| Firms can't cope with no deal and virus - CBI boss Posted: 10 Jun 2020 05:55 PM PDT  UK firms will not be able to withstand a no-deal Brexit after Covid-19, outgoing CBI boss warns.
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| Trump picks Tulsa for return of signature campaign rallies Posted: 10 Jun 2020 04:13 PM PDT  President Donald Trump is planning to hold his first rally of the coronavirus era on June 19 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Trump made the announcement as he met with a handful of African American supporters Wednesday afternoon for a roundtable discussion. Trump's signature rallies often draw tens of thousands of people but have been on hiatus since March 2 because of the coronavirus pandemic, which has now killed more than 110,000 people in the U.S.
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| Qatar World Cup stadium workers struggle to secure salaries Posted: 10 Jun 2020 04:02 PM PDT  Migrant workers building a World Cup stadium in Qatar have been struggling to secure pay they are owed, a human rights group and the Qatari government said Wednesday, highlighting ongoing labor issues in the country. Amnesty International said around 100 workers on the Al Bayt Stadium have had problems securing months of salaries from design and construction subcontractor Qatar Meta Coats. "Although recent payments will provide some welcome relief for workers, Qatar's World Cup organizers told us they had known about the salary delays since July 2019," said Steve Cockburn, Amnesty International's head of economic and social justice.
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| Editorial Roundup: US Posted: 10 Jun 2020 02:33 PM PDT |
| Primary chaos puts Georgia in race to fix voting by November Posted: 10 Jun 2020 02:02 PM PDT  Coronavirus infections sidelined some poll workers and scared away others. The resulting chaos during Tuesday's primary elections in Georgia resulted in a national embarrassment and for the second time since 2018 raised questions about the state's ability to conduct fair elections. "It scares me," said Cathy Cox, a Democrat who oversaw Georgia elections as secretary of state from 1999 through 2007.
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| US cooperates with WHO on Ebola despite Trump pullout threat Posted: 10 Jun 2020 01:31 PM PDT |
| Zimbabwe re-arrests 3 women who charge torture, sexual abuse Posted: 10 Jun 2020 12:47 PM PDT |
| UN says Libya's warring sides engaged in ‘productive’ talks Posted: 10 Jun 2020 12:45 PM PDT |
| PM vows IS will never again overrun Iraqi territory Posted: 10 Jun 2020 12:22 PM PDT  The Islamic State group will never again overrun Iraqi territory, Iraq's prime minister vowed Wednesday in an official visit to northern Iraq. The visit by Mustafa al-Kadhimi came amid a recent increase in militant attacks and the withdrawal of U.S.-led coalition forces in a planned drawdown. In Baghdad, a rocket struck a few hundred meters (yards) from the U.S. Embassy inside the capital's fortified Green Zone, according to a military statement, hours before the U.S. and Iraq are to hold highly anticipated talks focusing on the presence of American troops in Iraq.
