| Biden's notes: ‘Do not hold grudges’ against Kamala Harris Posted: 28 Jul 2020 04:55 PM PDT  Joe Biden was uncharacteristically tight-lipped on Tuesday about the final stretch of his search for a vice president. As he took questions from reporters on Tuesday, Biden held notes that were captured by an Associated Press photographer. Harris' name was scrawled across the top, followed by five talking points.
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| UN report finds migrants face violence by African officials Posted: 28 Jul 2020 03:10 PM PDT |
| Temperature soars to record-tying 124 in ancient desert city Posted: 28 Jul 2020 01:42 PM PDT  Record high temperatures will continue to be challenged across the Middle East this week as blistering heat and dry conditions remain over the region.The week got off to a blazing start in Baghdad, Iraq, with a temperature reading of 50.6 C (123.1 F) on Monday. But on Tuesday, the temperature climbed even higher. According to preliminary reports from the area, the temperature reached 51.2 C (124 F) in the afternoon, tying the all-time record high temperature for the city.Similar heat was felt across the Middle East with temperatures in the upper 40s C (115-120 F) across the region on Monday and many areas reaching above 50 C (122 F) on Tuesday. Scorching high temperatures are forecast to continue this week as an area of high pressure remains overhead, allowing dry conditions and plenty of sunshine to bake the region.Baghdad will once again challenge its highest recorded temperature on Wednesday with afternoon temperatures expected to climb to near 52 C (125 F).CLICK HERE FOR THE FREE ACCUWEATHER APPThe ancient city's origins date back to the 700s when it served as one of the most significant cultural centers for Arab and Islamic civilizations for centuries, according to Encyclopedia Britannica. Currently more than 7.6 million people reside in the Iraqi capital. For comparison, about 8.3 million reside in New York City.In recent days, Baghdad has been rocked by protests, according to The Associated Press, and tensions escalated with security forces killing two demonstrators on Sunday. Electricity shortages have been one of the top issues protesters have been demonstrating against, and something that's been magnified by the record heat that's set in.The countrywide record for all-time highest temperature is 53.8 C (129 F) set in Basra, Iraq, on July 22, 2016.While eastern Iraq will be home to the highest temperatures on Wednesday, with widespread measurements of 49 C (120 F) and above expected, readings above 38 C (100 F) will be common across Syria, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Oman and parts of Iran. Afternoon temperatures are expected to reach similar levels on Thursday with the core of the heat once again over eastern Iraq.The average high temperature for July in Damascus, Syria, and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, are near 49 C (120 F). However, the hottest areas this week are in eastern Iraq, including Baghdad, where the average high temperature for the month is 45 C (113 F).A storm system moving by to the north will suppress the area of high pressure over the Middle East during the end of the week. This will cause temperatures in some locations to trend a couple of degrees lower.However, this will be short-lived as temperatures are expected to surge again by the end of the weekend.The Middle East holds the record for the highest temperature in Asia. Mitribah, Kuwait, recorded a high of 53.9 C (129 F) on July 21, 2016, according to the World Meteorological Organization.Keep checking back on AccuWeather.com and stay tuned to the AccuWeather Network on DirecTV, Frontier and Verizon Fios.
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| Baseball season teeters, while states resist mask rules Posted: 28 Jul 2020 01:21 PM PDT  The baseball season descended deeper into crisis Tuesday, states like Mississippi and South Carolina cast about for more hospital beds, and governors in some of the hardest-hit places staunchly resisted calls to require masks, despite confirmed cases of the coronavirus soaring. Major League Baseball suspended the Miami Marlins' season through Sunday because of an outbreak that has spread to at least 15 of the team's players, and a series of games this week between the New York Yankees and Philadelphia Phillies was called off as a precaution. States like Florida, Arizona and Texas are in dire condition, and the virus also has been spreading farther north in recent days, causing alarm among public health officials who fear states are not doing enough to avoid catastrophic outbreaks like those in the Sun Belt.
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| Ex-diplomat to be next cyber security CEO Posted: 28 Jul 2020 01:03 PM PDT  A former conflict diplomat who became the first woman to complete the same selective military course taken by the head of the armed forces will lead the UK's fight against cyber hackers. From October Lindy Cameron, the outgoing director-general of the Northern Ireland Office, will succeed Ciaran Martin as the new Chief Executive of the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC). Ms Cameron, who as a civilian in 2009 completed Shrivenham Defence Academy's prestigious Higher Command and Staff Course, a "pivotal course" whose alumni include General Sir Nick Carter, the Chief of Defence Staff, said she "relished the opportunity" to take the NCSC "to the next level". Ms Cameron, who has worked as director-general at the Department for International Development (DfID), responsible for programmes in Africa, Asia and the Middle East, which included work in Iraq and Afghanistan, added that the department, which is part of GCHQ and was established in 2016, had over the past four years, "transformed the UK's approach to cyber security and set a benchmark for other countries to follow". Ms Cameron, who was born in Northern Ireland, initially began her career in the private sector with McKinsey, the consultancy firm. Earlier this year she was appointed CB in the 2020 New Year's Honours List for her services to international development. Tobias Ellwood, chairman of the Defence Select Committee, said Ms Cameron, who he first met in Helmand Province, where she worked as the director of the Helmand Provincial Reconstruction Team from 2009 to 2010. He described her as a "formidable character who speaks her mind and has a passion and energy in everything she does". "As the person responsible for the post conflict stabilisation programmes she was not scared of speaking her mind and going into danger zones in order to complete the task." Mr Ellwood added that she was "an astute operator able to make her mark but without rattling cages". A personal friend told The Daily Telegraph that due to the multitude of roles she has held in her career she was "part of the national security tribe" who "understands the bigger picture". "She is respected, has put the hard yards in and comes at things from a national security side." As the UK's lead authority on cyber security, the NCSC oversees the response to cyber attacks and improving the cyber resilience of the UK's national infrastructure. Ms Cameron joins the NCSC as the UK faces progressively more sophisticated cyber attacks from hackers linked to the governments of China, Russia, Iran and North Korea. Earlier this month the NCSC announced it had found evidence that a hacking group linked to the Russian government had been attempting to steal coronavirus vaccine research from organisations in the UK. Jeremy Fleming, the director of GCHQ, said Ms Cameron was joining the team "at a time when cyber security has never been more essential to the nation's resilience and prosperity". "Lindy's unique blend of experience in government, overseas and in security and policy issues make her the ideal leader to take NCSC into the next stage of its delivery," he said.
