| White House wins ruling on health care price disclosure Posted: 23 Jun 2020 05:26 PM PDT  The Trump administration won a court ruling Tuesday upholding its plan to require insurers and hospitals to disclose the actual prices for common tests and procedures in a bid to promote competition and push down costs. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar called the decision in federal court in Washington, D.C., "a resounding victory" for President Donald Trump's efforts to open up the convoluted world of health care pricing so patients and families can make better-informed decisions about their care. Industry argues that forcing the disclosure of prices negotiated between hospitals and insurers amounts to coercion.
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| UN chief criticizes lack of global cooperation on COVID-19 Posted: 23 Jun 2020 04:22 PM PDT  The United Nations chief criticized the total lack of international coordination in tackling the COVID-19 pandemic on Tuesday and warned that the go-it-alone policy of many countries will not defeat the coronavirus. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in an interview with The Associated Press that what needs to be done is to make countries understand that by acting in isolation "they are creating the situation that is getting out of control" — and that global coordination is key. Guterres said it's important to use that fact "to make countries understand that bringing them together, putting together their capacities, not only in fighting the pandemic in a coordinated way but in working together to have the treatments, testing mechanisms, the vaccines … accessible to everybody, that this is the way we defeat the pandemic."
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| AP FACT CHECK: Sober science weighs in on Trump's virus take Posted: 23 Jun 2020 03:29 PM PDT  The U.S. government's top public health leaders on Tuesday shot down assertions by President Donald Trump that the coronavirus pandemic is under control and the U.S. is excelling in testing for the virus. The pandemic that Trump has said is "fading" is actually surging in many states, they said, and the need to expand testing is "critical." Dr. Anthony Fauci and other public health authorities also refuted Trump's statement that he told them to ease up on testing because it looks bad to bring more sickness to light.
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| Huawei CFO extradition hearing to stretch into 2021 Posted: 23 Jun 2020 03:05 PM PDT |
| South Korean K-9 Thunder Artillery Guns Should Make North Korea Nervous Posted: 23 Jun 2020 02:30 PM PDT  South Korea designed the K9 to operate on the rugged mountains of the demilitarized zone with North Korea.
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| How outrage over killing of Iranian girl is helping women’s rights Posted: 23 Jun 2020 01:14 PM PDT |
| Prosecutor: Trump ally Roger Stone was 'treated differently' Posted: 23 Jun 2020 01:02 PM PDT  A federal prosecutor is prepared to tell Congress on Wednesday that Roger Stone, a close ally of President Donald Trump, was given special treatment ahead of his sentencing because of his relationship with the president. Aaron Zelinsky, a career Justice Department prosecutor who was part of special counsel Robert Mueller's team and worked on the case against Stone, will say he was told by supervisors that political considerations influenced the decision to overrule the recommendation of the trial team and propose a lighter prison sentence, according to testimony released by the House Judiciary Committee.
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| Arab League urges Libya cease-fire amid fears of wider war Posted: 23 Jun 2020 12:42 PM PDT |
| Cyprus probes alleged groping of girls at migrant center Posted: 23 Jun 2020 12:37 PM PDT  Cyprus' interior minister said Tuesday that he asked police to launch a criminal investigation into allegations that girls staying at a migrants' reception center were sexually harassed by other residents. Interior Minister Nicos Nouris told state broadcaster CyBC that he takes "very seriously" the allegations made by an official from the Cyprus office of the U.N.'s High Commission for Refugees at a parliamentary committee meeting on Monday.
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| More than half of war crimes court's members back tribunal Posted: 23 Jun 2020 12:12 PM PDT  More than half of the member states of the International Criminal Court voiced their support for the institution in a strongly worded statement issued Tuesday in response to the Trump administration's decision to authorize sanctions against court staff. The 67 nations, including such U.S. allies as Australia, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands, said in the joint statement that they were reconfirming "our unwavering support for the Court as an independent and impartial judicial institution." The participating countries also reiterated their commitment to preserving the court's integrity "undeterred by any measures or threats against the Court, its officials and those cooperating with it."
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| Rural Missouri pastor: Virus 'just started to sprout up' Posted: 23 Jun 2020 11:57 AM PDT  O'FALLON, Mo. (AP) — Pastor Joshua Manning is waiting for test results, but he can tell by the persistent fever and body aches that he probably has the coronavirus. At the start of June, McDonald County in the far southwestern corner of Missouri had fewer than two dozen confirmed cases of COVID-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus. As of Tuesday, 498 cases have been confirmed, many of them tied to the Tyson Foods chicken processing plant in Noel.
