Lafayette

James Clyburn: Trump doesn't plan to 'give up the office'

Rep. James Clyburn defended his recent comments saying President Trump "thinks that the American people will be duped by him, like the people of Germany was duped by Adolf Hitler."

Iran has been covering up its coronavirus death toll, according to BBC investigation which says the true figure is almost 3 times higher

Both coronavirus deaths and cases are significantly higher than Iran is publicly reporting, according to government figures seen by the BBC.

Illinois officials call to abolish history classes in the state until an 'alternative' is set up to highlight underrepresented groups

Illinois Democratic State Representative LaShawn K. Ford is demanding the history of minority groups to be taught in state schools.

Mexico arrests 'El Marro,' gang leader at the center of a bloody cartel war

Mexican authorities say they have detained José Antonio Yépez Ortiz, alias 'El Marro,' the alleged leader of the Santa Rosa de Lima cartel.

Who is Karen Bass?

Rep. Karen Bass, D-Calif., has been mentioned as a potential running mate for former VP Joe Biden, who has vowed to pick a woman as his vice president.

An Indiana school reopened for students. There was a positive COVID-19 test on day one.

It was the first time students in Greenfield, Indiana, had been back in schools since the pandemic closed them in March.

Fauci says states seeing surge in COVID-19 cases should reconsider some lockdown measures

In some states with moderate case counts, experts are seeing "that same insidious increase in percent positive that we had seen and pointed out ... in states like Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, Minnesota and others", Fauci said during an interview with the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). Fauci said last week that he was seeing signs the surge of COVID-19 cases could be peaking in the South and West while other areas were on the cusp of new outbreaks. Fauci said that it is crucial that the outbreak be contained before autumn, when influenza cases are likely to spike alongside COVID-19 and more people begin to move indoors, increasing the risk of contagion.

Annual Sturgis rally expecting 250K, stirring virus concerns

Sturgis is on. The message has been broadcast across social media as South Dakota, which has seen an uptick in coronavirus infections in recent weeks, braces to host hundreds of thousands of bikers for the 80th edition of the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. More than 250,000 people are expected to rumble through western South Dakota, seeking the freedom of cruising the boundless landscapes in a state that has skipped lockdowns.

She got the virus. Then she was fired. Some sick workers left in cold by employers.

McDonald's and Marriott franchises are among hundreds of businesses that have illegally denied paid sick leave during the pandemic, records show.

Homeland Security official reassigned after intelligence reports on journalists covering protests

A US intelligence official with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has been reassigned following revelations that his office compiled "intelligence reports" on journalists and analysed communications between protesters amid ongoing demonstrations in Portland, Oregon.Brian Murphy was removed from his post following a report in The Washington Post revealing that the DHS Office of Intelligence and Analysis sent open source intelligence reports to federal law enforcement agencies containing information from two reporters who had published leaked unclassified government documents while covering Black Lives Matter protests.

These 43-square-foot pods were originally for travelers to take a nap at the airport, but now the company is selling them for $50,000 each

NapCity's pods are modular and customizable, starting at $50,000.

Obama targets Texas in first round of 2020 endorsements

Former President Barack Obama unveiled his first round of 2020 endorsements on Monday, and he's got his eyes on Texas, at least at the local level.Obama is endorsing 27 Democratic candidates in Texas, including 19 for the state House, where Democrats need to win nine seats to grab the majority. The focus seems to make sense for Obama, The New York Times notes, because Texas districts will be redrawn after the 2020 census, and Democrats want to gain a foothold before that happens. The former president has made it a priority to back candidates whom the National Democratic Redistricting Committee has labeled key to the redistricting process.He decided to stay out of Texas' Senate race between incumbent Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) and his Democratic challenger MJ Hegar, however. Obama similarly avoided other key Senate races in Republican states, including Montana, Kentucky, and Georgia, where his public support may not provide a boost, or could even prove harmful.> What's missing? Some key red state Senate races, including MT, KY, GA and TX where it is less clear that Obama's public backing would be a benefit.https://t.co/9rIjcI7SvE> > — Shane Goldmacher (@ShaneGoldmacher) August 3, 2020In races at the national level, Obama endorsed 52 Democratic House candidates and five for the Senate in battleground states, and he's set to announce a second wave of endorsements for states who have yet to hold their primaries. Read more at The New York Times.More stories from theweek.com The most damning inside portrait of the Trump administration yet 5 brutally funny cartoons about Bill Barr’s brand of justice Leaked report shows DHS targeted Americans who fought against ISIS in attempt to tie antifa to foreign power

