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Gun sales spike among African-Americans: 'Our ancestors died for us to vote, they also died for us to be able to carry guns'

When Americans panic, they buy guns — lots of them. During the first six months of 2020, amidst the global coronavirus pandemic, gun retailers reported a record 10.3 million firearm transactions, according to a new survey by the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF). And while various demographic groups are buying guns in 2020, African-Americans currently account for the highest increase in gun purchases.

An impassioned obituary for a 79-year-old coronavirus victim blames Trump for his death, then calls out Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and people who refused to wear masks

"Dave did everything he was supposed to do, but you did not," David W. Nagy's widow wrote in her husband's obituary.

New York City has already had more shootings in 2020 than in the whole of 2019

New York City has recorded more shootings so far in 2020 than the whole of last year, authorities have confirmed.There were 777 shootings between January and 2 August 2020, compared with 776 in 2019, according to figures compiled by the New York Post, and later confirmed by New York Police department (NYPD).

House panel investigates DHS office over Portland, other protests

The U.S. House Intelligence Committee launched an investigation on Monday into the Department of Homeland Security's intelligence office, including its actions in Portland, Oregon, and its involvement in other anti-racism protests across the country. "The reporting regarding the monitoring of peaceful protesters, creating and disseminating intelligence reports about journalists and protesters, and potential exploitation of electronic devices is deeply troubling," Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, a Democrat, wrote in a letter to top DHS officials. The United States has seen largely peaceful protests nationwide since the death of George Floyd, a Black man, while in Minneapolis police custody in May. Protests in cities, including Portland, have at times erupted into arson and violence, and federal officers sent into the Northwestern city have repeatedly clashed with crowds targeting the federal courthouse there.

A California couple were arrested on hate-crime charges after they yelled 'white power' during an episode of road rage, police say

They yelled "white power" and "only white lives matter" at a Black man and his girlfriend in a racist altercation on the road on July 22, police said.

Annual Sturgis rally expecting 250K, stirring virus concerns

Sturgis is on. The message has been broadcast across social media as South Dakota, which has seen an uptick in coronavirus infections in recent weeks, braces to host hundreds of thousands of bikers for the 80th edition of the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. More than 250,000 people are expected to rumble through western South Dakota, seeking the freedom of cruising the boundless landscapes in a state that has skipped lockdowns.

Who is Karen Bass?

Rep. Karen Bass, D-Calif., has been mentioned as a potential running mate for former VP Joe Biden, who has vowed to pick a woman as his vice president.

Letters to the Editor: How deluded is humanity? We're sending a rover to Mars during a pandemic

We're on a mission to Mars while also dealing with COVID-19 and climate change on Earth. Humanity's priorities are off.

Splash Mountain log flume ride sinks at Disney World's Magic Kingdom

Walt Disney World's Splash Mountain hit rough waters Sunday as Twitter users posted video of a submerged log flume ride they were in moments earlier.

Homicides Spike in 50 Largest Cities across Nation

Homicides and gun violence have spiked in major cities around the country since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, spurred by an economic recession and unrest that arose from protests against police brutality.Across the nation’s 50 largest cities, homicides are up 24 percent this year, totaling 3,612 so far, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of police department data. In 36 of those cities, the homicide rate increased by double digits.Shootings have also surged, but other kinds of violent crime have declined, including robberies, which sank 11 percent across the 41 cities that provided such data.Chicago saw the largest jump in homicides, reporting more than 400 more homicides than last year, an increase of more than 50 percent. Philadelphia and New York City came in just behind the country's third-largest city, both tallying more than 200 more homicides this year. Along with Chicago, Austin and Fort Worth, Tx. saw the largest increase in murders.The staggering increase in violence comes after months of protests against police departments that have included calls to defund and dismantle departments in Minneapolis, where the police custody death of George Floyd sparked national outrage. Homicides in Minneapolis have nearly doubled, with 41 homicides compared to 21 by this time last year.Police and crime experts have attributed the spike in violence to a variety of factors, including a rise in gang violence, an economic recession caused by the shutdown of businesses, and the lack of activity during the pandemic by social institutions that historically help tamp down crime, such as churches and schools.Meanwhile, lockdown orders that have kept residents in their homes may help explain the decline in robberies and rapes, since burglars are less likely to target a home with residents inside, and fewer potential victims were on the streets, experts said. The rise in shootings and murders was particularly stark in disadvantaged neighborhoods rather than the sites of protests against racism and police brutality in many cities.The homicide rate in the nation's major cities is still a far cry from the crime levels of previous decades, such as in 1990, when New York City recorded a total of 2,262 murders.

