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'Most believe that it was an accident': Pentagon chief contradicts Trump on Beirut explosion

Less than 24 hours after President Trump said some “great generals” told him they thought that yesterday’s massive explosion in Beirut was an “attack” involving “a bomb of some kind,” Defense Secretary Mark Esper seemed less than convinced by that explanation.

Virginia mayor urged to resign after saying Biden picked ‘Aunt Jemima’ as his running mate

A Virginia mayor has been urged to resign after he allegedly wrote that “Joe Biden has just announced Aunt Jemima as his VP pick,” on his Facebook page.Barry Presgraves, the mayor of Luray, Virginia, posted the comment on his Facebook page over the weekend, but swiftly deleted it after backlash from residents and local officials.

Lebanon PM Blames Beirut Explosions on Shipment of Ammonium Nitrate Sitting in Port Since 2013

Massive explosions that rocked the city of Beirut on Tuesday were fueled by a 2,750-ton shipment of ammonium nitrate that had been stored in port since 2013, Lebanon's prime minister announced."I will not rest until we find the person responsible for what happened, to hold him accountable and impose the most severe penalties," Prime Minister Hassan Diab told reporters on Tuesday evening. It was not immediately clear why the ammonium nitrate was stored at that location, or how it ended up there.The explosion destroyed Beirut's port and the surrounding area. At least 78 people were killed and thousands more injured in the incident, with city hospitals unable to find room for all patients. Residents of the island nation of Cyprus reported hearing the explosion, and the Beirut newsroom of CNN as well as Lebanon's Daily Star were destroyed."It's like Hiroshima," Beirut mayor Jamal Itani said at a press conference. "There is lots of destruction and the wounded are lying in the streets."The disaster hit as Lebanon continues to struggle with the coronavirus pandemic as well as hyperinflation and looming economic collapse.While tensions between Lebanon and Israel have increased following an attempt by militants to infiltrate Israel's Golan Heights on Monday, officials from Israel and terror group Hezbollah have denied involvement in the incident.

Black man's life sentence in stolen hedge clippers case is 'cruel and unusual,' Louisiana judge says

Repeat offender laws sent Fair Wayne Bryant to prison for life after trying to steal hedge clippers. Louisiana’s Supreme Court won't review the case.

Dr. Fauci predicts drugmakers will likely produce 1 billion COVID-19 vaccines by the end of 2021

Fauci, the US's top infections disease official, told Reuters there will likely be tens of millions of doses available by early next year.

2nd-grade student tests positive for the coronavirus after 1st day of school

The child's school is in Georgia's Cherokee County district, which recommends but does not require masks.

CDC says some sickened after swallowing hand sanitizer

Hand hygiene has been promoted as an important way to curb the spread of the coronavirus in the United States, and the CDC recommends using alcohol-based sanitizer products to clean hands if soap and water are not available. All alcohol-based hand sanitizers approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) must contain only ethanol or isopropanol, but some products imported into the country have been found to contain methanol, the CDC said in a report.

Portland's Black police chief says violent protesters have 'taken away from' the Black Lives Matter movement

While the protests in downtown Portland have largely been peaceful, there have been violent offshoots in other parts of the city this week.

