| What's going on between Russia, US and Afghanistan? Posted: 29 Jun 2020 04:46 AM PDT  Russia denies reports it paid militants to kill US troops. The BBC's Jonathan Marcus evaluates those reports.
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| More than 70 San Antonio police officers in coronavirus quarantine, department says Posted: 29 Jun 2020 11:35 AM PDT  The spike corresponds with a large increase in the city's coronavirus numbers.
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| South Korea urges staggered vacations, warns against gatherings as coronavirus cases rise Posted: 28 Jun 2020 11:53 PM PDT  South Korea's health authorities called on Monday for citizens to stagger vacation schedules ahead of the holiday season and avoid gatherings at workplaces and religious facilities, as coronavirus infections from small clusters persist. After battling the first major coronavirus epidemic outside China, South Korea managed to reduce the rates of daily infections to single digits by late April, propelled by an intensive tracking and testing campaign. As of midnight Sunday, the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) reported 42 new coronavirus cases, for a total of 12,757 cases with 282 deaths.
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| National parks – even Mount Rushmore – show that there's more than one kind of patriotism Posted: 29 Jun 2020 10:43 AM PDT  July 4th will be quieter than usual this year, thanks to COVID-19. Many U.S. cities are canceling fireworks displays to avoid drawing large crowds that could promote the spread of coronavirus. But President Trump is planning to stage a celebration at Mount Rushmore National Memorial in South Dakota on July 3. It's easy to see why an Independence Day event at a national memorial featuring the carved faces of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt would seem like a straightforward patriotic statement. But there's controversy. Trump's visit will be capped by fireworks for the first time in a decade, notwithstanding worries that pyrotechnics could ignite wildfires. And Native Americans are planning protests, adding Mount Rushmore to the list of monuments around the world that critics see as commemorating histories of racism, slavery and genocide and reinforcing white supremacy. As I show in my book, "Memorials Matter: Emotion, Environment, and Public Memory at American Historical Sites," many venerated historical sites tell complicated stories. Even Mount Rushmore, which was designed explicitly to evoke national pride, can be a source of anger or shame rather than patriotic feeling. Twenty-first-century patriotism is a touchy subject, increasingly claimed by America's conservative right. National Park Service sites like Mount Rushmore are public lands, meant to be appreciated by everyone, but they raise crucial questions about history, unity and love of country, especially during this election year. For me, and I suspect for many tourists, national memorials and monuments elicit conflicting feelings. There's pride in our nation's achievements, but also guilt, regret or anger over the costs of progress and the injustices that still exist. Patriotism, especially at sites of shame, can be unsettling – and I see this as a good thing. In my view, honestly confronting the darker parts of U.S. history as well as its best moments is vital for tourism, for patriotism and for the nation. Whose history?Patriotism has roots in the Latin "patriotia," meaning "fellow countryman." It's common to feel patriotic pride in U.S. technological achievements or military strength. But Americans also glory in the diversity and beauty of our natural landscapes. That kind of patriotism, I think, has the potential to be more inclusive, less divisive and more socially and environmentally just. [Expertise in your inbox. Sign up for The Conversation's newsletter and get expert takes on today's news, every day.]The physical environment at national memorials can inspire more than one kind of patriotism. At Mount Rushmore, tourists are invited to walk the Avenue of Flags, marvel at the labor required to carve four U.S. presidents' faces out of granite, and applaud when rangers invite military veterans onstage during visitor programs. Patriotism centers on labor, progress and the "great men" the memorial credits with founding, expanding, preserving and unifying the U.S. But there are other perspectives. Viewed from the Peter Norbeck Overlook, a short drive from the main site, the presidents' faces are tiny elements embedded in the expansive Black Hills region. Re-seeing the memorial in space and contextualizing it within a longer time scale can spark new emotions. The Black Hills are a sacred place for Lakota peoples that they never willingly relinquished. Viewing Mount Rushmore this way puts those rock faces in a broader ecological, historical and colonial context, and raises questions about history and justice. Sites of shameSites where visitors are meant to feel remorse challenge patriotism more directly. At Manzanar National Historic Site in California – one of 10 camps where over 110,000 Japanese Americans were incarcerated during World War II – natural and textual cues prevent any easy patriotic reflexes. Reconstructed guard towers and barracks help visitors perceive the experience of being detained. I could imagine Japanese Americans' shame as I entered claustrophobic buildings and touched the rough straw that filled makeshift mattresses. Many visitors doubtlessly associate mountains with adventure and freedom, but some incarcerees saw the nearby Sierra Nevada as barricades reinforcing the camp's barbed wire fence. Rangers play up these emotional tensions on their tours. I saw one ranger position a group of schoolchildren atop what were once latrines, and ask them: "Will it happen again? We don't know. We hope not. We have to stand up for what is right." Instead of offering visitors a self-congratulatory sense of being a good citizen, Manzanar leaves them with unsettling questions and mixed feelings. Visitors to incarceration camps today might make connections to the U.S.-Mexico border, where detention centers corral people in unhealthy conditions, sometimes separating children from parents. Sites like Manzanar ask us to rethink who "counts" as an American and what unites us as human beings. Visiting and writing about these and other sites made me consider what it would take to disassociate patriotism from "America first"-style nationalism and recast it as collective pride in the United States' diverse landscapes and peoples. Building a more inclusive patriotism means celebrating freedom in all forms – such as making Juneteenth a federal holiday – and commemorating the tragedies of our past in ways that promote justice in the present. Humble patriotismThis July 4th invites contemplation of what holds us together as a nation during a time of reckoning. I believe Americans should be willing to imagine how a public memorial could be offensive or traumatic. The National Park Service website claims that Mount Rushmore preserves a "rich heritage we all share," but what happens when that heritage feels like hatred to some people? Growing momentum for removing statues of Confederate generals and other historical figures now understood to be racist, including the statue of Theodore Roosevelt in the front of New York City's Museum of Natural History, tests the limits of national coherence. Understanding this momentum is not an issue of political correctness – it's a matter of compassion.Greater clarity about value systems could help unite Americans across party lines. Psychologists have found striking differences between the moral frameworks that shape liberals' and conservatives' views. Conservatives generally prioritize purity, sanctity and loyalty, while liberals tend to value justice in the form of concerns about fairness and harm. In my view, patriotism could function as an emotional bridge between these moral foundations. My research suggests that visits to memorial sites are helpful for recognizing our interdependence with each other, as inhabitants of a common country. Places like Mount Rushmore are part of our collective past that raise important questions about what unites us today. I believe it's our responsibility to approach these places, and each other, with both pride and humility. This is an updated version of an article originally published on June 26, 2019.This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts.Read more: * More than scenery: National parks preserve our history and culture * The twisted roots of U.S. land policy in the WestJennifer Ladino received funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities to support her book on national memorials.
