| NKorea's military threatens to reenter demilitarized areas Posted: 15 Jun 2020 07:21 PM PDT  North Korea's military on Tuesday threatened to move back into zones that were demilitarized under inter-Korean peace agreements as the country continued to dial up pressure on rival South Korea amid stalled nuclear negotiations with the Trump administration. The General Staff of the Korean People's Army said it's reviewing a ruling party recommendation to advance into unspecified border areas that had been demilitarized under agreements with the South, which would "turn the front line into a fortress." The powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un days earlier said the North would demolish a "useless" inter-Korean liaison office in the border town of Kaesong and that she would leave it to the military to come up with the next step of retaliation against the "enemy" South.
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| WHO chief to speak at top Chinese university graduation ceremony Posted: 15 Jun 2020 07:04 PM PDT |
| Saudi-led Yemen coalition pulled from UN blacklist Posted: 15 Jun 2020 06:55 PM PDT  Campaigners reacted angrily on Monday to the removal of the Saudi-led military coalition in Yemen from a list of groups violating children's rights, in a report by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. "The Coalition to Support Legitimacy in Yemen will be delisted for the violation of killing and maiming, following a sustained significant decrease... due to air strikes," said the UN's newly-published annual report on children in conflict zones. The coalition intervened in 2015 in Yemen to support the government against Iran-backed Huthi rebels.
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| Lawyer: Egyptian journalist detained on fake news charges Posted: 15 Jun 2020 05:59 PM PDT |
| Huawei CFO raises new argument to fight U.S. extradition in Canada court Posted: 15 Jun 2020 05:16 PM PDT  Huawei Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou is raising a new argument in a Canadian court in a bid to fight extradition to the United States on bank fraud charges, court documents released on Monday showed. Meng's lawyers claim the case that the United States submitted to Canada is "so replete with intentional and reckless error" that it violates her rights. Meng, 48, was detained in Vancouver on Dec. 1, 2018, at the request of the United States, where she is charged with bank fraud and accused of misleading HSBC Holdings Plc about Huawei Technologies Co Ltd's business in Iran.
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| North Korea 'ready to take action' over South Korean propaganda leaflets Posted: 15 Jun 2020 05:05 PM PDT  North Korea's army is ready to take action if defector groups push ahead with their campaign to send propaganda leaflets into North Korea, state media said on Tuesday, in the latest warning of retaliatory measures. The General Staff of the Korean People's Army (KPA) said it has been studying an "action plan" to re-enter zones that had been demilitarised under an inter-Korean pact and "turn the front line into a fortress". "Our army will rapidly and thoroughly implement any decisions and orders of the Party and government," the KPA said in a statement carried by the official KCNA news agency. Tensions have risen as Pyongyang threatened to sever inter-Korean ties and take retaliatory measures over the leaflets, which carry messages critical of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un including human rights abuses. Several defector-led groups have regularly sent back flyers, together with food, $1 bills, mini radios and USB sticks containing South Korean dramas and news, usually by balloon over the heavily fortified border or in bottles by river. On Saturday, Kim Yo-jong, the sister of Kim who serves as a senior official of the ruling Workers' Party, said she ordered the military to prepare for next action. South Korea took legal action against two of the defector groups, saying they fuel cross-border tensions, pose risks to residents living near the border and cause environmental damage. But the groups say they intend to push ahead with their planned campaign this week. South Korea's President Moon Jae-in urged Pyongyang on Monday to keep peace agreements reached by the two leaders and return to dialogue.
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| More 'oomph': UK's Johnson eyes Brexit trade deal by July Posted: 15 Jun 2020 05:04 PM PDT  British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he believed stuttering post-Brexit trade talks could conclude by as early as next month, after a meeting with EU chiefs that saw both sides commit to ramping up negotiations. An upbeat Johnson emerged from an hour-long video conference call with European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and other leaders to reveal he had told them to "put a tiger in the tank" and add "a bit of oomph" to three months of talks. It was Johnson's first personal involvement in the talks, which began just weeks after Britain left the European Union on January 31 after 47 years in the European project.
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| AP Exclusive: New dates set to begin federal executions Posted: 15 Jun 2020 03:34 PM PDT  The Justice Department has set new dates to begin executing federal death-row inmates following a monthslong legal battle over the plan to resume the executions for the first time since 2003. Attorney General William Barr directed the federal Bureau of Prisons to schedule the executions, beginning in mid-July, of four inmates convicted of killing children. Three of the men had been scheduled to be put to death when Barr announced the federal government would resume executions last year, ending an informal moratorium on federal capital punishment as the issue receded from the public domain.
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| Donald Trump to cut half of US troops in 'delinquent' Germany Posted: 15 Jun 2020 03:28 PM PDT  Donald Trump said he is cutting the number of American troops in Germany by half because Berlin is "delinquent" in its contributions to Nato and treats the US "badly" on trade. The US president told reporters there are 52,000 US soldiers stationed in Germany. "It's a tremendous cost to the United States," he said. "So we're removing a number down to, we're putting the number down to 25,000 soldiers." There are only between 34,000 and 35,000 US soldiers permanently stationed in Germany, according to the Pentagon, although rotation of units mean the overall number can temporarily top 50,000. US troops have been stationed in the geopolitically vital country since the end of World War II, forming the bulk of the Nato alliance's conventional defence against the Soviet Union during the Cold War. The resurgence of Russia's military ambitions under President Vladimir Putin have given the US presence a new importance in the past two decades, with central and eastern European states leading the way in pressuring for stronger US-led defences. However, Mr Trump said he was reacting to ally Germany's insufficient payments to Nato. "Germany's delinquent, they've been delinquent for years and they owe Nato billions of dollars, and they have to pay it. So we're protecting Germany and they're delinquent. That doesn't make sense," he said.
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| Mali ambush: Gunmen kill 24 in attack on convoy Posted: 15 Jun 2020 02:02 PM PDT  Gunmen attack a convoy near the border with Mauritania, leaving 24 dead and others unaccounted for.