Seattle City Council Won’t Slash Police Budget, but OKs Cop Layoffs

A majority of Seattle’s City Council on Wednesday voted down a proposal to slash the police department’s remaining 2020 budget by 50 percent. But the council did pass a slew of other defunding efforts, including ones that would cut 100 officers from the agency this year through layoffs and attrition.The vote by the budget committee—which came one day after the city’s mayor and police chief held a press conference to criticize the proposal—signaled some progress for Black Lives Matter and anti-police brutality advocates who’ve pushed to defund departments across the U.S. and reallocate funds to community services, including housing and youth programs.The budget-cut plan, proposed by council member Kshama Sawant, would have cut $54 million from the Seattle PD immediately through layoffs and reallocated it to programs, including $34 million for affordable housing. Sawant was the only member to vote in favor of the proposal, while another council member abstained and the remaining seven voted against it.While the council’s budget committee voted on a variety of amendments related to police funding, activists marched from a King County juvenile detention facility to City Hall. One reporter on scene captured demonstrators chanting, “Bad boys. Bad boys. Whatcha gonna do? Whatcha gonna do when we defund you?”Shootings Rise in Big Cities Along With Calls to Defund the PoliceSeattle’s vote comes on the heels of other local governments, including the Washington D.C. Council, passing legislation to dismantle or cut the budgets of police departments. In late June, the Minneapolis City Council unanimously approved a proposal to disband the city’s police department—and replace it with a new Department of Community Safety and Violence Prevention—following the death of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man who was killed May 25 by a Minneapolis cop who kneeled on his neck during an arrest.Minneapolis’ charter commission voted 10-5 against the city council’s proposal on Wednesday, saying they needed more time to review it. The decision meant voters won't get to decide on the amendment on a November ballot. The Seattle council’s budget committee unanimously passed a series of amendments, including adding $4 million to the Human Services Department for a community safety initiative which would be an “alternative to traditional policing.” The funding for that effort would come from a loan authorized by separate legislation.They also voted to cut $886,000 from the Seattle PD and reallocate it to a proposal that would add $10 million for community-led organizations “to increase public safety.” (The remaining $9.1 million would come from interfund loan to be addressed in separate legislation.) The cuts approved included $36,000 from the police department’s remaining 2020 budget for implicit bias training; $50,000 from SPD’s 2020 travel budget; and $800,000 from the department’s recruitment and retention activities. > Protesters gathering near the youth jail for today’s march to City Hall. Saw a handful of bike cops on my way over, though they seem to be around the block now. pic.twitter.com/8vf6r3EW9W> > — Heidi Groover (@heidigroover) August 5, 2020The committee also unanimously approved a “consent package” which includes ordering the police chief to eliminate the mounted unit and public affairs unit, each of which has four officers; lay off five members of the community outreach unit; lay off two members of the 29-officer SWAT team; and let go of 30 officers through attrition. All told, the council approved a reduction of 54 officers from the department.This package also included $50,000 in funding to contract with a community-based organization to create a non-police 911 response system.On Monday, KOMO News revealed the proposal to slash the Seattle Police Department’s budget by 50 percent appeared to be “losing steam” among the nine council members. The remainder of the Seattle PD’s unspent budget is an estimated $188 million, the outlet reported.Council member Sawant slammed her colleagues in an interview with the TV outlet and on Twitter, where she claimed Democrats on the budget committee “ganged up against our movement’s proposals to Defund the police...”> To see Democratic Party politicians in their real role, watch today's Seattle City Council Budget Committe, where they ganged up against our movement's proposals to Defund the police by at least 50%, fund community programs, and increase significant funds for affordable housing.> > — Kshama Sawant (@cmkshama) August 4, 2020“I’m not surprised,” Sawant told KOMO News, “but it’s quite interesting to see how council members are now displaying how they actually stand and I hope members of the public are watching.”Last month, protesters targeted the homes of two council members who supported reducing the police budget but wouldn’t commit to slashing it by 50 percent, the Seattle Times reported. The demonstrations allegedly included making noise outside one councilor’s home at night and leaving notes on his door warning, “Don’t be racist trash.”In June, another group visited Mayor Jenny Durkan’s residence, which was tagged with spray paint, according to the Times. Durkan asked the council to probe Sawant for taking part in that protest but council president Lorena González declined. Meanwhile, Police Chief Carmen Best said her neighbors had to stop a “large group of aggressive protestors” from trespassing at her home on Saturday. One of the demonstrators, Nicole Gitaka, told King 5, a local news station: “All we were doing was walking and they met us with guns, I don’t know who the aggressor is at that point, but I don't think it’s us.”> Crowd gathers across from the site for the new youth jail for a march and rally pertaining to the city council’s vote today on defunding the SPD seattleprotest seattleprotests pic.twitter.com/MuTzTIU74h> > — Elizabeth Turnbull (@LizTurnbull5) August 5, 2020This summer, Seattle police swept through an autonomous protest zone known as the Capitol Hill Organized Protest Area (CHOP) with blast balls and pepper spray, arresting at least two dozen people after Durkan issued an executive order to clear the area.Previously called the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone (CHAZ), the six-block stretch near downtown was occupied by demonstrators in the wake of Floyd’s death and Black Lives Matter protests. But the site also brought multiple shootings, including the fatal shooting of a 16-year-old boy, and injuries to both cops and protesters. One Tacoma man was charged with arson for torching the police department's East Precinct building during the CHOP protest.Last week, the head of Seattle’s police union warned defunding cops would bring higher crime rates and make CHOP or CHAZ “look like child’s play.”Was Seattle’s Notorious Protest Zone Doomed by Recent Shootings?On Tuesday, Durkan and Best held a press conference to ask council members to hold off on deep cuts to the police budget until 2021.Durkan said the city shouldn’t make “hasty decisions” when it comes to defunding the police department. “We should make right decisions,” Durkan told reporters. “That doesn’t mean slow; it just means thoughtful.”“The chief and I, again, we are absolutely committed, committed to reimagining how policing works in the city, to having a better community-based response, to have a public health and harm reduction based response,” Durkan added. “But we also know that policing is complicated and that sometimes you do need a police officer to respond.”For her part, Best said “there are some good approaches” in the council’s proposals and that “some of the ideas SPD already had and has raised before.”“But what is problematic is these are approaches without any clarity on how they will become reality. What is the plan? “ Best asked. “The push from Council and some of our community is to do these large-scale changes in 2020 with no practical plan for community safety. And I believe wholeheartedly that is completely reckless.“Council has directed me to lay off 70 or more officers basically overnight,” the chief added. “And I cannot do that in good faith knowing there are no systems in place to bridge the gap.”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.

