| Egyptian belly dancer sentenced to prison for 'sexually suggestive' posts amid social media crackdown Posted: 28 Jun 2020 04:17 AM PDT  A high-profile Egyptian belly dancer has been sentenced to three years in prison and received a £15,000 fine for sharing photos and videos of herself on social media that were deemed to incite "debauchery" and "immorality" in a country with conservative social norms. Cairo's Misdemeanours Economic Court said on Saturday that Sama El-Masry had violated family principles and values with posts that the public prosecution described as sexually suggestive, and that she had managed the social media accounts with the aim of committing "immorality". Ms El-Masry, who has over three million Instagram followers, denied the accusations, saying the content was stolen and shared from her phone without consent. She was arrested in April as part of an investigation into "suggestive" social media posts during a wave of arrests of female Instagram and TikTok stars on charges of promoting debauchery and prostitution on social media. "There is a huge difference between freedom and debauchery," said John Talaat, a member of parliament who asked for legal action against Ms El-Masry and others. He told the Thomson Reuters Foundation that Ms El-Masry and the other social media influencers were destroying family values and traditions, activities that were banned by the law and the constitution. Mr Talaat said the other influencers were expected to face the same prison terms as Ms El-Masry as they had committed the same crime. The court also ordered the 42-year-old dancer to be put under police surveillance for three years, according to news site Egypt Today. Ms El-Masry said she would appeal the sentence. Since President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi came into power in 2014, hundreds of journalists, activists, lawyers and intellectuals have been arrested in the name of state security. Young TikTok stars have become the latest target of Egyptian state authorities. In May, a 17-year-old girl posted a TikTok video of herself crying, saying she had been gang-raped by a group of young men. The authorities swiftly arrested her and charged her with "promoting debauchery". Two years ago, Egypt brought in a cybercrime law giving the government power to censor the internet and conduct surveillance of communications.
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| Trump signs executive order to punish vandalism against federal monuments Posted: 26 Jun 2020 06:20 PM PDT  Details of the executive order were not immediately released, but Trump said earlier this week that the order would "reinforce" existing federal law.
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| The SR-72: Going Hypersonic (And Being Loaded With Missiles)? Posted: 27 Jun 2020 04:00 AM PDT  No manned aircraft in operational service has matched the remarkable long-distance Mach 3 cruises of the Blackbird.
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| NC Lt. Gov. Forest threatens lawsuit over states coronavirus response Posted: 27 Jun 2020 06:40 AM PDT  Lt. Gov. Dan Forest speaks out against Gov. Roy Cooper's handling of COVID-19 pandemic.
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| Coronavirus: US has 'serious problem', says Fauci Posted: 27 Jun 2020 02:44 PM PDT  The infection is rampant in 16 states, some of which are now freezing their reopening plans.
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| 85 coronavirus cases have been linked to one Michigan bar, and patrons who recently visited are being asked to self-quarantine Posted: 27 Jun 2020 07:38 PM PDT  The restaurant said in a statement that it has closed temporarily and will eliminate lineups and install an air purifying system before reopening.
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| Connecticut and Rhode Island are the only 2 states where coronavirus cases are declining as the virus surges in the US Posted: 28 Jun 2020 09:22 AM PDT  Meanwhile, at least 36 states have seen a surge in new cases, and the US has reached a record 2,510,337 confirmed cases.
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| 'I pray it will finally be over': Golden State Killer survivors hope guilty plea brings justice Posted: 28 Jun 2020 03:00 AM PDT  Forty years later, suspect Joseph DeAngelo is expected to take a deal that would see him sentenced to life in prisonJennifer Carole sleeps with a small baseball bat nearby, keeps bells on her door and has taken multiple self-defense classes.Gay Hardwick never feels safe alone, and can't sleep with an open window.Both women's lives were forever changed by the Golden State Killer, a rapist and murderer who haunted the state for more than 40 years. He murdered Carole's father and stepmother in bed in their southern California home and sexually assaulted and terrorized Hardwick when she was 24.In 2018, California authorities said they had identified Joseph DeAngelo, a former police officer, as the suspect in at least 13 murders and more than 50 rapes attributed to the Golden State Killer between 1974 and 1986.Authorities have told some of the survivors that the 74-year-old DeAngelo will plead guilty on Monday – a deal that would see him sentenced to life in prison and would spare the state a costly trial. The Sacramento county district attorney's office would confirm only that a hearing is scheduled.DeAngelo was arrested in 2018 after law enforcement compared DNA from the crimes committed in the 1970s and 80s to that of users on the open-source genealogy website GEDMatch.Law enforcement had spent decades trying to solve the crimes, which spanned 11 counties, but the case gained renewed attention in 2016 when the Sacramento DA announced the creation of a task force to identify the killer, who has also been called the East Area Rapist and the Original Night Stalker, and the FBI put up a reward of $50,000 for information leading to his capture.The scope of the crimes, and long unidentified perpetrator, drew particular interest from the true crime community and spawned dedicated discussion boards. I'll Be Gone in the Dark, a bestselling book about the true crime writer Michelle McNamara's search for the Golden State Killer, brought wide attention to the case when it was released months before DeAngelo's arrest.DeAngelo is a US navy veteran of the Vietnam war and father of three and had worked as a police officer in communities near where the crimes took place. He was fired from his job at the Auburn police department in 1979 after being arrested for allegedly shoplifting dog repellant and a hammer from a Pay 'n Save store. DeAngelo worked at a Save Mart distribution center from 1989 until 2017, the Sacramento Bee reported, and in 2018 was reportedly living with his daughter and grandchild on a quiet street in a suburb of Sacramento.It was there he was arrested, in