New York's Cuomo says groups of up to 10 must aim to stay 'safe'

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo advised people to exercise good judgment and social distancing when gathering in groups of up to 10 people as allowed in an executive order loosening restrictions issued late on Friday. In his daily briefing on Saturday, he said New York recorded 84 coronavirus deaths on May 22 compared with 109 the day before, continuing a downward trend in the state's toll from the pandemic. "You can have a safe gathering of 10 people or you can have a wholly unsafe gathering of 10 people," said Cuomo.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/3gj10vF

Police: Miami mom faked son's abduction, faces murder charge

A Miami woman faked her son’s abduction after trying to drown him twice, with witnesses rescuing the boy from a canal the first time, and the second attempt ending in the boy’s death, officials said Saturday. Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle said Patricia Ripley, 45, is facing attempted and premeditated murder charges and being held in jail with no bond. The boy, Alejandro Ripley, 9, was autistic and nonverbal.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2XpJY6o

Hong Kong police fire tear gas as protesters decry China security law plan

Thousands rally in Hong Kong for the first time since China announced plans for a new security law.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2LQd7Cm

North Korea's Kim, in first appearance in weeks, vows to bolster nuclear 'deterrence'

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un hosted a meeting to discuss the country's nuclear capabilities, state media said on Sunday, marking his first appearance in three weeks after a previous absence sparked global speculation about his health. Ruling Workers' Party officials wore face masks to greet Kim as he entered the meeting of the party's powerful Central Military Commission, state television showed, but no one including Kim was seen wearing a mask during the meeting. Amid stalled denuclearization talks with the United States, the meeting discussed measures to bolster North Korea's armed forces and "reliably contain the persistent big or small military threats from the hostile forces," state news agency KCNA said.

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

Letters to the Editor: Why is the Trump administration working so hard to deport immigrant children?

There's nothing that can justify preventing a 16-year-old immigrant from seeing her lawyer and suddenly deporting her by herself.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/3ecCsm2

Is international travel allowed yet? See when Spain, Mexico, Iceland plan to reopen borders

Spain has announced that it will reopen its borders to foreign tourists in July and Mexico will start reopening in June. See when others will follow.

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

A Nike warehouse reportedly denied a Tennessee health official access to its facility after a worker died of COVID-19

A temporary worker employed by Adecco at the Nike facility died after contracting COVID-19, according to ProPublica.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/3gpw259

Reports: UK to cut Huawei’s involvement in 5G network

Boris Johnson wants to reduce Chinese tech giant’s involvement in building network to zero by 2023, according to British media.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2A0sJQY

Suffolk County police set identify one of Gilgo Beach victims

Suffolk County police say they've positively identified a victim nicknamed Jane Doe number six in the nearly decade-old Gilgo Beach murders.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/3c5dxj3

U.S. court rules Florida cannot force felons to pay fees before voting

A U.S. judge ruled on Sunday that the state of Florida cannot force felons to pay legal fines and other fees before allowing them to register to vote. The ruling by U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle found that a new state law amounts to an "unconstitutional pay-to-vote system" imposed on citizens who may not be able to pay fines, or even know if anything is owed. A group of Floridians and voting rights organizations sued Republican Governor Ron DeSantis last June, arguing that the law amounts to an illegal poll tax.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/3e7GrAm

