| Trump news: President doubles down on possible election delay and threatens to send National Guard to Portland Posted: 30 Jul 2020 02:45 PM PDT  Donald Trump's tweet suggesting that the 2020 presidential election could be postponed amid the coronavirus pandemic set off a day of wild speculation as to whether he would, could, or how that would even look if he did.After saying that a mail-in ballot system would create the "most INACCURATE & FRAUDULENT Election in history", the president double-downed during his White House press conference, saying he doesn't want to wait weeks, months or even years for the result of the election to be known.
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| What Pullout? Feds Gas Moms in Fresh Portland Crackdown Posted: 30 Jul 2020 08:31 AM PDT  PORTLAND—With roughly two-dozen federal officers in riot gear marching towards her, Demetria Hester linked arms with two other mothers in yellow shirts. "Hands up!" she chanted. "Don't shoot!" responded the crowd, warily watching a line of federal agents coming towards them from behind a cloud of tear gas and smoke from munition fire. Though the number of protesters in downtown Portland had dwindled to about 100 shortly after midnight Thursday, the number of federal agents out on the streets was larger than ever. Hours after Oregon Governor Kate Brown announced the gradual removal of federal law enforcement officers from Portland, more than 200 of those officers were clashing with protesters outside the federal courthouse, using tear gas to clear the surrounding streets.Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf and President Donald Trump had disputed the governor's announcement, the former tweeting that federal officers would "remain in Portland until the violent activity toward our federal facilities ends." And if the scene in Portland early Thursday morning was any indication, the unrest there isn't close to finished.The line of federal agents, holding shields and riot shotguns, shoved a wall of protesters back from the front of the courthouse. Then came the tear gas, lobbed into the crowd by U.S. Marshals and officers with the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol. 'It's Spooky Right Now': Inside the Creepy Federal Crackdown on Portland ProtestersProtesters frantically dodged the flying thick metal canisters and backed away from the rising smoke. With her hands still in the air, Hester pulled down a respirator mask over her mouth. "Hands up!" she kept chanting through her mask, and then slid on a pair of goggles. "Don't shoot!" came the crowd's reply, muffled by the sting of tear gas and the sound of jostled bodies. After tackling and arresting a protester, federal officers continued throwing tear gas into the crowd to clear the area. Her bloodshot eyes tearing up, Hester backed away from the heavy volley of teargas and munitions, coughing into her respirator. "We weren't doing anything wrong," she told The Daily Beast between coughs. "We were just peacefully protesting." Indeed, before officers closed in, Hester and the other demonstrators standing in front of the courthouse had been peacefully chanting. "George Floyd." "Breonna Taylor." "Black Lives Matter." Earlier in the night, however, a small number of protesters had become violent: shining lasers at officer's faces and chucking fireworks at the federal courthouse. Now it appeared police officers were targeting specific people for arrest, and tear gassing anyone else in the way. Another demonstrator dressed in yellow—the designated color of the so-called "Wall of Moms," a group of mothers focused on defending Black lives from police brutality—offered Hester a moist towelette to rub across her stinging eyes. Though Hester came out Wednesday night to protest police brutality alongside other yellow-shirted moms, the 45-year-old mother of two and grandmother of three has been active in the Black Lives Matter movement since May 2017. It was then Hester was assaulted by convicted killer Jeremy Christian the day before he killed two men on a Portland commuter train following a racist tirade. In her testimony, Hester said she interrupted Christian as he was screaming about minorities, after which he hit her in the face with a bottle, badly bruising her right eye. The next day, Christian directed another racist tirade at a small group of young girls, and fatally stabbed two men who interfered. The trial ended late last month with a sentence of life in prison without parole. "It was really after that trial that I started coming down here," Hester said of the protest site, where a final burst of intense clashes were coming to an end. Hester and a few other mothers asked me where my car was and insisted on walking me there, because "that's what moms do." Hester, alongside several other Black activist mothers, has helped take charge of the Wall of Moms alongside a group called Moms United for Black Lives after the former's original founder was accused of "anti-blackness."Amid the chaos on the street, Hester recounted the day she was attacked by Christian, when she approached an officer with the Portland Police Bureau and pointed her attacker out. Christian was not arrested."That white supremacist got special treatment from the police. That's not acceptable," she said, pausing to spit out the taste of tear gas. "And that's what we're here fighting for today." So even if the feds did pull out of her city, it was hard to imagine activists like Hester would be satisfied."It won't make a difference if they leave or stay," Hester said, referring to the federal officers. "It all comes down to white privilege in this country." Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet our top stories in your inbox every day. 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| Unsolicited seeds sent to Americans, possibly from China, may be part of 'brushing' scam Posted: 29 Jul 2020 01:26 PM PDT |
| Letters to the Editor: If Joe Biden picks Karen Bass as his VP, L.A.'s major loss would be America's gain Posted: 29 Jul 2020 03:00 AM PDT  Karen Bass is a proactive member of Congress who serves her constituents as well. She would make an excellent vice president.