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| UN chief takes Saudis off blacklist for harming Yemen's kids Posted: 15 Jun 2020 01:59 PM PDT  Secretary-General Antonio Guterres took the Saudi-led coalition backing Yemen's government off a global blacklist of parties whose actions have harmed children in conflict, a move that drew immediate protests Monday from human rights groups. The U.N. chief's annual report to the Security Council on Children and Armed Conflict released Monday removed the coalition from a relatively new list of government forces and armed groups "that have put in place measures ... aimed at improving the protection of children," despite his finding that the coalition was responsible for the killing and maiming of 222 children last year including 171 from airstrikes.
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| U.N. to examine systemic racism and police brutality Posted: 15 Jun 2020 01:30 PM PDT  "The death of George Floyd is unfortunately not an isolated incident," a Burkina Faso official wrote in a letter asking the U.N. to debate the issues.
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| Coronavirus death rate is higher for those with chronic ills Posted: 15 Jun 2020 01:07 PM PDT  Death rates are 12 times higher for coronavirus patients with chronic illnesses than for others who become infected, a new U.S. government report says. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report released Monday highlights the dangers posed by heart disease, diabetes and lung ailments. The report is based on 1.3 million laboratory-confirmed coronavirus cases reported to the agency from January 22 through the end of May.
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| Under police pressure, France backs off ban on chokeholds Posted: 15 Jun 2020 01:01 PM PDT  Under pressure from police, the French government backed away Monday from a ban on chokeholds during arrests. France's interior minister announced a week ago that the immobilization technique would be abandoned, in the face of growing French protests over police brutality and racial injustice unleashed by George Floyd's death in the U.S. On Monday, the national police director sent a letter to staff, obtained by The Associated Press, saying chokeholds will no longer be taught in police schools but they can continue to be used "with discernment" until alternatives are found.
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| Yemen's rebels: Saudi coalition airstrike kills 13 civilians Posted: 15 Jun 2020 11:59 AM PDT |
| A Conspiracy Made in America May Have Been Spread by Russia Posted: 15 Jun 2020 11:50 AM PDT  The night of the Iowa caucuses in February, Robby Mook, Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign manager, logged into Twitter to find the hashtag RobbyMookCaucusApp trending across the country. Pundits on both sides of the aisle accused him of developing a mobile app to rig the Democratic primary against Sen. Bernie Sanders.Soon his phone was buzzing with calls from reporters demanding to know what role he had played in creating the app, a flawed vote-reporting system that delayed caucus results for days.But he had never even heard of the app, which was developed by a company called Shadow Inc. This mattered little to the thousands of Twitter users attacking him online. Four months later, Mook sighed, "There are still people out there who believe I developed that app."Mook was the target of an American-made social media conspiracy theory that was picked up by Americans and quickly amplified by accounts with Russian links. What happened to him in February -- though just a sliver of the enormous amounts of misinformation pouring onto social media platforms -- offers a manual to understand how false information about the coronavirus and the election is now spreading."The Kremlin doesn't need to make fake news anymore," said Clint Watts, a former FBI special agent and information warfare expert. "It's all American-made."Russians have concluded that it is easier to identify divisive content from real Americans and help it spread through low-profile networks of social media accounts than create tales of their own.Researchers say Russia-linked misinformation has become more polished over the last year. They are keeping a lower profile, creating online personas with smaller follower counts and more refined posts that look like they could come from an average American. And they are piggybacking on a social media culture increasingly steeped in paranoia and distrust of the government and scientific community.In February, intelligence officials warned House lawmakers that Russia was interfering in the 2020 campaign to try to get President Donald Trump reelected, and that Russia intended to interfere with the 2020 Democratic primaries as well as the general election."Russia's trolls learned it is far more effective to find the sore spots and amplify content by native English speakers than it is to spin out their own wackadoodle conspiracy theories," said Cindy Otis, a former CIA analyst who specializes in disinformation.The conspiracy targeting Mook started a week before the Iowa caucus, when Chelsea Goodell, a web designer in Arizona, quoted a Twitter post that included a screenshot of an article from the technology news site CNET describing Democrats' plans to use an app to tabulate votes in the caucus.The article noted that Iowa officials were working with Harvard University's Defending Digital Democracy program -- a program Mook helped found -- to protect the caucus from digital threats. Goodell claimed it was a Democratic ploy to steal the primary from Sanders.Four hours later, Goodell added the hashtag RobbyMookCaucusApp to her tweets.There was no basis for her claims. The Digital Democracy Project had run threat simulations for Iowa election officials in both parties. But neither Harvard's staff nor Mook had even seen the Shadow app before the caucuses that February.The conspiracy theory might have flamed out had it not been picked up by Ann Louise La Clair, a self-described Los Angeles filmmaker with a Russian Twitter following. Her tweets praising RT advertisements and protesting American airstrikes in Syria -- a key Russian ally -- had previously been picked up by RT, the Kremlin-owned news outlet.She had also caught notice of @DanWals83975326, who also claimed to be a filmmaker. But his Twitter feed suggested otherwise.He tweeted in broken English 72 times a day, on average, often in the middle of the night in the United States -- just as business was getting underway in Russia. Of the 2,000 accounts he followed, many posted exclusively in Russian. He routinely shared content from RT, Sputnik, Tass and other Kremlin-owned outlets.He often took aim at the "deep state" and American media and retweeted Americans like La Clair who criticized the "Democratic establishment." In fact, La Clair was among the top 10 accounts @DanWals83975326 retweeted. He promoted Le Clair's theories to his 1,200 followers, which included a broader network of Russia-linked accounts that bore the words "Russia," "Moscow" and "Kremlin" in their profiles, set their locations to Russia, and regularly promoted Russian state news.The account he "liked" most frequently belonged to @Manul_na_skale, which posted from Russia, exclusively in Russian, and highlighted tweets like "Happy Border Guards Day" -- a holiday celebrated by members of the FSB, the successor to the KGB.None of the accounts in @DanWals83975326's network had particularly large followings."They aren't looking for their own accounts to go viral anymore, because it draws attention to themselves," said Otis, the former CIA analyst. "The bulk of their approach is to slip into existing narratives."Within 10 minutes of La Clair quoting Goodell's Mook-Iowa theory, @DanWals83975326 shared it. When the app imploded the night of the caucus, RT picked up the theory, writing: "There are rumors that Clinton's former 2016 campaign manager, Robby Mook, was indirectly involved with the Shadow app."By the time Mook could correct