| Biden uses virtual events to target battleground Florida Posted: 07 May 2020 12:13 PM PDT  Joe Biden ventured back onto the campaign trail Thursday, targeting the critical battleground state of Florida — but without actually leaving home. The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee is staying in his Delaware house amid efforts to slow the spread of the coronavirus, which has shut down most aspects of American life, including the presidential campaign. "It's great to be in Jacksonville today," Biden said, grinning.
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| Probable cause "clear" in Ahmaud Arbery case, authorities say Posted: 08 May 2020 10:46 AM PDT  "Probable cause was clear to our agents pretty quickly," the Director of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said Friday.
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| U.N. triples coronavirus appeal to $6.7 billion to help poor countries Posted: 07 May 2020 10:07 AM PDT  The United Nations on Thursday more than tripled its appeal to help vulnerable countries combat the spread and destabilizing effects of the coronavirus pandemic, asking for $6.7 billion to help 63 states mainly in Africa and Latin America. While the United States and Europe are in the grip of the outbreak, U.N. aid chief Mark Lowcock warned that the virus was not expected to peak in the world's poorest countries until some point over the next three to six months. The new coronavirus, which causes the respiratory illness COVID-19, has infected some 3.7 million people globally and more than 263,000 have died, according to a Reuters tally.
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| Woman heartbroken by Smithfield Foods' response to grandfather's death from coronavirus Posted: 08 May 2020 01:42 PM PDT  "I want you to know he died in the hospital alone, isolated, and scared," she wrote in an Instagram message to Smithfield Foods.
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| Michael Flynn Confessed. Justice Department Now Says It Doesn’t Care. Posted: 07 May 2020 11:43 AM PDT  It may not be a pardon. But the Justice Department has dropped charges against Donald Trump's former national security adviser Michael Flynn, who pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI.Retired Army Lt. Gen. Flynn, an important figure in the war on terror who gave Trump's 2016 run military validation, will avoid prison time after the Justice Department provided a deliverance on Thursday that Flynn had long sought. It is also the second redemption that Trump has provided the general, who served as his first national security adviser for less than a month. "The Government has determined, pursuant to the Principles of Federal Prosecution and based on an extensive review and careful consideration of the circumstances, that continued prosecution of this case would not serve the interests of justice," wrote Timothy Shea, the interim U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia and a former senior aide to Attorney General William Barr. Shortly before the filing, lead prosecutor Brandon Von Grack abruptly withdrew from the case.The Justice Department filing, in essence, portrays Flynn as the victim of an FBI frame-up job, and his lies to the FBI as legally marginal. Shea wrote that Flynn's lies needed to have been "not simply false, but 'materially' false with respect to a matter under investigation." Later in the filing, Shea referred to those lies as "gaps in [Flynn's] memory," rather than deliberate falsehoods Flynn conceded. "Even if he told the truth, Mr. Flynn's statements could not have conceivably 'influenced' an investigation that had neither a legitimate counterintelligence nor criminal purpose," Shea wrote.It was an astonishing turnaround since 2018, when a federal judge said to Flynn in a sentencing hearing, "arguably, you sold your country out." That judge, Emmet Sullivan, could still decide to reject Shea's filing and continue with Flynn' sentencing. Michael Bromwich, a former federal prosecutor and Justice Department inspector general, tweeted that the extraordinary move represented "a pardon by another name" and called it a "black day in DOJ history."Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said the decision to drop charges was "outrageous" and revealed "a politicized and thoroughly corrupt Department of Justice." Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) added, "If Barr's Justice Department will drop charges against someone who twice pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI and who the White House publicly fired for lying to the vice president, there's nothing it won't do, no investigation it won't taint."Neither Flynn nor his attorney, Sidney Powell, responded immediately to requests for comment.Speaking to reports on Thursday afternoon, Trump said he had no prior knowledge of the Justice Department's decision. "He was an innocent man," Trump said, of Flynn. "Now in my book he's an even greater warrior."The dropped charges follow a years-long groundswell from Trump's base, and particularly Fox News, to clear Flynn. His advocates claim that Flynn was set up by the same disreputable FBI figures who they believe persecuted Trump over phantom collusion with Russia.Flynn's guilty plea, in December, 2017, has been no obstacle to the narrative, particularly since Flynn sought afterwards, unsuccessfully, to withdraw his plea. His sentencing, initially set for February, had also been delayed.Last month, agitation for a Flynn pardon intensified after documents emerged from two of Trump's most hated ex-FBI figures, counterintelligence official Peter Strzok and attorney Lisa Page, discussing Flynn's fateful January 2017 interview with the FBI. Page asked when and how to "slip it in" to Flynn that lying to an FBI agent is a crime, something that Flynn's advocates believed showed the general being railroaded from the start. But veteran FBI agents and prosecutors have pointed out that the FBI is not legally obligated to inform an interview subject that lying to them is illegal. "Michael Flynn was very familiar with the FBI," said Stephanie Douglas, a former executive assistant director of the FBI's National