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Sunday, May 31, 2020
Israeli forces shot and killed an autistic Palestinian man in Jerusalem as he walked to special needs school
Israeli forces shot and killed an unarmed autistic Palestinian man on his way to a special needs school in Jerusalem’s Old City on Saturday, prompting comparisons to the police violence in the US and accusations of excessive force by Israeli forces. In a statement, Israeli police said they spotted a suspect “with a suspicious object that looked like a pistol” and opened fire on 32-year-old Iyad Halak, when he failed to stop. No weapon was found on him. Israel’s Channel 12 news station said members of the paramilitary border forces fired at Mr Halak’s legs and chased him into an alley. A senior officer was said to have called for a halt to fire as they entered the alley, but a second officer ignored the command and fired six or seven bullets from an M-16 rifle. Mr Halak’s father told AP that police later came and raided their home, but didn’t find anything. The shooting has caused widespread outcry on social media with many comparisons to the racially-charged shooting and killing of George Floyd in the US last week. Benny Gantz, Israel’s ‘alternate’ prime minister and defence minister apologised for the death of Mr Halak in a cabinet meeting on Sunday morning. Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister, made no mention of the incident in his opening remarks. Both officers were taken into custody and interrogated for several hours and an investigation has been opened. “We must resist the expected cover-up and make sure that the police will sit in jail,” Ayman Odeh, the leader of the main Arab party in parliament, wrote on Twitter. “Justice will be done only when the Halak family, their friends and the rest of the Palestinian people know freedom and independence.” Mr Halak had been on his way to the school for students with special needs when he was shot and killed, a trip that he made every day. According to the Times of Israel, his father told public broadcaster, Kan, that he suspected Mr Halak had been carrying his phone when he was spotted by the police. “We tell him every morning to keep his phone in his hand so we can be in contact with him and make sure he has safely arrived at the educational institution,” his father reportedly said. In west Jerusalem, about 150 protesters, some pounding drums, gathered to demonstrate against police violence on Saturday. “A violent policeman must stay inside,” they chanted in Hebrew. At a smaller protest in Tel Aviv, one poster read “Palestinian lives matter.”
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Reuters camera crew hit by rubber bullets as more journalists attacked at U.S. protests
Two members of a Reuters TV crew were hit by rubber bullets and a photographer's camera was smashed in Minneapolis on Saturday night as attacks against journalists covering civil unrest in U.S. cities intensified. Footage taken by cameraman Julio-Cesar Chavez showed a police officer aiming directly at him as police fired rubber bullets, pepper spray and tear gas to disperse about 500 protesters in the southwest of the city shortly after the 8 p.m. curfew. "A police officer that I'm filming turns around points his rubber-bullet rifle straight at me," said Chavez.
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Cemeteries braced for surge in Covid-19 dead as Mexico readies to reopen
The president says the pandemic has been tamed but experts, and those who must bury the dead, fear an alarming rise in casesFour generations of Enrique Ruvalcaba’s family have worked at the Mezquitán cemetery in the Mexican city of Guadalajara. None of them ever saw anything like this. Before the coronavirus, the burial ground was open to the public, and the deceased were honoured by flower-carrying mourners and mariachis. Now the dead arrive in silence and alone.“Only the box came, not a single relative, just the coffin,” Ruvalcaba, 32, said of the first Covid-19 burial he witnessed last month. “Absolutely everything has changed.”The Guadalajara graveyard, which has added 700 tombs for an anticipated wave of Covid deaths, has yet to see a major increase of victims – but Ruvalcaba said gravediggers had been advised to prepare. “They’ve told us a more intense phase is coming,” he said.Yet as Mexico’s daily death toll rises to become one of the highest in the world – a record 501 fatalities were reported on Tuesday alone – the country is simultaneously preparing to reopen and weathering a politically charged battle over the true scale of the crisis.“We’re doing well, the pandemic has been tamed,” Mexico’s populist president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, claimed on Thursday as he announced he would resume touring the country when a period of nationwide quarantine was wound down next week.Alejandro MacÃas, a leading infectious diseases specialist, said he understood and supported the need to plot out a return to some kind of normality for Mexico’s 129 million citizens.Covid deaths in Mexico“It’s good to have a plan and it is good for this plan to constantly put people’s lives first,” he said.But MacÃas, who was Mexico’s influenza chief during the 2009 swine flu pandemic, said he was worried things were moving too fast, when the extent of the crisis remained unclear and different parts of the country were at different stages of transmission.“The risk is that there will be another substantial rise in the number of cases and that this could cause some hospitals to collapse – and if the hospitals collapse this could put the security and governance of some regions at risk,” MacÃas warned.“In many parts of the republic the curve has barely started to rise.”MacÃas said he suspected political pressure from López Obrador’s year-old government and the United States – which is highly reliant on Mexican supply chains – explained the authorities’ desire to promote the idea the crisis was under control.“It is exactly like what is happening in the United States. The government there is also putting pressure on to show a certain normality and tranquillity when clearly they can’t yet say they have the situation under control” and were still suffering “terrifying” Covid figures, MacÃas said.