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Here are the likely contenders on Biden's vice president shortlist

While Joe Biden has committed to selecting a female running mate, few further details are confirmed. Here's a look at five women in the picture.

One of Trump's favorite pollsters shows his approval plummeting

President Trump’s approval rating has plummeted since late February, according to the Rasmussen daily tracking poll, which the president frequently cited during his first three years in office.

Iran Guards warn US after receiving new combat vessels

Iran's Revolutionary Guards on Thursday warned the United States against its naval presence in the Gulf as they received 110 new combat vessels. "We announce today that wherever the Americans are, we are right next to them, and they will feel our presence even more in the near future," the Guards' navy chief Rear Admiral Alireza Tangsiri said during a ceremony in southern Iran. Iran and the United States have appeared to be on the brink of an all-out confrontation twice in the past year.

Mexican drug lord pleads poverty in bid to escape arrest

Drug lord Rafael Caro Quintero, a notorious underworld figure who is on the FBI’s most wanted list for the murder of a federal agent over three decades ago, said in a legal appeal that he has no money, is too old to work and has no pension. The odd plea was filed Tuesday by Caro Quintero's lawyer seeking an injunction against his arrest or extradition to the United States for the kidnapping and murder of DEA Special Agent Enrique Camarena in Mexico in 1985. The U.S. government says Caro Quintero and his family remain in the drug trade.

Justice Department clears 3 senators in stock sales investigation, but Burr's case appears ongoing

Investigations into Sens. Feinstein, Loeffler and Inhofe have been dropped. Sen. Richard Burr appears to still be under investigation.

So-called honor killing of teen girl sparks outcry in Iran

The so-called honor killing of a 14-year-old Iranian girl by her dad, who reportedly beheaded her as she slept, has sparked a nationwide outcry.

George Floyd protests: Man calls police on black entrepreneurs for using same gym in Minneapolis in viral video

A white man in Minneapolis asked whether black men were entitled to use the same gym and threatened to call the police on them, amid protests at George Floyd’s death.The exchange between black gym users and a white man was posted online in an Instagram video on Tuesday before spreading on social media.

China plans to extend curbs on international flights until June 30: U.S. embassy

Chinese civil aviation authorities plan to extend until June 30 their curbs on international flights to contain the spread of the coronavirus, the U.S. embassy in Beijing said in a travel advisory on Friday. China has drastically cut such flights since March to allay concerns over infections brought by arriving passengers. A so-called "Five One" policy allows mainland carriers to fly just one flight a week on one route to any country and foreign airlines to operate just one flight a week to China.

The UK now has the highest coronavirus death rate in the world

The UK has recorded the highest coronavirus death rate in the world, according to new analysis.

As Trump rails against mail-in voting, his campaign tries to make it easier for Pennsylvania supporters

"We have an obligation to our voters to inform them of what the law is in their state and what their options are," the campaign said.

Pakistani villager urges India to return 'spy' pigeon

The owner of a pigeon "arrested" by India for spying says his bird was freed for Eid and is innocent.

Rwanda court sentences ex-mayor to life for role in genocide

Rwanda's High Court on Thursday sentenced a former mayor to life in prison for his role in the country's 1994 genocide, which included leading attacks that resulted in the deaths of around 25,000 ethnic Tutsis in his town. Ladislas Ntaganzwa was one of the top fugitive suspects, accused of playing a key role in the massacre of some 800,000 mostly Tutsi but also moderate Hutus, when he was arrested in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2015. A statement from Rwanda's prosecution authority said the court "convicted him for genocide, extermination as crime against humanity and rape as crime against humanity and sentenced him to life imprisonment."

Failed Maduro coup leader flew on pro-govt magnate's plane

It was mid-January and Jordan Goudreau was itching to get going on a secret plan to raid Venezuela and arrest President Nicolás Maduro when the former special forces commando flew to the city of Barranquilla in Colombia to meet with his would-be partner in arms. To get there, Goudreau and two former Green Beret buddies relied on some unusual help: a chartered flight out of Miami’s Opa Locka executive airport on a plane owned by a Venezuelan businessman so close to the government of Hugo Chávez that he spent almost 4 years in a U.S. prison for trying to cover up clandestine cash payments to its allies. The owner of the Venezuela-registered Cessna Citation II with yellow and blue lines, identified with the tail number YV-3231, was Franklin Durán, according to three people familiar with the businessman’s movements who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation.

