Sister speaks out against early prison release of brother's killer
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President Donald Trump on Thursday raised the idea of delaying the Nov. 3 U.S. elections, an idea immediately rejected by both Democrats and his fellow Republicans in Congress - the sole branch of government with the authority to make such a change. Critics and even Trump's allies dismissed the notion as an unserious attempt to distract from devastating economic news, but some legal experts warned that his repeated attacks could undermine his supporters' faith in the election process. Trump's statement on Twitter comes as the United States is enduring a multi-pronged, once-in-a-generation crisis: a coronavirus pandemic that has claimed more than 150,000 lives, a crippling recession sparked by the outbreak, and nationwide protests against police violence and racism.
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College football standout Danroy "DJ" Henry Jr., 20, was shot and killed by a white police officer outside a New York bar on Oct. 17, 2010, as he drove away from a disturbance he was not involved in. Nearly 10 years later, celebrities join the victim’s family to demand that the case be reopened.
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Taiwan's former president Lee Teng-hui, who defied China and earned the nickname "Mr Democracy" for the part he played in the island's transition away from authoritarian rule, died Thursday aged 97. Lee's 12 years in office from 1988 to 2000 were marked by growing cross-strait tensions as he pitched himself against Beijing, infuriating Chinese authorities for daring to carve out a separate identity for Taiwan. Despite being self-ruled since 1949, Taiwan has never formally declared independence from the mainland and Beijing has vowed to react with force if it ever does.
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CNN host Jake Tapper has demanded that Republican congressman Jim Jordan apologise for playing an edited video that misleadingly showed reporters describe the George Floyd protests as “peaceful”.On Tuesday, attorney general William Barr took part in his first congressional hearing since he took the role, and faced questions on topics including his response to the protests and the subsequent deployment of federal law enforcement agents to cities such as Portland, Oregon.
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Joe Biden was uncharacteristically tight-lipped on Tuesday about the final stretch of his search for a vice president. As he took questions from reporters on Tuesday, Biden held notes that were captured by an Associated Press photographer. Harris' name was scrawled across the top, followed by five talking points.
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ROME—The offices that house the Vatican’s computer network system were one of the few allowed to stay minimally staffed during the pandemic to ensure that God's work—as it were—continued unfettered. But in early May, weeks before Italy and the Vatican emerged from a draconian COVID-19 lockdown, a series of cyber intrusions reportedly took place, masterminded by Chinese hackers keen on eavesdropping on the Pope's plans for the controversial Catholic Church in China, according to the cybersecurity firm Recorded Future and reported in The New York Times. Is Pope Francis Selling Out the Chinese Underground Church to Its Government?One of the hacks used a fairly standard Trojan malware called PlugX Payload, which was woven into the coding on a cable sent from the office of the Vatican's secretary of state to Monsignor Javier Corona Herrera in Hong Kong. The letter expressed condolences from the pope over the death of a bishop, fairly standard practice in an institution built on rituals and traditions. But when the office in Hong Kong opened the cable, it unleashed the malware.The breach into the Vatican system allowed the deviants to then access the receiving computer network—in the case of the condolence letter, the Catholic Church’s China Study Mission in Hong Kong. By sending what looked like a legitimate cable from behind the Vatican's secure firewall, the hackers could be sure the entity opening it would do so without suspicion, and unwittingly grant access. The act is called spear phishing which, unlike regular phishing, is highly targeted. The Diocese of Hong Kong was also targeted and the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions in Milan was also singled out. Recorded Future’s report states that additional hacks were found using the same malware. “The first sample included a lure document spoofing a news bulletin from the Union of Catholic Asian News regarding the impending introduction of the new Hong Kong national security law,” the report states. Another hack refers to the Vatican and uses a document called, “QUM, IL VATICANO DELL’ISLAM.doc” as the decoy. The document refers to the Shi’ite city of Qom and includes writings from an Italian Catholic academic living in Iran. “Although the direct target of these two lures are unclear, both relate to the Catholic church,” Recorded Future states in the report. A source who worked in the Vatican's security office before being furloughed over the pandemic told The Daily Beast that one of the biggest fears the Vatican had was exactly what happened: being hacked by Chinese government operatives looking to derail important talks set for September intended to bolster the tenuous relationship between the Vatican and the Chinese Catholic Church. In 2018, Pope Francis broke a 60-year-stalemate between the Roman Catholic Church and the Chinese Catholic Church that grew from an attempt in 1960 for Beijing to set up its own Holy See, and shut the real one out. The Chinese Holy See was called the Catholic Patriotic Association and instead of accepting bishops chosen by Rome, as in nearly every other diocese in the world, they chose their own political appointees. During those 60 years, Chinese Catholics were only allowed to worship openly if they adhered to the Chinese Church's rules, which spawned an underground Catholic Church that instead followed Rome's orders. Those bishops have now been sidelined as part of the 2018 deal.The conflict is far from over, but the 2018 agreement between Beijing and Rome, which has never been published but is hailed as landmark, was set to be renewed and expanded next month. The most contentious aspects of the ongoing negotiations were being discussed between Rome and Hong Kong separately, so they could strategize about how to deal with China's insistence that they still choose politically appointed bishops and give the pope the opportunity to "bless" them but not remove or replace them. Those preparatory meetings between Rome and Hong Kong would have normally taken place in person to avoid exactly what happened but thanks to the pandemic, many exist in the form of secret cables. The Vatican has made no public statement on the matter, but an official told the Catholic website Asia News, “To say that China spies on the Vatican is like discovering hot water. By now espionage and hackers have become an international problem we have to live with.”What happens next is worrying for the Vatican. The hack, now discovered, will likely stop here. But that might also mean the same thing happens to this crucial step forward for Chinese Catholics. 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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The agreement between Cohen's lawyers and federal prosecutors also frees Cohen to engage with news organizations and use social media, as he serves the remainder of his three-year term for campaign finance violations and other crimes in home confinement. "There shall be no specific media provision" governing Cohen's activities, according to the agreement, which requires approval by U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein in Manhattan. Cohen, 53, had served about one year of his prison term before being sent home to his Manhattan apartment in May, because of the risk of contracting COVID-19 behind bars.