“I feel there is a great deal of political pressure – much more in Mexico than in other parts of Latin America – because Mexico’s industrial production is so tightly connected to industry in the United States. And they want to reopen but can’t do so if Mexican industry doesn’t reopen, because we are so integrated.”Latin America’s number two economy registered its first Covid case in late February and has since recorded more than 9,000 deaths and 81,400 cases, although the government admits the true number is probably considerably higher.One report this week found Mexico City had issued 8,000 more death certificates than usual between January and late May, suggesting a significantly higher death toll.López Obrador, who was criticized for his initially dismissive attitude to the pandemic, has been bullish about Mexico’s response. On 26 April, with 1,351 deaths and 14,677 infections, he claimed it had managed “to tame” the coronavirus. But many are not so sure. A month after those claims, Mexico had suffered 9,044 deaths and 81,400 cases.MacÃas said it was likely many more had died. “Right now we have less than 10,000 recognized deaths. But it’s very probable the true figure is substantially bigger – probably double that.”Behind those statistics lie thousands of grieving families – some of which have lost multiple members to Covid-19.Karlo ColÃn, who works at a funeral home in Mexico City, said he and his colleagues had handled 60 coronavirus cases in the last three weeks. One family had lost five members, another four. “Every week a family member dies,” ColÃn said.Despite the rising death toll, many Mexicans seem in denial. Even ColÃn, on the frontlines of the pandemic, admitted having doubts.“A lot of people don’t believe in the virus,” the undertaker said. “There are times where I say, how is it possible that the guy giving me the body, at the centre of the infection, doesn’t have protective equipment? Is this real or isn’t it?”Adrián Carranza, a nursing student, has been conducting Covid-19 evaluations at Mexico City’s main market, the Central de Abasto – and referring suspected patients for testing. He said that many vendors remained skeptical despite the deaths of several vendors.“They’ll say, sure, that guy over there died, but we don’t know why,” Carranza said.Carranza and his colleagues have faced harassment at the market, where about 40% of the stalls have shut down.“Because of misinformation, more than anything else, they think we’re hurting them, that we’re going to inject them with the virus,” he said. “They yell that we’re murderers.”As Mexico prepares to reopen, Guadalajara’s gravediggers are readying themselves for the dead.Ruvalcaba, whose father, grandfather and great-grandfather all worked in the same cemetery, called his colleagues the hidden heroes of the Covid-19 crisis.“It’s a really noble line of work. People talk about the doctors and the nurses but nobody thinks about the people who are laying Covid’s victims to rest,” said Ruvalcaba, who has been digging tombs since he was 12.“It’s like doctors’ work – only from the moment when the patient has gone to a better life,” Ruvalcaba added. “And someone has to do it.”
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Police across the country draw outrage for excessive force against protesters and media
UK taxpayers may be funding research for China’s defence project
Experts fear British taxpayers could inadvertently be contributing to funding the Chinese defence programme, after millions of pounds of public funds were poured into technology research undertaken in collaboration with controversial Chinese universities known for their military links. The UK’s Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council distributed more than £6.5 million to British universities including Manchester for technology studies that were undertaken with these controversial Chinese institutions, according to disclosures on academic papers. While the research programmes focused on technologies that could be used for civilian purposes, experts have warned that they also have the potential to be used for military applications, prompting fears that taxpayer-funded research by British universities could be exploited by Beijing. In two cases, researchers even stated on their grant application forms that the technologies they were looking at could have “both civilian and military applications” or be used for “military controlling”. The disclosure comes days after The Telegraph revealed that Huawei has also backed a string of research projects linking British universities with Chinese defence institutions, which focused on these so-called “dual use” technologies. Huawei denies any wrongdoing. Experts have now warned that the studies funded by the EPSRC may be part of a worrying pattern of partnerships between British universities and Chinese universities that are known for their strong military ties – and that they could be used to fuel both China’s controversial surveillance regime and its declared ambition to become the world’s most powerful military force by 2049. On Sunday night, Conservative MP Iain Duncan Smith said the collaborations were “tantamount to transfer of technologies to the Chinese government” and accused the EPSRC and British universities of “living in a naïve world”. “You cannot say that there is any [Chinese] institution that is safe from the reach of that government… If they take technology as part of a market position, they can use it for other things.” His warning comes as Beijing faces growing international hostility over its handling of the coronavirus crisis and attempts to crush dissent in Hong Kong. The EPSRC defended the payments. Executive chairwoman Professor Dame Lynn Gladden said: “These grants were fully consistent with government policy. All UK funding was directed to fund research by UK universities.” A spokesman added that it allocates funding to research projects rather than individual papers “through the lens of the quality of academic research”, and that it is for individual universities to decide who they work with as long as there is no legal breach and the other universities cover their own costs. A Telegraph investigation identified seven papers that were undertaken by British institutions in partnership with Chinese universities, as part of research programmes that accessed EPSRC grants totalling £6,637,875. The funding body is one of nine organisations that make up UK Research and Innovation, which states on its website that it is “principally funded” by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. Two of the papers were co-authored by researchers at China's so-called "Seven Sons of National Defence", universities tasked with developing China's defence programme, and six were undertaken with the in-house academy for the People's Liberation Army. Of the money dished out by the EPSRC, £305,891 went to the University of Manchester for research it undertook with Beihang University – an institution sanctioned by America for its work on rockets and drones. The grant application to EPSRC boasted that it would could be used for “environmental monitoring or military controlling". A spokesman for the University of Manchester said: “We carry out due diligence on all research collaborations and we have clear ethical and intellectual property polices and guidelines which all our researchers, overseas and domestic, must adhere to as part of their professional contracts.” Six of the papers were also funded by Huawei, and the remaining one was worked on by its researchers. The company has insisted that they all focused on “common areas of research for telecoms equipment suppliers”, and that it has strict rules to ensure the research it backs is not used for military purposes. “We do not conduct military research either directly, or indirectly, nor do we work on military or intelligence projects for the Chinese government or any other government,” a spokesman said.
