| Beto O'Rourke thinks Texas is 'Biden's to lose' Posted: 25 Jun 2020 02:12 PM PDT  Although his presidential bid failed to gain traction, former Rep. Beto O'Rourke came within a hair of becoming a senator from Texas in 2018 and performed better than any Democrat in a statewide race in nearly 30 years.
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| 'Dixie' Chicks no more: As Confederacy loses its luster, bands and brands rush to abandon its symbols Posted: 25 Jun 2020 12:57 PM PDT  The decision by the Dixie Chicks to change their name follows weeks of demonstrations over the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police, and is the latest instance of a nationwide move to abandon symbols of the Confederacy, slavery and Jim Crow.
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| Judge orders Roger Stone to surrender July 14, denying his request for an extended delay Posted: 26 Jun 2020 04:47 PM PDT  Roger Stone, a longtime ally of President Donald Trump, requested a two-month delay to his prison sentence, citing his age and medical concerns.
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| Fact: A French Nuclear Submarine 'Sunk' an American Aircraft Carrier Posted: 25 Jun 2020 05:30 PM PDT  How did a tiny submarine kill a ship almost fifty times larger than itself?
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| New U.S. COVID-19 cases surpass peak set in April as states rethink strategy Posted: 25 Jun 2020 08:55 AM PDT  States stretching from Florida to California are seeing record highs in cases as hospitals begin to fill up and Republican governors urge the use of masks.
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| Former Washington congressman slams Seattle mayor for proposed $20M police budget cuts: 'It's the biggest mistake they can make' Posted: 25 Jun 2020 10:15 AM PDT  Former Washington Congressman and Sheriff Dave Reichert describes the CHOP violence as 'third world action,' while also slamming Seattle's mayor Jenny Durkan for proposing to slash millions of dollars from the police budget in a wide-ranging interview with Fox News Digital.
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| Seattle Businesses, Residents Sue City for ‘Extensive Harm’ for Allowing ‘Autonomous Zone’ Posted: 25 Jun 2020 08:42 AM PDT  Over a dozen businesses and residents in Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood have filed a lawsuit against the city for its "unprecedented decision to abandon and close off an entire city neighborhood" to allow for the creation of the "Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone/Organized Protest" (CHAZ/CHOP).The suit, which is seeking damages as well as the restoration of full public access to Capitol Hill, emphasizes that, while it does not want to "undermine CHOP participants' message or present a counter-message," the city's decision to abandon the East Precinct earlier this month allowed the rights of the plaintiffs to be "overrun.""The City's policies have effectively authorized the actions of the CHOP participants. The City has communicated clearly to CHOP participants that they may indefinitely continue occupying the streets in the area, maintaining their barricades, and blocking traffic, all without interference from the City," the lawsuit reads.Seattle police chief Carmen Best has told reporters that her officers are unable to respond to emergency calls — including rapes, robberies, and "all sorts of violent acts that have been occurring in the area" — because they are not allowed inside the area."The City's decision has subjected businesses, employees, and residents of that neighborhood to extensive property damage, public safety dangers, and an inability to use and access their properties," the lawsuit reads. It explains that, since CHAZ was created several weeks ago, the neighborhood has been left "unchecked by the police, unserved by fire and emergency health services, and inaccessible to the public at large." Seattle mayor Jenny Durkan, who has been heavily criticized by President Trump for her response to the situation, said this week that the city would move to dismantle the area after multiple deadly shootings."The cumulative impacts of the gatherings and protests and the nighttime atmosphere and violence has led to increasingly difficult circumstances for our businesses and residents," she admitted at a news conference. " . . . There should be no place in Seattle that the Seattle Fire Department and the Seattle Police Department can't go."The plaintiffs detail how anarchists in CHAZ "threatened business owners with retaliation if they paint over graffiti" and threatened to steal the phones of local residents who tried to take pictures near Cal Anderson Park. "CHOP participants have been observed carrying guns in the public streets and parks in broad daylight," the suit also states.
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| Trump suddenly has a bigger problem than his plummeting poll numbers | Analysis Posted: 26 Jun 2020 06:21 AM PDT  Losing politicians rarely miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity. Donald Trump is undefeated in political races, but he missed a major opportunity on Thursday night.During a friendly interview at a town hall event in Wisconsin -- a state he needs to win and collect its 10 Electoral College votes – Fox News commentator and host Sean Hannity lobbed what in basketball terms should have been alley-oop for the president.