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| COVID-19 is deadlier for black Brazilians, a legacy of structural racism that dates back to slavery Posted: 10 Jun 2020 11:54 AM PDT  The United States and Brazil have much in common when it comes to the coronavirus. Both are among the world's hardest-hit countries, where hundreds die daily. Their like-minded presidents, Donald Trump and Jair Bolsonaro, have both been widely criticized for their poor handling of the pandemic. And in both countries the virus is disproportionately affecting black people, the result of structural racism that dates back to slavery. Legacy of slaveryBrazil forcibly brought some 4 million enslaved Africans into the country over three centuries, more than anywhere else in the Americas. About half its 209 million people are black – the world's second largest African-descendant population after Nigeria. Modern Brazil never had legalized racial discrimination like Jim Crow, but race-based inequalities are deeply entrenched. Despite a persistent myth of Brazil as an integrated "racial democracy," employment discrimination and residential segregation limit opportunity for black people. These and other factors translate into lower life expectancy, education and standards of living for Afro-Brazilians. Black Brazilians live, on average, 73 years – three years less than white Brazilians, according to the 2017 National Household Survey. The U.S. has a nearly identical life expectancy gap between races.Because government data in Brazil is not automatically collected by race or ethnicity, though, the health impacts of racism can be hard to measure. Bolsonaro's administration did not require the collection of COVID-19 racial data until late April, well into the pandemic, after much pressure. It has yet to release that information. Regardless, by April the Brazilian Health Ministry had already flagged high COVID-19 death rates among Afro-Brazilians, a category that includes people who identify as "black" or "brown" in the census. Officials in hard-hit São Paulo had also announced that mortality rates among COVID-19 patients were higher among black residents. Now, data collected in May by outside researchers for over 5,500 municipalities shows that 55% of Afro-Brazilian patients hospitalized with severe COVID-19 died, compared to 34% of white COVID-19 patients. Health and racismWe are health researchers – one American, one Brazilian – who for many years have studied how racial disparities in Brazil affect black people, looking at everything from sickle cell anemia to reproductive health. Our research over the past two months finds structural racism – in the form of high-risk working conditions, unequal access to health and worse housing conditions – is a major factor shaping Brazil's COVID-19 pandemic.For over a decade, black activists and public health researchers have been pointing out that institutional racism creates worse health outcomes for Brazil's black population. Black Brazilians experience higher rates of chronic illnesses like diabetes, high blood pressure, and respiratory and kidney problems due to food insecurity, inadequate access to medicine and unaffordable prescriptions.Racism itself also takes a severe physical toll on black people. Studies in the United States demonstrate that daily experiences of racism and discrimination can lead to dangerously high stress hormones and diminish the body's ability to fight disease. Racial bias from medical professionals then compounds poor outcomes for black patients. Unlike the U.S., Brazil has free, universal health care. But its public hospitals have been woefully underfunded since a deep recession that began in 2015. Intensive care beds are now in short supply at public hospitals in several cities fighting coronavirus outbreaks. This is especially detrimental to black COVID-19 patients, since Afro-Brazilians rely more heavily on the public health system than white Brazilians, who often have private health insurance through their jobs. Poverty and exposureExtreme economic inequality is another critical factor shaping the general health of Afro-Brazilians. With the top 10% of the population earning 55% of domestic income, Brazil trails only Qatar in concentration of wealth, according to a 2019 United Nations report. Few, if any, Afro-Brazilians rank among Brazil's super-rich. National household survey data shows that black and brown Brazilians make far less money than white Brazilians, even with equivalent educational background. The racial wage gap in Brazil actually outweighs the gender wage gap: White women earn up to 74% more than black men. Generally speaking, the higher the salary, the less likely Afro-Brazilians are to have a job. Many work in the informal and service sectors, as house cleaners or street vendors. Others are self-employed or unemployed. During the pandemic, this economic insecurity severely lessens Afro-Brazilians' ability to socially distance and makes them highly dependent on staying in their jobs despite the health threat. Maids, for example – most of whom are black women – are proving to be a high-risk group. Domestic workers were among Brazil's first COVID-19 deaths. Neighborhood risksBrazil's coronavirus outbreak originated in wealthy neighborhoods whose residents had traveled to Europe, but the disease is now spreading fastest in its poor, dense, long-neglected urban neighborhoods. Just over 12 million Brazilians, most of them black, live in such informal urban settlements, from Rio de Janeiro's favelas to the "peripheries" of São Paulo. These areas have inadequate access to water and sanitation, making it difficult to follow basic hygiene recommendations like washing one's hands with soap. So while the disparate impact of COVID-19 on black Brazilians was not inevitable, our research explains why it's unsurprising. The racism that pervades nearly every facet of Brazilian society increases black people's exposure to the virus – then reduces their ability to get to quality care. [You need to understand the coronavirus pandemic, and we can help. Read The Conversation's newsletter.]This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts.Read more: * Assassination in Brazil unmasks the deadly racism of a country that would rather ignore it * Sexism, racism drive more black women to run for office in both Brazil and USThe authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
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| UN agency replaces official blocked from entering Yemen Posted: 10 Jun 2020 11:45 AM PDT  The United Nations has quietly ended the assignment of its chief rights officer in Yemen after Houthi rebels blocked his entry into the country for months, according to U.N. documents. The United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner replaced its chief in Yemen, Elobaid Ahmed Elobaid, nearly nine months a fter the Houthis, who control northern Yemen, denied him entry, documents obtained by The Associated Press show. A U.N. document dated Tuesday showed that OHCHR notified the Yemen mission in Geneva of the replacement of Elobaid without giving reasons.
