| Feds looking at Ahmaud Arbery's death as a hate crime, attorneys say Posted: 25 May 2020 02:43 PM PDT  U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Georgia said his office is looking into why Glynn County and the state of Georgia took so long to make arrests, Arbery's family's attorneys said.
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| China says opposes all U.S. restrictions on Chinese airlines Posted: 25 May 2020 12:40 AM PDT  China said on Monday it opposes all U.S. restrictions imposed against Chinese airlines, responding to a report that the U.S. Transportation Department has demanded Chinese carriers file their schedules and other flight details by May 27. Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said flight restrictions imposed by Beijing treated all airlines equally and were due to efforts to curb COVID-19 related risks. The U.S. government late on Friday accused the Chinese government of making it impossible for U.S. airlines to resume service to China.
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| Putin makes Kremlin appearance as virus restrictions ease Posted: 25 May 2020 08:43 AM PDT  President Vladimir Putin made a rare recent appearance in the Kremlin on Monday as Russia prepares to ease lockdown restrictions imposed over the coronavirus pandemic. The 67-year-old has worked remotely over the past few weeks from his Novo-Ogaryovo residence outside Moscow, chairing meetings with officials by video conference.
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| Trump administration promises 100 million coronavirus testing swabs by the end of 2020 Posted: 25 May 2020 07:57 AM PDT  The Trump administration sent Congress a national coronavirus testing strategy in time to meet a Sunday deadline, The Washington Post reports, citing a copy of the 80-page "COVID-19 Strategic Testing Plan" it obtained.The report delivered to Congress promises that the federal government will buy 100 million swabs by the end of 2020 and distribute them to states to help them expand testing. The document did not outline federal testing goals for each state; instead it listed testing targets states reported to federal officials for May. Public health officials say broader testing to determine who has been infected with the novel coronavirus and who might have immunity are key to curbing the spread of the outbreak and allowing the economy to fully reopen.The administration plan calls for every state to try to test at least 2 percent of its population in May and June. Read more at The Washington Post.More stories from theweek.com Trump still hasn't taken his annual physical and it's starting to get weird How social conservatives traded causes for clichés WHO temporarily pauses hydroxychloroquine study, citing safety concerns
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| New Zealand leader carries on with TV interview during quake Posted: 24 May 2020 03:47 PM PDT  New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern barely skipped a beat when an earthquake struck during a live television interview Monday morning. New Zealand sits on the Pacific Ring of Fire and is sometimes called the Shaky Isles for its frequent quakes. Ardern continued on with her interview, telling the host the shaking had stopped.
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| North Dakota Governor Chokes Up as He Calls on State Residents to Avoid 'Mask Shaming' Posted: 24 May 2020 09:51 AM PDT  Mask orders have been met with threats and videos have surfaced of crowds ridiculing people for choosing to wear face coverings
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| Jeffrey Epstein: Up to 130 people claim they could be child of dead financier with £470m fortune Posted: 25 May 2020 04:15 AM PDT  More than 100 people claim they could be the offspring of the deceased financier Jeffrey Epstein, who is thought to have had a personal fortune of around £470 million.A DNA company, which set up a website called epsteinheirs.com, said as many as 130 people had come forward – including a number of Britons – since the site's launch.
