# data[].attributes.body
California was one of the worst states in terms of Covid-19 rates and numbers, but now they have declined to the lowest rate of Covid cases and deaths. Since the vaccines have been emitted they have declined and they have even began to open their society back up.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The death count was staggering - so many that morgues filled and refrigerated trucks were brought in to handle the overflow.

Now as cases spike in other parts of the country, California has gone from worst to first with the lowest infection rate in the U.S. even as it has moved quickly to reopen more businesses with greater customer counts and allow larger gatherings.

A scramble to get COVID-19 vaccinations has given way to an open invite in many places. Where people lined up hours and counties struggled to get doses, there now appears to be a glut of the shots in many locations.

"It has been a success story for California to have gone from our, if you will, viral tsunami that happened after the back-to-back holiday season to where we are now," said Dr. Robert Kim-Farley of the University of California, Los Angeles' public health school.

At the peak of California's winter surge that followed the Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's holidays, the state was recording 40,000 new cases daily and well above 500 deaths per day. Those numbers have dwindled to 2,300 new cases and 68 deaths daily.

The state surpassed Hawaii on Thursday with the lowest average number of cases per capita in the past two weeks, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. One in every 2,416 people in California tested positive in the past week. At the other end of the spectrum, one in every 223 people in Michigan was diagnosed with the virus.

Kim-Farley said it's been like turning around a massive tanker ship to reach today's level of improvement. He credited government and public health agencies with providing clear guidelines that businesses, schools and individuals largely followed, including mask mandates and social distancing.

Gov. Gavin Newsom has been allowing businesses and schools to reopen by county based on case levels. At different points in the pandemic, he has faced heavy criticism for being too restrictive, and now some worry he is moving too quickly.

All counties have improved enough to move out of the strictest of four tiers, and 38 of the 58 counties - accounting for 87% of the state's population - now are in the second least-restrictive tier. Newsom said he plans to lift most remaining coronavirus restrictions by June 15.

The pandemic has surged unevenly across the U.S.

Cases were low in California a year ago, compared with New York, where hospitals were overwhelmed last spring. When California was in the throes of a second winter spike in mid-January, Michigan cases were tapering to a low point in February before surging to the highest current infection rate in the U.S.

Kim-Farley said California's surge had put fear into more people to wear masks, a rule still in place that he said he has helped prevent a resurgence. "Some states in the United States that lifted mask mandates are suffering the consequences of that with increasing numbers of cases while we are continuing to to see decreases," he said.

California struggled with its vaccine rollout like other states, limiting doses to health workers and elderly who were more at risk of being hospitalized or dying. Doses have increased as cases have tapered, and the high number of infections over the winter also led to a certain level of natural immunity.

Only weeks ago, counties struggled to get doses. The state limited eligibility for the precious vaccine, and stories abounded of cheaters jumping the line to get a shot.

The Vaccine Spotter website that helps book appointments showed a map Thursday with state awash in green dots, indicating available appointments. Many were available the same day, and some sites were allowing people to show up without appointments.

Los Angeles County opened up sites in Palmdale and Lancaster to walk-ups. The largest mass vaccination clinic in Napa County saw demand drop from a flood to a trickle just days after California last week expanded vaccine eligibility to everyone 16 and older. It's also allowing walk-ins.

"We definitely have the capacity, the will and the volunteers and the commitment from everyone doing this work in Napa County," county spokeswoman Janet Upton said. "But now what we're lacking is, seemingly, public interest."

California has about 40 million residents, and a little more than half the 32 million eligible for vaccines have gotten at least one shot.

A combination of vaccine hesitancy based on reports of rare complications along with misinformation and conspiracy theories and a sense among some that the danger has waned has led to complacency for some.

Los Angeles County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer tried to persuade more people to set aside worries about the vaccine, noting that the chance of a serious side effect is the same as dying in a 200-mile road trip that most people would not hesitate to take.

"The risk of having a serious side effect from COVID vaccine is about one in a million,″ she said. "We take these tiny risks every day as we go about our lives because we know what's on the other side of it is so worthwhile. Similarly, the return to normal that's on the other side of vaccination is worthwhile."

With the rollout of the vaccine, mortuaries that had run out of space have returned to normal.

"It's the difference between night and day," said Todd Beckley, the general manager of Inglewood Cemetery Mortuary. "There was a time where we had nine deaths a day, and they were all COVID. We haven't had a COVID death in four days."

---

Associated Press writer Robert Jablon contributed to this report.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
California goes from worst to first in virus infections

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The death count was staggering - so many that morgues filled and refrigerated trucks were brought in to handle the overflow. Now as cases spike in other parts of the country, California has gone from worst to first with the lowest infection rate in the U.S.

# data[].attributes.body
The U.S military was sent to help and find a Indonesia submarine.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
In 2000, the Kursk, a Russian navy sub, sank during manoeuvres in the Barents Sea with the loss of all 118 crew. An inquiry found that one torpedo had exploded, detonating all the others. Most of the Kursk's crew died instantly but some survived for several days before suffocating.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
US joins race to find stricken Indonesia submarine

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
In 2000, the Kursk, a Russian navy sub, sank during manoeuvres in the Barents Sea with the loss of all 118 crew. An inquiry found that one torpedo had exploded, detonating all the others. Most of the Kursk's crew died instantly but some survived for several days before suffocating.

# data[].attributes.body
Four astronauts, including two from NASA, one from JAXA, and one from ESA. The astronauts bound to the International Space Station launched from Florida early Friday morning. This began a new era of reusability in human space exploration. The astronauts are to stay at the station for a six month science mission.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
NASA's SpaceX Crew-2 mission is scheduled for liftoff at 5:49 a.m. ET on Friday.

Four astronauts from three countries are set to launch from the Florida coast to the International Space Station early Friday morning as part of NASA's SpaceX Crew-2 mission.

Friday's launch marks only the third time that Elon Musk's private space-faring firm has flown astronauts.

It ushers in a new era of reusability in human space exploration, as it will use the same Falcon 9 rocket that sent four astronauts to the ISS last November and the same Crew Dragon spacecraft that sent and returned two astronauts during the first crewed SpaceX flight last May.

The crew is composed of NASA astronauts Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur as well as Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Akihiko Hoshide and European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Thomas Pesquet. They are set to stay on the space station for a six-month science mission.

"I met with the crew last night, they are ready to go," NASA's Acting Administrator Steve Jurczyk​​ said at a pre-launch news conference from the Kennedy Space Center on Wednesday. "I asked them what they look forward to most in the mission, and they said launching and getting up on station and getting to work."

He lauded that this marks the "third launch in less than a year" for NASA's Commercial Crew program, which tapped private sector firms such as SpaceX to help bring launch capabilities back to U.S. soil after a nearly decade-long dependency on Russia.

The launch was originally scheduled for early Thursday morning but was moved to Friday due to downrange inclement weather. Currently, liftoff is scheduled for 5:49 a.m. ET on Friday from the historic Launch Complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The Crew Dragon spacecraft is scheduled to dock to the space station about 5:10 a.m. ET on Saturday.

As of Thursday, the U.S. Space Force 45th Weather Squadron forecast a 90% chance of favorable weather conditions in the area for a launch.

