| ICE to launch 'Citizens Academy' to teach civilians about 'targeted arrests' Posted: 13 Jul 2020 10:24 AM PDT  Operating with broad authority and minimal oversight, ICE's enforcement and removal operations have become increasingly aggressive under the Trump administration.
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| Michigan partygoers test positive for COVID-19 after July 4th lake bash; 43 cases tied to house party Posted: 13 Jul 2020 01:06 PM PDT  "This is a very clear example of how quickly this virus spreads," a Michigan health official said after 43 COVID-19 cases were tied to a house party.
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| Judge seeks more details on Trump's clemency for Roger Stone Posted: 13 Jul 2020 09:16 AM PDT  A federal judge on Monday demanded more information about President Donald Trump's decision to commute the prison sentence of longtime ally Roger Stone. U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson ordered that the parties provide her by Tuesday with a copy of the executive order that commuted Stone's sentence.
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| It’s so hot at Death Valley National Park that cars are breaking down Posted: 13 Jul 2020 01:34 PM PDT  It's the hottest place on Earth for a reason.
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| Ousted U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman: Deal Barr Offered ‘Could Be Seen as a Quid Pro Quo’ Posted: 13 Jul 2020 04:21 PM PDT  The federal prosecutor whom Attorney General Bill Barr ousted in June told House investigators that he was alarmed at the way Barr attempted to replace him, saying that "the "irregular and unexplained actions by the Attorney General raised serious concerns for me," according to a transcript of the closed-door interview released by the House Judiciary Committee on Monday. Geoffrey Berman, formerly the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, was brought in for a closed-door session of the Judiciary Committee on July 9 to talk about the events surrounding Barr's public announcement on June 19 that Berman had "stepped down" from his post, even though the U.S. attorney made clear to Barr multiple times that he was not stepping down. The late-night announcement by Barr immediately sparked confusion and raised questions about his involvement in a crucial prosecutor's office. The next day, Berman said he would leave the job when Barr agreed to let his deputy take over as acting U.S. attorney, as opposed to Craig Carpenito, the U.S. attorney for the district of New Jersey, whom Barr wanted to install in the position until the Trump administration's pick, Securities and Exchange Commission chief Jay Clayton, was confirmed by the U.S. Senate.Berman, who at SDNY handled sensitive investigations into Trumpworld figures such as Rudy Giuliani, did not comment specifically to the Judiciary Committee on what he believed Barr's motivations to be, and he studiously avoided any questions about how specific SDNY probes might have factored into the situation. But Berman made clear that the attorney general's preferred plan would have slowed and complicated the work of the office, and he raised several questions challenging Barr's handling of the process. Trump Thought He'd Picked His Perfect U.S. Attorney in Geoffrey Berman. He Was Very Wrong."Why did the attorney general say that I was stepping down when he knew I had neither resigned nor been fired?" Berman asked rhetorically, in response to questions from Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-NY). "Why did the attorney general not tell me the actual reason he was asking me to resign instead of saying that it was to get Clayton into the position? And why did he announce the appointment of Craig Carpenito as acting U.S. attorney when Audrey Strauss was the logical and normal successor?""Replacing me with someone from outside the district would have resulted in the disruption and delay of the important investigations that were being conducted," Berman said later. "I was not going to permit that. And I would rather be fired than have that done." At numerous points, Berman expressed his dismay at Barr's wish to install Carpenito—who would have retained his previous job in New Jersey—in the job instead of Berman's top deputy, Strauss, a move he said violated 70 years of precedent at SDNY.According to his opening statement that was obtained by The Daily Beast last Thursday, Berman said that during a private meeting in New York that Barr called to open the discussion, the attorney general praised his performance as U.S. attorney but said the Trump administration wanted Clayton to take the SDNY post. Berman said Barr tried to lure him away by dangling other offers—to head the Department of Justice's civil rights division and, later, the SEC—but Berman declined. Barr told him that if he did not resign, he would be fired. "I believe the attorney general was trying to entice me to resign so that an outsider could be put into the acting U.S. attorney position at the Southern District of New York, which would have resulted in the delay and disruption of ongoing investigations," Berman told the Judiciary Committee.At one point in the interview, GOP committee attorney Steve Castor asked if Barr had laid out to Berman a set of actions that would have allowed him to keep his job—if there was any "quid pro quo for you getting to keep your job."Berman said no, and he confirmed that Barr did not mention any specific SDNY investigations—Castor raised Jeffrey Epstein and Guiliani-related probes—in pressuring him to leave. But Berman did say Barr's offering of other positions could have been construed as a quid pro quo."You know, he wanted me to resign to take a position. I assume you could call that a quid pro quo. You resign and you get this, that would mean quid pro quo," said Berman. Asked to clarify those comments later, he said it wasn't his term but reiterated that "it could be seen as a quid pro quo, his offering me a job in exchange for my resignation." Berman is a rare U.S. attorney in that he was not confirmed by the Senate but was appointed by the judges of SDNY to hold the position in April 2018. Berman insisted that, as he was a court-appointed prosecutor, neither Barr nor President Trump had the authority to fire him before the Senate confirmed a successor, but some past legal precedent has indicated the president can fire a court-appointed U.S. attorney. Trump has said he had nothing to do with Berman's ouster. 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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| DeVos slammed for meetings with conservatives while school reopening debate rages Posted: 13 Jul 2020 12:24 PM PDT |
| Ted Cruz caught on commercial flight without a mask Posted: 13 Jul 2020 06:10 AM PDT  Texas senator Ted Cruz appeared to contravene an airline's mandate on masks this weekend when he was pictured without one.In a picture shared online on Sunday, Mr Cruz was onboard an American Airlines departure when he was seen unmasked.