CDC changes its 'confusing' guidelines on coronavirus and surfaces. Here's what we know.

This new CDC update may quell some major concerns about how COVID-19 is transmitted, but plenty of questions still remain. Here's what to know.

A pharmacist known as 'the Mask Man' has been charged with hoarding $200,000 worth of N95 masks and price-gouging customers

The DOJ said the pharmacist, 66-year-old Richard Schirripa, sold $2,690 of masks to an undercover officer and said he felt "like a drug dealer."

Cheered by Private Schools, DeVos Demands Public Education Shares Pandemic Aid

WASHINGTON -- Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, defiant amid criticism that she is using the coronavirus pandemic to pursue a long-sought agenda, said she will force public school districts to share a large portion of federal rescue funding with private school students, regardless of income.DeVos announced the measure in a letter to the Council of Chief State School Officers, which represents state education chiefs, defending her position on how education funding from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act, or CARES Act, should be spent."The CARES Act is a special, pandemic-related appropriation to benefit all American students, teachers and families," DeVos wrote in the letter Friday. "There is nothing in the act suggesting Congress intended to discriminate between children based on public or nonpublic school attendance, as you seem to do. The virus affects everyone."A range of education officials say DeVos' guidance would divert millions of dollars away from disadvantaged students and force districts starved of tax revenues during an economic crisis to support even the wealthiest private schools. The association representing the nation's schools superintendents told districts to ignore the guidance, and at least two states -- Indiana and Maine -- said they would.DeVos accused the state education chiefs of having a "reflex to share as little as possible with students and teachers outside of their control" and said she would draft a rule codifying her position to "resolve any issues in plenty of time for the next school year." The proposed rule would need to go through a public comment process before it could take effect.Private school leaders​​​, who serve about 5.7 million of the nation's children, say they too are in crisis. Enrollment and tuition revenues are plunging along with philanthropic donations and church collections that help some religious schools operate. Many of those schools serve low-income students whose parents have fled failing public schools. Private school groups say 30% of ​the​ families​ they serve have​ annual incomes below $75,000, and those families are most at risk without federal aid. ​"I don't understand why we have to pick winners and losers when everything we're asking for is targeted at helping children and families," said Jennifer Daniels, associate director for public policy for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.Under federal education law, school districts are required to use funding intended for their poorest students to provide "equitable services," such as tutoring and transportation, for low-income students attending private schools in their districts. But DeVos maintains the coronavirus rescue law does not limit funding to just poor students, and her guidance would award private schools more services than the law would normally require.Last week, leaders from education committees in the House and Senate, including Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., said DeVos' interpretation was flawed.Democratic leaders called on DeVos to revise her guidance, which they said would "repurpose hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars intended for public school students to provide services for private school students, in contravention of both the plain reading of the statute and the intent of Congress."Carissa Moffat Miller, executive director of the Council of Chief State School Officers, said the organization believed the secretary's guidance "could significantly harm the vulnerable students who were intended to benefit the most from the critical federal COVID-19 education relief funds Congress has provided."DeVos has been unabashed in her use of coronavirus funding to further her decadeslong effort to divert public dollars to private and parochial schools. In a radio interview last week, first reported by Chalkbeat, the Roman Catholic archbishop of New York, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, asked DeVos if she was "utilizing this particular crisis to ensure that justice is finally done to our kids and the parents who choose to send them to faith-based schools." She responded, "Absolutely."In her letter, DeVos said "a growing list of nonpublic schools have announced they will not be able to reopen, and these school closures are concentrated in low-income and middle-class communities."At least 26 schools, the vast majority of them Catholic, have announced closures caused by or attributed to the pandemic, according to the Cato Institute, a libertarian research organization that is tracking such announcements. The National Catholic Educational Association said that at least 100 of its member schools are at risk of not reopening. More than 