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| Pompeo's Human Rights Panel Could Hurt LGBT and Women's Rights, Critics Say Posted: 23 Jun 2020 11:56 AM PDT  WASHINGTON -- Inside the State Department, the definition of human rights is up for debate.Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, an evangelical Christian, created a commission in July to provide a new vision for human rights policy that would more closely align with the "nation's founding principles" and uphold religious freedom as America's most fundamental value.Human rights scholars have criticized the panel, saying it is filled with conservatives intent on promoting views against abortion and marriage equality. Critics also warn the commission sidesteps the State Department's internal bureau tasked with promoting human rights abroad.And former agency officials caution that elevating the importance of religion could reverse the country's long-standing belief that "all rights are created equal" -- and embolden countries that persecute same-sex couples or deny women access to reproductive health services for religious reasons."There are those who would have preferred I didn't do it and are concerned about the answers that our foundational documents will provide," Pompeo said of the commission in the fall to a conservative women's group at the Trump International Hotel in Washington. "I know where those rights came from. They came from our Lord."He added: "Indeed, for years under the last administration, fighting for religious freedom was just an afterthought. But President Trump, our administration, recognizes it as our country's first freedom, and it's found at the very top of the Bill of Rights, so we kind of got it right."The commission's report is expected to be released in early July and is tightly held among Pompeo's top aides. Diplomats note the report could be a tool to advance Pompeo's religious beliefs and political aspirations, while proving detrimental to preserving the rights of women and gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people abroad."This is about the only human right they seem to care about," David Kramer, who was assistant secretary of state for the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor in the George W. Bush administration, said of the commission's focus on religion. "It seems to be a play for political support domestically that could rebound to our detriment in foreign policy."The panel's recommendations come as America's commitment to human rights faces skepticism from organizations like the United Nations. The peacekeeping body issued a resolution Friday condemning police brutality and "systemic racism" against people of African descent. Diplomats had to drop specific references to the United States to gain passage.In response to the resolution, Pompeo on Saturday said bodies like the U.N.'s Human Rights Council should "recognize the strengths of American democracy and urge authoritarian regimes around the world to model" America's values. (The United States quit the council two years ago after accusing it of bias against Israel.)Experts warn this type of criticism from Pompeo will hold less sway if the secretary's Commission on Unalienable Rights produces a document prioritizing religion above all else. Such a document could also play into the hands of repressive governments like Saudi Arabia and Iran that seek to narrowly define human rights.The State Department declined to comment on the questions regarding the commission.Pompeo's advisory panel has met five times. The meetings were public and have been minimally attended. Human rights advocates, former State Department officials and academics say they have been alarmed at what has taken place."The bottom line: The commission is poised to adversely shape U.S. foreign policy," experts at Duke University wrote in a recent blog post detailing the panel's work. In their analysis of the panel's meetings, they noted that a "a general skepticism" toward international human rights pervaded committee discussions.Many commission members, they note, believe there are too many human rights, including Mary Ann Glendon, head of the commission, who has said "if everything is a right, then nothing is."If the commission's report to Pompeo reflects the panel's discussions to date and makes a case to prioritize one human right over another, observers say it could upend diplomatic efforts to stop the Chinese persecution of the Uighur minority and promote women's rights in places like Iran and Saudi Arabia."My hope is that this document doesn't come close to establishing something that looks like a hierarchy of rights," said Rob Berschinski, a deputy assistant secretary of state for the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor in the Obama administration. "But if it does, repressive governments are going to point to that fact and use it against this, and future administrations, to basically say 'we are no different than you. You have your priorities, we have ours, now butt out.' "Committee members were hand-picked by Pompeo's staff, and most of them are conservatives with strong academic credentials.In the months after its creation, Pompeo expressed confidence the panel would create a document that enshrines religious freedom as a central tenet of U.S. human rights policy, which diplomats could refer to for "decades to come."The panel is grounded in the vision of Robert George, a Princeton professor and leading proponent of "natural law" theory, a term human rights scholars say is code for "God-given rights" and is commonly deployed in fights to roll back rights for women and LGBTQ persons."The commission's charge is not to 'discover' new principles," George wrote in a document outlining the commission's vision, "but rather to point the way towards that more perfect fidelity to our nation's founding principles of natural law and natural rights."Early language defining the commission in federal documents echoed George's notion, saying the panel would provide "fresh thinking" on human rights discussions, because conversations have "departed from our nation's founding principles of natural law and natural rights."This drew significant criticism from human rights advocates, and since then, the mission has altered to say members will "furnish advice to the secretary for the promotion of individual liberty, human equality, and democracy through U.S. foreign policy."The commission is led by Glendon, a Harvard professor and former ambassador to the Vatican, who has garnered controversy in the past for statements like The Boston Globe receiving the Pulitzer Prize for its investigation into child abuse by priests "would be like giving the Nobel Peace Prize to Osama bin Laden."This "is a group of individuals who want to redefine how this country balances human rights interests and to tip the scales in favor of religious freedom, " said Mark Bromley, chair of the Council for Global Equality, a coalition of 30 human rights groups advocating lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights in U.S. foreign policy.Two Democratic representatives, Jamie Raskin of Maryland and Joaquin Castro of Texas, warned the commission's report could "undermine our nation's ability to lead on critical issues of universal human rights, including reproductive freedom and protections for millions of people globally in the LGBTQ community."Several human rights organizations have sued the State Department, saying it is violating a federal law that requires advisory panels like the Commission on Unalienable Rights to be "fairly balanced" and transparent with meeting documents at the time of hearings.The lawsuit is pending, and lawyers representing the State Department said last week the committee would invite public comment on the report before the commission's work concluded.Human rights observers warned that any public comment might not change what they predicted to be a preordained outcome to prioritize religious freedom as America's most valued human right based on Pompeo's beliefs and personal interest in the panel."Through sheer force of political will and personality," Bromley said, "he's been pushing it forward and has a very clear idea, if you look at his writings and speakings, of where he wants it to end up."This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2020 The New York Times Company
