Posted: 17 Jun 2020 11:27 PM PDT |
| Sweden 'surprisingly slow' at achieving herd immunity, study finds Posted: 17 Jun 2020 09:49 AM PDT  Sweden's state epidemiologist has said the country has been "surprisingly slow" at achieving herd immunity. The death toll in Sweden passed 5,000 on Wednesday and the Scandinavian nation has one of the highest mortality rates in the world at 487 per 1m population, approximately ten times higher than neighbouring Norway. Yet an analysis by Werlabs AB of 50,000 tests showed that only 14 per cent of those living in the Stockholm region tested positive for coronavirus antibodies. In Bergamo, considered to be the epicentre of Italy's deadly outbreak, about 57 per cent of people had antibodies. The UK's Chief Scientific Adviser Sir Patrick Vallance estimated that 60 per cent of people would need to be infected to achieve herd immunity from the novel coronavirus. Sweden chose not to implement a strict lockdown, running contrary to many other countries worldwide. Schools, shops and restaurants have all remained open during the course of 2020.
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| Iran navy test-fires new cruise missiles Posted: 18 Jun 2020 03:19 AM PDT  Iran test-fired a "new generation" of cruise missiles Thursday, the navy said, in the first such military exercises since 19 sailors were killed last month in a friendly fire incident. The armed forces' website published pictures of the drill in the Gulf of Oman showing missiles being fired from a warship and the back of a truck, and a vessel exploding out at sea. A video released by state television on its website said some of the missiles were based on "older platforms that have been updated".
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| Prosecutors charge police, push reforms amid Floyd protests Posted: 17 Jun 2020 09:20 PM PDT  Prosecutors across the country are defying traditionally cozy relationships with police departments, swiftly charging officers with murder, assault and other crimes following protests over the death of George Floyd and dropping charges against demonstrators. "Prosecutors realize that they're being watched," said Mark Dupree Sr., district attorney for Kansas' Wyandotte County, which includes Kansas City.
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| ‘He’s now showing us every day what we have to lose’: Rep. James Clyburn on Trump’s Tulsa rally Posted: 17 Jun 2020 02:14 PM PDT  South Carolina Rep. James Clyburn tells Yahoo News Editor in Chief Daniel Klaidman and Chief Investigative Correspondent Michael Isikoff that President Trump's decision to hold a rally in Tulsa on the day after the 99th anniversary of the Tulsa Massacre, one of the worst examples of racial violence in United States history, should send a message to Black men who voted for Trump in 2016.
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| FAA explains why it's taking so long to fix the grounded Boeing 737 jetliner Posted: 17 Jun 2020 01:26 PM PDT  It's been over a year since the jet that figured in two crashes was last flown. On Wednesday, FAA chief Stephen Dickson gave the Senate an update.
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| The black congresswoman who's helping Biden pick his running mate Posted: 17 Jun 2020 05:41 PM PDT  "If we want to transform this country, this is the time to recognize ... the leadership of black women," Representative Lisa Blunt Rochester said recently. "We won't be taken for granted."
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| Germany bans big events until October despite COVID decline Posted: 17 Jun 2020 09:25 AM PDT  Germany will extend a ban on large events until at least the end of October to try to avoid a new wave of coronavirus infections, Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Wednesday. After speaking with the premiers of Germany's 16 states, she urged people to remain cautious and maintain social distancing. Merkel last month conceded more responsibility to the regional states for tackling the pandemic, but insisted that social distancing and mask-wearing remained essential.
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| Five reasons an arsenal plane isn’t the best choice for rebalancing America’s long-range strike forces Posted: 18 Jun 2020 04:57 AM PDT  There are two basic approaches to conducting long-range strikes. Today's force does not have the right balance.
