| Tragic video highlights systemic problem: Minneapolis police kill black people 13 times more than white people Posted: 26 May 2020 01:51 PM PDT  "I can't breathe" were some of the last words that a handcuffed George Floyd said as he was pinned on the ground, while a white Minneapolis police officer held a knee to his neck for several minutes on Monday. Floyd, a black man, is now dead.
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| Biden says nation grieves for 100,000 US coronavirus victims Posted: 27 May 2020 04:58 PM PDT  Joe Biden released a video Wednesday evening marking the grim U.S. milestone of 100,000 Americans killed by the coronavirus, saying somberly, "To all of you hurting so badly, I'm so sorry for your loss" and "This nation grieves with you." Evoking the personal tragedies he's faced in his own life, Biden said, "I think I know what you're feeling." "You feel like you're being sucked into a black hole in the middle of your chest," said Biden, who lost his first wife and young daughter in a 1972 car crash and an adult son to cancer in 2015.
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| Republicans cast doubt on future of House bills passed by proxy Posted: 27 May 2020 10:11 AM PDT  Republicans warned on Wednesday that legislation passed by the Democratic-controlled U.S. House of Representatives during the coronavirus pandemic may not become law if lawmakers are allowed to cast votes remotely under a new voting system. A day after filing a federal lawsuit to overturn rules allowing proxy voting, House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy said any bills approved under the new system may be unconstitutional and could be ignored by the Republican-led U.S. Senate. McCarthy spoke hours before the first-ever proxy vote, allowing some lawmakers to vote on behalf of colleagues who are absent.
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| Hundreds arrested in Hong Kong as tensions over proposed security law boil over Posted: 27 May 2020 05:49 AM PDT  Protesters in a downtown shopping mall chanted "Liberate Hong Kong! Revolution of our times" and "Hong Kong independence, the only way out."
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| Russian Jets Blocked US Plane in Unsafe Maneuvers Over Mediterranean, Navy Says Posted: 27 May 2020 06:47 AM PDT  It was the third time in two months that Russian aircraft have intercepted Navy aircraft in the Sixth Fleet of operations.
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| A pharmacist known as 'the Mask Man' has been charged with hoarding $200,000 worth of N95 masks and price-gouging customers Posted: 27 May 2020 02:35 PM PDT  The DOJ said the pharmacist, 66-year-old Richard Schirripa, sold $2,690 of masks to an undercover officer and said he felt "like a drug dealer."
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| 'Billions of years of evolutionary history' under threat Posted: 27 May 2020 01:39 AM PDT  'Weird and wonderful' animals unlike anything else on Earth are sliding toward extinction, say scientists.
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| McEnany defends Trump’s promoting 'Morning Joe' conspiracy theory Posted: 26 May 2020 12:45 PM PDT  White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany on Tuesday defended President Trump's promotion of a murder conspiracy theory about 'Morning Joe' host Joe Scarborough.
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| Fauci wears a mask as a 'symbol' of what 'you should be doing' amid coronavirus pandemic Posted: 27 May 2020 11:52 AM PDT  Infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci acknowledged masks aren't "100% effective" but are a "valuable safeguard" and part of "respect for another person."
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| Judge who told woman to ‘close your legs’ to prevent assault is removed from bench Posted: 27 May 2020 03:00 AM PDT  A New Jersey judge who said closing your legs could prevent sexual assault has been barred from presiding over a courtroom and dismissed from the State Supreme Court bench.The unanimous decision on Tuesday cited "repeated and serious acts of misconduct" by state superior court judge John Russo Jr.
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| Mike Pence predicted the pandemic would be 'behind us' by Memorial Day. Instead, hospitalizations are rising as deaths near 100,000. Posted: 26 May 2020 01:27 PM PDT  US deaths from the virus neared the devastating milestone of 100,000 over the holiday weekend and US hospitalizations are ticking up again.