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| UN, AU urge Darfur troop deployment to protect civilians Posted: 28 Jul 2020 12:58 PM PDT  The joint UN-African Union mission in Sudan's war-torn Darfur region urged the government Tuesday to deploy troops there "as soon as possible" following a wave of deadly attacks on civilians. The UNAMID call came a day after the United Nations reported a massacre of more than 60 people in the impoverished region. On Sunday, Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok said the government would send security forces to the western desert region to "protect citizens and the farming season".
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| Top Nigerian banker Akinwumi Adesina cleared after corruption probe Posted: 28 Jul 2020 12:17 PM PDT  Akinwumi Adesina, president of African Development Bank, had been accused of nepotism and cronyism.
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| Hundreds of Israelis protest outside Netanyahu's residence Posted: 28 Jul 2020 11:53 AM PDT |
| North Korea Thinks He Brought COVID-19. The South Wanted to Arrest Him. Posted: 28 Jul 2020 11:49 AM PDT  SEOUL, South Korea -- Three years ago, out of work and hungry, Kim Geum Hyok climbed Mount White Horse near his North Korean hometown, Kaesong, brooding on the meaninglessness of life.Not far to the south, across a river, the 21-year-old could see high-rise buildings in South Korea, dazzlingly lit up. The sight beckoned him.After two nights on the mountain, Kim crossed the world's most heavily armed border to get to it. He climbed down, crawled under and over layers of barbed-wire fences and made his way through minefields. At the river's edge, he hid among reeds, improvising a life jacket from washed-up plastic trash. When night fell, he began to swim."I kept swimming toward the light," Kim said of his 7 1/2 hours in the water, in an interview that a fellow North Korean defector posted on YouTube. "When I finally landed on the South Korean side and walked through reeds and saw South Korean soldiers approaching, I was so exhausted I collapsed."This month, after three years of life in the South, Kim went back -- swimming across the same river he'd crossed in 2017, South Korean officials said. On Sunday, North Korea said he may have brought the coronavirus into the country for the first time, and it put Kaesong, Kim's hometown, under lockdown.On Monday, a police department in South Korea said that before Kim left, a warrant had been issued for his arrest on a rape accusation.North Korea did not identify Kim in its statement. But South Korea said he was the only defector in the South who had gone back to the North this month. The South did not disclose his full name, but it released enough information for reporters to establish his identity.And other defectors who knew him -- including the YouTube interviewer, Kim Jin-ah, a woman from Kaesong -- confirmed that it was him, uploading photos of Kim Geum Hyok to social media.Weeks before his departure, Kim, now 24, gave several interviews for Kim Jin-ah's YouTube channel, Lady From Kaesong, talking about his lives in the two Koreas. He used an alias and wore sunglasses, and in some clips his face had been digitally altered. Much of what he said could not be independently verified."I once visited his apartment in late June and I was surprised that it was so bare of furniture," Kim Jin-ah said in a video posted after the man's return to the North. "Looking back, I think he was already preparing to leave South Korea."Even before Kim Geum Hyok went back, his story was an unusual one. Most of the 33,000 North Korean defectors now living in South Korea got there by way of China and Southeast Asia. But some, like Kim, made the dangerous decision to cross the inter-Korean border.For a defector to return, however -- to a desolate economy and a dictatorship that calls defectors "human scum" -- is rare. Eleven have done so in the past five years, according to the South's Unification Ministry. Like many defectors, those who go back have often had trouble adjusting to the South's freewheeling capitalist society.In one of the YouTube interviews, Kim said he had lost most of his hearing at an early age."Because of that, I had difficulty communicating with people," he said. "I was beaten because I was told to bring one thing and brought something else."When he was still a child, Kaesong, a city of 300,000, was chosen as the site of an industrial park run jointly by the two Koreas. It opened in 2004, and Kaesong became a boomtown, awash with cash. Kim's cousins worked at the park, he said, and he himself sold eggs and vegetables.But four years ago, the South shut down the complex in a dispute over the North's nuclear weapons program. The economy crashed, and Kim, like many others, was soon out of work. (Last month, with inter-Korean relations at another low, the North blew up an office in Kaesong that it had jointly operated with the South.)By the time he climbed Mount White Horse in June of 2017, Kim told Kim Jin-ah, he "saw no hope for the future, no meaning in life, wondering whether I should continue to live or die." Seeing the South Korean buildings at night compelled him to "go there and check it out even if that meant my death," he said.Kim said he could not take his eyes off South Korean television during his debriefing by officials, which all defectors undergo after arriving in the South. In the North, all TV sets are preset to government propaganda channels.Kim settled in Gimpo, a city across the Han River from Kaesong. A doctor corrected the hearing problem that he had lived with since childhood. He gave Kim Jin-ah no details about his condition or the treatment, but he told her that he cried that day.He also told her that he missed his parents deeply. He had enrolled in a vocational school, as part of the resettlement program that the South offers to defectors. But he said he quit and found work, hoping to send money to his family, as defectors