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| Huntsman at risk of shocking defeat in Utah Posted: 29 Jun 2020 04:19 PM PDT  After a decade away from Utah politics and a weeks-long fight with the coronavirus, the former governor is locked in a tight race for his old job.
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| A Closer Look at William Wegman’s Picture-Perfect Postcard Art Posted: 29 Jun 2020 08:35 AM PDT |
| 'Enough': 1 killed in shooting in Seattle's protest zone Posted: 29 Jun 2020 07:21 AM PDT  A 16-year-old boy was killed and and a younger teenager was wounded early Monday in Seattle's "occupied" protest zone — the second deadly shooting in the area that local officials have vowed to change after business complaints and criticism from President Donald Trump. The violence that came just over a week after another shooting in the zone left one person dead and another wounded was "dangerous and unacceptable" police Chief Carmen Best said. Demonstrators have occupied several blocks around the Seattle Police Department's East Precinct and a park for about two weeks after police abandoned the precinct following standoffs and clashes with protesters calling for racial justice and an end to police brutality.
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| Judge in George Floyd case says likely to move hearing out of Minneapolis as officers appear in court Posted: 29 Jun 2020 12:07 PM PDT  A Minnesota judge on Monday warned that he is likely to move the trials of four police officers charged in George Floyd's death out of Minneapolis if public officials and attorneys do not stop talking about the case. Hennepin County Judge Peter Cahill stopped short of issuing a gag order on attorneys, but he said one is likely if public statements continue. Cahill added that such a situation would also make him likely to grant a change-of-venue motion if one is filed. "The court is not going to be happy about hearing about the case in three areas: media, evidence and guilt or innocence," Cahill said. It was the second pretrial hearing for the officers, who were fired after Floyd's May 25 death. Derek Chauvin, 44, is charged with second-degree murder and other counts, while Thomas Lane, 37, J. Kueng, 26, and Tou Thao, 34, are charged with aiding and abetting Chauvin.
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| Trump was 'near-sadistic' in phone calls with female world leaders, according to CNN report on classified calls Posted: 29 Jun 2020 03:24 PM PDT  Trump's conduct over the phone with world leaders posed a "danger to the national security of the United States," according to intel officials.
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| Syed Ali Geelani: Kashmir leader quits Hurriyat Conference Posted: 29 Jun 2020 04:47 AM PDT  Syed Ali Geelani has been heading political opposition to Indian rule in Kashmir for decades.
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| President Trump on 'Fox Nation Presents: What Made America Great,' Part 2 Posted: 28 Jun 2020 07:52 PM PDT  Host Brian Kilmeade gets an exclusive tour of the Oval Office featuring President Trump.
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| Russia denies nuclear incident after international body detects isotopes Posted: 29 Jun 2020 03:15 AM PDT  Russia said on Monday it had detected no sign of a radiation emergency, after an international body reported last week that sensors in Stockholm had picked up unusually high levels of radioactive isotopes produced by nuclear fission. The Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO), which monitors the world for evidence of nuclear weapons tests, said last week one of its stations scanning the air for radioactive particles had found unusual, although harmless, levels of caesium-134, caesium-137 and ruthenium-103. The isotopes were "certainly nuclear fission products, most likely from a civil source", it said.
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| Coming Soon: Russian Bombers (Now Armed with Hypersonic Missiles?) Posted: 29 Jun 2020 02:30 PM PDT  Hypersonic missiles have been seen as a potential game changer, with some in the U.S. military warning that there is really no defense against the missiles due to their speed.