Coronavirus: Trump aide claims China guilty of cover-up akin to Chernobyl

* Trump spends second day on golf course as toll nears 100,000 * China raises US trade tensions with warning of ‘new cold war’ * Coronavirus US live – rolling report The White House on Sunday accused China of a cover-up that will “go down in history along with Chernobyl”, ramping up efforts to deflect attention from a Covid-19 death toll in the US fast closing on 100,000.Robert O’Brien, Donald Trump’s national security adviser, made the claim on two political talk shows, saying Beijing gave “false information” to the World Health Organization (WHO) at the start of the year and alleging that stonewalling of an investigation into the origins of the pandemic has cost “many, many thousands of lives in America and around the world”.On Saturday Mike Pence, the vice-president, told Breitbart News that China had “let the world down” and insisted the WHO was “their willing partner in withholding from the US and wider world vital information about the coronavirus”.The Trump administration has become increasingly keen to move attention away from its handling of the pandemic, which has seen more deaths in the US than any other nation and a broken economy including soaring unemployment that another senior adviser told CNN would still be “in double digits” by the 3 November presidential election.O’Brien dampened speculation that the administration might seek to delay that election. But as China warned that Washington’s “lies” were “pushing our two countries to the brink of a new cold war”, he went firmly on the attack.> Someday they’re going to do an HBO show like they did with Chernobyl> > Robert O'BrienSpeaking to CBS’s Face the Nation, he claimed Beijing knew of the looming crisis as early as November but chose to keep it quiet.“We don’t know who in the Chinese government did it, but it doesn’t matter if it was the local Chinese government or the Communist party of China,” he said.“Look, this was a virus that was unleashed by China. There was a cover up that someday they’re going to do an HBO show like they did with Chernobyl,” he added, likening the pandemic to the 1986 nuclear disaster in Ukraine which Soviet authorities initially tried to hide.O’Brien repeated the claim on NBC’s Meet the Press, accusing China of a “cover-up that … is going to go down in history along with Chernobyl”.Most scientists say the pathogen that has infected 5.3 million people and killed more than 342,000 worldwide, according to Johns Hopkins University, was passed from bats to humans via an intermediary species probably sold at a wet market in Wuhan, China, last year.But Trump, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and other senior US figures have repeatedly said they suspect the coronavirus was somehow released from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, a claim China has strenuously denied.O’Brien claimed China’s alleged skulduggery was continuing.“There’s a chance, and it’s been reported, that the Chinese have been engaged in espionage to try and find the research and the technologies that we’re working on both for a vaccine and a therapy,” he told CBS.“So look, they’ve got a many, many year history of stealing American intellectual property and knocking off American technology. I wouldn’t be surprised if they did that with vaccines.”O’Brien also said the US would soon implement restrictions on travelers from Brazil.After spending much of Saturday playing golf at his resort in Virginia, Trump had no public engagements on Sunday. He duly went back to Trump National in Sterling.On Twitter the president, who criticized Barack Obama in 2014 for golfing when a second case of Ebola was confirmed in the US, preferred to concentrate on topics other than the pandemic.Trump feuded with his former attorney general, Jeff Sessions; attacked Joe Biden, his likely opponent in November; retweeted abusive messages about female opponents; repeated unsubstantiated allegations that mail-in ballots lead to rigged elections; and repeated baseless insinuations that an MSNBC host might have murdered an aide.He also tweeted falsely that coronavirus “cases, numbers and deaths are going down all over the Country!”On Saturday, North Carolina reported its highest one-day spike in cases. Official statistics continue to show hotspots in other places including Washington DC – where O’Brien said the administration still hopes to hold an in-person G7 summit in July – and Florida, where the Miami Herald reported that the rate of new cases was not slowing.On Friday Dr Deborah Birx, the White House coronavirus response coordinator, encouraged the public to go outdoors over the Memorial Day weekend.“We know being outside does help, we know the sun does help in killing the virus, but that doesn’t change the fact that people need to be responsible and maintain that distance,” she told Fox News Sunday, when presented with images of packed beaches and people in close proximity, not wearing masks.“I was hoping to convey this very clear message to the American people,” she said, “… across the country there is a virus out there.”Birx also said Trump himself did wear a mask when not able to maintain social distance. Trump was not pictured using a mask on his trips to play golf in Virginia.On ABC’s This Week, Birx was asked if the nation would need an extended or second lockdown.“It’s difficult to tell and I really am data-driven, so I’m collecting data right now about whether governors and whether states and whether communities are able to open safely,” she said.“All of this proactive testing needs to be in place and needs to continue to be in place because that will determine safely remaining open in the fall.”One thing the Trump administration admits will not bounce back fully by fall is the US unemployment rate, which Kevin Hassett, a senior adviser, told CNN would still be in double figures by the time of the election.“Unemployment will be something that moves back slower,” he said. “You’re going to be starting at a number in the 20s [per cent] and working your way down. And so, of course, you could still not be back to full employment by September or October.”

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2ZxU1Jb

Pakistan plane crash survivor: 'All I could see was fire'

At least 97 people have died after a plane hit a Karachi residential area as it tried to land.

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

U.S. limits travel from Brazil amid worsening coronavirus outbreak

The White House on Sunday said it was restricting travel from Brazil to the United States, two days after the South American nation became the world's No. 2 hotspot for coronavirus cases.

from Reuters: World News https://ift.tt/3eftmVx

Explainer: Emerging get-tough consensus among Trump's China advisers tested by Hong Kong debate

Long divided between those pushing for a hardline stance and others advocating cautious engagement, President Donald Trump’s China advisers - under the shadow of the coronavirus crisis - appear to have moved closer together on a tougher approach to Beijing.

from Reuters: World News https://ift.tt/2AZpdH9

Taiwan promises 'necessary assistance' to Hong Kong's people

Taiwan will provide the people of Hong Kong with "necessary assistance", President Tsai Ing-wen said, after a resurgence in protests in the Chinese ruled territory against newly proposed national security legislation from Beijing.