the record on Twitter that evening, the false claim had been shared more than 20,000 times. The RobbyMookCaucusApp hashtag had climbed to the top of Twitter. Soon, Trump, his campaign advisers and his sons were echoing the claims."Mark my words," Eric Trump, the president's son, posted, "they are rigging this thing."It was a textbook example, Watts said, of suspected Russian trolls exploiting unwitting Americans to sow discord."Russia just pushes populists against the establishment," Watts said. "It doesn't even matter what their political leanings are."It was the same technique the Kremlin used in 2016 when Russian trolls posed as Texas secessionists on one Facebook page and pro-Muslim rights activists on another and coordinated a real-world standoff between the two groups in Houston. The difference now is Americans are doing all of the legwork for them."I don't know what to think anymore," La Clair said when asked in an interview about Russian amplification of her tweets.She said she was a Sanders supporter and still upset about 2016, when emails hacked and leaked by Russia appeared to show the Democratic National Committee undermining his campaign. To her, Goodell's theory made perfect sense -- though La Clair later blocked Goodell and deleted her post quoting the Mook theory after other Sanders supporters suggested that Goodell's tweets were duplicitous."I don't want to be used as somebody's pawn," La Clair said. "But to find out whether every tweet I share is disingenuous, I would have to go all the way back and find out who the instigator is. I don't even know how to do that."As for Goodell, she dismissed questions about her Iowa caucus posts and pushed her latest theories: that COVID-19 is a Chinese bioweapon and that a drug called ivermectin that is used on animals is the panacea."That is vastly more critical to us right now than a Russian political campaign," Goodell said. As her and others' ivermectin theory gained traction online, the Food and Drug Administration warned Americans that the drug could cause "serious harm" in humans.La Clair also tweeted that the coronavirus was a bioweapon, only in her version it was developed by the United States or Israel.She argued on Twitter that Dr. Anthony Fauci, a crucial figure in the Trump administration's pandemic response, and the billionaire Bill Gates are part of a plot to profit from an eventual COVID-19 vaccine. Once again, her theories were promoted by @DanWals83975326.@DanWals83975326 also promoted Russian accounts that claimed the virus was created at a U.S. military base. Disinformation analysts suspect his account is part of a broader Russian campaign. A leaked European Union report found, in the two months leading to mid-March, 80 instances in which Russia fabricated or exaggerated theories that COVID is a bioweapon. In February, U.S. intelligence officials warned that Russian accounts were once again meddling to reelect Trump in 2020, and boosting Sanders as part of that effort.@DanWals83975326 continues to play his part. He amplifies Sanders and Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii, who is a favorite of the Russian press, while slamming Vice President Joe Biden and the D.N.C. He applauded Joe Rogan, the podcaster and onetime Sanders supporter, when he announced that he would vote for Trump over Biden."Joe Rogan is with people & not of the dumbest flock," @DanWals83975326 tweeted. (The account turned on Rogan in May after the podcaster dedicated an entire show to the question: "Why is Russia so crazy?" More recently, he has pushed Jimmy Dore, a comedian who was a staunch critic of the special counsel's investigation into Russian collusion and is an ardent critic of Biden's.)Occasionally, to appear more American, @DanWals83975326 tossed out the odd American cultural reference. Sometimes he appeared to tip his hand, praising President Vladimir Putin of Russia, bragging about Russian grain production and fawning over the Russian military.In late May, after this reporter sent the account holder a list of questions concerning his identity, @DanWals83975326 vanished, deleting his Twitter history. He recently resurfaced as @DanRadov.But the game is still the same. He still amplifies La Clair's posts, blames the Pentagon's "bioWMDs" for the pandemic and -- with the nation seized by protests -- his latest tweets seem to appreciate how little foreign interference is required to take the country down."U.S. has long been in the position when one spark can burn the whole country down and all of the United West for that matter," @DanRadov posted. "Buckle your seatbelts people. We are up for rough ride."This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2020 The New York Times Company
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| Saudi-led coalition in Yemen cut from U.N. blacklist of parties killing children Posted: 15 Jun 2020 11:49 AM PDT |
| The Latest: Seattle City Council votes to bar gas, spray Posted: 15 Jun 2020 11:24 AM PDT  — Seattle City Council votes unanimously to bar police from using tear gas and pepper spray. SEATTLE — The Seattle City Council has voted unanimously to bar police from using tear gas, pepper spray and several other crowd control devices after officers repeatedly used them on mostly peaceful demonstrators protesting racism and police brutality. The 9-0 vote Monday came amid frustration with the Seattle Police Department, which used tear gas to disperse protesters in the city's densest neighborhood, Capitol Hill, just days after Mayor Jenny Durkan and Chief Carmen Best promised not to.
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| Libya's government asks UN help after mass graves discovery Posted: 15 Jun 2020 11:10 AM PDT |
| Boris Johnson calls on EU to put 'a tiger in the tank' of Brexit talks, as deal hopes rise Posted: 15 Jun 2020 10:52 AM PDT  Boris Johnson has called on the three EU presidents to put a "tiger in the tank" of Brexit negotiations and said he sees "no reason" why a deal cannot be done in July. There was renewed optimism in London and Brussels about the prospects of finally breaking the deadlock over fishing, the level playing field guarantees and the European Court of Justice after the video call, which was held online because of the coronavirus pandemic. "I don't think we are actually that far apart," the Prime Minister said, "but what we need to see now is a bit of oomph in the negotiations." "The faster we can do this, the better. We see no reason why you shouldn't get that done in July," the prime minister said after hour long talks with the presidents of the European Commission, Council and Parliament. "I said to the three presidents, put a tiger in the tank because it is very clear what the UK needs and our EU friends need," Mr Johnson said after the meeting where both sides renewed their commitment to striking a zero tariff, zero quota free trade deal before the end of the year. "Ready to put a tiger in the tank but not buy a pig in a poke," tweeted Charles Michel, the president of the European Council, after the video call with the prime minister where the EU restated its red lines but said it was ready to go to every effort to break the impasse. Both sides agreed to an intensified schedule of talks in July and August before the meeting Mr Johnson did not set the three EU leaders a July deadline in the discussions, which were set up to evaluate progress in the free trade talks. With EU leaders distracted by the coronavirus crisis, diplomatic sources said a breakthrough was more likely to come in October, which would give MEPs time to ratify the deal, but admit the real deadline is one minute to midnight on New Year's Eve. Mr Johnson said: "I certainly don't want to see this going on into the Autumn and Winter as perhaps in Brussels they would like. I don't see any point in that so lets get it done." Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the commission, said EU fishermen needed the predictability of a long term fishing deal rather than the annual negotiations over fishing opportunities favoured by Britain.