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| Special Report: U.S. takes aim at the power behind Venezuela's Maduro - his first lady Posted: 27 May 2020 09:10 AM PDT  The man, Yazenky Lamas, worked as a bodyguard for the person widely considered the power behind President Nicolas Maduro's throne: first lady Cilia Flores. Now, with help from Lamas' testimony, the United States is preparing to charge Flores in coming months with crimes that could include drug trafficking and corruption, four people familiar with the investigation of the first lady told Reuters. If Washington goes ahead with an indictment, these people said, the charges are likely to stem, at least in part, from a thwarted cocaine transaction that has already landed two of Flores' nephews in a Florida penitentiary.
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| Amphibious Ship Obliterates Drone with Laser Weapon in 1st-of-its-Kind Sea Test Posted: 26 May 2020 10:51 AM PDT  The Portland was equipped with the Solid State Laser Weapons System Demonstrator for the at-sea test.
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| This Neo-Futuristic Home Found Its Inspiration in the British Countryside Posted: 27 May 2020 01:14 PM PDT |
| Pakistani villager urges India to return 'spy' pigeon Posted: 27 May 2020 06:29 AM PDT  The owner of a pigeon "arrested" by India for spying says his bird was freed for Eid and is innocent.
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| US revokes Hong Kong special status as furor grows on China law Posted: 27 May 2020 02:51 PM PDT  The United States on Wednesday revoked Hong Kong's special status under US law, opening the way to strip trading privileges for the financial hub as Washington accused China of trampling on the territory's autonomy. Hours before China's rubber-stamp parliament was set to take a key vote on a new Hong Kong security law that has sparked protests, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo certified to Congress that Hong Kong "does not continue to warrant treatment" under US laws that it has enjoyed even after its handover to China in 1997. Under a law passed last year to support Hong Kong's pro-democracy protesters, the US administration must certify that the territory still enjoys freedoms promised by Beijing when negotiating with Britain to take back the colony.
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| Three European air forces approve performance benchmarks for next-gen fighter jet Posted: 27 May 2020 06:21 AM PDT  The criteria will be used to whittle down the number of design options as the Future Combat Air System program proceeds through the next stages of development.
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| $11,000 in personal items stolen from doctor visiting New York to fight coronavirus, report says Posted: 26 May 2020 11:25 AM PDT  A Texas doctor who moved to New York temporarily to assist in the fight against coronavirus has had $11,000 worth of personal items stolen from her hotel room, according to a report.Police sources told The New York Post that a woman who was believed to be in her 20's reportedly broke into the unidentified doctor's room at the Brooklyn Hotel on Atlantic Avenue at around 9am on Saturday.
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| Melania Trump told Americans to wear face masks in public but ignored her own advice during Memorial Day events Posted: 26 May 2020 07:42 AM PDT  Later on Monday, the president shared a tweet mocking former Vice President Joe Biden for wearing a mask during a public Memorial Day appearance.
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| Lost hikers found alive after 18 days in New Zealand forest Posted: 26 May 2020 11:09 PM PDT |
| Israeli court: Alleged child sex abuser fit to stand trial Posted: 26 May 2020 04:22 AM PDT  An Israeli court Tuesday ruled that a former teacher accused of sexually abusing her students in Australia is fit to stand trial for extradition, capping a years-long battle that has strained relations between the two allies and angered Australia's pro-Israel Jewish community. The ruling was hailed by Malka Leifer's alleged victims, who have accused their one-time school principal and Israeli authorities of dragging out the case for far too long. A July 20 extradition hearing was set by the court.
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| America Should Never Conduct Another Nuclear Test Posted: 27 May 2020 05:30 AM PDT  The U.S. government hasn't tested a nuclear weapon in 28 years, and for good reason.