NASA's live coverage of the launch kicks off at 1:30 a.m. ET on its website and social media accounts.

Jurczyk said Wednesday that NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory team received a call earlier this week from President Joe Biden, who congratulated the researchers on their success in conducting the first controlled flight on another planet.

"He told the team that his grandson asked him when was he going to travel to Mars," Jurczyk said. "So that's something really important that we do."

"We enable commercial activities in space, we demonstrate leadership, and we inspire the next generation," he said.

Meet the crew

McArthur, the mission's pilot, is married to fellow astronaut Bob Behnken, who was part of the historic first NASA-SpaceX mission last May. In a previous interview, Behnken said this time it's "her turn to focus on getting her mission accomplished" and his turn to watch their young son.

Kimbrough, 53, is an Army veteran and the mission's commander. The father of three has logged some 189 days in space and first joined NASA as a flight simulation engineer in 2000.

Hoshide, 52, is a native of Tokyo and will serve as a mission specialist for Crew-2. He went on his first spaceflight in 2008, and in 2012 spent 124 days on the ISS.

Pesquet, 43, is the first ESA astronaut to join a NASA-SpaceX mission. He has also logged a chunk of time aboard the ISS, spending six months on the station in 2016. The French astronaut will serve as a mission specialist.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
SpaceX to launch 4 astronauts to ISS on recycled rocket and capsule

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
NASA's SpaceX Crew-2 mission is scheduled for liftoff at 5:49 a.m. ET on Friday. Four astronauts from three countries are set to launch from the Florida coast to the International Space Station early Friday morning as part of NASA's SpaceX Crew-2 mission. Friday's launch marks only the third time that Elon Musk's private space-faring firm has flown astronauts.

# data[].attributes.body
The Senate voted 94-1 in favor of an amended bill aimed at combating the rise in anti-Asian hate crimes. The vote proved an increasingly rare show across the evenly divided Senate. "This long overdue bill sends two messages: to our Asian American friends, we will not tolerate bigotry against you, and to those perpetrating anti-Asian bigotry, we will pursue you to the fullest extent of the law," Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The Senate voted 94-1 in favor of an amended bill aimed at combatting the rise in anti-Asian hate crimes. The resounding vote proved an increasingly rare show of across-the-aisle goodwill in the evenly divided Senate.

Sponsored by Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, the legislation takes relatively modest steps to equip law enforcement and communities to better deal with the rise in attacks against Asian American and Pacific Islanders. It also requires the Department of Justice to appoint or designate someone to assist with an expedited review of hate crimes.

"This long overdue bill sends two messages: to our Asian American friends, we will not tolerate bigotry against you, and to those perpetrating anti-Asian bigotry, we will pursue you to the fullest extent of the law," Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said in floor remarks shortly before the vote Thursday. "We cannot -- we cannot allow the recent tide of bigotry, intolerance and prejudice against Asian Americans go unchecked."

"By passing this bill, we tell our law enforcement agency to prioritize anti-Asian violence, and wield the sword to detect, deter and prosecute, hate crimes of all variety. We send a clear message, a unified message that hate has no place in America," he continued.

Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., was the lone dissenting vote on Thursday.

"It's too broad," he said in a statement to ABC News. "As a former prosecutor, my view is it's dangerous to simply give the federal government open-ended authority to define a whole new class of federal hate crime incidents."

Schumer applauded the Senate for working across the aisle to garner robust support.

"The vote today on the Anti-Asian hate crimes bill is proof that when the senate is given the opportunity to work the Senate can work to solve important issues," Schumer said.

The bill now heads to the House, where House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer told ABC News he anticipates it will move expeditiously.

"Addressing AAPI hate crimes remains a top priority for House Democrats," Hoyer said.

"We will take action on this issue soon," he added.

President Joe Biden has already backed the legislation and urged Congress to act swiftly.

Alongside Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., Hirono introduced the legislation after the shooting of eight people, including six Asian women, at several spas in the Atlanta area last month. That shooting followed a general rise in anti-Asian sentiments across the United States.

Hirono, who is Japanese American, said she's been experiencing the rise in anti-Asian sentiments since the start of the pandemic.

"It certainly gives me pause," Hirono said on ABC's "The View" on Monday. "I used to walk around listening to audio tapes with my ear pods on. I don't do that anymore, I need to be very aware of my surroundings."

The non-profit reporting organization, Stop AAPI Hate, documented nearly 3,800 incidents over a year during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said earlier this month that he would support this bill with the appropriate amendments. He referenced the experiences of his wife, former Trump administration official Elaine Chao.

"I can tell you as a proud husband of an Asian American woman -- I think this discrimination against Asian Americans is a real problem," McConnell said at a press conference last week. "It preceded the murders that were recently on full display. I'm hoping we can work out an agreement to get on the bill in a normal way, have some amendments, and move forward to final passage."

Most Republicans supported the legislation after a series of behind-the-scenes bipartisan discussions yielded several changes.

One of those changes, which was a chief focus for Republicans, secures a tweak in language in the original bill that tied hate crimes to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and other Republicans had expressed concern that proving this link would be too onerous for law enforcement officials.

An amendment offered by Collins and Hirono struck that language, allowing the bill to apply more broadly. Still, Hirono and other Democrats have been insistent that the rise in anti-Asian sentiments is tied to the COVID-19 pandemic.

They said the blame falls partially on former President Donald Trump, who referred to COVID-19 as the "China Virus" and "Kung Flu."

The Senate-passed bill also contains ​an amendment from Sens. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Jerry Moran, R-Kan., to provide additional money for states and localities to establish hotlines for hate crime reporting. Their amendment also allows judges to assign hate-crime perpetrators rehabilitative work within the community that they targeted.
ABC News' Mariam Khan and Lauren King contributed to this report.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Anti-Asian hate bill clears Senate with bipartisan support

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Senate voted 94-1 in favor of an amended bill aimed at combatting the rise in anti-Asian hate crimes. The resounding vote proved an increasingly rare show of across-the-aisle goodwill in the evenly divided Senate. Sponsored by Sen.

# data[].attributes.body
Space X has successfully re-used a rocket engine and capsule for the first time, sending 4 astronauts into space on Friday.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
SpaceX launched four astronauts toward orbit Friday using a recycled rocket and capsule, the third crew flight in less than a year for Elon Musk's rapidly expanding company.

The astronauts from the U.S., Japan and France should reach the International Space Station early Saturday morning, following a 23-hour ride in the same Dragon capsule used by SpaceX's debut crew last May. They'll spend six months at the orbiting lab.

It was the first time SpaceX reused a capsule and rocket to launch astronauts for NASA, after years of proving the capability on station supply runs. The rocket was used last November on the company's second astronaut flight.

Embracing the trend, spacecraft commander Shane Kimbrough and his crew weeks ago wrote their initials in the rocket's soot, hoping to start a tradition.

For NASA astronaut Megan McArthur, it was a bit of deja vu. She launched in the same seat in the same capsule as her husband, Bob Behnken, did during SpaceX's first crew flight. This time it was Behnken and their 7-year-old son waving goodbye. McArthur blew kisses and offered virtual hugs.