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| Art of Persia, review: a rare chance to gasp at Iran’s many splendours Posted: 15 Jun 2020 10:42 AM PDT  Samira Ahmed was granted a rare opportunity to journey into the heart of Iran for BBC Four's Art of Persia, and she didn't waste it. At many points in this first of three instalments I found myself gasping at the sheer magnificence of the sites she was showing us, and the beauty of the objects found there. The vast, desert ziggurat at Chogha Zanbil, relic of a lost world; the ruins of Persepolis and the grand tomb of its ruler, Darius the Great. These are sights that few Westerners will get to see in real life. A lesser presenter would have been content to make this into a travel programme, with the occasional observation about the Iranian people. But Ahmed is clever and curious, and you sense that this is one of the great projects of her career. Her ambition is no less than to introduce us to 3,000 years of Persian history, art and culture, deferring to experts where necessary but acting as an enthusiastic and knowledgeable guide. Seeing a presenter's eyes shining at the thrill of what they're seeing is infectious. The name "Persia" has romantic connotations that "Islamic Republic of Iran" most definitely does not. Most of us know the latter from news reports, and the programme stayed away from the country's recent history. It was more interested in demonstrating the ways in which the history of Persia remains part of modern Iranians' cultural identity. Ahmed has a gift for description: showing us the ziggurat at Chogha Zanbil, she explained that the Elamite people who constructed it attached great spiritual importance to mountains and "where there were no mountains they built their own". The most bizarre location visited in the programme was a cod-medieval castle constructed by a Frenchman in the 19th century, using ancient bricks from the site he was excavating: "A fitting example of how colonial-era archaeologists saw themselves as superior protectors of civilisation, while desecrating ancient sites." The most bizarre location visited in the programme was a cod-medieval castle constructed by a Frenchman in the 19th century, using ancient bricks from the site he was excavating: "A fitting example of how colonial-era archaeologists saw themselves as superior protectors of civilisation, while desecrating ancient sites." How odd it must have been for Ahmed as she took the BBC to an employment tribunal over equal pay last year, listening to the corporation's lawyers refer dismissively to her as a mere news journalist, in the knowledge that she had made this series. Instead of fighting losing battles, perhaps the BBC could concentrate its energies on making more programmes that add to the sum of our knowledge.
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| Voice of America director, deputy resign amid Trump clash Posted: 15 Jun 2020 10:21 AM PDT  The director of Voice of America and her deputy resigned Monday following recent clashes with the Trump administration that have sparked fears about the independence of the U.S. government-funded news organization. Amanda Bennett and Deputy Director Sandy Sugawara announced they were leaving the organization as Trump ally and conservative filmmaker Michael Pack takes over leadership of the agency that oversees VOA. Bennett and Sugawara told the staff in an email obtained by The Associated Press that Pack should be able to choose the leadership of the organization, which was created to promote democracy and American values abroad.
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| EU urges US to join new Mideast peace effort Posted: 15 Jun 2020 09:59 AM PDT  European Union foreign ministers on Monday urged the United States to join a new effort to breathe life into long-stalled peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians, but they rejected President Donald Trump's Middle East plan as the basis for any international process. Trump's proposal, which was unveiled in January, would foresee the eventual creation of a Palestinian state, but it falls far short of minimal Palestinian demands and would leave sizable chunks of the occupied West Bank in Israeli hands. Speaking after chairing video talks between the ministers and U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said the Europeans "recognize the merit of the U.S. plan because it has created a certain momentum where there was nothing."
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| Nigeria's Muhammadu Buhari orders probe into Aso Rock shooting Posted: 15 Jun 2020 09:47 AM PDT  The shooting reportedly followed an argument about whether a presidential aide should self-isolate.
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| Lebanon PM says rioters should face tough response Posted: 15 Jun 2020 09:37 AM PDT  Lebanon's prime minister on Monday said there should be a tough response to the riots that have erupted in different parts of the country in recent days, saying they were "organized acts of sabotage" and not linked to protests fueled by a worsening economic crisis. Hassan Diab spoke at a meeting of the country's top political and security officials to discuss the rioting, which has caused damage to public and private property. Diab said a firm decision should be taken to stop all acts of violence and to detain those involved.
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| Supreme Court says gay, transgender workers protected by law Posted: 15 Jun 2020 09:33 AM PDT  The Supreme Court ruled Monday that a landmark civil rights law protects gay, lesbian and transgender people from discrimination in employment, a resounding victory for LGBT rights from a conservative court. The court decided by a 6-3 vote that a key provision of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 known as Title VII that bars job discrimination because of sex, among other reasons, encompasses bias against people because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. "An employer who fires an individual for being homosexual or transgender fires that person for traits or actions it would not have questioned in members of a different sex," Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote for the court.
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| France swaps chokehold for stun guns after police protests Posted: 15 Jun 2020 09:24 AM PDT  Less than a week after France banned police chokeholds, the government responded to growing officer discontent by announcing it would test stun guns for wider use, adding to the ranks of European law enforcement agencies that have recently adopted the weapons that many in the U.S. equate with excess police violence. For Johny Louise, it felt as though the 22 seconds of Taser pulses that led to his son's death counted for nothing. "They need more death so that one day they understand, but it will be more pointless deaths and sufferings for families," Louise said.