one of the communities the Golden State Killer had terrorized years earlier.For many survivors, DeAngelo's plea comes with mixed emotions as well as a fear that he could opt out of the agreement at the last moment."It's a difficult place to be in, to know that at any time he could change his mind and that he is highly manipulative. I won't believe anything until it is written in ink and approved," Hardwick said.Hardwick was 24 in 1978 when a man broke into the home she shared with her now husband, woke the couple up at gunpoint and sexually assaulted her. They survived and did their best to move forward, selling the home they felt unable to live in. But Hardwick suffered for years from undiagnosed post-traumatic stress disorder and the attack had long-lasting impacts on her career and emotional state and took decades to work through."I'm hoping and praying it is going to be finally over for all of us. Once and for all [I'll] know that he is in a place where he is never going to leave."The statute of limitations for rape convictions expired three years after the attack on the Hardwicks, but she said she considers the plea an opportunity for justice.Carole wanted DeAngelo "to have to face a courtroom and the evidence", but she thinks the plea deal is the right thing to do as it will save the state millions of dollars and spare his daughters from further pain. That DeAngelo is pleading guilty as US police face a reckoning over systemic racism and violence is particularly salient for Carole."We've got a dirty cop that had skills he acquired as a police officer and used to terrorize, rape and murder," Carole said.Carole's father, Lyman Smith, and his wife, Charlene, were bludgeoned to death in their Ventura home in 1980 when Carole was just 18. Her 12-year-old brother discovered the bodies. The family didn't learn the crime was the work of a serial killer for 20 years, and it was only after DeAngelo's capture that Carole realized the extent to which the murders had affected her life."I'm going to be really happy to have this be done. I'm tired of him having any real estate in my head," Carole said. But, she added, "you can't get your people back. You can't get your sense of safety back. He stole something from everyone in California that endured his terrorism."As Monday's hearing approaches, Kris Pedretti goes back and forth about attending. Pedretti became the Golden State Killer's 10th victim when she was sexually assaulted in her home at the age of 15."This is my one opportunity to hear this person who attacked me admit guilt," she said.Pedretti's attacker crept into her home days before Christmas in 1976, sneaking up on her as she played piano and threatening her with a knife before sexually assaulting her. It left Pedretti with post-traumatic stress, but in recent years she has found comfort through therapy and a Facebook group she created where sexual assault survivors can share their stories. Born out of a horrific crime she suffered at the hands of someone who sought to terrorize her community, Pedretti said the group has been healing."We share our stories. We share what books have been helping us. I am finally at a place in this journey where I can see some sunlight because I can use what I learned."
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| Trump's poll numbers are collapsing. But where will they be in November? Posted: 27 Jun 2020 09:26 AM PDT  Biden's way ahead in the latest polls. But election day is the only poll that counts.
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| Private Baptist university says student 'no longer enrolled' after racist TikTok post Posted: 27 Jun 2020 05:28 PM PDT  The school's president, Eric Bruntmyer, called the video, "Deeply disappointing and an unacceptable social media post."
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| France pulls plug on country's oldest nuclear plant Posted: 27 Jun 2020 11:19 PM PDT  France's oldest nuclear power plant will shut down on Tuesday after four decades in operation, to the delight of environmental activists who have long warned of contamination risks, but stoking worry for the local economy. Despite a pledge by then-president Francois Hollande just months after the Fukushima disaster to close Fessenheim -- on the Rhine river near France's eastern border with Germany and Switzerland -- it was not until 2018 that his successor Emmanuel Macron gave the final green light. Run by state-owned energy company EDF, one of Fessenheim's two reactors was disconnected in February.
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| Satellite images show buildup on disputed India-China border Posted: 27 Jun 2020 05:17 AM PDT  Construction activity appeared underway on both the Indian and Chinese sides of a contested border high in the Karakoram mountains a week after a deadly clash in the area left 20 Indian soldiers dead, satellite images showed. The images released this week by Maxar, a Colorado-based satellite imagery company, show new construction activity along the Galwan River Valley, even as Chinese and Indian diplomats said military commanders had agreed to disengage from a standoff there. China has said that India first changed the status quo last August when it split the state of Jammu and Kashmir into two federal territories — the territory of Jammu and Kashmir and the territory of Ladakh, parts of which are contested by China.
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| Air Force Takes Control of Joint DC Base Posted: 28 Jun 2020 06:58 AM PDT  After a decade of overseeing Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling in the National Capital Region, the U.S. Navy is handing over primary authority for the base to the Air Force.
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| He was arrested because of a computer error. Now he wants to fix the system. Posted: 27 Jun 2020 02:00 AM PDT  When Detroit cops called Robert Williams, he thought it was a prank. But he had been misidentified by controversial facial recognition technology.
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| Trump shares video of 'great people' shouting 'white power' at protesters Posted: 28 Jun 2020 01:04 AM PDT  Donald Trump has shared a video showing a supporter yelling "white power" at protesters in a Florida retirement community."Thank you to the great people of The Villages," the president said in a post to his nearly 83 million Twitter followers on Sunday morning. "The Radical Left Do Nothing Democrats will Fall in the Fall. Corrupt Joe is shot. See you soon!!!"
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| Italian teen moves closer to becoming 'patron saint of the internet' Posted: 28 Jun 2020 01:34 AM PDT  Italian boy, who programmed his home computer to catalog miracles and died at 15, moves a step closer to becoming the Catholic Church's first millennial saint.