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| EU May Bar American Travelers as It Reopens Borders, Citing Failures on Virus Posted: 23 Jun 2020 11:50 AM PDT  BRUSSELS -- European Union countries rushing to revive their economies and reopen their borders after months of coronavirus restrictions are prepared to block Americans from entering because the United States has failed to control the scourge, according to draft lists of acceptable travelers seen by The New York Times.That prospect, which would lump American visitors in with Russians and Brazilians as unwelcome, is a stinging blow to American prestige in the world and a repudiation of President Donald Trump's handling of the virus in the United States, which has more than 2.3 million cases and upward of 120,000 deaths, more than any other country.European nations are currently haggling over two potential lists of acceptable visitors based on how countries are faring with the coronavirus pandemic. Both include China, as well as developing nations like Uganda, Cuba and Vietnam.Travelers from the United States and the rest of the world have been excluded from visiting the European Union -- with few exceptions mostly for repatriations or "essential travel" -- since mid-March. But a final decision on reopening the borders is expected early next week, before the bloc reopens July 1.A prohibition of Americans by Brussels partly reflects the shifting pattern of the pandemic. In March, when Europe was the epicenter, Trump infuriated European leaders when he banned citizens from most EU countries from traveling to the U.S. Trump justified the move as necessary to protect the United States, which at the time had roughly 1,100 coronavirus cases and 38 deaths.In late May and early June, Trump said Europe was "making progress" and hinted that some restrictions would be lifted soon, but nothing has happened since then. Today, Europe has largely curbed the outbreak, even as the United States, the worst afflicted, has seen more infection surges just in the past week.Prohibiting American travelers from entering the European Union would have significant economic, cultural and geopolitical ramifications. Millions of American tourists visit Europe every summer. Business travel is common, given the huge economic ties between the United States and the EU.The draft lists were shared with the Times by an official involved in the talks and confirmed by another official involved in the talks. Two additional EU officials confirmed the content of the lists as well the details of the negotiations to shape and finalize them. All of the officials gave the information on condition of anonymity because the issue is politically delicate.The forging of a common list of outsiders who can enter the bloc is part of an effort by the European Union to fully reopen internal borders among its 27 member states. Free travel and trade among members is a core principle of the bloc -- one that has been badly disrupted during the pandemic.Since the outbreak, the bloc has succumbed to piecemeal national policies that have resulted in an incoherent patchwork of open and closed borders.Some internal borders have practically remained closed while others have opened. Some member states that desperately need tourists have rushed ahead to accept non-EU visitors and pledged to test them on arrival. Others have tried to create closed travel zones between certain countries, called "bubbles" or "corridors."Putting these safe lists together highlights the fraught, messy task of removing pandemic-related measures and unifying the bloc's approach. But the imperatives of restoring the internal harmony of the EU and slowly opening up to the world are paramount, even if it threatens rifts with close allies including the United States, which appears bound to be excluded, at least initially.Trump, as well as his Russian and Brazilian counterparts, Vladimir Putin and Jair Bolsonaro, have followed what critics call a comparable path in their pandemic response that leaves all three countries in a similarly bad spot: They were dismissive at the outset of the crisis, slow to respond to scientific advice and saw a boom of domestic cases as other parts of the world, notably in Europe and Asia, were slowly managing to get their outbreaks under control.Countries on the EU draft lists have been selected as safe based on a combination of epidemiological criteria. The benchmark is the EU average number of new infections -- over the past 14 days -- per 100,000 people, which is currently 16 for the bloc. The comparable number for the United States is 107, while Brazil's is 190, and Russia's is 80, according to a Times database.Once diplomats agree on a final list, it will be presented as a recommendation early next week before July 1. The EU can't force members to adopt it, but European officials warn that failure of any of the 27 members to stick to it could lead to the reintroduction of borders within the bloc.The reason this exercise is additionally complex for Europe is that, if internal borders are open but member states don't honor the same rules, visitors from nonapproved nations could land in one European country and then jump onward to other EU nations undetected.European officials said the list would be revised every two weeks to reflect new realities around the world as nations see the virus ebb and flow.The process of agreeing on it has been challenging, with diplomats from all European member states hunkering down for multiple hourslong meetings for the past few weeks.As of Tuesday, the officials and diplomats were poring over two versions of the safe list under debate and were scheduled to meet again Wednesday to continue sparring over the details.One list contains 47 countries and includes only those nations with an infection rate lower than the EU average. The other longer list has 54 countries and also includes those nations with slightly worse case rates than the EU average, going up to 20 new cases per 100,000 people.The existing restrictions on nonessential travel to all 27 member states plus Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein were introduced March 16 and extended twice until July 1, in a bid to contain the virus as the continent entered a three-month long confinement."Discussions are happening very intensively," to reach consensus in time for July 1, said Adalbert Jahnz, a spokesman for the European Commission, the bloc's executive branch. He called the process "frankly, a full-time job."The EU agency for infectious diseases, the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control, warned negotiators that the case numbers were so dependent on the level of truthfulness and testing in each country that it was hard to vouch for them, officials taking part in the talks said.China, for example, has been accused of withholding information and manipulating the numbers of infections released to the public. In parts of the developing world, case numbers are very low, but it's hard to determine whether they paint an accurate picture given limited testing.And in the United States, comments made by Trump at a rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, over the weekend highlighted how easy it is to manipulate a country's case numbers, as he suggested that domestic testing was too broad."When you do testing to that extent, you're gonna find more people you're gonna find more cases. So I said to my people slow the testing down, please," Trump told supporters.European embassies around the world could be enlisted to help verify or opine on the data provided that would inform the final list, negotiators said, another indication that the list could end up being quite short if European diplomats at embassies said reported numbers were unreliable.Many EU countries are desperate to reopen their borders to visitors from outside the region to salvage tourism and boost airlines' revenue while keeping their own borders open to each other. Some have already started accepting visitors from outside the bloc.At the other extreme, a few European nations including Denmark are not prepared to allow any external visitors from non-EU countries and are likely to continue with this policy after July 1.Germany, France and many other EU nations want non-European travelers to be allowed but are also worried about individual countries tweaking the safe list or admitting travelers from excluded countries, officials said.This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2020 The New York Times Company
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| Scottish grandmother climbs a mountain, one step at a time Posted: 23 Jun 2020 11:22 AM PDT  In the end, Margaret Payne scaled her mountain, one step at a time. Paybe scaled the stairs at her home the equivalent of 731 meters (2,398 feet) — enough to reach the peak of Scotland's iconic Suilven mountain. Payne, who is from Ardvar in the Scottish Highlands, calculated that climbing 282 flights of her staircase would get her to the top of a mountain she climbed only once, when she was 15.