often do through middlemen in China.Off camera, according to Kim Jin-ah, Kim confided something else.He told her that he was being investigated by the police because another defector had accused him of raping her. He told the YouTube interviewer that he had been so drunk on the night in question that he couldn't remember anything.With Kim now in the North, it is impossible to contact him for comment. But the police in Gimpo confirmed that a warrant had been issued for his arrest.On July 17, officials say, Kim arrived on Ganghwa Island, which may have been where he first set foot on South Korean soil. At 2:20 a.m. on the 18th, he got out of a taxi on the island's northern shore. Around that time, he sent his last text message to Kim Jin-ah."I really didn't want to lose you because you were like a big sister to me," he wrote, according to Kim Jin-ah, who read the message on YouTube. "I will repay my debt to you no matter where I live, as long as I live."Kim Jin-ah, who was working at a 24-hour convenience store when the message arrived, rushed to Kim's apartment as soon as her shift ended, she told her viewers.She learned that he had given up the apartment days earlier, reclaiming his deposit. She said he had also sold a used car he had borrowed from her, apparently to raise as much money as he could before going home.South Korean officials concluded that Kim had crossed by crawling through a drain, 3 feet in diameter, that runs underneath barbed-wire fences on Ganghwa's north shore. That led him to the Han River, which they believe he swam back across.In a bag near the drain, officials found bank receipts indicating that Kim had withdrawn 5 million South Korean won from his account, then converted most of that to $4,000.What happened to Kim after he crossed is unknown. North Korea said Sunday that he was in quarantine, accusing him of creating "the dangerous situation in Kaesong City that may lead to a deadly and destructive disaster."This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2020 The New York Times Company
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| Space Camp in danger of closing permanently due to pandemic Posted: 28 Jul 2020 11:19 AM PDT  Space Camp, an educational program attended by nearly 1 million people, including a dozen who went on to become astronauts or cosmonauts, said Tuesday it's in danger of closing without a cash infusion because of the coronavirus pandemic. Part of the state-owned U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Space Camp was shut down for weeks earlier this year and has been hampered by low attendance since reopening in June with limited capacity, officials said. With most of its typical staff slashed and the normal flow of international students and school groups down to nothing for the fall because of the virus, leaders held a news conference announcing a "Save Space Camp" drive.
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| Trump administration won't accept new DACA applications Posted: 28 Jul 2020 11:09 AM PDT  The Trump administration said Tuesday that it will reject new applications and shorten renewal periods for an Obama-era program that shields young people from deportation, taking a defiant stance after the U.S. Supreme Court refused to let it be scrapped completely. The move, detailed in a memo from Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf, ended a month of uncertainty about how the administration would respond to its Supreme Court defeat in an election year that has President Donald Trump looking for ways to energize his base. Wolf said the administration may try to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program again, casting it as a law enforcement issue that could contribute to illegal immigration.
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| Coronavirus-linked hunger could lead to 10,000 child deaths every month, UNICEF warns Posted: 28 Jul 2020 11:07 AM PDT  The socio-economic crisis triggered by the coronavirus pandemic could have catastrophic consequences that go well beyond the devastation directly caused by the virus, UNICEF warned Monday. The United Nations Children's Fund, the UN agency responsible for providing humanitarian relief for children worldwide, said in statement that "an additional 6.7 million children under the age of five could suffer from wasting — and therefore become dangerously undernourished — in 2020 as a result of the socio-economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic." The agency calls "wasting" a life-threatening form of malnutrition, which puts children at greater risk of dying, poor growth, development and learning.
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| Sudan PM, Egyptian official meet amid tensions over Nile dam Posted: 28 Jul 2020 11:01 AM PDT  Sudan's prime minister met Tuesday with Egypt's intelligence chief in the Sudanese capital, the government said, as tensions rise over a colossal hydroelectric dam being built on the Blue Nile. Sudan's government gave scant details about the one-day private meeting between Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok and Abbas Kamel, saying only that it came "in the framework of bilateral relations."
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| Experts worry about errors if census schedule is sped up Posted: 28 Jul 2020 10:48 AM PDT |
| Returning UN envoy: Israel won't suffer for tight Trump ties Posted: 28 Jul 2020 10:37 AM PDT  Israel's returning ambassador to the United Nations affirmed the country's bond with the Trump administration Tuesday, dismissing notions that Israel would pay a price for its tight ties to the divisive president should he be defeated in November. In his first comprehensive interview since returning from the diplomatic posting, Danny Danon said he was relieved that the more progressive forces in the Democratic Party failed to secure the party's nomination and claimed that Israel could prosper with either Trump or Joe Biden in the White House.