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In this swing state, Latino Democrats call for fighting back on Trump's 'socialist' attacks
Masks and no ablution: Saudis flock to reopened mosques
Mask-clad worshippers flocked to Saudi mosques that reopened nationwide Sunday -- except in the holy city of Mecca –- over two months after congregational prayers were halted under a coronavirus-triggered lockdown. Complying with stringent social distancing rules, worshippers kept a minimum of two metres apart. "Worshippers rushed to the home of God to perform their obligatory duty (prayers) after the reopening of mosques," the ministry of Islamic affairs said on Twitter.
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EU urges U.S. to reconsider decision to cut ties with WHO
The European Union urged the United States on Saturday to reconsider its decision to cut ties with the World Health Organization over its handling of the coronavirus pandemic. "In this context, we urge the U.S. to reconsider its announced decision," they said a day after President Donald Trump announced the move, accusing the U.N. agency of becoming a puppet of China. German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas also condemned the move and pledged intensive talks with Washington on the issue.
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Pope presides over virus prayer in hint normalcy returning
Pope Francis prayed Saturday for an end to the coronavirus pandemic and the development of a vaccine as he presided over an outdoor gathering that signaled a semblance of normalcy returning to the Vatican after a coronavirus lockdown lasting more than two months. Francis was joined in the Vatican Gardens by a representative sampling of people on the front lines of the emergency: a doctor, a nurse, a hospital chaplain, a pharmacist, a journalist and a civil protection official. A recovered COVID-19 patient, a person with a relative who died during Italy’s outbreak, and the parents of a baby born during the emergency also were among the pope’s more than 100 guests for the prayer at the grotto dedicated to the Virgin Mary.
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What Amtrak passengers need to know as train service comes back from coronavirus pandemic
Rudy Giuliani calls for resignations of mayor of Minneapolis, governor of Minnesota
AOC slams Bill de Blasio for 'unacceptable' comments after mayor says police showed 'tremendous restraint' amid protests
Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D—NY) slammed New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio over “unacceptable” remarks in which he defended the city’s police department and said it showed "restraint" when responding to protests that erupted during the weekend.The progressive freshman Democrat issued a statement criticising the mayor’s comments after videos posted online Saturday showed NYPD vehicles driving through a crowd of demonstrators taking part in the nationwide protests over the death of George Floyd. The 46-year-old unarmed black man was killed after pleading for air as a white officer kneeled on his neck for more than eight minutes, according to charging documents.
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This high-tech Embraer private jet design seamlessly blends sustainability and technology. Take a look at Praeterra.
Airlines schedule major increase in flights in July as pressure mounts on ministers to ease quarantine
Airlines have scheduled a dramatic increase in flights in July in anticipation that Governments will lift travel restrictions for holidaymakers and save the industry from potential collapse, according to data seen by The Sunday Telegraph. The companies which have already laid off tens of thousands of workers are banking on a “V-shaped” recovery by scheduling 161,200 passenger flights and 29.5 million seats for July, just eight per cent down on last year’s July timetables. The strategy to open up business travel and holiday routes to hotspot favourites like Greece, Italy, France and Spain comes as most European countries are preparing to lift their quarantines or open their borders in mid June or at least by July 1. It will increase pressure on Boris Johnson to make good his suggestion last week that the UK’s quarantine - to be introduced on June 8 - could be replaced with “air bridges” to low-risk holiday destinations when it is reviewed on June 29. One senior industry source claimed: “The sense is that they might quietly do a U-turn after the first review period. Grant Shapps [the Transport Secretary] is against quarantine, the Treasury are against it, Beis is against it and DCMS hate it.” The exclusive data, from Cirium, a travel analytics firm, shows how the coronavirus pandemic devastated the aviation industry as it tore across the world. Scheduled passengers were 22.5 million in February, 10 per cent up on last year before it slumped by 93 per cent in April and May. It has risen in June to 38.5 per cent down on last year, as the Far East has opened up, and rises to just minus eight per cent in July as airlines anticipate Europe unlocking. June and July are “scheduled” rather than actual flights, which will depend on quarantines easing in June and July. Germany has lifted restrictions, Italy wants to resume travel on June 15, and Spain and Portugal are aiming for July 1. France hopes to drop border controls to and from EU countries after June 15 except with countries that impose quarantine on a “reciprocal” basis, namely the UK. Greece has excluded the UK from a “white list” of 29 countries it judges are low-risk enough from which to accept tourists from June 15 without quarantine although it will open up to more countries after it reviews their infection rates at the end of June. British Airways says it is aiming for a “meaningful return” to flying in July, RyanAir plans to ramp up flights to at least 40 per cent of its normal July schedule and EasyJet, which has laid off one in three staff, hopes to operate 30 per cent of its pre-crisis timetable from July to September. Paul Charles, chief executive of PC Consultancy, which advises the tourist industry, said Britain’s quarantine risked “killing” the economy. “Travel companies have not had any bookings for April or May. They are worried that if they don’t get them in June, they will go under,” he said. The Airport Operators’ Association (AOA) has urged ministers to aim for the first “air bridges” to “low risk” destinations by June 8 so that holidaymakers can sidestep quarantine and the requirement to self-isolate for 14 days on their return to the UK. The Department for Transport will shortly publish new guidelines for “safe” travel which will include face coverings or masks throughout the journey, temperature checks, social distancing in airports and contactless travel including for check-ins and payments. An AOA spokesman said: “Once these guidelines are agreed and given that they are based on a common European baseline, this puts in place the right conditions for opening up air bridges to low-risk countries.” The Home Office which has led the moves to introduce quarantine has, however, warned that it will block attempts to lift the quarantine unless it is safe and there is no risk of it sparking a second wave of coronavirus. A Department for Transport source said: “There is certainly a willingness in Government to do as much for this Summer as is safe.” Post-coronavirus air travel: No travel if you have symptoms If ill, no cost re-booking or refunds up to six hours before flying Face masks or coverings from arrival at airport to leaving terminal at destination Only passengers in the terminal, no tearful goodbyes at departure gates Contact-less electronic check-in and boarding Social distancing and one-way systems for waiting and queuing passengers Airports' association pressing for temperature checks Exemption from two-metre rule on plane No on-board duty free, reduced food and drink service, pre-packaged food and cashless payments
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'You're not going to out-concern me and out-care me': Atlanta's mayor makes a powerful plea against violence and destruction in George Floyd protests
Saudi Arabia reopens mosques with strict regulations for worshippers
Saudi Arabia's mosques opened their doors to worshippers on Sunday for the first time in more than two months as the kingdom, the birthplace of Islam, eased restrictions imposed to combat the coronavirus. "It is great to feel the mercy of God and once again call people for prayers at mosques instead of at their homes," said Abdulmajeed Al Mohaisen, who issues the call to prayer at Al Rajhi Mosque, one of the largest in the capital Riyadh.
