| Coronavirus in South Africa: Eight lessons for the rest of the continent Posted: 30 May 2020 05:27 PM PDT  What South Africa can teach other African countries gearing up for a spike in infections.
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| Angela Merkel declines Donald Trump’s G7 invite to Camp David Posted: 30 May 2020 04:33 PM PDT  Angela Merkel has reached her own Camp David accord — she's not going. The German chancellor reportedly has politely rebuffed President Trump's Group of 7 summit invitation at the Maryland presidential retreat, reported Politico. "The federal chancellor thanks President Trump for this invitation to the G7 summit at the end of June in Washington," government spokesman Steffen Seibert told the site.
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| US faith leaders wrestle twin traumas in protests, virus Posted: 30 May 2020 04:19 PM PDT  American religious leaders across faiths are grappling with the heavy burden of helping to heal two active traumas: rising civil unrest driven by the police killing of George Floyd and the coronavirus pandemic. Christian, Jewish and Muslim leaders have raised their voices to condemn racial bias in the justice system while discouraging violence in response to the killing of Floyd, a black man who died after a white Minneapolis police officer pressed a knee into his neck. At Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Minneapolis, which has provided relief and medical help to demonstrators this week as protests roiled the city, associate pastor Angela T. Khabeb said the shared pain caused by Floyd's death was exposing the brutal double toll being exacted on people of color.
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| Senator Ted Cruz asks DOJ to investigate Twitter over Iran sanctions Posted: 30 May 2020 02:50 PM PDT  Senator Ted Cruz is asking the Justice Department to investigate Twitter for allegedly violating Iran sanctions by refusing to ban a leader.
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| `Death By Racism': Part of America's DNA from the start? Posted: 30 May 2020 01:52 PM PDT  How could you not believe that racism kills? You don't need to see the video of George Floyd, a police officer's knee on his neck as he struggled for his dying breaths, to know that black people are three times more likely to be killed by police than are white people. You don't need to hear the racial statistics on COVID-19 to know that black people have been affected disproportionately -- the same is true of eight of the 10 leading causes of death in the United States.
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| United Nations Postpones Climate Summit Until 2021 Posted: 30 May 2020 01:14 PM PDT  The United Nations announced that it is postponing its annual climate summit due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. It will still be hosted in Glasgow, Scotland as planned. The gathering is intended to set goals for governments around the world to deliver on climate-protection targets set under the Paris Agreement to slow global temperature increases.
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| U.N. Postpones Climate Summit to 2021 Posted: 30 May 2020 01:14 PM PDT The United Nations announced that it is postponing its annual climate summit due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. It will still be hosted in Glasgow, Scotland as planned. The gathering is intended to set goals for governments around the world to deliver on climate-protection targets set under the Paris Agreement to slow global temperature increases.
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| Sudan summons Ethiopia’s envoy over cross-border attack Posted: 30 May 2020 12:45 PM PDT |
| Retreat or deploy? Police try to balance protest response Posted: 30 May 2020 11:50 AM PDT  On two straight nights of unruly protests against police brutality, officers retreated from their posts in some American cities, while in others, they deployed batons, flash-bang grenades and tear gas to quell the unrest. The wide range of responses exacerbated tensions with the protesters in several locations and brought global attention to the tactics that American police use during riots as they try to find a balance between keeping the peace and protecting the safety of officers and the public. The protests came in the wake of George Floyd's death in Minneapolis after a white police officer pressed a knee into the 46-year-old black man's neck for more than eight minutes on Memorial Day.
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| AP PHOTOS: Images from protests across a traumatized nation Posted: 30 May 2020 11:41 AM PDT  In cities across the United States, protesters angered over the death of George Floyd faced off against heavily-armed officers, with some smashing police cars, ransacking businesses and setting fires that smoldered through the night. In Minnesota, where Floyd died Monday after a police officer pressed down on his neck for more than eight minutes, Gov. Tim Walz activated more than a thousand national guardsmen early Saturday, promising a massive show of force to protect the city. It came in the wake of the killing in Georgia of Ahmaud Arbery, who was shot after being pursued by two white men while running in their neighborhood, and in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic that has thrown millions out of work, killed more than 100,000 people in the U.S. and disproportionately affected black people.