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| Father, son with COVID-19 forced to quarantine in Hawaii Posted: 29 Jul 2020 08:20 PM PDT  Hawaii's public health director said a rarely used special health order was used to force them into isolation.
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| MSNBC host angers Georgia Democrat with Trump support question Posted: 29 Jul 2020 11:45 AM PDT  Georgia Democrat angered by MSNBC host with Trump support question.
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| Tennessee state senator charged with stealing federal funds Posted: 29 Jul 2020 02:01 PM PDT  A Tennessee state senator has been charged with stealing more than $600,000 in federal funds received by a health care company she directed and using the money to pay for her wedding and other personal expenses, federal prosecutors said Wednesday. A criminal complaint unsealed Wednesday charges state Sen. Katrina Robinson with theft and embezzlement involving government programs and wire fraud, U.S. Attorney D. Michael Dunavant said in a news release. Robinson, a Democrat elected to the General Assembly in 2018 from a Memphis district, is also the director of The Healthcare Institute, which provides training for jobs in the health care field, prosecutors said.
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| Man fires 'warning shots' in Miami hotel lobby after telling guests 'you all aren't social distancing' Posted: 30 Jul 2020 11:20 AM PDT  A man was arrested in Florida after firing "four warning shots" and telling a mother and her son that they weren't social distancing in a hotel lobby.
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| Pelosi says House members who refuse to wear masks will be thrown out Posted: 29 Jul 2020 11:55 PM PDT  Nancy Pelosi has said lawmakers will be thrown out of the House of Representatives if they refuse to wear a mask, after the US recorded more than 150,000 coronavirus cases.Under new regulations announced on Wednesday, representatives must wear a mask at all times while in the chamber, removing it only to address the house. Face coverings may be removed temporarily in office buildings to eat, drink, hold meetings and do interviews.
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| Mass arrest of Black Lives Matter protesters in Omaha raises questions Posted: 29 Jul 2020 02:19 PM PDT  The mass arrests in Omaha, which were followed by a chaotic, crowded and prolonged detention process that carried well into the next day, have prompted backlash from local officials and civil rights advocates.
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| Portland has become the focal point of Black Lives Matter protests in America, but it has a tortured history when it comes to race Posted: 30 Jul 2020 07:10 AM PDT  For years in Oregon's early history, white locals barred Black people from living in its borders. It's now one of the least diverse states in America.
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| Spoiler alert? Kamala Harris outed as Biden's VP pick -- maybe Posted: 29 Jul 2020 02:07 PM PDT  Joe Biden's vice presidential pick has been one of Washington's best kept secrets but a supposedly accidental news publication and Biden's own teasingly displayed notes are raising expectations that the winner is Kamala Harris. Speculation over the choice of VP is a parlor game played every four years in Washington, but this time the stakes are unusually high. Biden would be 78 on taking office -- the oldest US president ever -- and he has hinted that he might not seek a second term, making his deputy the prime candidate to take on the party's nomination.
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| Holocaust survivors urge Facebook to remove denial posts Posted: 29 Jul 2020 03:58 AM PDT |
| New research suggests COVID-19 can spread via aerosol transmission -- and might affect tall people more Posted: 29 Jul 2020 06:40 AM PDT  A new survey has found more evidence to suggest that people can become infected with COVID-19 through aerosol transmission, which could be prevented by wearing a mask. Carried out by data scientists in the UK, Norway, and the US, the study is one of the first to investigate which personal and work-related factors can lead to COVID-19 transmission. After surveying 2,000 people in the UK and US, the researchers found that the data from both countries suggests that aerosol transmission of the virus -- via microdroplets which are so small that they remain suspended in the air for several hours -- is very likely.