Security Branch. "He would certainly have been aware of his obligation to provide candid and truthful information. His claim he was tricked and manipulated doesn't sound valid to me." Shea, in his Thursday court filing, suggested the FBI officials were "fishing for falsehoods merely to manufacture jurisdiction over any statement." In Shea's view, Flynn's lies were less germane to the prosecution than the FBI "lack[ing] sufficient basis to sustain its initial counterintelligence investigation," and its pre-interview position that it ought to close the investigation before speaking with the then national security adviser.Former FBI deputy head Andrew McCabe said on Thursday that the suggestion there was no reason to interview Flynn was "patently false, and ignores the considerable national security risk his contacts raised." He said Flynn's lies added to the FBI's concerns about his relationship with Russia. "Today's move... is pure politics designed to please the president," he added.U.S. Attorney Jeff Jensen, who was appointed by Barr to review Flynn's and other high-profile cases, said on Thursday that he concluded "the proper and just course" was to dismiss the case. "I briefed Attorney General Barr on my findings, advised him on these conclusions, and he agreed," he said.The FBI Didn't Frame Michael Flynn. That's Just Trump's Excuse for a Prospective Pardon.While serving as national security adviser, Flynn misled FBI interviewers about conversations he had with the then-Russian ambassador, Sergei Kislyak. In one of those late 2016 conversations, according to court filings, Flynn asked the Russians to avoid escalatory actions in response to sanctions and diplomatic expulsions then President Barack Obama enacted as reprisal for Russian electoral interference. Shea, in his filing, called Flynn's Kislyak calls "entirely appropriate on their face."The national security adviser's lies prompted the holdover attorney general, Sally Yates, to warn the White House that Flynn had given the Russians leverage to blackmail him. But it would take weeks before Trump fired Flynn over "an eroding level of trust" concerning misleading Vice President Mike Pence on the Kislyak contacts. By May, Trump was said to have regretted dismissing the general. Flynn in 2017 agreed to cooperate with Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation. The general avoided charges for taking $530,000 in unregistered money from interests connected to the Turkish government—something he only declared with the Justice Department after his downfall as national security adviser. During a sentencing hearing in 2018, a federal judge castigated Flynn for disgracing the uniform Flynn wore for three decades. "Arguably, you sold your country out," Judge Emmet Sullivan said. Two years earlier, on stage at the Republican national convention, Flynn had led a chant of "lock her up" about Hillary Clinton. Protesters outside Flynn's courtroom did not let the general forget it. Trump's enduring bond with Flynn is a testament to the importance of the role the general played in 2016.A host of national security officials, many aligned with the Republican Party, rejected Trump in 2016 as unfit to be president owing to his nativism, his penchant for brutality and his benign view of dictators like Russia's Vladimir Putin. Flynn was the exception. And the general was an exceptional figure. As the intelligence chief for the Joint Special Operations Command during the mid-2000s, Flynn is one of a select few people who can be said to have personally prosecuted the most sensitive missions of the war on terror. Michael Flynn Putting Mueller Deal at Risk in 'Dangerous' New TrialIt was a pivotal credential in another way. Flynn emerged from the war on terror endorsing Trump's view that the security apparatus, abetted by hidebound liberals and cowardly conservatives, had neutered the war on terror by refusing to see it was a civilizational conflict with Islam. "Islam is a political ideology" that "hides behind this notion of being a religion," Flynn told the Islamophobic group ACT for America shortly after the 2016 convention. His hostility to Islam informed his sanguine view of Russia, which both Flynn and Trump saw as naturally aligned with the U.S. against what they called "Radical Islamic Terror."It also meant that Trump and Flynn shared a common bureaucratic enemy. James Clapper, then the director of national intelligence, was a lead architect of an intelligence assessment finding Russia intervened in the election on Trump's behalf. In 2014, Clapper fired Flynn as director of the Defense Intelligence Agency. It was deeply embittering. Just four years earlier, Flynn had been hailed as an innovator after claiming U.S. military intelligence had misunderstood the Afghanistan war. While Flynn portrayed himself as a martyr, victimized by the 'Deep State' for daring to warn about radical Islam, Clapper and other intelligence leaders had fallen out with Flynn over what they considered an incompetent management style and an iffy relationship with the truth. Reportedly, Flynn believed Iran was involved in the 2012 assault on a CIA compound in Benghazi that killed four Americans, and claimed incorrectly that Iran was responsible for more American deaths than al-Qaeda. Aides referred to such untruths as "Flynn facts." Flynn facts did not disturb Trump. They validated his instincts on national security. Trump rewarded Flynn by making him national security adviser, one of the most important positions in the U.S. security apparatus. It was the first time Trump redeemed Flynn. Thursday's dropped charges represent the second. 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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| Despite masks, coronavirus fears, Norwegian CEO predicts cruising will 'bounce back very, very well' Posted: 08 May 2020 08:45 AM PDT  Newly flush with capital, Norwegian Cruise Line is already seeing strong bookings for 2021, CEO Frank Del Rio says.
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| Surviving COVID-19 Could Disqualify You From Military Service Posted: 08 May 2020 01:58 PM PDT  A ban could disqualify thousands from serving in the U.S. military.