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Fire, pestilence and a country at war with itself: the Trump presidency is over
A pandemic unabated, an economy in meltdown, cities in chaos over police killings. All our supposed leader does is tweetYou’d be forgiven if you hadn’t noticed. His verbal bombshells are louder than ever, but Donald J Trump is no longer president of the United States.By having no constructive response to any of the monumental crises now convulsing America, Trump has abdicated his office. He is not governing. He’s golfing, watching cable TV and tweeting.How has Trump responded to the widespread unrest following the murder in Minneapolis of George Floyd, a black man who died after a white police officer knelt on his neck for minutes as he was handcuffed on the ground?Trump called the protesters “thugs” and threatened to have them shot. “When the looting starts, the shooting starts,” he tweeted, parroting a former Miami police chief whose words spurred race riots in the late 1960s.On Saturday, he gloated about “the most vicious dogs, and most ominous weapons” awaiting protesters outside the White House, should they ever break through Secret Service lines. > In reality, Donald Trump doesn’t run the government of the United States. He doesn’t manage anythingTrump’s response to the last three ghastly months of mounting disease and death has been just as heedless. Since claiming Covid-19 was a “Democratic hoax” and muzzling public health officials, he has punted management of the coronavirus to the states.Governors have had to find ventilators to keep patients alive and protective equipment for hospital and other essential workers who lack it, often bidding against each other. They have had to decide how, when and where to reopen their economies.Trump has claimed “no responsibility at all” for testing and contact-tracing – the keys to containing the virus. His new “plan” places responsibility on states to do their own testing and contact-tracing.Trump is also awol in the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.More than 41 million Americans are jobless. In the coming weeks temporary eviction moratoriums are set to end in half of the states. One-fifth of Americans missed rent payments this month. Extra unemployment benefits are set to expire at the end of July.What is Trump’s response? Like Herbert Hoover, who in 1930 said “the worst is behind us” as thousands starved, Trump says the economy will improve and does nothing about the growing hardship. The Democratic-led House passed a $3tn relief package on 15 May. Mitch McConnell has recessed the Senate without taking action and Trump calls the bill dead on arrival. What about other pressing issues a real president would be addressing? The House has passed nearly 400 bills this term, including measures to reduce climate change, enhance election security, require background checks on gun sales, reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act and reform campaign finance. All are languishing in McConnell’s inbox. Trump doesn’t seem to be aware of any of them.There is nothing inherently wrong with golfing, watching television and tweeting. But if that’s pretty much all that a president does when the nation is engulfed in crises, he is not a president.Trump’s tweets are no substitute for governing. They are mostly about getting even.When he’s not fomenting violence against black protesters, he’s accusing a media personality of committing murder, retweeting slurs about a black female politician’s weight and the House speaker’s looks, conjuring up conspiracies against himself supposedly organized by Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, and encouraging his followers to “liberate” their states from lockdown restrictions.He tweets bogus threats that he has no power to carry out – withholding funds from states that expand absentee voting, “overruling” governors who don’t allow places of worship to reopen “right away”, and punishing Twitter for factchecking him.And he lies incessantly.In reality, Donald Trump doesn’t run the government of the United States. He doesn’t manage anything. He doesn’t organize anyone. He doesn’t administer or oversee or supervise. He doesn’t read memos. He hates meetings. He has no patience for briefings. His White House is in perpetual chaos. His advisers aren’t truth-tellers. They’re toadies, lackeys, sycophants and relatives.Since moving into the Oval Office in January 2017, Trump hasn’t shown an ounce of interest in governing. He obsesses only about himself.But it has taken the present set of crises to reveal the depths of his self-absorbed abdication – his utter contempt for his job, his total repudiation of his office.Trump’s nonfeasance goes far beyond an absence of leadership or inattention to traditional norms and roles. In a time of national trauma, he has relinquished the core duties and responsibilities of the presidency.He is no longer president. The sooner we stop treating him as if he were, the better. * Robert Reich, a former US secretary of labor, is professor of public policy at the University of California at Berkeley and the author of Saving Capitalism: For the Many, Not the Few and The Common Good. His new book, The System: Who Rigged It, How We Fix It, is out now. He is a columnist for Guardian US
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Tropical storm Amanda leaves 9 dead in El Salvador: officials
Tropical storm Amanda, the first named storm of the season in the Pacific, lashed El Salvador and Guatemala on Sunday, leaving nine people dead amid flooding and power outages. El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele declared a state of emergency, announcing it on his Twitter account. "We have nine dead," Salvadoran Interior Minister Mario Duran said, adding that the toll could rise.