New poll shows plummeting GOP satisfaction with direction of country

Thanks to a marked shift among Republican voters since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, just 13 percent of Americans surveyed now say they are satisfied with “the way things are going in the United States.”

Letters to the Editor: Heads up, Joe Biden — Kamala Harris has always been campaigning for her next job

Kamala Harris is the junior senator from California, so what has she done for our state?

Awaiting disaster, ammonium nitrate was stored at Beirut port for years

For at least six years, hundreds of tonnes of ammonium nitrate, which Lebanese authorities say caused Tuesday's massive blast, were negligently stored in a Beirut port warehouse, waiting for disaster to strike. The odourless crystalline substance commonly used as a fertiliser has caused numerous industrial explosions over the decades -- including the massive one in Beirut that killed at least 113 people, wounded thousands and left 300,000 homeless. A security source said the explosive power of the stored ammonium nitrate was equivalent to at least 1,200 tonnes of TNT -- explaining how the earthquake-strength blast destroyed or damaged so much of the city.

Poll: Most Black Americans Want Police to Remain in Their Areas

Most black Americans say they want police to continue their current presence in local areas, even as protests against racism and police brutality sweep the nation, and calls to reform and even defund police departments persist.Close to two-thirds, 61 percent, of black Americans said they want the police presence in their area to remain the same, while 20 percent said they would like to see police spend more time in their neighborhood, according to a new Gallup poll. Another 19 percent said they would like to see the police presence in their area decrease.Among the general population, 67 percent of Americans say they want the police presence near them to remain the same, with 71 percent of white Americans saying so. A majority of other minority communities also said they do not want to see fewer police officers patrolling their neighborhoods, with 59 percent of Hispanics preferring the current police presence.Black Americans said they observe police in their neighborhoods slightly more than other groups, 32 percent saying they see police officers often or very often in their area, above the national average of 24 percent of all Americans who say the same. About 27 percent said they rarely or never see police in their neighborhoods. Only 22 percent of white Americans said they see police often or very often around where they live.Of black Americans who see police frequently in their areas, only about a third say they think police should curtail their time in the neighborhood, similar to the overall percentage who say so.Despite most black Americans approving of the level of police presence in their neighborhoods, less than one in five say they are very confident that they would be treated with courtesy and respect during an encounter with police. Meanwhile, over half, 56 percent, of white Americans say they are confident in the same.The Gallup poll was taken after weeks of unrest in metropolitan areas around the country over police tactics involving interactions with minority communities, particularly black Americans. Protests and riots broke out in May in many cities following the police custody death of George Floyd, a black man who died after a white Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck as he pleaded for air.Calls to defund police have been particularly prevalent in Portland, Ore. and Seattle, Wash., both of which are predominantly white cities.The survey was conducted online from June 23 to July 6.