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| Google's Sundar Pichai was immediately pounced on in the first question of the antitrust hearing, asking the CEO why Google steals content Posted: 29 Jul 2020 11:51 AM PDT  In his opening set of questions to Google CEO Sundar Pichai, David Cicilline revealed what the year-long investigation had found.
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| FBI says errors discovered in more than two-dozen wiretap applications were mostly minor Posted: 30 Jul 2020 04:59 PM PDT  The agency said its review of 29 applications to obtain wiretaps on U.S. citizens had only minor, mostly typographical errors.
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| Vatican Hacked By Chinese Spies: Report Posted: 29 Jul 2020 09:43 AM PDT  ROME—The offices that house the Vatican's computer network system were one of the few allowed to stay minimally staffed during the pandemic to ensure that God's work—as it were—continued unfettered. But in early May, weeks before Italy and the Vatican emerged from a draconian COVID-19 lockdown, a series of cyber intrusions reportedly took place, masterminded by Chinese hackers keen on eavesdropping on the Pope's plans for the controversial Catholic Church in China, according to the cybersecurity firm Recorded Future and reported in The New York Times. Is Pope Francis Selling Out the Chinese Underground Church to Its Government?One of the hacks used a fairly standard Trojan malware called PlugX Payload, which was woven into the coding on a cable sent from the office of the Vatican's secretary of state to Monsignor Javier Corona Herrera in Hong Kong. The letter expressed condolences from the pope over the death of a bishop, fairly standard practice in an institution built on rituals and traditions. But when the office in Hong Kong opened the cable, it unleashed the malware.The breach into the Vatican system allowed the deviants to then access the receiving computer network—in the case of the condolence letter, the Catholic Church's China Study Mission in Hong Kong. By sending what looked like a legitimate cable from behind the Vatican's secure firewall, the hackers could be sure the entity opening it would do so without suspicion, and unwittingly grant access. The act is called spear phishing which, unlike regular phishing, is highly targeted. The Diocese of Hong Kong was also targeted and the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions in Milan was also singled out. Recorded Future's report states that additional hacks were found using the same malware. "The first sample included a lure document spoofing a news bulletin from the Union of Catholic Asian News regarding the impending introduction of the new Hong Kong national security law," the report states. Another hack refers to the Vatican and uses a document called, "QUM, IL VATICANO DELL'ISLAM.doc" as the decoy. The document refers to the Shi'ite city of Qom and includes writings from an Italian Catholic academic living in Iran. "Although the direct target of these two lures are unclear, both relate to the Catholic church," Recorded Future states in the report. A source who worked in the Vatican's security office before being furloughed over the pandemic told The Daily Beast that one of the biggest fears the Vatican had was exactly what happened: being hacked by Chinese government operatives looking to derail important talks set for September intended to bolster the tenuous relationship between the Vatican and the Chinese Catholic Church. In 2018, Pope Francis broke a 60-year-stalemate between the Roman Catholic Church and the Chinese Catholic Church that grew from an attempt in 1960 for Beijing to set up its own Holy See, and shut the real one out. The Chinese Holy See was called the Catholic Patriotic Association and instead of accepting bishops chosen by Rome, as in nearly every other diocese in the world, they chose their own political appointees. During those 60 years, Chinese Catholics were only allowed to worship openly if they adhered to the Chinese Church's rules, which spawned an underground Catholic Church that instead followed Rome's orders. Those bishops have now been sidelined as part of the 2018 deal.The conflict is far from over, but the 2018 agreement between Beijing and Rome, which has never been published but is hailed as landmark, was set to be renewed and expanded next month. The most contentious aspects of the ongoing negotiations were being discussed between Rome and Hong Kong separately, so they could strategize about how to deal with China's insistence that they still choose politically appointed bishops and give the pope the opportunity to "bless" them but not remove or replace them. Those preparatory meetings between Rome and Hong Kong would have normally taken place in person to avoid exactly what happened but thanks to the pandemic, many exist in the form of secret cables. The Vatican has made no public statement on the matter, but an official told the Catholic website Asia News, "To say that China spies on the Vatican is like discovering hot water. By now espionage and hackers have become an international problem we have to live with."What happens next is worrying for the Vatican. The hack, now discovered, will likely stop here. But that might also mean the same thing happens to this crucial step forward for Chinese Catholics. 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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| A Black videographer got stabbed at the Portland protests, and he says it is because he is pro-Trump Posted: 30 Jul 2020 03:13 AM PDT  The video was released on Wednesday as Oregon Gov. Kate Brown announced that federal agents would withdraw from Portland.
