| Tamika Mallory: 'Movement begins again' when the officers charged with killing George Floyd head to court Posted: 09 Jun 2020 10:53 AM PDT  There comes a time when it's OK for protesters to go home, says activist Tamika Mallory. But she says that when the court trials of the officers accused in George Floyd's killing begin, so does a new stage of the movement.
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| Dr. Birx Says George Floyd Protests Have Resulted in the Destruction of 70 Covid-19 Testing Sites Posted: 10 Jun 2020 08:14 AM PDT  Dr. Deborah Birx, President Trump's coronavirus response coordinator, warned the nation's governors on a conference call that 70 coronavirus testing sites had been destroyed amid widespread protests in the wake of the death of George Floyd.During the Monday call, a recording of which was obtained by the Daily Beast, Birx said governors should "scramble now to make sure there is testing available in urban areas." Vice President Mike Pence, the head of the White House coronavirus task force, said that spikes in cases stemming from the unrest are "an issue our team is following and there is a concern."Birx's comments mirror those of Dr. Anthony Fauci, who has raised concerns that the protests could lead to a spike in cases. "It's a perfect set up for further spread of the virus in the sense of creating these blips which might turn into some surges," Fauci admitted on local D.C. radio station WTOP last week.Members of the Washington, D.C., National Guard have already tested positive for coronavirus since being deployed on May 31 to help deal with mass demonstrations and rioting in the nation's capitol.Data shows that Texas, California, Oregon, North and South Carolina, Mississippi, Utah, Arkansas, and Arizona have all seen sharp increases in coronavirus hospitalizations since Memorial Day weekend, as states have begun to open up following months of lockdowns."There is active community spread in California, North Carolina, Utah, and Arizona," Birx said on the call, adding that her team had seen evidence of community spread in "metro Hispanic neighborhoods."
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| Police officer who put middle fingers up at protesters stripped of his powers Posted: 09 Jun 2020 02:27 PM PDT  A Chicago police officer who raised his middle fingers to demonstrators during George Floyd protests last week, has been assigned to desk duty.During the protests last Thursday, an officer was photographed raising the middle fingers of both of his hands at protesters, as police drove away from the demonstrations.
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| 14 Beautiful Examples of When Historic and Modern Architecture Come Together Posted: 10 Jun 2020 07:59 AM PDT |
| Coronavirus: Brazil resumes publishing Covid-19 data after court ruling Posted: 09 Jun 2020 02:40 PM PDT  The health ministry resumes publishing its full data on the virus following a Supreme Court ruling.
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| Homicides in Los Angeles Increase 250 Percent from Previous Week Posted: 10 Jun 2020 05:56 AM PDT  The Los Angeles Police Department announced that murders increased by 250 percent last week in the wake of national unrest following the death of George Floyd, and just as Los Angeles officials announced plans to slash the city's police budget by up to $150 million.The LAPD announced that, compared to the previous week, "homicides went up 250% and victims shot went up 56%" from May 31 to June 6. The department also said that the city had seen four separate shootings — one resulting in a homicide — over the last 24 hours.> The week of 5/31 to 6/6, homicides went up 250% and victims shot went up 56% compared to the previous week. > > The past 24 hrs has seen 4 shootings, one of those resulting in a homicide. Detectives are following leads to ID & arrest the suspects—but we're also asking for your help pic.twitter.com/UXwZD7pPze> > -- LAPD HQ (@LAPDHQ) June 9, 2020Last week, Mayor Eric Garcetti said that the city would "identify $250 million in cuts so we can invest in jobs, in health, in education and in healing," for women and minority communities, and the black community in particular. L.A. Police Commission President Eileen Decker then revealed that $100 million to $150 million would come in reductions to the police budget.Garcetti said there would be cuts "to every department, including the Police Department, because we all have to be part of this solution together. We all have to step up and say, 'What can we sacrifice?'" The stance marks a major shift from Garcetti's position of just a few weeks ago, when he proposed significantly increasing the LAPD budget during the 2020-21 fiscal year from $1.189 billion to $1.86 billion.The city's police union, the Los Angeles Police Protective League, responded to the announcement by warning the cuts would not make the city safer."What you need to do is ask the citizens of Los Angeles, Do they feel comfortable with cutting $150 million from the police budget?' I would say, No.' Can you imagine if that money was cut and the same situation happened in a year or two? I think it would be 10 times worse," Detective Jamie McBride, a member of union's board of directors, said in response to the news.