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| Joe Biden forced to make his fundraisers fully virtual – bar the price tag Posted: 25 May 2020 03:00 AM PDT  The pandemic has led the presumptive Democratic nominee, like other politicians to take his high-dollar events onlineThe coronavirus pandemic may have driven Joe Biden into his basement and forced his campaign online, but one crucial factor is still the same: his run for the White House still needs to raise giant amounts of money.But, in these days of lockdowns and stay-at-home orders, campaign fundraisers do not include the usual finger food and wine or fancy parked cars outside a posh home right out of the pages of Architectural Digest.Instead it has become normal to host a high-dollar fundraiser via online video conferencing services. The thing that hasn't changed? The hefty price tags of what can be tens of thousands of dollars that donors are charged for glorified Zoom meet-ups, or even one-on-one video chats with the candidate himself or his powerful surrogates."You don't get to go drink wine and eat cheap cheese, but the campaigns are still able to provide access to the candidate," said Democratic strategist Connor Farrell, a veteran Democratic fundraising consultant. "The campaigns are still able to provide access to the candidate in a different format. You can't pull someone aside and mention your favorite bill, but you still get face time with the candidates and that's ultimately the attraction of in-person events."So I think a lot of the draw is still there."According to a set of fundraising invitations for Biden's campaign, obtained by the Guardian, upcoming fundraisers featuring him or high-profile surrogates still include the fundraising levels one would expect for physical high-dollar gatherings.A Biden campaign event featuring the presumptive Democratic party nominee himself and moderated by the Sacramento mayor, Darrell Steinberg, and former California treasurer Phil Angelides starts out at the guest level of $500 and goes all the way up to a co-chair level at $41,100. A virtual reception on 27 May featuring the former South Bend mayor Pete Buttigieg starts out at $1,000 to be an "advocate", and goes up to $50,000 to be a co-chair.Events are still spotted with celebrities too. A "Rock out on a night in with Joe Biden" virtual fundraising event on 28 May includes performances by Sheryl Crow, Rufus Wainwright, David Crosby and Joe Walsh. Donations for that event start at $250 and go all the way to $100,000.The events are lucrative. Hillary Clinton is scheduled to headline at least two events between mid-May and June for Biden and the Democratic National Committee. The first event on Tuesday raised $2m.It's not just the Biden campaign and Democrats, though, or even just presidential candidates. In Iowa, an invitation for a fundraiser for the Republican senator Joni Ernst on 3 June has fundraising levels ranging from $500 to $5,000. The invitation, reported by Politico, is not contingent on being in person or virtual."If it is not possible to gather in person for this event, we will host a virtual meeting and plan an in-person gathering at a later date," the invitation read.A fundraising invite for a 14 May event for the New Hampshire Republican congressional candidate Matt Mowers featuring the former New Jersey governor Chris Christie starts at $250 for the "individual" level and goes all the way to $1,000 for the chair level."A web link for this exclusive video conference will be emailed prior to the event," the invitation read.
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| FBI investigating Ahmaud Arbery shooting as possible hate crime, lawyer says Posted: 25 May 2020 03:19 PM PDT  Attorney for family of black jogger shot by white men says federal authorities are looking into prosecutors and police in caseThe FBI is investigating the shooting of Ahmaud Arbery, a black jogger, by two white men as a possible hate crime, the Arbery family's attorney said Monday, claiming that federal authorities had launched a criminal inquiry into two district attorneys and the police department involved in the case.Lee Martin, who represents the family of Arbery, 25, whose 23 February killing in Brunswick, Georgia, was captured on a graphic video recording that sparked national outrage, said he met with officials from the Department of Justice last Thursday.Martin said they told him federal investigators were looking into potential "criminal and civil" violations by two officials who later recused themselves from the case. They are George Barnhill of the Waycross judicial district, who recommended no arrests, and Jackie Johnson of Glynn county, who has denied accusations she ordered police to make no arrests on the day the unarmed Arbery was shot.The Georgia chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) has called on both Barnhill and Johnson to resign and face charges of obstruction of justice.Martin said the FBI was also looking into the actions of the Glynn county police department.The suspects Gregory McMichael, 64, and his son Travis, 34, were finally arrested by the Georgia bureau of investigation (GBI) and charged with Arbery's murder on 8 May, three days after the video received national publicity, and 74 days after the shooting.The case took a further step forward last Thursday, when the GBI arrested the man who recorded the video, William Bryan Jr, and charged him with felony murder."This is a vast conspiracy at this point," Martin said in a four-and-a-half-minute video posted on Monday on TMZ. "They're spreading the net here. They said the GBI doesn't anticipate making any additional arrests, but the FBI very well may."Martin has been highly critical of the pace of the investigation into the shooting. He said he was told a further part of the FBI probe was whether the actions of anybody involved in the case breached Arbery's rights of equal protection under the US constitution and civil rights law."All citizens are entitled to the same protection under the law," he said. "This case makes it clear that all black citizens in south Georgia aren't getting the same protection because if you shoot anybody in the street in broad daylight, just in general you expect at least an arrest. There were no arrests made."Neither the Department of Justice nor the US attorney's office for the southern district of Georgia responded to the Guardian's request for comment on Monday, a federal holiday.But in an 11 May statement, a DOJ representative, Kerri Kupec, confirmed investigators were assessing evidence "to determine if federal hate crime charges are appropriate".Gregory McMichael, a former law enforcement officer, told detectives he suspected Arbery of burglary, and that Arbery had attacked his son before being shot. Police initially treated the shooting as a case of self-defense and allowed the McMichaels to go free, despite the video of the shooting suggesting a different story.