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| British mercenaries 'involved in botched operation' backing rebel leader in Libya, according to secret UN report Posted: 27 May 2020 12:43 PM PDT  Six British citizens including two former Royal Marine commandos have been accused of taking part in a botched mercenary mission to Libya to fight on behalf of renegade general Khalifa Haftar. The five men and one woman are named in a confidential report by the United Nations panel of experts on Libya into a botched mission that ended with the mercenaries making a remarkable sea-borne escape after falling out with their hosts. The men, including former Royal Marines Sean Callaghan Louw and Andrew Scott Ritchie, were among around 20 mercenaries who travelled to Benghazi in eastern Libya in June 2019 in a contract organised by a UAE based company called Opus, according to the report seen by the Daily Telegraph. Amanda Perry, a United Arab Emirate based businesswoman, is identified and is alleged to have been a "facilitator" of the project. She is the managing director of Opus Capital Asset FZE, the company that hired two boats used by the group. She is also company secretary of Lancaster 6, a business owned by Christiaan Durrant, a former Australian fighter pilot and Malta resident who is also named - and accused of being a facilitator in the report.
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| Trafficked Nigerian women rescued from Lebanon Posted: 26 May 2020 03:28 AM PDT  The 50 return home a month after a woman working as a maid in Beirut was put up for sale on Facebook.
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| Pompeo declares Hong Kong no longer autonomous from China in a move that threatens to escalate US-China tensions Posted: 27 May 2020 02:28 PM PDT  The action follows a new China national security law for Hong Kong that bans treason and other perceived offenses in the semiautonomous territory.
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| Senate Democrats take on GOP court-packing in blistering new report Posted: 27 May 2020 03:12 PM PDT  The senators pointed to conservative activist Leonard Leo as the driving force behind the many of the president's appointments.
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| Huawei CFO Meng to find out if a U.S extradition case against her will proceed Posted: 27 May 2020 08:41 AM PDT  A top executive of Chinese tech giant Huawei is scheduled to learn Wednesday if a U.S extradition case against her can proceed. Canada arrested Meng Wanzhou, the daughter of Huawei's founder, at Vancouver's airport in late 2018. The U.S. wants her extradited to face fraud charges. Her arrest infuriated Beijing, which sees her case as a political move designed to prevent China's rise.
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| A Eurowings plane with just 2 passengers on board was forced to turn around after learning its destination airport was closed due to coronavirus Posted: 27 May 2020 04:11 AM PDT  The flight from Düsseldorf, Germany, to Sardinia, Italy, made it all the way to its destination before it had to turn around.
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| U.S. to end sanctions waivers allowing some work at Iran nuclear sites Posted: 27 May 2020 11:13 AM PDT  The United States said on Wednesday it will terminate sanctions waivers that had allowed Russian, Chinese and European companies to carry out work originally designed to make it harder for Iranian nuclear sites to be used for weapons development. The waivers, which officials said expire on July 27, covered the conversion of Iran's Arak heavy water research reactor, the provision of enriched uranium for its Tehran Research Reactor and the transfer of spent and scrap reactor fuel abroad. In a statement, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo gave no precise justification for the move, which will halt some work originally designed to make it more difficult for Iran to potentially develop fissile material for nuclear bombs.
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| Israeli president calls Australian PM after teacher's ruling Posted: 27 May 2020 02:29 AM PDT  Israeli President Reuven Rivlin said he spoke Wednesday with Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, following an Israeli court ruling that a former teacher accused of sexually abusing her students in Australia was fit to stand trial and be extradited. Rivlin noted that the matter was central to his state visit to Australia in February and that he had promised Morrison and Australia's pro-Israel Jewish community he would monitor the case closely.
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| Levi’s Is Taking 50% off These Best-Selling Jeans Right Now Posted: 27 May 2020 07:23 AM PDT |
| Ex-Watergate prosecutors say judge has legal duty to review facts in Flynn case Posted: 27 May 2020 09:23 AM PDT  Sixteen former Watergate prosecutors on Wednesday said U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan should be allowed to review all the facts before deciding whether to grant a Justice Department request to drop the criminal case against President Donald Trump's former national security adviser Michael Flynn. In a filing with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, the former prosecutors said they feared the Justice Department was not acting in the public interest, and that Sullivan has the power to scrutinize the request in order to ensure that "the waters of justice are not polluted." Flynn filed an emergency petition with the federal appeals court on May 21, asking the court to force Sullivan's hand and toss the case.