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| George Floyd protests: Minneapolis police force drops talks with union headed by Trump loyalist Posted: 10 Jun 2020 08:56 AM PDT  Minneapolis Police Department chief Medaria Arradondo announced the department would immediately withdraw from the police union contract negotiations as one of a series of agency reforms following the death of George Floyd.This first step of many, Mr Arradondo said, was in an effort to provide "transparency and more flexibility for true reform" for how the department polices citizens.
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| An abridged history of the Trump administration defending baseless claims Posted: 10 Jun 2020 10:43 AM PDT  White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany on Wednesday sought to defend the president's baseless claim that a 75-year-old man who was seen knocked to the ground by police in Buffalo, N.Y., last week during a protest over George Floyd's death was a member of antifa and that the incident was "a setup." Watch an abridged history of instances of President Trump and his administration attempting to use a similar defense.
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| Trump's troop cut in Germany blindsided senior U.S. officials, sources say Posted: 08 Jun 2020 08:22 PM PDT  President Donald Trump's decision to cut U.S. troop levels in Germany blindsided a number of senior national security officials, according to five sources familiar with the matter, and the Pentagon had yet to receive a formal order to carry it out, Reuters has learned. Trump decided to remove 9,500 troops from Germany, one of America's strongest allies, reducing the number there to 25,000 from 34,500, a senior U.S. official said on Friday.
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| Virus pummels global economy, jobs - even without 2nd wave Posted: 10 Jun 2020 03:09 AM PDT  The virus crisis has triggered the worst global recession in nearly a century -- and the pain is not over yet even if there is no second wave of infections, an international economic report warned Wednesday. Hundreds of millions of people have lost their jobs, and the crisis is hitting the poor and young people the hardest, worsening inequalities, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said in its latest analysis of global economic data. "It is probably the most uncertain and dramatic outlook since the creation of the OECD," Secretary General Angel Gurria said.
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| Australia rejects China's racism warning to students Posted: 09 Jun 2020 06:01 PM PDT  Australian officials and leading universities on Wednesday rejected China's claims students should be "cautious" in choosing to study Down Under because of concerns over racist incidents during the coronavirus pandemic. China's ministry of education warned students on Tuesday there had been "multiple discriminatory incidents against Asians in Australia" during the pandemic, ramping up diplomatic tensions between the two countries. The advisory was the latest in an escalating dispute between Beijing and Canberra that was deepened by Australia's call for an independent inquiry into the origin and handling of the coronavirus in central China last year.
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| How the U.S. Army Is Testing Its New Mobile Protected Firepower Vehicle Posted: 09 Jun 2020 07:45 AM PDT  A powerful new edition to the military.
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| Biden still wants to increase funding for police departments by $300 million to 'reinvigorate community policing' Posted: 10 Jun 2020 08:03 AM PDT  "Nothing about this fight will be easy. Institutions resist change. Racism has been a fixture in our society for hundreds of years," Biden wrote.
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| Human remains found in search for two missing Idaho kids; stepfather Chad Daybell taken into custody Posted: 09 Jun 2020 08:11 PM PDT  Chad Daybell's home was searched Tuesday in relation to the investigation into Lori Vallow's two missing children.
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| This Urban Home in India Maximizes Its Tiny Footprint Posted: 10 Jun 2020 10:28 AM PDT |
| President Trump, Senate Republicans to put forward proposals for possible police reform Posted: 09 Jun 2020 03:16 PM PDT  Sources say the reforms would be a combination of executive and legislative action; chief White House correspondent John Roberts reports.