40 groups that support private schools wrote to House and Senate leaders this month asking for tuition aid, tax credits for families and other measures to prevent "massive nonpublic school closures."Leaders in some religious communities say they cannot fall back on public education."It is unthinkable for us not to give our children a Jewish education, in the same way it is unthinkable for us not to keep the Sabbath or the kosher dietary laws -- it is fundamental to Jewish life," said Rabbi Abba Cohen, vice president for federal affairs at Agudath Israel of America, one of the groups that signed the letter.Earlier this month, the Archdiocese of Newark, New Jersey, announced it would close 10 schools. ​While the organization said a plan to consolidate had already been underway, Cardinal Joseph Tobin, archbishop of Newark, ​wrote in a letter to the community that​ "this historical moment presents crucial challenges to the sustainability and ongoing success of our schools."Among the closed schools was Cristo Rey Newark High School, part of a network of 37 Catholic college-preparatory schools across the country that exclusively serves low-income students."My concern is that people are painting this with a very large brush stroke that's based on an assumption that Catholic and private means fancy and expensive, and that is not the case," said Elizabeth Goettl, president of the Cristo Rey Network.Ninety-eight percent of the network's 12,000 students are students of color, and all of them are from financially disadvantaged families, Goettl said. Only 10% of the schools' operational revenue comes from tuition, and every family pays what they can on a sliding scale, on average about $900 a year, though some pay as little as $20 a month.Fifty percent of the school's operational revenue comes from a corporate work-study program that could be affected by the economic fallout from the pandemic. Companies employ students in entry-level jobs, and students assign their wages to their tuition."They're literally earning their education at age 14, which is remarkable in itself," she said. "For the federal government to say we're not going to help your kids sanitize, or do whatever COVID-related things that need to be done, seems reprehensible."A recently passed House bill would limit private schools from accessing any new emergency relief funding, including equitable services. But private school leaders have launched an aggressive campaign to lobby Congress and the White House."When all is said and done, people are going to try to do the right thing and not try to pick which students we're not going to keep safe," said Michael Schuttloffel, executive director of the Council for American Private Education.Private school groups lobbying Congress say that mass closures would also hurt public schools. If 20% of private school students have to be absorbed into the public school system, it would cost the public system roughly $15 billion, according to estimates from those groups.Public school groups said that the argument proves their point."I think it's more proof that we need to be focused on public education, because if public education is not fully funded, there is no fallback," said Maggie Garrett, co-chairwoman of the National Coalition for Public Education, which represents more than 50 national organizations that oppose private school vouchers.Ruth Arias, an Amazon warehouse worker and single mother of five in New York City, said moving her children back to their neighborhood school would mean taking them "out of a place where they feel their best and putting them into a school system where they fall apart."With the help of an organization called the Children's Scholarship Fund, Arias said she enrolled her children in a private Christian school to "believe in something better."Arias was battling the coronavirus last month when she saw that the city's Department of Education would help students get iPads for remote learning.Having only one computer and a cellphone for her children to share, she was relieved -- until she was told her children's private schooling made them ineligible."I honestly had one thought," she said, "which I had a lot when I was dealing with the public school system: Are you kidding me?"This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2020 The New York Times Company

'It's a Sad Result.' Mixed Feelings in Hong Kong Over U.S. Announcement on City's Autonomy

One leading pro-democracy figure thanked Washington, others said the move was bad news for Hong Kong people

Turkey's Erdogan says many facilities to reopen on June 1

Turkey will lift restrictions on intercity travel and allow restaurants, cafes, parks and sports facilities to reopen from June 1 as it eases restrictions imposed to curb the coronavirus outbreak, President Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday. Restrictions will remain in place on the movements of those aged over 65 and under 18. The virus has killed nearly 4,500 people in Turkey, with more than 160,000 infections.

'No mask — no entry': New York Gov. Cuomo says he'll sign an executive order allowing businesses to refuse service to people who won't wear masks

"No mask — no entry," said New York's governor. The executive order will give businesses the power to keep people without masks from entering.