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| Donors pledge $130 million for UN Palestinian refugee agency Posted: 23 Jun 2020 10:59 AM PDT |
| Malawi presidential election: Polls close in historic re-run Posted: 23 Jun 2020 10:51 AM PDT  President Peter Mutharika is aiming for re-election after irregularities voided last year's result.
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| ANNOUNCING: "Voice Our Future" - a partnership between United Nations Foundation and ARTECHOUSE Posted: 23 Jun 2020 10:00 AM PDT  The United Nations Foundation and ARTECHOUSE, a leader in technology driven art innovation, have joined forces for the United Nations (UN) 75th anniversary and are inviting you to Voice Our Future through an unprecedented, extended reality experience premiering on June 26th for UN Charter Day on the ARTECHOUSE app. It is free to download on the App Store and Google Play. This project is supported by the UN Foundation's long-time partner, Verizon.
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| A side-by-side look at police reform bills in Congress Posted: 23 Jun 2020 09:40 AM PDT  As congressional lawmakers work toward one of the most ambitious policing overhauls in decades, there is increasing division between Republicans and Democrats about how to accomplish a common goal. Top Democratic leaders in the Senate said Tuesday that a Republican policing proposal is "not salvageable" and demanded new negotiations on a bipartisan legislative package after protests over racial inequality and the death of George Floyd and others at the hands of police. The Republican proposal in the Senate calls for an enhanced use-of-force database, restrictions on chokeholds and new commissions to study law enforcement and race.
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| Trump Throws His Own Team Under the Bus on COVID-19 Testing: ‘I Don’t Kid’ Posted: 23 Jun 2020 09:26 AM PDT  Numerous times over the past several years, Donald Trump has tried to clean up particularly dangerous or offensive comments by claiming that he was just being sarcastic. It happened after he called President Barack Obama the "founder of ISIS" and when he publicly thanked Vladimir Putin for expelling U.S. diplomats. More recently, he dismissed his suggestion that disinfectant could be injected into the body to treat COVID-19 as sarcasm. So when his advisers started to defend his latest comments about deliberately slowing down coronavirus testing in order to make the national numbers look better by claiming that he was just joking, it made a perverse kind of sense. That is until Trump threw them under the bus.According to White House economic adviser Peter Navarro, Trump's remarks about testing as a "double-edged sword" at his Tulsa rally were "tongue in cheek." White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany said the comment was "made in jest." This prompted CNN anchor Brianna Keilar to ask a spokesperson for the Trump campaign if he thought 120,000 dead Americans was "funny." Then, on Tuesday, CBS News reporter Weijia Jiang finally asked Trump directly, "When you said you asked your people to slow down testing, were you just kidding, or do you have a plan to slow down testing?" "I don't kid," Trump replied, before boasting about his administration's response to the crisis. "By having more tests, we find more cases." The president then repeated, without any hint of comedy, his assertion that "testing is a double-edged sword." Kayleigh McEnany Grilled on Trump's 'Kung Flu' Rally Slur"In one way, it tells you that you have cases," he said. "In another way, you find out where the cases are and you do a good job. We are doing a great job and we've never been credited for it. We're doing the best testing job anywhere in the world." As of this week, the United States now accounts for 20 percent of all new COVID-19 infections worldwide despite making up just over 4 percent of the global population, a discrepancy that cannot be explained away by increased testing. Dr. Anthony Fauci, meanwhile, seemed to contradict Trump when he testified to Congress on Tuesday that "none of us have ever been told to slow down on testing," adding, "In fact, we will be doing more testing."Late-Night Hosts Absolutely Lose It Over Trump's 'Sarcastic' Disinfectant TheoryRead more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| Putin hails response to virus, rolls social support measures Posted: 23 Jun 2020 09:23 AM PDT  Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that further social support measures and incentives for businesses will be introduced as he hailed the nation's response to the coronavirus pandemic in the run-up to a vote that could extend his rule until 2036. Speaking in a televised address, Putin declared that Russia has successfully gone through the most dangerous phase of the outbreak. Putin said the early introduction of stringent sanitary controls on the border, travel restrictions and a sweeping lockdown allowed Russia to win time and slow down the pace of contagion.
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| Nigeria police rescue 300 workers 'locked in rice factory' Posted: 23 Jun 2020 09:22 AM PDT  The men have allegedly been forced to work throughout a coronavirus lockdown that began in March.
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| Palestinian driver killed in alleged attack on Israeli guard Posted: 23 Jun 2020 09:19 AM PDT  A Palestinian driver died Tuesday after he was shot by an Israeli policeman at a checkpoint in the West Bank in what police said was an attempted attack on Israeli military personnel. According to police, the driver attempted to run over a member of the paramilitary border police force at the checkpoint east of Jerusalem and an officer opened fire at the vehicle. The driver later died of his wounds and the border police officer suffered minor injuries, police said.
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| White parents of Black children navigate a changing nation Posted: 23 Jun 2020 09:08 AM PDT  Izzy Simons has been fired up about the prospect of driving on his own. Simons, who is Black, was jarred emotionally after watching video of the killing of George Floyd, a Black man who died after a Minneapolis white police officer pressed a knee into his neck for several minutes on May 25. The Associated Press discussed race with six white couples who have adopted or have custody of Black children.
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| Family says sister of prominent Egyptian activist arrested Posted: 23 Jun 2020 08:50 AM PDT  Sanaa Seif, the youngest sister of activist Alaa Abdel-Fattah, was taken into custody outside the public prosecutor's headquarters in Cairo, her older sister, Mona Seif, said. Family members said men they believed to be security officers dressed in plain clothes put her in a white van. Sanaa Seif appeared later at the State Security Prosecution office, located in a different part of Cairo, her older sister said.