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| ‘They Folded Like House of Cards’: McConnell Mocks NYT for Caving to Critics of Tom Cotton’s Op-ed Posted: 10 Jun 2020 10:31 AM PDT  Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell on Wednesday accused the New York Times of lying about the substance of Senator Tom Cotton's controversial op-ed for which the paper later apologized after an outcry from readers and Times journalists.During a floor speech, McConnell mocked the Times for bowing to criticism of the paper's decision to publish Cotton's opinion op-ed, titled "Send in the Troops," which called for military intervention to quell the rioting across the country in the wake of the death of George Floyd."One of our nation's most storied newspapers just had its intellectual independence challenged by an angry mob, and they folded like a house of cards," McConnell said from the Senate floor. "A jury of people on Twitter indicted them as accessories to a thought crime and instead of telling them to go take a hike, the paper pleaded guilty and begged for mercy."After the column's publication, several Times staffers tweeted that, "running this puts Black @NYTimes staff in danger." The backlash eventually resulted in the resignation of James Bennet, the Times editorial page editor, on Sunday.The Times has since added a lengthy note editor's note to the op-ed saying that "the essay fell short of our standards and should not have been published." While Cotton's "basic arguments" represent a "newsworthy part of the current debate," the note reads, the "life-and-death importance of the topic" and the Arkansas Republican's "influential position" warranted further substantial revisions." Editors also lamented the "needlessly harsh" tone of the essay and singled out several claims Cotton makes which they said should have been fact-checked.Cotton wrote that "nihilist criminals are simply out for loot and the thrill of destruction, with cadres of left-wing radicals like antifa infiltrating protest marches to exploit Floyd's death for their own anarchic purposes." The Times's editor's note takes issue with those assertions, saying Cotton's claims are unsubstantiated and have been "widely questioned."McConnell acknowledged that Cotton's view was "controversial" but said it remains a "legitimate" one.Afterwards, the Times "began lying about what Senator Cotton had said," saying he had "called for a crackdown on peaceful protests when he had specifically distinguished them from violent rioters," McConnell said.McConnell noted that in the past, the Times has published op-eds from Russian president Vladimir Putin, the Iranian foreign minister, and a leader of the Muslim brotherhood."Presumably it was understood that pushing the envelope and airing disagreements are necessary in a free market of ideas," the Kentucky Republican said. "But one week ago, the Gray Lady finally met her match. Vladimir Putin? No problem. Iranian propaganda? Sure. But nothing, nothing could have prepared them for 800 words from the junior senator from Arkansas.""The New York Times had erred grievously by making people confront a different viewpoint," McConnell said mockingly. "It hurt their feelings by making them confront a different point of view."
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| Trump response to Floyd protests is, finally, too much for America's retired military brass Posted: 10 Jun 2020 01:00 AM PDT  Jim Mattis, Colin Powell and John Kelly are among the many high-ranking veterans who criticized Trump's instinct to use the military against citizens.
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| Virginia judge blocks governor's demand to pull down Confederate statue Posted: 08 Jun 2020 10:14 PM PDT  The injunction was issued by a Richmond City Circuit Court judge on Monday, the Post reported. A lawyer for the man who sought the injunction - William C. Gregory - did not immediately respond to a request for comment, nor did Northam's office.
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| Philippine journalist Ressa scared but strong ahead of verdict Posted: 09 Jun 2020 11:21 PM PDT  High-profile Philippine journalist Maria Ressa says the libel charge that could see her jailed next week is a government ploy to intimidate all critical voices, but she refuses to be silenced and still holds out hope of winning. "I've been the cautionary tale: be quiet or you're next... that's part of the reason why I have been targeted," said Ressa, 56, the co-founder of news site Rappler and a former CNN journalist. "It's a chilling effect... not just to me and to Rappler, but to journalists and to anyone who asks critical questions."
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| China Carries Out Large-Scale Drills in Latest Showdown With India Posted: 10 Jun 2020 05:30 AM PDT  The latest saber-rattling in the region was meant to demonstrate China's capability to quickly reinforce its border defenses.