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| Pence press secretary tests positive for coronavirus Posted: 08 May 2020 03:23 PM PDT  The news comes shortly after a valet who served meals to President Trump also tested positive for the virus.
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| Cuomo says he feels like for the first time New York is 'ahead of the virus' Posted: 08 May 2020 10:17 AM PDT  At his daily press conference on Friday, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said he feels like, for the first time, the state is "ahead" of the coronavirus because of efforts made to control the outbreak.
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| Russian hackers accessed emails from Merkel's constituency office: Der Spiegel Posted: 08 May 2020 02:03 AM PDT  Russia's GRU military intelligence service appears to have got hold of many emails from Chancellor Angela Merkel's constituency office in a 2015 hack attack on Germany's parliament, Der Spiegel magazine reported on Friday, without citing its sources. A spokesman for the German government had no immediate comment. Der Spiegel said federal criminal police and the federal cyber agency had been able to partially reconstruct the attack and found that two email inboxes from Merkel's office had been targeted.
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| A 1996 court declaration written by Tara Reade's ex-husband shows she spoke of harassment in Biden's Senate office Posted: 07 May 2020 11:12 PM PDT  "It was obvious that this event had a very traumatic effect on (Reade), and that she is still sensitive and effected (sic) by it today," Dronen wrote.
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| Off-duty officer body slams Walmart shopper irate over face mask rule Posted: 07 May 2020 07:28 PM PDT |
| Trump cryptically tells reporters 'a lot of things' might happen soon following call with Putin Posted: 07 May 2020 02:48 PM PDT  President Trump is celebrating throwback Thursday with Russian President Vladimir Putin.Trump told reporters on Thursday that he spoke on the phone with Putin and the two discussed the investigation into Russian election interference. That investigation determined that Russia had meddled to aid Trump in 2016, did not find prosecutable proof of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia, and did not determine whether administration officials sought to obstruct the probe.Reiterating his displeasure with the investigation, Trump said the "Russia hoax" was "very hard" on the U.S. and Russia's foreign relations. "And we discussed that," said Trump of his call with Putin, also noting he offered to send Russia ventilators to aid COVID-19 patients."Things are falling out now and coming in line, showing what a hoax this whole investigation was," claimed Trump, likely referencing the dropped investigation against his former national security adviser, Michael Flynn. "I wouldn't be surprised if you see a lot of things happen over the next number of weeks," he added ominously. "This is just one piece of a very dishonest puzzle."CBS News' Margaret Brennan noted that talk of the Russia "hoax" wasn't included in the White House summary of the call. As Bloomberg writes, the statement merely said "the two leaders also covered other bilateral and global issues." Trump did not elaborate on what "things" may "happen" regarding Russia in the upcoming weeks.More stories from theweek.com Trump says he couldn't have exposed WWII vets to COVID-19 because the wind was blowing the wrong way A terrifying mechanical dog is now stalking a Singapore park to make sure people stay properly distant Star Wars is reportedly bringing back Boba Fett
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| Coronavirus: Meat shortage leaves US farmers with 'mind-blowing' choice Posted: 07 May 2020 09:56 PM PDT  As the virus disrupts the food chain, millions of pigs could be put down without ever making it to table.
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| Brazil government warns of economic collapse in 30 days Posted: 08 May 2020 08:54 AM PDT  Brazil could face "economic collapse" in a month's time due to stay-at-home measures to stem the coronavirus outbreak, with food shortages and "social disorder," Economy Minister Paulo Guedes warned Thursday. Brazil, Latin America's biggest economy, is also the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic in the region. But far-right President Jair Bolsonaro - who appeared alongside Guedes, his free-market economics guru - opposes stay-at-home measures to slow the virus, saying they are unnecessarily damaging the economy. "Within about 30 days, there may start to be shortages on (store) shelves and production may become disorganized, leading to a system of economic collapse, of social disorder," Guedes said. "This is a serious alert." Bolsonaro, who has compared the new coronavirus to a "little flu," said he understood "the virus problem" and believed that "we must save lives." "But there is a problem that's worrying us more and more... and that's the issue of jobs, of the stalled economy," Bolsonaro added. "Fighting the virus shouldn't do more damage than the virus itself."
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| UN chief says pandemic is unleashing a 'tsunami of hate' Posted: 07 May 2020 09:52 PM PDT  U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Friday the coronavirus pandemic keeps unleashing "a tsunami of hate and xenophobia, scapegoating and scare-mongering" and appealed for "an all-out effort to end hate speech globally." The U.N. chief said "anti-foreigner sentiment has surged online and in the streets, anti-Semitic conspiracy theories have spread, and COVID-19-related anti-Muslim attacks have occurred." "And journalists, whistleblowers, health professionals, aid workers and human rights defenders are being targeted simply for doing their jobs."
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| DNA samples lead to arrest in 1987 murder of 17-year-old Ohio girl: 'Great to see justice' Posted: 07 May 2020 01:28 PM PDT  Using DNA to track down 67-year-old James E. Zastawnik, police made an arrest in the 1987 murder of an Ohio girl.