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| 'Not a Welcoming Name': Calls to Drop 'Plantation' Gain Steam Nationwide Posted: 12 Jul 2020 08:28 AM PDT  When Dharyl Auguste was 3 years old, he and his parents packed all of their belongings and left their home in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, to immigrate to the United States.The family settled initially in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, before moving to nearby Sunrise. When it was time for Auguste to attend middle school, he and his parents relocated again, this time to Plantation, Florida. Auguste welcomed the move, he said, because it was easier for him to see his friends and access public transportation.But something was not right in Plantation."It often came up as a topic between me and friends, and we all had the same feeling that it's not a welcoming name," Auguste, 27, said.In the weeks since the George Floyd protests began, neighborhoods and subdivisions across the country have removed the word "plantation" from their names. In June, Rhode Island -- known formally as the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations -- announced that it would drop the second half of its official name from state documents and websites. (State lawmakers have introduced legislation that would put a name-change referendum on the ballot in November.)Inspired by the social unrest spurred by the death of Floyd, a Black man who died after a Minneapolis police officer pinned him to the ground by the neck for more than eight minutes, Auguste started a petition to change the name of Plantation."I was at home sitting in awe as our nation was going through a social awakening," he said in an interview this past week. According to Auguste, images of toppled monuments to slaveholders and Confederate generals fueled him to take action. The petition he created June 7 has been signed more than 11,000 times.Strictly speaking, the word "plantation" refers to a large group of plants or trees in a settlement. But the association with slavery is inescapable."We can't ignore the image conjured by the word 'plantation,'" Gov. Gina Raimondo of Rhode Island said last month. "We can't ignore how painful that is for Black Rhode Islanders to see that and have to see that as part of their state's name. It's demoralizing. It's a slap in the face. It's painful."Gabriela Koster, who moved to Plantation, Florida, in 2006, agrees."I have been saying for 15 years that I do not think it's an appropriate name for our city," Koster said. "I don't think it serves us well."Koster, 42, who raised her three children in Plantation, described the city as vibrant but said its name dulled some of the city's luster.But Lynn Stoner, the mayor of Plantation, does not necessarily share this opinion."If we change the name, it doesn't change the mindset of what people indicate the problem is," Stoner said. "I think it is just the optics."Stoner has lived in Plantation for 50 years, and she proposed instead that residents be educated on the "racial components and diversity in the community.""I'm more about the education piece," Stoner said at a City Council meeting July 1, during which she also suggested that residents be taught about what should be considered offensive and why. "I feel like changing the name doesn't change the philosophies -- I think that's where the bigger issue is."At the meeting, Stoner criticized an interview that Auguste had recently given on CNN, saying that "he didn't do real well." (She later apologized.) She also asked Auguste during the meeting whether she should use the term "African Americans" or "Blacks"; claimed that the first time she "ever really saw" Black people was when she moved to Plantation; and said that the last three people she had hired were not white.She added that she was taught to treat everyone equally.In response to Stoner's comments, Auguste told the mayor that just because the city's name represented the status quo it did not mean it should stay that way."I'm sure that was the same mentality when slavery was ended," Auguste said. "We have to be more than not racist -- we have to be anti-racist."Because the city of Plantation wasn't incorporated until 1953, many -- including Stoner -- believe that its name is exempt from the correlation with slavery."This isn't just about Black people," the mayor said in an interview Tuesday. "It is about how Black people and people from other countries all relate to each other."Across the country, people are working to change the names of neighborhoods, developments and subdivisions that include the word "plantation." In Hilton Head, South Carolina, efforts to change the names of gated communities and resorts are unequivocally about Black people. Beaufort County, which includes the island of Hilton Head, was founded in 1711. Before the Civil War, there were more than 20 plantations on the island where slave labor produced cotton, indigo, sugar cane, rice and other crops, according to the local government.Today, Hilton Head is a resort town with developments and gated communities whose names often have the word "plantation" in them."It has been co-opted to mean a gated community in the area," said Marisa Wojcikiewicz, who started a petition last month to change the names of the resorts and gated communities. "It is very strange, to say the least, considering that the island is inextricably linked to the plantation economy."According to Wojcikiewicz, whose petition has over 8,000 signatures, a manager of the Hilton Head Plantation development had not entirely shot down the idea of changing the name of the development. Wojcikiewicz said she was surprised to find that some residents of the developments, who are mostly white, older and affluent, supported changing the name.Peter Kristian, general manager of the Hilton Head Plantation property owners association, did not respond to requests for comment on Friday.In Plantation, Florida, Auguste has two options to get the city to change its name. The City Council can vote to have a referendum added to the November ballot for the name change or Auguste can go door to door to collect signatures from at least 10% of the city's 94,000 residents, which would compel a City Council review. In Hilton Head, because the developments and resorts are privately owned, the onus is on the owners and investors to make any name changes.Most people don't want to be told that something they are doing is wrong, according to Wojcikiewicz, particularly when they have never given any thought to how it might be hurtful."Many people are afraid to admit that they were blind to the fact that it is racist," she said. "They think a plantation is this beautiful, expansive, green, calm, Southern idyllic life that everyone wishes they could have. We have deluded ourselves."This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2020 The New York Times Company
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| Labour handed initial findings of anti-Semitism inquiry by Britain's equalities watchdog Posted: 13 Jul 2020 11:27 AM PDT  A report into Labour's handling of anti-Semitism has been submitted to the party by Britain's equality watchdog, as Jewish campaigners urged Sir Keir Starmer to act on its findings. More than 12 months after launching a statutory inquiry into whether the party acted unlawfully in dealing with complaints, the Equality and Human Rights Commission has handed Labour a draft version of its report. While Labour has refused to comment on its contents, the report will address allegations that the party under Jeremy Corbyn's leadership failed to tackle anti-Semitism within its ranks. It is also likely to single out leadership figures and senior officials over their role in the crisis, which overshadowed much of Mr Corbyn's tenure as leader. In a statement released on Monday, the Labour Party said: "Antisemitism has been a stain on the Labour Party in recent years. "It has caused unacceptable and unimaginable levels of grief and distress for many in the Jewish community, as well as members of staff. "Tackling anti-Semitism within the Labour Party is a priority and we are determined to take the further action necessary to begin restoring trust with the Jewish community. "We are committed to cooperating fully with the commission's investigation and implementing its recommendations when the final report is published." Labour will now have 28 days to respond to the draft report, before the EHRC publishes a final version, now not expected until the Autumn. Individuals singled out in the report will also be contacted in order to respond to its findings. The inquiry comes almost two years after the charity the Campaign Against Anti-Semitism (CAA) formally referred Labour to the watchdog over allegations of "institutional anti-Semitism." Gideon Falter, chief executive of the CAA, claimed that under Mr Corbyn's leadership the party "became institutionally anti-Semitic," adding that it "must be forever changed after this episode so this can never happen again. "Those responsible remain in the Party and must be held to account if Sir Keir Starmer is to tear antisemitism 'out by its roots', as he has promised," he continued. "The EHRC's report is a pivotal moment in this corrective process." His comments were echoed by the Jewish Labour Movement, which said: "We hope that when it is published, it will provide the kind of impartial and independent scrutiny required to force the party to comply with its duties under the Equality Act and toward our members."