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Derek Chauvin, officer arrested in George Floyd's death, has a record of shootings and complaints
Saturday, May 30, 2020
Fire and Fury: Crowd Attacks CNN Center in Atlanta
CNN Center, the cable network’s Atlanta headquarters, came under attack Friday night during protests over police brutality sparked by the death of an unarmed black man in Minneapolis.A largely peaceful demonstration erupted first in vandalism, then in violence. Cops used pepper spray, and then some in the crowd were seen smashing windows and defacing the giant CNN sign with spray-paint. Down the street, a police car was set ablaze.CNN correspondent Nick Valencia began reporting on the frightening scene from a stairway inside the building, behind a phalanx of SWAT officers in the lobby, with an angry mob standing on the other side of the broken and missing plate glass.“I have a daughter and wife I want to get home to tonight,” Valencia told anchor Chris Cuomo.Protesters lobbed objects at the windows and into the lobby, and at least one officer was struck. What appeared to be a flash-bang device landed in front of police and large gusts of smoke went up into the air.One protester breached the building and was immediately arrested by cops as Valencia shouted questions at him, asking why he was there. “Change,” he replied.As the violence flared and the situation in the lobby became more precarious, cops began firing tear gas and the crowd quickly began to thin out. Live footage showed over a dozen police officers holding the line with shields, barricades, and armored vehicles pushing protesters away from the building as objects continued to be hurled. The tense scene unfolded just hours after CNN found itself at the center of the story about protests in Minneapolis, where George Floyd died, pleading “I can’t breathe” while a police officer kneeled on his neck.Reporter Omar Jimenez and members of his crew were arrested by state police while covering fiery demonstrations in the city—prompting the governor of Minnesota to issue a public apology.“There is absolutely no reason something like this should happen. Calls were made immediately. This is a very public apology to that team. It should not happen,” Gov. Tim Walz said in a Friday news conference, adding that he took “full responsibility” for the early-morning incident. “I failed you last night in that.”President Trump, on the other hand, appeared to gloat, retweeting a message that read, “In an ironic twist of fate, CNN HQ is being attacked by the very riots they promoted as noble & just.”In a Friday evening press conference, Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms was visibly angry as she told protesters to “go home” after thousands marched from the Georgia capitol to the Centennial Olympic Park before gathering outside CNN. “What I see happening on the streets of Atlanta is not Atlanta. This is not a protest, This is not in the spirit of Martin Luther King, Jr. This is chaos. A protest has a purpose,” Bottoms said, stating that the protests are “disgracing the life of George Floyd.”“When Dr. King was assassinated, we didn't do this to our city. If you want to change in America, go and register to vote...that is the change we need in this country.”Rapper T.I. also spoke at the mayor’s press conference, stating that Atlanta “has already been here for us” and does not deserve to be burnt down. “This is a moment where people are fed up. I have to make an appeal to my brothers and sisters because I realize the only way to get constructive change is through nonviolent means,” Bernice King, the daughter of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., added. Their pleading did not not sway everyone. As midnight neared, looters descended on upscale malls in Buckhead, and firefighters were blocked from reaching a blaze at Del Frisco’s Grille.“There have been multiple instances of shots being fired in close proximity to our officers and shots were fired at an officer in a patrol vehicle on Peachtree Road at Lenox Road. We continue our efforts at restoring peace in our city,” Sgt. John Chafee said in a statement.Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp declared a state of emergency and activated 500 National Guard members in an attempt to restore order.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.
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George Floyd autopsy shows no signs of traumatic asphyxia or strangulation, attributes death to 'being restrained, his underlying health conditions, and any potential intoxicants in his system'
FBI's top lawyer, Dana Boente, ousted amid Fox News criticism for role in Flynn investigation
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey: There is no honor in burning down your city
Letters to the Editor: People who insist on going to church should quarantine themselves
Powell: Fed to soon begin 'challenging' Main Street lending
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell acknowledged Friday that the Fed faces a major challenge with the launch in the coming days of a program that will lend to companies other than banks for the first time since the Great Depression. The Fed's Main Street Lending is geared toward medium-sized companies that are too large for the government's small business lending program and too small to sell bonds or stock to the public. Powell said that Main Street will make its first loans in a “few days.”
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Minneapolis police officer who knelt on George Floyd’s neck had 18 previous internal complaints against him
The Minneapolis police officer who was filmed kneeling on George Floyd’s neck for several minutes even as he said “I can’t breathe” has previously been the subject of multiple complaints filed to the Minneapolis Police Department’s Internal Affairs Division, it has emerged.Mr Chauvin, who has been fired along with the other three police officers who apprehended Mr Floyd, was reported to the division 18 times. According to a police summary, only two of the complaints were “closed with discipline”.
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Trump postpones G-7 meeting again, plans to invite four more countries
Former Justice Department official says Trump is 'basically calling for the shooting of protesters'
SpaceX's historic launch hurled a sequined plush dinosaur into space with NASA astronauts
'The Five' react to fired Minneapolis police officer charged in George Floyd's death
India announces major easing of coronavirus lockdown
India said Saturday it would begin a major relaxation of the world's biggest coronavirus lockdown from early June, even as the country saw another record rise in confirmed infections. Prime Minister Narenda Modi conceded that much of the country had since "undergone tremendous suffering" in an open letter to the public on Saturday. The end of the lockdown will be staged and for now will not include some "containment zones" where high infection rates have been detected, according to the home ministry.