North Korea's escalating virus response raises fear of outbreak

North Korea has quarantined thousands of people despite inconclusive test results for a man suspected of being its first official coronavirus case, raising suspicions about a wider unreported outbreak in the reclusive country. Kim Jong-un, the North Korean leader, last week declared a state of emergency and imposed a lockdown on the city of Kaesong on the South Korean border after a defector who crossed back over the border to escape a rape investigation reportedly displayed suspected Covid-19 symptoms. North Korea experts said Pyongyang’s claim that the virus may have leaked in via a returning defector fit the North’s traditional narrative of blaming the South for its troubles.

Sen. Blackburn: Democrats will not come out and say violence and breaking the law is wrong

Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn reacts to the heated Senate hearing on Antifa and the upcoming hearing on Sally Yates and the Russia probe.

An emergency medicine physician projects that if schools open in the fall, they'll close by the end of October with COVID-19 outbreaks

One doctor said reopened schools could shut down again by the end of October, citing the "confluence" of the flu season and increased exposure.

China threatens countermeasures as Taiwan prepares for U.S. visit

China on Thursday threatened to take countermeasures over a trip to Taiwan by U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar, as the Chinese-claimed island geared up for its highest-level U.S. official visit in four decades. The visit, which begins on Sunday, adds to tensions between Beijing and Washington over everything from trade and human rights to the novel coronavirus pandemic. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told a daily briefing in Beijing that any attempt to deny or challenge the "one China" principle, which states that Taiwan is part of China, would end in failure.

California hotel brawl near Disneyland involves about 100 people, police say

A brawl at a hotel near Disneyland on Wednesday involved as many as 100 people and two people were hospitalized, police said.

Fox’s Chris Wallace: Trump Only Wants More Debates Because He’s Losing

Fox News host Chris Wallace has no illusions about why the Trump campaign is suddenly demanding a fourth debate against former Vice President Joe Biden. After Fox & Friends co-host Brian Kilmeade echoed the president’s stated concerns about the debates happening after early voting starts in some states, his radio show guest shot down the idea of either moving the schedule up and adding a fourth debate earlier in September. “If they were to open it up and say, no, let's set another debate, I just think that it would jeopardize a lot of things,” Wallace, who moderated the third and final debate between Trump and Hillary Clinton in 2016. “If Donald Trump were leading, instead of trailing in the polls, my guess is he wouldn’t want it, so they'll have the debates.”When Kilmeade suggested that Wallace should “get in the face” of the Commission on Presidential Debates and threaten to walk as a potential moderator if they don’t change the schedule, Wallace just laughed and said sarcastically, “Yeah, they’re really dependent on me.” Earlier in the week, the Trump campaign put out its wishlist of moderators for the debates. There were a number of Fox News personalities on it, but Chris Wallace’s name was conspicuously missing. That is likely due to Wallace’s tough grilling of the president late last month. Kilmeade tried to get Wallace to criticize Biden’s most recent gaffe, but he wouldn’t take the bait, instead saying, “This is why the debates are going to be must-see TV” and adding, “Donald Trump has some pretty interesting things that he says every once in a while, too.”Chris Wallace Confronts Trump Campaign Spox Jason Miller: Admit ‘You’re Losing’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.

Germany floats a new NATO spending yardstick: 10 percent

Officials are pushing for a new yardstick to measure Berlin's contributions to NATO, suggesting the country could shoulder 10 percent of alliance requirements.