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| Op-Ed: Why California needs affirmative action more than ever Posted: 26 Jun 2020 03:00 AM PDT  California's Proposition 209, an anti-affirmative action law, never did "level the playing field"; instead it reinforced historic patterns of discrimination.
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| Mandatory masks? Biden says as president he would require wearing face coverings in public Posted: 26 Jun 2020 07:23 AM PDT  The presumptive Democratic nominee said he would use all the powers at his disposal to stop the spread of the coronavirus.
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| Jon Stewart says he doesn't remember Republicans being mad about erasing history when the Saddam Hussein statue was toppled in Baghdad Posted: 26 Jun 2020 09:07 AM PDT  On "The Daily Social Distancing Show with Trevor Noah", Jon Stewart lampooned Republicans' hypocrisy over tearing down Confederate statues.
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| ‘Leadership Matters.’ Researcher Says Rate of Fatal Police Shootings Is Lower in Cities With Black Police Chiefs Posted: 26 Jun 2020 09:23 AM PDT  The study looks at five years of police-involved shootings in the nation's 60 biggest cities.
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| Vietnam PM warns of economic calamity at ASEAN summit Posted: 25 Jun 2020 09:58 PM PDT  Vietnam on Friday warned the virus pandemic had swept away years of economic gains as Southeast Asian leaders met online for a summit that will also be dominated by anxiety over Beijing's moves in the flashpoint South China Sea. The current chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) also wants to use the summit to inject momentum into talks on a sprawling China-backed trade pact, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). A deal, which aimed to loop in half the world's population and third of its GDP, has been hampered by India's refusal to join over access to its market for cheap goods from China, the regional superpower it is now locked in a deadly border row with.
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| Philly police head decries tear gas usage against protesters Posted: 25 Jun 2020 02:11 PM PDT  Philadelphia's police commissioner, along with the mayor, apologized to the public Thursday for giving statements that were inaccurate in the days after tear gas, bean bags and pepper spray were used against protesters who were trapped on a highway. At least one high ranking commander took a voluntary demotion, and Commissioner Danielle Outlaw said a member of the city's SWAT team who was seen in videos spraying protesters with pepper spray will be notified Friday that he is suspended with the intent to dismiss him.
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| AstraZeneca, Moderna ahead in COVID-19 vaccine race: WHO Posted: 26 Jun 2020 06:38 AM PDT  AstraZeneca's experimental COVID-19 vaccine is probably the world's leading candidate and most advanced in terms of development, the World Health Organization's (WHO) chief scientist said on Friday. The British drugmaker has already begun large-scale, mid-stage human trials of the vaccine, which was developed by researchers at University of Oxford. This week, AstraZeneca signed its tenth supply-and-manufacturing deal.
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| Florida Orders Bars to Shut Down as Coronavirus Cases Hit New Record Posted: 26 Jun 2020 10:51 AM PDT  Florida on Friday ordered all bars to close as cases of the coronavirus in the state continue to spike."Effective immediately, the Department of Business and Professional Regulation is suspending on premises consumption of alcohol at bars statewide," Secretary Halsey Beshears of Florida's Department of Business and Professional Regulation announced on Twitter.Florida reported a record daily high of 8,942 new coronavirus cases on Friday, the state's Department of Health said. Friday's cases smashed the state's previous record from Wednesday, 5,508 new cases, and bump the state's total number of coronavirus cases to 122,960.Just a day earlier, Governor Ron DeSantis, a Republican, vowed not to impose new restrictions on businesses even as the virus spread more rapidly across his state."We're not shutting down. We're going to go forward we're going to continue to protect the most vulnerable, we're going to urge continue to advise, particularly our elderly population, to maintain social distancing and avoid crowds," DeSantis said last week.However, the governor indicated Thursday that Florida would not be moving to the next phase of reopening in the immediate future."We are where we are," the governor said Thursday. "I did not say we are going to go on to the next phase.""We did the opening at the beginning of May, had very steady, manageable cases. Obviously we've seen that turn lately," DeSantis added.Florida entered in Phase Two of the state's three-phase reopening plan earlier this month. In Phase Three, the state will begin operating close to normally again. The state started to re-open its economy on May 4.Texas, another state that has seen its coronavirus cases spike in recent weeks, also imposed new restrictions on Friday, ordering bars to close and restaurants to operate at a more limited capacity.
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| Donald Trump Should Be Worried: The U.S. Military Could Fall Behind Russia and China Posted: 26 Jun 2020 06:49 AM PDT  It is already happening in certain areas.