Also flying SpaceX on Friday: Japan's Akihiko Hoshide and France's Thomas Pesquet, the first European to launch in a commercial crew capsule.

A masked Musk met briefly with the astronauts at NASA's Kennedy Space Center before they boarded white gull-winged Teslas from his electric car company. The astronauts' spouses and children huddled around the cars for one last "love you" before the caravan pulled away and headed to the pad in the predawn darkness.

Despite the early hour, spectators lined surrounding roads to watch the Falcon take flight an hour before sunrise. Liftoff was delayed a day to take advantage of better weather along the East Coast in case of a launch abort and emergency splashdown.

NASA limited the number of launch guests because of COVID-19, but SpaceX's next private passengers made the cut. Tech billionaire Jared Isaacman, who's bought a three-day flight, watched the Falcon soar with the three people who will accompany him. Their capsule is still at the space station and due back on Earth with four astronauts next Wednesday. It will be refurbished in time for a September liftoff.

For Friday's automated flight, SpaceX replaced some valves and thermal shielding, and installed new parachutes on the capsule, named Endeavour after NASA's retired space shuttle. Otherwise, the spacecraft is the same vehicle that flew before.

"We're thrilled to have a crew on Endeavour once again," SpaceX Launch Control radioed minutes before liftoff.

The first-stage booster aimed for a touchdown on an ocean platform nine minutes after liftoff.

Rapid reusability is critical to Musk's effort to open space to everyone, land NASA's next moonwalkers and, his loftiest goal by far, build a city on Mars.

Musk will go a long way toward achieving that first objective with the private flight in September. It will be followed in October by SpaceX's fourth crew launch for NASA.

SpaceX picked up the station slack for NASA after the space agency's shuttles retired in 2011, starting with supply runs the following year. The big draw was last year's return of astronaut launches to Florida. "It's awesome to have this regular cadence again," said Kennedy's director Robert Cabana, a former shuttle commander.

Boeing, NASA's other contracted crew transporter, isn't expected to start launching NASA astronauts until early next year. First, it needs to repeat a test flight of an empty Starliner capsule, possibly in late summer, to make up for its software-plagued debut in December 2019.

Last week, SpaceX beat out two other companies, including Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin, to land astronauts on the moon for NASA in three or more years. They'll descend to the lunar surface in Starship, the shiny, bullet-shaped rocketship that Musk is testing in the skies over Texas, with fiery, explosive results.

"It's a great time to be here, and we're very excited," the European Space Agency's Frank De Winne, an astronaut turned manager, said shortly before liftoff.

The space station eventually will come to an end, he noted, but the partnership will continue amid hopes of "European astronauts one day walking on the surface of the moon."

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
NASA, SpaceX launch astronauts to space station on reused rocket

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
SpaceX launched four astronauts toward orbit Friday using a recycled rocket and capsule, the third crew flight in less than a year for Elon Musk's rapidly expanding company. The astronauts from the U.S., Japan and France should reach the International Space Station early Saturday morning, following a 23-hour ride in the same Dragon capsule used by SpaceX's debut crew last May.

# data[].attributes.body
With the number of vaccinated Americans rising along with the temperature, people are beginning to spend more time outside. Many people are questioning if they still need to wear masks outside. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said that masks might not be needed outside when you are away from others or with people from your household. The CDC hasn't said anything specific about vaccinated people yet.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.keywords[]
do we still need to wear a mask outdoors? - cnn

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Do we still need to wear a mask outdoors?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Do people need to wear masks outside to protect against coronavirus? The risk of outdoor transmission is very low, experts say.

# data[].attributes.body
In 1996 Kristin Smart was coming home from a college party when she went missing. Ruben Flores is the father to the suspect that has been charged with her murder, he has now been arrested as an accessory to the murder and disappearance. It is suspected that he moved her body off of his property. The parents are sueing him for not letting her have a propper burial and to let the parents lay her to rest repectfully.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The complaint claims Ruben Flores caused them "severe emotional distress."

The parents of Kristin Smart, a California college student who disappeared in 1996 while walking home from a party, have filed a lawsuit against the father of the suspect charged with her murder, saying he caused them "severe emotional distress" over allegedly removing her body from his property.

Ruben Flores, 80, was arrested last week and charged as an accessory to murder in connection with Smart's disappearance. He is accused of helping conceal Smart's body after the murder, prosecutors said.

His son, Paul Flores, 44, who walked Smart home from the party and previously was named the "prime suspect," was arrested and charged with her murder.

Both Paul and Ruben Flores have pleaded not guilty to their charges.

In a lawsuit obtained by ABC News on Thursday, Stan and Denise Smart alleged that in February 2020, Ruben Flores removed their daughter's remains from his home in Arroyo Grande, California, days after the San Luis Obispo County sheriff's department served him a search warrant.

The lawsuit also alleged that two other unidentified individuals helped him move the body from its burial below his deck "under the cover of darkness."

The body was allegedly taken to another location in San Luis Obispo County "to cover up the complicity of Paul Flores in the death of Kristin Smart" and to ensure the remains "would not be found should another search warrant be executed," the suit alleged, based on "information and belief."

The sheriff's office conducted another search of Ruben Flores' property in March, about a month before he and his son were arrested.

Smart's remains still have not been found, authorities said.

The lawsuit alleged Ruben Flores and the two unnamed individuals "committed acts of such viciousness, depravity and cruelty as to, by their definition, cause severe emotional distress" to Smart's parents.

The alleged removal of her remains prevented her parents from having Smart "laid to rest in a place of honor and dignity, as opposed to the present circumstances where their daughter's body was discarded like human garbage," according to the lawsuit.

The family is seeking damages in an amount to be determined at trial, the civil complaint stated.

Prosecutors have also alleged that Smart's body was "recently" moved after being buried under Ruben Flores' deck, according to a court document obtained by the San Luis Obispo Tribune earlier this week.

During bail arguments Monday, defense attorney Harold Mesick said the evidence against Ruben Flores was "so minimal as to shock the conscience," the Associated Press reported.

ABC News reached out to Mesick for comment on the lawsuit, though a judge has issued a gag order preventing lawyers from speaking about the case outside the courtroom.
ABC News' Jennifer Watts contributed to this report.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Kristin Smart's parents sue murder suspect's father for allegedly moving her body

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The complaint claims Ruben Flores caused them "severe emotional distress." The parents of Kristin Smart, a California college student who disappeared in 1996 while walking home from a party, have filed a lawsuit against the father of the suspect charged with her murder, saying he caused them "severe emotional distress" over allegedly removing her body from his property.

# data[].attributes.body
In India this past week, they have been having ridiculous covid numbers. They reported 330,000 new cases in a span of 24 hours. Their health system is collapsing, and vaccines are being stolen.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
MUMBAI - Sagar Kishore Naharshetivar has been driving a van around southern India with his father lying in the back, hooked up to an oxygen tank. His father has COVID-19 and needs treatment. This past week, they've tried hospitals in three different towns, even crossing state lines from Maharashtra to Telangana.

All the hospitals are full.