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| Egypt Dates Market - Growth Trends and Forecast (2019 - 2024) Posted: 28 Jul 2020 09:34 AM PDT |
| Pandemic led to 98 percent fall in international tourist numbers in May Posted: 28 Jul 2020 08:27 AM PDT  As many would expect, the coronavirus pandemic has greatly affected the global tourism industry, the United Nations World Tourism Organization said Tuesday.The latest UNWTO World Tourism Barometer revealed that lockdowns have led to a 98 percent fall in international tourist numbers in May compared to 2019. Dating back to January, the year-over-year drop was 56 percent.That, in turn, led to a big drop in revenue. Since the beginning of the year, $320 billion in international tourism receipts have been lost, a figure more than three times the decline that occurred in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. That's not entirely surprising considering there wasn't a major public health that deterred people from traveling, but it still highlights the extreme nature of the current struggles in the tourism industry."The latest data makes clear the importance of restarting tourism as soon as it is safe to do so," UNWTO Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili said. "The dramatic fall in international tourism places many millions of livelihoods at risk, including in developing countries." Read more about the latest tourism data here.More stories from theweek.com Even mild coronavirus cases can cause lasting cardiovascular damage, study shows AMC is ending its ban on Universal movies as part of a landmark agreement Why Trump's invasion of Portland is textbook fascism
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| A Refugee Crisis Is the Last Thing Latin America Needs Posted: 28 Jul 2020 07:30 AM PDT |
| Being overweight or obese could lower the quality of men's sperm Posted: 28 Jul 2020 07:18 AM PDT  New research has found that maintaining a healthy weight could help boost the quality of a man's sperm. Carried out by a team at the Rovira i Virgili University in Spain, along with researchers from the University of Utah (USA), the Ahvaz Jundishapur University (Iran), and the National University of Córdoba (Argentina), the study looked at 88 existing articles which investigated how weight -- including being low weight, normal weight, overweight or obese -- could affect a man's sperm quality. The findings, published in the journal Obesity Reviews, showed that being overweight and/or obesity were both associated with various measurements of low semen quality including semen volume, sperm count and concentration, sperm vitality (the percentage of living healthy sperm in semen), total motility (the ability of sperm to move efficiently) and normal morphology (the shape of the sperm).
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| UK government gives green light to more tear gas sales to US police despite UN warning over violence Posted: 28 Jul 2020 07:15 AM PDT  The UK government has given the green light for the export of British tear gas and rubber bullets to the US despite the continuing use of force against protesters – and warnings from the United Nations.Whitehall officials secretly suspended the issue of new arms export licences to the US for a month at the height of the Black Lives Matter demonstrations so a review could be carried out amid concerns about police conduct, The Independent can reveal.
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| INDONESIA FREIGHT AND LOGISTICS MARKET - GROWTH, TRENDS, AND FORECAST (2020 - 2025) Posted: 28 Jul 2020 07:14 AM PDT |
| Lebanon accuses Israel of provoking border escalation Posted: 28 Jul 2020 07:12 AM PDT  Lebanon's prime minister Tuesday accused Israel of provoking a "dangerous escalation" along the border in an attempt to modify the mandate of a U.N. peacekeeping force in south Lebanon, cautioning against "a slide toward the worse" in coming days. Hassan Diab's comments came a day after the Israeli military said it thwarted an infiltration attempt by Hezbollah militants — setting off one of the heaviest exchanges of fire along the volatile Israel-Lebanon frontier since a 2006 war between the two enemies. Hezbollah denied its fighters had engaged in any attack along the border, but the Israeli military said it was sure the Iranian-backed militant group had carried out the operation, and Israeli forces in the area remained on heightened alert.
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| UK ambassador to Iraq targeted with threatening messages after speaking out against militia groups Posted: 28 Jul 2020 07:09 AM PDT  Britain's ambassador to Iraq has been targeted by a graphic propaganda campaign featuring an image of his bloodied face after he spoke out against militia groups which are strengthening their grip on the war-torn country. Stephen Hickey, who has served in the post since last September, was singled out by militiamen after he encouraged Iraq to turn its back on armed groups that operate outside the law. In response, one militia group with ties to the Iranian regime published a series of posts on the messaging app Telegram which warned the senior diplomat to keep his views to himself. "Stop lying and mind your own business and represent your old country as a diplomat," reads one of the messages seen by the Telegraph. It was posted by Harakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba, an Iraqi Shia militia group backed by Iran. The warning was accompanied by two polaroid-style photographs of Mr Hickey which were edited so that his face and head were smeared with blood. Founded in 2013, Harakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba reportedly has around 10,000 fighters and is subject to US sanctions. Another message told the British ambassador to stop playing "malicious games" by addressing the issue of militia groups in Iraq, and a third warned him "not to intervene in issues that are bigger than you."
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| Iran batters dummy US aircraft carrier in Gulf exercises Posted: 28 Jul 2020 06:45 AM PDT  Iran's Revolutionary Guards blasted a mock-up of a US aircraft carrier with missiles on Tuesday during military exercises in sensitive Gulf waters, state television reported. The US Navy condemned the "irresponsible and reckless behaviour by Iran", calling it an attempt "to intimidate and coerce". The Iranian maritime manoeuvre was staged at a time of heightened tensions between Iran and its decades-old arch enemy the United States.
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| Lebanese party leader blames Hezbollah, allies for crisis Posted: 28 Jul 2020 05:46 AM PDT  The leader of a major Christian group in Lebanon on Tuesday blamed the militant group Hezbollah and its local allies led by President Michel Aoun for the rapidly deteriorating economy and worsening relations with neighboring Arab countries, saying the only solution is for them to leave power. Samir Geagea, leader of the Lebanese Forces Party, told The Associated Press that Monday's military activity along the border with Israel was a clear indication the current Lebanese government, which Hezbollah supports, doesn't have sovereignty in the south, along Israel's border, where thousands of U.N. peacekeepers are based. The Israeli military said it thwarted an infiltration attempt Monday by Hezbollah militants, setting off one of the heaviest exchanges of fire along the volatile Israel-Lebanon frontier since a 2006 war between the bitter enemies.