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| Relax Social Distancing? South Korea’s Giving It a Try—With Some Scary Results Posted: 08 May 2020 10:31 AM PDT  SEOUL—South Koreans may be proud of their record relegating coronavirus to the status of a relatively minor menace, but the kind of voluntary social distancing called for now is hard. If anyone doubted that, a new outbreak in one of Seoul's legendary nightclub districts provides an unsettling reminder.South Korea never locked down the way many other countries have, but it did enforce strict rules to keep people from getting so close to each other that the novel coronavirus could run rampant.The fresh outbreak that began last week started in gaudy clubs where the rules of common sense had been dissipating as the dangers of the coronavirus began to fade. No one was wearing masks, and social distancing had ceased to be a priority. Now the search is on to find everyone who might have been in close quarters with one person who was diagnosed as having had COVID-19.He was not identified publicly other than as the 29-year-old source of at least 18 cases, including three foreigners, in five clubs in Itaewon, which was once the stomping ground of American GIs near the former U.S. military headquarters in central Seoul. Officials feared the bug could spread among more than 1,500 people who'd been at those clubs renowned for noise, drinks, fast food at inflated prices, still more for hostesses at some of them. The clubs often are crowded late into the night.The sudden upsurge haunted Koreans just as the government this week was going through the motions of relaxing its strict guidelines, counting on everyone to observe "voluntary social distancing in daily life." Somewhat ambiguously after the incident, night club owners were advised to "restrict business" for one month, suggesting it would be a good idea to cool it—or maybe even close—voluntarily. They were also asked to write down the names of customers—invaluable for tracing future cases—and told everyone had to be wearing face masks. Oh, and, if more cases did break out, owners would have to pay medical expenses.By late Friday night, many owners and managers seemed to have gotten the idea. A lot of the bars were closed and the often crowded main drag through Itaewon was bereft of its usual weekend traffic. All of which supported the view of Son Young-rae, director of strategy at the Ministry of Health and Welfare, that we should expect the virus "inevitably to come back in daily activities," though clearly he was not thinking so soon.Son, talking about removal of strict rules before the news of the nightclub incident had gotten around, was confident, "When we have a second outbreak, the speed of the spread will be remarkably slow." Notice Son is not talking about if but when. A second surge is taken as a given.The outbreak in Itaewon may not be enough to warrant restoring rigid formal rules, but officials are wary. Son's superior, Kim Ganglip, vice health minister, said "when the social distancing campaign was in effect" an order on quarantine measures "was valid for nightlife establishments." Now "we will see if additional measures are needed."For now, while owners of nightclubs are expected to do as told, voluntarily or not, ordinary folks can decide for themselves whether to stand six feet apart or wear face masks. By next week, schools and libraries should be reopening, some faster than others. People can work out at fitness centers and go to theaters, and nobody's ordering them to line up six feet apart at cash registers in shops and restaurants.It's hoped that everyone knows enough to do that almost instinctively, even as a strict protocol remains in place for those entering the country from abroad.With at least half the new cases of the virus blamed on passengers off international flights, stringent testing remains in force at airports.The results of the test come back usually after one night at a government facility. The vast majority are negative, but new arrivals are still quarantined for two weeks with friends or relatives or, if on their own, in a spartan room for two weeks at a cost of nearly $100 a day, including meals deposited in carefully wrapped packages outside doors.The only exceptions are those on urgent business who plan to stay for just a few days. They can get a waiver from Korean embassies or consulates abroad after testing negative for the virus. So far only 200 people have gotten the waiver.No matter what, Son had to admit, "it is impossible to terminate or remove COVID-19." Rather, he said, "we can control the situation."At a virtual briefing for foreign correspondents for which they sent in questions, Son played up voluntary distancing even as coffee shops, stores, subways, and buses filled with rush hour crowds. The only sign that people were thinking seriously about COVID-19 was that most were wearing face masks.Some, however, chose to let them slip down below their noses and mouths while a few were no longer bothering to wear them at all.The Korean system, held up as an example before the world after the disease broke out in early February among members of a religious sect in Daegu, a major city 140 miles southeast of here, clearly has worked remarkably well. As of Friday, the Korean Center for Disease Control reported 10,822 cases, up 12 from the day before, including 256 deaths, no increase from the previous day. According to Worldometer calculations, COVID-19 has killed only five out of every 1 million people in South Korea. By comparison, there are 233 per million in the United States, where more than 76,000 people with the disease have died.As South Korea tries to relax restrictions, it is not counting on the population developing immunity any time soon. Son was realistic about the simple fact there's no cure yet for the virus and it's going to frighten Koreans, and the rest of the world, for at least another year or two, maybe longer."Until we have a vaccine or cure, we can have a reappearance," he said, citing the danger of the disease spreading from people who are asymptomatic—showing no signs of the illness and never tested. "It's very difficult to root out."Son spoke before Korean mayors and governors gathered in an emergency session to talk about new guidelines for the nightclubs that were going strong, at least until last weekend. Those who had visited the King Club, Club Queen, and Trunk Club, all places where the latest "super-spreader" had