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| 2 prominent members of an LA TikTok house were arrested on drug charges during a cross-country quarantine trip Posted: 26 May 2020 10:14 AM PDT  Bryce Hall, 20, and Jaden Hossler, 19, of the TikTok collective "Sway House" have been arrested on drug charges in Lee County, Texas.
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| Archaeologists discover pristine ancient Roman mosaic floor buried under piles of vines Posted: 27 May 2020 12:17 PM PDT  Archaeologists have revisited an ancient Roman dig site that hasn't been touched in a century — and found something incredible underneath.In a vineyard outside the Italian city of Verona, under several feet of vines and dirt, researchers have uncovered what appears to be a perfectly preserved mosaic floor and pieces of a villa foundation dating back to the third century A.D. Surveyors in the commune of Negrar di Valpolicella north of Verona shared images of the site, providing a glimpse at a discovery that's largely still hidden beneath the dirt, BBC reports.Archaeologists first mapped out what appeared to be the remains of an ancient Roman villa outside Verona back in 1922 before the site was abandoned. The Superintendent of Archaeology, Fine Arts and Landscape of Verona decided to revisit the site last October and again in February, but their efforts to unearth the site were cut short when COVID-19 arrived in Italy, the Guardian reports. Excavation resumed last week and, by Monday, there was something incredible to show for their efforts. There's still a lot of careful work to be done before the whole floor and foundation can be revealed — along with some careful negotiation with the owners of the vineyard now growing on top of this ancient discovery.More stories from theweek.com It only took two hours for Trump's administration to contradict his threat to shut down Twitter Why Biden benefits by disappearing CNBC's Andrew Ross Sorkin explodes on co-host Joe Kernen: '100,000 people died and all you did was try and help your friend the president'
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| Iranian Tankers Arrive in Venezuela Despite the U.S. Navy Posted: 26 May 2020 02:25 AM PDT  The Iranian oil tanker Fortune slipped into Venezuelan waters in the pre-dawn dark of Monday morning, the first of five tankers from the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL) bringing vitally needed gasoline to a regime the Trump administration has, for years, tried and failed to bring down. Four days before the Fortune arrived in Venezuelan waters, Secretary of State Michael Pompeo announced that sanctions slapped on Iran's shipping lines last December will take effect on June 8. The message seemed to get through. The tankers speeded up.While the Fortune was still unloading 280,000 barrels of the precious fuel, maritime live tracking websites showed three other tankers arrived in Venezuelan waters ahead of schedule. At approximately 1 am EDT Tuesday morning, the Faxom reached its final destination, three days earlier than its posted ETA. The Forest and the Petunia were close behind, also ahead of their scheduled arrival date. The last tanker, the Clavel, was still listed as arriving June 2.According to the petroleum industry news site Argus Media, the Fortune's cargo was being distributed under "a tightly rationed system, with some of the gasoline transported by pipeline to other points for truck distribution." It also cited an unnamed Defense Ministry official saying "some of the supply" could be transhipped to Cuba.The total cargo on the ships is an estimated 1.5 million barrels, barely enough to last two to three weeks, to make up for lost production from Venezuela's largest refinery complex that needs serious repair.Trump Just Inspired the Dumbest Damned Coup Plot in LatAm History, Complete with a QAnon CrazyThe fact that Venezuela is starved for gasoline—even though it has the world's largest proven reserves of petroleum—is testimony to the corruption and mismanagement that plague the country. In fact, the state-owned oil giant, Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) has crumbled. At the same time, an avalanche of U.S. sanctions intended to overthrow the government of President Nicolás Maduro has left the country effectively bankrupt. Much of the world, led by the Trump administration, recognizes opposition leader Juan Guaidó as the legitimate president of Venezuela despited a record that as proved both feckless and reckless. So Maduro has built a byzantine network of allies—notably Iran and Russia, but also shady gold traders and sympathetic shipping tycoons, to