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| Mississippi Becomes Last State to Remove Confederate Emblem from Flag Posted: 29 Jun 2020 05:13 AM PDT  The Mississippi state legislature voted on Sunday to remove the emblem of the Confederacy from the state flag.State residents had previously been resistant to changing the flag, however polling from the state's Chamber of Commerce indicated that 55 percent of residents now supported removing the Confederate symbol."In the nearly 20 years we have held the position of changing the state flag, we have never seen voters so much in favor of change," Scott Waller, president of the Mississippi Economic Council, said on Thursday. "These recent polling numbers show what people believe, and that the time has come for us to have a new flag that serves as a unifying symbol for our entire state."Governor Tate Reeves, a Republican, said he would sign legislation to change the flag after previously expressing ambivalence."The argument over the 1894 flag has become as divisive as the flag itself and it's time to end it. If they send me a bill this weekend, I will sign it," Reeves wrote on Facebook on Saturday."I would guess a lot of you don't even see that flag in the corner right there," Mississippi state Representative Ed Blackmon, a Democrat and African American who has served in the legislature continuously since 1983, said on Saturday. "There are some of us who notice it every time we walk in here, and it's not a good feeling."The push to remove the Confederate emblem comes amid massive nationwide demonstrations over the death of George Floyd, an African American man killed during arrest by Minneapolis police officers. Activists have called to remove the symbol of the secessionist states, which broke away from the union to preserve the system of slavery, as well as monuments to Confederate leaders from prominent public spaces. NASCAR has announced that it will ban spectators from waving the Confederate flag at races.
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| What we know about Steven Lopez, the suspect in the fatal Louisville protest shooting Posted: 29 Jun 2020 06:54 AM PDT  Steven Lopez is accused of firing a gun into the crowd at a protest at Louisville's Jefferson Square Park, killing a 27-year-old photographer.
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| Supreme Court declines to hear border wall challenge Posted: 29 Jun 2020 07:01 AM PDT  The Supreme Court is leaving in place a decision that rejected environmental groups' challenge to sections of wall the Trump administration is building along the U.S. border with Mexico. The high court on Monday declined to hear an appeal involving construction of 145 miles (233 kilometers) of steel-bollard walls along the border in Arizona, California, New Mexico and Texas. The Center for Biological Diversity, the Animal Legal Defense Fund, Defenders of Wildlife, and the Southwest Environmental Center had challenged a federal law that allows the secretary of Homeland Security to waive any laws necessary to allow the quick construction of border fencing.
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| George Floyd: At least one ex-officer intends to plead not guilty as judge sets tentative murder trial date Posted: 29 Jun 2020 03:06 PM PDT  The four former Minneapolis police officers charged in the killing of George Floyd could face a jury trial in March, as a judge warned the men to avoid speaking publicly about the case during a hearing on Monday.Three ex-officers appeared in-person at a Hennepin County court in Minnesota, while Derek Chauvin – who was captured on witness video kneeling on Mr Floyd's neck – attended the hearing remotely via video conference from Ramsey County Correctional Centre, where he is being held on a $1.25 million bail.
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| The coronavirus is devastating communities of color. The Trump administration's top doctor blames 'structural racism' and shares his plans to take action. Posted: 29 Jun 2020 05:19 AM PDT  Dr. Jerome Adams is preparing two calls to action — one on high blood pressure, the other on maternal mortality — to address racial health inequality.
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| Exclusive: NRA has shed 200 staffers this year as group faces financial crisis Posted: 29 Jun 2020 02:00 AM PDT  Gun rights organization may struggle to support Trump in 2020 election amid layoffs and furloughsAfter spending over $30m to help elect Donald Trump in 2016, the National Rifle Association faces a deepening financial crisis with over 200 staff layoffs and furloughs in 2020, according to three NRA sources, gun analysts and documents.The situation is likely to hinder efforts by the gun rights group to help Trump and other Republicans win in November's election.The 200-plus layoffs and furloughs, which have not previously been reported and were mainly at NRA headquarters in Virginia, were spurred by declines in revenues and fundraising, heavy legal spending, political infighting, and charges of insider self-dealing under scrutiny by attorneys general in New York and Washington DC, the sources say."The widespread Covid layoffs and furloughs have further harmed both the NRA's legal capacity and political influence beyond what was already a troubling deterioration," said one NRA official who requested anonymity to discuss internal matters. The official added the outlook this year for NRA political spending was "deeply concerning."NRA staff learned about the furloughs, plus 20% staff pay cuts, four-day work weeks and other belt tightening, in an April email from Wayne LaPierre, the longtime top executive of the NRA, which claims it has 5 million members.LaPierre's email to the "NRA family" said "we have lost significant revenue" and linked the austerity moves to the pandemic's stay-at-home orders. The email said the NRA hoped to bring back those furloughed when its finances improved.The NRA declined to comment on the extent of the layoffs and furloughs, which sources said were continuing.The NRA's financial problems were palpable long before the pandemic but have increased due to a few factors, including the cancellation of a number of NRA fundraising dinners following the onset of Covid-19.The NRA typically pulls in tens of millions of dollars yearly from Friends of NRA dinners in many states, but most were canceled after January and February, said the sources.The NRA's woes, say gun analysts, are expected to sharply reduce spending this year compared with the $30m the group spent on ads to help Trump win in 2016. They are also likely to mean cuts to its once formidable get out the vote operations in key states that historically provide big boosts to GOP candidates. Overall in 2016, the NRA spent close to $70m on ads and voter mobilization drives, say NRA sources.In 2018, the NRA's financial problems caused it to spend a