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Hong Kong: China fury amid global pressure over security law
Dragon-riding astronauts join exclusive inner circle at NASA
Astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken join NASA’s exclusive inner circle by catching a ride on a SpaceX rocket and capsule. It’s only the fifth time that NASA has put people aboard a brand new spacecraft line for liftoff. And it’s the first time the spacecraft belongs to a for-profit company in charge of the launch. The retired Marine colonel and former fighter pilot flew on NASA’s last space shuttle flight in 2011, closing out a 30-year era.
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Minnesota Riots Hurt Klobuchar’s VP Nomination Prospects, According to Biden Ally
The ongoing riots in Minnesota hurt Senator Amy Klobuchar's prospects for Democratic nomination as vice president, House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D., S.C.) said on Friday.Klobuchar declined to bring charges against multiple Minneapolis police officers involved in shootings over the course of her seven-year tenure as attorney for Hennepin County. Minneapolis has seen four days of riots after resident George Floyd, an African-American man, died following his arrest at the hands of white officers."We are all victims sometimes of timing….This is very tough timing for Amy Klobuchar, who I respect so much," Clyburn told reporters. When asked directly if Klobuchar's chances at the nomination were diminished, Clyburn said, "that is the implication, yes,” although he added that Klobuchar "absolutely is qualified" to be vice president.Clyburn is the highest-ranking African American member of Congress, and was instrumental in Biden's victory over Senator Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) in the Democratic primaries. Following Clyburn's endorsement of Biden, the former vice president received overwhelming support from African American primary voters.Biden on Friday denied that his campaign's vice presidential nomination process was affected by the Minnesota riots."What we are talking about today has nothing to do with my running for president or who I pick as a vice president," Biden told MSNBC. "It has to do with an injustice that we all saw take place."Klobuchar has expressed regret for not prosecuting police officers accused of offenses, instead opting to send the cases to grand juries."I think that was wrong now,” Klobuchar said in a Friday interview on MSNBC. “I think it would have been much better if I took the responsibility and looked at the cases and made the decision myself.”
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Airlines schedule major increase in flights in July as pressure mounts on ministers to ease quarantine
Airlines have scheduled a dramatic increase in flights in July in anticipation that Governments will lift travel restrictions for holidaymakers and save the industry from potential collapse, according to data seen by The Sunday Telegraph. The companies which have already laid off tens of thousands of workers are banking on a “V-shaped” recovery by scheduling 161,200 passenger flights and 29.5 million seats for July, just eight per cent down on last year’s July timetables. The strategy to open up business travel and holiday routes to hotspot favourites like Greece, Italy, France and Spain comes as most European countries are preparing to lift their quarantines or open their borders in mid June or at least by July 1. It will increase pressure on Boris Johnson to make good his suggestion last week that the UK’s quarantine - to be introduced on June 8 - could be replaced with “air bridges” to low-risk holiday destinations when it is reviewed on June 29. One senior industry source claimed: “The sense is that they might quietly do a U-turn after the first review period. Grant Shapps [the Transport Secretary] is against quarantine, the Treasury are against it, Beis is against it and DCMS hate it.” The exclusive data, from Cirium, a travel analytics firm, shows how the coronavirus pandemic devastated the aviation industry as it tore across the world. Scheduled passengers were 22.5 million in February, 10 per cent up on last year before it slumped by 93 per cent in April and May. It has risen in June to 38.5 per cent down on last year, as the Far East has opened up, and rises to just minus eight per cent in July as airlines anticipate Europe unlocking. June and July are “scheduled” rather than actual flights, which will depend on quarantines easing in June and July. Germany has lifted restrictions, Italy wants to resume travel on June 15, and Spain and Portugal are aiming for July 1. France hopes to drop border controls to and from EU countries after June 15 except with countries that impose quarantine on a “reciprocal” basis, namely the UK. Greece has excluded the UK from a “white list” of 29 countries it judges are low-risk enough from which to accept tourists from June 15 without quarantine although it will open up to more countries after it reviews their infection rates at the end of June. British Airways says it is aiming for a “meaningful return” to flying in July, RyanAir plans to ramp up flights to at least 40 per cent of its normal July schedule and EasyJet, which has laid off one in three staff, hopes to operate 30 per cent of its pre-crisis timetable from July to September. Paul Charles, chief executive of PC Consultancy, which advises the tourist industry, said Britain’s quarantine risked “killing” the economy. “Travel companies have not had any bookings for April or May. They are worried that if they don’t get them in June, they will go under,” he said. The Airport Operators’ Association (AOA) has urged ministers to aim for the first “air bridges” to “low risk” destinations by June 8 so that holidaymakers can sidestep quarantine and the requirement to self-isolate for 14 days on their return to the UK. The Department for Transport will shortly publish new guidelines for “safe” travel which will include face coverings or masks throughout the journey, temperature checks, social distancing in airports and contactless travel including for check-ins and payments. An AOA spokesman said: “Once these guidelines are agreed and given that they are based on a common European baseline, this puts in place the right conditions for opening up air bridges to low-risk countries.” The Home Office which has led the moves to introduce quarantine has, however, warned that it will block attempts to lift the quarantine unless it is safe and there is no risk of it sparking a second wave of coronavirus. A Department for Transport source said: “There is certainly a willingness in Government to do as much for this Summer as is safe.” Post-coronavirus air travel: No travel if you have symptoms If ill, no cost re-booking or refunds up to six hours before flying Face masks or coverings from arrival at airport to leaving terminal at destination Only passengers in the terminal, no tearful goodbyes at departure gates Contact-less electronic check-in and boarding Social distancing and one-way systems for waiting and queuing passengers Airports' association pressing for temperature checks Exemption from two-metre rule on plane No on-board duty free, reduced food and drink service, pre-packaged food and cashless payments
