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Showing posts from June, 2020

New York City to cut police budget, but some say it's not enough

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New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has agreed with the City Council to slash the New York Police Department's spending in the 2021 fiscal year's budget, which is due to be passed on Tuesday, but some lawmakers said it fell short of a $1 billion cut they had demanded. Nearly $484 million will be cut from the NYPD's budget, while another $354 million will be transferred to other city agencies, with the mayor shifting oversight of school safety officers from the NYPD to the Department of Education, the City Council said. City Council Speaker Corey Johnson disputed de Blasio's characterization that $1 billion was being "shifted away" from the NYPD budget. from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/38mW6u0

Hong Kong security law: Minutes after new law, pro-democracy voices quit

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"The law marks the end of Hong Kong that the world knew before," one activist said as he quit. from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2NIyS88

Putin unveils monument to fallen Red Army WWII soldiers

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Russian President Vladimir Putin and his counterpart from Belarus on Tuesday unveiled a monument honoring the fallen Red Army soldiers who fought in one of the most bloody battles of World War II. Putin and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko traveled to the village of Khoroshevo, just outside Rzhev, about 200 kilometers (about 125 miles) northwest of Moscow for a somber ceremony that involved goose-stepping troops laying wreaths to the towering figure of a soldier. The battle of Rzhev, in which the Red Army launched a series of offensives in 1942-1943 to dislodge the Wermacht from its positions close to Moscow, involved enormous Soviet losses from persistent, poorly prepared attacks against well-fortified Nazi positions. from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2YL7XyN

Trump in ‘fragile’ mood and may drop out of 2020 race if poll numbers don’t improve, GOP insiders tell Fox News

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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. from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2Zm9v1i

Homeowner shoots woman trying to steal his Nazi flag, Oklahoma cops say

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Authorities said the victim is expected to recover. from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2AhXlhk

City crews remove some barriers from Seattle protest zone

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Seattle city crews used heavy equipment Tuesday to remove makeshift barriers around the city’s “occupied” protest zone following two fatal shootings in the area. People have occupied several blocks around a park and the Seattle Police Department’s East Precinct for about two weeks after police abandoned the building following standoffs and clashes with protesters calling for racial justice and an end to police brutality. Seattle police Assistant Chief Adrian Diaz said the large, makeshift barriers would be removed in incremental steps to allow traffic to move through portions of a road that had been closed off. from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/3igMqFI

Man arrested over fatal shooting in Kentucky park at center of protests

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"The man has been participating in the protest since the beginning and he had been arrested a couple of times in the past several weeks," Schroeder said. Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer said he was saddened by the incident. The park has been a focal point of protests against the death of Breonna Taylor, a 26-year-old emergency medical technicinan who was killed in a hail of gunfire when drug investigators burst into her home in Louisville on March 13. from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2CKnUws

Astronaut says losing mirror on spacewalk was 'real bummer'

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The commander of the International Space Station said Monday that losing a mirror during last week’s otherwise successful spacewalk was “a real bummer.” NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy said he has no idea how the small mirror on his left sleeve came off. “I just happened to glance down and I saw this reflecting thing disappearing into the darkness, and that was the last I saw of it,” Cassidy said in an interview with The Associated Press. from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/31tBcru

Generation Putin comes of age as Russians vote on extending his rule

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Twenty-year-old Russians Yekaterina Mikhailova and Iya Barsegyan have only ever known life under President Vladimir Putin who rose to power in 1999, before they were even born. The pair may be of the same generation, but politically they are worlds apart, a contrast that shows how the divisions created by Putin's politics could last for years. This week, Russians are taking part in a nationwide vote on constitutional reforms that would clear the way for Putin to remain in the Kremlin until 2036. from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2BpjpXN

Robbery Caught On Camera In Kips Bay

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Police are searching for a man seen on video putting a woman into a chokehold and then stealing her bag. from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2YQsYs1

As coronavirus spreads to people under 40, it's making them sicker — and for longer — than once thought

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Once assumed to be safe from the dangers of COVID-19, younger adults share their prolonged struggles with the disease. from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2ZlkI1V

National parks – even Mount Rushmore – show that there's more than one kind of patriotism

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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 Me