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| At least one person dies as heavy rains lash Istanbul Posted: 23 Jun 2020 08:49 AM PDT |
| Obama raises $7.6 million at fundraiser for Biden's campaign Posted: 23 Jun 2020 08:48 AM PDT  Former President Barack Obama warned Democrats against being "complacent or smug" about the presidential race at a grassroots fundraiser Tuesday for presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden, calling on viewers to learn the lessons from 2016 and not take the election for granted. Referencing what he called a "great awakening" going on among younger Americans pushing for reforms, Obama said that "just because this energy is out there does not mean that it assures our victory and it does not mean that it gets channeled in a way that results in real change." "There's a backlash, that is fierce, against change," Obama added.
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| Powerful earthquake shakes southern Mexico, at least 5 dead Posted: 23 Jun 2020 08:46 AM PDT  A powerful earthquake centered near the southern Mexico resort of Huatulco killed at least five people, swayed buildings in Mexico City and sent thousands fleeing into the streets. Mexico President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said one person was killed and another injured in a building collapse in Huatulco, Oaxaca. Oaxaca Gov. Alejandro Murat said a second person was killed in an apparent house collapse in the tiny mountain village of San Juan Ozolotepec, and said a third died in circumstances he did not explain.
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| U.N. Security Council to start talks on U.S. bid to extend Iran arms embargo Posted: 23 Jun 2020 07:31 AM PDT |
| Trump says 'learn from history' instead of removing statues Posted: 23 Jun 2020 07:27 AM PDT  As America grapples with racism in its past, President Donald Trump lined up squarely Tuesday with those who argue that the pendulum has swung too far in favor of removing statues and other symbols of that flawed history, saying mistakes will be repeated if not learned from and understood. Trump's campaign also sees the divide over this latest cultural flash point as a way to boost the president's standing, which has suffered during his handling of the coronavirus outbreak and the protests over racial injustice that followed George Floyd's death in Minneapolis. After weeks spent demanding "law and order" in response to the protests sparked by Floyd's death by police, Trump began to draw a line in the sand.
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| Congress stalls on policing overhaul, despite public outcry Posted: 23 Jun 2020 07:27 AM PDT  Congress is hitting an impasse on policing legislation, as key Senate Democrats on Tuesday opposed a Republican proposal as inadequate, leaving the parties to decide whether to take on the hard job of negotiating a compromise or walk away despite public outcry over the killings of Black Americans. The standoff threatens to turn the nationwide protests over the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and others into another moment that galvanizes the nation but leaves lawmakers unable to act. A new Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll shows almost all Americans support some degree of criminal justice changes.
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| Turkey accuses France of dragging Libya into 'chaos' Posted: 23 Jun 2020 07:24 AM PDT |
| Families pay tribute to three men slain in English park Posted: 23 Jun 2020 06:58 AM PDT  The families of the three victims of a stabbing rampage in a English park paid tribute to their loved ones Tuesday, saying how their hearts have been broken at losing them in what is being treated as a terror attack. Police named the dead as James Furlong, David Wails and Joseph Ritchie-Bennett. The three friends were enjoying a warm Saturday evening when they were attacked at Forbury Gardens park in Reading, a town of 200,000 people some 40 miles (64 kilometers) west of London.
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| PA's bid to halt annexation leaves Gaza patients in limbo Posted: 23 Jun 2020 06:40 AM PDT  Jomaa al-Najjar was desperate to send his 2-month-old daughter Joud out of the Gaza Strip to Israel for urgent medical treatment for epilepsy. This week, she died in a Gaza hospital. The refusal to process requests for medical permits is part of a larger decision by the Palestinian Authority to sever ties with Israel.
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| Germany bans neo-Nazi group Posted: 23 Jun 2020 05:51 AM PDT  Germany on Tuesday banned a neo-Nazi group and ordered police raids against its members. Nordadler, or Northern Eagles, is the third far-Right organisation to be banned this year under a crackdown by Horst Seehofer, the interior minister. The move follows the banning of Combat 18 Deutschland in January. Interior ministry sources said the Northern Eagles have been largely confined to online activities so far, but the group openly professes support for Adolf Hitler and Nazi ideology. Members have been investigated by German prosecutors on suspicion of forming a far-Right terror group. The organisation is highly anti-Semitic and its leader expressed support for a failed attack on a synagogue in Halle last year in a public post on the Telegram internet messaging service. The group also operates under the names Völkische Revolution, Völkische Jugend, Völkische Community and Völkische Renaissance. Police raids were carried out in four German states against members of the group. "Far-Right extremism and anti-Semitism have no place on the internet," a spokesman for Mr Seehofer said. "Anyone who still glorifies National Socialism today despite the Holocaust and the Second World War, and endorses anti-Semitic attacks like the one in Halle, must feel the full force of the democratic constitutional state," Mathias Middelberg, a spokesman for Angela Merkel's Christian Democrat party (CDU) said. Mr Seehofer has moved against the neo-Nazi scene in the wake of the Halle attack and other incidents including the assassination of a prominent local politician by a suspected far-Right gunman last year. In January, he ordered the banning of Combat 18 Deustchland, the German branch of the neo-Nazi organisation founded in the UK. And in March he banned another group, the United German Peoples and Tribes.
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| San Francisco Dance Company's Original Ethno-Classical Ballet to be Streamed This Saturday, June 27th, in the 75th Anniversary Celebration of the UN Charter Signing Posted: 23 Jun 2020 05:51 AM PDT  Presidio Dance Theatre's "The Little Lantern Ballet©" has been selected by the United Nations Association and United Nations Foundation as the culminating event in the 75th anniversary celebration of the signing of the UN Charter, on June 27th, 2020.