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| No masks, no water: New York protesters held in ‘abysmal’ conditions, experts say Posted: 10 Jun 2020 12:00 AM PDT  More than 2,000 people have been arrested in the city and the police treatment of those detained is emboldening people * George Floyd killing – latest US updates * See all our George Floyd coverageProtesters in New York have been unnecessarily arrested and detained for as long as 48 hours in "abysmal" conditions without access to masks, food and water, according to legal experts.Since the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis just over two weeks ago, tens of thousands of people have taken to the streets of New York City in protest over police brutality. More than 2,000 people had been arrested in the city as of Thursday – around a fifth of the total of over 10,000 arrested nationally – on charges such as resisting arrest, disorderly conduct and violating the now cancelled city-wide curfew. New York Police Department (NYPD) declined a request for updated arrest figures, saying they will be available "in the near future". Lawyers say the NYPD is also denying many of those arrested their right to a phone call, leaving their friends and families fearful for their lives. Details of arrests are not publicly available, but anecdotally, lawyers said protesters are facing charges for disorderly conduct, obstructing governmental administration and for violating the curfew, which was considered a Class B misdemeanour, carrying a maximum sentence of up to three months imprisonment.Despite the coronavirus pandemic, they said most police officers do not wear masks and in some cases confiscate those of protesters who are being "packed" into cells with no regard for social distancing.Corey Stoughton, head of the special litigation unit at the Legal Aid Society, said: "We have heard from our clients who have been arrested that the conditions in the holding cells that they are held in, in many cases for 10-20 hours, are abysmal. Especially following some of the larger demonstrations and mass arrests, that there are extremely crowded conditions, that the cells are dirty and unsanitary and unsafe."Police officers, she added, "rarely" wear masks. "So really an arrest is a decision by the police department to put protesters into a situation that is dangerous for their health and safety."Most protesters that are arrested are taken to a police station and held before being released on a summons ordering them to appear in court at a later date. The protesters the Guardian spoke to had received summonses for September. If they face higher charges, they are arraigned, which means they are detained until they have seen a judge – who either sets bail or releases them.Rigodis Appling, a staff attorney at the Legal Aid Society, where she is a founding member of the Black Attorneys of Legal Aid caucus, said some protesters were held for 48 hours. Ordinarily this would be illegal under New York state's 24-hour arrest-to-arraignment rule but it was suspended as a result of the crisis and upheld by a Manhattan supreme court judge."The people I saw had been sitting in the Tombs [the nickname for where people are detained underneath the courthouse in Manhattan] for 48 hours … in New York, typically you're supposed to see a judge within 24 hours," said Appling. She said of those who were arraigned, were "majority, almost all, black and Latino" and that many were "over-charged" with higher crimes. She has also seen multiple essential workers who were not necessarily a part of the protests in arraignments. Describing the conditions in the Tombs, she said: "Filthy would be an understatement." While she said it is always like that, Covid-19 makes it "even scarier" for her clients. Porsha-Shaf'on Venable, a supervising attorney public defender in New York and an attorney for Good Call, a hotline offering 24-hour free legal support to people who have been arrested in the city and their friends and family, said police treatment of protesters is tantamount to an "act of terror".She added: "People are scared … And if there was any confidence, if there was any modicum of confidence in the NYPD before, they have successfully diminished that. It is gone. And you can hear it in every mother's voice that calls the hotline."Good Call has been flooded with close to 2,000 calls since the protests started and expanded its team of lawyers, who Venable said are working "around the clock".On Thursday night, when protesters in the Bronx were zip-tied, she said they were taken to another borough, Queens."Some of them were ultimately released, but it was still during curfew time with no way to get back home and with real fear of being arrested again for violating the curfew."Many of the arrests are unnecessary, said Jared Trujillo, defence attorney and president of the association of Legal Aid Attorneys. "Ultimately someone who's just out there protesting there is no reason that police officers can't issue an appearance ticket – if they have to arrest them at all."Rather than scaring off protesters, police treatment of those arrested is in some ways "emboldening" people to demonstrate, he said.The Manhattan district attorney, Cyrus Vance, announced on Friday that he will not prosecute protesters for low-level offenses.However, Trujillo said there was no guarantee. "Something to note about the Manhattan DA is oftentimes they say they're not going to prosecute certain things and they do it anyway."Student Kellen Gold, 22, was arrested for violating the curfew on Wednesday night at a march in Manhattan. Gold, who uses they/them pronouns, said they were charged by police on bikes so they ran and kneeled before being "thrown to the ground and then cuffed" and taken to a police station in Brooklyn."I've been arrested a bunch of times [for activism] … this is the first arrest where I've been violently handled," said Gold, who was released at around 1.15am and given a court date in September.Almost all of the officers were not wearing masks, said Gold, and protesters were required to share water cups.Johnathan, 35, a videographer from Brooklyn who did not want to give his last name, said he was arrested for trespassing at the Barclays Centre on 29 May after walking up the sloping grass-covered roof of the train station to get a better vantage point to film.At One Police Plaza, NYPD's headquarters in Manhattan, he claims it was "chaos". He said he was not given a phone call and officers were not wearing masks or social distancing. In a holding area of about 50 people, he said he was the only one wearing a mask.He said he has been summoned to appear in September but that officers told him they will not charge him with trespassing. "I don't know what's in store," he added.The experience has changed him, he said, and he believes the police should be defunded. He added: "If they're messing that up, what else are they messing up? … The fire that has now been lit under me is to hold the police accountable."The NYPD, which Mayor Bill de Blasio announced on Sunday would have its $6bn budget cut following pressure from protesters, said it "supports and respects the rights of protesters to express their views" and that they are given "numerous warnings to disperse" if officers decide to clear the street. It said if directions are ignored, "a person may be subject to an arrest or summons."Sergeant Mary Frances O'Donnell, a spokeswoman for the deputy commissioner, public information, said: "While the majority of the protests have been peaceful, our officers have encountered agitators with different agendas who have used the guise of the protests to commit criminal acts and violence. "Since May 25, our officers have been shot at, stabbed, assaulted with rocks, bricks and other debris, have been struck by vehicles and have even had molotov cocktails thrown inside their vehicle. This behaviour is unacceptable and will not be tolerated."