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| Iran restricts contraception due to fall in marriages and population growth Posted: 15 Jun 2020 09:20 AM PDT  Iran is scaling back access to vasectomies, contraceptives and other family planning services as the regime's leadership launches a campaign to boost the country's population size. According to Iranian media reports, religious leaders have grown concerned by the country's aging population and falling birth rates, while marriages are also in decline. The new measures mean that contraceptives will only be available in cases where the woman's health may be at risk, according to Iranian media reports. The BBC reported that access to vasectomies will also be restricted, citing the Iranian news agency Irna. "On the issue of contraceptives, we recommend absolutely no measures for the decrease in population," said Seyed Hamed Barakati, Iran's deputy health minister. "However, if for example a woman is receiving chemotherapy, as it can cause physical harm to herself and the fetus, we do advise the use of condoms for her partner." Another Iranian news agency, Mehr, warned in an editorial published on Monday that a "bitter future" awaits Iran unless the population increases. "The march of our people towards turning into an old age population has serious and unwelcome political, social and even security implications for our nation and indifference towards it will result in grave consequences in the decades to come," it said. Mr Barakati also said that the marriage rate had dropped by 40 per cent over the past ten years. "With this trend, we will be one of the oldest countries in the world in the next 30 years," he said. The announcement coincides with warnings that Iran may soon have to re-introduce tough lockdown measures as the country recorded its second consecutive day with more than 100 deaths from coronavirus. According to official figures, more than 8,000 people have succumbed to the virus in Iran but analysts say the true figure is likely to be far higher.
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| Sudan finds mass grave thought to be linked to 1998 killings Posted: 15 Jun 2020 09:09 AM PDT |
| US revokes emergency use of malaria drugs vs. coronavirus Posted: 15 Jun 2020 09:04 AM PDT  U.S. regulators on Monday revoked emergency authorization for malaria drugs promoted by President Donald Trump for treating COVID-19 amid growing evidence they don't work and could cause deadly side effects. The Food and Drug Administration said the drugs hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine are unlikely to be effective in treating the coronavirus. Citing reports of heart complications, the FDA said the drugs' unproven benefits "do not outweigh the known and potential risks."
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| 'When does it stop?' Slain man's family makes tearful plea Posted: 15 Jun 2020 09:01 AM PDT  Pleading through tears Monday, the family of a black man killed by Atlanta police outside a drive-thru demanded changes in the criminal justice system and called on protesters to refrain from violence amid heightened tensions across the U.S. three weeks after George Floyd's death in Minneapolis. An autopsy found that 27-year-old Rayshard Brooks was shot twice in the back late Friday by a white officer who was trying to arrest him at a fast food restaurant for being intoxicated behind the wheel of his car. Brooks tried to flee after wrestling with officers and grabbing a stun gun from one of them.
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| Supreme Court for now stays out of police immunity debate Posted: 15 Jun 2020 08:36 AM PDT  The Supreme Court is for now declining to get involved in an ongoing debate by citizens and in Congress over policing, rejecting cases Monday that would have allowed the justices to revisit when police can be held financially responsible for wrongdoing. With protests over racism and police brutality continuing nationwide, the justices turned away more than half a dozen cases involving the legal doctrine known as qualified immunity, which the high court created more than 50 years ago. As is usual the court didn't comment in turning away the cases, but Justice Clarence Thomas wrote a 6-page dissent saying he would have agreed to hear one of the cases.
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| Russia Just Sentenced Unlikely ‘Spy’ Paul Whelan to 16 Years. Will the U.S. Trade Real Spies to Free Him? Posted: 15 Jun 2020 08:27 AM PDT  MOSCOW—On Monday a panel of three Russian judges sentenced former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan to 16 years of "strict regime" in a labor camp. The charge against him: espionage. Whelan stood in the courtroom's cage listening to the verdict pronounced in Russian, pressing a piece of paper to the glass wall: "Sham trial!" it said, and "Meatball surgery!," referring to the hernia operation he had in prison, and "No human rights!," as well as other slogans.Prior to the sentencing, Whelan reportedly shouted that his case is a "political charade" by a Russian government that "feels impotent in the world, so it's taking political hostages."Later Whelan complained to reporters in the courtroom that nobody bothered to translate what had just happened. Whelan says his prison guards and investigators humiliated him from the first day he was arrested in his hotel 18 months ago to the day. He was kept in a small cell at Moscow's notorious Lefortovo prison without a chance to speak with his family. He suffered from agonizing pain for months because of the hernia, without a chance to consult with his doctors. Accused U.S. 'Spy' Paul Whelan Turns 49 in Moscow Prison With Freedom Nowhere in SightWhelan's state appointed lawyer, Vladimir Zherebenkov, is convinced that now it is up to the former spy Vladimir Putin to decide what to do with Whelan. "It must have been hard for the judge to hand down that sentence: the prosecutors presented only one witness, who most probably works for the Russian special services and claims that Paul had intended to recruit him, while we presented 12 Russian witnesses, including retired military who confirmed that Whelan had never tried to recruit them, that he loved Russia," Zherebenkov told The Daily Beast. "I told Paul that there is no justice in Russia. He knows his case is a political provocation. He's been prepared. We have not seen any Americans convicted of espionage in our labor camps for at least 15 years—he was taken to be swapped, it became clear already in December." There is a common saying in Russia: "The intelligence services do not give up on their own." There are at least two prisoners in United States that the Kremlin has been eager to bring back home for years, both of whom are suspected Russian intelligence operatives, most likely for the foreign intel service known as the SVR.One is Victor Bout, a former Soviet military officer whose arms trafficking earned him the sobriquet "Merchant of Death." He was convicted in 2011 and sentenced to 25 years for agreeing to sell weapons to undercover agents posing as Colombian terrorists who intended to kill Americans. The other is Russian pilot Konstantin Yaroshenko, also convicted in 2011, who was sentenced to 20 years for conspiracy to smuggle cocaine. "A few weeks ago Mikhail Alekseyev, a spokesman for the Foreign Intelligence Service, SVR, mentioned that Paul should be swapped for Bout and Yaroshenko, which means that the SVR now admit both men are theirs," Zherebenkov told The Daily Beast. "The decision to swap Whelan for Bout and Yaroshenko must have been considered at the very top; now the two [American and Russian] presidential administrations and intelligence services will discuss the details." The Kremlin's major newspaper, Rossiyskaya Gazeta, reported on Monday that investigators discovered a memory stick in Whelan's hotel room with "a list of employees of one of the Russian special services." The state newspaper says that once Whelan's verdict goes into effect, "The Washington side might raise a question about a possible exchange of Whelan and some Russian citizens convicted in the United States."When Whelan was arrested in December 2018 there was widespread speculation he might be traded for Maria Butina, who used gun rights advocacy and a glamorous makeover to work her way into