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| As Minneapolis burns, mayor takes heat for the response Posted: 30 May 2020 10:36 AM PDT  First-term Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey appeared to be doing everything right. When George Floyd, a handcuffed black man, died Monday after a white police officer pressed his knee into his neck for several minutes and ignored his "I can't breathe" pleas, Frey quickly expressed outrage and called for charges against the officer. Four officers were fired the next day, and on Friday, Officer Derek Chauvin was charged in Floyd's death.
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| What to know about traveling to the US at this stage of the pandemic Posted: 30 May 2020 10:20 AM PDT  The Trump administration this week issued new limits on travelers coming to the U.S. from Brazil in the latest rollout of flight restrictions intended to stem the spread of COVID-19. Brazil became the first Latin American country named in a series of COVID-19 proclamations President Donald Trump has signed since the end of January which block travel of non-citizens coming to the U.S. The list of restricted countries also includes mainland China, Iran, Ireland, the United Kingdom and Europe's 26-country Schengen region. Most foreign nationals who have traveled through the restricted countries within 14 days are barred from entry to the U.S. Exceptions outlined in the presidential proclamations include U.S. citizens and green card holders as well as their spouses, parents and minor children.
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| Congo militia leader arrested in 2017 murders of UN experts Posted: 30 May 2020 08:41 AM PDT |
| Britain accuses the EU of trying to string Brexit talks out until the November deadline Posted: 30 May 2020 08:41 AM PDT  Britain has accused the EU of wanting to string out Brexit trade talks until the November deadline for an agreement in the hope of making the UK cave in to its demands. With the latest round of negotiations beginning on Tuesday, Boris Johnson wants to up the pace of the talks after making it clear that he will not extend the transition period and will not budge on sovereignty issues such as fishing rights. Ministers are anxious to ensure that businesses have as much time as possible to prepare for whatever trading regime is in place when the UK's current arrangements come to an end on December 31. Their aim is to make significant progress before Mr Johnson holds a meeting with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in July, at which the Prime Minister will formally reject an offer of an extension. But there are fears that EU leaders think that by running down the clock Britain will fold at the last minute. Mr Johnson has made clear he will not blink and is prepared to leave the EU without a trade deal if necessary. A trade deal must be negotiated, translated and presented to the European Parliament by November 26 in order for it to be ratified by the end of the year. The date coincides with MEPs' penultimate plenary session of the year in Strasbourg, with the final one in mid-December coming too late to sign off any deal with the UK. A UK source close to the negotiations said: "We expect next week's round to be constructive and keep the process on track. But then we are going to need things to move forward faster. "We recognise the EU have other important issues on their plate too, as we all do, but they can't just mark time on these talks. "The EU seems to have finally understood we aren't going to move on fundamentals, so they now need to think quickly about how they can find an agreement that reflects this reality." Until now, the talks have been deadlocked over issues including fishing rights, with the EU insisting its members must maintain similar access to British waters as they currently do, and Mr Johnson stating baldly that it will be up to Britain who fishes in its waters from Jan 1.
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| The Latest: National Guard called out in Utah after violence Posted: 30 May 2020 08:27 AM PDT  Utah Gov. Gary Herbert has activated the Utah National Guard after protesters angry over the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis turned violent during a demonstration at which some participants carried rifles in Salt Lake City. Herbert says in a tweet that the Guard will help control "the escalating situation" in the downtown area following the unrest Saturday afternoon. A group of people flipped over a police car and lit it on fire.