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| U.N. chief regrets North Korea decision to cut hotlines with South Posted: 10 Jun 2020 11:43 AM PDT |
| US general: Taliban not yet met conditions for US withdrawal Posted: 10 Jun 2020 11:36 AM PDT  The Taliban have not yet met conditions required for a complete U.S. troop withdrawal from Afghanistan by next May as envisioned in a U.S.-Taliban deal signed in February, the commander overseeing U.S. forces there said Wednesday. Gen. Frank McKenzie, head of U.S. Central Command, said the U.S. is ahead of schedule for an initial drawdown by July to 8,600 troops. McKenzie stressed, however, that going to zero troops by May is dependent on conditions.
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| Iran Has Backed Off of Challenging US Since Soleimani Killing, General Says Posted: 10 Jun 2020 11:32 AM PDT  Tensions between Iran and the U.S. military have eased since the airstrike that killed Qasem Soleimani.
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| Pompeo Fired Me for ‘No Valid Reason,’ Inspector General Says Posted: 10 Jun 2020 11:21 AM PDT  Former State Department Inspector General Steve Linick told Congress that he was "shocked" to find out President Trump decided to remove him from his post last month and said that senior officials in the State Department had consistently told him they were satisfied with the office's work."I can tell you… that I've been given no valid reason that would justify my removal," Linick said, according to his interview transcripts released by multiple congressional committees Capitol Hill Wednesday. "I had a number of other contacts within the department, senior level, who always commented that we treated people fairly, that we were a productive office, and that we were doing a great job."Linick was fired in May by President Trump after Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had requested his removal for allegedly not adhering to the department's "ethos" statement, which includes phrases such as "I am a champion of American diplomacy," and for supposedly engaging in a pattern of unauthorized leaks. Linick told Congress during his interview on Capitol Hill that Pompeo's explanations for why he was terminated "are either misplaced or unfounded."State IG Set to Recommend Discipline for Trump's Top Iran Hand"I received a call from the State Department operations center. The only thing they said was the President has decided to exercise his power to remove you," Linick said. "I've been a dedicated public servant for 28 years. I've conducted my work with honor, integrity, and without regard to politics. Numerous senior officials in the department who—with whom I've interacted have commented that they thought our work was fair, objective, that we accomplished our mission, and that was my understanding." Linick's firing came during an aggressive campaign by President Trump to oust inspectors general from their positions. So far the president has removed or replaced five of them from various parts of the administration, including the intelligence community and the transportation department. But the State Department case raised eyebrows almost immediately when Rep. Eliot Engel (D-NY), the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said in a release that he'd been told Linick was investigating Pompeo on several different matters before his ousting. Earlier, reports had surfaced that Pompeo and his wife were under investigation for having asked staffers to walk their dog and run errands. But Engel said Linick was also investigating Pompeo and the department for its decision to use an emergency declaration to send arms to Saudi Arabia. That investigation came at the request of members of Congress after they attempted to block the sale last summer. Linick's testimony on Capitol Hill raises questions about the motivations by Secretary Pompeo in requesting President Trump fire the former inspector general and shows the extent to which the secretary and others in the department sought to pressure the IG office to drop the Saudi probe.Linick confirmed with congressional investigators that his office was working on two separate inquiries related to Pompeo before his ousting. Those probes focused on the department's decision to use an emergency declaration to sell $8 billion worth of arms to Saudi Arabia and a misuse of government resources by the secretary and his wife, Linick said. According to the interview transcripts, the State Department's IG office is still working on the Saudi investigation and has requested documents related to the misuse of resources from Pompeo's executive secretary.Linick said his office was also involved in other probes before his removal, including a review of the International Women of Courage Award, an audit of special immigrant visas and a review of individuals in the departments' Office of the Protocol.Pompeo's Unproven COVID-19 Claims Have Officials Freaked Out Pompeo previously made claims that his decision to remove Linick from his post was not an act of retaliation because he did not know the IG's office was investigating allegations he had an aide run personal errands for him. He told The Washington Post in an interview he only knew of a case that involved a "national security matter" and became aware of that investigation