the confidence of GOP lawmakers. But she served only five months of an 18-month sentence for failure to register as a foreign agent, and was deported back to Moscow last year with, it appears, with no deal to let Whelan go.U.S. Ambassador to Russia John Sullivan told a crowd of reporters that he felt "disappointed and outraged" after hearing the verdict and seeing Whelan in the courtroom. The ambassador, a lawyer, called the court process "a mockery of justice.""An American citizen has been sentenced to a term of 16 years for a crime of which we have not seen evidence," said Sullivan. "He was denied an opportunity to work cooperatively with his defense council who was appointed for him; in addition he was horribly mistreated." Ambassador Sullivan said that Whelan had been denied medical help until surgery was needed to repair a hernia. That also was conducted on Russia's terms. "He wasn't able to speak with his family, with his elderly parents for almost a year and a half. To say that I am troubled by this is an understatement."In vain Whelan's family tried to get in touch with him during three months of COVID-19 lockdowns. In late May the family found out about the hernia operation. "We do not know how his health is, no one has spoken with Paul since his emergency surgery, and that was a brief call to the embassy," Whelan's twin brother David told The Daily Beast on Monday. "Our family has not spoken with Paul, except for the single phone call that the Lefortovo prison allowed him in May."Ambassador Sullivan called for all fair-minded people in Russia and around the world to demand Whelan's release, "because if they can do this to Paul, they can do this to anyone." Since Whelan also holds Canadian, U.K., and Irish passports, four embassies are now working on appealing his sentence. "Out of all the criticism against the United States over the years, one thing I have not heard Russia criticize was our federal criminal of justice system, our commitment to due process, the fundamental rights, the fundamental human rights around the world of a public trial, an opportunity to present all the evidence on all charges—he was denied that from the beginning," Sullivan said. Whelan's defense now waits for the deal proposal from the state, Zherebenkov told The Daily Beast. "Prosecutors ask us not to appeal the verdict now—we'll wait until next week and see what they have to offer us."The family also hoped for a prompt release. "Paul's attorneys Vladimir Zherebenkov and Olga Karlova are better situated to answer questions about whether to appeal or go straight to a petition for clemency. Paul will be involved in that choice too. I am in favor of whatever arrangement gets Paul released most promptly," said his brother, David Whelan.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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| Pen pal program forges connections beyond nursing homes Posted: 15 Jun 2020 07:48 AM PDT  Rich Vanderweit saw the loneliness of older people in the COVID-19 pandemic, and he devised a modest effort to ease their isolation. Vanderweit, an activity aide at Sullivan County Health Care in Claremont, thought: Why not match his nursing home residents with pen pals at Summercrest Senior Living Community 12 miles away in Newport?
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| UN team probing IS horrors urges Iraq to pass war crimes law Posted: 15 Jun 2020 07:35 AM PDT  U.N. investigators have collected millions of call data records implicating Islamic State militants in atrocities committed in Iraq, but delays in passing a law to govern war crimes trials could hinder the pursuit of justice, according to the head of the investigation. Karim A. Khan leads the team charged with investigating IS atrocities committed against the Yazidi minority and other groups. The data will help geolocate suspects in the summer of 2014, when the extremists killed and enslaved thousands of Yazidis after sweeping across northern Iraq.
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| Justices rule LGBT people protected from job discrimination Posted: 15 Jun 2020 07:07 AM PDT  The Supreme Court ruled Monday that a landmark civil rights law protects gay, lesbian and transgender people from discrimination in employment, a resounding victory for LGBT rights from a conservative court. The court decided by a 6-3 vote that a key provision of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 known as Title VII that bars job discrimination because of sex, among other reasons, encompasses bias against LGBT workers. "An employer who fires an individual for being homosexual or transgender fires that person for traits or actions it would not have questioned in members of a different sex," Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote for the court.
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| Supreme Court rejects several gun rights cases for next term Posted: 15 Jun 2020 06:57 AM PDT  The Supreme Court on Monday passed up several challenges to federal and state gun control laws, over the dissent of two conservative justices. Gun rights advocates had hoped the court would expand the constitutional right to "keep and bear arms" beyond the home. Instead, the justices left in place restrictions on the right to carry weapons in public in Maryland, Massachusetts and New Jersey.
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| 3 Zimbabwean women denied bail, accused of lying about abuse Posted: 15 Jun 2020 06:30 AM PDT |
| UN nuclear watchdog chief asks Iran for access to disputed sites Posted: 15 Jun 2020 06:23 AM PDT  The head of the UN's nuclear watchdog on Monday called on Iran to allow "prompt access" to two sites where past nuclear activity may have occurred. "I hope we can do better," Rafael Grossi, director general of the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), told reporters when asked about the agency's current relationship with Iran. Grossi was speaking at the start of a meeting of the agency's Board of Governors which is expected to discuss a report earlier this month in which the IAEA expressed "serious concern" that Iran has been blocking inspections at two sites.
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| Muslims join to demand police reforms, back black-led groups Posted: 15 Jun 2020 06:00 AM PDT  In the wake of George Floyd's death in police custody, dozens of American Muslim organizations have come together to call for reform to policing practices, and to support black-led organizations. "The victimization of unarmed Black Muslims has a long and troubling history," said a coalition statement signed by more than 90 civil rights, advocacy, community and faith organizations. "As American Muslims, we will draw on our diversity, our strength, and our resilience to demand these reforms because Black lives matter."
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| Syrian security forces detain protesters in southern city Posted: 15 Jun 2020 05:33 AM PDT  Syrian security forces detained several demonstrators Monday in a southern city that has seen days of anti-government protests amid a crash in the local currency and sharp price increases, opposition activists said. Monday's crackdown is the first since protests began in the city of Sweida last week, where dozens of people have been demonstrating every day over deteriorating living conditions. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition war monitor, said government supporters attacked the protesters in Sweida with "hard objects" wounding several.
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| Afghans allege Iran police involved in attacks on refugees Posted: 15 Jun 2020 05:30 AM PDT  An Afghan lawmaker accused Iranian authorities on Monday of involvement in recent attacks on Afghan refugees in Iran, incidents that have sparked protest rallies in Afghanistan and elsewhere. The lawmaker, Abdul Sattar Husseini, told The Associated Press that he is part of a government team investigating complaints that authorities in Iran had mistreated Afghans living there, including in an incident earlier this month in Yazd province when three Afghans died after their vehicle was shot at — allegedly by police — and set on fire. In another incident, a large group of Afghan migrants was captured by Iranian border police last month, he said.