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| Hamburg sex workers demand Germany's brothels reopen Posted: 12 Jul 2020 03:01 AM PDT  Prostitutes demonstrated in Hamburg's red light district late on Saturday evening demanding that Germany's brothels be allowed to reopen after months of closure to curb the spread of coronavirus. With shops, restaurants and bars all open again in Germany, where prostitution is legal, sex workers say they are being singled out and deprived of their livelihoods despite not posing a greater health risk. "The oldest profession needs your help," read a notice held up by one woman in a brothel window in the Herbertstrasse, which was flooded with red light after being dark since March.
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| French man accused of molesting hundreds of children dies in Indonesia Posted: 13 Jul 2020 04:22 AM PDT  Francois Camille Abello, 65, died in a suspected suicide in his cell in Jakarta, police say.
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| A squirrel tested positive for the bubonic plague in Colorado. Are people at risk? Posted: 13 Jul 2020 01:31 PM PDT  The bacteria that causes the bubonic plague is naturally occurring in Colorado.
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| Trump's bizarre COVID-19 claim: 'Biden and Obama stopped their testing' Posted: 13 Jul 2020 01:54 PM PDT  President Trump on Monday defended the nation's coronavirus testing record and rising case numbers.
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| 'I wouldn’t trust you to care for a house plant let alone my child': Pressley slams DeVos on reopening schools Posted: 13 Jul 2020 10:45 AM PDT  "I wouldn't trust you to care for a house plant let alone my child," Pressley said in reply to DeVos' remarks on reopening schools amid the pandemic.
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| U.S. Considers TikTok Ban as Chinese Threat to Global Internet Freedom Grows Posted: 13 Jul 2020 10:28 AM PDT  The partnership between Chinese tech companies and the Chinese Communist Party is threatening global Internet freedom. But the U.S. has the chance to push back and safeguard online free speech and privacy worldwide.Last Monday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told Fox News's Laura Ingraham that the U.S. is "certainly looking at" banning TikTok, a video-sharing social-media platform owned by the Chinese company ByteDance, over its ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).Pompeo cited the threat of "Chinese surveillance" to national security, as TikTok user data is surely being passed on to the CCP. A day later, in an interview with Greta Van Susteren, President Trump took a different tack, listing a ban on TikTok as "one of many" potential ways to punish the Chinese government for its hand in the coronavirus pandemic.TikTok is no stranger to U.S. scrutiny. Government agencies such as the Department of Homeland Security have banned the app for security reasons. And last year, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission and Justice Department investigated the company after it was alleged to have used data from users under 13 years of age in violation of American privacy laws. It was recently reported that the app may have failed to address regulators' concerns on that front.It might seem strange that an app known for making harmless, entertaining videos go viral would be the center of so much controversy. But the problem isn't the content TikTok allows users to share with the world; it's the company's meticulous collection of user data and its close, troubling relationship with the CCP.Parent company ByteDance is allegedly working with the CCP in its surveillance efforts. Just as unsettling, the app has been accused of aiding Chinese propaganda efforts through the use of "shadow bans," fiddling with the app's algorithm so that users — even users outside China — don't see content concerning Tiananmen Square or the Hong Kong protests. For instance, in 2019, TikTok user Feroza Aziz had her account suspended after posting a makeup tutorial that secretly condemned China's mass detention and abuse of Uighur Muslims in Xianjiang Province.Such abuses are not limited to TikTok. Other Chinese tech companies have done the CCP's bidding inside and outside China as well. According to an Australian Strategic Policy Institute report, Chinese tech giants such as Huawei, Tencent, and Alibaba are using artificial intelligence to collect users' data and aid and abet China in fulfilling its global ambitions.And what are those ambitions? One is obviously the legitimizing of the CCP's dictatorship abroad. But China may also be seeking to normalize authoritarianism more generally. For instance, TikTok has reportedly censored criticisms of Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey's authoritarian president.It's like a virtual Belt and Road Initiative, in which viral dance videos replace seemingly good-faith investments as the vehicle for the spread of CCP influence.In the face of China's threats to the freedom of the world's Internet, the Trump administration should be applauded for considering a ban on TikTok. As Chinese censorship, surveillance, and propaganda spread worldwide, the U.S. has a chance to fight back and change the trajectory of the Information Age for the better. At a press conference on Wednesday, Pompeo said that "the infrastructure of this next hundred years must be a communications infrastructure that's based on a Western ideal of private property and protection of private citizens' information in a transparent way." He added, however, that realizing that vision would be difficult: "It's a big project, because we've got partners all around the world where infrastructure crosses Chinese technology and then comes to the United States."It won't be easy, but it must be done. Nothing less than global Internet freedom is at stake.
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| 64 Stunning Kitchen Island Ideas Posted: 13 Jul 2020 11:42 AM PDT |
| South Africa's 9 million smokers were faced with cold turkey when the government banned cigarette sales in March as a coronavirus measure. Now Big Tobacco is fighting back. Posted: 12 Jul 2020 09:03 AM PDT  Cigarettes have become the top illicit drug, more profitable than cocaine and heroin, analysts told AP.
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| AOC suggests NYC crime spike linked to unemployment and parents shoplifting to feed children Posted: 13 Jul 2020 07:34 AM PDT  New York congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has insisted that spikes in New York crime are not related to police budget cuts but people needing to pay rent and feed their children.In a virtual town hall meeting on Thursday, reported by The Hill, AOC was questioned about the significant rise in crime in the city.
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| New York mayor 'heartbroken' over shooting death of one-year-old Posted: 13 Jul 2020 10:49 AM PDT  Toddler Davell Gardner Jr. was killed and three men were wounded on Sunday after two gunmen opened fire at a family cookout in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, New York media reported, citing New York police. "It's just horrifying," de Blasio said at a news conference to discuss the coronavirus. Davell's shooting was one of 11 incidents in which 16 people in New York were shot over the weekend, WABC television reported.