right before the report was released to the public. But Linick said his office reached out to Pompeo directly and asked for an interview on the Saudi matter. "Before I was removed our team asked for an interview with the Secretary. I did not talk to the Secretary personally, so I can't tell you what he understood or what he didn't understand. But what I can tell you is that I told Undersecretary Bulatao, Deputy Secretary Steve Biegun and the Legal Advisor about the request," Linick said. "[Secretary Pompeo] ultimately submitted… some written answers to topic areas that we provided in advance of requesting our interview."The secretary refused a sit-down after the IG's office suggested a witness from his office be present, Linick said. "You asked for an interview, it looked like they would do an interview if it was just you and the Secretary, and then you asked for a witness, and then all of a sudden the interview didn't happen?" asked the House Foreign Affairs Committee's Democratic Counsel. "That's correct," Linick said, adding that Under Secretary for State Management Brian Bulatao attempted to "bully" him on several occasions, including during the Saudi probe."In connection with our work on... the emergency certification on the arms control, he told me that it wasn't an appropriate review because it was a review of policy. And I told him that… it was within the IG purview to review how policy is implemented," Linick said. "And I was trying to draw that distinction that, while we don't engage in policymaking, we look at how policy is carried out as we are required to by law. He just continued to push back."In the hours following Linick's removal, Secretary Pompeo attempted to rationalize his decision to remove Linick. In an interview with The Washington Post, Bulatao said Linick had been fired because of a "pattern of unauthorized disclosures, or leaks." In the article, Bulatao pointed to a story published by this reporter in The Daily Beast as an example of one of those leaks. That report summarized one of the main findings of a forthcoming IG report that in part looked at Brian Hook, the administration's top Iran hand. He and other senior members of the State Department were under investigation by Linick's office for a series of incidents that took place under former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.The IG investigation focused on Hook and other officials' involvement in layoffs and other personnel decisions that impacted individuals who were thought to have perceived loyalty to the Obama administration. Several whistleblowers raised allegations against Hook and others, prompting the inspector general to analyze emails and other documents as part of the probe. The Daily Beast reported that the IG's office had decided to recommend disciplinary action for Hook. According to the report that was released several weeks later, Linick's office found that Hook, among other officials, retaliated against an agency employee in part because of her Iranian-American background. Linick said he had gone to the secretary's office to discuss the forthcoming IG report two weeks before the publishing of The Daily Beast article. The former inspector general said he met with Pompeo about the article after its publication."The Secretary was concerned about a possible leak. It was very upsetting to me, the thought of a leak coming from the IG's Office, because that is not something that I would tolerate. And it would certainly undermine the integrity of our report and our office, and the report was due to come out in a few weeks," Linick said. "At that meeting, I told him that. I told him I certainly did not leak it or have any communication with The Daily Beast or any periodical. I told him that, to the best of my knowledge, no one in my office leaked it, and if they did, they would be subject to swift action, including removal."Linick added: "I also told him that information about that report could have been leaked from a variety of sources, including the fact that the Department already had the report."According to Linick's testimony, he conferred with Bulatao and others about the leak allegations and sought out an outside investigation, first going to the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency (CIGIE)—which did not have jurisdiction for such an investigation—then two other inspectors general. The Pentagon IG agreed to pick up the investigation and later cleared Linick's office.In the sit-down conversation with Linick, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) repeatedly questioned the former inspector general about whether he knew who had leaked to The Daily Beast and cast doubt on Linick going to the Department of Defense to request an inquiry into the leak allegation.Trump Fires Inspectors General as He Grows Insular and Paranoid in His Coronavirus Response"Who do you think leaked it?" Jordan asked. "I don't know who leaked it. I can't speculate. I know that a number of people touched the report. The report was in the Department's hands," Linick said. " I really don't know who leaked that report or who leaked information from the report. It's not even clear to me that the report was leaked." According to a report by ABC News, a top adviser to Secretary Pompeo has requested the State's IG office conduct another review of the leak allegations. Linick's acting replacement is Stephen Akard, who will keep his job as the head of the department's Office of Foreign Missions."Obviously, neither I nor anyone else at The Daily Beast is going to comment on our sources. But I will note that the Department of Defense Inspector General looked into whether Steve Linick's office had leaked to the media—and found no evidence to support the accusation," Noah Shachtman, editor-in-chief of The Daily Beast, said in a statement. "We stand by our reporting. More importantly, stand against any politician or public official who tries to break the sacrosanct bonds of confidentiality between reporters and their sources."