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| NYPD officer charged with strangulation after putting man in apparent chokehold Posted: 25 Jun 2020 08:48 AM PDT  Officer David Afanador was suspended without pay after video showed him putting Ricky Bellevue in an apparent chokehold, a maneuver the department banned.
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| Iran explosion: Blast seen near military base in Tehran Posted: 25 Jun 2020 06:12 PM PDT  Iranian authorities are investigating after an explosion east of the capital near a site linked to the regime's nuclear testing programme. A bright and large flash of light was seen in the night sky over Tehran early on Friday in images shared widely on social media, Iran's Fars news agency reported. "In the early hours after midnight on Friday, a number of social media users reported seeing an orange light in the eastern part of Tehran," said Fars. "In the videos sent by (our) readers, this light is seen for a few seconds," it reported, adding it was following up the issue with the relevant authorities. Fars said later that the flash was caused by "an industrial gas tank explosion" near a facility belonging to the defence ministry.
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| Pence says the US has 'flattened the curve,' but 14 charts shown by his White House Coronavirus Task Force show why that's false Posted: 26 Jun 2020 02:22 PM PDT  "The truth is we did slow the spread. We flattened the curve," Vice President Mike Pence said on Friday. That's false. These charts show why.
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| 'Please for the love of God do not vote for my dad': Republican's daughter voices opposition Posted: 26 Jun 2020 09:20 AM PDT  Robert Regan blames daughter's 'socialist university' but says he's 'happy she feels confident' to oppose him publiclyIt's not the usual rallying cry one might expect from a political candidate's child as their father runs for office, but the daughter of a Republican candidate has urged people in Michigan to "please, for the love of God" not vote for her father."Tell everyone," Stephanie Regan wrote in a viral tweet – which has now been liked more than 180,000 times on Twitter.In a follow-up tweet, she called on voters to research the background of her father, Robert Regan, for themselves, writing: "I don't feel safe rn sharing further information regarding his beliefs, but please look him up and just read for yourself."Regan is running in Michigan's primary for a state house seat this August.> if you're in michigan and 18+ pls for the love of god do not vote for my dad for state rep. tell everyone> > — STEPH (@streeganz) June 23, 2020Stephanie Regan's words seem to have come as a blow to her father, who has espoused a commitment to his family on his campaign website, using multiple photos of himself and his children to support his campaign.Robert Regan has spoken on local TV since his daughter sent out the tweet, blaming her liberal college education for her views."When they go off to college, quite frankly they get involved with these Marxist, socialist universities ,and they start getting indoctrinated with things that are completely polar opposite from where you raised them," Regan told local TV.Regan, who describes himself on his own website as "so conservative [he] makes Rush Limbaugh look like a liberal," says he and his daughter have disagreed on systemic racism, white privilege and Black Lives Matter."She's a big believer in that," he told the Hill. "The only place where I really see systemic racism would be the abortion clinic, because they seem to target the African American community."His tone seems to have taken a turn since Thursday, when he posted a lengthy statement to Facebook that seemed appreciative of his daughter's political engagement."I am happy that she feels confident enough in our relationship to express her opposing thoughts so publicly" while encouraging her and others to voice their own opinions, he said. * This article was amended on 26 June 2020 to correct a misspelled name in a photo caption.
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| UNICEF: Millions of Yemeni children may starve amid pandemic Posted: 25 Jun 2020 10:08 PM PDT  Millions of children could be pushed to the brink of starvation as the coronavirus pandemic sweeps across war-torn Yemen amid a "huge" drop in humanitarian aid funding, the U.N. children's agency warned Friday. The stark prediction comes in a new UNICEF report, "Yemen five years on: Children, conflict and COVID-19." "As Yemen's devastated health system and infrastructure struggle to cope with coronavirus, the already dire situation for children is likely to deteriorate considerably," warned UNICEF.
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| COVID-19 cluster among migrants causes angry confrontations in southern Italian town Posted: 26 Jun 2020 04:49 AM PDT  Italy has sent soldiers to restore order in a coastal town near Naples after a coronavirus outbreak at an apartment complex illegally occupied by hundreds of migrant workers caused angry confrontations with residents. The authorities announced on Thursday that more than 40 people living at the abandoned buildings in Mondragone, 45 km from Naples, had tested positive for COVID-19, and warned the entire town could be quarantined if the outbreak proves widespread. Italian residents on the street chanted "Mondragone is ours" and gathered outside the sealed off are, resulting in both sides shouting abuse at each other, footage showed.