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A Tennessee police chief had a message for fellow law enforcement: turn in your badge if 'you don't have an issue' with George Floyd's death
Trump says U.S. will be 'terminating' relationship with WHO
SpaceX’s Successful Blast-Off Signals New Era of Human Space Exploration
With a flash of light, billowing smoke, and a thunderous roar, American astronauts on Saturday afternoon blasted into space aboard an American spacecraft for the first time since NASA decommissioned the aging, unsafe Space Shuttle fleet in 2011. The first manned flight of SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft not only restores the United States’ ability to launch people into orbit, it also signals a possible new era of space exploration. Thousands of people tuned into livestreams of the historic launch from NASA’s John F. Kennedy Space Center near Orlando. SpaceX founder Elon Musk, NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine and President Donald Trump flew in to see off astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley and observe the launch. “This is going to be like the World Series, the Super Bowl and the Stanley Cup all rolled into one,” Zeb Scoville, NASA’s flight director, told reporters in the weeks leading up to the launch.Mission-controllers canceled a previous launch attempt on Wednesday owing to bad weather. As late as Saturday morning, SpaceX tweeted that there was a 50 percent chance of a storm interfering with the day’s lift-off. But the weather remained clear and the spacecraft lifted off just before 3:25 p.m. ET. In a sharp break from the old way of launching into space, California rocket company SpaceX owns the Crew Dragon and its self-landing, reusable Falcon 9 rocket. NASA just rents the spacecraft and the rocket at a cost of around $55 million per passenger.“We’re doing it differently than we’ve ever done it before,” Bridenstine told reporters. “NASA is not going to purchase, own and operate hardware the way we used to purchase, own and operate hardware.”The space agency hopes that this new arrangement will fuel a whole industry of private companies offering ever-cheaper rides into space for science, mining, manufacturing, and even tourism. Aerospace firms Boeing and Lockheed Martin are also developing manned capsules. A self-sustaining space economy could take years to evolve. First, SpaceX and NASA must deliver Behnken and Hurley to the International Space Station, circling Earth at an altitude of 250 miles. SpaceX Turns Back the Clock to Return Americans to Orbit“The stakes are clearly high,” Eric Stallmer, president of the Washington, D.C., Commercial Spaceflight Federation, told The Daily Beast. “This shows how far industry has advanced and is ready to support America in space—at greater levels of safety, faster development and far lower costs than traditional-owned government systems.”For Musk, Saturday’s launch was the culmination of nearly two decades of work. Musk, one of the founders of PayPal, started SpaceX in 2002 with the goal of driving down the cost of rocket launches. SpaceX’s earliest launches in 2008 and 2009 were failures. Musk and SpaceX kept at it. By 2010 more of the company’s launches were succeeding than failing. NASA pumped some money into the company. The U.S. Air Force hired it to launch satellites and robotic space planes. But a manned spacecraft was one of Musk and SpaceX's ultimate goals.Barring any malfunctions, the journey to the space station will take just short of a day. Steered by a sophisticated artificial-intelligence autopilot, the cone-shaped, roughly dumpster-sized Crew Dragon will maneuver to within 60 feet of the space station. That’s when the Behnken and Hurley will take over, tapping touch-screen controls to activate thrusters that will gently nudge the capsule toward one of the station’s airlocks. “Growing up as a pilot my whole career and having a certain way to control a vehicle, this is certainly different,” Hurley told reporters.The capsule and the station will combine their atmospheres, allowing the newly-arrived astronauts to safely board the orbital facility.NASA and SpaceX haven’t decided yet how long Behnekn, Hurley, and their capsule will stay with the space station. Their visit could end in a month or three months, at which point the astronauts will ride the Crew Dragon back down to Earth, streaking through the atmosphere then deploying a parachute before splashing down in the Pacific Ocean. The U.S. Navy will steam in to recover the crew and capsule.With its conical shape and parachute-recovery method, the Crew Dragon has a lot in common with the Apollo capsules that carried astronauts to the moon in 1969. “But don’t let looks deceive you,” space historian Roger Launius told The Daily Beast. “The technology of Apollo and technology of today are strikingly different.”The Crew Dragon boasts the latest computers, controls and amenities, including a high-tech space toilet. Its crew and passengers wear sleek new spacesuits. NASA plans to pack no more than four astronauts at a time into the Crew Dragon’s uncluttered interior, but in its most capacious configuration it can carry up to seven people. “It’s an outstanding flying machine,” Behnken said.It took years of research and development costing $3 billion to ready the Crew Dragon for its first manned mission. NASA and the U.S. space industry haven’t designed a spacecraft from scratch since the Space Shuttle. SpaceX Rockets Were Endangered by Forged Inspection Reports: DOJThat was 40 years ago. Without the benefit of recent experience, the Crew Dragon’s developers had to relearn old lessons. “It was a little Wild West early on,” SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell told reporters.Minor miscalculations, a single line of bad code, a tiny hole in the spacecraft’s structure—any of these could have doomed Crew Dragon. Boeing learned that the hard way during an unmanned test mission involving its own Starliner capsule back in December. The Starliner’s autopilot mistimed a thruster blast, burning up its fuel supply and making it impossible for