Verdict looms in killing of Lebanon ex-PM Hariri

A UN-backed tribunal will give its verdict Friday on the 2005 murder of former Lebanese premier Rafic Hariri, but questions will remain over a long and costly trial whose suspects remain at large. Four alleged members of the Shiite Muslim fundamentalist group Hezbollah are on trial in absentia at the court in the Netherlands over the huge Beirut suicide bombing that killed Sunni billionaire Hariri and 21 other people. The judgment harks back to an event that changed the face of the Middle East, with Hariri's assassination triggering a wave of demonstrations that pushed Syrian forces out of Lebanon after 30 years.

Florida man once bitten by alligator is chomped by 8-foot shark while on vacation

Justin Stuller is now sporting two dozen stitches and a small limp after tangling with an eight-foot lemon shark in the Florida Keys.

Russia says suspected mercenaries detained by Belarus were going to Latin America

A Russian diplomat said on Monday a group of more than 30 suspected Russian mercenaries detained in Belarus last week were only passing through Minsk and were on their way to an unnamed Latin American state. Belarusian authorities have said they suspect the men entered their country to plot "acts of terrorism" and destabilise it before an Aug. 9 presidential election. The Russian state says it does not use mercenaries.

Two sisters who hadn't seen each other in more than 50 years were reunited by coronavirus

One long-lost sister was being treated for her COVID-19 infection at a rehab center while the other worked as a medical aide.

Boaters Invaded SpaceX's Splashdown Zone. That's a Terrible Idea.

Two words: nitrogen tetroxide.

New York City has already had more shootings in 2020 than in the whole of 2019

New York City has recorded more shootings so far in 2020 than the whole of last year, authorities have confirmed.There were 777 shootings between January and 2 August 2020, compared with 776 in 2019, according to figures compiled by the New York Post, and later confirmed by New York Police department (NYPD).

An Arizona congressman who tested positive for the coronavirus criticized Republican lawmakers for refusing to wear masks in the Capitol

Arizona Democrat Rep. Raúl Grijalva tested positive for the coronavirus on Saturday but is currently asymptomatic.

Controversial nominee Tata appointed to a top defense job, bypassing Congress

Tata's nomination hearing was indefinitely postponed Thursday when it became clear he did not have the votes to become undersecretary of defense for policy.

Kaepernick shirt was attack dogs' target at Navy Seal event

The US Navy Seals have launched an investigation after the footage from an event last year emerged.

Splash Mountain log flume ride sinks at Disney World's Magic Kingdom

Walt Disney World's Splash Mountain hit rough waters Sunday as Twitter users posted video of a submerged log flume ride they were in moments earlier.

House panel investigates DHS office over Portland, other protests

The U.S. House Intelligence Committee launched an investigation on Monday into the Department of Homeland Security's intelligence office, including its actions in Portland, Oregon, and its involvement in other anti-racism protests across the country. "The reporting regarding the monitoring of peaceful protesters, creating and disseminating intelligence reports about journalists and protesters, and potential exploitation of electronic devices is deeply troubling," Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, a Democrat, wrote in a letter to top DHS officials. The United States has seen largely peaceful protests nationwide since the death of George Floyd, a Black man, while in Minneapolis police custody in May. Protests in cities, including Portland, have at times erupted into arson and violence, and federal officers sent into the Northwestern city have repeatedly clashed with crowds targeting the federal courthouse there.

Parents in a school district in Georgia, are demanding in-person classes. But hundreds of employees have tested positive or been exposed to COVID-19, revealing the biggest blind spot in the fight to reopen schools

"The primary consideration should always be the safety, the health of the welfare of the children, as well as the teachers...," Anthony Fauci said.

Width restriction: church pews lose their position, to make way for the 'human form of today'

It is meant to be the happiest day of couples' lives. Yet for some newlyweds in Salisbury, the thought of having to squeeze through the narrow Victorian pews has proved too much. Now an historic village church has been forced to remove its wooden pews in a bid to curb the "embarrassment" of obese and overweight brides and grooms squeezing down the aisles. In a decision which has sparked outrage among parishioners, 32 Victorian pews have been put up for sale for £200 each as part of alterations to the Grade II listed St Andrew's Church in Okeford Fitzpaine, Dorset. The 150-year-old wooden seats, which are currently fastened to the floor, will be replaced with modern chairs that can be easily moved to create space when necessary. Church authorities have said that replacing the 16 rows of pews would remove the potential 'embarrassment' of overweight brides and grooms squeezing down the narrow aisle, and that the current pews are ill-suited to the “human form of today”.