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| Colorado restaurant owners who defied COVID lockdown orders and reopened forced to close business for good Posted: 29 Jul 2020 05:55 PM PDT  Jesse and April Arellano, co-owners of the C&C Breakfast and Korean Kitchen in Castle Rock, join Tucker Carlson with insight on 'Tucker Carlson Tonight.'
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| Trump loyalist who tested positive for coronavirus is America’s ‘dumbest’ congressman, says Lincoln Project co-founder Posted: 30 Jul 2020 01:14 PM PDT  The co-founder of Republican anti-Trump group The Lincoln Project has called congressman Louie Gohmert "America's craziest and dumbest congressman", following confirmation he tested positive for coronavirus.Steve Schmidt co-founded the Republican political action committee that is aiming to prevent the reelection of Donald Trump, alongside George Conway, the husband of the president's adviser Kellyanne Conway.
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| Barbie shuts down Donald Trump Jr.'s snide tweet about new campaign dolls Posted: 30 Jul 2020 07:57 AM PDT  Donald Trump Jr. has a theory about the new Barbie doll collection, featuring a Black female presidential candidate and her all-woman campaign team.
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| 260 Chinese boats fish near Galapagos; Ecuador on alert Posted: 30 Jul 2020 12:56 PM PDT  Some call it a floating city, a flotilla of 260 mostly Chinese fishing vessels near the Galapagos archipelago that is stirring diplomatic tension and raising worries about the threat to sharks, manta rays and other vulnerable species in waters around the UNESCO world heritage site. The Chinese fleet is "very close" to the edge of the exclusive economic zone around the Galapagos, which extends 200 nautical miles (370 kilometers) from the archipelago, said its governor, Norman Wray.
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| Exclusive: Chinese-backed hackers targeted COVID-19 vaccine firm Moderna Posted: 30 Jul 2020 10:47 AM PDT  Chinese government-linked hackers targeted biotech company Moderna Inc, a leading U.S.-based coronavirus vaccine research developer, earlier this year in a bid to steal valuable data, according to a U.S. security official tracking Chinese hacking activity. Last week, the U.S. Justice Department made public an indictment of two Chinese nationals accused of spying on the United States, including three unnamed U.S.-based targets involved in medical research to fight the COVID-19 pandemic. The indictment states the Chinese hackers "conducted reconnaissance" against the computer network of a Massachusetts biotech firm known to be working on a coronavirus vaccine in January.
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| Why some Americans say they'll never wear a mask — and what that says about the U.S. Posted: 29 Jul 2020 10:58 AM PDT  While the vast majority of public health experts now agree that wearing face masks could halt the worsening coronavirus pandemic in its tracks, some Americans continue to resist that guidance.
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| Former Taiwan president dubbed 'Mr Democracy' dies aged 97 Posted: 30 Jul 2020 02:45 PM PDT  Taiwan's former president Lee Teng-hui, who defied China and earned the nickname "Mr Democracy" for the part he played in the island's transition away from authoritarian rule, died Thursday aged 97. Lee's 12 years in office from 1988 to 2000 were marked by growing cross-strait tensions as he pitched himself against Beijing, infuriating Chinese authorities for daring to carve out a separate identity for Taiwan. Despite being self-ruled since 1949, Taiwan has never formally declared independence from the mainland and Beijing has vowed to react with force if it ever does.