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| Turkey renews opposition to US sanctions on Iran Posted: 15 Jun 2020 05:12 AM PDT  Turkey on Monday reiterated its opposition to U.S. sanctions on neighboring Iran, saying the coronavirus pandemic has shown that the world needs greater cooperation and solidarity. Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu made the comments in Istanbul during a joint news conference with his Iranian counterpart, Mohammad Javad Zarif, who is the first dignitary to visit Turkey since its outbreak began in March. "Iran's stability and peace is important for us," Cavusoglu said.
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| Slowing the Coronavirus Is Speeding the Spread of Other Diseases Posted: 15 Jun 2020 05:09 AM PDT  As poor countries around the world struggle to beat back the coronavirus, they are unintentionally contributing to fresh explosions of illness and death from other diseases -- ones that are readily prevented by vaccines.This spring, after the World Health Organization and UNICEF warned that the pandemic could spread swiftly when children gathered for shots, many countries suspended their inoculation programs. Even in countries that tried to keep them going, cargo flights with vaccine supplies were halted by the pandemic and health workers diverted to fight it.Now, diphtheria is appearing in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal.Cholera is in South Sudan, Cameroon, Mozambique, Yemen and Bangladesh.A mutated strain of poliovirus has been reported in more than 30 countries.And measles is flaring around the globe, including in Bangladesh, Brazil, Cambodia, Central African Republic, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Nepal, Nigeria and Uzbekistan.Of 29 countries that have suspended measles campaigns because of the pandemic, 18 are reporting outbreaks. An additional 13 countries are considering postponement. According to the Measles and Rubella Initiative, 178 million people are at risk of missing measles shots in 2020.The risk now is "an epidemic in a few months' time that will kill more children than COVID," said Chibuzo Okonta, president of Doctors Without Borders in West and Central Africa.As the pandemic lingers, the WHO and other international public health groups are now urging countries to carefully resume vaccination while contending with the coronavirus.At stake is the future of a hard-fought, 20-year collaboration that has prevented 35 million deaths in 98 countries from vaccine-preventable diseases, and reduced mortality from them in children by 44%, according to a 2019 study by the Vaccine Impact Modeling Consortium, a group of public health scholars."Immunization is one of the most powerful and fundamental disease prevention tools in the history of public health," said Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the WHO, in a statement. "Disruption to immunization programs from the COVID-19 pandemic threatens to unwind decades of progress against vaccine-preventable diseases like measles."But the obstacles to restarting are considerable. Vaccine supplies are hard to come by. Health care workers are increasingly working full time on COVID-19, the infection caused by the coronavirus. And a new wave of vaccine hesitancy is keeping parents from clinics.Many countries have yet to be hit with the full force of the pandemic itself, which will further weaken their capabilities to handle outbreaks of other diseases."We will have countries trying to recover from COVID and then facing measles. It would stretch their health systems further and have serious economic and humanitarian consequences," said Dr. Robin Nandy, chief of immunization for UNICEF, which supplies vaccines to 100 countries, reaching 45% of children under 5.The breakdown of vaccine delivery also has stark implications for protecting against the coronavirus itself.At a global summit earlier this month, Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, a health partnership founded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, announced it had received pledges of $8.8 billion for basic vaccines to children in poor and middle-income countries, and was beginning a drive to deliver COVID-19 vaccines, once they are available.But as services collapse under the pandemic, "they are the same ones that will be needed to send out a COVID vaccine," warned Dr. Katherine O'Brien, the WHO's director of immunization, vaccines and biologicals, during a recent webinar on immunization challenges.Battling Measles in CongoThree health care workers with coolers full of vaccines and a support team of town criers and note-takers recently stepped into a motorized wooden canoe to set off down the wide Tshopo River in the Democratic Republic of Congo.Although measles was breaking out in all of the country's 26 provinces, the pandemic had shut down many inoculation programs weeks earlier.The crew in the canoe needed to strike a balance between preventing the transmission of a new virus that is starting to hit Africa hard, and stopping an old, known killer. But when the long, narrow canoe pulled in at riverside communities, the crew's biggest challenge turned out not to be the mechanics of vaccinating children while observing the pandemic's new safety strictures. Instead, the crew found themselves working hard just to persuade villagers to allow their children to be immunized at all.Many parents were convinced that the team was lying about the vaccine -- that it was not for measles but, secretly, an experimental coronavirus vaccine, for which they would be unwitting guinea pigs.In April, French-speaking Africa had been outraged by a French television interview in which two researchers said coronavirus vaccines should be tested in Africa -- a remark that reignited memories of a long history of such abuses. And in Congo, the virologist in charge of the coronavirus response said that the country had indeed agreed to take part in clinical vaccine trials this summer. Later, he clarified that any vaccine would not be tested in Congo until it had been tested elsewhere. But pernicious rumors had already spread.The team cajoled parents as best they could. Although vaccinators throughout Tshopo ultimately immunized 16,000 children, 2,000 others eluded them.This had been the year that Congo, the second-largest country in Africa, was to launch a national immunization program. The urgency could not have been greater. The measles epidemic in the country, which started in 2018, has run on and on: Since January, there have been more than 60,000 cases and 800 deaths. Now, Ebola has again flared, in addition to tuberculosis and cholera, which regularly strike the country.Vaccines exist for all these diseases, although they are not always available. In late 2018, the country began an immunization initiative in nine provinces. It was a feat of coordination and initiative, and in 2019, the first full year, the percentage of fully immunized children jumped from 42% to 62% in Kinshasa, the capital.This spring, as the program was being readied for its nationwide rollout, the coronavirus struck. Mass vaccination campaigns, which often mean summoning hundreds of children to sit close together in schoolyards and markets, seemed guaranteed to spread coronavirus. Even routine immunization, which typically occurs in clinics, became untenable in many areas.The country's health authorities decided to allow vaccinations to continue in areas with measles but no coronavirus cases. But the pandemic froze international flights that would bring medical supplies, and several provinces began running out of vaccines for polio, measles and tuberculosis.When immunization supplies finally arrived in Kinshasa, they could not be moved around the country. Domestic flights had been suspended. Ground transport was not viable because of shoddy