"We can't find a hospital bed for him, but I can't just take him home after all this, in his condition," Naharshetivar told local TV, speaking through a pink patterned bandana in lieu of a mask. They've been driving for 24 hours, he says. He glances back at his father, nervously. "His oxygen is running out."

Some 800 miles away in the capital New Delhi, several COVID patients died on gurneys outside another hospital overnight Wednesday as relatives jostled them toward a crowded entrance. They couldn't get through the door in time.

On the other side of the country in Gujarat, in western India, a man sobs over the body of his relative, a cancer patient who'd also tested positive for the coronavirus and died in the parking lot of yet another overcrowded hospital, unable to get care. Arguments erupted over who was to blame.

Ghastly scenes are playing out at hospitals and clinics across India, as the country's health system collapses under a sudden spike in coronavirus cases. On Thursday, India confirmed nearly 315,000 new infections over the 24 hours preceding - the highest single-day tally for any country on any day since the pandemic began.

As the health system breaks down, so does law and order: Oxygen tankers are traveling under police guard to fend off looters. Vaccines have been stolen from a hospital warehouse. And the black market trade in medical equipment has soared.

People are stockpiling oxygen tanks at home, figuring there's no use in even trying to get into a hospital anymore.

Social media is full of desperate pleas from Indians seeking hospital beds, oxygen, anti-viral drugs, vaccines. One veteran journalist live-tweeted his declining oxygen levels, until he died.

"I have never felt so desperate or helpless," Dr. Trupti Gilada said in a Facebook video she recorded of herself, weeping, as she huddled in her car outside the Mumbai hospital where she works. "We are seeing young people. We have a 35-year-old who's on a ventilator. Please pray for our patients."
Why the sudden spike?
On graphs, India's sudden spike in new infections shoots straight up like a wall, rather than a rising curve. The surge has bewildered Indians, coming just after their country's caseload plummeted to record lows in February.

"Popular belief in the country, from the public to policy-makers, was that India will not have a second wave - and unfortunately that let the guard down," says Dr. K. Srinath Reddy, an epidemiologist and public health expert who serves on a technical task force advising the Indian government on COVID-19. "It's clear that the marked opening of society - with travel, local elections, religious gatherings, weddings - led to super-spreader events. And the emergence of variants certainly added speed."

Last month, India's Health Ministry announced it had detected 771 variants of the coronavirus in India, including ones first identified in the United Kingdom, South Africa and Brazil, as well as what they're calling a new "double mutant" variant. (That name may be misleading, because all variants have multiple mutations, and this one has since been given a better name: B1617.) In that variant, Indian scientists say they're studying two mutations that may increase the infectiousness of the virus and also help it evade vaccines.

Fears have escalated as Indian media carry reports of fully-vaccinated people getting sick, including former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, 88, who was hospitalized with COVID-19 nearly three weeks after his second vaccine dose April 3. As of Tuesday, his condition was stable.

But experts say those fears of vaccine inefficacy are not yet backed up by science. It's unclear how ill any of those fully-vaccinated people have become, and which of the hundreds of variants circulating around India they caught. The Health Ministry says it has administered 132 million vaccine doses so far, in a population of nearly 1.4 billion. That means fewer than 10% of people have received one dose, and fewer than 2% have gotten both. On Tuesday, the Indian government released data showing that only 0.03% or 0.04% of fully-vaccinated people had tested positive for the coronavirus. India has been administering two vaccines that have shown high rates of efficacy in clinical trials: the Oxford-AstraZeneca one and another made by the Indian company Bharat Biotech.

"Even if this [B1617] strain is the worst case - and it would be really, really bad news for India - if other countries put in place now the kind of border measures we've seen work, we could potentially stop it going global," says Christina Pagal, a mathematician at University College London who's been tracking coronavirus variants. "We need to act now out of precaution."

This week, the U.K. restricted most travel from India. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also told Americans to avoid all travel to India even if they've been fully-vaccinated. Both governments cited India's variants.
A grim world record
India's daily tally announced on Thursday exceeded the previous record of 313,310 cases set by the United States on Jan. 8, according to the CDC. But with testing kits also in short supply across India, that number may represent only a fraction of the infections nationwide.

Confirmed deaths from the coronavirus also broke an Indian record Thursday, with 2,104 fatalities recorded in the previous 24 hours. But deaths too may be drastically undercounted, because many of the people dying outside hospitals never got tested. Bodies are piling up in morgues. Crematoriums can't work fast enough.

"The second COVID-19 wave has come like a storm," Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Tuesday in a televised address to the nation.

In response, Modi's government announced it would open up vaccinations on May 1 to anyone over age 18. (Until now, only those over age 45, or frontline workers, have been eligible.) But earlier this month, hundreds of clinics across the country ran out of doses. People showed up for their appointments to find signs taped to hospital gates saying their vaccination clinics were closed for lack of supply.

It was a sudden turnaround for a country that has prided itself on being the world's biggest vaccine producer. India had been exporting COVID vaccines. But amid shortages, the CEO of India's largest manufacturer, the Serum Institute of India, tweeted a plea last week to President Biden, asking him to lift an export ban on raw materials. While Serum's vaccines are made in India, it imports sterile materials from the U.S. to do so. On Monday, India's government also approved a $610 million grant to help boost Serum's production.

Nevertheless, opposition politicians say Modi has acted irresponsibly. In recent weeks, he presided over huge election rallies in West Bengal, one of five regions holding state elections throughout this month. On Thursday, Modi's close aide and home minister, Amit Shah, had at least three rallies scheduled, though attendance was belatedly capped at 500 people.

Indian officials also refused to curb this month's Kumbh Mela, one of the largest gatherings of people in the world, where millions of Hindu faithful take a ritual dip in the Ganges River. Thousands of participants tested positive for the coronavirus in the aftermath of the event, and at least one religious leader died. Last weekend, Modi tweeted that the rest of Kumbh Mela should be held "symbolically."

In his address to the nation Tuesday, Modi ruled out another national lockdown, telling Indian states that local lockdowns should be implemented only as a last resort. "Try as much as possible to protect yourselves from lockdown," Modi said. "Focus on micro-containment zones."

For example, apartment buildings where people test positive for the coronavirus have been sealed off, with no one allowed to enter or exit. Police patrol their perimeter. In India's two biggest cities, Mumbai and Delhi, local lockdowns are already in place. Only essential travel is allowed, with a permit. Everyone except for frontline workers have been told to work from home. Residents aren't allowed to go for a stroll or jog, or they'll be fined.

In March 2020, when coronavirus cases were relatively low in India, Modi imposed the world's biggest national lockdown. Residents were given barely four hours' notice to stay in their homes. The economic cost was painful: India's economy shrank nearly 24%, and there were cases of migrant workers starving in the streets.

This week, amid fresh restrictions in Delhi, one of the capital's main bus stations was once again packed with migrant workers, trying to escape the city for their home villages. There was little physical distancing.

Back in southern India, after 24 hours of driving his father from hospital to hospital, Naharshetivar doesn't know how much longer he can do this. He stares into a local TV crew's video camera and issues a plea.

