2020年8月3日星期一

Yahoo! News: Terrorism

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Yahoo! News: Terrorism


New York City has already had more shootings in 2020 than in the whole of 2019

Posted: 03 Aug 2020 04:33 AM PDT

New York City has already had more shootings in 2020 than in the whole of 2019New York City has recorded more shootings so far in 2020 than the whole of last year, authorities have confirmed.There were 777 shootings between January and 2 August 2020, compared with 776 in 2019, according to figures compiled by the New York Post, and later confirmed by New York Police department (NYPD).


Homicides Spike in 50 Largest Cities across Nation

Posted: 03 Aug 2020 09:04 AM PDT

Homicides Spike in 50 Largest Cities across NationHomicides and gun violence have spiked in major cities around the country since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, spurred by an economic recession and unrest that arose from protests against police brutality.Across the nation's 50 largest cities, homicides are up 24 percent this year, totaling 3,612 so far, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of police department data. In 36 of those cities, the homicide rate increased by double digits.Shootings have also surged, but other kinds of violent crime have declined, including robberies, which sank 11 percent across the 41 cities that provided such data.Chicago saw the largest jump in homicides, reporting more than 400 more homicides than last year, an increase of more than 50 percent. Philadelphia and New York City came in just behind the country's third-largest city, both tallying more than 200 more homicides this year. Along with Chicago, Austin and Fort Worth, Tx. saw the largest increase in murders.The staggering increase in violence comes after months of protests against police departments that have included calls to defund and dismantle departments in Minneapolis, where the police custody death of George Floyd sparked national outrage. Homicides in Minneapolis have nearly doubled, with 41 homicides compared to 21 by this time last year.Police and crime experts have attributed the spike in violence to a variety of factors, including a rise in gang violence, an economic recession caused by the shutdown of businesses, and the lack of activity during the pandemic by social institutions that historically help tamp down crime, such as churches and schools.Meanwhile, lockdown orders that have kept residents in their homes may help explain the decline in robberies and rapes, since burglars are less likely to target a home with residents inside, and fewer potential victims were on the streets, experts said. The rise in shootings and murders was particularly stark in disadvantaged neighborhoods rather than the sites of protests against racism and police brutality in many cities.The homicide rate in the nation's major cities is still a far cry from the crime levels of previous decades, such as in 1990, when New York City recorded a total of 2,262 murders.


Who is Karen Bass?

Posted: 02 Aug 2020 01:48 PM PDT

Who is Karen Bass?Rep. Karen Bass, D-Calif., has been mentioned as a potential running mate for former VP Joe Biden, who has vowed to pick a woman as his vice president.


Dunkin' employee in Illinois arrested after state trooper finds mucus in coffee

Posted: 02 Aug 2020 08:07 PM PDT

Dunkin' employee in Illinois arrested after state trooper finds mucus in coffeeA Dunkin' employee was arrested and fired after a state trooper in Chicago found what police said was mucus in his coffee.


Emeritus Pope Benedict, 93, 'extremely frail' after visiting dying brother

Posted: 02 Aug 2020 09:25 PM PDT

Emeritus Pope Benedict, 93, 'extremely frail' after visiting dying brotherFormer Pope Benedict XVI became seriously ill after visiting his sick brother in Germany in June and is "extremely frail", according to a report in the German Passauer Neue Presse newspaper on Monday. Benedict, 93, is suffering from erysipelas of the face, a virus that causes a rash and episodes of severe pain, the newspaper reported, citing the former pontiff's biographer, Peter Seewald. "According to Seewald, the Pope emeritus is now extremely frail," the report said. "His thinking and his memory are quick, but his voice is hardly audible at the moment." Mr Seewald reportedly visited Benedict in Rome on Saturday to present him with his biography. "At the meeting the emeritus Pope, despite his illness, was optimistic and declared that if his strength increased again he would possibly take up his pen again," the paper said. Benedict visited his sick brother, Georg, in Germany in June, marking his first trip out of Italy since his shock resignation in 2013. Georg Ratzinger died two weeks later, aged 96.