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| 2020 Election: If Republicans care about America, they should vote for Joe Biden Posted: 26 Jun 2020 12:15 AM PDT  Another four years of Trump would be a disaster for America and the world. They would also be a disaster, and likely fatal, for the Republican Party.
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| Colorado police officers involved in death of Elijah McClain taken off the streets Posted: 26 Jun 2020 02:56 PM PDT  The deadly confrontation in the Denver suburb of Aurora is getting renewed scrutiny.
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| Watch Out, Kim Jong Un: These Are the Five Weapons the U.S. Marines Will Use Against You Posted: 25 Jun 2020 09:15 AM PDT  The Marines would be the tip of the spear.
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| Russia reportedly paid Taliban-linked militants bounty money to kill American troops Posted: 26 Jun 2020 02:29 PM PDT  Russian officials said they were not aware of the allegations that the country's military offered bounties to kill US troops.
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| DeVos issues rule steering more virus aid to private schools Posted: 25 Jun 2020 10:46 AM PDT  The Trump administration on Thursday moved forward with a policy ordering public schools across the U.S. to share coronavirus relief funding with private schools at a higher rate than federal law typically requires. Under a new rule issued by Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, school districts are ordered to set aside a portion of their aid for private schools using a formula based on the total number of private school students in the district. The policy has been contested by public school officials who say the funding should be shared based on the number of low-income students at local private schools rather than their total enrollments.
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| Why are California's Covid-19 cases surging? Here's what we know Posted: 26 Jun 2020 03:00 AM PDT  Infections and hospitalizations are on the rise as the state reopens, with a record 7,149 people testing positive on TuesdayCalifornia's early, aggressive response to the coronavirus pandemic had earned praise from the top US health officials, and even Donald Trump. But after avoiding the scenarios faced by New York and New Jersey, the state has seen infections and hospitalizations swell in recent weeks.As malls, museums, bars and other public spaces reopened, Governor Gavin Newsom has urged citizens to wear masks and keep their distance from one another to slow the spread of disease. "I cannot impress upon people more the importance at this critical juncture," he said, "to take seriously this moment."Here's what we know about the situation. How big is the coronavirus surge in California?Big. Overall, the state has reported more than 195,500 cases since the pandemic first struck, with 5,700 deaths. California marked a record 7,149 people who tested positive on Tuesday, a figure that dropped on Wednesday to 5,349."Part of the surge we're seeing is due to increased testing," said Dr Lee Riley, an epidemiologist at the University of California, Berkeley. California has tested roughly 3.7 million people since the beginning of the pandemic, and more than 101,000 tests were processed on Wednesday."But the fact that the number of hospitalizations are also increasing means that there's more going on," Riley said. As of Thursday, the number of patients hospitalized with Covid-19 is 32% higher than it was two weeks ago, Newsom reported. The number of patients in intensive care also increased 19% over the past fortnight – more than a third of ICU beds available across the state are now occupied by coronavirus patients. Over the past two weeks, about 64 people have died of the virus each day."I think pretty much every place has rushed to reopen," said Dr Anne Rimoin, an epidemiologist at UC Los Angeles. "And as we reopen, of course we're going to see more cases." Where are infections surging?The number of cases appear to be increasing throughout the state, but the biggest surges in infections are in Los Angeles county and other parts of southern California.Los Angeles now has more cases than anywhere else in the country, with more than 89,600 infections reported, according to the Johns Hopkins tracker. Rural communities like Imperial county, at the US-Mexico border, and Stanislaus, in the Central Valley, are also seeing surges in both the total number of cases recorded and the proportion of residents who are testing positive.Bay Area communities – including Santa Clara county, the first in the nation to enact a shelter-in-place order – are also seeing surges, though the proportion of positive tests in the region remains far below the state average.Officials have attributed the surge in some parts of the Bay Area to workplaces, including an outbreak at a waste management company in Marin county. Since mid-May, outbreaks at prisons have been excluded from the state's Covid-19 tracking data, but it is worth noting that a devastating outbreak at San Quentin state prison, where an inmate transfer led to more than 500 new cases, and outbreaks at other facilities across the state would add about 850 more new cases logged in the past two weeks to the state's totals. Why are infections surging?It's not totally clear, though public health experts and officials blame large gatherings where people are not wearing masks and not maintaining a 6ft-radius, even as adherence to these safety measures becomes increasingly political."There's a group of people who go around bragging that they're practicing individual freedom by not wearing masks," Riley said. "These people are not practicing freedom – they're practicing pure selfishness."While reopening society can never be risk free, Riley said that countries that have been most successful at containing the virus have been far more vigilant than California in mandating mask-wearing, hygiene and physical distancing. In South Korea, where fewer than 300 people have died despite reporting more cases in February than any country besides China, a second wave of infections has remained relatively small despite restaurants, schools and even nightclubs reopening, Riley noted. "Small clusters of cases are much easier to contain by isolating those who are infected, notifying those who are exposed," he said. "What we're seeing in California is a lost opportunity to reopen carefully."An uptick in the number of cases among young people is also a concern, Riley said. While people in their 20s, 30s