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| Coronavirus updates: New US cases hit single-day record; as heat rises in places like Florida and Mexico, so do infections Posted: 27 Jun 2020 05:24 AM PDT  The U.S. hit a single-day record. Texas, Florida closing bars amid surge in cases. The Trump administration is considering new approach to testing.
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| Sen. Ernst proposes bill to end lawless zones Posted: 27 Jun 2020 06:34 AM PDT  Iowa Republican Sen. Joni Ernst explains bill to combat autonomous zones.
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| Biden campaign says 36% of senior staff are people of color Posted: 27 Jun 2020 05:06 PM PDT  Joe Biden's campaign says a little more than a third of its senior staff are people of color, sharing staff diversity data after facing pressure to answer questions on the issue. The campaign said that 36% of its senior staff are people of color, but did not disclose how much of its overall campaign staff are people of color. The Biden campaign released the data after the presumptive Democratic nominee was pressed at a forum on Asian American and Pacific Islander issues.
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| Canadian detainee's wife 'disappointed' Trudeau rules out swap with China Posted: 28 Jun 2020 05:04 PM PDT  The wife of one of two Canadians imprisoned in China said Sunday she is "disappointed" by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's refusal to consider a swap for a detained Huawei executive facing extradition to the United States. Trudeau firmly rejected appeals that he intervene in the extradition proceedings against Meng Wanzhou, Huawei's chief financial officer, in order to win the release of Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor.
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| Nicola Sturgeon urged by adviser to consider English visitor quarantine for 'zero-Covid Scotland' Posted: 28 Jun 2020 06:07 AM PDT  Nicola Sturgeon should examine introducing quarantine for English visitors to Scotland if the number of coronavirus cases south of the Border rises, one of her most trusted advisers has said. Prof Devi Sridhar, who has played a key role in helping Ms Sturgeon formulate her Covid-19 strategy, said Scotland was trying to eliminate the virus but England's strategy was to "reopen as soon as possible" despite having up to 6,000 new daily cases. She predicted Scotland could eliminate coronavirus by the end of the summer if the decline in new cases continues. There were no more deaths reported in Scotland on Sunday, for the third day running.
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| Brazen cartel attack in Mexico City opens new front in crime battle Posted: 27 Jun 2020 12:46 PM PDT  Mexico's bustling capital was once seen as a relative oasis in the country's raging drug war, but a shocking military-style assassination attempt on the city's police chief offers proof at least one gang is unafraid to shatter the peace. The hyper-violent Jalisco New Generation Cartel, or CJNG, was quickly fingered as the probable culprit by the wounded target of the attack, Mexico City security head Omar Garcia Harfuch, in a message tapped out on his phone shortly after the shooting, likely from his hospital bed. The 38-year-old Garcia Harfuch - who was shot in the shoulder, collarbone and knee during the attack - defiantly pledged to keep working.
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| Reporter Who Covered President Trump's Tulsa Rally Says He Tested Positive for COVID-19 Posted: 27 Jun 2020 08:01 AM PDT  Paul Monies told the AP that he covered the President's rally in Tulsa for around six hours
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| Army speaks out on Vanessa Guillen, missing Fort Hood soldier Posted: 27 Jun 2020 01:43 PM PDT  "We fully understand the frustration felt by the family, friends and fellow Soldiers of Vanessa," the Army said. "We are doing everything in our power to get her back."
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| Don't blame Sharia for Islamic extremism -- blame colonialism Posted: 28 Jun 2020 02:21 PM PDT  Warning that Islamic extremists want to impose fundamentalist religious rule in American communities, right-wing lawmakers in dozens of U.S. states have tried banning Sharia, an Arabic term often understood to mean Islamic law. These political debates – which cite terrorism and political violence in the Middle East to argue that Islam is incompatible with modern society – reinforce stereotypes that the Muslim world is uncivilized. They also reflect ignorance of Sharia, which is not a strict legal code. Sharia means "path" or "way": It is a broad set of values and ethical principles drawn from the Quran – Islam's holy book – and the life of the Prophet Muhammad. As such, different people and governments may interpret Sharia differently. Still, this is not the first time that the world has tried to figure out where Sharia fits into the global order. In the 1950s and 1960s, when Great Britain, France and other European powers relinquished their colonies in the Middle East, Africa and Asia, leaders of newly sovereign Muslim-majority countries faced a decision of enormous consequence: Should they build their governments on Islamic religious values or embrace the European laws inherited from colonial rule? The big debateInvariably, my historical research shows, political leaders of these young countries chose to keep their colonial justice systems rather than impose religious law. Newly independent Sudan, Nigeria, Pakistan and Somalia, among other places, all confined the application of Sharia to marital and inheritance disputes within Muslim families, just as their colonial administrators had done. The remainder of their legal systems would continue to be based on European law. To understand why they chose this course, I researched the decision-making process in Sudan, the first sub-Saharan African country to gain independence from the British, in 1956.In the national archives and libraries of the Sudanese capital Khartoum, and in interviews with Sudanese lawyers and officials, I discovered that leading judges, politicians and intellectuals actually pushed for Sudan to become a democratic Islamic state. They envisioned a progressive legal system consistent with Islamic faith principles, one where all citizens – irrespective of religion, race or ethnicity – could practice their religious beliefs freely and openly."The People are equal like the teeth of a comb," wrote Sudan's soon-to-be Supreme Court Justice Hassan Muddathir in 1956, quoting the Prophet Muhammad, in an official memorandum I