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| UN says Libyan authorities shot dead 3 Sudanese migrants Posted: 28 Jul 2020 05:39 AM PDT |
| Trump defends disproved COVID-19 treatment Posted: 28 Jul 2020 05:28 AM PDT  President Donald Trump issued a stout defense Tuesday of a disproved use of a malaria drug as a treatment for the coronavirus, hours after social media companies moved to take down videos promoting its use as potentially harmful misinformation. The president, in a marked shift from the more measured approach he's taken toward the virus in recent days, took to Twitter to promote hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus, and to amplify criticism of Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert. In a White House briefing, Trump defended his decision to promote a viral video of a group of doctors promoting the use of the drug Monday, even though his own administration withdrew emergency authorization for its use against the coronavirus.
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| Technology infuses ancient hajj rites tailored for pandemic Posted: 28 Jul 2020 05:21 AM PDT  The vast, white-marble floors surrounding Islam's holiest site, the cube-shaped Kaaba in Mecca, would normally be packed with hundreds of thousands of pilgrims from around the world the day before the hajj. The select few approved for this year's hajj have been tested for the virus and are self-isolating in hotel rooms in Mecca, where they will experience an ancient pilgrimage — albeit tailored this year for a modern-day pandemic. Amr Al-Maddah, the chief planning officer at the Ministry of Hajj, is helping incorporate the latest technology into the pilgrimage such as thermal scanners and electronic ID cards.
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| Sarah Berger Gonzalez named to Board of My New Red Shoes, a nonprofit serving children and youth Posted: 28 Jul 2020 05:00 AM PDT  My New Red Shoes welcomes a new member to the Board of Directors and adds three new board advisors to bring a fresh perspective for serving families in need in California's San Francisco Bay Area. Sarah_Berger_Gonzalez "I am excited to join the Board of My New Red Shoes and bring my commitment to building a more just and sustainable world by fostering innovative solutions that engage with families in need in the Bay Area," said Gonzalez.San Francisco, CA, July 28, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- My New Red Shoes (MNRS), a nonprofit working to improve the quality of life and well-being of children and youth experiencing economic hardship, announced the organization has named Sarah Berger Gonzalez to their board of directors. A Program Manager at Stanford's Basic Income Lab, her expertise includes global experience and strategic guidance while working at The World Bank as a Social Protection Specialist. "I am excited to join the Board of My New Red Shoes and bring my commitment to building a more just and sustainable world by fostering innovative solutions that engage with families in need in the Bay Area," said Gonzalez.MNRS also announced the addition of three new board advisors: Dr. Fatima Alleyne, serving her second term on the Contra Costa County Board of Education; Cecilia Hayes, an experienced global human resources executive; and Stefania Guadalupe Vallejo, a local humanitarian leader and Board Director with the United Nations Association - United States of America, East Bay Chapter. "Challenging times call for creative leadership," said Joanne Gouaux, Acting Board Chair for My New Red Shoes. "We are pleased to welcome Sarah as an exceptional leader to MNRS' Board of Directors. There is no doubt that Sarah and our new advisors will help MNRS advance meaningful solutions. We look forward to their fresh perspectives and valuable insights as we continue our commitment to working together with local communities and agency partners to serve children and youth experiencing unprecedented financial hardship."My New Red Shoes has provided new shoes and clothing to over 90,000 children and youth experiencing economic hardship. Through collaboration with other child-serving agencies, MNRS' programs help to provide a more normalized experience to children and youth by helping to address their basic needs. About My New Red ShoesA nonprofit organization working to improve the quality of life and well-being of children and youth experiencing economic hardship, My New Red Shoes (MNRS) provides new shoes and clothing to Bay Area students in order to build a stronger, healthier, and more inclusive community for all youth. Learn more at https://mynewredshoes.org/.News via: KISS PR Story Web Release Attachment * Sarah_Berger_Gonzalez CONTACT: +16502413911
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| Iran targets dummy US aircraft carrier in Gulf exercises Posted: 28 Jul 2020 04:48 AM PDT  Iran's Revolutionary Guards blasted a mock-up of a US aircraft carrier with missiles on Tuesday during military exercises in sensitive Gulf waters, state television said. Footage of the war games broadcast on state television showed the Guards' air and naval forces readying for an attack off the country's southwest coast. The mock-up of a Nimitz-class aircraft carrier came into view with rows of dummy fighter jets on either side of its landing strip.
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| Iran reports record one-day virus toll of 235 dead Posted: 28 Jul 2020 03:41 AM PDT  Iran reported 235 new deaths from the novel coronavirus on Tuesday, a record toll for a single day in the Middle East's hardest-hit country. "We have lost 235 of our compatriots due to COVID-19 in the past 24 hours," taking the overall toll to 16,147, said health ministry spokeswoman Sima Sadat Lari. Authorities had placed Tehran among 15 out of Iran's 31 provinces now on "red" alert over the virus, she told a televised news conference.
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| Egypt releases news editor after over 2 years in detention Posted: 28 Jul 2020 02:43 AM PDT |
| Iran missiles target fake carrier as US bases go on alert Posted: 28 Jul 2020 02:32 AM PDT  Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard launched missiles Tuesday targeting a mock aircraft carrier in the strategic Strait of Hormuz, a drill that included such a barrage of fire the U.S. military temporarily put two regional bases in the Mideast on alert amid tensions between the two countries. The drill — and the American response to it — underlined the lingering threat of military conflict between Iran and the U.S. after a series of escalating incidents last year led to an American drone strike killing a top Iranian general in Baghdad. While the coronavirus pandemic has engulfed both Iran and the U.S. for months, there has been a growing confrontation as America argues to extend a yearslong U.N. weapons embargo on Tehran that is due to expire in October.