and 40s are less likely to die from Covid-19, they can get seriously ill, and they "can be sources of infection for older people who are most at risk: their grandmas, their grandpas, their buds with diabetes and their friends with high blood pressure". Healthy young people who show few symptoms could pass the virus on to those who are most at risk of suffering complications. What will this mean for re-opening?In order to safely reopen, no more than 5% of everyone in a community who gets tested for Covid-19 should receive a positive result, according to the World Health Organization.California's threshold for reopening is that no more than 8% of all tests should come back positive. While the positivity rate for the state overall hovers at a tenuous 5.1%, the rate in some southern California counties is nearly 9% or higher.Governor Newsom said the state might have to "revert back" to tougher restrictions if the situation gets worse. What do doctors want Californians to know?Officials and health experts are pleading with Californians to continue to wear masks, wash hands, and stay 6ft apart. Health agencies in some counties are encouraging residents to keep their social circles small – limited to "bubbles" of no more than a dozen friends – and gather outdoors.In Imperial county, which borders Mexico and Arizona, defiance of a statewide mandate to wear face masks and lax social distancing appears to have exacerbated a crisis both within and across state and national borders. "Whether people here brought infections to Yuma, Arizona and Mexicali, or whether they brought it back from those places is kind of immaterial at this point," said Dr Thomas Henderson, director of the Imperial County Medical Society. "What we're seeing here is craziness."The crisis has overwhelmed local hospitals, he said. "It's just a horrible time to be a physician" he added, because doctors have found themselves pleading with the community to wear masks and stay safe, "but it's all become so political".As Donald Trump and rightwing politicians and media outlets derided masks as unnecessary, Dr Anthony Fauci, the health official leading the US response to coronavirus, told Californians who were skeptical of covering their faces in public to "forget the politics. Look at the data." A string of new research released this summer suggests that masks can reduce the risks of spreading the virus, even if they're far from foolproof."It's totally understandable to want to get back as quickly as possible to what you perceive as normal in your life," Fauci said at an event hosted by the Sacramento Press Club. But he urged Californians to stay vigilant, nothing that reopening isn't "black or white, either no restrictions or locked down".
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| Barr Reportedly Told DOJ Officials to Try and Undermine Michael Cohen’s Conviction Posted: 25 Jun 2020 06:11 PM PDT  The same day that Attorney General William Barr insisted there is "no pattern" of him working to advance the personal interests of President Donald Trump, several sources cited by The New York Times said one of his first moves after being sworn into office in early 2019 was trying to find ways to undermine the conviction of longtime Trump fixer Michael Cohen. Barr had reportedly repeatedly questioned prosecutors over the charges against Cohen, who pleaded guilty in August 2018 to financial crimes that included hush-money payments to women who alleged they had affairs with Trump. He went so far as to instruct Justice Department officials to draft a legal memo casting doubt on the legitimacy of Cohen's conviction, according to sources cited by the Times, but they refused to do so.Meanwhile, in an NPR interview published Thursday, Barr scoffed at the notion he has been promoting Trump's agenda at the expense of the rule of law, calling it a "media narrative" and saying there is "no such pattern." He went on the defensive in the interview multiple times. Barr has made several controversial interventions into cases involving President Donald Trump's associates. In early May, he chose to drop the Justice Department's case against Trump's former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, a decision that elicited blistering criticism, as Flynn had already pleaded guilty. Though Michael Flynn was the president's National Security Adviser, Barr denied any political pressure to drop the charges against him: "I don't know whether I would refer to him as a friend of any administration," he said. And though Flynn admitted to lying to the FBI, Barr still cast the charges against the retired general as ludicrous: "There was a lot of hinky stuff in the Flynn case. Everyone knew that. Everyone was wondering why was this case ever brought?" When asked about the chaotic removal last week of Geoffrey Berman, the former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York who was involved in investigating many of Trump's allies, Barr dismissed the move as nothing more than a standard personnel decision. "I certainly was aware that given the current environment, anytime you make a personnel move, you know, conspiracy theorists will suggest that there's something, there's some ulterior motive involved. But I felt this was actually a good time to do it because I was not aware of anything that should in reality, give rise to that," he said. He said Berman was "living on borrowed time from the beginning." Despite insisting he treats all cases equally, he apparently could not name a single case not tied to the president's inner circle where he had staged a last-minute intervention similar to that in the Flynn case. When pressed about the president's executive power, Barr echoed the commander-in-chief's rhetoric and attempted to redirect the conversation. He scolded the press for failing to scrutinize state governors, who, in order to fight the new coronavirus, have been "putting the entire population in home detention and telling people that they have to shut down their livelihood and their business," he said. The president has often said that the measures taken against the coronavirus are worse than the sickness itself. Barr reiterated another Trump talking point when he said that an election with a high number of mail-in ballots can take place securely. He said the evidence was "obvious." 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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| US Navy’s chief learning officer announces departure as Pentagon exodus continues Posted: 26 Jun 2020 07:20 AM PDT  Another Navy leadership shakeup, and another high-profile Pentagon departure.