Outrage in Iran over gruesome 'honour killing' of teenage girl

Iran’s president has called for so-called honour killings to be outlawed following the gruesome murder of a teenage girl, allegedly by her father, for running away from home with an older man. Romina Ashrafi, 14, was allegedly beheaded by her father as punishment for fleeing her home in Talesh, near Tehran, with a 29-year-old man. The couple were detained and Romina was handed back to her family as her father appeared to have forgiven her, according to the state news agency IRNA. But on May 21, the girl’s father attacked her while she was sleeping and cut off her head with a sickle, according to a local news website called Gilkhabar. The father has since been arrested, as well as the man Romina eloped with according to local media reports. Under Iranian law, young girls can marry from 13 although most women get married in their early 20s according to the Associated Press. If convicted, the girl’s father would face a prison sentence of ten years. Iran’s penal code currently reduces the penalties for fathers, or other family members, who carry out honour killings on their relatives. Romina’s death has shocked Iran and prompted Hassan Rouhani, the president, to order his Cabinet to speed up legislation against so-called honour killings.

Spanish workers, officials decry Nissan move to close plant

Angry workers burned tires at the gates of the Nissan carmaking plant in northeastern Spain and prepared for more protests after the Japanese company said it would shut all its manufacturing in the region as it reshuffles its global business. The decision will lead to 3,000 direct job cuts, which unions say will cause economic ripple effects and impact some 20,000 families in the Catalonia region. Although Nissan had been mulling for months to scale down its production in Europe and other parts of the world, the company is suffering like many other automakers from a plunge in demand for vehicles.

Senate Democrats take on GOP court-packing in blistering new report

The senators pointed to conservative activist Leonard Leo as the driving force behind the many of the president's appointments.

WH press secretary: Trump says he’s feeling ‘absolutely great’ after taking hydroxychloroquine

At a press briefing on Thursday, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany told reporters President Trump said he’s feeling “absolutely great” after completing his treatment with the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine as a preventive measure against the coronavirus. In April, the FDA cautioned against using the drug to treat COVID-19 outside of a hospital setting or clinical trial.

The man who filmed his encounter with a woman in Central Park says her actions were 'definitely racist,' but he's asking people to stop making death threats against her

Christian Cooper told CNN that he thinks Amy Cooper's apology is sincere, and has asked people to stop making death threats toward her.

Venezuela's Maduro vows to raise gasoline price as Iranian tanker nears

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Wednesday pledged to begin charging citizens for gasoline, as the fourth cargo of a five-tanker flotilla bringing fuel from Iran approached the South American nation's exclusive economic zone. Iran is providing the country with up to 1.53 million barrels of gasoline and components to help it ease an acute scarcity that has forced Venezuelans to wait in hours-long lines at service stations or pay steep prices on the black market. With the arrival of the gasoline, Maduro said he would end the policy of providing fuel effectively for free after more than two decades of frozen pump prices.

Fact check: Ex-officer involved in George Floyd’s death not pictured at Trump rally

The ex-Minneapolis police officer involved in George Floyd's death was misidentified as a man who appeared with the president at an October rally.

The Chinese CDC now says the coronavirus didn't jump to people at the Wuhan wet market — instead, it was the site of a super-spreader event

The origin of the new coronavirus still isn't known. But according to the Chinese CDC, it isn't the wet market in Wuhan.

Judge fired after telling alleged rape victim to "close your legs"

Superior Court Judge John Russo Jr. will never be allowed to work in New Jersey again.