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| Australia to outline economic recovery plans as lockdowns ease Posted: 25 May 2020 05:05 PM PDT  Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison will on Tuesday outline his government's plans to revive the sputtering economy, but is expected to warn a recovery will take between three to five years. Australia has reported just over 7,100 COVID-19 infections, including 102 deaths. With Australia confident it has suppressed the spread of coronavirus, Morrison will on Tuesday turn to how to revive the country's economy as debt levels rise to about 30% of GDP.
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| SpaceX ready to launch astronauts into space for the first time Posted: 23 May 2020 07:48 PM PDT  US President Donald Trump will be among the spectators at Kennedy Space Center in Florida to witness the launch, which has been given the green light despite months of shutdowns due to the coronavirus pandemic. The general public, in a nod to virus restrictions, has been told to watch via a livestream as Crew Dragon is launched by a Falcon 9 rocket toward the International Space Station. NASA's Commercial Crew program, aimed at developing private spacecraft to transport American astronauts in to space, began under Barack Obama.
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| Navajo Nation imposes 57-hour lockdown as virus death toll rises Posted: 25 May 2020 11:52 AM PDT  Even essential businesses must remain closed as the entire tribe enters a strict lockdown for Memorial Day weekend.
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| Russia records its highest daily death toll from the coronavirus as its number of new cases appears to decline Posted: 24 May 2020 07:31 PM PDT  Russia denies that it has manipulated coronavirus data and maintains that its mortality rate from the virus is among the lowest in the world.
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| Trump tweets from the golf course as U.S. virus death toll nears 100,000 Posted: 25 May 2020 08:39 AM PDT  As the American death toll from the coronavirus approached 100,000 on Sunday, President Trump was on the golf course in Virginia.
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| The Latest: Japan set to end Tokyo's state of emergency Posted: 23 May 2020 11:36 PM PDT  — Japan set to remove state of emergency from Tokyo, 4 other prefectures. — South Koreans required to wear masks when using public transportation and taxis starting Tuesday. — Fiji Airways laying off half its workforce in bid to outlast pandemic.
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| Arbery family lawyer: Feds looking into how case handled Posted: 25 May 2020 03:01 PM PDT  A lawyer for the family of Ahmaud Arbery said Monday that a federal prosecutor told the slain man's mother federal officials are investigating potential misconduct by local officials who handled the case. Lawyer Lee Merritt said U.S. Attorney Bobby Christine, whose jurisdiction includes southern Georgia, met with him and Arbery's mother, Wanda Cooper-Jones, on Thursday. Barry Paschal, a spokesman for Christine, declined to confirm or deny whether the meeting happened.
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| Brazil's Bolsonaro says he expects top court to end probe into his conduct over police Posted: 25 May 2020 02:59 PM PDT  Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro expects the Supreme Court to find no wrongdoing and end an investigation into potential political interference in the federal police, according to a statement from the presidential palace on Monday. An allegation by former Justice Minister Sergio Moro, a popular anti-graft crusader, that Bolsonaro aimed to interfere in police investigations has become a political scandal adding to the public health crisis caused by the coronavirus outbreak.
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| Russian prosecutors seek 18 years for ex-US marine in spy trial Posted: 25 May 2020 08:24 AM PDT  Russian prosecutors on Monday called for a former US marine charged with spying to be sentenced to 18 years in prison, after a closed-door trial denounced by Washington and his family. Paul Whelan, 50, was detained in Moscow in December 2018 for allegedly receiving state secrets, but he insists he was framed when he took a USB drive from an acquaintance thinking it contained holiday photos. Whelan's lawyer told reporters that prosecutors had requested 18 years for his client in a strict-regime penal colony, just short of the maximum 20-year sentence.
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| Several high school students in Georgia tested positive for COVID-19 after attending a drive-through graduation parade Posted: 25 May 2020 02:51 PM PDT  The Lovett School in Atlanta did not disclose how many students had tested positive for COVID-19, but described the number as "several."
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| ‘Something isn’t right’: U.S. probes soaring beef prices Posted: 25 May 2020 03:30 PM PDT |
| Judge rules against Florida Republican-backed law blocking felons from voting until they pay legal fees Posted: 25 May 2020 09:05 AM PDT  A federal judge in Tallahassee ruled on Sunday night that Florida law can't stop felons from voting because they can't pay back any legal fees and restitution they owe.The judge's decision could have deep ramifications as the state's estimated 774,000 disenfranchised felons represent a significant voting bloc.