One person is dying of COVID-19 every seven minutes in Iran: state TV

Posted: 03 Aug 2020 04:08 AM PDT

One person is dying of COVID-19 every seven minutes in Iran: state TVOne person is dying from COVID-19 every seven minutes in Iran, state television said on Monday, as the Health Ministry reported 215 new deaths from the disease and state media warned of a lack of proper social distancing. Health Ministry spokesman Sima Sadat Lari was quoted by the state TV as saying the 215 deaths in the past 24 hours took the combined death toll to 17,405 in Iran, and the number of confirmed cases rose by 2,598 to 312,035. State television showed several Iranians in a busy Tehran street without wearing face masks or social distancing.


The Maryland county where Barron Trump attends school ordered private schools to stay closed until October, but the governor overrode the decision

Posted: 03 Aug 2020 10:44 AM PDT

The Maryland county where Barron Trump attends school ordered private schools to stay closed until October, but the governor overrode the decisionIn rejecting the Montgomery County order, Gov. Larry Hogan said it was "overly broad and inconsistent with the powers" of the county health officer.


The housing crisis is here

Posted: 02 Aug 2020 02:55 AM PDT

The housing crisis is hereThe smartest insight and analysis, from all perspectives, rounded up from around the web:This summer's housing market is split into two alternate realities, said Heather Long at The Washington Post. Realtors' cellphones have been "ringing with eager buyers" looking to flee urban areas for the suburbs while mortgage interest rates are at record lows. One house on the market outside Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, "received 26 offers the initial weekend it was for sale." For renters, on the other hand, the outlook is grim. A federal eviction moratorium expired last week, meaning that many tenants could have only 30 days to pony up what they owe landlords or get kicked to the curb. This week, Congress signaled it would extend the moratorium to give renters more breathing room while debating whether to extend other aid, such as unemployment benefits and stimulus checks — some of "the few lifelines renters had during the pandemic."The eviction wave has already started, said Will Parker at The Wall Street Journal. The national moratorium only covered tenants in buildings with federally backed mortgages. States passed their own eviction limits, but some, such as Texas, have already let them expire. In a sign of things to come, attorneys in Houston are seeing "long lines at courthouses, sometimes people standing shoulder to shoulder" awaiting eviction hearings. "Stuck between tenants who can't, or simply won't, pay up and banks that still expect mortgage payments every month," landlords are also feeling the squeeze, said Tim Logan at The Boston Globe. In Massachusetts, a fifth of the landlords say "they don't know how they will pay their bills this year." That will only get worse if the state extends its eviction ban without help for property owners.There's a simple reason for this recession's "uneven" effect on the housing market, said Joy Wiltermuth at MarketWatch​. The median income for homebuyers today is $93,000, while renters are substantially poorer and "householders earning less than $35,000 a year have been hit hardest by lost wages since early May." Just don't assume wealthier homeowners are bulletproof, said Keith Jurow, also at MarketWatch. Since 2016, "mortgages offered to high-income borrowers who could afford the monthly payments seemed the least risky of all." Origination of jumbo loans — mortgages that are too big to be backed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac — skyrocketed. But now many high-income borrowers are in trouble, too. As of mid-June, "11.8 percent of all jumbo loans were in forbearance" — twice as many as in April, and a higher share than for standard mortgages."Perhaps this is all starting to sound like a redux of the mid-2000s housing crisis," said Derek Thompson at The Atlantic. "It's not." In many ways, it is the opposite. Back then, "foreclosures soared" and single-family homes stood empty in the suburbs. Now there is an undersupply of suburban housing and a hot market in new construction. The problem today is in the cities, where the pandemic has accelerated a crisis of affordability. "Without income, renters can't pay rent and utilities. Without monthly payments, landlords and other companies can't make mortgages and bond payments." Housing costs in cities have been approaching a crisis for years; thanks to the pandemic, that crisis is here, and "dangerously close to spiraling out of control."This article was first published in the latest issue of The Week magazine. If you want to read more like it, you can try six risk-free issues of the magazine here.More stories from theweek.com The most damning inside portrait of the Trump administration yet 5 brutally funny cartoons about Bill Barr's brand of justice Why Democratic voters might stay home on Election Day