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| Russians Are Angry, but Putin's Foes Struggle to Seize the Moment Posted: 30 May 2020 07:26 AM PDT  MOSCOW -- This should be the moment for Aleksei A. Navalny, Russia's most visible opposition leader.Many Russians are enraged with the Kremlin over its botched handling of the coronavirus pandemic. President Vladimir Putin's approval rating, at 59%, is at its lowest ebb since 1999, when he was a lowly prime minister.At the same time, Navalny's audience for his YouTube livestreaming channel tripled as the virus took hold. But whether Navalny can capitalize on the opportunity remains to be seen.As Russia fights the coronavirus, the country's beleaguered opposition, too, finds itself on the back foot. Its proven approach to effecting change -- mass street protest -- will not be viable for the foreseeable future.Navalny and his colleagues are left working from home, pumping out video clips, petitions and social media posts to try to channel the anger of Russians wondering why Putin has not done more to help them during the biggest domestic crisis of his tenure."This is the most important thing happening in people's lives," Navalny said, referring to the authorities' virus-related measures. "In every Moscow apartment, in every Russian apartment, even if they never talked about politics before, they're talking about this."The discontent may be hidden behind apartment walls, but it is increasingly palpable. Anastasia Nikolskaya, a psychologist at Kosygin State University in Moscow, worked with a team to conduct 235 telephone interviews with a cross-section of Russians in May. She said she encountered far more, and far more intense, invective toward the Kremlin than in focus groups she had conducted in years past."We are entering a rather acute phase of public discontent," said Mikhail Dmitriev, an economist and public-opinion expert who reviewed Nikolskaya's findings. "If the level of aggressiveness in society remains this high, it will influence people's political behavior after the quarantine measures are removed."Navalny, a 43-year-old lawyer and anti-corruption activist, has needled Putin as corrupt and incompetent for more than a decade, dubbing him the head of "a party of crooks and thieves." He maintains a nationwide network of branch offices and has honed a punchy, populist and sometimes nationalist rhetoric that reaches millions of social media followers well beyond the urban middle class.Along the way he has spent stints in jail and under house arrest, and authorities have raided his offices and frozen his bank accounts. But the Kremlin has continued to let him operate, perhaps fearing that tougher action would only raise his popularity and standing.Dmitriev says the coronavirus crisis is a singular moment in Russia's political history, because the lockdown gave people lots of free time to stew over their sudden economic dislocation.As bars, malls and parks closed, Navalny -- forced to broadcast from a makeshift studio in his living room -- saw his online audience spike. His "Navalny Live" YouTube channel reached 10.6 million unique viewers in April, double the total in January and triple the total in April 2019, according to Google data that his team provided to The New York Times. Eighty-two percent of the April 2020 viewers were inside Russia."You get the feeling that Putin always got lucky, and now he's unlucky, and things aren't going according to the Kremlin's plan," said Ivan Zhdanov, who heads Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation. "There is a window of opportunity opening up."Navalny says the Kremlin is losing the support of Russians who had backed Putin as their guarantor of order and stability. In confrontations over Ukraine and Syria, Putin cut the figure of a tough, determined leader.But when a major crisis hit at home -- the country's total of 387,623 coronavirus infections is the third-highest in the world -- Putin appeared to waffle. He issued confusing edicts, delegated key decisions to regional governors and struggled for weeks to get local officials to pay out bonuses he promised to medical workers."Just like that, the emperor turned out to have no clothes," Navalny said. "Those who sought and hoped for some kind of order saw totally colossal chaos, a lack of help and utter craziness."More than 4,000 Russians have already died of the coronavirus -- a number widely seen as an undercount -- and even state-run media have carried images of lines of ambulances and full hospitals in Moscow and elsewhere.But Navalny says his most powerful message is an economic one: The idea that for all of Russia's natural-resource wealth, Putin is continuing to pad the pockets of those close to him while failing to support the millions of self-employed Russians and service workers who have seen their incomes dry up."The officials' real approach is: 'Sure, people don't have any money, but no one has died of hunger,'" Navalny told the viewers of his live broadcast Thursday. He went on, sarcastically: "Of course no one has died! Spring is here, it's berry season, and before this there was birch sap. You need to drink a substantial amount of birch sap to be satiated, but still."Russians who work for the government or major companies have been somewhat insulated from the crisis, since they have continued to receive their salaries during the lockdown. But for others, the Kremlin