Tucker Carlson’s Journey From Coronavirus Alarm-Puller to COVID Truther

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In early March, while President Donald Trump’s loudest allies at Fox News downplayed the coronavirus pandemic, with some claiming it was nothing more than an “impeachment scam” to destroy the president, Tucker Carlson received widespread—and usual, considering his notoriously far-right rhetoric—praise for calling out his colleagues and Trump for “minimizing” the impending danger.The Fox News primetime star continues to receive plaudits for reportedly convincing the president to finally take the crisis seriously. Days after that March 9 monologue, which was delivered shortly after Carlson privately spoke with Trump about the virus, the president publicly addressed the nation and his administration began pushing social-distancing guidelines.While Carlson sounding the alarm much earlier than his Fox News peers may have a had a positive impact (on his viewers, especially, as studies show his audience took protective measures before Trump confidant Sean Hannity’s), it didn’t take long for t

Missouri couple point guns at protesters calling for St. Louis mayor to resign

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A video on social media shows a couple pointing guns at protesters marching through a St. Louis neighborhood demanding Mayor Lyda Krewson's resignation. from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/3dQ7L5K

CanSino's COVID-19 vaccine candidate approved for military use in China

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China's military has received the greenlight to use a COVID-19 vaccine candidate developed by its research unit and CanSino Biologics after clinical trials proved it was safe and showed some efficacy, the company said on Monday. The Ad5-nCoV is one of China's eight vaccine candidates approved for human trials at home and abroad for the respiratory disease caused by the new coronavirus. from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2BKz0kP

Distancing from Trump? Some Republicans step up critiques

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For more than three years, President Donald Trump instilled such fear in the Republican Party's leaders that most kept criticism of his turbulent leadership or inconsistent politics to themselves. Four months before voters decide the Republican president's reelection, some in Trump's party are daring to say the quiet part out loud as Trump struggles to navigate competing national crises and a scattershot campaign message. “He is losing,” former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a Trump friend and confidant, said Sunday of Trump’s reelection prospects on ABC’s “This Week.” from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2ZkME6i

The 20 Best Deals from REI’s Fourth of July Sale

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2Zo3Bwz

'Dirty' depiction of Kim's wife outraged NKorea: Russian envoy

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North Korea's fury over anti-Pyongyang leaflets launched from the South is driven by "dirty, insulting" depictions of leader Kim Jong Un's spouse, Russia's top envoy in the reclusive country has said. In recent weeks Pyongyang has issued a series of vitriolic condemnations over anti-North leaflets which defectors based in the South send across the militarised border -- usually attached to balloons or floated in bottles. The campaigns have long been a point of contention between the two Koreas, but this time, Pyongyang upped the pressure, blowing up a liaison office and threatening military measures. from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2BouZT1

Woman Choked, Robbed In Manhattan

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The 64-year-old victim was attacked in Kips Bay on Sunday and suffered cuts. CBS2's Natalie Duddridge reports from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2ZrRHSb

Rand Paul again rips Dr. Anthony Fauci over coronavirus: 'We just need more optimism'

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Paul criticized Fauci for a lack of "certitude" when it comes to advice on if kids should be allowed to go back to school in the fall amid COVID-19. from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2BYhQjt

What's going on between Russia, US and Afghanistan?

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Russia denies reports it paid militants to kill US troops. The BBC's Jonathan Marcus evaluates those reports. from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/3dIQJpY

More Chinese regions brace for floods as storms shift east

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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. from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/3eJK9kf

Woman shot in back while trying to steal man's Nazi flag, authorities say

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The victim had been with friends at a nearby party when she apparently snatched one of the swastika flags displayed outside the man's home. from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2Zon7cj

Russia's opposition flounders as Putin changes constitution

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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. from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/3dHKPW6

Trump was 'near-sadistic' in phone calls with female world leaders, according to CNN report on classified calls

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Trump's conduct over the phone with world leaders posed a "danger to the national security of the United States," according to intel officials. from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2VxHB1f

More than 70 San Antonio police officers in coronavirus quarantine, department says

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The spike corresponds with a large increase in the city’s coronavirus numbers. from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/3dLg9TG

National parks – even Mount Rushmore – show that there's more than one kind of patriotism

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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 Me

Huntsman at risk of shocking defeat in Utah

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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. from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2NCYOlq

Russia denies nuclear incident after international body detects isotopes

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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. from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2ZjpRYp

Supreme Court declines to hear border wall challenge

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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. from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/3dNDmVs

Detroit police SUV drives through crowd after protesters climb on hood

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The driver activated the overhead lights, then gunned the accelerator, sending two protesters flying onto the pavement as the vehicle sped off. from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/3dGP3x1

Chinese coronavirus vaccine approved for use in country's military after clinical trials

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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. from Y

Over half a million people have died from the coronavirus, according to data from Johns Hopkins University

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Over 10 million coronavirus cases have been recorded globally, according to the data, as several countries begin to see a surge in cases. from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/38avjke

Transcript: Mike Pence on "Face the Nation"