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| Fact check: Cruise ships are registered abroad but they didn't seek a US bailout Posted: 10 Jun 2020 08:46 AM PDT  The claim that cruise ship companies register in foreign countries to avoid US taxes is true. But it's not true that they asked for COVID-19 bailout.
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| An electric pickup truck with a longer range than Tesla's Cybertruck will soon be up for preorder — check out the Nikola Badger Posted: 09 Jun 2020 08:22 AM PDT  Nikola's Badger pickup truck has an estimated range of up to 600 miles and can hit 60 mph in 2.9 seconds.
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| Philippine defense chief flies to disputed island amid feud Posted: 09 Jun 2020 03:14 AM PDT  The Philippine defense chief and top military officials flew to a disputed island in the South China Sea on Tuesday to inaugurate a beach ramp built to allow the "full-blast" development of the territory in a move likely to infuriate China. Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana brought journalists to witness the ribbon-cutting ceremony on the island, internationally called Thitu, in what he said was a milestone in efforts to make the island, long occupied by Filipino forces and fishermen, more livable without militarizing it. Lorenzana said the Philippines has the right to develop its nine occupied islands as other claimants have done.
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| Israel's Supreme Court strikes down law legalizing settlements on private Palestinian land Posted: 10 Jun 2020 03:31 AM PDT  Court votes to repeal 2017 measure that said settlers could stay on land if they built there without knowing of Palestinian ownership.
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| D.C. Mayor: We Had to ‘Defend Our Borders’ From Trump’s Troops Posted: 09 Jun 2020 07:45 AM PDT  Trump sent in goons from the Bureau of Prisons and National Guardsmen from as far away from Utah to take over her town. Then he attacked her on Twitter.In Episode 15 of The New Abnormal, The Daily Beast's podcast for a world gone off the rails, Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser tells Molly Jong-Fast and Rick Wilson what it was like to be under siege from the president of the United States—and how she tried to resist."We have spent the last week trying to defend our borders, defend our autonomy, and make sure protesters could be in the city peacefully," Bowser says. Then the "siege" of Lafayette Park happened."We don't really know for sure who was in charge, who gave the order, what the chain of command was," she says. What she does know is that she was attacked by the president on Twitter and he lost: "Not to sound like I'm in the kindergarten, but he started it."Molly also talks about the GOP's ability to "seize defeat out of the jaws of defeat" and the two reveal the spin job that Trump hopes will save him from election doom.Are We All Trapped in Tom Cotton's Authoritarian Wet Dream?"He thinks this is going to be the sort of secret sauce, the magic that's going to undo the fact he has plunged this country into epidemiological, cultural, social, and economic chaos," says Rick.Plus, Trump's "just the tip" excuse; "deep state" ninjas; and Rick's secret past as a NASCAR driver.Listen to The New Abnormal on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Stitcher.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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| Peru surpasses 200,000 coronavirus infections: health ministry Posted: 09 Jun 2020 02:31 PM PDT  Peru emerged as a global COVID-19 hotspot on Tuesday as the health ministry registered more than 200,000 cases, ranking the South American country as the eighth-highest in the world by number of infections. The death toll rose to 5,738 and the total number of infections climbed to 203,736, an increase of more than 4,000 cases from the previous day. The figures show Peru as second only to Brazil as Latin America's worst-affected country by number of overall cases, and third after Brazil and Mexico in terms of deaths.