relatively lackluster $9.4m on the midterm elections, and gun control groups outspent the NRA for the first time, which analysts say helped the Democrats win the House majority."The NRA is entering the summer and fall campaign with a series of crippling financial, legal, and political problems," said Robert Spitzer, a political science professor at Cortland State University in New York.Spitzer added: "As its anemic political spending in the 2018 midterm election showed, they will not be able to match anything like the roughly $70m they spent in 2016, as they continue to be plagued by a major revenue shortfall, a fact exacerbated by the impact of the coronavirus shutdown."The drop in revenues accelerated in 2019 when several large NRA donors began a drive to oust LaPierre over allegations of mismanagement and self-dealing, and to promote reforms. The website helpsavethenra.com, which is headlined "Retire LaPierre", boasted in December that $165m in donations and planned gifts had been withheld.The donor revolt has been spurred in part by several reports of lavish personal spending by LaPierre. The Wall Street Journal revealed last year that according to the NRA's former ad firm Ackerman McQueen, which has been in legal battles with the NRA and LaPierre, he took about $240,000 worth of trips to Italy, Hungary, the Bahamas and other locales that were charged to the ad firm. The Journal reported that the ad firm had paid for about $200,000 in expensive suits for LaPierre, including some from a Beverly Hills boutique.LaPierre's yearly salary in 2018 was close to $2m.Two Democratic attorneys general in New York and DC have reportedly been investigating whether the NRA abused its non-profit tax-exempt status in different ways such as improperly transferring funds from an NRA Foundation to the NRA.Further, the AGs are said to be examining the allegations of self-dealing by NRA leaders, including financial transactions involving LaPierre, the NRA and the former ad firm.If the AGs bring charges, the NRA could lose its coveted non-profit status in New York, where it has long been chartered.The NRA's top outside lawyer has said it is complying with the investigations but has attacked the NY AG's "zeal" and "the investigation's partisan purposes".During the pandemic, the NRA and pro-gun allies have waged successful legal battles in a number of states to make gun shops and shooting ranges "essential" businesses and circumvent stay-at-home measures.But in mid-June, second-amendment advocates and the NRA suffered a stinging legal setback when the supreme court declined 10 petitions to review lower court rulings involving gun laws in several states, including Illinois and Massachusetts, which have banned assault weapons.The NRA attacked the high court's "inaction" in a statement, blasting it for allowing "so-called gun safety politicians to trample on the freedom and security of law-abiding citizens".Due to the pandemic, the NRA earlier this year canceled its annual meeting in Nashville, which Trump has faithfully attended since taking office to solidify his NRA ties. It is now slated to be held on 5 September in Springfield, Missouri.At last year's meeting was concluding, Trump in a tweet urged his NRA allies to "stop the internal infighting" amid the charges of self-dealing by its leaders and to "get back to GREATNESS. FAST." For now, Trump's aspirations for a speedy NRA recovery seem largely unfulfilled.
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| Chinese coronavirus vaccine approved for use in country's military after clinical trials Posted: 29 Jun 2020 07:03 AM PDT  China's military has approved a coronavirus vaccine developed by its own research staff and a Chinese biotech firm, it was announced on Monday. The vaccine was given the green light for use by troops after trials proved it was both safe and effective, said CanSino Biologics, the biotech firm involved. However, its use for the time being will be restricted to military personnel, who offer a tighter medical control group than the general public. The vaccine candidate, named Ad5-nCoV, was developed jointly by CanSino and the Beijing Institute of Biotechnology in the Academy of Military Medical Sciences. It has been in development since March. CanSino said the results showed the vaccine candidate has potential to prevent diseases caused by the coronavirus, which has killed half a million people globally. The company added that it was not yet possible to say if it could be a commercial success, which would depend on being able to produce the vaccine cheaply as well as safely.
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| China to impose visa restrictions on U.S. individuals over Hong Kong Posted: 29 Jun 2020 12:37 AM PDT  Beijing said on Monday it will impose visa restrictions on U.S. individuals with "egregious conduct" on Hong Kong-related issues, mirroring U.S. sanctions against unnamed Chinese officials deemed responsible for curbing freedoms in the city. The announcement comes as the top decision-making body of China's parliament deliberates a draft national security law for Hong Kong that pro-democracy activists in the city fear will be used to eliminate dissent and tighten Beijing's control. Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian, who announced the new sanctions during a press briefing in response to a question about Washington's new visa restrictions, did not specify which U.S. individuals have been targeted.
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| See This Odd Plane? Russia Tried to Build a Stealth 'F-35'. They Failed Posted: 28 Jun 2020 05:30 AM PDT  The story of the ill-fated MiG 1.44.
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| Russia's opposition flounders as Putin changes constitution Posted: 28 Jun 2020 09:04 PM PDT  Russia's opposition is denouncing this week's vote on President Vladimir Putin's constitutional reforms as a joke, pointing out that copies of the amended basic law are already on sale in Moscow bookshops. From liberal reformers to Communists, Kremlin critics say the vote -- which started last week and ends on Wednesday -- is a thinly veiled attempt to keep Putin, 67, in power for life. Russia's top opposition figure Alexei Navalny, who last summer rallied thousands against suspected voter fraud in Moscow, has also shown little interest in combating the reforms.
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| Pence cancels campaign events in Florida and Arizona as coronavirus cases spike Posted: 28 Jun 2020 09:08 AM PDT  A campaign spokesperson said the cancellations were "out of an abundance of caution" as cases climb in Florida and Arizona.
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| Shipbuilding suppliers need more than market forces to stay afloat Posted: 29 Jun 2020 01:41 PM PDT  Without deliberate action, the U.S. shipbuilding industry will become increasingly fragile.