has provided only a meager safety net. There have been no blanket payments like the $1,200 stimulus checks in the United States, only targeted ones like $140 for families with children ages 3-15.Elena Lerman, a 34-year-old makeup artist in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg, said she and her friends in the beauty industry watched each of Putin's addresses to the nation in March and April, hoping in vain to hear about relief measures that might compensate them for their shuttered studios and salons."It was utter disillusionment," Lerman said in a telephone interview. "It confirmed that regular people can only depend on themselves and on those close to them."Lerman tried to make ends meet by offering makeup lessons online. Eventually, she joined her colleagues in quietly returning to work, despite the lockdown."It was either die of the coronavirus or die of hunger," she said.Lerman said she now followed politics more closely than she used to and could imagine taking part in protests in the future. But she said she was skeptical of Navalny, explaining, "I no longer understand who tells the truth."Shedding light on Navalny's far-from-universal appeal, the YouTube statistics provided by his team show that 76% of his April viewers were men, and more than half were between the ages of 25 and 44. Harnessing the anger of people like Lerman will be the biggest task for Navalny and other activists in the months to come.The most high-profile focus: Putin is widely expected to reschedule a referendum on constitutional amendments allowing him to serve as president until 2036 -- a vote postponed from April because of the virus -- for sometime this summer. And regional elections will take place across the country on Sept. 13.But the pandemic gives the Kremlin new tools to stifle dissent. Mail-in and online voting, cast as a measure to prevent the spread of the virus, will make it harder for activists to monitor elections. In Moscow this week, police cited the capital's continuing coronavirus lockdown to detain journalists staging one-person protests, which are typically allowed."Of course the Kremlin is incredibly happy that it's impossible to hold large-scale opposition protests," said Lyubov Sobol, a Navalny associate who helped spark rallies in Moscow last summer when she was barred from running in local elections. "We are adjusting to this reality -- we can't change it and invent this vaccine -- and we have to use the tools that we have."This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2020 The New York Times Company
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| Iran announces collective prayers to restart nationwide Posted: 30 May 2020 04:57 AM PDT  Iran's President Hassan Rouhani announced Saturday that collective prayers will resume in mosques, even as confirmed new coronavirus infections rise again after a decline. "It has been decided to open the mosques across the country... giving worshippers the chance to perform their daily prayers while respecting the required (hygiene) rules," Rouhani said in a televised speech. Iran, hit by the Middle East's deadliest outbreak of the virus, began to loosen restrictions on human interaction in April, classifying areas as white, orange and red -- respectively indicating low, medium and high risk for coronavirus infections.
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| A year later, motive of Virginia mass shooting still unclear Posted: 30 May 2020 04:53 AM PDT  The rampage at a Virginia Beach city government building was the latest in a string of high-profile mass shootings nationwide, between the high school killings in Parkland, Florida, and the Walmart massacre in El Paso, Texas. As the tragedy nears its one-year anniversary Sunday, some victims' family members feel it has effectively been forgotten after the national spotlight moved on to other mass killings, and more recently has been all but eclipsed by the coronavirus pandemic. "We were a flash in the pan," said Jason Nixon, whose wife, Kate, was among those killed.
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| Europeans criticize US move to revoke Iran sanction waivers Posted: 30 May 2020 04:49 AM PDT |
| Some Old Order Mennonites feel called to return to church Posted: 30 May 2020 03:34 AM PDT  "But ultimately, spiritual health is more important." For nearly two months, the Old Order Stauffer Mennonite Church followed Pennsylvania's stay-at-home order and guidelines that discouraged gatherings in houses of worship. While some more modern Mennonite orders in Lancaster County held services by video, the Stauffers did not.
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| Before Floyd death, activists saw progress on police reforms Posted: 30 May 2020 03:04 AM PDT  Years of dialogue about police and criminal justice reforms in Minneapolis had improved the relationship between the African American community and law enforcement, activists say — before the police killing this week of George Floyd, a handcuffed black man who died after a white officer pressed his knee into Floyd's neck for several minutes as he pleaded for air. Floyd's death and footage of his neck pinned under the officer's knee have unleashed protests and violent clashes with law enforcement — exposing simmering frustration and the fact that there's much work still ahead, several advocates and leaders told The Associated Press.