from Reuters: World News https://ift.tt/2XuXCoE

Biden Can Beat Trump … if He Doesn’t Blow It

By BY CHARLES M. BLOW from NYT Opinion https://ift.tt/2LSKHYk

The New Model Media Star Is Only Famous to You

By BY BEN SMITH from NYT Business https://ift.tt/2WXq6Za

C.D.C. Warns of ‘Aggressive’ Rats Searching for Food During Shutdowns

By BY MARIEL PADILLA from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/2XuzNgZ

Survivor recalls horror of Pakistan plane crash that killed 97

One of the two people to survive a plane crash in Pakistan that killed 97 people on board has described jumping from the burning wreckage of the aircraft after it hurtled into a residential neighbourhood. The Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) plane came down among houses on Friday after both engines failed as it approached Karachi airport, the airline said. Pakistan's deadliest aviation accident in eight years came days after commercial flights resumed ahead of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2zpnn1C

Jacinda Ardern stays cool as earthquake rattles New Zealand capital

An earthquake struck near New Zealand's capital on Monday morning, shaking many residents including Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern who continued with a live TV interview at the parliament building. The 5.8 magnitude earthquake was 37 kms deep and the epicentre was 30 km northwest of Levin, a city in New Zealand's North Island close to the capital Wellington, according to Geonet. Geonet first classified the earthquake as magnitude 5.9.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/3gh8iQp

France to retaliate over British quarantine measures

France is to impose a quarantine on British travellers after the UK announced all new arrivals will have to spend two weeks in self-isolation. The French government made it clear it would retaliate in kind after Britain announced the 14-day quarantine period for new arrivals to the UK from June 8, including the French. In response French ministers said they “regretted” Britain's decision and would introduce their own reciprocal measures. The British decision to impose quarantine measures had already angered the travel industry and the French response will only compound its despair at the prospect of international travel being disrupted further. Priti Patel, the Home Secretary, announced on Friday travellers entering the UK would have to self-isolate for 14 days or they could face a £1,000 fine. Passengers will be required to fill out an online contact form providing details of where they will spend their self-isolation. If a person does not have suitable accommodation they will be required to stay in "facilities arranged by the government" at the person's own expense. It was confirmed France would not be exempt from the rules, despite reports earlier this week its citizens may not be forced to self-isolate. In response a spokesman for France’s Interior Minister said: “We take note of the British government’s decision and we regret it. France is ready to put in place a reciprocal measure as soon as the system comes into force on the British side.” Unlike many other countries, Britain has until now carried out few tests and checks on visitors, with quarantine limited only to arrivals from China at the start of the outbreak. Spain and Italy already have rules that mean international arrivals must self-isolate for two weeks, while Greece currently instructs arrivals to quarantine if they test positive for Covid-19. Italy will lift its quarantine measures on June 3. Raffaele Trombetta, the Italian ambassador to the UK, said no discussions had yet taken place between Italy and Britain. He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: “We believe that this pandemic is a global problem so the best thing to do is to tackle it with a coordinated approach. We have made it clear what we are going to do and it’s important for British people to know that they can come to Italy. “We understand that the UK's new rules will be reassessed after three weeks so hopefully there will be an easing of the measures as we are doing in Italy.” Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said in his weekly Saturday televised address that "the entry of foreign tourists will restart in July in a safe manner". Germany imposed blanket quarantine for arrivals in April, although many regions of the country have since decided to ignore it. But there are now fears that other countries will consider introducing restrictions on British travellers, especially if our Covid-19 infections and deaths remain higher than theirs. As part of Britain’s quarantine regime, travellers will be asked to fill in a form with their contact information and health officials will perform spot checks to ensure they are complying with the measures. Road hauliers and medical officials will be exempt, while the common travel area with Ireland will be unaffected. Ms Patel defended the British move, stating: “We are not shutting down completely. We are not closing our borders. This is absolutely not about booking holidays. We want to avoid a second wave and that is absolutely vital." But the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) said the quarantine plans were “deeply concerning” and could be avoided with strong safety measures. The airline industry has also been particularly critical, warning they would have a damaging impact on the livelihood of thousands. Tim Alderslade, chief executive of industry body Airlines UK, said: "Introducing a quarantine at this stage makes no sense and will mean very limited international aviation at best. It is just about the worst thing government could do if their aim is to restart the economy."

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

New York's one-day coronavirus death toll drops below 100

"Eighty-four is still a tragedy, no doubt," he said. "But the fact that it's down as low as it is is really, overall, good news."

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

Australia's most populous state braces for travel chaos as schools, offices reopen

Australia's most populous state on Monday deployed hundreds of crowd control staff to enforce social distancing on public transport amid an expected commuter surge as schools and offices reopened and coronavirus cases fell.

from Reuters: World News https://ift.tt/3c68YoE