roads. Eventually, a U.N. peacekeeping mission ferried supplies on its planes.Still, health workers, who had no masks, gloves or sanitizing gel, worried about getting infected; many stopped working. Others were diverted to be trained for COVID.The cumulative impact has been particularly dire for polio eradication -- around 85,000 Congolese children have not received that vaccine.But the disease that public health officials are most concerned about erupting is measles.More Contagious Than COVIDMeasles virus spreads easily by aerosol -- tiny particles or droplets suspended in the air -- and is far more contagious than the coronavirus, according to experts at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention."If people walk into a room where a person with measles had been two hours ago and no one has been immunized, 100% of those people will get infected," said Dr. Yvonne Maldonado, a pediatric infectious disease expert at Stanford University.In poorer countries, the measles mortality rate for children under 5 ranges between 3% and 6%; conditions like malnutrition or an overcrowded refugee camp can increase the fatality rate. Children may succumb to complications such as pneumonia, encephalitis and severe diarrhea.In 2018, the most recent year for which data worldwide has been compiled, there were nearly 10 million estimated cases of measles and 142,300 related deaths. And global immunization programs were more robust then.Before the coronavirus pandemic in Ethiopia, 91% of children in the capital of Addis Ababa received their first measles vaccination during routine visits, while 29% in rural regions got them. (To prevent an outbreak of a highly infectious disease like measles, the optimum coverage is 95% or higher, with two doses of vaccine.) When the pandemic struck, the country suspended its April measles campaign. But the government continues to report many new cases."Outbreak pathogens don't recognize borders," said O'Brien of the WHO. "Especially measles: Measles anywhere is measles everywhere."Wealthier countries' immunization rates have also been plunging during the pandemic. Some American states report drops as steep as 70% below the same period a year earlier, for measles and other diseases.Once people start traveling again, the risk of infection will surge. "It keeps me up at night," said Dr. Stephen L. Cochi, a senior adviser at the global immunization division at the CDC. "These vaccine-preventable diseases are just one plane ride away."Starting AgainAfter the WHO and its vaccine partners released the results of a survey last month showing that 80 million babies under a year old were at risk of missing routine immunizations, some countries, including Ethiopia, the Central African Republic and Nepal, began trying to restart their programs.Uganda is now supplying health workers with motorbikes. In Brazil, some pharmacies are offering drive-by immunization services. In the Indian state of Bihar, a 50-year-old health care worker learned to ride a bicycle in three days so she could take vaccines to far-flung families. UNICEF chartered a flight to deliver vaccines to seven African countries.Cochi of the CDC, which provides technical and program support to more than 40 countries, said that whether such campaigns can be conducted during the pandemic is an open question. "It will be fraught with limitations. We're talking low-income countries where social distancing is not a reality, not possible," he said, citing Brazilian favelas and migrant caravans.He hopes that polio campaigns will resume swiftly, fearing that the pandemic could set back a global, decadeslong effort to eradicate the disease.Cochi is particularly worried about Pakistan and Afghanistan, where 61 cases of wild poliovirus Type 1 have been reported this year, and about Chad, Ghana, Ethiopia and Pakistan, where cases of Type 2 poliovirus, mutated from the oral vaccine, have appeared.Thabani Maphosa, a managing director at Gavi, which partners with 73 countries to purchase vaccines, said that at least a half dozen of those countries say they cannot afford their usual share of vaccine costs because of the economic toll of the pandemic.If the pandemic cleared within three months, Maphosa said, he believed the international community could catch up with immunizations over the next 1 1/2 years."But our scenarios are not telling us that will happen," he added.This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2020 The New York Times Company
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| Japan to scrap costly land-based US missile defense system Posted: 15 Jun 2020 05:07 AM PDT  Japan's Defense Ministry said Monday that it has decided to stop unpopular plans to deploy two costly land-based U.S. missile defense systems aimed at bolstering the country's capability against threats from North Korea. Defense Minister Taro Kono told reporters that he decided to "stop the deployment process" of the Aegis Ashore systems after it was found that the safety of one of the two planned host communities could not be ensured without a hardware redesign that would be too time consuming and costly. The Japanese government in 2017 approved adding the two missile defense systems to bolster the country's current defenses consisting of Aegis-equipped destroyers at sea and Patriot missiles on land.
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| Poll: Black Americans most likely to know a COVID-19 victim Posted: 15 Jun 2020 05:01 AM PDT  African Americans are disproportionately likely to say a family member or close friend has died of COVID-19 or respiratory illness since March, according to a series of surveys conducted since April that lays bare how black Americans have borne the brunt of the pandemic. Eleven percent of African Americans say they were close with someone who has died from the coronavirus, compared with 5% of Americans overall and 4% of white Americans. The findings are based on data from three COVID Impact surveys conducted between April and June by NORC at the University of Chicago for the Data Foundation about the pandemic's effect on the physical, mental and social health of Americans.
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| United Nations Global Compact And Russell Reynolds Associates Study Identifies Characteristics Of Sustainable Business Leaders Posted: 15 Jun 2020 05:00 AM PDT  The United Nations Global Compact today launched the "Leadership for the Decade of Action" report in collaboration with Russell Reynolds Associates, a leading leadership advisory and search firm.
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| United Nations Global Compact And Russell Reynolds Associates Study Identifies Characteristics Of Sustainable Business Leaders Posted: 15 Jun 2020 05:00 AM PDT  The United Nations Global Compact today launched the "Leadership for the Decade of Action" report in collaboration with Russell Reynolds Associates, a leading leadership advisory and search firm.
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| Alleged Darfur militia leader appears before ICC judge Posted: 15 Jun 2020 04:21 AM PDT  An alleged Sudanese militia leader charged with more than 50 crimes against humanity and war crimes in the Darfur conflict appeared Monday before a judge at the International Criminal Court for the first time since his transfer to the court last week, and said the charges against him were "untrue." Coronavirus restrictions meant that Ali Mohammed Ali Abdul Rahman Ali, known as Ali Kushayb, appeared via a video link from the court's detention center near The Hague's North Sea coastline. When the judge, Rosario Salvatore Aitala, asked Kushayb if he had been informed of the charges against him, he replied, speaking through an interpreter: "Yes, I was informed of that, but this is untrue."
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