"If you can't give my father a hospital bed, please, is there a doctor who can just give him an injection?" he begs. "Can you help my father die [without suffering]?"
NPR producer Sushmita Pathak contributed to this story from Hyderabad, India.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
How India Went From A Ray Of Hope To A World Record For Most COVID Cases In A Day

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
MUMBAI - Sagar Kishore Naharshetivar has been driving a van around southern India with his father lying in the back, hooked up to an oxygen tank. His father has COVID-19 and needs treatment. This past week, they've tried hospitals in three different towns, even crossing state lines from Maharashtra to Telangana.

# data[].attributes.body
A George Floyd mural in Houston was defaced with a racial slur overnight Thursday, a little more than a day after the former police officer who keeled on his neck was found guilty of 3 charges against him. Someone spray-painted the slur followed by "lives don't matter," in a warping of the name of the Black Lives Matter movement.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
A George Floyd mural in Houston was defaced with a racial slur overnight Thursday, a little more than a day after the former police officer who kneeled on his neck was found guilty of murder in Minnesota.

Someone spray-painted the slur followed by "lives don't matter," in a warping of the name of the Black Lives Matter movement.

"Let me tell you something, and I want everybody to understand: Ignorant people with bad hearts and bad motivations - do not give them the power. Don't give them the power," Houston Police Chief Troy Finner said Thursday.

On Tuesday a Minneapolis jury found former police officer Derek Chauvin guilty of murder and manslaughter in the death of Floyd on May 25.

Chauvin, who is white, kneeled on the neck of Floyd, who is Black, for around nine minutes. Floyd's death and the shocking video of the encounter touched off protests around the world against police brutality and calling for racial justice.

The mural in downtown Houston was restored by the artist Thursday afternoon, NBC affiliate KPRC of Houston reported. It was painted last year.

"As a human, it's just wrong to do something like that," Daniel Anguilu told reporters.

"My intention with this mural and with a group of friends when we painted it was of support, first, but also to help our communities heal from some of the issues that we're facing," he said. "So, it's a reminder that we just have to keep working."

Floyd, who was 46, grew up in Houston and was raised in the city's Third Ward.

Finner, the police chief, said that Houston sticks together and would celebrate being what he called a great, diverse and sophisticated city.

"We're going to stand together. We're going to uplift the good; push down the negative stuff," he said. "Because we don't have time for it."

He said if the person is caught they will be held accountable. Police were checking for surveillance video and canvassing the area for witnesses Thursday, KPRC reported.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
George Floyd mural in Houston defaced with racial slur

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
A George Floyd mural in Houston was defaced with a racial slur overnight Thursday, a little more than a day after the former police officer who kneeled on his neck was found guilty of murder in Minnesota. Someone spray-painted the slur followed by "lives don't matter," in a warping of the name of the Black Lives Matter movement.

# data[].attributes.body
An Indonesian submarine with 53 crew members have gone missing. Their last reported dive was on Wednesday and hasn't been seen since. Malaysia, Singapore, and the US have provided resources to help find the submarine. They are expected to run out of oxygen on Saturday.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
By Yuddy Cahya Budiman and Sultan Anshori

BANYUWANGI/DENPASAR, Indonesia (Reuters) -Rescue teams from several countries were battling against time on Friday to find a missing Indonesian Navy submarine lost in the Bali Sea with 53 crew, which would be rapidly running out of oxygen if not already crushed by water pressure.

Search helicopters and more navy ships left Bali and a naval base in Java at first light heading to the area where contact was lost with the 44-year-old KRI Nanggala-402 on Wednesday as it prepared to conduct a torpedo drill.

"The main priority is the safety of the 53 crew members," President Joko Widodo said late on Thursday.

Indonesia's navy said it was investigating whether the submarine lost power during a dive and could not carry out emergency procedures as it descended to a depth of 600-700 metres, well beyond its survivable limits.

An object with "high magnetic force" had been spotted "floating" at a depth of 50-100 metres, Indonesian Navy Chief of Staff Yudo Margono said, and an aerial search had earlier spotted an oil spill near the submarine's last location.

If the submarine was still intact, officials said it would only have enough air to last about another 15 hours until early Saturday morning.

The diesel-electric powered submarine could withstand a depth of up to 500 metres (1,640 ft) but anything more could be fatal, Navy spokesman Julius Widjojono said. The Bali Sea can reach depths of more than 1,500 metres.

One of the people on board the boat was the commander of the Indonesian submarine fleet, Harry Setiawan.

An Indonesian defence expert said the crew could still be found alive.

"But if the submarine is in a 700-metre sea trough, it will be difficult for them to survive because underwater pressure will cause cracks and ruptures of the steel hull," Connie Rahakundini Bakrie said.

DISTRAUGHT RELATIVES AWAIT NEWS

The submarine joined the Indonesian fleet in 1981, according to the defence ministry, and underwent a refit in South Korea completed in 2012. It was said to be in good condition.

"I hope that they will be found alive," said Berda Asmara, the wife of crew member Guntur Ari Prasetyo, 39, who has sailed on the Nanggala for 10 years.

"We had a video call. He told me that he would go sailing and asked me to pray for him," she said of the last time they spoke.

Australia, India, Malaysia, Singapore and the United States have sent specialised ships or aircraft in response to Indonesian requests for assistance.

The U.S. Defence Department is sending "airborne assets" to assist in the submarine search, a Pentagon spokesman said.

Two Australian Navy ships were heading for the search area including a frigate with special sonar capabilities, the defence department said.

Indonesia operates five submarines - two German-built Type 209s including Nanggala and three newer South Korean vessels.

It has been seeking to modernise its defence capabilities but some of its equipment is old and there have been fatal accidents in recent years.

(Additional reporting by Agustinus Beo Da Costa in Jakarta and Ajeng Dinar Ulfiani in Banyuwangi, Colin Packham in Canberra and Idrees Ali in Washington; Writing by Ed Davies; Editing by Stephen Coates)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Time running out for missing Indonesian submarine as U.S. joins search

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
BANYUWANGI/DENPASAR, Indonesia (Reuters) -Rescue teams from several countries were battling against time on Friday to find a missing Indonesian Navy submarine lost in the Bali Sea with 53 crew, which would be rapidly running out of oxygen if not already crushed by water pressure.

# data[].attributes.body
President Moon Jae-in of South Korea urged Biden to do something about denuclearizing North Korea. He stated that it was "a matter of survival" . He will be coming to the US in the next month to discuss his concerns.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
President Moon Jae-in of South Korea in Seoul on Friday. Credit... Chang W. Lee/The New York Times

In an interview with The New York Times, President Moon Jae-in of South Korea urged the United States to sit down with North Korea.

President Moon Jae-in of South Korea in Seoul on Friday. Credit... Chang W. Lee/The New York Times

SEOUL - ​President Moon Jae-in of South Korea has a message for the United States: President Biden needs to engage now with North Korea.

In an interview with The New York Times, Mr. Moon pushed the American leader to kick-start negotiations with the government of Kim Jong-un, the leader of North Korea, after two years in which diplomatic progress stalled, even reversed. Denuclearization, the South Korean president said, was a "matter of survival" for his country.