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Vietnam, virus-free for months, is bracing for another wave of COVID-19 infections after state media reported new cases in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and the Central Highlands linked to a recent outbreak in the central city of Danang. Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said the current wave of infections was different to a second wave Vietnam fought in March, and every province and city in the country was at risk, state broadcaster Vietnam Television (VTV) reported.
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The United States is criticizing a number of eastern and central European nations, including Poland, for failing to compensate Holocaust victims and their families and communities for property seized during Nazi occupation in World War II as the numbers of survivors dwindles due to age. In a report issued Wednesday, the State Department called out Bosnia, Belarus, Ukraine and particularly Poland for not having acted on restitution claims. Croatia, Latvia and Russia were also taken to task in the report, which is likely to draw angry responses from the governments identified.
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Two Australian women with Covid-19 who returned to Brisbane from Melbourne via Sydney and avoided quarantine by concealing their point of origin had attended an illegal party in Victoria, it was revealed Thursday. They arrived in Queensland on 21 July, eight days before that state’s government banned arrivals from Greater Sydney. The news emerged as Victoria reported two grim records, with 13 Covid-19 deaths and 723 new cases in 24 hours. The 723 Victorian cases on their own broke the previous record for the entire country, and came alongside 19 new cases in New South Wales, where three outbreaks have been identified in Sydney. The women, aged 19 and 21, who attended work and a number of other sites after returning to Queensland but before testing positive, were at a gathering of at least 20 people in Melbourne which was shut down by police. Melbourne and neighbouring Mitchell Shire have been under a lockdown since June in response to Victoria’s surge in Covid-19 cases.
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The United States on Wednesday slapped sanctions on the 18-year-old son of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, vowing never to let the war-torn nation's regime enrich itself. Hafez al-Assad -- named after his grandfather, who ruled Syria with an iron fist for three decades -- will not be allowed to travel or maintain assets in the United States, the State Department said. The designation was part of a second set of sanctions under the Caesar Act, a US law that took effect in June and aims to prevent any normalization of Assad even as he wins back most of Syrian territory after a brutal nine-year war.
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An art expert has pinpointed the exact spot where Vincent van Gogh was painting just hours before he shot himself, museum officials announced on Tuesday at a ceremony commemorating the 130th anniversary of his suicide. The picture, Tree Roots, was identified as the Dutch post-impressionist painter’s last work a few years ago. Now, an early postcard has made it possible to locate the scene it depicts in Auvers-sur-Oise, a village north of Paris. Willem van Gogh, the great-grandson of the artist’s brother Theo, and Emilie Gordenker, director of the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, unveiled a plaque at the spot, which will soon be opened to the public. It is a short walk from the Auberge Ravoux, the former inn where Van Gogh spent his last 70 days before dying in his garret room on 29 July 1890.