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| Donald Trump says the US is 'terminating' its relationship with the World Health Organisation Posted: 30 May 2020 02:30 AM PDT |
| Merkel won't attend G7 summit in person if US goes ahead Posted: 30 May 2020 01:09 AM PDT  Chancellor Angela Merkel will not personally attend a meeting in the U.S. with the leaders of the world's major economies if President Donald Trump goes ahead with it, unless the course of the coronavirus spread changes by then, her office said Saturday. After canceling the Group of Seven summit, originally scheduled for June 10-12 at Camp David, Trump said a week ago that he was again considering hosting an in-person meeting of world leaders because it would be a "great sign to all" of things returning to normal during the pandemic.
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| Louisville PD apologizes for targeting news crew at protest Posted: 30 May 2020 12:43 AM PDT  Kentucky's governor on Saturday called in the National Guard to "help keep the peace" in Louisville after a second night of protests sparked by the police shooting of a black woman led to widespread damage. Gov. Andy Beshear said he didn't want to silence protesters but decided to activate the Guard to quell the actions of "outside groups" that are "trying to create violence." Police said six people were arrested during Friday's protest, which began peacefully but grew more destructive as the night went on.
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| Minneapolis overwhelmed again by protests over Floyd death Posted: 30 May 2020 12:40 AM PDT  Fires burned unchecked and thousands protesting the police killing of George Floyd ignored a curfew as unrest overwhelmed authorities for another night in Minneapolis, and the governor acknowledged Saturday that he didn't have enough manpower to contain the chaos. The new round of tumult — which has also spread to other cities — came despite Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz vowing Friday to show a more forceful response than city leaders had the day before. "We do not have the numbers," Walz said.
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| Merkel a 'no' for Trump's in-person G7 summit Posted: 30 May 2020 12:23 AM PDT  German Chancellor Angela Merkel will not attend an in-person summit of G7 leaders that US President Donald Trump has suggested he will host despite concerns over the coronavirus pandemic, a German government spokesman said Saturday. Leaders from the Group of Seven, which the United States heads this year, had been scheduled to meet by videoconference in late June after COVID-19 scuttled plans to gather in-person at Camp David, the US presidential retreat in the state of Maryland. Trump last week, however, indicated that he could hold the huge gathering after all, "primarily at the White House" but also potentially parts of it at Camp David.
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| RPT-Coronavirus ravages strategic Russian region Posted: 30 May 2020 12:00 AM PDT |
| Protests heat up across US, governors call in National Guard Posted: 29 May 2020 11:28 PM PDT  Governors in several states called in National Guard troops as protests over repeated police killings of black men grew Saturday from New York to Tulsa to Los Angeles, where police fired rubber bullets to scatter crowds and at least one police car burned. The protests, which began in Minneapolis following Monday's death of George Floyd after a police officer pressed his knee on Floyd's neck for more than eight minutes, have left parts of that city a grid of broken windows, burned-out buildings and ransacked stores.
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| Israeli forces kill unarmed autistic Palestinian man Posted: 29 May 2020 11:14 PM PDT  Israeli police shot dead an unarmed autistic Palestinian man in Jerusalem's Old City on Saturday after saying they suspected he was carrying a weapon. The shooting drew broad condemnations and revived complaints alleging excessive force by Israeli security forces. Relatives identified the deceased man as Iyad Halak, 32.
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| Analysis: Trump fuels new tensions in moment of crisis Posted: 29 May 2020 10:59 PM PDT  Over 48 hours in America, the official death toll from the coronavirus pandemic topped 100,000, the number of people who filed for unemployment during the crisis soared past 40 million, and protests erupted in major cities after the death of George Floyd. It's the kind of frenetic, fractured moment when national leaders are looked to for solutions and solace. President Donald Trump instead threw a rhetorical match into the tinderbox.