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| He trained the San Jose police about racial bias. An officer shot him with a rubber bullet during a protest. Posted: 09 Jun 2020 04:29 PM PDT  Derek Sanderlin reportedly needed emergency groin surgery for a rupture caused by a rubber bullet and was told he might never be able to have kids.
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| Minneapolis police chief breaks off talks with officer union Posted: 10 Jun 2020 08:46 AM PDT  Chief Medaria Arradondo, at a media briefing, also said he would implement a new early-warning system to identify police officer misconduct, allowing supervisors to intervene more quickly to get problematic officers off the street. The decision to cut off negotiations with the Police Officers Federation of Minneapolis comes a few days after a majority of the city council pledged to dismantle the police force, raising pressure on the chief to take action.
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| Chinese fighters briefly enter Taiwan airspace: Taipei Posted: 08 Jun 2020 10:49 PM PDT  Chinese fighter jets briefly entered Taiwan's airspace on Tuesday, forcing the island to scramble its fighters, the same day Taipei announced plans for its largest annual live-fire military drill. The Taiwanese defence ministry said it broadcast warnings and "took active responses to dispel" multiple Chinese Su-30 fighters to the southwest of the island. The incursion came as the ministry announced that the "Han Kuang" live-fire drill would be held next month, including computer simulations and an exercise to defend against forces landing on the island. China has ramped up fighter flights and warship crossings near Taiwan or through the Taiwan Strait since President Tsai Ing-wen was first elected in 2016, as she has refused to acknowledge that the island is part of "one China". Beijing claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has vowed to one day seize it, by force if necessary. On February 10, a Chinese military jet briefly crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait separating the two sides in the first major incursion since Tsai's landslide re-election in January. Tsai has lashed out at Beijing for "meaningless and unnecessary" moves. In March last year, two Chinese J-11 fighter jets crossed over the line for the first time in years, prompting Taipei to accuse Beijing of violating a long-held tacit agreement in a "reckless and provocative" move.
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| Iran sentencing an alleged CIA source to death for the Soleimani assassination has reminded US allies of a constant worry: Media leaks can get their people killed. Posted: 10 Jun 2020 09:15 AM PDT  Many allies of the US were unsettled by the level of detail made public about how Qassem Soleimani was killed in January 2020.
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| Brazil obeys court order to resume providing full virus data Posted: 09 Jun 2020 11:58 AM PDT  A Brazilian Supreme Court justice ordered the government of President Jair Bolsonaro to resume publication of full COVID-19 data, including the cumulative death toll, following allegations the government was trying to hide the severity of the pandemic in Latin America's biggest country. Justice Alexandre de Moraes said late Monday that the government is obliged to provide necessary information to Brazilian citizens, days after the Health Ministry scrubbed the cumulative death toll from the new coronavirus from its website. De Moraes said in his decision that the gravity of the pandemic, which has killed more than 38,400 Brazilians, requires transparency from the government as the country shapes policies to curb the virus.
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| U.S. policy of expelling migrant kids faces first legal challenge Posted: 10 Jun 2020 08:07 AM PDT  Citing a public health order, U.S. border officials carried out 899 expulsions of unaccompanied migrant children in March and April alone.