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| Minneapolis police chief, mayor launching policy changes Posted: 28 Jun 2020 02:16 PM PDT  The Minneapolis police chief and mayor on Sunday began their push for sweeping policy changes with a new rule that prevents officers involved in using deadly force from reviewing body camera footage before completing an initial police report. The new standards come after a proposal by the Minneapolis City Council to dismantle the police force following the death of George Floyd, a handcuffed Black man who died after a white police officer pressed his knee on Floyd's neck for nearly eight minutes.
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| Trump in ‘fragile’ mood and may drop out of 2020 race if poll numbers don’t improve, GOP insiders tell Fox News Posted: 29 Jun 2020 08:27 AM PDT  Donald Trump may drop out of the 2020 presidential race if he believes he has no chance of winning, a Republican Party operative reportedly told Fox News.The claim comes in a report in the president's favourite news outlet that cites a number of GOP insiders who are concerned about Mr Trump's re-election prospects amid abysmal polling numbers.
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| The first Boeing 737 Max recertification flight just landed, marking a new milestone for the troubled jet Posted: 29 Jun 2020 01:31 PM PDT  Boeing and FAA officials were aboard the 737 Max as it made its first recertification flight, a major milestone for the troubled jet.
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| India bans TikTok, WeChat and dozens more Chinese apps Posted: 29 Jun 2020 04:02 PM PDT  The Indian government says it has banned 59 apps with links to China on national security grounds.
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| Canada over worst of coronavirus outbreak, U.S. spike a cause for concern: Trudeau Posted: 29 Jun 2020 08:48 AM PDT  Canada is over the worst of the coronavirus outbreak but a spike in cases in the United States and elsewhere shows Canadians must remain vigilant as the economy reopens, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Monday. "After a very challenging spring things are continuing to move in the right direction," Trudeau told a daily briefing. By contrast, some southern U.S. states are reporting huge jumps in daily cases.
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| Flags at family home honors all Massachusetts COVID-19 deaths Posted: 28 Jun 2020 05:22 AM PDT  The Labbe family honors each Massachusetts person who has died from the coronavirus with a flag.
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| The A-12 Avenger Shows Why The Navy Needs A Long-Range Strike Aircraft Posted: 28 Jun 2020 11:00 PM PDT  The Navy's carrier air wings would have greatly benefited from an A-12-like capability had the program survived.
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| Transcript: Tim Scott on "Face the Nation" Posted: 28 Jun 2020 08:57 AM PDT  The following is a transcript of an interview with Senator Tim Scott that aired Sunday, June 28, 2020, on "Face the Nation."
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| Russia's mining giant admits to dumping contaminated water into Arctic tundra Posted: 29 Jun 2020 03:38 AM PDT  Russia's mining giant Norilsk Nickel has admitted to spilling wastewater into the wild less than a month after it caused a disastrous oil spill in the same region. Environmentalists and journalists in the Arctic city of Norilsk on Sunday caught an enrichment plant owned by Norilsk Nickel dumping water full of heavy metals into the Arctic tundra. The Novaya Gazeta newspaper published footage from outside the city of Norilsk, showing metal pipes leading from a reservoir and releasing foaming liquid into the nearby woods. The journalists called the police to the scene, prompting the workers to begin to dismantle the pipes. Environmental activists who took samples at the site of the spill were stopped at the local airport over the weekend and barred from shipping them to Moscow for tests. An official quoted by the Tass news agency on Monday said that up to 6,000 cubic metres of "unknown liquid with a chemical odour" is believed to have been pumped into tundra. London-traded Norilsk Nickel later on Sunday admitted to the incident, saying that it has suspended the workers who decided to pump the water into the tundra. Unnamed workers at the Talnakh plant reportedly suspected that the reservoir for the liquid used to process minerals would soon get overflow and decided to dump the wastewater into the nearby tundra. Investigators are looking into the incident. Norilsk Nickel, with the market capitalisation of £36 billion, is a major taxpayer in the region, employing more than 73,000 people. The metal company's environmental record came into question last month when some 20,000 metric tonnes of diesel fuel spilled into the river system from a tank at a power plant it owns. The fuel spill, which has been blamed on thawing permafrost, has been described as the Arctic's worst since the 1989 accident off the coast of Alaska. Vladimir Chuprov, project director at Greenpeace Russia, says that the Arctic spill has shed the light on the magnitude of day-to-day pollution in Norilsk by one of the country's biggest industrial companies. "Norilsk Nickel has been dumping waste water, which is proved by satellite images," he said, adding that it is high time that the company "stops hiding the violations and gets down to rectifying them." Norilsk Nickel insists that it responds to all reports about potential environmental damage.
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| Three men arrested for murder in case of missing California couple who vanished in 2017 Posted: 29 Jun 2020 11:23 AM PDT  Three men have been arrested for murder in the case of Audrey Moran and Jonathan Reynoso, who have been missing since 2017. Manuel Rios, of Coachella, Abraham Fregoso, of Indio, and Jesus Ruiz Jr., of Stockton, were taken into custody on Saturday, June 27, 2020, and booked in Riverside County Jail. The Riverside County Sheriff's Office is investigating.