He also urged the United States to cooperate with China on North Korea and other issues of global concern, including climate change. The deteriorating relations between the superpowers, he said, could undermine any negotiations over denuclearization.

"If tensions between the United States and China intensify, North Korea can take advantage of it and capitalize on it," Mr. Moon said.

It was part plea, part sales pitch from Mr. Moon, who sat down with The Times as the United States tries to rebuild its relationships in the region with an eye to countering China's influence, and North Korea builds up its nuclear arsenal. Mr. Moon, who is set to meet with Mr. Biden next month in Washington, appeared ready to step once again into the role of mediator between the two sides.

In the interview, Mr. Moon ​was proud of his deft diplomatic maneuvering in 2018, when he steered the two unpredictable leaders of North Korea and the United States to meet in person. He was also pragmatic, tacitly acknowledging that ​his work to achieve denuclearization and ​peace on the Korean Peninsula has since unraveled.

President Donald J. Trump left office without removing a single North Korean nuclear warhead. Mr. Kim has resumed weapons tests. ​

"He beat around the bush and failed to pull it through," Mr. Moon said of Mr. Trump's efforts on North Korea. "The most important starting point for both governments is to have the will for dialogue and to sit down face to face at an early date."

Now in his final year in office, Mr. Moon is determined to start all over again​ - and knows he faces a very different leader in Mr. Biden.

Mr. Moon bet on Mr. Trump's style, emphasizing personality-driven "top-down diplomacy" through one-on-one meetings with Mr. Kim. Mr. Biden, he said, was returning to the traditional "bottom-up" approach in which negotiators haggle over details before seeking approval from their bosses.

"I hope that Biden will go down as a historic president that has achieved substantive and irreversible progress for the complete denuclearization and peace settlement on the Korean Peninsula," Mr. Moon said in the interview from Sangchunjae, a traditional hanok on the grounds of the executive residence, Blue House.

Image

South Koreans, including this group at a train station in Seoul, closely watched the outcome of the U.S. presidential election in November. President Donald J. Trump tried and failed to broker a nuclear deal with North Korea. Credit... Jung Yeon-Je/Agence France-Presse - Getty Images

Mr. Moon's visit to Washington comes at a crucial moment. The Biden administration is wrapping up its monthslong policy review of North Korea, one of the most pressing geopolitical issues for the United States.

​Mr. Biden ​has started reversing many of his predecessor's foreign policy decisions​. But Mr. Moon ​warned that it would be a mistake to kill the 2018 Singapore agreement between Mr. Trump and Mr. Kim ​that set out broad goals for denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula. ​

"I believe that if we build on what President Trump has left, we will see this effort come to fruition under Biden's leadership," he said.

Mr. Moon called for the United States and North Korea to ​move in "gradual and phased" ​steps toward denuclearization​, exchanging concessions and incentives "simultaneously"​ along the way. It was a well-worn script for Mr. Moon, who paused occasionally during the interview to reference his notes and punctuated his speech with small yet resolute hand gestures.

Some past American negotiators and Mr. Moon's conservative critics dismiss such a strategy, saying North Korea would stall and undermine international sanctions, the best leverage Washington has against the impoverished country. In its annual threat assessment released last week, the United States' director of national intelligence said Mr. Kim "believes that over time he will gain international acceptance and respect as a nuclear power."

But Mr. Moon's team argues that the phased approach is the most realistic, even if it is imperfect. As his administration sees it, North Korea would never give up its arsenal in one quick deal, lest the regime lose its only bargaining chip with Washington.

The key​​, Mr. Moon said, is for the United States and North Korea to work out a "mutually trusted road map."

American negotiators under Mr. Trump never made it to that point. Both sides could not even agree on a first step for the North and what reward Washington would provide in return.

Mr. Moon is not only scrambling to salvage his "Korean Peninsula Peace Process" but also arguably his greatest diplomatic legacy.

As his North Korea policy has faltered, critics have called him a naïve pacifist who bet too much on Mr. Kim's unproven commitment to denuclearization.

"His good intentions brought bad consequences," said Kim Sung-han, a professor at Korea University. "His mediation has not worked nor do we have progress in denuclearization. His time is running out."

Since the negotiations have stalled, Mr. Moon's troubles at home have mounted. His approval ratings have plunged to record lows amid real-estate and other scandals. This month, angry voters delivered crushing defeats to his Democratic Party in the mayoral elections in South Korea's two largest cities.

That is a sharp turn of fortune from the start of his administration, when Mr. Moon parlayed a hair-raising geopolitical crisis into a signature policy initiative.

"When I took office back in 2017, we were really concerned about the possibility of war breaking out once again on the Korean Peninsula," he said.

Four days into his tenure, North Korea launched its Hwasong-12 intermediate-range ballistic missile that it said could target Hawaii and Alaska. Then the North tested a hydrogen bomb and three intercontinental ballistic missiles. In response, Mr. Trump threatened " fire and fury," as American Navy carrier groups steamed toward the peninsula.

Mr. Moon's first diplomatic win came when Mr. Kim accepted his invitation to send a delegation to the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea. Soon after, Mr. Moon met with Mr. Kim on the heavily armed inter-Korean border.

During that meeting, Mr. Moon said the North Korean dictator intimated that disarmament was a real possibility. "If safety can be guaranteed without nuclear weapons, why would I struggle to hold onto them even at the cost of sanctions?" Mr. Moon recalled Mr. Kim saying.

He said he made that pitch to Mr. Trump, imploring him to meet Mr. Kim. At their made-for-TV summit in Singapore, Mr. Trump promised "security guarantees" for North Korea while Mr. Kim committed to "work toward complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula."

"It's clearly an achievement for President Trump that he held the first-ever summit meeting between North Korea and the United States," he said.

But Mr. Moon also lamented that Mr. Trump never followed through, after declaring that " there is no longer a Nuclear Threat from North Korea." When Mr. Kim and Mr. Trump met again in 2019 in Hanoi, Vietnam, the negotiations went nowhere, and the men left without an agreement on how to move forward with the Singapore deal.

While Mr. Moon was careful to dole out praise for Mr. Trump, he also seemed frustrated by the former president's erratic behavior and Twitter diplomacy. Mr. Trump canceled or downsized the annual joint military drills that the United States conducts with the South and demanded what Mr. Moon called an "excessive amount" to keep 28,500 American troops in South Korea.

Mr. Moon said he had decided to suspend negotiations over the so-called defense cost-sharing agreement during Mr. Trump's last months in office. South Korea was willing to pay more, given its growing economic size, but Mr. Trump's demands violated the foundation of the two countries' relationship.

"His demand lacked reasonable and rational calculation," Mr. Moon said.

The fact, he said, that Washington and Seoul could strike a deal within 46 days of Mr. Biden's inauguration was a "clear testament to the importance President Biden attaches to" the alliance.

Mr. Moon is hopeful about the progress the new American leader can make on North Korea, although any significant breakthrough may be unrealistic, given the deep mistrust between Washington and Pyongyang.

Mr. Biden said last month that he was "prepared for some form of diplomacy" with North Korea, but that "it has to be conditioned upon the end result of denuclearization."