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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| AP Exclusive: Police officers' personal info leaked online Posted: 10 Jun 2020 11:15 AM PDT  Personal information of police officers in departments nationwide is being leaked online amid tense interactions at demonstrations across the U.S. over the police custody death of George Floyd and others, according to an unclassified intelligence document from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, obtained by The Associated Press. The document warns that the effort, known as "doxxing," could lead to attacks by "violent opportunists or domestic violent extremists" or could prevent law enforcement officials from carrying out their duties. Multiple high-ranking police officials in a number of cities, including Washington, Atlanta, Boston and New York have had their personal information shared on social media, including their home addresses, email addresses and phone numbers, the report warns.
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| Could 3D-printed meals be the food trend of the future? Posted: 10 Jun 2020 10:51 AM PDT  Food Flash explores the wild world of food news, from the health benefits of red wine to why dark chocolate is actually good for you. The future of food is upon us. According to the United Nations, the world will have to increase its food production by 70 percent by the year 2050 to feed the extra 2.5 billion people on the planet.
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| Jon Ossoff wins Georgia Senate primary; will face Perdue Posted: 10 Jun 2020 10:17 AM PDT  Jon Ossoff, a young Georgia media executive known for breaking fundraising records during a 2017 special election loss for a U.S. House seat, beat back a field of Democratic primary opponents to win a spot taking on Republican Sen. David Perdue in November. Ossoff's victory allows him to avoid a potentially bruising primary runoff that had been seen as likely and sets up a showdown with Perdue as Republicans look to hold the White House and Senate majority. The election on Tuesday was plagued by problems that, combined with a massive influx of mail-in paper ballots because of the coronavirus, delayed final results.
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| Relatives: Bodies found are 2 kids missing since September Posted: 10 Jun 2020 09:57 AM PDT  The bodies of two children uncovered in rural Idaho are a boy and his big sister who have been missing since September, relatives said Wednesday, bringing a grim end to a search that captivated people worldwide but no fewer questions about a case that has put their mother and her husband behind bars. Authorities have not released the identities of the bodies discovered on the property of Chad Daybell, who married the children's mother, Lori Vallow Daybell, a few weeks after the kids were last seen.
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| Fired State Dept watchdog says he was bullied by officials Posted: 10 Jun 2020 09:38 AM PDT  The independent State Department watchdog fired by President Donald Trump says top department officials tried to bully him and dissuade his office from conducting a review of a multibillion-dollar arms sale to Saudi Arabia. Former Inspector General Steve Linick told Congress last week that two senior officials sought to block an inquiry into the arms deal, according to a transcript of the interview made public Wednesday by Democrats leading an investigation into his dismissal. Linick, who had been inspector general since 2013, also said he was looking into previously reported allegations that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and his wife may have misused government staff to run personal errands and several other matters.
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| Ex-judge says push to dismiss Flynn case is abuse of power Posted: 10 Jun 2020 09:37 AM PDT  A former federal judge appointed to review the Justice Department's motion to dismiss criminal charges against President Donald Trump's former national security adviser Michael Flynn said there was evidence of a "gross abuse" of prosecutorial power and that the request should be denied. Former U.S. District Judge John Gleeson said in a filing Wednesday that the government "has engaged in highly irregular conduct to benefit a political ally of the President." Gleeson was appointed by U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan in a special role to weigh in on the case, but it will ultimately be up to Sullivan and potentially an appeals court whether to accept the Justice Department's motion to drop the case.