Mysterious seeds sent from China to the US identified by the USDA

The mysterious seed packs from China that hundreds of Americans received in the mail have been identified, according to the US Department of Agriculture.Federal officials warned those who received the seeds not to plant them over fears that some may be invasive species and could destroy native plants and insects.

Sen. Chuck Schumer said a US company should buy TikTok to prevent the Chinese government from accessing user data

"With TikTok in China, it's subject to Chinese Communist Party laws that may require handing over data to their government," the senator tweeted.

See the cities with the largest Black-white homeownership gaps

The gap is larger now than it was before the civil rights movement. An NBC News analysis of census data shows the divide is widest in some metro areas.

Shoprite: Africa's biggest supermarket considers pulling out of Nigeria

Shoprite is the latest high-profile South African retailer to struggle in the Nigerian market.

John Hume, who worked to end N. Ireland violence, dies at 83

John Hume, the visionary politician who won a Nobel Peace Prize for fashioning the agreement that ended violence in his native Northern Ireland, has died at 83, his family said Monday. The Catholic leader of the moderate Social Democratic and Labour Party, Hume was seen as the principal architect of Northern Ireland's 1998 peace agreement. “I want to see Ireland as an example to men and women everywhere of what can be achieved by living for ideals, rather than fighting for them, and by viewing each and every person as worthy of respect and honor,” he said in 1998.

Biden urged not to debate Trump so president doesn't have another platform to 'lie'

Republican strategist Joseph Pinion and Democratic political analyst Kelly Hyman react.

Trump says federal government should again seek death penalty for Boston bomber Tsarnaev

President Donald Trump said Sunday that the federal government should again seek the death penalty for Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. In a tweet, Trump said the federal government must challenge a Friday appeals court decision overturning the death penalty for the 2013 attack. "Rarely has anybody deserved the death penalty more than the Boston Bomber, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev," tweeted Trump.

Florida man arrested, charged with murder after fatally shooting Burger King worker over drive-thru delay, police say

A Florida man fatally shot a Burger King employee over a long drive-thru line, according to the Orange County Sheriff's Office.

Joe Biden says he's certain he has been arrested

Has Biden spent in prison? The Federalist's Mollie Hemingway explains.

Trump administration includes nearly $400m to remodel West Wing in coronavirus relief bill

The Trump Administration wants to include $337m in its next coronavirus relief bill to pay for a renovation of the White Houses’ West Wing.The administration says the work would “increase the White House campus’s ability to detect, mitigate and alleviate external security and pandemic threats.”

Texas will now allow people taking the bar exam to bring their own menstrual products

The Texas Board of Law Examiners will allow test-takers to bring their own menstrual products after previously forbiding them over security concerns.

Hurricane Isaias makes landfall in North Carolina

Previously downgraded to a storm, Isaias was upgraded to a hurricane hours before making landfall.

Philippine capital returning to lockdown as virus surges

The Philippine president has agreed to place the capital and outlying provinces back under a lockdown after medical groups warned that the country was waging “a losing battle” against the coronavirus amid an alarming surge in infections. Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said Monday that metropolitan Manila, the capital region of more than 12 million people, and five densely populated provinces will revert to stricter quarantine restrictions for two weeks starting Tuesday. President Rodrigo Duterte relaxed the country’s lockdown on June 1 in an effort to restart the stalled economy.

Airlines can't stop you bringing your own booze aboard — but they can forbid you from drinking it

As carriers stop selling drinks to reduce contact with flight attendants, some passengers are pushing the rules by bringing their own alcohol aboard.

China seeks to increase influence in South China Sea by reclassifying international shipping lanes

China has quietly changed how it identifies a vast stretch of international waters in a shipping regulation, indicating it as a “coastal” region, rather than “offshore,” as authorities seek to exert even greater control over the South China Sea. The amended regulation, first drafted in the 1970s, went into effect on Saturday, and establishes a “navigation area” from China’s Hainan island in the south, all the way down to the disputed Paracel Islands, which sit east of Vietnam’s coastline. The revision, however small, allows Beijing yet another avenue to justify its claims in the region. “The move is pretty consistent with the broader, general patterns of China seeking ‘creeping jurisdiction’ using domestic laws to assert its claims and extend control in the South China Sea,” said Collin Koh,a research fellow at the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore. “With those domestic laws and regulations being implemented quietly without fanfare, the less likely it’ll attract undue external attention, so that over time a fait accompli is created - in other words, for Beijing to change facts on the ground.” The risk, in the long run, is that this area of ocean already flanked by Chinese military interests and installations, could turn a navigational zone to a “future security alert zone,” he said. The change comes as China has displayed increasing swagger in the South China Sea, where Beijing and a number of Southeast Asian countries all lay claim to the rocks, reefs and waters.