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| Turkey allows top lawyers to march, ending standoff Posted: 23 Jun 2020 05:48 AM PDT  Turkish authorities on Tuesday allowed a group of top lawyers to continue a symbolic march into the capital of Ankara, ending a more than 24-hour standoff between the lawyers and police. The heads of some 60 regional bar associations in Turkey embarked on a march to Ankara wearing professional robes to protest the government's plans to amend laws regulating lawyers and bar associations, including the way the associations elect leaders. The lawyers say the changes are aimed at reducing the clout of the bar associations, many of which are outspoken critics of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government.
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| How Biden Is Catching Up to the Trump Money 'Juggernaut' Posted: 23 Jun 2020 05:15 AM PDT  Former Vice President Joe Biden will hold his first event of the 2020 campaign with former President Barack Obama on Tuesday, and more than 120,000 people have already paid to attend, according to the Biden campaign, raising more than $4 million.The joint appearance, which will be the biggest grassroots fundraiser of the cycle for the Democratic Party, will serve not just as a coming-out party for the former running mates but also as something of a punctuation mark on Biden's arrival as a financial force in his own right.In May, for the first time, Biden and the Democratic National Committee outraised President Donald Trump and the Republican Party, $80.8 million to $74 million, and receipts are on pace to surge even higher in June. Biden's online fundraising so far this month has already surpassed May's $34.4 million total, according to people familiar with the matter. Now, some party officials see $100 million as an achievable goal for June."May is the floor for June," declared Tom Perez, chairman of the DNC, who, along with senior campaign officials, declined to comment on the potential to reach $100 million.The outpouring of cash has allowed Biden to sharply cut into the enormous financial advantage that Trump and the Republican National Committee built in the lead-up to 2020, shaving tens of millions of dollars off what had been a $187 million edge entering April. Since the beginning of March, Biden and the DNC have banked more than $100 million.Biden's at times anemic fundraising was one of his most glaring weaknesses during the primary race, when he was often badly outspent by rivals. The recent surge in donations comes as Trump appears increasingly vulnerable, reeling under the pressure of a national health crisis, an economic collapse and a wave of protests over racial injustice. Biden leads Trump in almost every national poll.Still, Trump remains a prolific fundraiser, reportedly raising $10 million at a recent dinner, and he has a significant cash advantage, even if it is no longer triple that of Biden.Biden's brightening financial picture is the result of a rapid confluence of events.The primary race ended earlier and the Democratic Party coalesced faster behind the former vice president than expected, sparing him the expense of a drawn-out contest across dozens of states. The coronavirus pandemic sharply shrank the cost of campaigning, as Biden sheltered in place in Delaware for nearly three months. He did not need to add staff as quickly or as robustly as he otherwise might have.At the same time, top Democratic donors have widely embraced virtual events, willingly forgoing some of the traditional perks of attending lavish in-person fundraisers while cutting checks for up to $620,000. And as Trump falters on the national stage, small donors have seized at the chance of ousting him."Donald Trump is the best poster child for Democratic fundraising in the history of Democratic politics," said Chris Korge, national finance chairman of the DNC.Marc Nathanson, a veteran Democratic fundraiser who helped host a Biden event Friday, said the minimum price to get on that call was $50,000, and they doubled an initial goal of raising $1 million."We raised over $2 million on a Zoom call of all things," Nathanson said.Biden's advisers see 2020 largely playing out as a referendum on Trump. The president's erratic response to world events -- the threats to sic the "most vicious dogs" on protesters, the forcible removal of peaceful demonstrators for his photo op outside a church, his use of racist language in calling the coronavirus the "kung flu" -- has served as an accelerant for grassroots giving, in particular as Americans took to the streets nationwide to protest systemic racism and police brutality.About six weeks ago, the DNC saw about 20 unsolicited $1,200 donations show up online -- unusually large sums to arrive unexpectedly. Perez asked his team to investigate. In turns out, people had decided to essentially forward their government stimulus checks to defeat Trump."We actually think that we've become a really powerful place where people feel like they can do something about what's happening right now," said Jennifer O'Malley Dillon, Biden's campaign manager.For many months, Trump's team has boasted about its prolific fundraising hauls and swelling list of online supporters, with Brad Parscale, the president's campaign manager, calling his operation a "juggernaut" in October, then again in January and February and May.But the flip side of the enormous $817 million raised by the Trump campaign and the RNC since the beginning of 2019 -- and the $265 million still in the bank at the end of May -- is that Trump and the Republican Party have already spent more than half a billion dollars and yet still entered the summer of 2020 trailing in the polls, with Biden cracking 50% in one prominent polling average. Trump spent $22.6 million on television ads from mid-March to mid-June, according to data from Advertising Analytics, a media-tracking firm; Biden just went on the air Friday."The Republican war chest continues to dwarf that of Joe Biden and the Democrats," the Trump campaign said in a statement over the weekend. (The Biden team has not released its exact cash-on-hand total, but campaign records indicate it is from $120 million to $150 million.)Now, money is coming from all corners. The Biden campaign processed more than 900,000 online contributions in May on ActBlue, the main online portal for Democratic giving, and more than half of the donors were new to the campaign. This month began even faster, as Biden invested millions in online ads and expanded his email list by 1.5 million people, tapping into the activism arising from the protests.Online donations were up 62% at the DNC over the first 10 days of June compared with the same period in May. Proceeds from direct mail are booming, too: The committee saw its best May for direct mail since 2004, and the Biden campaign saw a large increase as well, according to party and campaign officials.Overall, the number of donors to Biden has tripled since February."Its increasingly clear we're going to be highly competitive with our resources against Trump," O'Malley Dillon said.Money alone does not decide presidential elections. If it did, Hillary Clinton would have won in 