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| UN adopts new voting procedure during COVID-19 pandemic Posted: 29 May 2020 10:47 PM PDT |
| Protesters converge on White House for second straight day Posted: 29 May 2020 10:45 PM PDT  Shouting "Black Lives Matter" and "I can't breathe," hundreds of people converged on the White House for a second straight day Saturday to protest the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis and President Donald Trump's response. Trump, who earlier belittled the protesters, pledged to "stop mob violence." Across from the White House, police lined up in front of the protesters, forming a human barricade as Trump returned to the White House from his Florida trip.
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| China says US action on Hong Kong 'doomed to fail' Posted: 29 May 2020 10:36 PM PDT  The mouthpiece newspaper of China's ruling Communist Party said Saturday that the U.S. decision to end some trading privileges for Hong Kong "grossly interferes" in China's internal affairs and is "doomed to fail." The Hong Kong government called President Donald Trump's announcement unjustified and said it is "not unduly worried by such threats," despite concern that they could drive companies away from the Asian financial and trading center. Trump's move came after China's ceremonial parliament voted Thursday to bypass Hong Kong's legislature and develop and enact national security legislation on its own for the semi-autonomous territory.
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| Pentagon ready to send troops to Minneapolis if state asks Posted: 29 May 2020 10:15 PM PDT  The Pentagon said Saturday it was ready to provide military help to authorities scrambling to contain unrest in Minneapolis, where George Floyd's death has sparked widespread protests, but Gov. Tim Walz has not requested federal troops. Jonathan Rath Hoffman, the chief Pentagon spokesman, said several military units have been placed on higher alert "as a prudent planning measure" in case Walz asks for help.
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| This Is What America Looks Like review: Ilhan Omar inspires – and stays fired up Posted: 29 May 2020 10:00 PM PDT  The Minnesota congresswoman has written a fine memoir of her journey from Somalia to AmericaFew things are more unexpected than a genuinely inspirational memoir by a freshman member of Congress. If you're looking for the perfect antidote to the perpetual tweetstorm of insanity and hatred from Donald Trump, try this beautiful new book from the Minnesota congresswoman Ilhan Omar.This migrant from Somalia came from a family of teachers and civil servants who lived in a guarded compound. Ilhan had a chauffeur to drive her to school. But all of that disappeared when Somalia was engulfed by civil war."Bullets flew from one side of the conflict to the other," Omar writes, "… directly over our house". The house took direct hits, food became scarce and 350,000 died in the first year of the conflict.Omar's family was forced to the oceanside town of Kismayo, where she was told that her father and brothers were dead. But the next day she followed what she thought was her father's voice, "and toward the end of the stretch where everyone was sleeping, there he was … I put my hand on his face, just to make sure he was real. And he was." Her brothers were alive, too.They fled to Kenya, where they faced malaria, dysentery and near starvation. The family survived in a refugee camp for 334,000 people, bartering kidney beans for kerosene and batteries for a radio. When she needed entertainment, Omar snuck under the barbed wire to walk to a nearby village, where an enterprising Kenyan charged a few shillings to watch movies on his TV. When six children who were distant relatives lost both their parents, Omar's family looked after them, Ilhan paying special attention to the baby, Umi.Her father discovered that they could apply through the United Nations to go to Norway, Canada or Sweden. But the US was his first choice."Only in America you ultimately become an American," he said. "Everywhere else we will always feel like a guest."Miraculously, a year after their first interview they were allowed to apply for America. Ilhan was upset, partly because the orphans couldn't come with them, but the rest of her book is the astonishing story of a voyage from Nairobi to New York to Minnesota, then barely 20 years later to Congress.The family's first stop was Arlington, Virginia, where the combative Ilhan spent most of her time in detention. But then she decided, she writes, "that my education was the one element of my life I had full control over, and given the long hours of studying in detention", by the time they moved on to Minnesota she "had become a very good student".At her new school, "Africans fought African Americans over who was blacker. Muslim kids and white kids fought over US policy in the Middle East. Latinos against African Americans, Africans against Native Americans."But Ilhan began to display her talents as a community organizer. She joined a group of students determined to "improve racial and cultural relations" by founding Unity in Diversity, "essentially