Beirut Ignored Public Warning There Was a Russian ‘Bomb’ at the Port

Years before a devastating blast killed at least 100 people and injured more than 4,000 in Beirut Tuesday, a maritime analyst issued a public warning that a Russian “floating bomb” was languishing in the city’s docks.Maritime monitoring systems tracked the Rhosus into port in Beirut in September 2013. The ship, which was flagged in Moldova, listed its official cargo as “agricultural commodities.” The 2,750 metric ton cargo of ammonium nitrate would primarily be used for fertilizers or high power explosives. To put it in context, less than two metric tons of ammonium nitrate was used in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing. The Russian-owned cargo ship called into port in Beirut for reasons unknown, possibly after running into trouble at sea en route from Georgia to Mozambique. Beirut authorities blocked it from leaving and the dangerous cargo was offloaded and stored in Hanger 12 in the port a year later, according to the maritime monitoring website Fleetmon. Mikhail Voytenko, a Russian maritime analyst based in Thailand, warned in July 2014 that the ship, which he said was owned by a Russian operator, was effectively a “floating bomb.” Voytenko said the ship’s owners had abandoned the ship and its crew, and the Lebanese authorities had failed to protect the deadly cargo. “There are a lot of restrictions, regulations and rules to stick to when talking about storing explosives like ammonium but they just stored it in a warehouse and forgot about it,” he told The Daily Beast by phone from close to the Laem Chabang port in Thailand where he works.The Russian captain of the abandoned ship, Boris Prokoshev, and three Ukrainian crew members Valery Lupol, 3rd mechanic Andrey Golovyoshkin and boatswain Boris Musinchak, were made to stay on the ship with the deadly cargo after the other six crew members were released. They launched an appeal to get out, writing to Russian and Ukrainian journalists and to a group that supports seamen.“The shipowner abandoned the vessel. The cargo owner has ammonium nitrate in the hold,” Musinchak wrote in an email to both the Assol Seamen Aid Foundation and the diplomatic services of Ukraine. “It is an explosive substance... This is how we live for free on a powder keg for 10 months.”A Lebanese court then reportedly gave permission to unload the cargo, but not before asking the sailors to find a buyer for it themselves, which they claimed in the email they could not because all communication was stripped from the ship. On Wednesday, Prokoshev appeared on Russian television, insisting that even the lawyer who tried to free them was corrupt and not concerned about the fate of the ammonium nitrate. “For some reason, the consignee did not lift a finger to get his cargo out,” he said.The ship was owned and operated by Igor Grechushkin, a Russian, who now moved to Cyprus, according to the stranded sailors. Calls to Grechushkin were not immediately answered.As well as the public warning, Lebanese officials had repeatedly ignored warnings by port authorities about the ammonium nitrate that sparked the devastating explosion.Badri Daher, the current head of Lebanon’s customs authority, told reporters on the scene that the explosion was linked to the ammonium nitrate. Several people in the open source intelligence community later tweeted photos of loosely packed bags of white powder, assumed to be the substance. The Daily Beast has not verified the authenticity of the photos.On June 27, 2014, Shafik Merhi, then head of the Lebanese Customs Authority wrote to Lebanese officials under the heading “urgent matters,” asking for help to secure the explosives, according to a copy of the letter shared on Twitter by human rights activist Wadih Al Asmar. Merhi then reportedly sent five more letters, in December 5, 2014, May 6, 2015, May 20, 2016, October 13, 2016, and October 27, 2017, pleading for help, according to Al Jazeera, which reports one as saying, “In view of the serious danger of keeping these goods in the hangar in unsuitable climatic conditions, we reaffirm our request to please request the marine agency to re-export these goods immediately to preserve the safety of the port and those working in it, or to look into agreeing to sell this amount.”Another letter, this time written by Daher, the incoming head of Lebanese Customs Authority reiterated the warning of “the danger of leaving these goods in the place they are, and to those working there.”Lebanon’s new prime minister Hassan Diab, who came to the job in January 2020, alluded to the theory that the devastation could have been avoided, promising that “all those responsible for this catastrophe will pay a price.”President Donald Trump referred to the explosion as an attack, though local authorities say it was likely set off by a welder working nearby. “I’ve met with some of our great generals and they just seem to feel that . . . this was not some kind of a manufacturing explosion type of event,” Trump said at a White House briefing. “They seem to think it was an attack. It was a bomb of some kind.”On Wednesday, hundreds were still reported missing from the massive explosion, which generated seismic waves similar to a 3.3 magnitude earthquake. Beirut port, which is dubiously nicknamed the Cave of Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves because of the alleged corruption tied to its management, has been under intense scrutiny in recent months after the October Revolution began last fall. 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.

Chicago rapper FBG Duck killed in brazen daytime shopping attack

The attack was committed in the Gold Coast luxury shopping district by four gunmen in two vehicles.