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| ‘This Is About True Reparations.' Rep. Ayanna Pressley on the Movement to Defund Police Posted: 25 Jun 2020 10:34 AM PDT  'This is simply about a refund. This is about true reparations. This is about investment in communities'
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| Boom: This Battleship Rained 5,688 16-Inch Shells on North Vietnam Forces During the War Posted: 26 Jun 2020 08:49 AM PDT  Yet America lost anyway.
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| KT McFarland: Obama admin dragged US for 3 years through divisiveness, made us a dysfunctional nation Posted: 25 Jun 2020 07:31 AM PDT  Court documents suggest Joe Biden 'personally raised the idea' of investigating Michael Flynn; reaction and analysis from former Deputy National Security Adviser K.T. McFarland on 'America's Newsroom.'
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| Booker edges ahead of McGrath in too-close-to-call Kentucky Senate Democratic primary Posted: 25 Jun 2020 11:37 AM PDT  The winner will go up against Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell in November.
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| Justices boost Trump administration's power in asylum cases Posted: 25 Jun 2020 07:12 AM PDT  The Supreme Court on Thursday strengthened the Trump administration's ability to deport people seeking asylum without allowing them to make their case to a federal judge. The high court's 7-2 ruling applies to people who are picked up at or near the border and who fail their initial asylum screenings, making them eligible for quick deportation, or expedited removal. Justice Samuel Alito wrote the high-court opinion that reversed a lower-court ruling that said asylum-seekers must have access to the federal courts.
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| Trump administration opens sensitive Arctic areas to oil development Posted: 25 Jun 2020 02:48 PM PDT  The Trump administration on Thursday released its plan to open environmentally sensitive areas in Arctic Alaska to oil development, overturning some protections that go back decades. The plan released by the Interior Department's Bureau of Land Management revokes an Obama-era management system for a huge swathe of federal land on the western North Slope, the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska. The Trump plan, contained in a final environmental impact statement, opens 18.7 million acres of the 23 million-acre reserve to development.
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| UN Security Council to meet Monday on Ethiopia dam Posted: 25 Jun 2020 02:29 PM PDT  The United Nations Security Council plans to meet Monday to discuss Egypt and Sudan's objections to Ethiopia's construction of a mega-dam on the Nile River, diplomatic sources said Thursday. The public video conference was called by the United States on behalf of Egypt, according to the sources. Ethiopia wants to start filling the reservoir for the 475-foot (145-meter) Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam in July, with or without approval from the two other countries.
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| Trump pulled support for testing sites in 5 states as he's trying to push coronavirus test numbers downward. Health officials say the move could have 'catastrophic cascading consequences.' Posted: 25 Jun 2020 08:49 AM PDT  The Trump administration's decision to defund comes amid record-high numbers of new coronavirus cases.
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| Pakistani pilots grounded over 'fake licences' Posted: 25 Jun 2020 10:24 AM PDT  Pakistan's aviation minister said a large number of pilots cheated in exams or have fake qualifications.
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| Calls to 'arrest the cops who killed Breonna Taylor' have been turned into an online meme that some say has gone too far Posted: 26 Jun 2020 01:52 PM PDT  "Arrest the cops who killed Breonna Taylor" has become a call for justice, but some are calling for people to stop turning her death into a meme.
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