The reality of the 'new cold war' with China

It's a good time to be a China hawk. Beijing's new national security law for Hong Kong, the latest effort to neuter the region's promised autonomy, has rung alarm bells across the political spectrum about China's intentions. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has already declared that the move would justify revoking the various special trade and financial agreements the United States has with the territory, and Biden advisers have announced that the presumptive Democratic nominee would impose even greater sanctions on China. While America's options for helping the people of Hong Kong are distinctly limited, that's unlikely to stop us from trying, even if an ineffectual move could backfire. The logic of confrontation appears to be taking over.It's important, though, to understand why.The "great unwinding" of America's economic entanglement with China has deep causes, and, more proximately, the novel coronavirus has revealed in stark terms how important it is from a national security perspective for the United States to reduce its outright dependence on the People's Republic. But that process need not lead to confrontation — indeed, it would be perfectly compatible with a policy of global retreat that would probably make China feel more secure.On the other side, the nature of China's regime has indeed been changing dramatically under Xi Jinping, becoming more nationalistic and repressive as well as less institutional, with power increasingly concentrated in a single leader's hands. But that process also need not lead to conflict — indeed, at the time of Nixon's opening to China, when Mao was in his final years, the communist country was far more insular and repressive, and its political system far more personalized, than it is today.What's truly different, and the necessary additional element that explains the "new cold war" that may be aborning, is the sheer scope of Chinese power. China has now grown sufficiently potent for it to reasonably expect to be able to shape the international order to its liking, and not merely thrive within it as it exists. That expectation would be alarming to the United States even if China were not increasingly repressive, and even if America had not allowed itself to be vulnerable to supply chain disruption.Consider the situation in Hong Kong. Imagine that China, instead of using a hammer on all visible nails, used softer tactics to woo Hong Kong's citizens over to a more complaisant stance, as it had been doing for years prior. Suppose, similarly, that rather than bullying Taiwan, Beijing put the bulk of its efforts into corrupting the island's political system — as, again, it has to some extent done. Suppose these efforts began to bear fruit, to the point that Taipei began to distance itself from Washington in an effort to avoid angering Beijing, and the prospect of reunification was in the air. Suppose that South Korea followed suit. Would the United States view these events with equanimity?Of course not. They would be obvious signs of dramatically weakened American clout in Asia. Moreover, they would materially weaken our military position in the case of a future confrontation with China. And that possibility could never be ruled out, even if China's regime at that moment were less-confrontational.Or consider the ongoing conflict with Europe over Huawei, China's 5G powerhouse. The United States is legitimately concerned for national security reasons about the prospect of a Chinese company becoming dominant in this area, because of the opportunities for espionage. But those concerns — along with the concerns about future Western dependence on Chinese technology in this area, as well as other areas like artificial intelligence — would obtain even if China were less-overtly truculent and bullying. After all, alarm bells were rung in the 1980s over increasing Japanese dominance in high technology, and Japan was an American ally with a pacifistic constitution. How could we not be more alarmed by the rise of a much larger China to something approaching peer-competitor status?In international affairs, intentions are important, but capabilities matter more. That's a tragic reality that Thucydides identified as a key cause of the ruinous Peloponnesian War, and that in modern times paved the way for World War I. The rise of China makes the United States more vulnerable — economically and militarily. We'd need to worry about those vulnerabilities even if China were more benevolent than it now appears, because there could be no guarantee that they would remain benevolent. Indeed, we're observing that transformation in China right now, and ruing the degree to which we have already allowed ourselves to give ground.China's turn to authoritarianism may well make it easier for us to pursue a policy of confrontation — easier to accumulate allies abroad as well as easier to justify ideologically at home — just as the Trump administration's full-spectrum obnoxious incompetence makes it harder. It may also make it seem necessary, since Beijing has closed off many other possible avenues to coexistence. But perceived lack of choice is precisely what leads to tragedy.Because however much we say that we have no quarrel with the Chinese people, all our efforts to respond to our vulnerability will be aimed at constraining their power. We're not trying to preserve a balance of power, after all, however much we may tell ourselves that we are. We're trying to preserve an American preponderance of power. If we choose that path, we should expect China to respond the way we would to efforts to impose such constraints on us, and prepare accordingly.Want more essential commentary and analysis like this delivered straight to your inbox? Sign up for The Week's "Today's best articles" newsletter here.More stories from theweek.com Amy Klobuchar didn't prosecute officer at center of George Floyd's death Twitter slaps 'glorifying violence' warning on Trump's 'when the looting starts, the shooting starts' tweet Trump's social media executive order could force social media to censor Trump

Navy admiral submits results of probe on virus-infected ship

The Navy's top admiral on Wednesday received the results of an internal investigation into the spread of the coronavirus aboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt and the firing of the aircraft carrier's skipper in April. The report is not expected to be made public until decisions are made about potentially restoring Capt. Brett Crozier to command of the Roosevelt or disciplining other officers. It was submitted Wednesday to Adm. Mike Gilday, the chief of naval operations.