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| Trump accuses California Democrats of 'incredible stupidity' in row over John Wayne's white supremacy remarks Posted: 29 Jun 2020 06:12 AM PDT  Donald Trump is accusing some Democratic officials of "incredible stupidity" for calling for actor John Wayne's name to be removed from an airport in California even after an interview resurfaced of "The Duke" embracing white supremacy.John Wayne Airport in southern California serves Orange County and Los Angeles. Mr Trump in January 2016, as a presidential candidate, held a special event at the John Wayne Birthplace Museum in Winterset, Iowa. He spoke at a lectern with a wax statue of the late actor behind him.
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| US carriers drill after Southeast Asian nations rebuke China Posted: 29 Jun 2020 12:47 AM PDT  A look at recent developments in the South China Sea, where China is pitted against smaller neighbors in multiple territorial disputes over islands, coral reefs and lagoons. Two U.S. Navy aircraft carrier strike groups are conducting dual operations in the Philippine Sea in a show of the service's ability to rapidly deploy overwhelming force in support of allies locked in disputes with China. "The U.S. Navy regularly conducts integrated strike group operations to support a free and open Indo-Pacific, and promote an international rules-based order wherein each country can reach its potential without sacrificing national sovereignty," the release said.
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| Betelgeuse: Nearby 'supernova' star's dimming explained Posted: 29 Jun 2020 08:26 AM PDT  Astronomers say big cool patches on the Betelgeuse star likely drove its surprise dimming last year.
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| Iran records highest daily death toll from COVID-19 Posted: 29 Jun 2020 11:54 AM PDT  The 162 deaths reported on Monday exceed the previous record on April 4, when the health ministry reported 158 deaths in a day. The Islamic Republic has recorded a total of 10,670 deaths and 225,205 infections from the coronavirus, health ministry spokeswoman Sima Sadat Lari said in a statement on state TV. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the highest authority in Iran, expressed concern on Monday about the rising number of deaths.
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| Rep. Biggs addresses record-breaking COVID-19 cases Posted: 29 Jun 2020 08:37 AM PDT  Arizona sees nearly 3,800 coronavirus cases in one day; Rep. Andy Biggs weighs in.
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| These 5 Weapons Made Nazi Germany a Military Superpower Posted: 29 Jun 2020 06:15 AM PDT  Hitler's most fearsome weapons.
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| New Yorkers who travel to Florida, Texas, and other states with high COVID-19 infection rates will lose paid sick leave benefits Posted: 28 Jun 2020 01:00 PM PDT  Alabama, Arizona, Georgia, Florida, Mississippi, Nevada, South Carolina, Utah, and Texas all currently have positive test rates higher than 10%.
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| Robert Jenrick under fresh pressure after whistleblower claims he ignored pleas to block Westferry project Posted: 28 Jun 2020 10:43 AM PDT  Robert Jenrick has found himself under fresh pressure, after a whistleblower claimed he ignored pleas from senior officials to block the controversial Westferry printworks project. The Housing Secretary reportedly overruled objections from civil servants and lawyers to greenlight Tory donor Richard Desmond's £1 billion development in January, with one source saying he showed "total disregard" for the law. Mr Jenrick had weeks earlier watched a promotional video for the luxury East London project on the businessman's mobile phone during a dinner at the Savoy hotel in London. Home Secretary Priti Patel insisted she would not "be watching videos" at Conservative fundraisers when quizzed on the matter on Sunday. Ms Patel also argued that going to Tory events would "absolutely not" help a person's chances in securing planning permission as she described the matter as "closed". She told the BBC's Andrew Marr Show: "I haven't followed the details of every single decision on this but what I do know and what I can tell you is that the correspondence, the documentation is out in the public domain on this particular application - and rightly so. "The papers have been published, the Secretary of State has followed all issues around transparency. "It has been discussed in Parliament a number of times, questions have been answered on this and the matter is deemed to be closed."
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| How a New York High School Teacher With Mob Ties Allegedly Bribed a DEA Agent Posted: 28 Jun 2020 02:01 AM PDT  By all accounts, Michael Masecchia seemed like an average English teacher at Grover Cleveland High School—a central Buffalo school whose most notable alumni include an NFL defensive end and a former U.N. official. The father of two had worked in the Buffalo public school system for more than 30 years, in which he taught at least 25,000 students and coached hundreds more in football, softball, and soccer. In 2018, his salary was around $76,949, according to court records, almost 30 percent more than his peers. But one former student recalled that the 54-year-old "kind of blended into the background at school—like he was involved in the school but not too much as to call too much attention to himself." Terrence M. Connors, a lawyer for the teacher, said Masecchia had "a great rapport with his students" and was once an "exceptional college football player."So when Masecchia was arrested in August 2019 on federal drug charges—after authorities raided his two-story Williamsville home to find a large cache of guns, several homemade explosives, and drugs—the school community was stunned. Masecchia was accused of growing and selling marijuana for more than 20 years. "When one is involved in drug trafficking and has a cache of weapons at their ready access including explosive devices—certainly if I'm a parent, I don't want my kid to be taught by that person," U.S. Attorney James Kennedy, Jr. said in an Aug. 29 press conference, before alluding the charges were "a part of a much larger and ongoing organized crime and public corruption investigation, so stay tuned."The upstate New York community now has an answer to the prosecutor's ominous warning: Masecchia was allegedly a member or associate of the Mafia who bribed a DEA agent to protect his decades-long