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| New Zealand mosque shooter dismisses lawyers to represent himself at sentencing Posted: 12 Jul 2020 09:29 PM PDT  The gunman behind New Zealand's Christchurch mosque shootings sacked his lawyers on Monday and opted to represent himself, raising fears he would use a sentencing hearing next month to promote his white-supremacist views. Australian national Brenton Tarrant will be sentenced on August 24 on 51 murder convictions, 40 of attempted murder and one of terrorism arising from last year's massacre, the worst mass shooting in New Zealand's modern history. He has pleaded guilty to the charges. At a pre-sentencing hearing on Monday, High Court judge Cameron Mander allowed Tarrant's lawyers, Shane Tait and Jonathan Hudson, to withdraw from proceedings at the request of their client. However, the judge ordered "standby counsel" to be available next month in case Tarrant - who appeared in the Christchurch court via video link from an Auckland prison - changes his mind. New Zealand Muslim Association president Ikhlaq Kashkari questioned Tarrant's motives, saying victims could be re-traumatised if the gunman were allowed to spout far-right rhetoric from the dock. "My first concern when I read this was 'Oh my God, what's this guy up to, is he going to use this as a platform to promote his views and thoughts?'," he told AFP. "A lot of people are still going through trauma and this was seen as one of those events that would give them closure. I hope it's not going to be something that will trigger more pain instead."
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| Funeral for Seoul mayor held as allegation details emerge Posted: 12 Jul 2020 08:46 PM PDT  Mourners wept and deeply bowed before the coffin of Seoul's mayor during his funeral Monday, while a lawyer came forward with details about sexual harassment allegations against the late politician. The allegations have split many in South Korea over how to remember Park Won-soon, who was found dead Friday in a wooded area in northern Seoul. Park, a liberal who built his career as a reform-minded politician and champion of women's rights, had been considered a potential candidate for president in 2022.
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| Woman races across 4 lanes of traffic, dives into canal to save child, Oregon cops say Posted: 13 Jul 2020 11:58 AM PDT  The toddler's grandmother has been cited for child neglect.
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| Robert Mueller breaks his silence and condemns Trump for commuting Roger Stone's sentence Posted: 12 Jul 2020 12:09 PM PDT  US special counsel defends his investigation into allegations of corruption during 2016 electionThe former special counsel Robert Mueller made a rare move on Saturday to publicly defend his two-year investigation into allegations of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia in the 2016 election – and to castigate Donald Trump's decision to commute Roger Stone's prison sentence.Mueller wrote an opinion article for the Washington Post [paywall] published under the headline "Roger Stone remains a convicted felon, and rightly so"."The work of the special counsel's office – its report, indictments, guilty pleas and convictions – should speak for itself," he wrote."But I feel compelled to respond both to broad claims that our investigation was illegitimate and our motives were improper, and to specific claims that Roger Stone was a victim of our office ..."Stone was prosecuted and convicted because he committed federal crimes. He remains a convicted felon, and rightly so."Trump commuted Stone's sentence on Friday night, sparking outrage from Democrats and some senior Republicans.Stone was a former campaign adviser to the president, convicted in November 2019 of seven crimes including obstruction of justice, lying to Congress and witness tampering.He was sentenced in February to 40 months in prison and was due to surrender on Tuesday, until the president commuted his sentence.Speaking on Sunday to CNN's State of the Union, the House speaker Nancy Pelosi said Democrats in the House will pursue legislation to restrict clemency powers related to the president's own conduct. "It's a threat to our national security," she said.The 2017-19 Mueller investigation uncovered evidence of communications between Stone and WikiLeaks related to the release of hacked Democratic party emails during the 2016 election, discovered in a separate inquiry into Russian intelligence officers charged with hacking the emails and staging their release.The partially released Mueller report in April 2019 described Russian efforts to tamper with the election and the Trump campaign's receptivity to certain "Russian offers of assistance to the campaign".It outlined actions by Trump that may have amounted to obstruction of justice and concluded: "While this report does not conclude that the president committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him."Mueller also concluded he did not have the power to charge Trump even if he thought it was warranted.Mueller wrote: "The special counsel's office identified two principal operations directed at our election: hacking and dumping Clinton campaign emails, and an online social media campaign to disparage the Democratic candidate."We also identified numerous links between the Russian government and Trump campaign personnel – Stone among them. We did not establish that members of the Trump campaign conspired with the Russian government …"The investigation did, however, establish that the Russian government perceived it would benefit from a Trump presidency and worked to secure that outcome. [And] that the campaign expected it would benefit electorally from information stolen and released through Russian efforts."> Russia's actions were a threat to America's democracy> > Robert MuellerTrump has repeatedly attempted to discredit Mueller and his investigations.Mueller has kept his counsel since he testified in Congress in July last year. It was a muted affair, and many perceived Trump was emboldened in his efforts to seek assistance in his current election campaign from the Ukraine.This led to the historic impeachment of the president, and Trump's ultimate acquittal by the Senate earlier this year.On Saturday Mueller wrote: "Russia's actions were a threat to America's democracy. It was critical that they be investigated and understood." 'Historic corruption' – RomneyRepublicans largely stayed silent on the issue on Saturday, however Utah Senator Mitt Romney, who was also the lone GOP senator to vote to convict the president during his impeachment trial earlier this year, attacked Trump's move."Unprecedented, historic corruption: an American president commutes the sentence of a person convicted by a jury of lying to shield that very president," Romney tweeted.Senator Pat Toomey, of Pennsylvania, a Republican, also called the move to commute the sentence a mistake.Toomey pointed to the backing that the US attorney general, William Barr, had given to the Stone prosecution. Barr, who has faced allegations of using the justice department to defend the president and his associates, had said earlier this month that he regarded the prosecution of Stone as "righteous".But most Republicans who did speak out about the decision supported it. Senator Lindsey Graham, a Trump confidant, said Stone was convicted of a nonviolent, first-time offense and the president was justified in commuting the sentence.Graham, chair of the Senate judiciary committee, tweeted on Sunday that he would now grant Democrats' request to call Mueller to give evidence to the committee, as he was willing to defend the Russia investigation in a newspaper.Graham is leading an investigation by Republicans on the judiciary committee into the origins of Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential election and links to the Trump campaign, and alleged misconduct by US intelligence officials.Democrats say the investigation is a move to appease President Trump ahead of November's election.• Associated Press contributed to this report. Additional reporting by Mark Oliver.