Britain pushing US to form 5G club to cut out Huawei: report

Britain wants the United States to form a club of 10 nations that could develop its own 5G technology and reduce dependence on China's Huawei, The Times newspaper reported Friday. The reported proposal comes ahead of a planned G7 summit that US President Donald Trump hopes to host next month. Britain has allowed the Chinese global leader in 5G technology to build up to 35 percent of the infrastructure necessary to roll out its new speedy data network.

Rohingya refugee crisis: 'The bodies were thrown out of the boat'

Khadiza Begum, a Rohingya refugee, left Myanmar to escape violence but found more horror at sea.

2 black teens were suspended for wearing their hair in dreadlocks, and now their mothers are suing the school district

DeAndre Arnold, 18, made headlines earlier this year after he was forbidden from walking in his graduation ceremony unless he cut his dreadlocks.

Special Report: U.S. takes aim at the power behind Venezuela's Maduro - his first lady

The man, Yazenky Lamas, worked as a bodyguard for the person widely considered the power behind President Nicolas Maduro's throne: first lady Cilia Flores. Now, with help from Lamas' testimony, the United States is preparing to charge Flores in coming months with crimes that could include drug trafficking and corruption, four people familiar with the investigation of the first lady told Reuters. If Washington goes ahead with an indictment, these people said, the charges are likely to stem, at least in part, from a thwarted cocaine transaction that has already landed two of Flores' nephews in a Florida penitentiary.

Trump press secretary says president always tries to tell truth as she attacks social media

Donald Trump's press secretary said the president always intends to give truthful information as he prepares to sign an executive order against social media tech giants.Kayleigh McEnany said if anyone should be fact checked more it should be the mainstream media.

SpaceX can't wait even 1 second for bad weather to pass for a rocket launch with people because it could endanger their entire mission

NASA and SpaceX mission controllers said the weather might clear in 10 minutes. But the Falcon 9 rocket can't wait even a second.

UConn student Peter Manfredonia, wanted for 2 killings, caught in Maryland after six-day manhunt

Peter Manfredonia, a fugitive college student wanted for two murders in Connecticut, was caught in Maryland on Wednesday night.

'Orwell is rolling in his grave': Anger and disbelief at strict new lockdown rules in Moscow

The Moscow City Hall on Wednesday promised to re-open parks and finally allow walks after nine weeks of coronavirus lockdown but the incredibly strict rules regulating outdoor activities have been met with universal derision. Sergei Sobyanin, the Moscow mayor, announced something that could be a cause for celebration on Wednesday, telling Vladimir Putin, the president, in a televised conference call that the Russian capital was poised to begin lifting some of the lockdown restrictions. The number of new Covid-19 cases recorded in Moscow on Thursday, was just over 2,000, the lowest in five weeks, and the number of hospitalisations dropped by 40 per cent in a fortnight, according to the mayor. Most of Moscow’s shops and parks will re-open on Monday, and walks and outdoor exercises will finally be allowed but with a caveat. The details of what the City Hall dubbed an “experiment” have angered even the mayor’s supporters who have credited him for stemming the outbreak. Each apartment building will be assigned three days a week when residents will be allowed to venture outside but only between 9 am and 9 pm, exercising will be permitted only before 9 am, and face masks will be mandatory.

Hard-line former Tehran mayor named Iran parliament speaker

Iran's parliament elected a former mayor of Tehran tied to the Revolutionary Guard as its next speaker Thursday, solidifying hard-line control of the body as tensions between the U.S. and the Islamic Republic remain high over its collapsed nuclear deal. Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf's assumption of power comes after a string of failed presidential bids and 12 years as the leader of Iran's capital city, in which he built onto Tehran's subway and supported the construction of modern high-rises. Many, however, remember Qalibaf for his support as a Revolutionary Guard general for a violent crackdown on Iranian university students in 1999.