Iran has been covering up its coronavirus death toll, according to BBC investigation which says the true figure is almost 3 times higher

Both coronavirus deaths and cases are significantly higher than Iran is publicly reporting, according to government figures seen by the BBC.

James Clyburn: Trump doesn't plan to 'give up the office'

Rep. James Clyburn defended his recent comments saying President Trump "thinks that the American people will be duped by him, like the people of Germany was duped by Adolf Hitler."

‘Murder hornets’ trapped in US for first time as officials race to eradicate colonies before breeding season

As the US grapples with the world's worst coronavirus outbreak, a new threat is emerging as Asian giant hornets – known as “murder hornets” due to their lethal sting to humans – are gaining a foothold in the country.After they were first found in Washington State in May this year, the 2-inch (5cm)-long hornets have now been trapped for the first time – giving officials an indication – firstly that their traps work, and secondly of where nests could be situated.

Mexico crime: Mexican police seize alleged oil theft crime boss The Sledgehammer

"The Sledgehammer" is caught after releasing a bizarre, tearful video declaring war on security forces.

Anxious WHO implores world to 'do it all' in long war on COVID-19

The World Health Organization warned on Monday that there might never be a "silver bullet" for COVID-19 in the form of a perfect vaccine and that the road to normality would be long, with some countries requiring a reset of strategy. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and WHO emergencies head Mike Ryan exhorted nations to rigorously enforce health measures such as mask-wearing, social distancing, hand-washing and testing. The WHO head said that, while the coronavirus was the biggest health emergency since the early 20th century, the international scramble for a vaccine was also "unprecedented".

Virginia gov faces new hurdle in bid to remove Lee statue

A judge dismissed a legal challenge Monday that had been blocking Virginia officials from removing a towering statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee from the state's capital city, but he immediately imposed another injunction against dismantling the figure. The new 90-day injunction bars Gov. Ralph Northam's administration from “removing, altering, or dismantling, in any way” the larger-than-life statue of Lee on a prominent Richmond avenue while claims in a lawsuit filed by local property owners are litigated. Now covered in graffiti, the Lee monument has become a focal point and gathering spot amid Richmond's sustained anti-racist protests since the police custody death in Minnesota of a Black man, George Floyd.

Connie Culp, the first US face transplant recipient, has died of an infection 12 years after her groundbreaking operation

Culp, the pioneering recipient of the first partial face transplant in the US, died at age 57 of unrelated causes, says the Cleveland Clinic.

An Indiana school reopened for students. There was a positive COVID-19 test on day one.

It was the first time students in Greenfield, Indiana, had been back in schools since the pandemic closed them in March.

These 43-square-foot pods were originally for travelers to take a nap at the airport, but now the company is selling them for $50,000 each

NapCity's pods are modular and customizable, starting at $50,000.

GOP dread over possible Kobach nomination in Kansas

Republicans fear that Democratic meddling has helped to erase Roger Marshall’s lead in this week’s primary, potentially costing the party a Senate seat and perhaps its majority.

Homeland Security official reassigned after intelligence reports on journalists covering protests

A US intelligence official with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has been reassigned following revelations that his office compiled "intelligence reports" on journalists and analysed communications between protesters amid ongoing demonstrations in Portland, Oregon.Brian Murphy was removed from his post following a report in The Washington Post revealing that the DHS Office of Intelligence and Analysis sent open source intelligence reports to federal law enforcement agencies containing information from two reporters who had published leaked unclassified government documents while covering Black Lives Matter protests.

Man fires at officers with AK-47 a day after refusing to wear a mask, police say

Adam Zaborowski had lost his job because of the pandemic and recently lost custody of his child, his attorney said, adding that it was "not a defense or excuse."