North Korea has offered ideas on a phased approach starting with the demolition of its only-known nuclear test site, followed by the dismantling of a rocket engine test facility and the nuclear complex in Yongbyon north of Pyongyang.

Mr. Moon said he believed such steps, if matched with American concessions, could lead to the removal of the North's more prized assets, like I.C.B.M.s. In that scenario, he said, the move toward complete denuclearization becomes "irreversible."

"This dialogue and diplomacy can lead to denuclearization," he said. "If both sides learn from the failure in Hanoi and put their heads together for more realistic ideas, I am confident that they can find a solution."

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
After Trump 'Failed,' South Korean Leader Hopes Biden Can Salvage Nuclear Deal

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
In an interview with The New York Times, President Moon Jae-in of South Korea urged the United States to sit down with North Korea. President Moon Jae-in of South Korea in Seoul on Friday. Credit... Chang W.

# data[].attributes.body
California goes from worst to first in Coronavirus infections.
Just a few months ago California was the epicenter of the Covid pandemic, now as cases spike in other parts of the country California is now first with the lowest infection rate in the U.S.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The death count was staggering - so many that morgues filled and refrigerated trucks were brought in to handle the overflow.

Now as cases spike in other parts of the country, California has gone from worst to first with the lowest infection rate in the U.S. even as it has moved quickly to reopen more businesses with greater customer counts and allow larger gatherings.

A scramble to get COVID-19 vaccinations has given way to an open invite in many places. Where people lined up hours and counties struggled to get doses, there now appears to be a glut of the shots in many locations.

"It has been a success story for California to have gone from our, if you will, viral tsunami that happened after the back-to-back holiday season to where we are now," said Dr. Robert Kim-Farley of the University of California, Los Angeles' public health school.

At the peak of California's winter surge that followed the Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's holidays, the state was recording 40,000 new cases daily and well above 500 deaths per day. Those numbers have dwindled to 2,300 new cases and 68 deaths daily.

The state surpassed Hawaii on Thursday with the lowest average number of cases per capita in the past two weeks, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. One in every 2,416 people in California tested positive in the past week. At the other end of the spectrum, one in every 223 people in Michigan was diagnosed with the virus.

Kim-Farley said it's been like turning around a massive tanker ship to reach today's level of improvement. He credited government and public health agencies with providing clear guidelines that businesses, schools and individuals largely followed, including mask mandates and social distancing.

Gov. Gavin Newsom has been allowing businesses and schools to reopen by county based on case levels. At different points in the pandemic, he has faced heavy criticism for being too restrictive, and now some worry he is moving too quickly.

All counties have improved enough to move out of the strictest of four tiers, and 38 of the 58 counties - accounting for 87% of the state's population - now are in the second least-restrictive tier. Newsom said he plans to lift most remaining coronavirus restrictions by June 15.

The pandemic has surged unevenly across the U.S.

Cases were low in California a year ago, compared with New York, where hospitals were overwhelmed last spring. When California was in the throes of a second winter spike in mid-January, Michigan cases were tapering to a low point in February before surging to the highest current infection rate in the U.S.

Kim-Farley said California's surge had put fear into more people to wear masks, a rule still in place that he said he has helped prevent a resurgence. "Some states in the United States that lifted mask mandates are suffering the consequences of that with increasing numbers of cases while we are continuing to to see decreases," he said.

California struggled with its vaccine rollout like other states, limiting doses to health workers and elderly who were more at risk of being hospitalized or dying. Doses have increased as cases have tapered, and the high number of infections over the winter also led to a certain level of natural immunity.

Only weeks ago, counties struggled to get doses. The state limited eligibility for the precious vaccine, and stories abounded of cheaters jumping the line to get a shot.

The Vaccine Spotter website that helps book appointments showed a map Thursday with state awash in green dots, indicating available appointments. Many were available the same day, and some sites were allowing people to show up without appointments.

Los Angeles County opened up sites in Palmdale and Lancaster to walk-ups. The largest mass vaccination clinic in Napa County saw demand drop from a flood to a trickle just days after California last week expanded vaccine eligibility to everyone 16 and older. It's also allowing walk-ins.

"We definitely have the capacity, the will and the volunteers and the commitment from everyone doing this work in Napa County," county spokeswoman Janet Upton said. "But now what we're lacking is, seemingly, public interest."

California has about 40 million residents, and a little more than half the 32 million eligible for vaccines have gotten at least one shot.

A combination of vaccine hesitancy based on reports of rare complications along with misinformation and conspiracy theories and a sense among some that the danger has waned has led to complacency for some.

Los Angeles County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer tried to persuade more people to set aside worries about the vaccine, noting that the chance of a serious side effect is the same as dying in a 200-mile road trip that most people would not hesitate to take.

"The risk of having a serious side effect from COVID vaccine is about one in a million,″ she said. "We take these tiny risks every day as we go about our lives because we know what's on the other side of it is so worthwhile. Similarly, the return to normal that's on the other side of vaccination is worthwhile."

With the rollout of the vaccine, mortuaries that had run out of space have returned to normal.

"It's the difference between night and day," said Todd Beckley, the general manager of Inglewood Cemetery Mortuary. "There was a time where we had nine deaths a day, and they were all COVID. We haven't had a COVID death in four days."

---

Associated Press writer Robert Jablon contributed to this report.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
California goes from worst to first in virus infections

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The death count was staggering - so many that morgues filled and refrigerated trucks were brought in to handle the overflow. Now as cases spike in other parts of the country, California has gone from worst to first with the lowest infection rate in the U.S.

# data[].attributes.body
In a recent shooting involving an officer and 3 women, An Ohio police officer walked up to three people having a dispute and immediately after walking up one girl (Ma'Khia Bryant) pulled a knife out and began attacking one girl. The officer shot and killed Ma'Khia Bryant ending the dispute. however this has caused backlash and people are saying he should be charged with murder because they believe it was a crime driven by race.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Donavon Brinson, who captured footage of the fatal shooting of an Ohio teen by a police officer, told " The Faulkner Focus" during an exclusive television interview Thursday that, after reviewing the video, he thinks the officer "reacted with what he thought was his best judgment."

Brinson told host Harris Faulkner that he did not witness the incident himself, but saw what had happened after reviewing his surveillance video from his home, which is located across the street from where the shooting took place on Tuesday afternoon.
COLUMBUS MAYOR SAYS OFFICER 'TOOK ACTION TO PROTECT ANOTHER YOUNG GIRL'
Brinson stressed that "the video doesn't lie."

He said that the officer "did what he thought was best" given that he only had seconds to react.

Ma'Khia Bryant, 16, has been identified by her family as the person who was killed in east Columbus after someone called the police. Body camera footage released by police showed the teen attacking two other people with what appeared to be a knife before a responding officer fired multiple shots. She later was pronounced dead at a local hospital.

"This never should have happened," the teen's mother, Paula Bryant, told 10TV in a teary-eyed report. "She's a loving girl."

According to Franklin County Children Services, Bryant was a foster child under their care.

Police say they were called to the scene around 4:30 p.m. after receiving a report of someone attempting to stab other individuals at a home.