Tesla slashes prices to boost demand

Tesla Inc. has cut prices of its electric vehicles by as much as 6% in North America following a decline in auto demand in the region during weeks of lockdown that have now started to ease.

Canadian court rules against Huawei exec fighting extradition

Chinese Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou was dealt a legal setback Wednesday when a Canadian judge ruled that proceedings to extradite her to the United States will go ahead. The decision on so-called double criminality, a key test for extradition, found that bank fraud accusations against Meng would stand up in Canada. The interim ruling denying Meng's attempt to gain her freedom means she will continue to live in Vancouver under strict bail conditions while her case plays out.

Op-Ed: In a nasty push, Republicans want immunity for companies that negligently spread COVID-19

Mitch McConnell is holding stimulus legislation hostage to keep businesses from paying for potentially culpable conduct during the pandemic.

Biden on 100,000 coronavirus deaths: 'To those hurting, the nation grieves with you.'

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden released a video message on Wednesday marking the grim milestone of 100,000 American lives lost to the coronavirus pandemic, telling the bereaved: "The nation grieves with you." Biden spoke after various tallies of COVID-19 deaths, including one compiled by Reuters, showed that the novel coronavirus has killed over 100,000 people in the United States, even as the slowdown in deaths encouraged businesses to reopen and Americans to emerge from more than two months of lockdowns. Biden, speaking from his home in Delaware, drew on his own family loss when making his remarks.

Trump shares video of cowboy activist saying ‘the only good Democrat is a dead Democrat’

Donald Trump has approvingly promoted a video of a right-wing activist claiming that “the only good Democrat is a dead Democrat”.The US president shared the footage on Thursday morning after Cowboys For Trump posted it on Twitter.

One chart shows a noticeable correlation between how late a country started its coronavirus lockdown and the number of excess deaths

Analysis from the Financial Times has shown that the number of excess deaths correlates to when a country decided to lock down.

911 call from Breonna Taylor shooting released: 'Somebody kicked in the door and shot my girlfriend'

"I don't know what is happening," Kenneth Walker said. "Somebody kicked in the door and shot my girlfriend."

More than £3 million in drugs and cash seized in biggest Government-backed assault on county lines gangs

Cash and drugs worth £3 million have been seized by police in the biggest operation against county lines gangs backed by a dedicated Government fund. The campaign - by four forces - saw police make more than 650 arrests, close nearly 140 “deal” lines supplying drugs from cities to suburban and rural towns and seize more than 100 weapons including guns and knives. Some 140 children being exploited by the gangs were also safeguarded in the raids conducted over five months from November to March this year. Priti Patel, the Home Secretary, said: “I am determined to roll up county lines drugs gangs and stop them from terrorising our towns and exploiting our children. “I have seen first-hand the important work the police are doing to tackle county lines, and these impressive results show just how much of an impact our investment is having.” The “surge” operations - British Transport Police, the Metropolitan Police, Merseyside Police and West Midlands Police -were funded by £5 million from the Government’s £25 million package to tackle county lines. The Met and Merseyside forces closed 131 lines, while the British Transport police made the most arrests at 276 as drug couriers were caught on their way to and from the county drug dealerships. Merseyside seized £1.5 million class A drugs, thought to be predominantly cocaine. Andy Cooke, Merseyside Police Chief Constable, said: “It is vital that we keep up this relentless level of activity targeting criminals and protecting the young and vulnerable who they groom to do their dirty work. "Those responsible for these County Lines bring misery to our local communities through their drug dealing.” Met deputy assistant commissioner Graham McNulty, national lead for county lines, said: “This issue is not being tackled in isolation. Dedicated teams in forces across the nation are identifying lines, locating those running them and dismantling their operation entirely. “This work will not cease – it will increase and intensify over the coming months.”