drug scheme. "I'm still in shock over the whole thing. Mr. Masecchia is the last person I would expect," the student told The Daily Beast. "This is straight out of a movie."In a twist worthy of The Sopranos, prosecutors allege former DEA Agent Joseph Bongiovanni blocked several investigations into Masecchia, provided him with information on drug investigations and cooperating sources—and even at times using and selling cocaine—after receiving at least $250,000 in bribes."Masecchia had been a target or subject of several DEA cases during... Bongiovanni's venture as a DEA special agent," the 37-page indictment, filed earlier this month by the U.S. Attorney's Office Western District of New York, said. "[But] Masecchia was never arrested or charged in any DEA cases or investigations."While Bongiovanni, who retired from the DEA in February, was charged last November with accepting bribes to shield his friends with ties to organized crime, this month's indictment is the first time prosecutors have publicly linked the two men. It's also the first time investigators have accused Masecchia of being a friend and associate of "Italian Organized Crime" in upstate New York. "Masecchia is an associate and possibly made member of the Buffalo LCN family," a July 2013 email sent to Bongiovanni from a fellow member of law enforcement said. The officer was referring to La Cosa Nostra, the Sicilian Mafia organization that has been active across the U.S. Northeast since the 1920s. Bongiovanni, 56, is now facing a slew of charges, including conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to distribute controlled substances, accepting a bribe, and obstruction of justice. Masecchia was also charged with several crimes, including conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to distribute controlled substances, and maintaining a drug-involved premises. Both men, who have pleaded not guilty and are expected to face trial in November, could get decades in prison. "Mike Masecchia is a long tenured, high school teacher and a well respected member of the Western New York community," Connors, Masecchia's lawyer, told The Daily Beast. "He is not now nor has he ever been, as the government alleges, a member of 'Italian Organized Crime' if, in fact, that designation even exists."The new indictment "doesn't change much as far as we're concerned," James P. Harrington, who is representing Bongiovanni, told WHBW. "My client still professes his innocence and we look forward to defending him at trial."Families for both men did not respond to The Daily Beast's request for comment. A rat in the ranksIn 2008, Bongiovanni and Masecchia started working together to defraud the DEA in a conspiracy that, according to the indictment, hinged on Bongiovanni's access to information about criminal investigations.It's not clear how the pair met or first came into contact with one another. But, over a nearly decade-long collaboration, Masecchia paid Bongiovanni at least $250,000 in exchange for regular debriefs, prosecutors allege. During frequent meetings, the DEA agent would allegedly provide information he obtained through fellow law-enforcement colleges, or state and DEA deconfliction databases—which would alert him if other agents were looking into any of the people he had under his protection. The duo also allegedly conspired to distribute marijuana and cocaine between 2008 and 2019, the indictment states.Pandemic Puts the Screws to New York's Mafia. In Italy, the Mobs Are Thriving.But Masecchia was only one of several Mafia-related figures to benefit from Bongiovanni's position of power. Prosecutors allege Bongiovanni went to great lengths to protect himself and several people who were paying him for protection. He allegedly created his own DEA case file on his co-conspirators so he could funnel all DEA information towards himself and keep tabs on colleagues seeking to investigate his associates.For example, after a fellow DEA agent conducted surveillance on a Buffalo warehouse in June 2013 that was controlled by someone Bongiovanni had been in cahoots with, Bongiovanni advised his colleague to discontinue the surveillance due to his own open investigation. A month later, Bongiovanni emailed the U.S. Attorney's Office and a special agent with the IRS with an update on his fake investigation. "We are working on a GPS warrant for trackers to locate these grow operation [sic] a CI [confidential informant] reported they are turning the grow over in 8 to 9 weeks. Joe." Bongiovanni then wrote in a September 2013 DEA report that agents were waiting for the U.S. Attorney's Office to utilize GPS trackers for the investigation. He continued to lie in reports and made misleading statements to others in law enforcement to delay any legal action, prosecutors allege. "After feigning legitimate investigation for a period of time so that information about his co-conspirators, and anyone seeking to cooperate against them, would be funneled towards him, the defendant Bongiovanni closed the DEA file," the indictment states, noting that "even with the file closed, he would continue to receive deconfliction notices related to individuals under his protection."The 56-year-old also allegedly lied to his fellow DEA agents, made cover stories for his co-conspirators and even owned, sold, and used the drugs he helped protect. In one instance, Bongiovanni allegedly told an associate to pass himself off as a potential informant if he was ever questioned about their relationship. 'Get her out' of the clubThe indictment details the lengths Bongiovanni allegedly went to from late 2009 onwards to protect an individual identified in court documents as "Co-conspirator 1," who was paying Bongiovanni. In one instance, Co-conspirator 1 violated the terms of his federal supervised release from prison. So Bongiovanni called the U.S. Probation officer to "mitigate any sanctions that might have been imposed." Days later, Bongiovanni allegedly lied in a DEA report that Co-conspirator 1 had acted as a "confidential source" and had provided information to the DEA in narcotics investigations.In June 2016, Bongiovanni attempted to dissuade another special agent from subpoenaing phone records of contacts between him and Co-conspirator 1 by asking his colleague if he "hate[d] Italians." Two months later, Co-conspirator 1 called Bongiovanni after "a stripper overdosed on drugs at a gentlemen's club" he operated in Cheektowaga, New York. Bongiovanni, according to the indictment, told him to "get her out" of the club."It should be known that any contact I have had with [Co-conspirator 1] in the past was minimal