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| Kano state serial rapes: Man arrested after 40 rapes in Nigerian town Posted: 10 Jun 2020 09:19 AM PDT  Police say the man was found in a child's bedroom and ran away but neighbours gave chase and caught him.
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| At least 30 migrants die in Tunisia boat sinking Posted: 10 Jun 2020 09:16 AM PDT |
| Pandemic hampers raising rare whooping cranes for the wild Posted: 10 Jun 2020 09:12 AM PDT  The COVID-19 pandemic is drastically reducing the number of young whooping cranes to be released this fall to help bring back the world's rarest cranes. Zoos and other places where the endangered birds are bred have had to cut not only staff size but use of two techniques to boost the birds' numbers: artificial insemination and hand-rearing -- or, rather, costume-rearing -- chicks. Whooping cranes are North America's tallest birds, 5 feet (1.5 meters) high from their black feet to the little red caps on their heads. There are 75 birds based in Louisiana and 85 in a flock taught to migrate from Wisconsin to Florida by following ultralight aircraft.
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| 'Grief overload:' Families absorb multiple virus deaths Posted: 10 Jun 2020 09:12 AM PDT  It may seem hard to imagine the cruel toll of the coronavirus getting any worse than losing one of those closest to you. In a pandemic of countless sorrowful realities, it's bringing a special kind of loss to people around the globe who are seeing their families shattered with multiple members succumbing to the disease. "This generation, this level of my family has just been very quickly obliterated," said Julia Chachere of Sag Harbor, New York, whose mother and stepfather died of COVID-19 four days apart.
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| Kosovar woman repatriated from Syria charged with terrorism Posted: 10 Jun 2020 08:57 AM PDT |
| US expands virus testing of detained migrants amid criticism Posted: 10 Jun 2020 08:47 AM PDT  U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced Wednesday that it has expanded COVID-19 testing among people held at its detention facilities following criticism of its response to the outbreak. ICE says it now offers voluntary tests for the virus to all people held at detention facilities in Tacoma, Washington, and Aurora, Colorado, and will consider doing the same at other locations.
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| London should not be a European financial hub after Brexit, says Michel Barnier Posted: 10 Jun 2020 08:47 AM PDT  London should lose its status as a European centre for financial and legal services after Brexit, Michel Barnier has said. The EU chief negotiator said Britain should not be allowed to become a stepping stone into the EU market or a manufacturing hub for the bloc after the end of the transition period this year. Mr Barnier told representatives of the European Economic and Social Committee that Britain should also not keep its large share of the lucrative market for testing goods to ensure they meet EU standards. The loss of that 20 percent market share would mean a burdensome and expensive process for UK businesses in which they would have to pay for their products to be shipped to the EU for testing before they can be exported to the bloc. "During its 47 years of membership, the UK built up a strong position in the EU market in a number of strategic areas, financial, services, businesses, and legal services, and also regulation and certification," Mr Barnier said in a speech in Brussels. "This was made possible by the fact that the UK was an EU member state within the Single Market. As it prepares to leave the Single Market and leave the Customs Union, we must ask ourselves whether it is really in the EU interest for the UK to retain such a prominent position." Mr Barnier warned against allowing the UK to assemble materials and goods sourced from all over the world before exporting them to the EU tariff and quota-free as a British good once a trade deal was signed. This "would allow the UK to become a manufacturing hub for the EU", Mr Barnier said, adding: "Do we really want the UK to remain a centre for commercial litigation for the EU when we could attract these services here?"