2016, and Biden would not be the presumptive Democratic nominee. But more cash gives campaigns greater strategic flexibility, allowing, for instance, Biden to buy his first flight of general election television ads last week.Of late, though, Biden has not just raised more money than Trump -- he has spent less. The Biden campaign spent half as much as Trump's main campaign committee in May -- $11.7 million compared with $24.5 million, according to Federal Election Commission records.Trump's campaign and the RNC are paying top staff members significantly higher salaries than the Biden campaign and the Democrats. More than 20 of Trump's campaign aides and RNC officials are paid a higher salary that Biden's campaign manager, for instance. Parscale is paid more opaquely, with monthly payments of $47,797 going to Parscale Strategy LLC, quadruple what O'Malley Dillon has received.The highest paid officials were the party leaders, and there was a gap there, too: Ronna McDaniel, the RNC chairwoman, was paid more than $24,000 in May; Perez was paid less than $16,000. ("A woman in the same position is making more because she is beating her male counterpart in nearly every metric," said Michael Ahrens, an RNC spokesman.)In May, Trump spent $470,925 on polling, including $98,000 to the firm of John McLaughlin. McLaughlin wrote a memo this month titled "Skewed Media Polls," which criticized surveys that show Trump losing the election, and the memo was recently posted on Twitter by the president. In contrast, Biden's campaign spent only $122,300 on polling. (The RNC spent another $2.5 million that was listed as "polling services/consulting" last month, which a party official said encompassed its voter data operation; the DNC listed zero polling expenses.)The Trump campaign and Republican Party also spent far more on legal fees -- $1.55 million to $875,000 -- than Biden and the Democrats in May.One of the biggest shifts in the cash race is that Biden's campaign is now regularly holding multimillion dollar fundraisers, partly because the contribution limits for the presumptive nominee and the party are more than 200 times as high as during the primary. In June, Biden has raised a combined $21.6 million from just six of the virtual fundraisers for large donors he has held.And while Biden, during the primary race, had to compete with the next generation of Democratic talent, he is now able to leverage their networks, particularly those under consideration to be his running mate.Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts held an event with Biden this month that raised $6 million in an evening, the campaign's largest single fundraiser. Unlike the Obama event, Warren's relied on some major contributors. A few days earlier, Sen. Kamala Harris of California organized an event that pulled in $3.5 million; Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham of New Mexico helped host another event that an organizer said raised $1.7 million; and Susan Rice, the former United Nations ambassador, headlined a fundraiser last week that Biden did not attend.The biggest contributors -- even those cutting checks for $100,000 or more -- have been willing to bypass the traditional grip-and-grin photo lines of big donor events of the past. Some even said the virtual fundraisers had their own charm."There is an enhanced intimacy with these Zoom meetings," said Sarah Morgantheau, a Biden fundraiser. "They have the gallery feature and you can see everything."They are also much cheaper, saving the campaign money and time."You don't have to buy wine, you don't have to rent a room, you don't have to pay for catering," said Michael Marquardt, another fundraiser for Biden."With or without a pandemic in 2024," he added, "I think virtual fundraising is here to stay."This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2020 The New York Times Company
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| Kenya policeman charged with murder after curfew killing of teenager Posted: 23 Jun 2020 05:13 AM PDT  Duncan Ndiema pleads not guilty to the murder of a 13-year-old while imposing Covid-19 restrictions.
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| AP-NORC poll: Nearly all in US back criminal justice reform Posted: 23 Jun 2020 05:00 AM PDT  Americans overwhelmingly want clear standards on when police officers may use force and consequences for officers who do so excessively, according to a new poll that finds nearly all Americans favor at least some level of change to the nation's criminal justice system. The new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research also finds there is strong support for penalizing officers who engage in racially biased policing. Americans are more likely now than five years ago to say that police violence against the public is a very serious problem and that officers who cause injury or death on the job are treated too leniently.
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| Iran reports highest virus deaths since April Posted: 23 Jun 2020 04:17 AM PDT  Iran on Tuesday reported 121 new coronavirus deaths, its highest daily toll in over two months, as it battles to contain the Middle East's deadliest COVID-19 outbreak. Health ministry spokeswoman Sima Sadat Lari told a news conference that the new fatalities brought the overall virus death toll to 9,863. Lari also announced another 2,445 people had tested positive for COVID in the past 24 hours, raising the country's caseload to 209,970.
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| Germany takes EU reins to steer towards green COVID-19 recovery Posted: 23 Jun 2020 04:11 AM PDT |
| Syrian FM says US sanctions seek to 'starve the people' Posted: 23 Jun 2020 04:05 AM PDT  Syria's foreign minister accused the United States on Tuesday of allegedly "seeking to starve the people" of Syria by imposing new sanctions and opening the door for "terrorism" to return to the war-torn country. Walid al-Moallem said the sanctions are a challenge but not impossible to overcome, and insisted that the government will be able to cope with the so-called Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act — with assistance from friends and allies. Syrian President Bashar Assad's government refers to armed opposition fighting it as "terrorism."
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| New NPG Forum Paper Examines Past Pandemics in Relation to the Current COVID-19 Crisis Posted: 23 Jun 2020 04:00 AM PDT |
| Spate of shootings raises fears of a violent summer Posted: 23 Jun 2020 03:55 AM PDT  A spate of shootings over the past several days has law enforcement on edge, with some warning that a turbulent brew of a pandemic, protests against racism, historic surges in gun sales and a rancorous election year could make it an especially deadly summer. Although mass shootings — often defined as four or more killed, excluding the shooter — are down sharply this year, other non-suicidal gun deaths are on pace to exceed last year, according to the Gun Violence Archive. "There's something going on at the moment, these underlying tensions," said James Densley, professor of law enforcement and criminal justice at Metropolitan State University.