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| Police Find Child’s Toy Bucket in Secret Sealed Cellar Being Searched for Madeleine McCann Posted: 30 Jul 2020 02:30 AM PDT  Police and cadaver-hunting dogs are on the scene in a backyard in Hanover, Germany, where a secret sealed cellar has just been unearthed in the hunt for missing Briton Madeleine McCann. The cellar was once under a garden shed on property where German pedophile Christian Brueckner, the latest suspect in the missing-child case, once lived. The shed was torn down years ago, but neighbors said Brueckner once spent hours inside. German Police Dig Up a Backyard in Search of Madeleine McCannPolice were seen Thursday carrying out a number of items from the cellar, including blue bags of forensic evidence and a child's bucket. McCann was just shy of her fourth birthday when she was snatched from her bed while her twin siblings slept nearby at a holiday rental in Portugal in 2007. Her parents, Gerry and Kate McCann, were dining with friends a few hundred yards away when she disappeared.The case, which has been closed and reopened by Portuguese police several times, has now picked up steam after German authorities identified the convicted pedophile, who is also under investigation for raping a 72-year-old woman. British police have never lost faith in finding out what happened, spending millions of pounds over the last 13 years on an investigation called Operation Grange, through which they have translated the Portuguese dossier and interviewed many key witnesses.But it is German police who have so far advanced the search for the truth. Initially they said they were sure McCann was dead, but provided no clues to back up their line of thinking. McCann's parents have not commented on the latest development on the case, but are said to be watching closely in hopes of finally finding out what happened to their missing daughter. 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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| Detained Portland protesters have to promise to stop going to rallies if they want to get out of jail, reports say Posted: 30 Jul 2020 04:50 AM PDT  "Defendant may not attend any other protests, rallies, assemblies or public gathering in the state of Oregon," said one order, per ProPublica.
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| SpaceX plans to bring 2 NASA astronauts back to Earth on Sunday, but Tropical Storm Isaias threatens their ocean splashdown Posted: 30 Jul 2020 03:34 PM PDT  After two months in space, Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley are supposed to splash down near Florida on Sunday. But Tropical Storm Isaias may intervene.
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| Herman Cain dies from coronavirus after being hospitalised following Trump’s Tulsa rally Posted: 30 Jul 2020 07:37 AM PDT  Herman Cain, a business executive and former Republican presidential candidate, has died after contracting the novel coronavirus. He was 74 years old.The prominent conservative businessman was hospitalised weeks after he attended President Donald Trump's rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on 20 June, where he served as a surrogate for the Black Voices for Trump committee.
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| Japanese court recognises ‘black rain’ victims of Hiroshima atomic bomb Posted: 30 Jul 2020 08:30 AM PDT  Nearly 75 years after the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, a Japanese court has ordered that 84 people who were exposed to radioactive "black rain" be made eligible for the same medical benefits as other survivors of the attack. The plaintiffs, the youngest of whom is in their late 70s, were exposed to radioactive rain immediately after the "Little Boy" uranium bomb exploded above the city on August 6, 1945, but were excluded from financial support for medical treatment because they were just outside the zone set by the government in 1976 for victims of the attack. For a few hours after the attack, rain that fell in the city and surrounding areas was black due to debris from the 15 kiloton blast and contaminated with fallout. The plaintiffs argued in court that they developed a range of illnesses, including different types of cancer and cataracts, as a result of their exposure to radiation and from food and water that had been contaminated. Ten of the people who originally filed the suit in 2015 died before Wednesday's ruling.
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| Charity urges release of 200 migrant children held in Libya Posted: 29 Jul 2020 07:44 AM PDT |
| Killer of Rafiki, Uganda's rare silverback mountain gorilla, jailed Posted: 30 Jul 2020 03:27 AM PDT  The Ugandan hunter said that he had killed the animal in self defence when he was attacked.
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| Former Chinese top banker pleads guilty to massive graft Posted: 30 Jul 2020 03:02 AM PDT  A former top banker in China pleaded guilty Thursday to illegally receiving over $12 million after being caught last year in President Xi Jinping's sweeping campaign against corruption. Hu Huaibang, former party secretary and chairman of the China Development Bank, had taken advantage of his positions to illegally receive money and goods worth a total of 85.5 million yuan ($12.2 million) between 2009 and 2019, heard a court in northern Chengde city. Hu pleaded guilty at the hearing attended by more than 30 people including national, provincial and municipal people's congress representatives, the report added.
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| Former U.S. Marine sentenced to 9 years in Russian prison for assaulting police officer Posted: 30 Jul 2020 07:23 AM PDT  The U.S. ambassador to Moscow has called the evidence against Reed "flimsy," and the latest example of Russia treating American citizens unfairly.