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| Dutch PM Mark Rutte didn't see mother before her death because he followed virus lockdown rules Posted: 25 May 2020 12:26 PM PDT  Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte was unable to visit his dying mother in her final weeks because he obeyed coronavirus restrictions against visiting care homes, his office said on Monday. Mr Rutte on Monday announced the death of 96-year-old Mieke Rutte-Dilling in a home in The Hague on May 13, nearly two months after the government shut all such institutions to the public on March 20. "The prime minister has complied with all directives," Mr Rutte's spokesman told AFP when asked about reports that the premier had stuck to the rules and so not seen his mother before she died. His mother did not die of coronavirus although there had earlier been an outbreak of the disease in the home where she was living, Dutch media reported. Mr Rutte earlier announced his mother's death, saying that "in addition to the great sadness and all fond memories, my family and I also have a feeling of gratitude that we were allowed to have her with us for so long." "We have now said goodbye to her in a family circle and hope to be able to deal with this great loss in peace in the near future," he added. Dutch authorities allowed individual visits to some care homes from Monday, a measure that will be extended to all of them on June 15. The Netherlands - which has imposed an "intelligent lockdown" with less strict conditions than many other European countries - has so far recorded 5,830 coronavirus deaths and 45,445 infections.
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| Ilhan Omar says she believes woman who claims Joe Biden sexually assaulted her Posted: 25 May 2020 11:31 AM PDT  Democrat "squad" member Ilhan Omar says she believes sexual assault allegations against Joe Biden but would vote for him anyway to defeat Donald Trump.In a Tweet defending her support of accuser Tara Reade, the Minnesota congresswoman said that "believing survivors is consistent with my values".
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| Latino workers face discrimination over spread of coronavirus in meat plants Posted: 25 May 2020 02:00 AM PDT  Reports of Latinos being refused service after more than 10,000 meatpacking workers, many Latino, contract Covid-19 in the USEthnic minorities have been the hardest-hit by the coronavirus in the US, and now Latino workers are facing fresh difficulty, as they and their communities suffer discrimination after contracting coronavirus in meat processing plants and warehouses.More than 10,000 meatpacking workers, many of them Latino, have contracted coronavirus in the US, according to the United Food and Commercial Workers union, and dozens have died.Latino advocates say workers are also now experiencing racism due to fears they have contracted the virus in the workplace."We've received reports that some workers at a plant were turned away from grocery stores and not allowed in, because they were presumed to have the coronavirus because they worked at the local meatpacking plant," said Domingo Garcia, national president of the League of United Latin American Citizens (Lulac)."We've also heard in Marshalltown [Iowa] people were being refused service because they thought they were positive for Covid-19 – just because they were Latino," Garcia added.Latino workers have been particularly hard-hit in some areas by their reliance on jobs in meat processing plants or large warehouses which have been kept open during the pandemic, despite reports of poor health and safety standards and a lack of protective equipment."Four out of every five Latinos are considered essential workers," Garcia said. "They're in construction, food processing, grocery stores, they're farm workers. So they don't have the luxury of being able to work from home, and therefore they're being exposed to Covid-19 in ways that many American workers are not.Compounding that, Garcia said, is the lack of health insurance among some Latino workers. Garcia said Lulac is investigating "multiple cases" of Latino employees complaining about workplace conditions "and then being fired".The outbreaks in meat plants have been shocking.In April an outbreak at the JBS meat processing plant in Colorado killed three workers, while many of Iowa's more than 8,000 coronavirus cases have been linked to plants including Tyson Foods, in Waterloo. Tyson Foods was forced to suspend operations at the end of April after 180 coronavirus infections were linked to the plant.There was a similar story in Hazleton, Pennsylvania, which became one of the worst-hit areas early on in the crisis. Health officials identified Cargill, a meat-processing plant, as one of the sources of the virus."The Cargill plant is upwards of 90% Latinx," said Jamie Longazel, an associate professor at John Jay College and author of Undocumented Fears: Immigration and the Politics of Divide and Conquer in Hazleton, Pennsylvania.With the Latino meat plant workers, some of whom are undocumented, frequently living paycheck to paycheck, they could not afford to not go to work – particularly as large plants tend not to offer sick pay."They were demonized because the workers were then spreading it to their family members, so it became that the Latinx community was more affected," Longazel said. Elsewhere in the US anti-Latino sentiment has come from officials. In Wisconsin, the supreme court chief justice, Patience Roggensack, was criticized in early May after she seemed to downplay a coronavirus outbreak among workers at a meatpacking facility in Brown county, where a large proportion of the workers are minorities and immigrants."