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The following is a transcript of an interview with Vice President Mike Pence that aired Sunday, June 28, 2020, on "Face the Nation." from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/31qKd4G

Saharan dust cloud hits Southern states in U.S. already struggling with coronavirus surge

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Florida in particular faces a greater risk from the dust as the state experiences record-breaking coronavirus numbers, its ICU capacity under 25 percent. from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2YGq2Of

Trump news: President praises ‘great people’ shouting ‘white power’ as Pelosi brands his alleged inaction over Russia-Taliban reports ‘as bad as it gets’

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Donald Trump has praised “great people” in footage he shared of furious protesters clashing over his presidency outside a Florida retirement home, in which one apparent supporter repeatedly shouts “white power” from a golf buggy.The only black Republican senator Tim Scott urged him to remove the “indefensible” footage, which he later did. The White House claimed he did not hear the racist chant. from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/389BLbi

Judge in George Floyd case says likely to move hearing out of Minneapolis as officers appear in court

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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. from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/3eIlbSw

Israel orders evangelical Christian media network God TV to take channel off air

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“The channel does not appeal to the Christian population in Israel, but rather to the Jews,” Israel's broadcasting regulator said in a statement. from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2YM3EmV

Is international travel allowed yet? See when Singapore, Jamaica, other countries plan to reopen borders

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Jamaica is preparing to welcome back international tourists June 15, while Austria requires negative coronavirus tests and won't allow direct flights. from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/3ghooth

New York City mayor plans to cut $1bn from police budget

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New York City mayor Bill de Blasio has proposed cutting $1bn (£814m) from the police force’s $6bn (£4.48bn) yearly budget, amid calls for reform.Mr de Blasio announced the plan during his daily City Hall press briefing on Monday, and said the proposed budget would help reform the New York City Police Department (NYPD). from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2NGUzFq

Trump struggles as furor grows over reported Russian bounty offer to kill U.S. troops

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White House says Trump wasn't briefed on intelligence about Russian offer of bounty payments. If so, that shows negligence, some Republicans say. from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/3eJr6qq

Minneapolis police chief, mayor launching policy changes

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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. from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2BI1UBX

Greta Thunberg accused German Chancellor Angela Merkel of lining up to take a selfie with her just to 'look good'

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Thunberg castigated Angela Merkel and other world leaders at the UN summit as stealing her dreams, but they still craved an Instagram moment with her. from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2CQm5OH

Supreme Court strikes down consumer agency's autonomy in win for Trump administration

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The case was a major test of the separation of powers between the executive and legislative branches. from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2AcBnw7

Mississippi Becomes Last State to Remove Confederate Emblem from Flag

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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," Reev

Robert Jenrick under fresh pressure after whistleblower claims he ignored pleas to block Westferry project

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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 decisio

Pakistan army says Indian spy drone shot down in Kashmir

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2NFJVi4

Princeton to remove Woodrow Wilson's name from policy school

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The prestigious US university says Woodrow Wilson's racist views made him "an inappropriate namesake". from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2YEb0IY

Tough choices for Hamas over Israeli annexation plans

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Hamas has warned that Israeli annexation in the occupied West Bank would be a "declaration of war", but the Islamist group must weigh the cost of a new fight, analysts say. Recent weeks have seen almost daily protests in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip against US President Donald Trump's Middle East peace plan. The proposals envisage Israel annexing its West Bank settlements and the Jordan Valley, Palestinian territory occupied since 1967 and located around 50 kilometres (31 miles) from the enclave of Gaza. from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/3eGCzXL

Chinese firm says coronavirus vaccine candidate shows promise in human test

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2BkbGKB

Reporter Who Covered President Trump's Tulsa Rally Says He Tested Positive for COVID-19

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Paul Monies told the AP that he covered the President's rally in Tulsa for around six hours from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2YFn5h9

Opposition wins historic rerun of Malawi's presidential vote

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The opposition has won Malawi’s historic rerun of the presidential election, the first time a court-overturned vote in Africa has led to the defeat of an incumbent leader. Lazarus Chakwera’s victory late Saturday was a result of months of determined street protests in the southern African nation, and of a unanimous decision by the Constitutional Court that widespread irregularities in the May 2019 election — including the use of correction fluid on ballots —could not stand. President Peter Mutharika, who had sought a second five-year term, earlier Saturday called the rerun of the election “the worst in Malawi’s history.” from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/3eQvwvq

Timothy Cardinal Dolan To Hold Public Mass At Saint Patrick's Cathedral

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Timothy Cardinal Dolan is set to hold public mass Sunday inside St. Patrick's Cathedral. from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/31vR7p8