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| Coronavirus immunity can start to fade away within weeks, according to a new study which puts a 'nail in the coffin' in the idea of herd immunity Posted: 13 Jul 2020 05:10 AM PDT  The study by King's College London, the first COVID-19 study of its kind, is the latest to cast doubt over the concept of so-called herd immunity.
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| Nelson Mandela's daughter Zindzi Mandela dies at 59 Posted: 13 Jul 2020 03:43 AM PDT  Zindzi Mandela, daughter of Nelson Mandela, has died, a spokesperson for the African National Congress said on Monday. She was 59.
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| U.S. judge delays first federal executions in 17 years Posted: 13 Jul 2020 04:05 AM PDT  A U.S. federal judge issued an injunction on Monday delaying what would have been the first federal execution in 17 years, scheduled for later in the day, thwarting at least for now the Trump administration's goal of reviving capital punishment at the federal level. Judge Tanya Chutkan of the U.S. district court in Washington ordered the U.S. Department of Justice to delay four executions scheduled for July and August to allow continuation of the condemned men's legal challenges against a new lethal injection protocol announced in 2019.
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| Man, 37, who died from coronavirus had dismissed pandemic ‘hype’ on Facebook Posted: 13 Jul 2020 02:23 AM PDT  An Ohio man who died of Covid-19 had repeatedly posted on Facebook about his scepticism of the outbreak – and a tweet containing a montage of his posts is now going viral.Richard Rose, 37, died at home in Port Clinton on 4 July just days after he tested positive for Covid-19. The montage of his posts spreading on social media, which has been viewed 3.5 million times, shows that he tested positive and was quarantined on 1 July, when he was already viewing symptoms.
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| Police officers' connection to communities they serve is broken. Here's how to repair it. Posted: 13 Jul 2020 03:00 AM PDT  It is imperative we focus on improving police conduct and their capacity for responding to the effects of trauma in communities they serve.
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| Fact check: Trump campaign accused of T-shirt design with similarity to Nazi eagle Posted: 13 Jul 2020 10:10 AM PDT  A Trump campaign shirt is being criticized for having a design resembling a Nazi eagle. But there are uses of eagle imagery by the U.S. government.
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| Hong Kong security law: Why we are taking our BNOs and leaving Posted: 12 Jul 2020 05:19 PM PDT  As China enforces new restrictions, some are turning to their British National (Overseas) passport.
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| 'I Don't Want to Go Back': Many Teachers Are Fearful and Angry Over Pressure to Return Posted: 12 Jul 2020 08:35 AM PDT  Many of the nation's 3.5 million teachers found themselves feeling under siege this week as pressure from the White House, pediatricians and some parents to get back to physical classrooms intensified -- even as the coronavirus rages across much of the country.On Friday, the teachers' union in Los Angeles, the nation's second-largest district, demanded full-time remote learning when the academic year begins on Aug. 18, and called President Donald Trump's push to reopen schools part of a "dangerous, anti-science agenda that puts the lives of our members, our students and our families at risk."Teachers say crucial questions about how schools will stay clean, keep students physically distanced and prevent further spread of the virus have not been answered. And they feel that their own lives, and those of the family members they come home to, are at stake."I want to serve the students, but it's hard to say you're going to sacrifice all of the teachers, paraprofessionals, cafeteria workers and bus drivers," said Hannah Wysong, a teacher at the Esperanza Community School in Tempe, Arizona, where virus cases are increasing.School systems struggling to meet the financial and logistical challenges of reopening safely will need to carefully weigh teachers' concerns. A wave of leave requests, early retirements or resignations driven by health fears could imperil efforts to reach students learning both in physical classrooms and online.On social media, teachers across the country promoted the hashtag 14daysnonewcases, with some pledging to refuse to enter classrooms until the coronavirus transmission rate in their counties falls, essentially, to zero.Now, educators are using some of the same organizing tactics they employed in walkouts over issues of pay and funding in recent years to demand that schools remain closed, at least in the short term. It's a stance that could potentially be divisive, with some district surveys suggesting that more than half of parents would like their children to return to classrooms.Big districts like San Diego and smaller ones, like Marietta, Georgia, are forging ahead with plans to open schools five days per week. Many other systems, like those in New York City and Seattle, hope to offer several days per week of in-person school.Adding to the confusion, optional guidelines released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in May set out ambitious safety precautions for schools. But the president, and many local school system leaders, have suggested they do not need to be strictly followed, alarming teachers.Many doctors, education experts, parents and policymakers have argued that the social and academic costs of school closures on children need to be weighed alongside the risks of the virus itself.The heated national debate about how and whether to bring students back to classrooms plays upon all the anxieties of the teaching profession. The comparison between teachers and other essential workers currently laboring outside their homes rankles some educators. They note that they are paid much less than doctors -- the average salary nationwide for teachers is about $60,000 per year -- but are more highly educated than delivery people, restaurant workers or most staffers in child care centers, many of whom are already back at work.Now, as teachers listen to a national conversation about reopening schools that many believe elevates the needs of the economy and working parents above the concerns of the classroom work force, many are fearful and angry. They point out that so far Congress has dedicated less than 1% of federal pandemic stimulus funds to public schools stretching to meet the costs of reopening safely.The message to teachers, said Christina Setzer, a preschool educator in Sacramento, is, "Yes, you guys are really important and essential and kids and parents need you. But sorry, we don't have the money."Earlier in the shutdown, Trump acknowledged the health risks to teachers over the age of 60 and those with underlying conditions, saying at a White House event in May that "they should not be teaching school for a while, and everybody would understand that fully."But this week, as the administration launched a full-throated campaign to pressure schools to reopen in the fall -- a crucial step for jump-starting the economy -- it all but ignored the potential risks teachers face. More than one-quarter of public schoolteachers are over the age of 50.Teachers say many of their questions about how schools will operate safely remain unanswered. They point out that some classrooms have windows that do not reliably open to promote air circulation, while school buildings can have aging heating and cooling systems that lack the filtration features that reduce virus transmission.Although many districts are spending millions this summer procuring masks, sanitizers and additional custodial staff, many teachers say they have little faith that limited resources will stretch to fill the need.They also worry about access to tests and contact tracing to confirm COVID-19 diagnoses and clarify who in a school might need to isolate at home in the event of a symptomatic student or staff member.The CDC has