The bodycam footage shows that as soon as police arrived, a young female tackled another female to the ground, having what appeared to be a knife in her hand. The girl can then be seen charging at another female while raising the purported knife in the air - at which point the officer opened fire.

Brinson noted that the officer was not faced with many choices, since he "only had seconds to respond."

"From my point of view watching this, unfortunately, the whole scenario put him in a bad spot regardless of what the situation was," Brinson said.

Brinson then ran through the possible situations: "He could have either not fired and the young lady in pink could have got stabbed in the neck or would have been fatally injured and then responded and shot and that would have been two young ladies possibly dead, or he could have responded the way that he did and unfortunately one lady lost her life in the incident that probably could have been avoided."

Brinson also told Faulkner he was not sure exactly what the fight was about, but noted that when he and his wife were coming home from a late lunch they came across "a young lady in pink and another young lady out front exchanging words."

"We didn't think too much about it, but they were very, very loud. You could tell they were upset about something," he continued.

He also said he saw one of the girls locking another girl out of the house, "and they said something about, 'How dare you lock me out of my mama's house. This is my house too.'"

Brinson said he thought the incident would resolve itself, the door would get unlocked, "and it will be done and over with." Approximately five minutes later, though, he said he heard gunshots.

Brinson, who was inside his home at the time, said after he realized there were no retaliation shots, he figured an officer was outside. He reportedly made his way to the window, "and that's when I saw Ma'Khia on the ground and everyone else kind of in chaos."

Brinson said he gave his footage to police who were on the scene.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation is reportedly handling the shooting. The officer who pulled the trigger - who has not been identified - has been taken off the streets, authorities said.
Fox News' Paul Best, David Aaro, and Greg Norman contributed to this report.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Neighbor with footage of Ma'Khia Bryant shooting: 'The video doesn't lie'

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Donavon Brinson, who captured footage of the fatal shooting of an Ohio teen by a police officer, told "The Faulkner Focus" during an exclusive television interview Thursday that after reviewing the video, he thinks the officer "reacted with what he thought was his best judgment."

# data[].attributes.body
Up to 52 military, law enforcement, and government personnel have been arrested among the 400 suspects for the capitol insurrection on January 6th. Most are retired but at least 10 were still actively employed.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
As authorities investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol continue to pore over images and video of the riot, they've encountered a distressing trend: A growing number of alleged perpetrators had previously served their country.

At least 52 active or retired military, law enforcement, or government service employees are among the over 400 suspects arrested for their alleged actions at the Capitol, according to an ABC News investigation based on military records, court records, interviews, and publicly available news reports. The arrests include over half a dozen ex-police officers and multiple former elected officials -- and represent some of the most significant and violent charges brought in connection with the deadly insurrection.

Mary McCord, a longtime national security official who now runs Georgetown University's Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection, said extremism among those with military or law enforcement backgrounds is a serious problem that needs to be addressed immediately.

"I'm not really surprised that there is a substantial subset of defendants who come from these backgrounds," McCord told ABC News. "For veterans, the sense of mission is very important, so [Veterans Affairs] should be looking into how they can better serve veterans and help facilitate productive missions for them."

But it's a tough challenge, said ABC News contributor and retired Marine Col. Steve Ganyard, because there is little data tracking the problem in real-time.

"How to come to grips with it is not easy for military leaders," Ganyard said. "Not only is it hard to isolate and quantify; there's no clear means to fix it."

According to a report from Georgetown's Project on Extremism, military individuals who participated in the attack on the Capitol were about four times more likely to be involved in domestic extremist organizations, such as the Proud Boys or Oath Keepers, which are now being probed by the Justice Department over their alleged role in helping plan and carry out the assault on the Capitol. The Georgetown group identified 43 alleged Capitol rioters as having military backgrounds, and said that more than a third of them were affiliated with violent extremist organizations.

Some of those arrested said that their past experience provided a natural path into the world of militias. Laura Steele, an alleged Oath Keeper who's been charged as part of a sweeping conspiracy case against the paramilitary group, boasted about her previous law enforcement experience in her application to the group, according to court records.

"I have 13 years of experience in law Enforcement in North Carolina. I served as a k-9 Officer and a SWAT team member," Steele wrote on her application, according to court documents.

The majority of the 52 suspects with military, law enforcement or government experience were retired when they allegedly stormed the Capitol. Some had careers that gave them access to sensitive locations and prominent people.

During his career in law enforcement, retired New York Police Department officer Thomas Webster had provided security at both City Hall and the mayor's residence -- but despite that background in protecting government buildings and officials, Webster allegedly attacked a Capitol police officer with a metal flagpole in what federal prosecutors called a fit of "pure rage." Sara Carpenter, another retired NYPD officer, was also arrested for participating in the riot.

At least 10 individuals were still actively employed in their roles as police officers, local elected officials, and Army reservists when they allegedly helped storm the Capitol on Jan. 6.

Jacob Fracker and Thomas Robertson were employed by the Rocky Mount Police Department in Virginia when prosecutors say they entered the Capitol and snapped a photo with their middle fingers extended, in front of the statue of Revolutionary War hero John Stark. They were later fired.

Federico Klein, who prosecutors allege was a "violent and enthusiastic" participant in the riot, was an active Trump administration appointee with a top security clearance at the time authorities say he attacked police officers on Jan. 6. He remained in his post for nearly two weeks after the attack before he resigned.

Fracker, Robertson and Klein have all pleaded not guilty to the charges against them.

Some of those who allegedly participated in the attack have remained in their positions even after their identities were revealed and charges were filed against them.

Suzanne Ianni, who is facing charges of unlawful entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds, remains a member of the governing board of Natick, Massachusetts, because officials say the town has no way of removing her. Ianni allegedly helped organize eleven busloads of people to travel to Washington D.C., according to court records, though it's not clear if it was for the march on the Capitol or the rally that preceded it.

In the days after the insurrection, Ianni said in an interview that she and her group were "expressing our First Amendment rights to protest an illegal election."

Three individuals charged in connection with the attack are still on active duty in the Army Reserve or National Guard, Army officials confirmed to ABC News. They include Fracker, the former Virginia police officer, who is a corporal in the Virginia National Guard, the Army said.

Fracker, charged with unlawful entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds, pleaded not guilty to the charges against him.

Accused participant Timothy Hale-Cusanelli is a U.S. Army Reserve Sergeant who serves as a Human Resources Specialist. He was charged with multiple offenses, including violent entry and obstructing a law enforcement officer, and pleaded not guilty.

For many of those facing charges, a background in government service has proven to be unhelpful. In determining whether or not to detain Federico Klein, the Trump administration appointee, Judge Zia Faruqui pointed to Klein's military service and State Department employment as factors supporting detention.

Klein had "sworn [an] oath to protect the Constitution," but instead "switched sides" and joined the riot, Faruqui said.

"He should have known better," said the judge, before ordering him to be detained.
ABC News' Luis Martinez, Aaron Katersky, Alexander Mallin and Will Steakin contributed to this report.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Number of Capitol riot arrests of military, law enforcement and government personnel rises to 52

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
As authorities investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol continue to pore over images and video of the riot, they've encountered a distressing trend: A growing number of alleged perpetrators had previously served their country.