found archived in Khartoum's Sudan Library. "An Arab is no better than a Persian, and the White is no better than the Black." Sudan's post-colonial leadership, however, rejected those calls. They chose to keep the English common law tradition as the law of the land. Why keep the laws of the oppressor?My research identifies three reasons why early Sudan sidelined Sharia: politics, pragmatism and demography.Rivalries between political parties in post-colonial Sudan led to parliamentary stalemate, which made it difficult to pass meaningful legislation. So Sudan simply maintained the colonial laws already on the books. There were practical reasons for maintaining English common law, too. Sudanese judges had been trained by British colonial officials. So they continued to apply English common law principles to the disputes they heard in their courtrooms. Sudan's founding fathers faced urgent challenges, such as creating the economy, establishing foreign trade and ending civil war. They felt it was simply not sensible to overhaul the rather smooth-running governance system in Khartoum.The continued use of colonial law after independence also reflected Sudan's ethnic, linguistic and religious diversity.Then, as now, Sudanese citizens spoke many languages and belonged to dozens of ethnic groups. At the time of Sudan's independence, people practicing Sunni and Sufi traditions of Islam lived largely in northern Sudan. Christianity was an important faith in southern Sudan. Sudan's diversity of faith communities meant that maintaining a foreign legal system – English common law – was less controversial than choosing whose version of Sharia to adopt. Why extremists triumphedMy research uncovers how today's instability across the Middle East and North Africa is, in part, a consequence of these post-colonial decisions to reject Sharia. In maintaining colonial legal systems, Sudan and other Muslim-majority countries that followed a similar path appeased Western world powers, which were pushing their former colonies toward secularism. But they avoided resolving tough questions about religious identity and the law. That created a disconnect between the people and their governments.In the long run, that disconnect helped fuel unrest among some citizens of deep faith, leading to sectarian calls to unite religion and the state once and for all. In Iran, Saudi Arabia and parts of Somalia and Nigeria, these interpretations triumphed, imposing extremist versions of Sharia over millions of people.In other words, Muslim-majority countries stunted the democratic potential of Sharia by rejecting it as a mainstream legal concept in the 1950s and 1960s, leaving Sharia in the hands of extremists.But there is no inherent tension between Sharia, human rights and the rule of law. Like any use of religion in politics, Sharia's application depends on who is using it – and why.Leaders of places like Saudi Arabia and Brunei have chosen to restrict women's freedom and minority rights. But many scholars of Islam and grassroots organizations interpret Sharia as a flexible, rights-oriented and equality-minded ethical order. Religion and the law worldwideReligion is woven into the legal fabric of many post-colonial nations, with varying consequences for democracy and stability.After its 1948 founding, Israel debated the role of Jewish law in Israeli society. Ultimately, Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion and his allies opted for a mixed legal system that combined Jewish law with English common law. In Latin America, the Catholicism imposed by Spanish conquistadors underpins laws restricting abortion, divorce and gay rights.And throughout the 19th century, judges in the U.S. regularly invoked the legal maxim that "Christianity is part of the common law." Legislators still routinely invoke their Christian faith when supporting or opposing a given law. Political extremism and human rights abuses that occur in those places are rarely understood as inherent flaws of these religions. When it comes to Muslim-majority countries, however, Sharia takes the blame for regressive laws – not the people who pass those policies in the name of religion.Fundamentalism and violence, in other words, are a post-colonial problem – not a religious inevitability. For the Muslim world, finding a system of government that reflects Islamic values while promoting democracy will not be easy after more than 50 years of failed secular rule. But building peace may demand it.This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts.Read more: * What Sharia means: 5 questions answered * How Islamic law can take on ISIS * Trump's travel ban is just one of many US policies that legalize discrimination against MuslimsMark Fathi Massoud has received fellowships from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the American Council of Learned Societies, the Andrew Mellon Foundation, Fulbright-Hays, and the University of California. Any views expressed here are the author's responsibility.
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| Opposition wins historic rerun of Malawi's presidential vote Posted: 27 Jun 2020 10:13 AM PDT  The opposition has won Malawi's historic rerun of the presidential election, the first time a court-overturned vote in Africa has led to the defeat of an incumbent leader. Lazarus Chakwera's victory late Saturday was a result of months of determined street protests in the southern African nation, and of a unanimous decision by the Constitutional Court that widespread irregularities in the May 2019 election — including the use of correction fluid on ballots —could not stand. President Peter Mutharika, who had sought a second five-year term, earlier Saturday called the rerun of the election "the worst in Malawi's history."
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| After yearlong fight, Missouri's lone abortion clinic gets its license renewed Posted: 27 Jun 2020 09:03 AM PDT  That means the state's lone clinic is set to continue operating through at least 2021.
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| Virus-hit Iran says masks compulsory from next week Posted: 28 Jun 2020 04:08 AM PDT  Iran said Sunday it will make mask-wearing mandatory in certain areas and has allowed virus-hit provinces to reimpose restrictions, as novel coronavirus deaths mounted in the Middle East's worst-hit country. The new steps were announced as Iran counted 144 new fatalities from the COVID-19 disease, its highest death toll for a single day in almost three months. The Islamic republic has refrained from enforcing full lockdowns to stop the pandemic's spread, and the use of masks and protective equipment has been optional in most areas.