advised against regular testing in K-12 schools, but Wednesday, Dr. Deborah L. Birx, the White House coronavirus response coordinator, said the Trump administration was exploring whether testing being developed for other vulnerable environments, like nursing homes, could be used in schools.Indeed, educators have had to process a head-spinning set of conflicting health and safety guidelines from Washington, states and medical experts.The CDC has recommended that when schools reopen, students remain 6 feet apart "when feasible," while the American Academy of Pediatrics released guidelines suggesting that 3 feet could be enough space if students wore masks.But after major pushback from educator groups, who felt there was too little attention on the health risks for adults who work in schools, the Academy joined with the two national teachers' unions Friday to release a statement saying, "Schools in areas with high levels of COVID-19 community spread should not be compelled to reopen against the judgment of local experts."In Arizona, Wysong, 30, said she was willing to return to her Tempe classroom; she is not in a high-risk category for complications from COVID-19 and her school caps classes at 15 students. But given the long-term teacher and substitute shortage in Arizona, which has some of the lowest educator salaries in the nation, she said she believed the overall system could not reopen safely with small enough class sizes.Health and education experts who support reopening schools have sometimes questioned the need for strict physical distancing, pointing in recent weeks to emerging research suggesting that children may be not only less likely to contract COVID-19, but also less likely to transmit it to adults.In interviews, many teachers said they were unaware of or skeptical of such studies, arguing that much about the virus remains unknown, and that even if teachers do not catch coronavirus in large numbers from children, it could be spread among adults working in a school building, or during commutes to and from schools via public transit.The education systems in Germany and Denmark have successfully reopened, but generally only after local virus transmission rates were brought under control.American schools currently have a variety of plans for welcoming students back to campuses, ranging from regular, five-day schedules with children using desk partitions to stay distanced, to hybrid approaches that seek to keep students physically distanced by having them attend school in-person only a few days per week, and spend the rest of their time learning online from home.In New York City, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced last week that the nation's largest school system would reopen only part-time for students this fall, but teachers would most likely be back in classrooms five days a week.The teachers' union president, Michael Mulgrew, has said he does not believe schools can reopen at all if the city does not receive additional federal funding this summer.With many teachers reluctant to return to work, according to polls, staffing will be a major challenge for districts across the country. New York estimates that about 1 in 5 of its teachers will receive a medical exemption to teach remotely this fall.Matthew Landau, a history teacher at Democracy Prep Charter High School in Harlem, hopes he will be one of them. He survived stage four cancer several years ago and said he does not feel comfortable going back to his classroom."I feel there's no way to keep immunocompromised teachers safe," he said.Kevin Kearns, a high school English teacher at the High School of Fashion Industries in downtown Manhattan, has spent the last few weeks wrestling with his own dilemma.Kearns and his wife became parents in March, and need child care for their infant son. Their only option is to have Kearns' mother-in-law, who is in her 70s, stay with them. Kearns is terrified of bringing the virus home."I don't want to go back, I don't think it's safe to go back, but I don't know that I necessarily have a choice," he said.Still, Kearns said he feels a duty to the mostly low-income, Black and Latino students he teaches."It puts me in a very difficult moral conundrum," he said, "to choose between supporting my community, students, colleagues and my own family's safety."This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2020 The New York Times Company
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| Barack Obama’s Presidential Library Hits a Major Roadblock Posted: 13 Jul 2020 11:32 AM PDT  The roughly $500 million project, which will be set in Chicago's Jackson Park, is facing new demands by the Illinois State Historic Preservation Office
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| Florida mayor warns 'it won't be long' until hospitals hit capacity, as Florida sees record-high levels of new coronavirus cases Posted: 12 Jul 2020 10:48 AM PDT  Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Giménez aired concerns as South Florida shapes into the new epicenter of the pandemic, with cases and hospitalizations surging.
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| Minority U.S. diplomats face bias entering own country - group Posted: 13 Jul 2020 09:11 AM PDT  Retired U.S. diplomats on Monday accused the Customs and Border Patrol of a "deeply troubling pattern" of discrimination and harassment against Black, Hispanic and other minority members re-entering their own country. The American Academy of Diplomacy, which groups former U.S. officials in international affairs, urged Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in a letter to order a review of incidents, "ensure equal treatment" of minority U.S. diplomats and make clear their mistreatment is "unacceptable."
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| Kamala Harris Was in Biden Circle of Trust. Then Came Debate Night. Posted: 13 Jul 2020 01:51 AM PDT  Kamala Harris was mad as hell.It was September 2011, the first year of her first term as California's attorney general. The nation was still struggling to regain its economic footing after the Great Recession, and Harris was under intense pressure from the banking industry, the Department of Justice, and most of her fellow state attorneys general to accept a billion-dollar settlement from the mortgage-financing industry that would immunize them from investigations into other potential crimes committed in advance of the the subprime mortgage crisis. And she was not having it."This was insane," Harris wrote in her pre-presidential memoir The Truths We Hold: An American Journey. "We hadn't even finished the investigation, so we didn't know what crimes we might uncover!"California had more foreclosures in the wake of the subprime-mortgage collapse than any other state, and was home to seven of the 10 cities hit hardest by the crisis. Harris hoped to use the state's clout to force the banks to drop the proposed settlement, giving her office a longer runway to investigate more malfeasance."There's no way I'm taking this offer," Harris told her team after a meeting in Washington, D.C., with the general counsels of the nation's largest lenders. The next week, she announced that the proposed deal would "excuse conduct that has not been adequately investigated" without providing the relief that California homeowners desperately needed.Then the phone calls began.Friends, advisers, White House officials and even Gov. Jerry Brown warned her that she had made too powerful an enemy."The pressure was intense—and constant—and it was coming from all sides: from longtime allies and longtime adversaries and everyone in between," Harris recalled in her memoir.Only a few other state attorneys general, equally dissatisfied with the settlement's proposed terms, supported Harris in holding out for more money and more time to investigate wrongdoing: Martha Coakley of Massachusetts, Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada, Eric Schneiderman of New York, and Beau Biden of Delaware.Biden, the crown prince of the Diamond State, was in his second term as Delaware's attorney general, and had every reason to follow Justice's lead on the settlement. The foreclosure crisis