[The surge in coronavirus cases] was due to the meatpacking – that's where Brown county got the flare," Roggensack said. "It wasn't just the regular folks in Brown county."Christine Neumann-Ortiz, executive director of the Wisconsin-based Voces de la Frontera immigrant-rights group, criticized Roggensack's remarks as "elitist" and "racist", and told the Guardian that Latinos had been subjected to "legalized discrimination" through their work."Without a question they have been discriminated against, because they are disproportionately more vulnerable to exposure and to having them or their families or their community impacted by the Covid-19," Neumann-Ortiz said.If there is one positive, Neumann-Ortiz said, it's that the backlash could trigger a greater effort to change workplace conditions."It's forcing workplace organizing to happen, in a way that wasn't there before because the stakes are so high," Neumann-Ortiz said. In some cases workers have refused to go to work due to unsafe conditions, which has forced companies to temporarily close down facilities to deep-clean plants, or provide better PPE."There is a new struggle on the frontline and it's going to be here for a while to come," she said.
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| Bayer says it makes progress in settlement talks over weedkiller Posted: 24 May 2020 11:49 PM PDT  Bayer said on Monday it had made progress seeking a settlement over claims its glyphosate-based Roundup weedkiller causes cancer, after Bloomberg reported the company reached a verbal agreement on about 50,000 to 85,000 cases. In April, Bayer's management regained shareholder support for its handling of the litigation process. Bloomberg cited people familiar with the negotiations as saying that the deals have yet to be signed and Bayer is likely to announce the settlements in June.
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| US urges probe into alleged ethics breach at African Development Bank Posted: 25 May 2020 10:02 AM PDT  The US Department of the Treasury has called on the African Development Bank (AfDB) to carry out an independent probe into alleged ethics breaches by its president, Akinwumi Adesina. In a letter obtained by AFP on Monday, US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin expressed "deep reservations" about the outcome of an internal inquiry clearing Adesina, and urged the appointment of an independent outside investigator. The letter, dated May 22, was sent to the chair of the AfDB's board, Ivorian Planning and Development Minister Niale Kaba.
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| Coronavirus live updates: U.S. death toll nears 100,000 on muted Memorial Day weekend Posted: 24 May 2020 08:05 AM PDT  Here are the latest updates from around the world.
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| Baby gorilla injured at Seattle Zoo Posted: 25 May 2020 07:28 AM PDT  A baby gorilla was badly injured at a Seattle zoo on Saturday when he was caught in a skirmish between his family group members, zookeepers said.
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| Reports: Russian mediation reopens major highway in NE Syria Posted: 25 May 2020 05:22 AM PDT |
| Fact check: HEROES Act would eliminate state requirements for voter IDs in federal elections Posted: 25 May 2020 02:58 PM PDT  Some conservatives zeroed in on language in the House-passed HEROES Act that would supercede state voter ID laws during federal elections.
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| U.S. ambassador to Germany reportedly stepping down Posted: 24 May 2020 03:40 AM PDT  Richard Grenell will not return from Washington after an interim job as head of U.S. intelligence.
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| Hundreds take part in parade to mark first birthday of boy who lost both parents in El Paso shooting Posted: 25 May 2020 08:11 AM PDT  A boy who lost both of his parents in a mass shooting at an El Paso, Texas, Walmart last year has celebrated his first birthday – and he did not celebrate it alone.Paul Gilbert Anchondo was only two months old when his parents were killed while protecting him from a mass shooter.
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| U.S. CDC reports total of 1.6 million coronavirus cases and 97,049 deaths Posted: 24 May 2020 11:02 AM PDT  The CDC reported its tally of cases of the respiratory illness known as COVID-19, caused by the new coronavirus, as of 4 p.m. ET on May 23, compared with its count a day earlier. The CDC figures do not necessarily reflect cases reported by individual states.