been, were advised to quarantine themselves.The possibility loomed of South Korea again imposing restrictions while Son and others defended the need for voluntary compliance rather than legal orders on social distancing and other common-sense strictures, including wearing face masks and washing hands.Kwon Jun-wook, deputy director general at the Korea Center for Disease Control, counted on what he said would be the "etiquette of people entirely participating" in "the Korean spirit" but acknowledged, "We all agree that the COVID-19 world is very different from the past."He portrayed Koreans as banding together against the disease and saw very little chance of many if any suffering from relapses, or recurrence of the bug once they've been tested as cured.On the basis of 300 cases so far in which tests have shown "reactivation of COVID-19," he said, "there has not been infection or contagion."Laboratory analyses on "whether there's a reactivated virus," he explained, showed that "reactivation was not clinically significant." In fact, while the virus was detected, there had "not been a single case" of anyone coming down with the disease that way.Kwon seemed somewhat less certain about the level of immunity as determined by tests for antibodies capable of fighting the virus, but did say "we have a detailed plan" that depends on cooperation from the Korean public, 70 percent of whom "usually agree to public health testing." One reason testing was readily accepted, he said, was a public health system in which all Koreans get extremely low-priced medical care.An important element in the battle is plasma from patients who are ill. "Plasma can be developed for finding a cure," he said, citing an ongoing "active investigation on developing plasma."Kwon was not optimistic, however, about coming up with the answer right away, or even this year or next. "We will have a concrete picture by next year," he said, but "the vaccine requires higher safety than the treatment"—often carried out in a life-or-death effort simply to save a patient by whatever means have a chance of working.Critical to Korea's success so far, in Kwon's view, was the decision to let people know what's going on, and to track down, via cellphone signals and other means, every place anyone diagnosed with the disease has been."Openness and transparency didn't just come alone," he said. Only after the outbreak five years ago of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), in which 38 Koreans died, was a law passed that requires information sharing.One result has been not only the willingness to cooperate but also the means to pass along warnings as soon as possible. The words "emergency alert" show up on the screens of mobile devices whenever a case is discovered and diagnosed, as happened at least twice on Friday. The first notice did not give out the name of the person but did reveal where he or she lived and had been."COVID-19 developed with huge speed," said Son Young-rae from the health ministry. "It was very important to carry out diagnostic tests actively."By attacking the spread of the disease quickly and aggressively, however, South Korea never resorted to lockdowns and shutdowns as in the U.S. and Europe."We will keep monitoring and controlling the system," Son said. "If the numbers are increasing, we will go back to the system we had in the beginning": social distancing.Not long after he spoke, millions of cellphones buzzed with another "emergency alert." Anyone who had been in those nightclubs in Itaewon, the message advised, "should stay home."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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| Indian train kills 16 workers laid-off in coronavirus lockdown Posted: 07 May 2020 08:56 PM PDT  An Indian train killed 16 migrant workers who had fallen asleep on the track on Friday while they were heading back to their home village after losing their jobs in a coronavirus lockdown, police said. Tens of thousands of people have been walking home from India's big cities after being laid off because of the lockdown to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus since late March. The driver tried to stop the freight train when he saw the workers on the tracks near Aurangabad town in the western state of Maharashtra, the railway ministry said, adding it had ordered an inquiry.
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| A phase two trial and a June goal: This week's updates on the race for a coronavirus vaccine Posted: 08 May 2020 10:07 AM PDT  Experts caution that even promising early results don't guarantee that vaccines will be widely available anytime soon.
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| Iran's president says an end to United Nations arms embargo is a 'right' Posted: 07 May 2020 11:22 AM PDT  The Iranian president said Wednesday that lifting a U.N. arms embargo on Tehran would be an "obvious right" and added a veiled warning of unspecified steps Iran could take if the embargo is extended, as the United States wants.
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| Feinstein Blasts Tara Reade: ‘Where Has She Been All These Years?’ Posted: 07 May 2020 02:55 PM PDT  Senator Dianne Feinstein (D., Calif.) on Thursday attacked former Joe Biden staffer Tara Reade, who alleges she was sexually assaulted by Biden in the spring of 1993.Feinstein said the allegations were "totally different" than those against Supreme Court justice Brett Kavanaugh."Kavanaugh was under the harshest inspection that we give people over a substantial period of time," Feinstein told CNN on Thursday. "And I don't know this person at all [Reade] who has made the allegations [against Biden]. She came out of nowhere. Where has she been all these years? He was vice president."Christine Blasey Ford, Kavanaugh's accuser, claimed that Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her in 1982, an allegation that was known by Feinstein's office before it was publicly reported in September 2018. Feinstein later denied that she or anyone in her office had withheld Ford's allegation for political purposes or had leaked the allegation to the press.Reade, meanwhile, called on Biden to drop out of the presidential race in an interview with Megyn Kelly released Thursday."I want to say: You were there, Joe Biden. Please, step forward and be held accountable. You should not be running on character for the president of the United States," Reade said.