hadn't hit Delaware nearly as badly as California, and the state's friendly corporate arbitration system and even friendlier tax structure had made it a haven for the big banks."But that wasn't who Beau was," Harris later wrote. Biden opened his own investigation into the mortgage-financing industry as the settlement stalled, and began sharing the resultant information with Harris' office—and "became an incredible friend and colleague" as a result."There were periods, when I was taking heat, when Beau and I talked every day, sometimes multiple times a day," Harris recalled in The Truths We Hold. "We had each other's backs.""That's really where the two of them started to bond," said Doug Gansler, a close friend of Beau's and the former attorney general of neighboring Maryland who served as the president of the National Association of Attorneys General at the time. "She was sort of an instant rock star, as Beau was. They were destined to get together and collaborate."Harris' holdout over the National Mortgage Settlement—which ended with a $20 billion victory for Harris instead of the $4 billion initially proposed by the banks, and more money for Delawareans, as well—was the beginning of what would be a close friendship between two rising stars in the Democratic Party. That friendship, cut short by Beau's death from brain cancer in 2015, is now under renewed focus as former Vice President Joe Biden, Beau's father and the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, whittles down his list of potential running mates, a list at which Harris sits near the top.VP Jockeying Season Is Upon Us"Short of personal friendship with Dr. [Jill] Biden, there is no bigger credit that you can have with the vice president than a relationship with Beau," said one source close to the Bidens, who told The Daily Beast that the family, marked by tragedy and incredibly tight-knit after decades in the public eye, would naturally hold anyone with Beau's stamp of approval in the highest esteem. "He was the heir."Both were young, telegenic, and bright even by the standards of the occupation, Gansler said, and largely aligned in their political beliefs. State attorneys general tend to break into three categories—workhorses without term limits who have served in the office for decades, journeymen who view the office as a pitstop on the road to lucrative private sector work, and the young legal minds with their eye on the governor's mansion or the U.S. Senate.Harris and Beau were in the last group, prominent enough that when Gansler was setting up a breakfast for Maryland's delegation during the Democratic National Convention in 2012, he invited both to be the event's speakers."They had the most star appeal, the most mystique, and both were sort of destined for even higher office, in my view," Gansler said, explaining his choice. "And they both had great stories."Beyond the mortgage settlement, Harris and Biden worked together both formally and informally on legal issues on their docket, including fighting online child abuse imagery, sex trafficking, and elder abuse in nursing homes. Their friendship eventually included an introduction to Beau's father, at the time the sitting vice president.Beau's illness, the severity of which he kept close to his chest until his final weeks, and his death at age 46 hit the tight-knit circle of state attorneys general hard."We were all rocked by the whole thing," Gansler said, calling Beau's memorial service, which Harris also attended, "devastating."In a way, Biden took the torch from his son in continuing a friendship with Harris, who introduced Biden at the party's 2016 state convention as having given "so much to our country"—including his son, "my dear friend Beau.""It is through my friendship with Beau that I truly came to know Joe Biden, not just as a leader but as a person," Harris said. "I say from my personal experience that the Biden family truly represents our nation's highest ideals—a powerful belief in the nobility of public service."America Mourns at Beau Biden's FuneralHarris was elected to the U.S. Senate that year with the help of Vice President Biden's endorsement over her Democratic challenger—"Beau always supported her," Biden said in a statement announcing his endorsement, "and I'm proud to support her candidacy for the United States Senate"—and joined the judiciary committee that Biden had once chaired."They obviously weren't as close as she and Beau were," a friend of the family told The Daily Beast. "But she'd been welcomed into the fold, and that's basically forever with the Bidens."But that relationship was changed—perhaps irrevocably, some close to Biden said—during the June 2019 Democratic presidential debate, when Harris came after Biden for his record on school busing and his friendship with senators who supported segregation."It was hurtful to hear you talk about the reputations of two United States senators who built their reputations and career on the segregation of race in this country," Harris said during the debate, the first of the cycle. "And it was not only that, but you also worked with them to oppose busing. And, you know, there was a little girl in California who was part of the second class to integrate her public schools, and she was bused to school every day. And that little girl was me."In the context of other broadsides against Biden during subsequent debates—Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts accusing him of running in the "wrong presidential primary," Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey mocking his position on marijuana legalization as only making sense if he'd been "high"—the moment was comparatively tame.But it was the first moment of genuine conflict between the Democrats vying for the nomination, and came at a particularly sensitive time for the Biden clan, as President Donald Trump was injecting himself into the primary largely by attacking Biden's younger son with baseless accusations of corruption.As a result, in both the public imagination and in the hearts of Biden's most dedicated supporters, the dispute has been hard to shake."If there was anyone on that stage that night that Joe Biden probably felt he trusted the most, it was her," said John Morgan, a Florida attorney and one of Biden's top fundraisers. "And she was the one he could trust the least."Morgan told The Daily Beast that Harris' debate performance in June 2019 is disqualifying for any potential running mate, and said that he found it "impossible" to imagine that Dr. Jill Biden would support Harris' selection in light of what he called her "treacherous" performance after becoming so close with Beau."She didn't stab him in the back—she stabbed him in the heart," Morgan said.Harris defended both her friendship with Beau and her line of attack in an appearance on The Breakfast Club radio show, calling him "an incredible person, an incredible human being and a very dear friend to me," but saying that their friendship was "separate from the fact that segregationists in the United States Senate stood, and lived their careers, to segregate the races in public education in the United States."Although Biden was at first surprised by the attack, telling CNN that "I wasn't prepared for the person coming at me the way she came at me," he later made light of the exchange in the moments before the next debate, telling Harris to "go easy on me, kid" with an avuncular smile."I'm not good at keeping hard feelings," Biden told reporters at a campaign stop in December, one day after Harris dropped out of the race. A source close to the campaign told The Daily Beast that Biden was one of the first to call her after she withdrew her candidacy, a conversation that was characterized as warm.During a digital fundraiser that raised $3.5 million for the campaign last month, Biden called Harris a "principled leader," and returned to her friendship with his late son."You said, 'I love you, and I loved Beau'—I won't forget that," Biden said.As Harris has begun the vetting process, the California senator has literally laughed off questions about the exchange and whether it could break her chances of joining Biden on the ticket."It was a debate!" Harris told Late