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| Minneapolis police chief takes on union, promises change Posted: 10 Jun 2020 08:16 AM PDT  The Minneapolis Police Department will withdraw from police union contract negotiations, Chief Medaria Arradondo said Wednesday, as he announced initial steps in what he said would be transformational reforms to the agency in the wake of George Floyd's death. Faced with calls from activists and a majority of City Council members to dismantle or defund the department, Arradondo also said he would use a new system to identify problem officers early and intervene. "We will have a police department that our communities view as legitimate, trusting and working with their best interests at heart," he said at a news conference more than two weeks after Floyd died after a white officer pressed his knee into the handcuffed black man's neck even after he stopped moving and pleading for air.
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| African swine fever 'decimating' Nigerian pigs Posted: 10 Jun 2020 07:57 AM PDT  The outbreak of the viral haemorrhagic disease has occurred in the country's largest pig farm.
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| 'Stop the pain,' George Floyd's brother pleads with Congress Posted: 10 Jun 2020 07:45 AM PDT  George Floyd's brother challenged Congress on Wednesday to "stop the pain" as lawmakers consider a sweeping law enforcement overhaul, so the man he looked up to won't become just "another name" on a growing list of black Americans killed during interactions with police. Philonise Floyd's appearance before a House hearing came a day after funeral services for his older brother, the 46-year-old African American whose death has become a worldwide symbol in demonstrations calling for changes to police practices and an end to racial prejudice. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler gaveled in the session, with many lawmakers and witnesses masked during the COVID-19 outbreak, as Democrats review the Justice in Policing Act, a far-ranging package of proposals amid a national debate on policing and racial inequality.
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| California deputy shot in 'ambush' attack at police station Posted: 10 Jun 2020 07:36 AM PDT  A central California sheriffs deputy was shot in the head early Wednesday in an "ambush" attack by a gunman intent on harming or killing police, authorities said. It follows two recent deadly shootings targeting officers in California. The shooter on Wednesday, who has not been captured, opened fire around 3:45 a.m. on a police station in Paso Robles, said San Luis Obispo County Ian Parkinson.
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| Putin's foes divided over Russian vote that could extend his rule Posted: 10 Jun 2020 07:32 AM PDT |
| The Latest: Columbus statue pulled down in St. Paul Posted: 10 Jun 2020 06:33 AM PDT  — George Floyd's brother gives emotional testimony on Capitol Hill. ST. PAUL, Minn. — Protesters have pulled down a statute of Christopher Columbus outside the Minnesota State Capitol. A rope was thrown around the 10-foot bronze statue Wednesday afternoon and they pulled it off its stone pedestal.
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| 'We need help': Small cities face fiscal calamity from virus Posted: 10 Jun 2020 06:23 AM PDT  Unfilled potholes, uncollected trash, unmown grass and, most significantly, fewer police on the street are some of what Allentown says it's contemplating unless Washington helps it plug a multimillion-dollar budget hole left by the coronavirus pandemic. Pennsylvania's third-largest city, with a population of over 120,000, Allentown has largely fended for itself amid sharply falling tax revenue. Local officials in those left-out places are now pleading for a massive cash infusion from the federal government to help them stave off financial calamity.
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| Dozens in Sudan protest against UN mission Posted: 10 Jun 2020 06:20 AM PDT |
| Cristobal remnants bring thunderstorms, flooding to Midwest Posted: 10 Jun 2020 05:25 AM PDT  The remnants of Tropical Storm Cristobal were moving out of the Midwest and into Canada on Wednesday, with gusty winds and heavy rain leaving behind flooding in Indiana, Wisconsin, Missouri and Iowa. High winds brought down trees and left thousands without power in Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Nebraska.
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| Could Iran Test a Nuclear Bomb Within a Year? Posted: 10 Jun 2020 04:37 AM PDT  "Iran could test a nuclear weapon in the desert within a year now," said former IAEA inspector David Albright, founder of the Institute for Science and International Security, at a conference call hosted by the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. "I think it would take them longer to have a missile deliverable nuclear warhead, but often countries don't do that first."
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| Iran Isn’t Trying to Make Weapons-Grade Plutonium At Reactor Targeted By Trump: IAEA Posted: 10 Jun 2020 04:25 AM PDT  Iran has not tried to convert its nuclear reactor at Arak to produce weapons-grade plutonium, a new report by the International Atomic Energy Agency has found.