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| Was Belarus’ Arrest of Russian Wagner Soldiers Staged in a Ploy to Postpone Elections? Posted: 30 Jul 2020 04:04 AM PDT  MOSCOW—The videos were certainly not what Russians have come to expect from their country's secret warriors abroad: powerful men in unmarked uniforms imposing Russian influence on Syria, Ukraine, and Africa. These men were caught on camera by Belarusian security officers totally unprepared. Some were naked except for underwear, with documents, propaganda leaflets, and condoms strewn around their hotel rooms. Others wore vaguely marked uniforms. All 33 of them were military-age Russians hunkered down just outside Minsk a few days before Belarus' presidential elections.Belarusian state news agencies reported the soldiers served as Russian security contractors with Wagner, a Russian private military group close to the government. They were in the country for "destabilization" purposes before the elections, Belarusian officials said. Moscow denied any military involvement in Belarus, and some believe the mercenaries were simply using the country as a staging post on their way to or from their latest assignment. By arresting the Wagner soldiers, Belarus' embattled president Alexander Lukashenko is likely to be making many enemies in Russia. The Belarusian Security Council accused the arrested Wagner soldiers of preparing "a terrorist attack," the Russian Interfax news agency reported Thursday. The arrest and subsequent broadcast of the footage, which was aired by a Belarusian state channel, Agency of Television News, was all the more confusing as Belarus and Russia have been allies in an arrangement called the Union State for decades. Some of the men were shown in their underwear with hands twisted behind their backs. They had tattoos on their arms, and one uniform patch read: "Our business is death and the business is good." The state media report said there were more than 200 such soldiers plotting to upset the presidential elections next month. The Russian private security contractor, Wagner, has reportedly been sending combatants to eastern Ukraine, Syria, and African countries, including Libya, on deadly secret missions that give the Kremlin plausible deniability. When the Belarusian state media published the names of the 33 arrested soldiers, 17 of them matched up to a Ukrainian list of "war criminals" who fought on the Russian-backed side in the Ukraine war. Belarusian weekly newspaper Nasha Niva reported that one of the mercenaries, Andrey Bakunovich, was a commander of Wagner's group of snipers. The Belarus-1 channel quoted a source in the Belarusian intelligence agency, still called the KGB, as saying that several of the arrested private soldiers were Russian citizens who tried to avoid punishment by demonstrating their paperwork confirming they were serving in various Russian military forces. A well-known Russian nationalist novelist, Zakhar Prilepin, who fought in Ukraine, also said he recognized several of the arrested soldiers. "Hundreds of these people work in the private military forces and take part in various conflicts," Prilepin told a nationalist website, Russian Spring. The soldiers were merely using Belarus for transit on the way to foreign missions, he said. "It is going to be weird if now the Union State will start some political hysterics because of this story."But later on Wednesday, Russia's Federal Security Service, Russia's successor to the KGB, seemed to accuse Prilepin of talking too much. "I am surprised that some of our idiots confirmed that the arrested men are soldiers of our private military forces," a retired FSB general-major, Alexander Mikhailov, told reporters.The private forces known as Wagner are financed by Russian President Vladimir Putin's close friend Yevgeny Prigozhin, who owns catering companies and is known as "Putin's chef." "Whenever Putin needs to solve an issue abroad, his personal chef and close ally Prigozhin sends his soldiers," Sergey Parkhomenko, a political commentator, told The Daily Beast. "Prigozhin's corporation feeds the Kremlin and fights its wars." Longtime Belarus watchers, familiar with the almost three-decades-long rule of Lukashenko, suggested the arrests were a well-staged "performance" by Lukashenko, to perhaps win support from domestic opponents to Russia before the election on Aug. 9. For nearly 30 years, Lukashenko claimed up to 80 percent of public support, but his popularity has recently faded, along with his loyalty to the Kremlin, to Moscow's frustration.The macho leader, who is known for mocking women—and, recently, those who succumb to coronavirus—as weaklings, is now challenged by three liberal, pro-Western women in the election. For weeks, thousands of people have been protesting in Belarus, demanding to end Lukashenko's dictatorship; his approval rating has melted down to 24 percent, according to some polls. Lukashenko may be losing favor in the Kremlin, but in Putin's eyes, there is no doubt he is a better prospect than any of the liberal pro-Western female candidates.Lukashenko's longtime rival, ex-presidential candidate Andrei Sannikov, is convinced that Lukashenko and Putin had both been aware of the plans to arrest the Wagner mercenaries ahead of time. "Putin gives Lukashenko the license to stay in power and helps him with this Wagner scandal, to pretend the threat is too serious to continue the election race," Sannikov told The Daily Beast. "Putin is making a mistake, Lukashenko is a nutcase."At the meeting with the head of Belarusian KGB, Lukashenko commented on the arrests of Russian soldiers: "I'm looking at the reaction of the Russians. They are already making excuses, saying that we brought them here ourselves. Clearly, they try to, somehow, to justify their dirty intentions."Whether he was in on the plan to bring the soldiers to Belarus or not, Lukashenko is certainly trying to capitalize on the apparent Russian meddling. He could even try to postpone the election or cancel it altogether. "You and I should be worried about destabilization of the situation in our country most of all," he said after the arrests. "The issue of the presidential election is secondary."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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| Trump attended a fundraiser in Texas without a mask on the day the US hit 150,000 coronavirus deaths Posted: 29 Jul 2020 08:52 PM PDT  Trump was expected to attend the fundraiser with GOP Rep. Louie Gohmert, but the congressman tested positive for the coronavirus.