a training program around diverse leadership".Her next stop was North Dakota State University, after a friend told her it was searching for students, offering scholarships and a "very low cost of living". Back in Minneapolis after graduation, she immersed herself in the Democratic Farmer-Labor party, first working to defeat ballot initiatives to require photo IDs for voters and to outlaw gay marriage. She figured out a winning narrative: both were threats to freedom and civil liberties, a message that worked with communities of color and white rural Minnesotans. No anti-marriage equality initiative had ever been beaten until then – the same year Barack Obama was elected president.Omar was elected to the state legislature in 2016, then to the US Congress in 2018, as one of the first two Muslim women in the House. She feared she would be banned from the House floor by an ancient rule barring hats, which would have prevented her wearing her hijab. Nancy Pelosi fixed the rule.It's unfortunate that Omar's greatest fame is from a tweet made after Republican leader Kevin McCarthy said he wanted to punish her for her views on Israel, which include a two-state solution. When she tweeted back about campaign contributions from the Israeli lobby, writing "it's all about the Benjamins baby", the Twitterverse exploded.She realized her mistake and apologized."I am by nature a starter of fires," she writes. "My work has been to figure out where I'm going to burn down everything around me by adding the fuel of my religion, skin color, gender, or even my tone. Knowing not just yourself … but also how the world interacts with you … is vital to true and lasting progress."Last week, such fire-starter impulses re-emerged: Omar expressed support for Tara Reade, who has accused Joe Biden of sexual assault. Omar conceded that Reade's accusations have not been proven, and said she would still vote for Biden for president. But she also said it was "important" to believe Reade just because she describes herself as a "survivor".It's "not my place to litigate her story", she said.On the other hand, there is another thing that makes Omar the perfect member of Congress for this moment."Recognizing my psychology as a refugee who has seen her home devolve in to chaos basically overnight," she writes "… it's my duty to call out the lack of awareness about the disintegration of civilization that is possible anywhere … it can happen only when nobody is paying attention … or people stop caring."When Omar was sworn in to Congress, there was one more big surprise. She had never believed Umi, the baby from the refugee camp, would make it. But now "a beautiful … vibrant, smiling woman" was standing in front of her."I'm the baby," Umi said.The congresswoman started to cry. * Join Ilhan Omar for a Guardian Live online event on 16 June.
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| Supreme Court rejects challenge to limits on church services Posted: 29 May 2020 09:34 PM PDT  A divided Supreme Court on Friday rejected an emergency appeal by a California church that challenged state limits on attendance at worship services that have been imposed to contain the spread of the coronavirus. Over the dissent of the four more conservative justices, Chief Justice John Roberts joined the court's four liberals in turning away a request from the South Bay United Pentecostal Church in Chula Vista, California, in the San Diego area.
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| UN extends arms embargo and other sanctions in South Sudan Posted: 29 May 2020 08:42 PM PDT |
| Quarantine bottlenecks add to woes of returning Filipinos Posted: 29 May 2020 07:28 PM PDT  When his cruise ship sailed into Manila Bay after weeks of voyaging like a castaway amid port closures set off by the global pandemic, Erick Arenas felt he was finally home. An array of the world's best-known cruise ships was waiting at anchor off the Philippine capital to drop off thousands of Filipino crew members like him who were displaced across the world by the contagion. "I thought I was on my final mile to home," said Arenas, whose homecoming was made tragic by the death of his father from pneumonia a few weeks before his ship reached Manila.
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| UN announces first 2 deaths of UN peacekeepers from COVID-19 Posted: 29 May 2020 06:50 PM PDT |
| Announced termination of the U.S. relationship with WHO is damaging and dangerous amid global COVID-19 outbreak Posted: 29 May 2020 06:40 PM PDT |
| Biden ally sees Klobuchar as less likely Biden running mate Posted: 29 May 2020 03:42 PM PDT  Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar seems a less likely choice to become Joe Biden's running mate on his presidential ticket following this week's death of a black man in police custody in Minneapolis, a key ally of the former vice president said. Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., told reporters on Friday that while he believes Klobuchar is "absolutely" qualified to be vice president, "This is very tough timing for her." Klobuchar was a prosecutor years ago in the county that includes Minneapolis.
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