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| Headteachers may refuse to fine parents who keep children at home in September Posted: 28 Jun 2020 12:11 PM PDT  Headteachers have threatened to undermine the Government's plan to reopen schools in September by refusing to punish parents who keep their children at home. Teaching unions said many would use a loophole in the law to avoid levying fines on parents failing to send their children to classes. Some headteachers, however, urged the Government to tighten the rules to ensure that parents without a valid excuse are fined for the non-attendance of their children. It comes amid widespread fears that continuing school closures risk harming the life chances of a generation of children. This week, Gavin Williamson, the Education Secretary, is expected to announce that attendance will be compulsory when primary and secondary schools fully reopen in September. That means parents who refuse to send their children to lessons because of coronavirus fears will face fines of £60, rising to £120. If they refuse to pay and are then prosecuted, the maximum penalty rises to £2,500 and three months in prison.
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| Trump visits private golf course as US battles rapid surge in coronavirus cases Posted: 27 Jun 2020 09:18 AM PDT  US president heads to Virginia a day after saying he'd stay in Washington DC to 'make sure law and order is enforced' amid ongoing anti-racism protests * Coronavirus in the US – follow live updatesDonald Trump visited one of his own private golf courses in Virginia on Saturday as America continued to see fallout from a rapid surge in coronavirus cases. The trip came a day after the US president said he would stay in Washington DC to "make sure law and order is enforced" amid ongoing anti-racism protests.The president has been frequently criticized for the scale of his golfing habit while in office. CNN – which tallies his golfing activities – said the visit to the Trump National course in Loudon county, just outside Washington DC, was the 271st of his presidency – putting him at an average of golfing once every 4.6 days since he's been in office. His predecessor, Barack Obama, golfed 333 rounds over the two terms of his presidency, according to NBC.The visit comes as the number of confirmed new coronavirus cases per day in the US hit an all-time high of 40,000, according to figures released by Johns Hopkins on Friday. Many states are now seeing spikes in the virus with Texas, Florida and Arizona especially badly hit after they reopened their economies – a policy they are now pausing or reversing.Trump has been roundly criticized for a failure to lead during the coronavirus that has seen America become by far the worst hit country in the world. Critics in particular point to his failure to wear a mask, holding campaign rallies in coronavirus hot spots and touting baseless conspiracy theories about cures, such as using bleach.On Friday night Trump tweeted that he was cancelling a weekend trip to his Bedminster, New Jersey golf course because of the protests which have rocked the capital, including taking down statues of confederate figures."I was going to go to Bedminster, New Jersey, this weekend, but wanted to stay in Washington, D.C. to make sure LAW & ORDER is enforced. The arsonists, anarchists, looters, and agitators have been largely stopped," he tweeted.Trump's latest visit to the golf course put him in the way of some opposition. According to a White House pool media report: "A small group of protesters at the entrance to the club held signs that included, 'Trump Makes Me Sick' and 'Dump Trump'. A woman walking a small white dog nearby also gave the motorcade a middle finger salute."It is not yet known if Trump actually played a round of golf. But a photographer captured the president wearing a white polo shirt and a red cap, which is among his common golfing attire.
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| How a New York High School Teacher With Mob Ties Allegedly Bribed a DEA Agent Posted: 28 Jun 2020 02:01 AM PDT  By all accounts, Michael Masecchia seemed like an average English teacher at Grover Cleveland High School—a central Buffalo school whose most notable alumni include an NFL defensive end and a former U.N. official. The father of two had worked in the Buffalo public school system for more than 30 years, in which he taught at least 25,000 students and coached hundreds more in football, softball, and soccer. In 2018, his salary was around $76,949, according to court records, almost 30 percent more than his peers. But one former student recalled that the 54-year-old "kind of blended into the background at school—like he was involved in the school but not too much as to call too much attention to himself." Terrence M. Connors, a lawyer for the teacher, said Masecchia had "a great rapport with his students" and was once an "exceptional college football player."So when Masecchia was arrested in August 2019 on federal drug charges—after authorities raided his two-story Williamsville home to find a large cache of guns, several homemade explosives, and drugs—the school community was stunned. Masecchia was accused of growing and selling marijuana for more than 20 years. "When one is involved in drug trafficking and has a cache of weapons at their ready access including explosive devices—certainly if I'm a parent, I don't want my kid to be taught by that person," U.S. Attorney James Kennedy, Jr. said in an Aug. 29 press conference, before alluding the charges were "a part of a much larger and ongoing organized crime and public corruption investigation, so stay tuned."The upstate New York community now has an answer to the prosecutor's ominous warning: Masecchia was allegedly a member or associate of the Mafia who bribed a DEA agent to protect his decades-long drug scheme. "I'm still in shock over the whole thing. Mr. Masecchia is the last person I would expect," the student told The Daily Beast. "This is straight out of a movie."In a twist worthy of The Sopranos, prosecutors allege former DEA Agent Joseph Bongiovanni blocked several investigations into Masecchia, provided him with information on drug investigations and cooperating sources—and even at times using and selling cocaine—after receiving at least $250,000 in bribes."Masecchia had been a target or subject of several DEA cases during... Bongiovanni's venture as a DEA special agent," the 37-page indictment, filed earlier this month by the U.S. Attorney's Office Western District of New York, said. "[But] Masecchia was never arrested or charged in any DEA cases or investigations."While Bongiovanni, who retired from the DEA in February, was charged last November with accepting bribes to shield his friends with ties to organized crime, this month's indictment is the first time prosecutors have publicly linked the two men. It's also the first time investigators have accused Masecchia of being a friend and associate of "Italian Organized Crime" in upstate New York. "Masecchia is an associate and possibly made member of the Buffalo LCN family," a July 2013 email sent to Bongiovanni from a fellow member of law enforcement said. The officer was referring to La Cosa Nostra, the Sicilian Mafia organization that has been active across the U.S. Northeast since the 1920s. Bongiovanni, 56, is now facing a slew of charges, including conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to distribute controlled substances, accepting a bribe, and obstruction of justice. Masecchia was also charged with several crimes, including conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to distribute controlled substances, and maintaining a drug-involved premises. Both men, who have pleaded not guilty and are expected to face trial in November, could get decades in prison. "Mike Masecchia is a long tenured, high school teacher and a well respected member of the Western New York community," Connors, Masecchia's lawyer, told The Daily Beast. "He is not now nor has he ever been, as the government alleges, a member of 'Italian Organized Crime' if, in fact, that designation even exists."The new indictment "doesn't change much as far as we're concerned," James P. Harrington, who is representing Bongiovanni, told WHBW. "My client still professes his innocence and we look forward to defending him at trial."Families for both men did not respond to The Daily Beast's request for comment. A rat in the ranksIn 2008, Bongiovanni and Masecchia started working together to defraud the DEA in a conspiracy that, according to the indictment, hinged on Bongiovanni's access to information about criminal investigations.It's not clear how the pair met or first came into contact with one another. But, over a nearly decade-long collaboration, Masecchia paid Bongiovanni at least $250,000 in exchange for regular debriefs, prosecutors allege. During frequent meetings, the DEA agent would allegedly provide information he obtained through fellow law-enforcement colleges, or state and DEA deconfliction databases—which would alert him if other agents were looking into any of the people he had under his protection. The duo also allegedly conspired to distribute marijuana and cocaine between 2008 and 2019, the indictment states.Pandemic Puts the Screws to New York's Mafia. In Italy, the Mobs Are Thriving.But Masecchia was only one of several Mafia-related figures to benefit from Bongiovanni's position of power. Prosecutors allege Bongiovanni went to great lengths to protect himself and several people who were paying him for protection. He allegedly created his own DEA case file on his co-conspirators so he could funnel all DEA information towards himself and keep tabs on colleagues seeking to investigate his associates.For example, after a fellow DEA agent conducted surveillance on a Buffalo warehouse in June 2013 that was controlled by someone Bongiovanni had been in cahoots with, Bongiovanni advised his colleague to discontinue the surveillance due to his own open investigation. A month later, Bongiovanni emailed the U.S. Attorney's Office and a special agent with the IRS with an update on his fake investigation. "We are working on a GPS warrant for trackers to locate these grow operation [sic] a CI [confidential informant] reported they are turning the grow over in 8 to 9 weeks. Joe." Bongiovanni then wrote in a September 2013 DEA report that agents were waiting for the U.S. Attorney's Office to utilize GPS trackers for the investigation. He continued to lie in reports and made misleading statements to others in law enforcement to delay any legal action, prosecutors allege. "After feigning legitimate investigation for a period of time so that information about his co-conspirators, and anyone seeking to cooperate against them, would be funneled towards him, the defendant Bongiovanni closed the DEA file," the indictment states, noting that "even with the file closed, he would continue to receive deconfliction notices related to individuals under his protection."The 56-year-old also allegedly lied to his fellow DEA agents, made cover stories for his co-conspirators and even owned, sold, and used the drugs he helped protect. In one instance, Bongiovanni allegedly told an associate to pass himself off as a potential informant if he was ever questioned about their relationship. 'Get her out' of the clubThe indictment details the lengths Bongiovanni allegedly went to from late 2009 onwards to protect an individual identified in court documents as "Co-conspirator 1," who was paying Bongiovanni. In one instance, Co-conspirator 1 violated the terms of his federal supervised release from prison. So Bongiovanni called the U.S. Probation officer to "mitigate any sanctions that might have been imposed." Days later, Bongiovanni allegedly lied in a DEA report that Co-conspirator 1 had acted as a "confidential source" and had provided information to the DEA in narcotics investigations.In June 2016, Bongiovanni attempted to dissuade another special agent from subpoenaing phone records of contacts between him and Co-conspirator 1 by asking his colleague if he "hate[d] Italians." Two months later, Co-conspirator 1 called Bongiovanni after "a stripper overdosed on drugs at a gentlemen's club" he operated in Cheektowaga, New York. Bongiovanni, according to the indictment, told him to "get her out" of the club."It should be known that any contact I have had with [Co-conspirator 1] in the past was minimal in-person contact and primarily consisted of random telephonic communication based on the fact we were childhood friends," Bongiovanni would later write in a November 2018 DEA memo. "I would sometimes randomly encounter [Co-conspirator 1] at a restaurant or golf outing and have not made plans to meet him socially in several years."On Bongiovanni's last day on the job with the DEA in February 2019, he wiped all the data off his phone and removed the DEA case file against those who were paying him—before hiding it in the basement of his home. Five months later, federal and county investigators raided Masecchia's home on Main Street in Williamsville—a beige home with a basketball hoop at the end of the driveway, just blocks away from SUNY Erie Community College and the Country Club of Buffalo. Inside, authorities found an eye-popping haul, including marijuana, cocaine, steroids, hypodermic needles, THC edibles, seven homemade explosives, two rifles, five shotguns, various rounds of ammunition, four cellphones and $27,950 in cash that was hidden in "clothing and rubber banded in two bundles." New York's Last Bigtime Mafia Boss, Gets Sendoff From His 'Spark Plug'According to Masecchia's original criminal complaint, the homemade explosives were packed with flash powder and sealed with a hot glue gun. Prosecutors allege that Masecchia has distributed at least 1,000 kilograms of marijuana since 1999 and Erie County Sheriff's records show that one of the shotguns found at his home was reported stolen in September 2015.After his arrest, the Buffalo Public Schools said Masecchia had been "placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the legal process." The school district did not respond to The Daily Beast's request for comment. "All these dangerous items were possessed by an individual who has access to children on a daily basis," Kennedy, the U.S. Attorney, said after Masecchia's arrest, noting that the teacher lived across the street from another high school. 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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| Hong Kongers march in silent protest against national security laws Posted: 28 Jun 2020 01:25 AM PDT  The proposed national security laws were discussed by the National People's Congress Standing Committee on Sunday in Beijing at a three-day meeting.