Show host Stephen Colbert in June, laughingly repeating herself. "We all have family members or friends with whom we have disagreements—that doesn't overcome or overshadow the commonalities between us or the connections between us."But some in Biden's circle, and in the Biden family, have been slower to warm to Harris after the "little girl" moment. A source close to the Bidens told The Daily Beast that Valerie Biden Owens, the vice president's sister and longtime adviser, is still "chilly" on Harris, and that Dr. Jill Biden was privately flippant when Harris endorsed her husband in March.Joe Biden Asked Kamala Harris to 'Go Easy on Me.' Neither She Nor Anyone Else Did.At an Illinois fundraiser eight months later, Dr. Jill Biden still seemed wounded."Our son, Beau, spoke so highly of her and how great she was," she said when discussing potential vice presidential choices with the fundraiser's attendees. "And not that she isn't, I'm not saying that. But it was just like a punch to the gut. It was a little unexpected."The Biden campaign, which is generally loathe to comment on anything pertaining to the veepstakes, told The Daily Beast that the clash's significance has been overplayed in the 12 months since it occurred, and that the vice president's wife and sister have deep respect for Harris."Both Dr. Biden and Valerie have nothing but the utmost respect, admiration and affection for Senator Harris," said Biden spokeswoman Elizabeth Alexander, in a statement that was previously given to the Washington Post. "Any rumors or conjecture to the contrary are not true and have zero basis in reality or fact."But those in a position to make their feelings on Harris' potential as a running mate heard still point to the debate as potentially disqualifying—and note that both Dr. Biden and Valerie Biden Owens hold huge sway in any final decision on a running mate."I don't think the emotions of Dr. Biden and Val have softened," said one source familiar with the Biden family's feelings on the matter, who allowed that polling on Harris' utility as a running mate "and the persistent whispering of advisers trying to smooth things over" might change their opinions."But in the Biden world," they continued, "it was an ultimate act of betrayal by someone whom Beau had trusted."Morgan, who like other top fundraisers has participated in calls to discuss potential running mates, told The Daily Beast that he has communicated his strong support for fellow Floridian Rep. Val Demings, in part because he believes she's "loyal.""When you're walking in and you're guarded, and you're looking around and there's all these people onstage and you see one person, you go, 'well, at least I don't have to worry about her,' and she's the one that pulls out the Uzi, that's hard to reconcile for me," Morgan said. "But, you know, I'm Irish—I hold grudges."When The Daily Beast noted that Biden, too, is Irish, Morgan laughed and said: "He may be a gentler Irishman than me."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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| Judge blocks federal executions; administration appeals Posted: 12 Jul 2020 09:02 PM PDT  A U.S. district judge on Monday ordered a new delay in federal executions, hours before the first lethal injection was scheduled to be carried out at a federal prison in Indiana. The Trump administration immediately appealed to a higher court, asking that the executions move forward. U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan said there are still legal issues to resolve and that "the public is not served by short-circuiting legitimate judicial process."
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| Asian American members of Congress on sustaining allyship long after Floyd protests Posted: 13 Jul 2020 11:27 AM PDT  "It takes an entire village to do the persistent discrimination against Black Americans in these police encounters, and you've got to reform the system. So that that doesn't keep happening," Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., told NBC Asian America.
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| Javonni Carson: Nine-year-old shot four times while filming TikTok videos Posted: 13 Jul 2020 01:03 PM PDT  A fourth-grade boy shot four times in Atlanta was filming TikTok videos with his two siblings when an unknown gunman fired into a crowd during a drive-by shooting, his mother said.Javonni Carson, 9, who was one of three people injured in the attack, has undergone surgery and is expected to recover, mother Keyona Carson told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
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| Trump retweets ex-game show host comments that CDC is 'lying' about coronavirus Posted: 13 Jul 2020 10:53 AM PDT  President Donald Trump started the week in the fight against the coronavirus by amplifying the fact-free claim of right-wing personality Chuck Woolery that "the most outrageous lies are about COVID-19." As case numbers set new records daily and hospital units fill up in hot spots, Trump chose Monday to retweet the onetime "Love Connection" host's dubious words of wisdom. "Everyone is lying. ...
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| Firefighters battle massive blaze on US navy ship after explosion in San Diego Posted: 12 Jul 2020 02:09 PM PDT  Firefighters were battling a massive blaze on a US navy amphibious assault ship in San Diego, California, on Sunday night. The fire erupted after an explosion on the USS Bonhomme Richard shortly before 9am local time. Ariel photographs showed giant plumes of smoke billowing out from the ship, which was docked in its home port. The reasons for the blaze, which was caused by fuel catching fire, remained unclear. There was no suggestion of terrorism being involved. Emergency services cleared the area as firefighters moved in to try to bring the fire under control. According to the San Diego Fire Department, 17 sailors and four civilians required hospital treatment for minor injuries, including one for smoke inhalation. Krishna Jackson, the base's public information officer, said none of the injuries was life-threatening.
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| Hundreds of Army and Air Force Recruits Have Tested Positive for COVID-19 Since March Posted: 13 Jul 2020 06:16 AM PDT  The U.S. Air Force and Army basic military training programs have seen hundreds of recruits test positive for COVID-19.
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| An Alaska Airlines flight was forced to land when a passenger threatened to kill everyone on board Posted: 13 Jul 2020 08:15 AM PDT  The Alaska Airlines flight from Seattle to Chicago turned around after a passenger became unruly and threatened to kill everyone on board.
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| China sanctions U.S. lawmakers in dispute over Uighur Muslims Posted: 13 Jul 2020 12:47 AM PDT  China announced "corresponding sanctions" against the United States on Monday after Washington penalized senior Chinese officials over the treatment of Uighur Muslims in its Xinjiang region. China's move comes as relations between the world's two biggest economic powerhouses have slumped over disagreements on issues including the coronavirus pandemic, trade, Huawei and a sweeping national security law imposed on Hong Kong. The sanctions targeted Senators Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, Representative Chris Smith, Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom Sam Brownback and the U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China.
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| 1% of US population officially has coronavirus. Experts say real number is much higher Posted: 13 Jul 2020 10:31 AM PDT  "This is widespread devastation," one doctor said
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| Iranian officials urged to unite after nuclear plant blast Posted: 12 Jul 2020 11:00 AM PDT  Iran's supreme leader has addressed the country's parliament amid growing divisions and unanswered questions over the explosion at the Natanz nuclear facility earlier this month.
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