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| Taliban founder's son appointed military chief of insurgents Posted: 07 May 2020 10:05 AM PDT  The son of the Afghan Taliban's late founder has been appointed as the insurgents' military chief in a political reshuffle to check the power of his predecessor, senior militant figures have said. Mullah Mohammad Yaqoob has been announced head of the military commission for the movement trying to overthrown the internationally-backed government in Afghanistan. His appointment was confirmed as the militants have significantly ramped up attacks following a withdrawal agreement with America. The appointment of the son of Mullah Mohammad Omar, the one-eyed founder of the Taliban, reins in the former military leader Sardar Ibrahim as the movement closes in on negotiations with the Afghan government. Mullah Yaqoob will keep his previous post as deputy to the movement's overall leader, Mullah Haibatullah Akhunzada, but will now also oversee military operations. Mullah Omar died in 2013, though the insurgent movement continued to release statements in his name until it finally admitted he was dead in 2015. Two senior Taliban figures told the Telegraph that the decision had been made at the insistence of factions in the Taliban and among Pakistan's military who still have influence over the insurgents. Ibrahim had been considered too hostile to Pakistan and too close to Iran, the sources said. Zabiullah Mujahid, spokesman for the Taliban, confirmed the appointment but would not comment on the reasons for it. The post of military chief has formally been vacant for several years, but Ibrahim has been de facto nationwide leader while officially deputy in charge of southern military operations. Ibrahim will remain as Mullah Yaqoob's deputy.
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| Navy nominee: Service is in rough waters, cites leadership Posted: 07 May 2020 10:40 AM PDT  The U.S. Navy is in "rough waters" and suffering from leadership failures, the diplomat tapped to be the next Navy secretary told a Senate committee Thursday. Kenneth J. Braithwaite, the ambassador to Norway and a retired Navy rear admiral, faced repeated questions about recent crises that have rocked the service, including the firing of an aircraft carrier captain who urged faster action to fight a coronavirus outbreak on his ship and the subsequent resignation of the acting secretary who fired him. Braithwaite said that Navy culture has been tarnished and trust in the service's leaders has broken down.
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| White men accused of killing Ahmaud Arbery won't face Georgia hate crime charges. Here's why. Posted: 08 May 2020 01:16 PM PDT  Gregory and Travis McMichael, who are accused of fatally shooting Ahmaud Arbery, a black man, will not face hate crime charges. Here's why.
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| EU executive defends China envoy over censored op-ed Posted: 08 May 2020 05:51 AM PDT |
| Tennessee is one of the first states to reopen during the coronavirus pandemic. Here's what life is like in my home state, which had crowded checkout lines at the grocery store even at the height of social distancing. Posted: 07 May 2020 10:01 AM PDT  Gov. Bill Lee issued a "safer at home" order in March but stopped short of a shelter-in-place citing personal liberties.
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| These are the most dangerous jobs you can have in the age of coronavirus Posted: 08 May 2020 04:34 PM PDT  For millions of Americans, working at home isn't an option. NBC News identified seven occupations in which employees are at especially high risk of COVID-19.
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| WHO says deliberately infecting volunteers with coronavirus might accelerate vaccine development Posted: 07 May 2020 05:28 AM PDT  The World Health Organization in a new report says intentionally infecting healthy volunteers with the coronavirus might accelerate the development of a vaccine.A WHO working group outlined the potential benefits of human challenge studies in a report this week, per Bloomberg, saying that this process of infecting volunteers in order to test potential vaccines "can be substantially faster to conduct than vaccine field trials" and may "not only accelerate COVID-19 vaccine development, but also make it more likely that the vaccines ultimately deployed are more effective."The report goes on to say that these "ethically sensitive" challenge studies must be "carefully designed and conducted in order to minimize harm to volunteers," although it notes that challenge studies for the COVID-19 coronavirus may be "thought to involve higher levels of risk and uncertainty" than others, especially given that "severe disease or death can occur in young adults." Initial studies should be limited to young volunteers between the ages of 18 and 30, WHO adds.Peter G. Smith, who co-authored a Journal of Infectious Diseases article on this subject, has suggested that these challenge studies would be at least four months faster than standard trials, Quartz reports, though he noted that "even if a vaccine worked in young people, there would be no guarantee it would work in the same way for elderly people." The Journal of Infectious Diseases article, Quartz notes, says a larger study to determine how the vaccine works in other age and risk groups, which could take several months, should come after a challenge study.Bloomberg also reports the the chief medical officer at Moderna, which is developing a coronavirus vaccine, recently cast doubt on whether challenge studies would speed up the process, saying, "As is often the case, the devil is in the details."More stories from theweek.com Sen. Joe Manchin forgot to mute a call with Senate Democrats while he went through an Arby's drive-through Trump reportedly got 'lava level mad' over potential exposure to coronavirus Did we just witness one of the nuttiest foreign policy blunders in American history?
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| Scientists obtain 'lucky' image of Jupiter Posted: 08 May 2020 05:44 AM PDT  The Hawaii-based Gemini telescope produces a super-sharp picture of the gas giant in the infrared.