See Inside Zaha Hadid’s Revolutionary Oeuvre

Posted: 03 Aug 2020 01:32 PM PDT

Annual Sturgis rally expecting 250K, stirring virus concerns

Posted: 02 Aug 2020 06:48 AM PDT

Annual Sturgis rally expecting 250K, stirring virus concernsSturgis is on. The message has been broadcast across social media as South Dakota, which has seen an uptick in coronavirus infections in recent weeks, braces to host hundreds of thousands of bikers for the 80th edition of the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. More than 250,000 people are expected to rumble through western South Dakota, seeking the freedom of cruising the boundless landscapes in a state that has skipped lockdowns.


Prison raid mars relative calm in Afghanistan after ceasefire

Posted: 03 Aug 2020 03:16 PM PDT

Prison raid mars relative calm in Afghanistan after ceasefireAt least 29 people were killed in a raid on an Afghan prison claimed by the Islamic State group, officials said Monday, as the country waited to see if a government ceasefire with the Taliban would rupture after its formal expiration. Fighting finally ended at mid-afternoon at the jail in the eastern city of Jalalabad, where about 1,700 IS and Taliban inmates were being held. IS's news outlet Amaq said its fighters were behind the raid that had started with a suicide car bomb attack, and saw more than 1,000 inmates escape before most of them were recaptured.


A California couple were arrested on hate-crime charges after they yelled 'white power' during an episode of road rage, police say

Posted: 02 Aug 2020 01:14 PM PDT

A California couple were arrested on hate-crime charges after they yelled 'white power' during an episode of road rage, police sayThey yelled "white power" and "only white lives matter" at a Black man and his girlfriend in a racist altercation on the road on July 22, police said.


As cruising resumes in some parts of world, multiple cruise ships affected by new COVID-19 cases

Posted: 03 Aug 2020 01:30 PM PDT

As cruising resumes in some parts of world, multiple cruise ships affected by new COVID-19 casesWhile most of the cruise industry remains on pause, some cruise lines have begun to resume operations in international waters.


Residents forced to evacuate as 'Apple Fire' burns out of control in California

Posted: 01 Aug 2020 08:50 PM PDT

Residents forced to evacuate as 'Apple Fire' burns out of control in CaliforniaNearly 8,000 residents of Riverside County in Southern California were forced to evacuate their homes on Saturday as a wildfire spread uncontained across more than 4,000 acres, the County fire department said. The fire - dubbed the Apple Fire by local firefighters, who routinely give blazes identifying names - was reported on Friday in Cherry Valley, a community about 75 miles east of Los Angeles. It had destroyed at least one family home as of Saturday evening (Sunday morning UK time). Photographs shared by the Riverside County fire department on Twitter on Saturday showed thick plumes of smoke filling the sky over the mountainous region. Residents of 2,586 homes, totalling around 7,800 people, were told to evacuate, the department said.


An impassioned obituary for a 79-year-old coronavirus victim blames Trump for his death, then calls out Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and people who refused to wear masks

Posted: 03 Aug 2020 02:41 PM PDT

An impassioned obituary for a 79-year-old coronavirus victim blames Trump for his death, then calls out Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and people who refused to wear masks"Dave did everything he was supposed to do, but you did not," David W. Nagy's widow wrote in her husband's obituary.