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| Police say Dominic Cummings controversy will make lockdown impossible to enforce Posted: 24 May 2020 05:43 AM PDT  The police will no longer be able to enforce lockdown because Dominic Cummings' actions have completely undermined their authority with the public, it was claimed last night. Senior policing figures and frontline officers said they feared people would no longer be willing to adhere to the Government's guidance, making their job virtually impossible. Many senior officers had already admitted they were struggling to explain the rules to an increasingly confused public. But after the Prime Minister's most senior aide travelled 260 miles from London to Durham to self-isolate at his parents' home, one former Chief Constable said the Government's guidelines were dead in the water. Mike Barton, the former Chief Constable of Durham Police, told the Telegraph: "How on earth are the police supposed to enforce the rules now? What has happened has completely holed the legislation that was introduced to keep people safe, below the waterline. It is dead in the water. "It was already difficult for the police to get right because there were these strident messages coming from the Government. In a few minor cases some forces made a few mistakes, but generally the public was very receptive to the message. That has now gone." Brian Booth, West Yorkshire Police Federation Rep, also said enforcement would now become impossible. He said: "Throughout the lockdown the vast majority of the public have abided by the rules for the greater good. For many it has come at great personal sacrifice. "But when they see a senior government aide appearing to breach the lockdown what are they supposed to think? "It really does undermine what we are trying to achieve. We already have it hard with smart alecs who think they know the law better than us and this just plays into their hands. "It is not the Government who will be left picking up the pieces from this, but all the frontline officers who are trying to keep the public safe."
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| Murder suspect with 'strong ties' to Newtown, Connecticut, is manhunt subject Posted: 24 May 2020 01:51 PM PDT  Peter Manfredonia, 23, is being sought in a Friday attack that left one dead and one injured, as well as the death of an acquaintance.
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| Palestinian government ends coronavirus lockdown Posted: 24 May 2020 05:09 PM PDT  The Palestinian government is ending its two-month coronavirus lockdown in the occupied West Bank, prime minister Mohammed Shtayyeh announced Monday after a steady decline in new cases. Shops and businesses will operate as normal from Tuesday, while government employees will return to work after the Eid holiday on Wednesday, Shtayyeh told a press conference. Mosques, churches and public parks will also reopen, though with social distancing measures.
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| Biden makes first in-person appearance in over 2 months Posted: 25 May 2020 01:04 PM PDT  Joe Biden made his first in-person appearance in over two months on Monday as he commemorated Memorial Day by laying a wreath at a veterans' park near his Delaware home.
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| North Korea's Kim holds meeting on bolstering nuclear forces Posted: 23 May 2020 09:43 PM PDT  North Korean leader Kim Jong Un convened a key military meeting to discuss bolstering the country's nuclear arsenal and putting its armed forces on high alert, state media reported Sunday, in Kim's first known public appearance in about 20 days. Kim earlier this month quelled intense rumors about his health by attending a ceremony marking the completion of a fertilizer factory in what at the time was his first public appearance in 20 days.
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| Second immigrant dies of COVID-19 while in ICE custody Posted: 25 May 2020 12:32 PM PDT  Santiago Baten-Oxlag, of Guatemala, is the second known immigrant to die of coronavirus complications while detained by U.S. immigration authorities.
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| Mike Pompeo is the number one evangelist of Trumpism in the world Posted: 25 May 2020 03:14 AM PDT  When it comes to foreign policy, Pompeo's penchant for undermining America's credibility is top-notchDonald Trump's disdain for the people, country and values his office is supposed to represent is unmatched in recent memory. And he has found in the secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, a kindred spirit who has embraced his role as Trumpism's number one proselytizer to the world.Pompeo doesn't wield nearly as much power or have the jurisdiction to inflict damage on as wide a range of issues as the president. He's not as crass or erratic as Trump, and his Twitter feed seems dedicated more to childish mockery than outright attacks. But when it comes to foreign policy, Pompeo's penchant for undermining America's credibility is top-notch.At Pompeo's recommendation, Trump fired the state department's inspector general, who is supposed to be an independent investigator charged with looking into potential wrongdoing inside the department. Steve Linick was just the latest in a series of inspectors general across the government that Trump had fired in an attempt to hide the misconduct of his administration – but it also shone a spotlight on how Pompeo has undermined his agency.According to news reports, Pompeo was being investigated by the inspector general for bypassing Congress and possibly breaking the law in sending weapons to Saudi Arabia, even though his own department and the rest of the US government advised against the decision. He was also supposedly organizing fancy dinners – paid for by taxpayers – with influential businesspeople and TV personalities that seemed geared more towards supporting Pompeo's political career than advancing US foreign policy goals. And he was reportedly being scrutinized for using department personnel to conduct personal business, such as getting dry cleaning and walking his dog.But these revelations merely reaffirm a pattern of activities by Pompeo unbecoming of the nation's top diplomat. When the House of Representatives was in the process of impeaching Trump over his attempt to extort Ukraine for personal political purposes – an act that Pompeo was aware of – Pompeo defended Trump while throwing under the bus career state department officials, like the ousted US ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch, who spoke out. Pompeo has regularly ignored Congress, withholding documents from lawmakers – including during the Ukraine impeachment investigation – and refusing to appear for testimony. In 2019, the IG released a report detailing political retaliation against career state department officials being perpetrated by Trump officials. And Pompeo has spent considerable time traveling to Kansas and conducting media interviews there, fueling speculation that he has been using his position to tee up a run for the Senate, a violation of the Hatch Act.Pompeo is a natural Trumpist. In her fantastic profile of the secretary of state, Susan Glasser notes of his first congressional race: "Pompeo ran a nasty race against the Democrat, an Indian-American state legislator named Raj Goyle, who, unlike Pompeo, had grown up in Wichita. Pompeo's campaign tweeted praise for an article calling Goyle a 'turban topper', and a supporter bought billboards urging residents to 'Vote American – Vote Pompeo'." Later, as a member of Congress, Pompeo made a name for himself by helping to fabricate the Benghazi conspiracy theories that shamelessly used the memory of a deceased foreign service officer to undermine the state department.Next to Trump's assault on US values, Pompeo's role as top Trump lackey may seem insignificant. But the secretary of state is often the most senior US official that other countries and publics hear from on any number of issues. Even with Trump in the Oval Office, a secretary of state that was committed to the constitution - not Trump - would at least be able to fight for the values that US foreign policy should embody, and shield the department's day-to-day business from Trump's outbursts. The work that department professionals conduct around the world – helping American citizens abroad get home in the early days of the pandemic or coordinating assistance to other countries to cope with the coronavirus – is vital to American national security, and at the core of the image that America projects abroad.> Trump is undermining American leadership in incalculable ways, and Pompeo has weaponized the state department on his behalfThe world today needs principled and active US leadership as much as ever. In a normal world, the US secretary of state would be working through international organizations like the WHO to lead the response to the coronavirus, not threatening to withdraw from the global body. The secretary would be pushing for robust foreign assistance to help other countries fight the pandemic, not cutting funding. They would be trying to find a path that balances working with China on responding to the pandemic with pushing back on the Chinese Communist party's disturbing behavior – like signaling it may end Hong Kong's autonomy – instead of scapegoating China.But Trump is undermining American leadership in incalculable ways, and Pompeo has weaponized the state department on the president's behalf. Like Trump, Pompeo's behavior is sending signals to other countries that the US government is acting more like the autocratic and corrupt regimes that Pompeo so regularly calls out. As Trump hurls daily attacks on the media, Pompeo has taken to berating journalists. These assaults by America's leaders on the free press are giving cover to dictators around the world to criticize their countries' media. Firing government watchdogs who are investigating top officials is exactly the kind of behavior that the United States would normally criticize in its annual human rights reports.The fish, they say, rots from the head. And Pompeo, like his boss, is actively undermining the values embodied by the state department, its professionals and the Americans they represent.
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| Is international travel allowed yet? See when Spain, Mexico, Italy, UK plan to reopen borders Posted: 25 May 2020 01:38 PM PDT  Spain has announced that it will reopen its borders to foreign tourists in July and Mexico will start reopening in June. See when others will follow.
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| India air travel restart hits chaos and cancellations Posted: 25 May 2020 01:09 AM PDT  Airlines' plans to resume air travel in India were in disarray on Monday after some states restricted the number of flights hours before departure, causing last-minute cancellations and leaving hundreds of passengers stranded. Airlines, including IndiGo, India's biggest carrier, SpiceJet and Vistara, a joint venture between Tata Group and Singapore Airlines, had been preparing to resume operations from Monday with about a third of their capacity amid strict rules. IndiGo had planned to start with about 430 daily flights while its low-cost rival SpiceJet said it would operate 204 flights a day and AirAsia India would start with 77 flights.
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| German government takes controls at Lufthansa with bailout Posted: 25 May 2020 08:41 AM PDT  The largest aviation rescue in Europe is going to have to be approved by Brussels.
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