come to his rescue.On Venezuela's Government television channel, Venezolana de Television, Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino announced the Iranian tankers would receive a royal welcome, even if they have to play tag with the U.S. Navy on the high seas: "When those ships enter our exclusive economic zone, they will be escorted by FANB [Venezuelan navy] vessels and planes to welcome them and thank the Iranian people for their solidarity and cooperation amid the difficulties caused by COVID-19."But for all the fanfare surrounding the tankers' arrival, the stark reality is that Venezuela had to go half way around the world to get refined fuel, underlining the desperation of the Maduro regime—and a risky count-down has begun. The Trump administration keeps feinting toward military action with an increased naval presence in the Caribbean. It gave covert—but not very secret—aid to a failed coup a year ago, and it recently offered huge rewards for the arrest of Maduro and his top lieutenants, inspiring an operation by disastrously incompetent adventurers organized by a former U.S. Green Beret. Most were killed or captured by Maduro's forces—and by a few Venezuelan fishermen. But it's the sanctions that really continue to bite. Even with today's very low prices, how can cash-strapped Venezuela afford the $45 million purchase price for Iran's refined product?According to Bloomberg News, Maduro turned to Alex Nain Saab Moran, a Colombian national indicted in the U.S. last July on federal money-laundering charges involving a $900 million shipment of Venezuelan gold to Turkey. Bloomberg reported Saab traveled to Tehran last April with senior executives from PDVSA and negotiated the Iran gasoline deal in exchange for crude oil. According to Bloomberg, Venezuelan officials sent about nine tons of gold—equivalent to US$ 500 million—to Iran on jets owned by Mahan Air, a Tehran-based carrier. In addition to the oil deal, Iran was also sending equipment to repair Venezuela's decaying refineries and broken gas pumps. Since then, Mahan Air has been placed on the growing U.S Treasury sanction list.But Venezuela still has to find ways to to get income from its crude oil, which accounts for about 95 percent of the nation's export revenues. In January 2019, the U.S. cut off Venezuela's main client, which was the United States itself. Venezuela lost the market for one third of its oil exports and production dropped to its lowest levels in 75 years. Russia's oil giant Rosneft stepped in, lending over US$ 6 billion to PDVSA. Through it's Swiss-based affiliate, Rosneft Trading, Rosneft tankers began transporting 80 percent of Venezuela's crude oil exports in a loan repayment deal. The U.S. slapped sanctions on Rosneft Trading. Rosneft itself, the mother company and the crown jewel in Russia's economy, was not targeted by Treasury. It shut down its operations in Venezuela immediately nonetheless—but only after transferring its Venezuelan crude oil exporting to another Rosneft unit, TNK Trading. Meanwhile, the image of Iranian tankers arriving in the backyard of the United States is a far departure from what one of Trump's short-lived cabinet members had envisioned. In February 2018, on the eve of his first whirlwind tour of South America, former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson invoked the 1823 Monroe Doctrine in his speech at the State University of Texas saying it was "as much alive today as the day when it was written." The doctrine claimed Washington has the right to intervene militarily at any time and anywhere in the western hemisphere to prevent foreign influences from establishing themselves. In fact, many have done so, from the British to the Soviets, in the nearly two centuries since its proclamation, but the supposed sanctity of the Monroe Doctrine appears to be an article of faint in the confines of the White House and the head of its mercurial occupant. On April 1, President Trump held one of his rambling news conferences pegged to COVID-19 as the nation grappled with daunting statistics and New York emerged as the new epicenter of the pandemic.As if out of nowhere, Trump made the startling announcement that he was sending U.S. Navy warships to the Caribbean to combat drug traffickers, and his administration fingered top Venezuelan officials as some of the worst. "As governments and nations focus on the coronavirus, there is a growing threat that cartels, criminals, terrorists and malign actors will try to exploit the situation for their own gain," said Trump. "We must not let that happen." National Security Adviser Robert O'Brien identified Venezuela