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| Huawei's Meng Wanzhou seeks Canadian spy-service documents, claiming national security 'cover-up' about her arrest Posted: 28 Jul 2020 02:30 AM PDT |
| Dems on Susan Rice as Biden’s VP: Are We Sure About This? Posted: 28 Jul 2020 01:47 AM PDT  With presumptive Democratic Party nominee Joe Biden's prospects for the White House looking increasingly rosy, more Democrats are finding themselves in the camp that believes in not rocking any boats. Which is why some in the party have found it peculiar that the former vice president appears to be increasingly considering one of the seemingly riskier picks for a VP of his own.Susan Rice, who was national security adviser to President Barack Obama, has become a major player in the veepstakes. And for good reason. She is a deeply familiar figure for both Biden and some in his inner circle, as well as a steady hand who could offer him governing support from the get-go. She is also, however, a deeply familiar figure to Trump and his dedicated supporters—in that she's a villain at the heart of numerous Obama-era outrages that have animated conservatives for years, from the attack at the U.S. consulate in Benghazi to the beginning of the investigation into the Trump campaign's ties with Russia. Choosing Rice, many Democrats fear, would reinvigorate Trump's so-far flat attempts to recreate his 2016 win by sticking Biden with some of the same story lines that dogged Hillary Clinton in 2016. Republicans maintain that few Democratic rile up the GOP base—and juice their fundraising numbers—like Obama's former national security hand, and insist that they'd welcome Biden elevating her to the ticket."Rice is extremely accomplished and experienced and would obviously help a President Biden tremendously on national security, but on the political side, unfortunately, she has been the target of crazy right-wing hate for years," said one Democratic aide, who requested anonymity to discuss the vice presidential selection candidly. "The things they say about her have little connection to reality, but that didn't stop people from voting against Hillary Clinton in 2016 for similar reasons." Susan Rice's Second Act: A Remarkable Rebound From BenghaziRice was not talked about as a logical VP pick early on in the process, owing mainly to the fact that she's never held elected office before. But her name is now increasingly mentioned alongside Sens. Kamala Harris (D-CA) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) as a potential running mate. That's sparked some consternation in the party. But there is also a growing cohort of Democrats arguing that the Obama stalwart could help cleanse the party of its lingering 2016 fears, and drive a stake through the web of right-wing conspiracies that Trump loves to leverage against his opponents."The Republicans will viciously attack whoever Biden picks as VP," Tommy Vietor, the former Obama spokesperson at the National Security Council, said in an email to The Daily Beast. "The dishonest attacks against Susan over Benghazi are the definition of old news, and no one wants to relive that right-wing Fox News fever dream in the middle of a pandemic… Susan Rice is brilliant. Joe Biden knows her and trusts her, and she would be ready to govern on day one. That's all that matters.""Picking her," said one Democratic foreign policy aide, "would send an important sign that Biden is willing to tell the conspiratorial right to go fuck themselves." The dilemma over Rice's place on the VP shortlist has brought to the forefront many of the strategic debates that Democrats continue to grapple with nearly four years after the 2016 election. The party is wary of adopting the same risk-averse approach that defined Clinton's bid. But they're also confident that Trump is self-immolating and fearful that handing him a distraction to use would be political malpractice. All things Benghazi would probably "flare back up," conceded a top Democratic Party bundler who is backing Rice as VP, before adding that "the GOP's lack of investigative action the last three years has shown it was always a hollow." The Biden campaign declined to comment about consideration of Rice as a running mate. Obama: Susan Rice Is 'Outstanding'Rice's accomplishments are hardly the stuff of a political novice. She held various high-profile diplomatic and national security posts in the Bill Clinton White House before spending the George W. Bush years as a Brookings Institution foreign policy expert, a perch from which she advised high-profile Democrats, including then-candidate Obama. When Obama won, she became a significant presence through the entirety of his presidency, serving as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations during his first term and then national security adviser during his second. That record put Rice at the center of the 2012 attacks on the U.S. compound in Benghazi, Libya, during which she became the target of GOP outrage for asserting that the attack—which killed four Americans—had grown out of a protest, a claim that remains unclear. But the remarks ultimately helped sink Rice's standing as a possible successor to Clinton as secretary of state, though the GOP-commissioned Benghazi report later found she had been informed by mistaken intelligence and hadn't committed any wrongdoing. Her role in the episode was scrutinized again in 2016, with some saying she "took the fall" for Clinton, who was secretary of state during Benghazi. More recent grist for Trump and his backers is Rice's involvement in a perceived scandal relating to then-candidate Trump in 2016: the surveillance of Trump associates who were communicating with foreign individuals. Americans who are swept into this kind of surveillance typically have their identities hidden from U.S. officials, but they can be revealed, or "unmasked," if there's a national security imperative for doing so.In spring 2017, it was reported that Rice had ordered the unmasking of Trump associates who had been communicating with foreign officials. Trump took it a step further, alleging she had leaked the identities to the press and broken the law, a claim she categorically denies and for which there is no supporting evidence.And in May, the Trump administration declassified an email that Rice sent to herself on the day of Obama's handover of power to Trump, which referenced concerns from then-FBI Director James Comey that Trump's team had been in contact with Russian agents. Rice's successor-to-be, Michael Flynn, had been in contact with the Russian ambassador, though Comey did not know about what. Trump's allies have used the email to bolster the theory that Obama, on his way out of office, had initiated a program of surveillance on Trump, while Rice has strongly contended otherwise.Asked