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| The H-20 Stealth Bomber: China's Biggest Threat to the U.S.? Posted: 27 Jun 2020 08:30 AM PDT  The bomber, which has yet to be revealed, is expected to enter service in the mid-2020s.
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| Photos show how one of the world's largest slums defied the odds and contained its coronavirus outbreak Posted: 28 Jun 2020 01:14 AM PDT  The Dharavi slum in Mumbai, India, managed to contain its COVID-19 outbreak through meticulous mass testing and strict containment.
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| Young novice protest leaders help drive US wave of dissent Posted: 27 Jun 2020 08:11 AM PDT  Before George Floyd stopped pleading for air beneath a police officer's knee, 19-year-old Weidmayer Pierre was planning to work at Wal-Mart during his summer break from Palm Beach State College. Pierre has quit his retail job to focus on organizing Black Lives Matter protests every few days in Florida, determined to channel the groundswell of energy around the world into meaningful reform in his hometown. "Every time someone gets killed by police brutality we protest once or twice and it's done," said Pierre, who wants to help police improve the system from within.
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| Saudi Arabia says it forces three Iranian boats out of its waters Posted: 27 Jun 2020 11:46 AM PDT |
| Vice President Pence set to address thousands of worshippers in Dallas amid Texas coronavirus spike Posted: 26 Jun 2020 08:42 PM PDT  Insight from Fox News contributor Robert Jeffress, pastor of First Baptist Church in Dallas, and Fox News medical contributor Dr. Marc Siegel.
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| The US still does a wretched job of teaching Black history. An expert in African American history education explains how to fix it. Posted: 27 Jun 2020 07:00 AM PDT  An expert in African American history education, LaGarrett King, breaks down the school system's flaws and explains how to teach Black history better.
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| New Numbers Showing Coronavirus Spread Intrude on a White House in Denial Posted: 27 Jun 2020 07:28 AM PDT  WASHINGTON -- In the past week, President Donald Trump hosted an indoor campaign rally for thousands of cheering, unmasked supporters even as a deadly virus spread throughout the country. He began easing up on restrictions that had been in place at the White House since Washington instituted a stay-at-home order in response to the coronavirus in March, and he invited the president of Poland to a day of meetings. Then, Thursday, he flew to Wisconsin to brag about an economic recovery that he said was just around the corner.But by Friday, it was impossible to fully ignore the fact that the pandemic the White House has for weeks insisted was winding down has done just the opposite.The rising numbers in Texas, Florida and Arizona made that clear, as well as the reality that those are all states where the president and his Republican allies had urged people to return to normal.In a reflection of a growing sense of anxiety over the new numbers, Vice President Mike Pence and members of the coronavirus task force held a public briefing for the first time in two months. But ever loyal to Trump's desire for good news, Pence tried to tiptoe around the statistics that Dr. Deborah L. Birx, the task force coordinator, pointed to, showing surging cases and hospitalizations in Florida, Texas, Arizona and other states."We have made a truly remarkable progress in moving our nation forward," the vice president said. "We've all seen the encouraging news as we open up," he added, dismissing any suggestion that the outbreaks across the South should prompt a return to the shutdowns that Trump so badly wants to be over. "The reality is we're in a much better place."Refusing to wear a mask even as the health officials next to him did, Pence described the recent outbreaks across the country as little more than the product of increased testing among younger, more healthy Americans who should be less likely to get seriously ill from the coronavirus even as they spread it to others."Very encouraging news," he said.But Pence's comments came against the backdrop of a very different message from Birx and Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert, who warned of a broken testing system and said the outbreaks could engulf the country."If we don't extinguish the outbreak, sooner or later, even ones that are doing well are going to be vulnerable to the spread," he warned. "So we need to take that into account because we are all in it together. And the only way we're going to end it is by ending it together."The return of the televised task force news conference -- at which reporters were limited to only a handful of questions -- revived the deep disconnect between Washington and the states where local officials spent Friday sounding the alarm and, in some cases, halting the reopening that Trump has so often encouraged.In Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican who has resisted rolling back the economic reopening, banned drinking in bars after saying that patrons were not abiding by social distancing rules. In Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott, also a Republican, went further, ordering all bars closed in the state. And Judge Lina Hidalgo of Harris County, the largest county in Texas, reimposed stay-at-home orders Friday, calling the rise in cases there "a catastrophic and unsustainable situation."Taken together, it was grim news about a pandemic that is still a threat to the public's health, the nation's economy and the president's political future.At a time when his poll numbers now call into question whether he can win a second term in November, Trump faces the prospect that his efforts to boost the economy by shrugging off the virus have backfired. Rather than head into the summer with a country on the mend, the president will be forced to explain how his response to the coronavirus contributed to a resurgence of it that may force some Americans back into a painful shutdown.And yet Trump made no appearance at the task force briefing to demonstrate concern. Instead, an hour after it was over, the president addressed a panel of industry officials, political allies and White House economic advisers for a self-congratulatory session about how successful the economic recovery has been.In taking his victory lap, Trump made no mention of the increase in cases around the country, underscoring a message that he posted on Twitter late Thursday night: "Our Economy is roaring back and will NOT be shut down. 