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| US blocks vote on UN's bid for global ceasefire over reference to WHO Posted: 08 May 2020 02:07 PM PDT  Security council had spent weeks seeking resolution but Trump administration opposed mention of organizationThe US has blocked a vote on a UN security council resolution calling for a global ceasefire during the Covid-19 pandemic, because the Trump administration objected to an indirect reference to the World Health Organization.The security council has been wrangling for more than six weeks over the resolution, which was intended to demonstrate global support for the call for a ceasefire by the UN secretary general, António Guterres. The main source for the delay was the US refusal to endorse a resolution that urged support for the WHO's operations during the coronavirus pandemic.Donald Trump has blamed the WHO for the pandemic, claiming (without any supporting evidence) that it withheld information in the early days of the outbreak.China insisted that the resolution should include mention and endorsement of the WHO.On Thursday night, French diplomats thought they had engineered a compromise in which the resolution would mention UN "specialized health agencies" (an indirect, if clear, reference to the WHO).The Russian mission signaled that it wanted a clause calling for the lifting of sanctions that affected the delivery of medical supplies, a reference to US punitive measures imposed on Iran and Venezuela. However, most security council diplomats believed Moscow would withdraw the objection or abstain in a vote rather than risk isolation as the sole veto on the ceasefire resolution.On Thursday night, it appeared that the compromise resolution had the support of the US mission, but on Friday morning, that position switched and the US "broke silence" on the resolution, raising objection to the phrase "specialist health agencies", and blocking movement towards a vote."We understood that there was an agreement on this thing but it seems that they changed their mind," a western security council diplomat said."Obviously they have changed their mind within the American system so that wording is still not good enough for them," another diplomat close to the discussions said. "It might be that they just need a bit more time to settle it amongst themselves, or it might be that someone very high up has made a decision they don't want it, and therefore it won't happen. It is unclear at this moment, which one it is."A spokesperson for the US mission at the UN suggested that if the resolution was to mention the work of the WHO, it would have to include critical language about how China and the WHO have handled the pandemic."In our view, the council should either proceed with a resolution limited to support for a ceasefire, or a broadened resolution that fully addresses the need for renewed member state commitment to transparency and accountability in the context of Covid-19. Transparency and reliable data are essential to helping the world combat this ongoing pandemic, and the next one," the spokesperson said.While the force of the resolution would be primarily symbolic, it would have been symbolism at a crucial moment. Since Guterres made his call for a global ceasefire, armed factions in more than a dozen countries had observed a temporary truce. The absence of a resolution from the world's most powerful nations, however, undermines the secretary general's clout in his efforts to maintain those fragile ceasefires.Talks will continue next week at the security council to explore whether some other way around the impasse can be found.
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| Amid pandemic, Pompeo to visit Israel for annexation talks Posted: 08 May 2020 09:58 AM PDT  Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will travel to Israel next week for a brief visit amid the coronavirus pandemic and lockdown, a trip that's expected to focus on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's plans to annex portions of the West Bank, the State Department said Friday. Pompeo will make the lightning trip to Jerusalem to see Netanyahu and his new coalition partner Benny Gantz on Wednesday as the Trump administration tries to return to business as normal by resuming governmental travel and reopening an economy devastated by the COVID-19 outbreak.
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| Neighbor of father and son arrested in Ahmaud Arbery killing is also under investigation Posted: 08 May 2020 11:07 AM PDT  The investigation into the fatal shooting in Brunswick, Georgia, will also look at a neighbor of suspects Gregory and Travis McMichael who recorded video of the incident, authorities said.
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| India may see 0% GDP growth this fiscal year - Moody's Posted: 08 May 2020 12:48 AM PDT  The impact of the coronavirus outbreak will exacerbate the material slowdown in India's economic growth, with the country expected to see 0% expansion in the current fiscal year, analysts at Moody's said on Friday. The ratings agency said it expected India to see no growth in financial year 2021 and bounce back to a 6.6% GDP growth in FY22, while the fiscal deficit is seen rising to 5.5% of GDP in FY21 versus the budgeted estimate of 3.5%. The COVID-19 spread in the country has also "significantly reduced the prospects of a durable fiscal consolidation," it said in a report.
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| Instacart's army of shoppers has exploded from 180,000 to 500,000 since the start of the pandemic — and some workers say it's making the job more difficult for everyone Posted: 08 May 2020 10:35 AM PDT  Longtime shoppers told Bloomberg that Instacart's push for efficiency and a global pandemic have exacerbated already harsh working conditions.
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| Jetliner hits and kills person as it lands at Austin airport Posted: 08 May 2020 09:33 AM PDT  Southwest Airlines says pilot spotted the person shortly after it touched down and maneuvered to try to avoid the person.
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| China says Taiwan's bid to attend key WHO meeting will fail Posted: 08 May 2020 02:22 AM PDT |
| Sen. Kennedy calls for immediate hearings on Mueller probe revelations Posted: 07 May 2020 06:23 AM PDT  Republican Sen. John Kennedy reacts to the release of the 'scope memo' on Robert Mueller's Russia probe.