the craft to reach the International Space Station. Boeing plans to repeat the test sometime this year.SpaceX experienced a test-failure of its own on Friday, when the fourth prototype of the company’s new Starship rocket exploded following a test in Texas. Musk was well aware of the risk involved in the Crew Dragon launch. “If it goes wrong, it's my fault," he told CBS This Morning on Wednesday.Anticipating all the possible ways space travel can go wrong is one of the keys to doing it safely. That’s what worried James Oberg, a former NASA mission controller. “The degree to which the SpaceX team has absorbed this insight and developed and applied this wisdom remains undemonstrated,” Oberg told The Daily Beast a few days before the launch. “Their track record to date, including vigorous and on-target responses to setbacks, is encouraging,” Oberg said. “I’ll still be holding my breath.”As the Crew Dragon climbed high over Florida, accelerating to 33 times the speed of sound—fast enough to escape Earth’s gravity—Musk and Oberg finally could breathe easy. After a nine-year gap, Americans were safely on their way into space aboard an American craft. Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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China home-built aircraft carrier conducting sea trials
Pompeo demands Russia free ill American accused of spying
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Saturday demanded that Russia free a former US marine accused of spying in Russia after the man underwent urgent surgery in a Moscow hospital. Fifty-year-old Paul Whelan had emergency hernia surgery late Thursday after suffering "severe abdominal pain," his brother David Whelan said in a statement Friday. Paul Whelan, who also holds Canadian, Irish and British citizenship, was detained in Moscow in December 2018 for allegedly receiving state secrets.
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Friday, May 29, 2020
Furious Demonstrators Swarm CNN Center in Atlanta
CNN Center, the cable network’s Atlanta headquarters, came under attack Friday night during protests over police brutality sparked by the death of an unarmed black man in Minneapolis.A largely peaceful demonstration erupted near the downtown office building. Cops used pepper spray, and then some in the crowd were seen smashing windows and defacing the giant CNN sign with spray-paint. Down the street, a vehicle could be seen ablaze.CNN correspondent Nick Valencia began reporting on the frightening scene from a stairway inside the building, behind a phalanx of SWAT officers in the lobby, with an angry mob standing on the other side of the broken and missing windows.“I have a daughter and wife I want to get home to tonight,” Valencia told anchor Chris Cuomo.Protesters lobbed objects at the windows and into the lobby, and at least one officer was struck. What appeared to be a flash-bang device landed in front of cops and large gusts of smoke went up into the air.One protester breached the building and was immediately arrested by cops as Valencia shouted questions at him, asking why he was there. “Change,” he replied.As the violence flared and the situation in the lobby became more precarious, cops began firing tear gas and the crowd quickly began to thin out.In a Friday evening press conference, Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms was visibly angry as she told protestors to “go home.”“What I see happening on the streets of Atlanta is not Atlanta. This is not a protest, This is not in the spirit of Martin Luther King, Jr. This is chaos. A protest has a purpose,” Bottoms said. “When Dr. King was assassinated, we didn't do this to our city. If you want to change in Amerca, go and register to vote... that is the change we need in this country.”The tense scene unfolded just hours after CNN found itself at the center of the story about protests in Minneapolis, where George Floyd died, pleading “I can’t breathe” while a police officer kneeled on his neck.Reporter Omar Jimenez and members of his crew were arrested by state police while covering fiery demonstrations in the city—prompting the governor of Minnesota to issue a public apology.“There is absolutely no reason something like this should happen. Calls were made immediately. This is a very public apology to that team. It should not happen,” Gov. Tim Walz said in a Friday news conference, adding that he took “full responsibility” for the early-morning incident. “I failed you last night in that.”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.
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The U.S. Might Revoke Hong Kong's 'Special Status.' Here's What That Means For Business in the Global Financial Hub
Rwanda court sentences ex-mayor to life for role in genocide
Rwanda's High Court on Thursday sentenced a former mayor to life in prison for his role in the country's 1994 genocide, which included leading attacks that resulted in the deaths of around 25,000 ethnic Tutsis in his town. Ladislas Ntaganzwa was one of the top fugitive suspects, accused of playing a key role in the massacre of some 800,000 mostly Tutsi but also moderate Hutus, when he was arrested in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2015. A statement from Rwanda's prosecution authority said the court "convicted him for genocide, extermination as crime against humanity and rape as crime against humanity and sentenced him to life imprisonment."
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Twitter flags Trump tweet on Minneapolis protests for 'glorifying violence'
U.S. high court rejects church challenge to Illinois pandemic rules
The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday rejected a challenge to Illinois' restrictions on religious services during the coronavirus pandemic, noting that the state had lifted the limits in question. Two churches in Illinois had asked the court to exempt them from Democratic Governor J.B. Pritzker's ban on religious worship services of more than 10 people, arguing that it infringed on the constitutionally protected free exercise of religion.
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Nissan to close Indonesia, Spain auto plants after losses
Yokohama-based Nissan’s chief executive, Makoto Uchida, said Thursday that its European production will be centered at its British plant in Sunderland. Manufacturing now based in Indonesia will move to Thailand, as the Japanese automaker cuts global production by 20%. Nissan Motor Co. reported a 671.2 billion yen, or $6.2 billion, loss for the fiscal year that ended in March, its first annual loss since 2009, in the aftermath of the global financial crisis.
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