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| Is South Carolina Already on a Second Wave of COVID-19? Posted: 10 Jun 2020 01:25 AM PDT  COLUMBIA, S.C.—On May 11, South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster officially reopened the state economy after four weeks of government-mandated social distancing aimed at slowing the spread of the novel coronavirus."With our increased capacity for testing the people of our state, it is time to responsibly and gradually get these small businesses back up and running," McMaster said in a statement. "We have an opportunity to set an example for the rest of the world by reinvigorating our economy while staying safe, but we can only do that if South Carolinians continue to follow the advice and recommendations of our public health experts."Almost exactly one month later, South Carolina had arguably its worst week yet in the pandemic. Between June 1 and this past Monday, this state of five million people registered 3,069 new infections and 63 deaths, according to the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC). By Monday, the health agency had counted 14,800 total coronavirus cases and 557 deaths, and projected an overall COVID-19 case rate of 442 per 100,000 people by June 27. The agency said that was worse than California's 323-per-100,000 rate as of June 6, but much better than New York's 1,965 per 100,000.But what's chilling about South Carolina's stats is that all the evidence points to the pandemic getting worse here, not better. "It seems pretty clear that these data indicate an increasing circulation of the virus," Theresa MacPhail, an author and medical anthropologist at the Stevens Institute of Technology in New Jersey, told The Daily Beast.There were 624 new infections in South Carolina on June 6, according to Johns Hopkins' coronavirus tracker, which recorded a spike in infections in South Carolina starting on Thursday, and an ominous two-week trend that didn't come close to federal reopening guidelines.While the data seem to indicate that social distancing in April helped to prevent South Carolina hospitals from being overwhelmed by coronavirus patients, the numbers also suggest that McMaster's eagerness to reopen the economy has backfired on the state's residents. Trump's Task Force Warns Governors of COVID Spike Tied to ProtestsMore people are getting sick. More people are dying. The death rate for infected patients hasn't really changed: It was about 3.6 percent in early May and 3.5 percent in early June. And some businesses, having reopened just a few weeks ago, are closing again. McMaster's office did not respond to a request for comment for this story.The novel coronavirus officially arrived in South Carolina on Feb. 24 with six infections, according to DHEC figures. State-organized testing began the first week of March. The first COVID-19 death is said to have occurred on March 16. That same day, McMaster, a Republican and a close ally of Donald Trump, suspended activities at the state's schools. But he didn't close businesses—yet. And for a few weeks he didn't try to stop large public gatherings, either.The state's major cities of Columbia and Charleston began implementing social-distancing measures on their own in late March, closing bars and restaurants, imposing curfews, and limiting public gatherings. But aside from closing schools, in the first month or so of the coronavirus's spread in South Carolina, there was very little in the way of a statewide effort to slow the pathogen. As late as the end of March, the Republican-led state government was actively discouraging local public-health efforts. "We affirm that local government cannot exercise the emergency powers delegated to the governor by the general assembly," attorney general Alan Wilson stated on March 27. The general assembly is South Carolina's state legislature. Columbia Mayor Steve Benjamin, a Democrat, brushed off Wilson's memo and continued with local social-distancing measures. "The actions taken by the city are entirely within our authority," Benjamin said.There was an early statewide spike in new infections on April 6, with 183 new patients. The next day, McMaster finally ordered many businesses to close all over the state. Bars, restaurants, nail and hair salons, entertainment venues, and gyms shut their doors. At the state's encouragement, many churches moved their services online.At the peak of social-distancing in South Carolina in early April, DHEC estimated the population's mobility to be down 42 percent compared to normal. By comparison, in New York City mobility dropped more than an estimated 90 percent, in late March, though metrics used to gauge mobility varied in the two appraisals.The infection rate flattened. South Carolina's hospitals have 405 beds in intensive care units, but the most ICU beds it ever needed for pandemic-response was 105 on May 1. Although late to start, South Carolina succeeded in bending the curve. But as in a slew of other states, there were signs early on that public-health measures wouldn't last. The first major public protest against social-distancing measures occurred in Columbia on April 24. A few hundred people, many of them from out of town, marched or demonstrated from their cars. Such protests, which Trump himself encouraged, were common in Democratic-led states. South Carolina was one of the few exceptions, where protests targeted Republican leaders.In early May, Trump began insisting the United States should reopen with or without a coronavirus vaccine and regardless of whether all states had succeeded in containing the virus. McMaster, who was an early endorser of Trump back in 2016, had moved swiftly to lift South Carolina's public-health measures.The state's "work or home" order ended on May 4. On Memorial Day weekend in Hilton Head, South Carolina, 62,524 cars traveled over the city's bridges in both directions heading to and from the area's popular beaches. That was just 10,000 fewer cars than crossed the bridge on the same weekend in 2019. By June 8, overall state mobility was down just 13 percent compared to normal, according to DHEC. Mandatory