N. Korea's escalating virus response raises fear of outbreak

North Korea is quarantining thousands of people and shipping food and other aid to a southern city locked down over coronavirus worries, officials said, as the country’s response to a suspected case reinforces doubt about its longstanding claim to be virus-free. In late July, North Korea said it had imposed its “maximum emergency system” to guard against the virus spreading after finding a person with COVID-19 symptoms in Kaesong city, near the border with rival South Korea. State media reported that leader Kim Jong Un then ordered a total lockdown of Kaesong, and said the suspected case was a North Korean who had earlier fled to South Korea before slipping back into Kaesong last month.

'Blatant disrespect of Black women': Women leaders criticize treatment of Black women being considered as Biden VP pick

Sen. Kamala Harris, Rep. Karen Bass, Susan Rice, Rep. Val Demings and Stacey Abrams have all been floated as possible running mates for Biden.

The man behind one of history's most iconic supercars just debuted its $3 million successor — check out the Gordon Murray T.50

This may become the greatest modern supercar, thanks to a six-speed manual transmission, a naturally aspirated V12, and and a central driver's seat.

US announces 'highest level' visit in decades to Taiwan

The United States on Wednesday announced its "highest level" visit in decades to Taiwan, a move sure to infuriate China at a time when relations between Washington and Beijing are at historic lows. Washington's trade office in Taipei confirmed that health chief Alex Azar would lead an upcoming delegation to the self-ruled island, which China's communist leaders claim and have vowed to one day seize. "This marks... the first Cabinet member to visit in six years, and the highest level visit by a US Cabinet official since 1979," the American Institute in Taiwan said.

Texas cancer researcher murdered on jog

A cancer researcher and mother of two is murdered on her daily jog; Sarmistha Sen was found dead near a creek in Plano, Texas.

Trump news - live: US lifts coronavirus warning against international travel as president jokes about looking orange in rambling speech

US president Donald Trump suggested on Thursday that Americans would have a coronavirus vaccine in November, and possibly before November’s presidential election, in an unexpected announcement that would beat previous predictions on the timetable for a vaccine.Meanwhile, three US social media sites censured president Donald Trump’s claims on Wednesday that children were “virtually immune” to Covid-19, with Facebook calling the president’s post “harmful Covid misinformation”.

Georgia prosecutor asks court to revoke bond for former Atlanta policeman charged with murder

A Georgia prosecutor has asked a judge to revoke the bond for the former Atlanta policeman charged with murder in the shooting of Rayshard Brooks, saying in court papers that he had violated its terms by taking an out-of-state vacation. Brooks, a Black man, was fatally shot in June in the parking lot of a Wendy's restaurant in Atlanta, an incident that was caught on video and set off days of protests over racial inequality and social injustice. District Attorney Paul Howard asked the court late on Tuesday to send former officer Garrett Rolfe, 27, back to jail for violating the terms of his bond, which include a 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew and an order that he stays within the court's jurisdiction.

Esper says he underestimated how much racial injustice affects service members

Defense Secretary Mark Esper called George Floyd's death a wake-up call for military leadership.

I tried making Guy Fieri's signature recipes for a week, and I didn't love my whole trip to Flavortown

The Food Network star's known for eating comfort food on "Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives," and I tried some of his favorite recipes and meals for a week.

Syrian refugee hailed as hero in Germany after saving woman from rapist

A Syrian refugee has been hailed as a hero in Germany after he stopped a man raping a woman. The 30-year-old Syrian, named only as Faner O under German privacy laws, intervened after he saw a woman being attacked by a man in the early hours of Sunday morning. With the help of another passerby, he overpowered the rapist and held him until police could reach the scene. The rape victim, who has not been named, is understood to be a trainee police officer. Faner O, who fled to Germany from his native Syria four years ago, works as a car mechanic in the west German city of Wuppertal. He was driving home in the early hours of Sunday morning when he saw a woman being pursued by a man. “It was around half past three in the morning. I had just dropped a friend off and was driving home to my wife and daughter, when I saw a woman walking along Friedrich-Engels-Allee and a man in a red T-shirt running after her. Then they disappeared into the bushes,” he told Bild newspaper. Concerned, Faner O stopped his car and followed them into the bushes, where he found the man pinning the woman to the ground. “He had one hand over her mouth and was choking her with the other. She was resisting, but he was very strong.” The would-be rapist fled but Faner O gave chase. A 20-year-old passerby who had heard the sounds of struggle came to his help, and together they were able to overpower the perpetrator. The rapist has not been named but is understood to be a 20-year-old Afghan migrant known to local police in connection with similar incidents. The woman suffered only minor injuries, according to local police. “She fought hard and cried out for help. This alerted witnesses who rushed to her aid and drove off her attacker. They then gave chase and were able to seize him after a short pursuit. They held him until officers arrived,” police said in a statement. Faner O said he was not afraid during the encounter. “At that moment I was only thinking of helping the woman,” he told Bild. “If something like that happened to my daughter, I’d want some one to help her.”