Obama targets Texas in first round of 2020 endorsements

Posted: 03 Aug 2020 10:11 AM PDT

Obama targets Texas in first round of 2020 endorsementsFormer President Barack Obama unveiled his first round of 2020 endorsements on Monday, and he's got his eyes on Texas, at least at the local level.Obama is endorsing 27 Democratic candidates in Texas, including 19 for the state House, where Democrats need to win nine seats to grab the majority. The focus seems to make sense for Obama, The New York Times notes, because Texas districts will be redrawn after the 2020 census, and Democrats want to gain a foothold before that happens. The former president has made it a priority to back candidates whom the National Democratic Redistricting Committee has labeled key to the redistricting process.He decided to stay out of Texas' Senate race between incumbent Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) and his Democratic challenger MJ Hegar, however. Obama similarly avoided other key Senate races in Republican states, including Montana, Kentucky, and Georgia, where his public support may not provide a boost, or could even prove harmful.> What's missing? Some key red state Senate races, including MT, KY, GA and TX where it is less clear that Obama's public backing would be a benefit.https://t.co/9rIjcI7SvE> > — Shane Goldmacher (@ShaneGoldmacher) August 3, 2020In races at the national level, Obama endorsed 52 Democratic House candidates and five for the Senate in battleground states, and he's set to announce a second wave of endorsements for states who have yet to hold their primaries. Read more at The New York Times.More stories from theweek.com The most damning inside portrait of the Trump administration yet 5 brutally funny cartoons about Bill Barr's brand of justice Why Democratic voters might stay home on Election Day


She got the virus. Then she was fired. Some sick workers left in cold by employers.

Posted: 03 Aug 2020 07:45 AM PDT

She got the virus. Then she was fired. Some sick workers left in cold by employers.McDonald's and Marriott franchises are among hundreds of businesses that have illegally denied paid sick leave during the pandemic, records show.


Anxious WHO implores world to 'do it all' in long war on COVID-19

Posted: 03 Aug 2020 03:44 AM PDT

Anxious WHO implores world to 'do it all' in long war on COVID-19The World Health Organization warned on Monday that there might never be a "silver bullet" for COVID-19 in the form of a perfect vaccine and that the road to normality would be long, with some countries requiring a reset of strategy. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and WHO emergencies head Mike Ryan exhorted nations to rigorously enforce health measures such as mask-wearing, social distancing, hand-washing and testing. The WHO head said that, while the coronavirus was the biggest health emergency since the early 20th century, the international scramble for a vaccine was also "unprecedented".


Virginia gov faces new hurdle in bid to remove Lee statue

Posted: 03 Aug 2020 07:51 AM PDT

Virginia gov faces new hurdle in bid to remove Lee statueA judge dismissed a legal challenge Monday that had been blocking Virginia officials from removing a towering statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee from the state's capital city, but he immediately imposed another injunction against dismantling the figure. The new 90-day injunction bars Gov. Ralph Northam's administration from "removing, altering, or dismantling, in any way" the larger-than-life statue of Lee on a prominent Richmond avenue while claims in a lawsuit filed by local property owners are litigated. Now covered in graffiti, the Lee monument has become a focal point and gathering spot amid Richmond's sustained anti-racist protests since the police custody death in Minnesota of a Black man, George Floyd.


Amazon region: Brazil records big increase in fires

Posted: 01 Aug 2020 08:51 PM PDT

Amazon region: Brazil records big increase in firesImages from space show there were nearly 7,000 in July - a rise of 28% on the same period last year.


Verdict looms in killing of Lebanon ex-PM Hariri

Posted: 03 Aug 2020 02:58 AM PDT

Verdict looms in killing of Lebanon ex-PM HaririA UN-backed tribunal will give its verdict Friday on the 2005 murder of former Lebanese premier Rafic Hariri, but questions will remain over a long and costly trial whose suspects remain at large. Four alleged members of the Shiite Muslim fundamentalist group Hezbollah are on trial in absentia at the court in the Netherlands over the huge Beirut suicide bombing that killed Sunni billionaire Hariri and 21 other people. The judgment harks back to an event that changed the face of the Middle East, with Hariri's assassination triggering a wave of demonstrations that pushed Syrian forces out of Lebanon after 30 years.


Splash Mountain log flume ride sinks at Disney World's Magic Kingdom

Posted: 03 Aug 2020 01:57 PM PDT

Splash Mountain log flume ride sinks at Disney World's Magic KingdomWalt Disney World's Splash Mountain hit rough waters Sunday as Twitter users posted video of a submerged log flume ride they were in moments earlier.


Mysterious seeds sent from China to the US identified by the USDA

Posted: 03 Aug 2020 08:11 AM PDT

Mysterious seeds sent from China to the US identified by the USDAThe mysterious seed packs from China that hundreds of Americans received in the mail have been identified, according to the US Department of Agriculture.Federal officials warned those who received the seeds not to plant them over fears that some may be invasive species and could destroy native plants and insects.