Shoprite: Africa's biggest supermarket considers pulling out of Nigeria

Shoprite is the latest high-profile South African retailer to struggle in the Nigerian market.

U.S. coronavirus 'extraordinarily widespread', say White House experts

The United States is in a new phase of the novel coronavirus outbreak with infections "extraordinarily widespread" in rural areas as well as cities, White House coronavirus experts said on Sunday. Coronavirus cases continue to surge in some parts of the country and the public health officials are trying to work with governors to tailor responses for each state. "We are in a new phase," said Dr. Deborah Birx.

Biden urged not to debate Trump so president doesn't have another platform to 'lie'

Republican strategist Joseph Pinion and Democratic political analyst Kelly Hyman react.

Orphaned toddler grows up in shadow of massacre, coronavirus

An infant boy who survived a shooting last year that left his parents and 21 others dead now likes to thumb through picture books and dance to a Batman jingle with his grandmother, according to an uncle who helps care for the 1-year-old. It will be years before Paul Anchondo learns what happened to his parents in an event that many El Paso residents still struggle to comprehend, Tito Anchondo said. Anchondo's brother Andre and sister-in-law Jordan died in the shooting at a Walmart store.

Two sisters who hadn't seen each other in more than 50 years were reunited by coronavirus

One long-lost sister was being treated for her COVID-19 infection at a rehab center while the other worked as a medical aide.

An Arizona congressman who tested positive for the coronavirus criticized Republican lawmakers for refusing to wear masks in the Capitol

Arizona Democrat Rep. Raúl Grijalva tested positive for the coronavirus on Saturday but is currently asymptomatic.

Sen. Murkowski Says Confirming Supreme Court Nominee in 2020 Would Be ‘Double Standard’

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s recent health problems have revealed a rift among Senate Republicans over what to do if a Supreme Court seat becomes vacant before the end of President Trump’s first term.While Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) has indicated his intent to fill any Supreme Court vacancies in 2020, other Republicans are more hesitant.Senator Lisa Murkowski (R., Alaska), expressed concern that confirming a Trump nominee before the end of the president’s term would create a “double standard” after Republicans in 2016 declined to appoint then-president Obama’s nominee, Merrick Garland, to fill the seat vacated by conservative justice Antonin Scalia’s death.“When Republicans held off Merrick Garland it was because nine months prior to the election was too close, we needed to let people decide. And I agreed to do that. If we now say that months prior to the election is OK when nine months was not, that is a double standard and I don’t believe we should do it,” Murkowski told The Hill. “So I would not support it.”Republicans, who control 53 Senate seats, wouldn’t be able to confirm a justice with more than three defections of a confirmation vote if all 47 Democratic senators stay unified.When Scalia died in mid-February of 2016 and Obama nominated Garland one month later, McConnell and then-Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Chuck Grassley (R., Iowa) blocked Garland from even getting a hearing.McConnell has said confirming another Trump nominee would be different because Republicans control both the White House and the Senate, while in 2016 Democrats controlled only the White House. For his part, Grassley, who now serves as the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, said he would likely maintain Republicans' 2016 position if the situation arises, though he stressed that the decision is ultimately up to Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.).Graham told The Hill that while he’d be willing to fill a vacancy, his decision would depend upon what his Republican colleagues think. Senate Republican whip John Thune (S.D.) said he would support filling a vacancy before the election but was less certain about a course of action should Trump lose the election. Senator Josh Hawley (R., Mo.) expressed support for confirming a Trump nominee in 2020.Graham expects Trump to release a list of conservative nominees in the coming weeks, which he would pick from should a Court vacancy occur this year or in Trump’s second term, if he wins reelection. “I don’t know. We’ll see,” he said. “I hope everybody stays healthy on the Supreme Court and we don’t have to worry about it.”

Dunkin' employee in Illinois arrested after state trooper finds mucus in coffee

A Dunkin' employee was arrested and fired after a state trooper in Chicago found what police said was mucus in his coffee.

Mysterious seeds sent from China to the US identified by the USDA

The mysterious seed packs from China that hundreds of Americans received in the mail have been identified, according to the US Department of Agriculture.Federal officials warned those who received the seeds not to plant them over fears that some may be invasive species and could destroy native plants and insects.