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| EU says 'sovereign' UK has taken back control of its fishing waters Posted: 17 Jun 2020 09:59 AM PDT  The European Union has accepted that Britain will take back control of its waters after the end of the Brexit transition period, the president of the European Commission said on Wednesday. Ursula von der Leyen said that all Brussels wanted was a long-term agreement over fishing rights that gave guarantees to EU boats that had fished UK waters for years. The latest hint at an EU willingness to compromise over its demand for a status quo fishing deal "under existing conditions" still ruled out the annual negotiations over fishing opportunities demanded by the UK. "No one questions the UK sovereignty over its own waters," she told the European Parliament in Brussels, "but we asked for predictability and we asked for guarantees for fisherman and fisher women who have been sailing in those waters for decades". She said that Brussels was willing to be creative to find compromises in the trade negotiations after her meeting with Boris Johnson on Monday. Talks will intensify in July after months of deadlock. The former German defence minister was less conciliatory over the governance structure overseeing the free trade agreement, which the EU wants to also include fishing and foreign policy and security cooperation. A single dispute settlement system was vital for all aspects of the future agreement, she said in a signal the EU would not abandon that red line, despite the UK pushing for a different enforcement regime for each separate agreement. "Governance may sound like an issue for bureaucrats, it's not," she said, "It is central for businesses and our private citizens both in the UK, and the European Union. It is crucial to ensure that what has been agreed is actually done." Mrs von der Leyen told MEPs that the transition period would not be extended beyond the end of the year. Failure to reach a deal by then will mean both sides trading on less lucrative WTO terms. "We on our side have always been ready to grant extension, but it needs two to tango," she said. "This means that we are now halfway through these negotiations with five months left to go but we're definitely not halfway through the work to reach an agreement with little time ahead of us," she warned. "No one can say with certainty, where these negotiations will be at the end of the year. But I know for sure that we will have done everything to reach an agreement," she added. Mrs von der Leyen also insisted on the need for level playing field guarantees and a role for the European Court of Justice "where it matters", which the UK resists. . Mrs von der Leyen claimed that the EU's demand for level playing field guarantees for state aid, tax, labour rights and the environment were to ensure fair competition. The commitments, which are meant to prevent the UK undercutting EU standards, are rejected by Britain because they are more stringent than similar guarantees in EU trade deals with Japan and Canada. Brussels counters that the UK is closer to the EU market and is being offered a zero quota, zero tariff trade deal. "We're ready and willing to compete with British firms they're excellent and our firms are excellent too, but it cannot be a downward competition," she said. "It should be a shared interest for the European Union and the UK to never slide backwards and always advance together towards higher standards." Michel Barnier, the EU's chief negotiator, accused the UK of attempting to "cherry-pick" the advantage of membership of the bloc without the obligations. "It's up to the UK to choose what it wants, or whether it wants an agreement," he said before warning that Brussels would not strike a deal "at any price". "But I remain convinced, ladies and gentlemen, honorable members, such an agreement is possible for the long term," he said.
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| Meet The USS Wasp: America's 'Leftover' Carrier That Was A Total Disaster Posted: 17 Jun 2020 07:00 PM PDT  Wasp was not a terrible aircraft carrier, but she had enough shortcomings to succumb to battle damage in September 1942
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| Garrett Rolfe, the officer charged with killing Rayshard Brooks, was accused of covering up a police shooting of a Black man in 2015 Posted: 18 Jun 2020 02:38 AM PDT  Former Atlanta police officer Garrett Rolfe faces 11 charges in connection to the June 12 fatal shooting of Rayshard Brooks.
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| Hundreds of Chinese troops reportedly hunted down dozens of Indian soldiers and beat them with batons wrapped in barbed wire Posted: 17 Jun 2020 10:44 AM PDT  The deadly fight on Monday evening reportedly took place on a narrow ridge, in the dark, roughly 14,000 feet above sea level.
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| Revival Rugs Launches Debut Furniture Collection Posted: 18 Jun 2020 12:32 PM PDT |
| ‘Something’s wrong with Donald Trump’: New ad from Republican group that drove president into a fury questions his health Posted: 17 Jun 2020 05:47 AM PDT  Days after he was shown struggling to descend a gentle ramp at the West Point graduation ceremony, Donald Trump has been hit with a new attack ad drawing attention to what it says is evidence of his poor and declining health.The 45-second video comes from the Lincoln Project, a group formed by longtime Republican campaign strategists who view the president's re-election as a risk to the future of the US.
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| New French coronavirus deaths fall, infections rise Posted: 17 Jun 2020 11:07 AM PDT |
| In Bid to Beat Russia and China, US Military Unveils New Space Strategy Posted: 17 Jun 2020 01:53 PM PDT  The DoD unveiled its Defense Space Strategy designed to "serve as the roadmap to advance our nation's military space power."
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| Boris Johnson's car hit in fender-bender; no injuries Posted: 17 Jun 2020 07:15 AM PDT  British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was in a minor car crash on Wednesday after a protester ran in front of the vehicle as it left Parliament. Footage posted on social media showed a man running toward the silver Jaguar as it drove out of the gates of Parliament accompanied by a police motorcycle outrider and a support vehicle. Johnson's car braked suddenly and was hit from behind by the support vehicle.
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| Ingraham: Four years of punishment Posted: 18 Jun 2020 03:28 AM PDT  Biden will just be a figurehead president with the radical left pulling the strings.
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| 'This is racial,' US protesters insist after hanging death of black man Posted: 17 Jun 2020 11:01 AM PDT  For Shawna Green and many other residents of Palmdale, a city in California's Mojave Desert, there is no question that Robert Fuller's death was racially motivated. "In a word, this is a cover-up," said Green, 46, commenting about the 24-year-old black man who was found dead hanging from a tree on June 10. Authorities initially labeled Fuller's death a suicide, but then backtracked following an outcry from his family and civic leaders who demanded a full investigation and have sought an independent probe and autopsy.
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| China shuts schools and cancels flights as Beijing reports an 'extremely grave' surge in new coronavirus cases Posted: 18 Jun 2020 03:32 AM PDT  Beijing had reported no locally transmitted cases for 57 consecutive days until a flurry of cases emerged last week,
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| The Royal Navy ‘Tested to the Limit’ in Baltic Exercise as Russia Flexes Muscles Posted: 18 Jun 2020 06:45 AM PDT  The former head of the Royal Navy called the situation dangerous and warned that the drills could become something far deadlier.
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