'Embers' or flare ups will be put out, as necessary!"All spring, Trump expressed his impatience and annoyance with the social distancing measures that various states, and his own aides, were taking.He showed some concern when his personal valet, who serves his food, was diagnosed with the coronavirus and Pence's press secretary tested positive. But since then, Trump has maintained a posture of denial and dismissiveness.He has been enabled by a handful of advisers, some of whom share his desire to focus on the economy and some of whom are afraid of the president's reaction if they press him too hard about the public health crisis unfolding once again in large chunks of the country.The White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows, has been among the chief proponents of keeping the administration's public health experts largely out of sight, according to several senior administration officials.But he is not alone. Even though they are aware that Trump's mishandling of the virus presents a threat to his reelection, his campaign advisers agreed to his demand for the rally last Saturday at an arena in Tulsa, Oklahoma, hoping the adulation he would receive there would snap the president out of a funk he has been in for months.But at least eight staff members -- including two Secret Service agents -- tested positive for the virus before the rally, which was lightly attended and attracted none of the overflow crowd that Trump's advisers had promised. Since then, dozens of campaign aides who were in Oklahoma for the event have been told to quarantine.His advisers are now trying to figure out how to give Trump the traveling road show he wants while acknowledging the widespread fears about the coronavirus and allowing for proper health measures. At the same time, the White House has stopped employing the health checks it had been using for several weeks, like temperature checks for people entering the complex.One of the states where the cases are rising drastically is Florida, where Trump insisted the Republican National Convention at the end of August be relocated to meet his desire for a large-scale event free of social distancing measures. As of now, Republicans hope to put on a show celebrating Trump, the first lady and Pence with three nights of crowds as large as 12,000 people in Jacksonville.Some of the president's political allies have signaled in recent days that they intend to take the threat of the virus more seriously.Speaking to a group of health care workers in Morehead, Kentucky, Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., the majority leader, held up a simple face mask."Until we find a vaccine, these are really important," the senator said. "This is not as complicated as a ventilator. This is a way to indicate that you want to protect others. We all need during this period until we find a vaccine to think of us as protecting not only ourselves but others."And Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., had a not-so-subtle message for Pence in a tweet she posted not long after the vice president refused to wear a mask during the task force briefing Friday. Her tweet included a picture of her father, former Vice President Dick Cheney."Dick Cheney says WEAR A MASK," she wrote, adding the hashtag: realmenwearmasks.But if anything, Trump, Pence and the rest of the senior members of the administration have seemed determined in the past 24 hours to embrace a previrus political reality -- even if the medical facts contradict it.On Thursday night, the Trump administration asked the Supreme Court to overturn the Affordable Care Act, a move that, if successful, would bring a permanent end to the health insurance program popularly known as Obamacare and wipe out coverage for as many as 23 million Americans.In an 82-page brief, the administration joined Republican officials in Texas and 17 other states in arguing that in 2017, Congress, then controlled by Republicans, had rendered the law unconstitutional when it zeroed out the tax penalty for not buying insurance -- the so-called individual mandate.The president's argument is sure to reignite Washington's bitter political debate over access to affordable health care even as the accelerating pandemic has left millions of unemployed Americans without employer-provided health coverage.This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2020 The New York Times Company
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| Priti Patel says Labour MPs who accused her of 'gaslighting black people' were being racist Posted: 28 Jun 2020 10:22 AM PDT  Priti Patel has said Labour MPs who accused her of attempting to "gaslight" black people in her response to Black Lives Matter protests were "racist" in their views of her. Ms Patel clashed with a group of black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) Labour MPs after they accused the Tory politician of using her Indian heritage to cast doubt on black communities' experience of racism in the UK. The Cabinet minister had previously told the 33 MPs who wrote to her that she would "not be silenced" by those suggesting she had used her own experiences of prejudice to "gaslight" the "very real racism" faced by black people. Gaslighting refers to the act of psychologically manipulating someone to doubt their own experiences. In fresh comments about the row, Ms Patel accused the opposition cohort of being "racist" in their perceptions of the views ethnic minority women should espouse. Ms Patel, asked on Sky News' Sophy Ridge On Sunday programme whether her rivals had an issue with her, said she thought they did. "I think clearly in the case of those Labour MPs, they simply do primarily because they clearly take the stance or the position that I don't conform to their preconceived idea or stereotypical view of what an ethnic minority woman should stand for and represent," she said. "In my view, that in itself is racist. "It is very disappointing and I have made it quite clear I'm not going to dignify that letter any further." Shadow minister Naz Shah and other Labour MPs, including Diane Abbott, Tan Dhesi and Rosena Allin-Khan, were among those to question Ms Patel's attitude towards the Black Lives Matter protests. They said: "We write to you as black, Asian and ethnic minority Labour MPs to highlight our dismay at the way you used your heritage and experiences of racism to gaslight the very real racism faced by black people and communities across the UK. "Being a person of colour does not automatically make you an authority on all forms of racism."
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| Mayor slammed for broadcasting names, addresses of 'defund the police' supporters Posted: 27 Jun 2020 01:15 PM PDT  The mayor of St. Louis was accused by some of trying to intimidate critics. One alderwoman said, It is "not cool to doxx my constituents who support DefundThePolice."
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| 5 Times The British Empire Truly Failed In Combat Posted: 26 Jun 2020 09:00 PM PDT  Like the Romans, the British fought a variety of enemies.
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