directly, saying, "We will continue to execute our maximum pressure policy to counter the Maduro regime's activities, including drug trafficking." Earlier, the Trump administration had indicted Venezuelan President Maduro and members of his inner circle on charges they run a smuggling operation bringing up to 250 tons of cocaine a year to the U.S. They put a price on Maduro's head of $15 million and the total bounties on offer came to $55 million, prompting the ex-Green Beret Jordan Goudreau to launch the fiasco dubbed Operation Gideon. In the midst of all this, a shipping tycoon apparently has been delivering gasoline to his native Venezuela. Wilmer Ruperti told AP in an exclusive interview in April that his goal was humanitarian and that he had notified the U.S. Treasury Department which, he claimes, did not object. Ruperti also did not disclose where the refined fuel came from. As Iranian tankers continue arriving in Venezuela and Russian tankers head out of the Caribbean, it's apparent that no doctrine, Monroe's or otherwise, is stopping them. So there are several questions looming larger by the day: Will the U.S. Navy be ordered to stop those ships if there is a repeat performance? How long can Maduro continue like this? And how far is the Trump administration willing to go to bring him down at last?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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| Asymptomatic COVID-19 cases may be more common than suspected Posted: 27 May 2020 03:30 PM PDT  The problem? Even without symptoms, people can still spread the virus.
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| Demand has ‘just dried up’ for U.S. small firms in requesting coronavirus stimulus Posted: 26 May 2020 08:37 AM PDT  When the U.S. government first rolled out forgivable loans to small businesses in early April under the Paycheck Protection Program, loan officers at Bank of the West in Grapevine, Texas, worked nights and weekends to process a tsunami of applications.
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| A member of a North Carolina anti-lockdown group says he's 'willing to kill people' to defend his rights Posted: 26 May 2020 07:10 AM PDT  An anti-lockdown protester, whose partner founded a "peaceful" protest group, said armed violence is not off the table.
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| So-called honor killing of teen girl brings outcry in Iran Posted: 27 May 2020 05:16 AM PDT  The so-called honor killing of a 14-year-old Iranian girl by her father, who reportedly used a farming sickle to behead her as she slept, has prompted a nationwide outcry. Reza Ashrafi, now in custody, was apparently enraged when he killed his daughter Romina on Thursday after she ran away with 34-year-old Bahamn Khavari in Talesh, some 320 kilometers (198 miles) northwest of the capital, Tehran. In traditional societies in the Middle East, including Iran, blame would typically fall on a runaway girl for purportedly having sullied her family's honor, rather than on an adult male luring away a child.
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| Taiwan president pledges humanitarian relief for Hong Kongers Posted: 27 May 2020 02:08 AM PDT  Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen on Wednesday pledged to draw up a plan to give humanitarian relief to people involved in pro-democracy protests in Taiwan's most concrete intervention since a renewal of unrest in Chinese-ruled Hong Kong. China's proposed new security legislation for the former British colony has prompted protests in Hong Kong and condemnation from Western governments over perceived threats to freedoms. Hong Kong's demonstrators have won widespread sympathy in democratic Taiwan, which China considers as its territory to be taken by force, if necessary.
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| Coronavirus: How the pandemic in US compares to rest of world Posted: 27 May 2020 03:32 PM PDT  More than 100,000 people have died and the country is now slowly reopening amid fears of new spikes.
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| UK PM Johnson to go to Brussels next month for Brexit talks: The Times Posted: 27 May 2020 04:42 PM PDT  Britain's negotiator with the European Union, David Frost, said Johnson will meet the presidents of the European Commission and Council to formally assess the state of the talks, according to the newspaper. Talks on a new pact to cover everything from trade to fisheries to security from 2021 had reached an impasse before a key deadline at the end of June, when the bloc and London are to assess their progress.