Here’s how you can apply for up to $2,000 in COVID relief

Applications for the program, which kicked off Wednesday, are now available online in English, Creole and Spanish.

Lebanese officials unloaded a 'floating bomb' and apparently ignored warnings for years, according to reports

Lebanese officials knew they were storing dangerous, explosive materials at the port in Beirut, but ignored years of warnings.

Quinnipiac polls: Gideon leads Collins in Maine; South Carolina Senate race tied

Gideon leads Collins, 47 percent to 43 percent, with 6 percent of voters undecided, according to the survey.

Court reverses order to shut down Dakota Access pipeline

A federal appeals court on Wednesday reversed a judge’s order that shut down the Dakota Access pipeline pending a full environmental review. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit sided with pipeline owner Energy Transfer to keep the oil flowing, saying a lower-court judge “did not make the findings necessary for injunctive relief.” The appeals court said it expects the parties to “clarify their positions” in the lower court.

Rudy Giuliani wildly claims Black Lives Matter are a 'domestic terror group' who 'hate white men in particular'

President Donald Trump's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani has claimed Black Lives Matter is a "domestic terrorist group," despite the group never being tied to a single terrorism event in a global database of almost 200,000."These are killers, and these are people who hate white people. They're people who hate white men in particular. And they want to do away with a mother-father family," Mr Giuliani said on Fox and Friends on Thursday, although ample evidence debunks that claim.

MS-13 gang members charged with sex trafficking, other charges in abuse of 13-year-old runaway

Federal prosecutors allege that gang members beat the girl, raped her and prostituted her in Virginia and Maryland.

A nuclear sea-launched cruise missile will help deter nuclear aggression

A Pentagon official argues a nuclear sea-launched cruise missile is a measured response to a growing threat from America's adversaries.

Joshua Wong and other Hong Kong activists charged over banned June 4 vigil

Two dozen people in Hong Kong, including pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong, have been charged with participating in an illegal assembly at a vigil on June 4 commemorating the crackdown on protesters in and around Beijing's Tiananmen square in 1989. It was the first time the vigil had been banned in semiautonomous Hong Kong, with police citing coronavirus restrictions on group gatherings in refusing permission for it to take place. The anniversary struck an especially sensitive nerve in the former British colony this year, falling just as China prepared to introduce national security legislation later that month in response to last year's often violent pro-democracy demonstrations.

Virginia business owner reacts to employee's house arrest for defending shop from robber

Worker arrested after defending himself from armed robbery; Arlington Smoke Shop owner Jowan Zuber speaks out.

Australia suffers worst day of Covid pandemic with record deaths and cases

Australia has suffered its worst day of the Covid-19 pandemic as the second wave in the state of Victoria produced the country's highest daily death toll and number of cases. Victoria recorded 725 new Covid-19 cases and 15 deaths overnight, one of them Australia's youngest coronavirus fatality to date -- a man in his 30s. As the grim trio of records came, the northern state of Queensland closed its border with neighbouring New South Wales in a bid to prevent the spread of the outbreak from the south-east. Twelve new cases in New South Wales have fanned fears of the second wave's march, though it was Victoria's cases which made up the bulk of Australia’s record-high of 739. The 15 deaths in Australia's second most populous state mark the most deadly day for the entire country. Twelve of the fatalities were linked to outbreaks in residential care facilities. Queensland has also barred residents of the Australian Capital Territory, which has not reported a new case for many weeks but is located within New South Wales. In Victoria, a police officer staffing a checkpoint was injured and two others threatened with serious injury in a string of violent outbursts against personnel enforcing new restrictions over the past 24 hours. Police have made a number of arrests, including a 36-year-old man who allegedly breached lockdown measures four times in the past 14 days. On Tuesday the state authorities said the military would be brought in to aid enforcement efforts. In Western Australia, the army has been deployed to run security at quarantine hotels. Western Australia’s border has been closed to all other states and territories since early in the pandemic crisis, but that is being challenged in the High Court by mining magnate Clive Palmer. Australia’s national government has dropped its backing for Mr Palmer’s case, which it had previously denied, after the Western Australian government produced documents exposing their position and sparking a public outcry. The state of Tasmania had been considering opening its borders to Western Australia, South Australia, the Northern Territory and Queensland but has postponed those plans.