Coronavirus relief bill remains up in air as negotiations continue

Posted: 03 Aug 2020 02:22 PM PDT

Coronavirus relief bill remains up in air as negotiations continueSlow negotiations on a COVID-19 relief bill continued Monday afternoon. Republicans are upset that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi won't drop her expansive wish list even as concerns are growing that the White House needs to be more sure-footed in the negotiations.


GOP dread over possible Kobach nomination in Kansas

Posted: 02 Aug 2020 03:54 AM PDT

GOP dread over possible Kobach nomination in KansasRepublicans fear that Democratic meddling has helped to erase Roger Marshall's lead in this week's primary, potentially costing the party a Senate seat and perhaps its majority.


These 43-square-foot pods were originally for travelers to take a nap at the airport, but now the company is selling them for $50,000 each

Posted: 02 Aug 2020 06:00 AM PDT

These 43-square-foot pods were originally for travelers to take a nap at the airport, but now the company is selling them for $50,000 eachNapCity's pods are modular and customizable, starting at $50,000.


House panel investigates DHS office over Portland, other protests

Posted: 03 Aug 2020 11:56 AM PDT

House panel investigates DHS office over Portland, other protestsThe U.S. House Intelligence Committee launched an investigation on Monday into the Department of Homeland Security's intelligence office, including its actions in Portland, Oregon, and its involvement in other anti-racism protests across the country. "The reporting regarding the monitoring of peaceful protesters, creating and disseminating intelligence reports about journalists and protesters, and potential exploitation of electronic devices is deeply troubling," Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, a Democrat, wrote in a letter to top DHS officials. The United States has seen largely peaceful protests nationwide since the death of George Floyd, a Black man, while in Minneapolis police custody in May. Protests in cities, including Portland, have at times erupted into arson and violence, and federal officers sent into the Northwestern city have repeatedly clashed with crowds targeting the federal courthouse there.


Bower Studios and West Elm Reprise a Partnership With This New Collection

Posted: 03 Aug 2020 09:30 AM PDT

Illinois officials call to abolish history classes in the state until an 'alternative' is set up to highlight underrepresented groups

Posted: 03 Aug 2020 01:38 PM PDT

Illinois officials call to abolish history classes in the state until an 'alternative' is set up to highlight underrepresented groupsIllinois Democratic State Representative LaShawn K. Ford is demanding the history of minority groups to be taught in state schools.


Mexico crime: Mexican police seize alleged oil theft crime boss The Sledgehammer

Posted: 02 Aug 2020 06:54 PM PDT

Mexico crime: Mexican police seize alleged oil theft crime boss The Sledgehammer"The Sledgehammer" is caught after releasing a bizarre, tearful video declaring war on security forces.


Orphaned toddler grows up in shadow of massacre, coronavirus

Posted: 02 Aug 2020 07:40 AM PDT

Orphaned toddler grows up in shadow of massacre, coronavirusAn infant boy who survived a shooting last year that left his parents and 21 others dead now likes to thumb through picture books and dance to a Batman jingle with his grandmother, according to an uncle who helps care for the 1-year-old. It will be years before Paul Anchondo learns what happened to his parents in an event that many El Paso residents still struggle to comprehend, Tito Anchondo said. Anchondo's brother Andre and sister-in-law Jordan died in the shooting at a Walmart store.