how the president's campaign might respond to Biden choosing Rice as a running-mate, a Trump spokesperson declined to say specifically, only noting that "no vice presidential candidate" can fix Biden's problems. A GOP strategist, however, told The Daily Beast that when it comes to ginning up conservative campaign contributions, Warren might be most effective as a foil, "but I'd put Rice up there as well."But Rory Cooper, a longtime Republican strategist and critic of the president, argued that Rice's perceived baggage wasn't really baggage at all, since Biden himself was a more powerful symbol for the Obama era than anyone else associated with it. "If they are licking their chops," said Cooper, "frankly, it confirms they can't manage a campaign worth a damn."For some Democrats, the idea of not picking Rice because of fear of what Trump might do in response to it resembles a defensive strategy of a bygone era. The president is bound to attack whoever is chosen, the logic goes, making it foolish to proactively cede the ground. "Susan Rice is absolutely one of the most qualified people in the bracket right now," said Molly Claflin, an attorney at good-government group American Oversight and a former staffer for Senate Democrats on the Russia investigation. "If you've got a highly-qualified, incredibly well-respected foreign policy thinker—is the possibility of Fox News attack pieces enough to deprive the American people of having that very experienced person on the ticket?... That's letting Fox News win."But a Rice selection wouldn't just present challenges to Biden's right: her joining the ticket also bears the risk of upsetting some in the progressive wing of the party that Biden has worked to win over since the 2020 primary effectively ended. Yasmine Taeb, a Democratic National Committeewoman in Virginia, said in an email there's concern that Rice "represents an establishment thinking on national security and foreign policy." "We don't like her, right? She's not someone that the left would be happy with and I think that would be a mistake for the Biden team to go with Rice," said Taeb, who also works as senior policy counsel for Demand Progress and endorsed Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) in the 2020 primary. Others were less concerned with Rice, expressing faith in whatever final verdict Biden comes to. Bill Shaheen, a DNC member from New Hampshire who endorsed Biden ahead of the state's February primary, downplayed the idea that the controversy surrounding Rice and Benghazi could hurt Biden if he picks the former Obama administration official. "I think the American people are not going to want to go back to Benghazi," Shaheen said. "They want to build this country back up again." And some were skeptical that Rice would end up as Biden's pick at all. While she has a personal working relationship with the former veep that other contenders lack, her areas of strength overlap with his—a disadvantage in a process that, historically, is meant to bolster a candidate's areas of weakness. Biden has experience on foreign policy, said Joe Trippi, who managed former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean's 2004 presidential run, which means it's likely the one place he doesn't need more help on when it comes to governing. "I don't know that it'll be Rice, mostly because that's an area that Biden has covered, not because of any vulnerability that gets created," Trippi said. —with reporting from Scott Bixby and Sam Stein 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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| UN report: North Korean officials abused repatriated women Posted: 28 Jul 2020 01:45 AM PDT |
| The Texas COVID-19 Death Surge Is Here, and It’s Terrifying Posted: 28 Jul 2020 01:35 AM PDT  Six months ago this week, when the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a public health emergency of international concern, Texas had zero cases—and few reasons to expect it would become one of the hardest-hit areas in the world.But as hospitalizations and deaths have surged in recent weeks, its departure from successful public health responses in the rest of the country—and the world at large—has only grown more stark."In the past six weeks, the total number of cases [globally] has roughly doubled," the U.N. health agency's director-general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said on Monday, repeating the public health mantra to maintain distance from others, wash your hands, avoid crowds, and wear a mask. "Where these measures are followed, cases go down," said Tedros. "Where they're not, cases go up."Though the pandemic was slower to ravage Texas the way it first hit states like New York, there are few parts of the world where these ironclad, century-old health principles were more difficult or contentious to implement than the Lone Star State.After a brief lockdown, Texas was one of the first states in the U.S. to reopen, at lightning speed. And after weeks of skyrocketing case totals—with local officials clashing with state leaders on everything from the reopening of bars to mask mandates—the inevitable surge in fatalities has arrived.'If People Die, People Die': Texas COVID Hot Spots Keep Getting WorseAs of Monday, according to state health data, Texas had 385,924 total cumulative cases and 5,713 deaths. Just a week earlier, on July 20, Texas passed 4,000 deaths from the disease. To be clear, that means 20 percent of all deaths in the state happened in just six days. Meanwhile, public health experts have repeatedly said that official totals are likely to be an undercount, since not all people who die with coronavirus symptoms ever get tested.Of the state's 254 counties, 242 have active cases. Hospitalizations and deaths are surging, a trend that was expected, considering those factors are lagging indicators behind infection counts. The state peaked at 10,791 cases on July 15, and while daily infection totals have leveled off, they have done so at record highs, according to the Texas Tribune.White House officials touted local mask ordinances as helping turn the tide on Arizona's infections last week, and public health authorities have said they are cautiously optimistic that Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's mask mandate—ordered three weeks ago—could be helping curb the Texas case surge. Still, many have asked the governor to consider a second shutdown if things don't improve, and fast. Diana Fite, president of the Texas Medical Association and an emergency physician based in Houston, said the entire state has a need for all experimental forms of COVID-19 treatment. That includes convalescent plasma—transfusions from patients who've successfully recovered from the virus—and Remdesivir—a broad-spectrum antiviral drug that has in early trials