in-person contact and primarily consisted of random telephonic communication based on the fact we were childhood friends," Bongiovanni would later write in a November 2018 DEA memo. "I would sometimes randomly encounter [Co-conspirator 1] at a restaurant or golf outing and have not made plans to meet him socially in several years."On Bongiovanni's last day on the job with the DEA in February 2019, he wiped all the data off his phone and removed the DEA case file against those who were paying him—before hiding it in the basement of his home. Five months later, federal and county investigators raided Masecchia's home on Main Street in Williamsville—a beige home with a basketball hoop at the end of the driveway, just blocks away from SUNY Erie Community College and the Country Club of Buffalo. Inside, authorities found an eye-popping haul, including marijuana, cocaine, steroids, hypodermic needles, THC edibles, seven homemade explosives, two rifles, five shotguns, various rounds of ammunition, four cellphones and $27,950 in cash that was hidden in "clothing and rubber banded in two bundles." New York's Last Bigtime Mafia Boss, Gets Sendoff From His 'Spark Plug'According to Masecchia's original criminal complaint, the homemade explosives were packed with flash powder and sealed with a hot glue gun. Prosecutors allege that Masecchia has distributed at least 1,000 kilograms of marijuana since 1999 and Erie County Sheriff's records show that one of the shotguns found at his home was reported stolen in September 2015.After his arrest, the Buffalo Public Schools said Masecchia had been "placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the legal process." The school district did not respond to The Daily Beast's request for comment. "All these dangerous items were possessed by an individual who has access to children on a daily basis," Kennedy, the U.S. Attorney, said after Masecchia's arrest, noting that the teacher lived across the street from another high school. 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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| Sen. Grassley said Fox News failed Trump with second-term agenda question, isn't working to get him re-elected Posted: 29 Jun 2020 02:41 PM PDT  Senator Chuck Grassley took particular issue with Fox News host Sean Hannity.
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| Israel orders evangelical Christian media network God TV to take channel off air Posted: 29 Jun 2020 10:47 AM PDT  "The channel does not appeal to the Christian population in Israel, but rather to the Jews," said Israel's broadcasting regulator.
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| More Chinese regions brace for floods as storms shift east Posted: 29 Jun 2020 01:31 AM PDT  Torrential rain is set to hit China's eastern coastal regions this week after overwhelming large parts of the southwest, inundating villages and tourist spots and displacing more than 700,000 people, state weather forecasters said on Monday. Nearly 14 million people in 26 different provinces had been affected by storms and floods by Friday, with 744,000 evacuated, the China Daily reported, citing the Ministry for Emergency Management. Much of the damage has hit southwestern regions like Guangxi and Sichuan, and the municipality of Chongqing on the upper reaches of the Yangtze river last week experienced its worst floods since 1940.
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| Bob Woodward story on Kavanaugh's veracity 'pulled' during Senate hearings Posted: 29 Jun 2020 11:43 AM PDT  Washington Post reportedly quashed a story undermining denial by supreme court justice that he was source for Watergate reporterBrett Kavanaugh lied about not being a source for the Watergate reporter Bob Woodward, but the Washington Post quashed the story while the supreme court justice's confirmation hearings were ongoing, according to the New York Times.Media writer Ben Smith reported the story in a wide-ranging piece on the Post under the leadership of the executive editor, Marty Baron, published late on Sunday.Kavanaugh hit the headlines again on Monday as he and three other conservatives voted in favor of a hardline Louisiana abortion law which the court nonetheless struck down by a narrow 5-4 majority as Chief Justice John Roberts sided with the four liberal judges.Kavanaugh was Donald Trump's second nomination to the court, tipping it firmly to the right.According to Smith, during Kavanaugh's tempestuous confirmation hearings in late 2018, the Post was set to run a story in which Woodward outed Kavanaugh as a source for material in one of his books about Ken Starr and his investigation of Bill Clinton.Kavanaugh worked for Starr, the independent counsel who investigated Clinton's affair with a staffer, Monica Lewinsky. In a letter to the Post in 1999, Kavanaugh had publicly denied being the source in question.According to Smith, "two Post journalists who read" Woodward's piece about the affair said it "would have been explosive", given questions about Kavanaugh's integrity that dominated confirmation hearings.Kavanaugh was confirmed by a 50-48 Senate vote, amid huge controversy over allegations from multiple women of sexual assault when he was a student. He strenuously denied all such claims."The article was nearly ready," Smith wrote, citing three unnamed Post employees, "when the executive editor stepped in. Baron urged Woodward not to breach his arrangement with Kavanaugh and to protect his old source's anonymity."Smith added: "Baron and other editors persuaded Woodward that it would be bad for the Post and 'bad for Bob' to disclose a source [and] the piece never ran."Baron did not comment but Smith, citing "people who work with him", also reported that the editor's opposition to the story "wasn't about favoring Kavanaugh, or being afraid of a fight"."Publishing the article," Smith wrote, "would simply violate the traditional principle that sources should be protected [and] would veer into an uncomfortable and potentially embarrassing new form of journalism and, in Baron's view, imperil the reputation" of the Post.With Carl Bernstein, Woodward broke the story of the Watergate scandal, leading to the resignation of Richard Nixon in August 1974. The two reporters famously protected the identity of their main source, known as "Deep Throat", and only revealed it to have been Mark Felt after the senior FBI official died in 2008.Woodward is set to publish a second book on Donald Trump. The sequel to Fear, a 2018 bestseller, will include interviews with the president.
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