Russia says suspected mercenaries detained by Belarus were going to Latin America

A Russian diplomat said on Monday a group of more than 30 suspected Russian mercenaries detained in Belarus last week were only passing through Minsk and were on their way to an unnamed Latin American state. Belarusian authorities have said they suspect the men entered their country to plot "acts of terrorism" and destabilise it before an Aug. 9 presidential election. The Russian state says it does not use mercenaries.

Navarro Throws Another White House Health Expert Under Bus Over Hydroxy

White House trade adviser Peter Navarro publicly bashed yet another White House public health expert on Monday while touting an unproven anti-malarial drug, saying he took “exception” to coronavirus testing czar Brett Giroir dismissing hydroxychloroquine as an effective coronavirus treatment.Days after CNN cut short a Navarro interview after he kept repeating the racist phrase “China virus,” the network invited him on for yet another contentious segment that featured the combative Trump aide disseminating coronavirus disinformation.Navarro, who has been an outspoken proponent of hydroxychloroquine and has repeatedly attacked top infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci for warning about the drug’s lack of efficacy, doubled down on his embrace of the drug while taking aim at Giroir.“One of the president’s chief advisers on the coronavirus pandemic, Adm. Giroir, he said given five studies now that have found the drug hydroxychloroquine—that there’s no proof that it helps with COVID-19 patients,” host Jim Sciutto noted. “I just wonder, given your past public support for it, is it time for the administration to focus on proven treatments for COVID rather than one that has not been proven?”Navarro—who recently groused that the government is “sitting on millions of doses” of the drug—shot back that he takes “exception to Giroir’s analysis, adding that the HHS official “hasn’t looked at the data” within the past two weeks.“It’s his job to look at data,” Sciutto interjected.After demanding that CNN bring on a couple of doctors who claim the drug is beneficial for COVID-19 patients—CNN had actually interviewed one of them hours earlier—Navarro brushed off the large number of experts criticizing hydroxychloroquine.“My view of this now is doctors' opinions are a dime a dozen and some doctors say it doesn’t work,” he exclaimed. “You’ve got some doctors who say it does.”The CNN host, meanwhile, retorted that this isn’t a “both sides thing,” prompting Navarro to insist that is exactly what it is.“No, it is a both sides. It is—it is both sides,” he declared.Sciutto went on to note that several high-quality double-blinded clinical trials show that there is no benefit to the drug and that the FDA has revoked emergency use of hydroxychloroquine due to concerns over potentially deadly side effects.“This hasn’t passed muster so why all the focus on that drug,” the CNN anchor wondered aloud. “Why not focus on things that work like remdesivir?”Undeterred, Navarro claimed that there is now a study that shows hydroxychloroquine “works better” than remdesivir—even though White House coronavirus coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx said just last week that randomized trials have shown the anti-viral drug has no efficacy as a treatment. She also reiterated that there appears to be no benefit to hydroxychloroquine.Team Trump has suddenly rallied back around the controversial malaria drug after a fringe doctor—who believes that demon sperm causes female medical problems and “alien DNA” is being used in medication—proclaimed it a coronavirus “cure” in a viral video last week. Despite that doctor’s bizarre past claims, President Donald Trump has called her “spectacular,” “very respected,” and an “important voice.”Chris Wallace Confronts Trump Campaign Spox Jason Miller: Admit ‘You’re Losing’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.

Scientists retract claim of finding tiniest dinosaur

The “tiny, weird bird-like dinosaur” was not a dinosaur or a bird after all, according to a retraction of the research published in a prestigious journal

Panama proposes flying Haitian migrants home after clash

The government of Panama said Monday it has proposed giving some Haitian migrants flights back to their homeland after frustrations boiled over at the remote camps where they are stuck. The camps in Panama’s southern Darien province also house some Cuban and African migrants, but about 80% of the 2,000 migrants there are from Haiti. Public Safety Minister Juan Pino said Monday he offered improved medical services or repatriation flights to the migrants, who want to travel overland to the U.S. border but cannot do so because of coronavirus restrictions.

Greenback returns: How dollar stores came back to Cuba

The Cuban government is allowing its citizens to use the currency of its ideological enemy.