Watch NASA astronauts' successful splashdown aboard SpaceX capsule

Posted: 02 Aug 2020 12:09 PM PDT

Watch NASA astronauts' successful splashdown aboard SpaceX capsuleNASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken returned to Earth on Sunday afternoon after two months aboard the International Space Station. The duo undocked from the station Saturday night and began their journey back home, eventually splashing down in dramatic fashion off the coast of Florida right on schedule. They were met by a recovery ship with recently quarantined and coronavirus-tested staff.The water landing caps what's been a successful test run for NASA and SpaceX, who teamed up to usher in a new era of American spaceflight. Hurley and Behnken were traveling in SpaceX's Crew Dragon Endeavour, the first commercially built and operated spacecraft to carry people to and from orbit. The smooth operation means another SpaceX crew launch will go ahead as early as next month, and tourist flights into orbit could begin next year, The Associated Press reports. Watch the final stages of the return journey below. > Dragon's four main parachutes have deployed pic.twitter.com/iU5Uy7lHbM> > -- SpaceX (@SpaceX) August 2, 2020> Good splashdown of Dragon confirmed! Welcome back to Earth, @AstroBehnken and @Astro_Doug! pic.twitter.com/0vAS3CcK9P> > -- SpaceX (@SpaceX) August 2, 2020More stories from theweek.com The most damning inside portrait of the Trump administration yet 5 brutally funny cartoons about Bill Barr's brand of justice Why Democratic voters might stay home on Election Day


James Clyburn: Trump doesn't plan to 'give up the office'

Posted: 02 Aug 2020 09:36 AM PDT

James Clyburn: Trump doesn't plan to 'give up the office'Rep. James Clyburn defended his recent comments saying President Trump "thinks that the American people will be duped by him, like the people of Germany was duped by Adolf Hitler."


Biden urged not to debate Trump so president doesn't have another platform to 'lie'

Posted: 03 Aug 2020 02:43 AM PDT

Biden urged not to debate Trump so president doesn't have another platform to 'lie'Republican strategist Joseph Pinion and Democratic political analyst Kelly Hyman react.


Russia says suspected mercenaries detained by Belarus were going to Latin America

Posted: 03 Aug 2020 07:02 AM PDT

Russia says suspected mercenaries detained by Belarus were going to Latin AmericaA Russian diplomat said on Monday a group of more than 30 suspected Russian mercenaries detained in Belarus last week were only passing through Minsk and were on their way to an unnamed Latin American state. Belarusian authorities have said they suspect the men entered their country to plot "acts of terrorism" and destabilise it before an Aug. 9 presidential election. The Russian state says it does not use mercenaries.


Scientists retract claim of finding tiniest dinosaur

Posted: 03 Aug 2020 11:15 AM PDT

Scientists retract claim of finding tiniest dinosaurThe "tiny, weird bird-like dinosaur" was not a dinosaur or a bird after all, according to a retraction of the research published in a prestigious journal


Drug-Smuggling Cat Escapes High-Security Sri Lankan Prison

Posted: 03 Aug 2020 04:05 AM PDT

Drug-Smuggling Cat Escapes High-Security Sri Lankan PrisonA cat that was detained at Sri Lanka's high-security Welikada Prison on suspicion of smuggling drugs to inmates has escaped, according to local media reports in Aruna.The feline delinquent was detained last week with two grams of heroin, two SIM cards and a memory chip hidden in a plastic bag tied to its collar on the prison grounds. Police suspect that the drug traffickers who trained the cat are part of the same cartel that was caught using an eagle to smuggle drugs in a suburb of Colombo. The menagerie of accomplices were associated with the underworld crime boss Angoda Lokka.Lokka died while hiding from the authorities in early July, according to local media. A man and a woman, aged 30 and 19, were arrested Sunday for illegally cremating him and forging identity documents, according to the New Indian Express.While there is no stipulation for animal arrest under Sri Lankan law, police were hoping the cat could lead them to the smugglers' den, the media reports suggest. The cat reportedly scampered out of its holding room and escaped through a fence when prison guards came in to feed it.Last week, police raided a farm owned by an associate of Lokka and found an air-rifle, bullets and the eagle previously seen delivering drugs. Prison authorities say they have noted an increase in people trying to smuggle drugs, cellphones and chargers into the prison in recent weeks, allegedly to sell within the prison system. Authorities say they are not searching for the narco cat.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.


Panama proposes flying Haitian migrants home after clash

Posted: 03 Aug 2020 01:56 PM PDT

Panama proposes flying Haitian migrants home after clashThe government of Panama said Monday it has proposed giving some Haitian migrants flights back to their homeland after frustrations boiled over at the remote camps where they are stuck. The camps in Panama's southern Darien province also house some Cuban and African migrants, but about 80% of the 2,000 migrants there are from Haiti. Public Safety Minister Juan Pino said Monday he offered improved medical services or repatriation flights to the migrants, who want to travel overland to the U.S. border but cannot do so because of coronavirus restrictions.