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| CNN host says Trump loyalist owes broadcaster an apology over video played at Barr hearing Posted: 29 Jul 2020 09:39 AM PDT  CNN host Jake Tapper has demanded that Republican congressman Jim Jordan apologise for playing an edited video that misleadingly showed reporters describe the George Floyd protests as "peaceful".On Tuesday, attorney general William Barr took part in his first congressional hearing since he took the role, and faced questions on topics including his response to the protests and the subsequent deployment of federal law enforcement agents to cities such as Portland, Oregon.
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| Chinese long-range bombers join drills over South China Sea Posted: 30 Jul 2020 04:27 AM PDT  China said Thursday that long-range bombers were among the aircraft that took part in recent aerial drills over the South China Sea amid rising tensions between Washington and Beijing over the strategic waterway. The exercises included nighttime takeoffs and landings and simulated long-range attacks, Defense Ministry spokesperson Ren Guoqiang said. Ren's statement appeared to distance the drills from recent accusations exchanged between the sides over China's claim to virtually all of the South China Sea, which it has buttressed in recent years by building man-made islands equipped with runways.
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| Maine shark attack: US woman killed by great white Posted: 29 Jul 2020 08:13 AM PDT  A retired New York fashion executive with a "zest" for life dies in a rare shark attack near Portland.
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| Man interviews Bernell Tremell on his support for Trump hours before he was killed Posted: 29 Jul 2020 09:20 AM PDT  On July 23, Adebisi Agoso was one of the last people to speak with Milwaukee community fixture and Trump supporter, Bernell Trammell, before he was senselessly killed.
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| Israel charges man who fled Gaza by swimming Posted: 30 Jul 2020 07:40 AM PDT  An Israeli court Thursday charged with "serious security offences" a Gazan who swam to Israel a month ago after falling out with Hamas, the domestic security agency said. Izz al-Din Hussein, a 24-year-old resident of Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip, was formerly a member of the Islamist group's air defence wing, Shin Bet said in a statement. Hussein, the Shin Bet said, later fell out with the Palestinian coastal territory's Hamas rulers and also had "personal problems with his family" and fled by swimming to nearby Israel on June 28.
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| Minnesota police make arrest in 34-year cold case using DNA, genetic testing Posted: 30 Jul 2020 01:29 PM PDT  "My mom loved to help people," her daughter Gina Haggard wrote in a statement read by police.
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| EU extends ban on American travelers - again - with US COVID-19 cases far outpacing European countries Posted: 30 Jul 2020 04:24 PM PDT  For the second time this month, the European Union extended its travel ban on Americans on Thursday, as U.S. COVID-19 infections continued to rise.
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| 'Zero Recourse': Frontline Workers Say Republicans' Proposed Liability Shields Threaten Their Safety Posted: 30 Jul 2020 12:31 PM PDT  Like millions of American workers, Mercedes Taylor, an overnight security guard at Houston's William P. Hobby International Airport, has been forced amid the worsening pandemic…
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| California, Florida and Texas see record rise in COVID-19 deaths Posted: 29 Jul 2020 08:35 AM PDT  The United States has registered 10,000 deaths over the last 11 days, the fastest surge since early June, prompting heated debates between the American public and its leaders over the best course forward. "In light of viral surge in our community, it's in the best interest of students and employees to commence the 20-21 school year at a distance," Miami-Dade County Public Schools said on Twitter. With the scheduled reopening of schools days away in some states, President Donald Trump has pushed for students to return to class while teacher unions and local officials have called for them to stay home.
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