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| Trump news: Second White House staffer tests positive for coronavirus as president claims Joe Biden and Barack Obama tried to undo his election win Posted: 08 May 2020 01:20 PM PDT  While the president has met with governors to signal that America is ready to "reopen" amid the coronavirus pandemic, moving faster than public health officials have warned, he has instead found that the virus has reached the White House, while the number of infections in states that have eased quarantine measures continues to climb, against the president's own guidance.On Friday, Donald Trump revealed that a second White House staffer, the press secretary for vice president Mike Pence, has tested positive for the coronavirus. The news briefly halted the departure Mr Pence's flight to Iowa as those that had been in contact with the aide deplaned, according to reports.
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| Democrats press Trump for answers on foiled Venezuela raid Posted: 07 May 2020 02:00 PM PDT  Three Democrats on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee are demanding answers from the Trump administration about how much it knew about an attempted raid to capture Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, an operation they said potentially violated U.S. law and ran counter to American support for negotiations to end the South American country's political standoff. In a letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Attorney General William Barr and Richard Grenell, the acting director of national intelligence, the lawmakers led by Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut expressed "alarm" about the raid led by a former Green Beret and which has resulted in the detention in Venezuela of two American citizens.
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| Teenager Ran Away to Be With Boy She Met on Dating Site. A Week Later She Was Dead. Posted: 08 May 2020 11:14 AM PDT  A South Dakota teenager has admitted to slaying a 16-year-old girl who "ran away" from home to live with him after they met on an online dating website, authorities said.Michael Campbell, 17, pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter on Thursday for the death of Shayna Ritthaler, a 16-year-old from Moorcroft, Wyoming, who was reported missing from a local coffee shop on Oct. 3. Less than a week later, her body was found in the basement bedroom of Campbell's home."We got into an argument and then I shot her," Campbell said during a change-of-plea hearing on Thursday, before referring to the teenager as his girlfriend, according to the Associated Press. "I shot her in the head."Meade County State's Attorney Michele Bordewyk said in court that the two teenagers met on an online chat and dating website, Badoo. After weeks of talking online, the pair eventually planned for Campbell to drive to Wyoming so Ritthaler could "run away and live with him in his house," prosecutors said in court on Thursday, the Argus Leader reported.On Oct. 3, Ritthaler was seen getting into Campbell's car at a coffee shop about four hours outside of Cheyenne. Prosecutors say the 17-year-old then drove her back to his home in Sturgis, South Dakota, about an hour away.But back at Campbell's home that he shared with his mother, the teenagers got into an argument. While Bordewyk said it wasn't clear what sparked the argument, it escalated when Campbell grabbed a gun and shot Ritthaler once in the head. The 17-year-old shot her "without the design to cause her death," Bordewyk said, according to AP. When asked by Judge Kevin Krull if he had any justification for killing Ritthaler, Campbell replied: "No."On October 6, authorities found Campbell's car and questioned him. The next day, Ritthaler's body was found in his basement and the 17-year-old was arrested immediately.Many details surrounding the shooting remain unclear because a Meade County judge sealed the case's affidavit on Oct. 10 at the request of the county prosecutor who cited the "potential publicity" of a case that had a "sensitive nature."After his arrest in October, Campbell pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity with first and second-degree murder but changed his plea in Meade County Court as part of an agreement with prosecutors. The plea agreement dismissed the murder charges and recommended a 55-year prison sentence. He will be sentenced on July 10. Steven Titus, the teenager's defense lawyer, said Thursday that the killing was unplanned and said drugs and alcohol were involved. Krull also said that Campbell suffers from PTSD, but Titus said he would wait until sentencing to discuss his client's mental state.Titus said he planned to make a "compelling case" as to why the plea deal and the 55-year sentence was fair, while Bordewyk said three of Ritthaler's family members will make victim impact statements at the sentencing hearing. Campbell was being held on a $1 million bond at a juvenile jail in Rapid City. As part of his change of plea on Thursday, Krull told the teenager he was barred from making contact with the Ritthaler family for the rest of his life and he owed them more than $83,000 in restitution. 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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| Idaho governor appeals to Supreme Court to stop trans inmate's surgery Posted: 08 May 2020 03:03 PM PDT  A lower court had ruled that the prisoner's gender-affirming surgery is a medical necessity, and denying it constituted a violation of the Eighth Amendment.
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| Cruz gets his hair cut at salon whose owner was jailed for defying Texas coronavirus restrictions Posted: 08 May 2020 04:28 PM PDT  After his haircut, Sen. Ted Cruz said, "It was ridiculous to see somebody sentenced to seven days in jail for cutting hair."
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| Russia is fast becoming a coronavirus epicenter, with health workers still reporting PPE shortages. Putin is already thinking about reopening. Posted: 08 May 2020 04:19 AM PDT  On Thursday, the country reported its largest one-day increase in new cases of 11,231 — yet President Putin already has his eyes on reopening.
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