Under ICE rules and visa complications, a semester with no new international students awaits

Posted: 03 Aug 2020 10:47 AM PDT

Under ICE rules and visa complications, a semester with no new international students awaitsAs the resurgence of coronavirus pushes some schools to go fully online, the latest ruling leaves new international students with hard choices.


Donald Trump Jr. has a long history of spreading misinformation and conspiracy theories online

Posted: 03 Aug 2020 02:44 PM PDT

Donald Trump Jr. has a long history of spreading misinformation and conspiracy theories onlineTwitter's temporary suspension of Donald Trump Jr.'s account on Tuesday came amid the president's son's long history of sharing misinformation online.


China seeks to increase influence in South China Sea by reclassifying international shipping lanes

Posted: 03 Aug 2020 03:31 AM PDT

China seeks to increase influence in South China Sea by reclassifying international shipping lanesChina has quietly changed how it identifies a vast stretch of international waters in a shipping regulation, indicating it as a "coastal" region, rather than "offshore," as authorities seek to exert even greater control over the South China Sea. The amended regulation, first drafted in the 1970s, went into effect on Saturday, and establishes a "navigation area" from China's Hainan island in the south, all the way down to the disputed Paracel Islands, which sit east of Vietnam's coastline. The revision, however small, allows Beijing yet another avenue to justify its claims in the region. "The move is pretty consistent with the broader, general patterns of China seeking 'creeping jurisdiction' using domestic laws to assert its claims and extend control in the South China Sea," said Collin Koh,a research fellow at the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore. "With those domestic laws and regulations being implemented quietly without fanfare, the less likely it'll attract undue external attention, so that over time a fair accompli is created - in other words, for Beijing to change facts on the ground." The risk, in the long run, is that this area of ocean already flanked by Chinese military interests and installations, could turn a navigational zone to a "future security alert zone," he said. The change comes as China has displayed increasing swagger in the South China Sea, where Beijing and a number of Southeast Asian countries all lay claim to the rocks, reefs and waters.


Joint U.S. military drills get thumbs down from Thais amid virus fears

Posted: 03 Aug 2020 05:58 AM PDT

Joint U.S. military drills get thumbs down from Thais amid virus fearsThis month's joint U.S.-Thai military exercises in Thailand have drawn criticism from Thais on social media after authorities announced that dozens of visiting American troops would be undergoing their mandatory 14-day quarantine in Bangkok hotels. Thailand has been over two months without a local transmission and has kept infections to just over 3,300. It has closed borders and airspace to tourists to keep the virus out and allows entry only to Thai repatriates or foreigners with special permission.


A pastor who told congregants not to be afraid of the coronavirus was hospitalized with COVID-19

Posted: 03 Aug 2020 06:39 AM PDT

A pastor who told congregants not to be afraid of the coronavirus was hospitalized with COVID-19Charles Pope, a pastor in Washington, D.C., tested positive for COVID-19 after advising worshippers not to fear the virus.


Gov. Cuomo sounds off on school reopening plans

Posted: 02 Aug 2020 04:38 PM PDT

Gov. Cuomo sounds off on school reopening plansNEW YORK - Gov. Andrew Cuomo voiced caution Sunday over plans to reopen schools in the Big Apple and beyond. "It's about the parents being comfortable," he said during a press call. "Just because a school district says 'we're open' does not mean students are going to go." The comments came after the de Blasio administration on Friday said New York City is on track to reopen schools as long as ...


Op-Ed: Big Tobacco helped destroy Black Americans' health. Banning menthols could help improve it

Posted: 03 Aug 2020 03:05 AM PDT

Op-Ed: Big Tobacco helped destroy Black Americans' health. Banning menthols could help improve itBig Tobacco has long targeted Black smokers by marketing menthol products to them. A California ban on flavored tobacco products could stop that.


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