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| Iran reports more than 2,000 new virus cases Posted: 10 Jun 2020 04:04 AM PDT  Iran on Wednesday announced more than 2,000 new coronavirus infections, in line with a recent surge in cases that President Hassan Rouhani attributed to increased testing. "When more tests are done, then naturally more cases are identified," Rouhani told a televised meeting of his cabinet. Health ministry spokeswoman Sima Sadat Lari said the 2,011 infections confirmed in the past 24 hours had raised Iran's overall caseload to 177,938.
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| Surviving in America's Black Belt amid pandemic and job loss Posted: 10 Jun 2020 03:54 AM PDT  Life can be tough even on a good day in the Black Belt, where some of the poorest people in America are, as usual, depending on each other to survive. Both the need and the relief have been on display in the historic civil rights city of Selma, where volunteers distributed free food to scores of people, many of whom shared rides from isolated communities just to get to the school where boxes of fruit and vegetables were available. "When the rest of the country catches a cold, a place like the Black Belt catches the flu," said Lydia Chatmon, who works with the Selma Center for Non-Violence and helped coordinate with the Black Belt Community Foundation on last week's donations.
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| OECD warns of UK jobs hit with no EU deal or transition delay Posted: 10 Jun 2020 03:21 AM PDT |
| German FM warns Israel against West Bank annexation plans Posted: 10 Jun 2020 02:45 AM PDT  Germany's foreign minister on Wednesday warned Israel that its plan to begin annexing parts of the West Bank would violate international law, but he offered no details on how Germany or Europe would respond. The visit to Jerusalem — Heiko Maas' first trip outside of Europe since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic — came just weeks before Israel intends to extend its sovereignty over Jewish West Bank settlements, in line with President Donald Trump's controversial Mideast plan.
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| Germany to ease restrictions on seasonal workers - source Posted: 10 Jun 2020 02:44 AM PDT |
| Sweden halts probe into 1986 murder of PM Olof Palme Posted: 10 Jun 2020 12:38 AM PDT  Palme was gunned down on Feb. 28, 1986, after he and his wife Lisbet Palme left a movie theater in the Swedish capital. The murder shocked the nation and shook the Scandinavian county's image as being so safe and peaceful that politicians could wander around in public without protection. The investigation was being closed because the main suspect, Stig Engstrom, died in 2000, the case's chief prosecutor, Krister Petersson, told a news conference Wednesday in Stockholm.
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| South Korea to charge defector groups over North leaflets Posted: 10 Jun 2020 12:30 AM PDT  South Korea's government said Wednesday that it will press charges against two activist groups that have been floating anti-Pyongyang leaflets and bottles filled with rice to North Korea. Any action against the groups is likely to trigger a debate over freedom of expression in South Korea, and whether President Moon Jae-in's liberal government is sacrificing democratic principles to keep alive his ambitions for inter-Korean engagement. The announcement by Seoul's Unification Ministry came a day after North Korea said it was cutting off all communication channels with South Korea over its inability to prevent North Korean defectors and other activists from flying the leaflets across the border.
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| Pope sends strong message to US Catholics after Floyd death Posted: 09 Jun 2020 11:56 PM PDT  Pope Francis called George Floyd by name, twice, and offered support to an American bishop who knelt in prayer during a Black Lives Matter protest. Cardinals black and white have spoken out about Floyd's death, and the Vatican's communications juggernaut has shifted into overdrive to draw attention to the cause he now represents. Under normal circumstances, Floyd's killing at the hands of a white police officer and the global protests denouncing racism and police brutality might have drawn a muted diplomatic response from the Holy See.
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| Unemployed Filipina feeds other jobless migrants in Dubai Posted: 09 Jun 2020 11:34 PM PDT  Feby Dela Peña saw her fellow Filipinos standing in line outside her building in Dubai, waiting for free food. Dela Peña is unemployed. When their 11 housemates got wind of her plan — like most migrant workers in Dubai, the family lives in a shared apartment — those who could chipped in as well.
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