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| Family in US demands murder charges after police kill handcuffed black man Posted: 27 May 2020 02:34 PM PDT  Calls mounted Wednesday for the arrest of a Minneapolis policeman for killing a handcuffed black man by kneeling on his neck, amid outrage over the latest African American death at the hands of US law enforcement. A day after angry protests in the northern US city were met with tear gas and rubber bullets, the family of George Floyd demanded the four white policemen involved in his death Monday be charged with murder. "I would like those officers to be charged with murder, because that's exactly what they did," Bridgett Floyd, his sister, said on NBC television.
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| US Congress approves China sanctions over ethnic crackdown Posted: 27 May 2020 02:56 PM PDT  Congress voted Wednesday to toughen the U.S. response to a brutal Chinese crackdown on ethnic minorities, adding another factor to the increasingly stormy relationship between the two countries. The House passed a bipartisan bill that would impose sanctions on Chinese officials involved in the mass surveillance and detention of Uighurs and other ethnic groups in the western Xinjiang region, a campaign that has drawn muted international response because of China's influence around the world. The measure already passed the Senate and needs a signature from President Donald Trump, who said this week he'll "very strongly" consider it amid U.S. anger over China's handling of the coronavirus outbreak and tension over a Chinese plan to restrict civil liberties in Hong Kong.
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| CDC changes its 'confusing' guidelines on coronavirus and surfaces. Here's what we know. Posted: 27 May 2020 11:48 AM PDT  This new CDC update may quell some major concerns about how COVID-19 is transmitted, but plenty of questions still remain. Here's what to know.
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| Britain shuts embassy in North Korea amid coronavirus restrictions Posted: 27 May 2020 08:22 AM PDT  Britain has closed its embassy in the North Korean capital of Pyongyang and ordered its staff to leave the country. The surprise closure is linked to coronavirus-related restrictions in place since earlier this year, which the Foreign Office said had left it unable to "rotate our staff and sustain the operation of the Embassy". It follows a similar evacuation of a number of other diplomats and foreign residents from the North Korean capital in March. A number of sources told the US news website NK News on Wednesday that the British diplomats left North Korea by land, crossing the DPRK's border with China earlier on Wednesday. Flights out of the country remain grounded. Hundreds of foreign residents remain in Pyongyang, including diplomats from the Swedish and Russian embassies and a small number of aid workers, though absent representatives from Germany, Switzerland, France, and Italy. There are currently no British residents in the country. Resident diplomats had previously raised their concerns about the severity of the DPRK authorities' coronavirus-prevention rules, which saw the country close its borders and place them under effective house arrest for over a month earlier in the year.
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| Sweden touts the success of its controversial lockdown-free coronavirus strategy, but the country still has one of the highest mortality rates in the world Posted: 26 May 2020 07:56 PM PDT  Some experts have said Sweden's risky strategy will eventually yield positive results, while others have highlighted serious pitfalls.
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| US priest who founded Knights of Columbus to be beatified Posted: 27 May 2020 05:01 AM PDT  The founder of the Knights of Columbus, the influential U.S.-based lay Catholic organization, is moving a step closer to possible sainthood. Pope Francis has approved a miracle attributed to the intercession of the Rev. Michael McGivney, a Connecticut priest who died at age 38 of pneumonia in 1890 during a pandemic similar to the current coronavirus outbreak. The Vatican said Wednesday that Francis had signed off on the miracle required.
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| Head of Italy's Lombardy region given police escort as COVID anger mounts Posted: 27 May 2020 05:19 AM PDT  The governor of Lombardy, the northern region at the epicentre of Italy's coronavirus outbreak, said on Wednesday that he had been given a police escort after growing criticism of his administration's handling of the crisis. Lombardy, Italy's richest and most populous region and the motor of its economy, is one of the worst affected areas of the world by the coronavirus, accounting for around half of the country's more than 32,000 dead. The regional government, controlled by opposition leader Matteo Salvini's anti-immigrant League party, has seen approval ratings plunge amid angry attacks on its response and on health sector reforms by previous League governments that many say left the region badly prepared to face the epidemic.
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