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As states in the South and Southwest grapple with how to control the spread of the coronavirus, officials on President Donald Trump’s coronavirus task force cautioned the nation’s governors Tuesday that a new set of states is beginning to experience an uptick in positive cases and recommended that local leaders implement mask mandates and close bars to contain the outbreaks.Dr. Deborah Birx, the coordinator for the task force, said the positivity rate in states such as Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, and Colorado was increasing and warned they should quickly take action before they fall into what she described as the “red COVID zones” category. Birx defined the red zones as those states with more than 100 coronavirus cases per 100,000 people and more than a 10 percent test positivity rate.“By the time you see hospitalizations, your community spread is so wide that you’ve flipped into a red state incredibly quickly,” Birx said, according to a recording of the call obtained by The Daily Beast. “By the time you see it, up to 80 or 90 percent of your county already has more than 10 percent positivity rate.”The warnings from Birx and other task force officials come as the administration is pushing states across the country to reopen schools, a point Vice President Mike Pence reiterated on the call. Pence said the task force would support whatever decision state leaders make but that the team was beginning to see evidence that “encouraging masks,” closing bars, and limiting indoor gatherings were slowing the spread in some of the hot spot states. Birx was more explicit with her advice, saying that the “100 percent mask mandates” played a significant role in containing the virus in those states.Trump in the past has resisted mask wearing and said in a Fox News interview this month that he would not impose a national mask mandate. On Monday, Trump retweeted a video shared by his son Donald Trump Jr. that featured a doctor saying masks were unnecessary. Twitter restricted Donald Trump Jr.’s account and removed the video from the platform.Trump Pushes Fake COVID Cure From Fringe Doctors, Banned by FacebookDr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top vaccine official, was also on the call with governors and said states should adhere to Birx’s recommendations even if it wasn’t politically expedient to do so. “You may be reluctant to do that because the general population is saying, ‘Wait a minute, we’re not that bad,’” Fauci said, referring to the advice of implementing mask mandates and restricting large gatherings of people. “You are worse than you think you are because where you are now is going to be reflected and what you are going to see… weeks from now. I know it may sound intrusive but it really isn’t.”Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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Last week, a 24-year-old defector returned to North Korea the way he left in 2017, authorities say, but with a coronavirus pandemic raging in the background this time, his illicit trip drew far more attention. Facing a sexual assault investigation, Kim evaded high-tech South Korean border control systems by crawling through a drain pipe and swimming across the Han River to the North on July 19, the South Korean military has said. Kim's story as a defector begins and, so far, ends in the city of Kaesong, a North Korean border town that hosted a now-shuttered inter-Korean factory park and liaison office.
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The top federal prosector in Oregon, U.S. Attorney Billy Williams, said Monday that the federal agents aggressively policing protesters in Portland would remain in the city until the "attacks on federal property and personnel" cease. Oregon officials say the presence and shock-and-awe tactics of the federal agents are the main fuel for those attacks, and federal law enforcement officials privately concede they have a point, Oregon Public Broadcasting reports.The nightly protests against racism and police violence in downtown Portland had dwindled to about 100 people before President Trump sent in federal agents over the July 4 weekend. The protests grew again after U.S. Marshals, ostensibly there to protect Portland's federal courthouse, shot 26-year-old protester Donavan La Bella in the head, fracturing his skull, and they exploded after news broke that anonymous militarized federal agents were detaining people on the street in unmarked vans. Thousands now gather nightly in Portland, and similar protests have been reinvigorated in other cities."Anytime you shoot someone in the face and beat them with a baton, it's going to be criticized," one federal law enforcement official told OBP. "That's not a controversial statement." Another told OBP, "Crowds were very small and the incident with La Bella." Still, a spokesman for the U.S. Marshals confirmed Monday that about 100 new deputies have been lined up for deployment in Portland, either to bolster the current force or replace exhausted officers.The harsh crackdown and vilification of protesters in Portland may end up helping Trump politically, "but as a policing tactic, it has failed to suppress the protests," The Washington Post notes. "The escalation has been followed by larger, better-equipped, and more-aggressive crowds, and — as the new reinforcements showed — it exhausted federal resources before it exhausted the protesters.""Every time we go out into this, we get better at it," Gregory McKelvey, a community organizer in Portland, tells the Post. "When a flash bang first goes off in front of you, you run. But when you realize that one went off right in front of you and nothing happened to you, you're less likely to run the next time." In a bit of circular logic, law enforcement officials say they need even more people on the ground in Portland "to counter those increasingly sophisticated tactics" employed by protesters, OPB reports.More stories from theweek.com Trump: 'Nobody likes me' American Federation of Teachers supports strikes if schools don't reopen safely Even mild coronavirus cases can cause lasting cardiovascular damage, study shows
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Donald Trump Jr has been suspended by Twitter for posting "misleading and potentially harmful information" about coronavirus.The president also shared the same tweet. On his account, the post no longer appears, and has been replaced with a message indicating that it is "no longer available", but he still appears to be able to tweet.
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Meanwhile, U.S. civil liberties advocates on Tuesday (July 28) asked a federal court in Portland, Oregon, to hold federal agents in contempt for violating a temporary court order barring attacks on journalists and legal observers monitoring protests in the city.
The filing by the American Civil Liberties Union came during a wave of protests against police violence and racism in Portland in which federal agents have clashed with protesters who have lit fires and thrown objects at the federal courthouse.
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Biden has vowed to choose a woman as his potential vice president. Following widespread protests over racial injustice and police brutality, pressure increased on Biden to choose a woman of color. Harris, the daughter of Jamaican and Indian parents, fits the bill.
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