social distance had all but ended. DHEC continued to urge people to voluntarily wear masks, wash their hands, and avoid crowds. Coronavirus cases spiked. The health agency cites numbers showing a peak in deaths between April 28 and May 6, when 11 people died of COVID-19 per day, on average. The daily death rate declined to around six per day by May 24. Then it began climbing again. In the first week of June, around nine people died per day, and the rate was rising.DHEC knows it has a problem. "While we expect the number of cases to increase as we work with community partners to increased testing events around the state, we're also observing that many are not adhering to public health recommendations to social distance, avoid large gatherings, and wear a mask in public," the agency told The Daily Beast in a statement.Many restaurants and bars that reopened in May shut down again in June after learning that staff members had tested positive for the coronavirus. One of them was Carolina Ale House in Columbia. "We are closing early tonight for a management-led, thorough deep cleaning and sanitation," the restaurant announced on June 5. An employee of Columbia's Publico Kitchen and Tap told their boss that their roommate had tested positive. Management closed the restaurant last Wednesday and, on Thursday, sent all staff to get tested. Everyone tested negative. Publico reopened this Wednesday. Through early June, the health agency continued alerting restaurants about infected staff and requiring temporary closings, sterilizations, and public notifications. But McMaster did not restore any statewide measures.One Columbia bar owner expressed his frustration with the state's reopening plan. "Kind of like sticking your head in the sand because you don't want to see what's happening," he said, requesting anonymity because he feared backlash in the deeply conservative state."We have been nudged into doing business knowing that we have to walk the line between putting food on our table and keeping ourselves, family, staff, and customers safe," Sean McCrossin, the owner of several Columbia restaurants, told The Daily Beast.Anthony Alberg, an epidemiologist at the University of South Carolina in Columbia, told The Daily Beast he was not surprised South Carolina has failed to contain the pandemic. And, he argued, its current trajectory should not be attributed to improved disease surveillance."Early on, South Carolina took the essential steps needed to flatten the curve," Alberg said. "The problem has been re-opening too soon, which has led to a very large upsurge in COVID-19 cases that cannot be accounted for solely due to the increased testing for active SARS-CoV-2 infections."Updated 6/10 for clarity.Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet 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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| For Italy's Muslims, lack of burial space deepens grief in pandemic Posted: 08 Jun 2020 09:10 PM PDT  Italy's Muslim community, like others, suffered many deaths as the coronavirus pandemic hit the Mediterranean country hard. Imams and Muslim community leaders are now calling for more Islamic cemeteries, or additional space in the country's existing graveyards, as the faithful increasingly want to be buried in Italy, their home. "We have experienced the pain (of the pandemic), but it has sometimes been deepened when some families could not find a place to bury their dead because there were no Muslim sections in the town cemeteries," Abdullah Tchina, imam of the Milan Sesto mosque, told AFP.
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| D-Day by the Numbers: Here's All the Data You Could Want About That Famous Invasion Posted: 09 Jun 2020 02:00 PM PDT  The data shows how huge the operation was.
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| India and China: How Nepal's new map is stirring old rivalries Posted: 10 Jun 2020 08:01 AM PDT  Nepal is redrawing its official map, fuelling simmering border tensions between India and China.
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| Officer in Breonna Taylor shooting accused of sexual assault Posted: 10 Jun 2020 11:21 AM PDT  "LMPD is aware of these allegations and investigators are looking into them," a spokesman for the Louisville Metro Police Department said.
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| U.S. protesters topple Columbus statue and throw it in a lake Posted: 10 Jun 2020 06:59 AM PDT  A wave of demonstrations has swept across the United States and Europe following the death of George Floyd. Protesters have torn down statues linked to empire and the slave trade. Columbus was born in Genoa, Italy in 1451 and his voyages across the Atlantic opened the way for European colonisation of the Americas.
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| Fired State Dept watchdog says he was bullied by officials Posted: 10 Jun 2020 09:38 AM PDT  The independent State Department watchdog fired by President Donald Trump says top department officials tried to bully him and dissuade his office from conducting a review of a multibillion-dollar arms sale to Saudi Arabia. Former Inspector General Steve Linick told Congress last week that two senior officials sought to block an inquiry into the arms deal, according to a transcript of the interview made public Wednesday by Democrats leading an investigation into his dismissal. Linick, who had been inspector general since 2013, also said he was looking into previously reported allegations that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and his wife may have misused government staff to run personal errands and several other matters.
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| Philadelphia cops cheer as police inspector accused of assaulting a protester turns himself in Posted: 09 Jun 2020 08:06 AM PDT  Raw video: Officers applaud Philadelphia Police Staff Inspector Joseph Bologna Jr., who is accused of assaulting a protester, as he leaves Lodge 5 of the Fraternal Order of Police before turning himself in.
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