'A courageous trailblazer': The US Navy's first Black female fighter pilot has earned her 'Wings of Gold'

"Very proud of LTJG [Madeline] Swegle," a senior Navy official wrote when she graduated. "Go forth and kick butt."

Donald Trump Jr. has a long history of spreading misinformation and conspiracy theories online

Twitter's temporary suspension of Donald Trump Jr.'s account on Tuesday came amid the president's son's long history of sharing misinformation online.

Police officers should not be charged with Breonna Taylor's death, criminal law experts say

Defense lawyers say LMPD officers had the right to defend themselves once Breonna Taylor's boyfriend shot at them

Prison raid mars relative calm in Afghanistan after ceasefire

At least 29 people were killed in a raid on an Afghan prison claimed by the Islamic State group, officials said Monday, as the country waited to see if a government ceasefire with the Taliban would rupture after its formal expiration. Fighting finally ended at mid-afternoon at the jail in the eastern city of Jalalabad, where about 1,700 IS and Taliban inmates were being held. IS's news outlet Amaq said its fighters were behind the raid that had started with a suicide car bomb attack, and saw more than 1,000 inmates escape before most of them were recaptured.

California governor says COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, trending down

The rates of new COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and intensive care unit admissions were all trending downward in California in the latest counts, the governor said on Monday. Governor Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, said that despite that good news, the state's Central Valley agricultural region was still being hit hard by the coronavirus. "This virus is not going away," Newsom said at a daily coronavirus briefing.

China seeks to increase influence in South China Sea by reclassifying international shipping lanes

China has quietly changed how it identifies a vast stretch of international waters in a shipping regulation, indicating it as a “coastal” region, rather than “offshore,” as authorities seek to exert even greater control over the South China Sea. The amended regulation, first drafted in the 1970s, went into effect on Saturday, and establishes a “navigation area” from China’s Hainan island in the south, all the way down to the disputed Paracel Islands, which sit east of Vietnam’s coastline. The revision, however small, allows Beijing yet another avenue to justify its claims in the region. “The move is pretty consistent with the broader, general patterns of China seeking ‘creeping jurisdiction’ using domestic laws to assert its claims and extend control in the South China Sea,” said Collin Koh,a research fellow at the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore. “With those domestic laws and regulations being implemented quietly without fanfare, the less likely it’ll attract undue external attention, so that over time a fair accompli is created - in other words, for Beijing to change facts on the ground.” The risk, in the long run, is that this area of ocean already flanked by Chinese military interests and installations, could turn a navigational zone to a “future security alert zone,” he said. The change comes as China has displayed increasing swagger in the South China Sea, where Beijing and a number of Southeast Asian countries all lay claim to the rocks, reefs and waters.

Ari Fleischer on suggestions Biden skip Trump debates, controversy over mail-in voting

Former White House press secretary and Fox News contributor Ari Fleischer weighs in on 'Outnumbered Overtime.'

John Hume, who worked to end N. Ireland violence, dies at 83

John Hume, the visionary politician who won a Nobel Peace Prize for fashioning the agreement that ended violence in his native Northern Ireland, has died at 83, his family said Monday. The Catholic leader of the moderate Social Democratic and Labour Party, Hume was seen as the principal architect of Northern Ireland's 1998 peace agreement. “I want to see Ireland as an example to men and women everywhere of what can be achieved by living for ideals, rather than fighting for them, and by viewing each and every person as worthy of respect and honor,” he said in 1998.

Scientists and environmental groups 'alarmed' by huge rise in Amazon wildfires

“It’s a terrible sign,” said Ane Alencar, science director at Brazil’s Amazon Environmental Research Institute (IPAM).

A pastor who told congregants not to be afraid of the coronavirus was hospitalized with COVID-19

Charles Pope, a pastor in Washington, D.C., tested positive for COVID-19 after advising worshippers not to fear the virus.

Ningaloo Reef: Woman injured by humpback whale at Australian tourist spot

The woman is in a "serious but stable condition" after being hit by the whale during a group swim.

Florida man once bitten by alligator is chomped by 8-foot shark while on vacation

Justin Stuller is now sporting two dozen stitches and a small limp after tangling with an eight-foot lemon shark in the Florida Keys.