Uber and Lyft just got hit with another lawsuit in California over claims the companies are skirting the state's gig worker law

California's labor commissioner is the latest regulator to take the companies to court over their refusal to classify drivers as employees.

Republicans offer $400/week unemployment benefits, but stimulus bill talks remain divided

Republicans and Democrats still remain sharply divided over a replacement for the coronavirus relief bill that expired last week.When the last stimulus bill expired at the end of July, so did the $600/week boost to unemployment benefits that millions of out-work Americans have relied on since the beginning of the pandemic. Extending those benefits still remains a point of contention as Republicans offer a $400/week concession and Democrats stay firm at $600, among other disagreements, Politico reports.The Democratic-controlled House passed its version of the next relief bill a while ago, with $600/week boost that would last until the end of the pandemic. Republicans control the Senate, though, and at first indicated there would be no unemployment boost at all in the next phase bill they'd support. They then upped their offer to $200/week, and as of Tuesday, have proposed a $400/week boost that will last until Dec. 15, Politico reports via a meeting between party leaders and White House officials. But Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) also said Tuesday he would back a $600 enhancement if President Trump does as well, and Trump seemingly indicated his support last week.Also in contention is funding for child care. Democrats want $50 billion for this, while Republicans prefer $15 billion, and the two sides have moved on to closer issues for now. Republicans also think Democrats are also looking for lots of funding for mail-in voting, but Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) has reportedly made it clear states can use election funding for whatever they see fit. A debate over pensions meanwhile remains "a different breed of cat" altogether, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) reportedly said. Read more about the state of stimulus talks at Politico.More stories from theweek.com The problem with the rush to disband the Minneapolis police New Lincoln Project ad crowns Jared Kushner 'Secretary of Failure' The Republican problem no one knows how to solve

Federal judge rules the government owns an undeveloped island off Key West — not a developer

Government, not developer, owns undeveloped Island off Key West: judge

One American is dying every 80 seconds from coronavirus as Trump shrugs off death toll: ‘It is what it is’

At least one person in the United States has died every 80 seconds on average over the last seven days, according to new research, as President Donald Trump said the nation’s soaring death toll “is what it is” in a recent interview.The grim figures were first reported by NBC News on Wednesday, which noted its own tally revealed 7,486 people died in the last seven days due to Covid-19.

Tourist breaks toes off statue in Italian museum after taking a photo with it, police say

An Austrian tourist broke multiple toes off of a statue in an Italian museum, the Carabinieri police in Treviso, Italy, said.

Pompeo: US to call UN vote on Iran arms embargo extension

The Trump administration will press ahead with efforts to extend a United Nations arms embargo on Iran despite widespread opposition to such a move at the world body, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Wednesday. The decision sets the stage for a potential crisis at the U.N. Security Council amid rising tensions in the Middle East. Pompeo said the United States would call for a Security Council vote next week on a U.S.-drafted resolution to extend the embargo that is due to expire in October.

Children rapidly deported from the United States strain Guatemalan shelters

Hundreds of migrant children rapidly expelled from the United States under a coronavirus immigration policy are returning to shelters in Guatemala where virus testing and bed capacity are regularly stretched to their limits. Shelter operators, government officials in the Central American nation and international organizations said they are seeing rising numbers of children being sent back to Guatemala alone, with some unable to return to their homes because of domestic abuse or gang violence. "Child protection services, which were already overstretched and under-resourced have now been further compromised by COVID-19," said United Nations children's agency UNICEF spokesman Christopher Tidey.

A white woman spent years posing online as a Native American scientist and professor, and was caught after claiming the woman contracted coronavirus and died

BethAnn McLaughlin admitted Tuesday that she created the @Sciencing_Bi account on Twitter, which had been active from 2016 until July 31.