U.S. FAA lays plan for Boeing 737 MAX's return; hurdles remain

The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration said on Monday it is proposing requiring four key Boeing Co 737 MAX design and operating changes to address safety issues seen in two fatal crashes that led to the plane's grounding in March 2019. The agency is issuing a proposed airworthiness directive to require updated flight-control software, revised display-processing software to generate alerts, a revision of certain flight-crew operating procedures and changes in the routing of some wiring bundles. While the measures align with those expected by Boeing and aerospace analysts for months, the announcement comes after a series of delays and sets in motion the final sequence of events that could lead to the FAA lifting a grounding order on the plane later this year.

Police officers should not be charged with Breonna Taylor's death, criminal law experts say

Defense lawyers say LMPD officers had the right to defend themselves once Breonna Taylor's boyfriend shot at them

Leaked report shows DHS targeted Americans who fought against ISIS in attempt to tie antifa to foreign power

A Department of Homeland Security intelligence report leaked to The Nation has some experts skeptical of the department's motives.The report targeted several left-wing American activists who the department would normally be prohibited from gathering intelligence on unless they had reason to believe the individuals were operating on behalf of a foreign power. The people named in the report, many of whom have identified with far-left causes, do have connections abroad — they traveled to Syria in the past and fought against the Islamic State alongside Kurdish factions like the YPG, PKK, and the Peshmerga.The U.S., of course, considers ISIS an enemy, so it may seem surprising the U.S. government would focus on people who volunteered to fight against the terrorist group, but critics argue the Syria connection could be a ruse to root out potential antifa members. (Some of the individuals denied membership in antifa, which does not necessarily operate in any organized capacity to begin with.)> This is a big deal. Much as Trump et al want, domestic groups like the anti-fascist movement can't be formally labeled terror orgs. But tying them to foreign groups like the YPG (based on <12 people, incl. those who don't ID as antifa) opens them to otherwise-illegal surveillance https://t.co/upHP57QLdD> > — Kelly Weill (@KELLYWEILL) August 3, 2020The report eventually appears to conclude there is no evidence of a "centralized effort to give marching orders to returning antifa-affiliated" U.S. residents, but either way, the briefing didn't sit well with everyone. "They targeted Americans like they're Al-Qaeda," a former intelligence officer in the department with knowledge of the operations told The Nation. "They were essentially violating people's rights like this was the '60s." Read more at The Nation.More stories from theweek.com The most damning inside portrait of the Trump administration yet 5 brutally funny cartoons about Bill Barr’s brand of justice Trump is evidently very pleased with acting DHS Secretary Chad Wolf. Wolf's neighbors? Not so much.

Marines Want New Shoulder-Fired Rockets with Smaller Blast Signature than M9 Pistol

The Army recently released a request for proposal on behalf of the Marines for the M72 LAW Fire from Enclosure munition.

Scientists retract claim of finding tiniest dinosaur

The “tiny, weird bird-like dinosaur” was not a dinosaur or a bird after all, according to a retraction of the research published in a prestigious journal

Ningaloo Reef: Woman injured by humpback whale at Australian tourist spot

The woman is in a "serious but stable condition" after being hit by the whale during a group swim.

Virginia gov faces new hurdle in bid to remove Lee statue

A judge dismissed a legal challenge Monday that had been blocking Virginia officials from removing a towering statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee from the state's capital city, but he immediately imposed another injunction against dismantling the figure. The new 90-day injunction bars Gov. Ralph Northam's administration from “removing, altering, or dismantling, in any way” the larger-than-life statue of Lee on a prominent Richmond avenue while claims in a lawsuit filed by local property owners are litigated. Now covered in graffiti, the Lee monument has become a focal point and gathering spot amid Richmond's sustained anti-racist protests since the police custody death in Minnesota of a Black man, George Floyd.