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| UN evaluates reports of record Arctic heat in Siberia Posted: 23 Jun 2020 03:22 AM PDT  The U.N. weather agency is investigating media reports suggesting a new record high temperature of over 38 degrees Celsius (100.4 degrees Fahrenheit) in the Arctic Circle amid a heatwave and prolonged wildfires in eastern Siberia. The World Meteorological Organization said Tuesday that it's looking to verify the temperature reading on Saturday in the Russian town of Verkhoyansk with Rosgidromet, the Russian federal service for hydro-meteorological and environmental monitoring. The reports suggest yet another possible sign of global warming in the Arctic, which the agency said is among the fastest warming regions in the world and is heating at twice the global average.
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| Is it too much to ask for Americans to have access to clean water in 2020? Posted: 23 Jun 2020 02:00 AM PDT  The Guardian – in partnership with Consumer Reports and others – is launching a one-year series of investigations highlighting the US water crisisAlmost exactly 10 years ago, on 28 July 2010, the United Nations declared water a human right under international law. And not just any water, but clean water – and sufficient water for "drinking, personal sanitation, washing of clothes, food preparation, personal and household hygiene".Imagine a country where, 10 years years on, over two million people are denied access to running water and basic indoor plumbing.Where another 30 million live in areas where they lack access to safe drinking water.Where 110 million people are exposed to toxic chemicals in their drinking water.And where 15 million people have had their supply cut off because of the country's huge water affordability crisis.Welcome to the United States of America.Where running water is not available to millions, where millions more can't afford to pay their escalating water bills and where tens of millions more Americans are exposed to contaminated water.By any metric America has a water crisis.boxAnd it is for this reason that the Guardian – in partnership with Consumer Reports and others – is launching a one-year series of reports and investigations highlighting the inequality, poverty, pollution and commercial forces that are at the heart of the country's water crisis.In addition to reporting on access to running water, the hidden crisis of affordability and widespread issue of water contamination, we are also going to investigate the billion-dollar bottled water industry. Many of these large firms plunder public water sources at low cost and then make unconscionable profits selling bottled water – sometimes to people whose public supply is contaminated.At its most extreme, America's water crisis impacts the two million without access to running water and indoor plumbing – a remarkable, and shameful, statistic 10 years on from the UN declaration. As the authors of that report made clear: "Many Americans believe access is universal. But in fact, millions of the most vulnerable people in the country – low-income people in rural areas, people of color, tribal communities, immigrants – have fallen through the cracks. Lacking access to safe water and sanitation makes it difficult to stay healthy, earn a living, go to school and care for a family."Tens of millions more Americans are at the mercy of antiquated water systems that fail to deliver safe drinking water; or are exposed to water supplies that are contaminated by industrial polluters that are insufficiently regulated. Mining, agriculture and other high-profit industries seem to have the upper hand in riding roughshod over citizens' rights to safe and clean water.Invariably it is poorer communities and people of color who are most impacted by water affordability or access to clean, safe water. Our series, funded in part by a philanthropic gift from 11th Hour, will look at the question of affordability with deep reporting. We will also tell stories of communities hit by water contamination problems of different kinds, in partnership with the non-profit media outlet Ensia.Is it too much to ask for Americans to have access to clean water in 2020?It seems so.But there are some hopeful signs. There are a number of water bills making their way through both houses of Congress that are designed to address toxins, antiquated infrastructure and water affordability. The coronavirus pandemic has at least underscored the need for access to safe drinking water and brought more attention to the need for hygiene, including hand-washing.But the history of Congress is littered with ambitious proposals which have then been decimated by powerful lobbyists who do the bidding of their commercial clients.And so who will do the bidding for US citizens?In addition to our investigations and reporting on America's water crisis we will also, over the course of the next year, scrutinize the progress of these congressional bills in the hope that they will offer the promise of a safer, cleaner future for American water.
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| Is it safe to form a COVID-19 'support bubble' with friends? Posted: 23 Jun 2020 12:32 AM PDT  Is it safe to form a COVID-19 "support bubble" with friends? Support bubbles, also known as quarantine pods, may help fend off loneliness and anxiety after months of social distancing. Experts say don't do it unless everyone agrees to follow social distancing guidelines while outside the bubble.
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| Saudi Arabia: Hajj will see at most 'thousands' due to virus Posted: 23 Jun 2020 12:12 AM PDT  A Saudi official said Tuesday that the hajj pilgrimage, which usually draws up to 2.5 million Muslims from all over the world, will only see at the most a few thousand pilgrims next month due to concerns over the spread of the coronavirus. The kingdom's Hajj Minister Muhammad Benten said a "small and very limited" number of people — even as low as just 1,000 from inside the kingdom — will be allowed to perform the pilgrimage to ensure social distancing and crowd control amid the global virus outbreak. While the decision to drastically curb this year's hajj was largely expected, it remains unprecedented in Saudi Arabia's nearly 90-year history and effectively bars all Muslims from outside the kingdom from travelling there to performing the pilgrimage.
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| Saudi Arabia says it intercepts Yemen rebel drones, missiles Posted: 22 Jun 2020 11:43 PM PDT |
| Putin uses World War II parade to boost support before vote Posted: 22 Jun 2020 11:34 PM PDT  A massive Russian military parade postponed by the coronavirus pandemic will roll through Red Square this week to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe, even though Russia is still registering a steady rise in infections. President Vladimir Putin's insistence on holding the parade reflects not only his desire to put Russia's power on display but also to bolster patriotic sentiments a week before a constitutional referendum that could allow him to remain in office until 2036. This year's date of Wednesday, June 24, coincides with the day in 1945 when the first parade was held on Red Square after the defeat of Nazi Germany by the Soviet Union and its allies.
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