improved severe cases."There is not enough to give to all the people who are sick. Everybody is trying to use these transfusions," Fite told The Daily Beast, cautioning that it's not a cure and that experts are still not "100 percent sure that it's working," even if some preliminary studies have been promising."There's nothing that's in abundant supply," Fite told The Daily Beast, noting that all experimental therapies are divided amongst states based on hospital data, which she compared to "a lottery system.""We're crowded with a lot of patients that need to be in the hospital," said Fite, calling the day-to-day marathon "hectic and very stressful." "When you have such an increased volume of patients, and still a small percentage of those are very very ill, you've still got a large number," said Fite. It may have taken local ordinances, a statewide mask mandate, and skyrocketing cases, but now, according to Fite, "Texas citizens are once again understanding that this is a serious issue, and that they need to socially distance, wear masks, and stay away from large gatherings."Even if Fite is right that Texans have begun to take the virus more seriously, more deaths are coming. Hidalgo County was reportedly the first in the state to begin storing—not just transporting—bodies in refrigerated trucks earlier this month. Crematoriums in the area are said to have a two-week wait list. That delay was worse in one town, where a crematorium's ovens "overheated" from the extreme use and broke down.Meanwhile, about 300 miles north, residents in Houston—where Fite is based—have begged for the city to lock back down as hospitals are deluged with patients. "We're completely out of our depth here," one Houston ER nurse told The Daily Beast last week.Another 250 miles north, 14 members of the same family in the Dallas area got sick following a backyard barbecue—after the state's restrictions had been lifted—leaving one of them dead after an extended stay in the hospital."Somebody is going to have to make a decision about this," said Irwin Redlener, founding director of the National Center for Disaster Preparedness at Columbia University and an expert on U.S. readiness for pandemics. "We may have to go back to sheltering and staying in place."But Abbott has repeatedly said that "closing down Texas again will always be the last option." And last week, he tweeted, "a community lock down is not needed as long as masks & other distancing strategies are used."A day later, he met with community leaders in the hard-hit Rio Grande Valley and announced that the state was providing "substantial resources" to the area, including five U.S. Navy teams from the U.S. Department of Defense and a U.S. Army Urban Augmentation Medical Task Force to help combat the spread of the virus and supplement overrun medical workers at hospitals in the area. The state has sent additional ventilators, lab staff, test kits, ambulance strike teams, oxygen concentrators, morgue trailers, personal protective equipment, and Remdesivir to the area.The problem is that there's little reason to think even this momentary plateau in cases—and the belated surge in fatalities—is the end of the state's COVID-19 woes. As Redlener said, the reopening of schools "is going to become a major challenge from one end of the country to another." But especially in hot zones like Texas where doctors are begging for plasma donations, bodies are being stored in refrigerated trucks, and crematoriums can't keep pace with demand."We don't do enough testing to begin with, and we certainly don't do enough testing of school children," said Redlener. "We just don't have enough information to make completely evidence-based decisions here, and this tsunami is coming."Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| China Wants to Be First to Colonize the Moon and Mars Posted: 28 Jul 2020 01:35 AM PDT  HONG KONG—China launched its most ambitious space mission last week, with a trio consisting of an orbiter, lander, and rover loaded onto a massive rocket that is heading to Mars. The mission is an impressive scientific feat, one that is entangled with Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping's push to define China as a conquering superpower in space.Called Tianwen-1, the Chinese Mars mission involves a seven-month journey to the red planet. When the rocket nears its destination after traveling 39 million miles, it will release the orbiter to scan and map Mars from above, while the lander will carry the rover to the planet's surface. If everything goes according to plan and the rover maintains communication with ground control on Earth, China will be the second nation to successfully place an operational robot on Martian soil—a significant achievement for a country that is attempting to establish technological supremacy on a global and now interplanetary scale.Yet that triumph comes loaded with CCP officials' desire for space colonization. One senior aerospace engineer and the head of China's lunar exploration program, Ye Peijian, indicated two years ago that his country's designs for space expedition mirror Beijing's plan for the South China Sea—that is, the party seeks to occupy the moon and Mars at any cost."The universe is an ocean, the moon is the Diaoyu Islands, Mars is Huangyan Island," Ye said at the CCP's annual plenary session in Beijing two years ago, referencing geological formations that are also known as Senkaku and Scarborough Shoal, and are claimed by Japan, Taiwan, as well as the Philippines. "If we do not go there now even though we can, then we will be blamed by our descendants," Ye also said. "If others go there, then they will take over, and you will not be able to go even if you want to. This is reason enough."What the Hell Is China Doing on the Dark Side of the Moon?China's Space Force Is Way Ahead of Trump'sThe message was clear then: it's a zero-sum game. The party's officials see space as a place to be conquered, so they are compelled to stake a claim—fast.China has designs to become an astral superpower. Details about state funding for space missions are opaque, but in 2018, Beijing earmarked at least $8 billion for the China National Space Administration, second only to the U.S. That amount has almost certainly increased every year since then, with Beijing hastening efforts to establish a permanent presence in space. China already has rovers on the moon. It will likely launch the core module of a space station to low Earth orbit next year. It is laying the groundwork for a crewed lunar mission in the 2030s, with plans to build a base near the lunar south pole.And Mars? If we take Ye's words at face value, then the plan is to seize, annex, and build on top of it.NASA's Perseverance Mars rover is scheduled to launch this week, on July 30. Like Tianwen-1's as yet unnamed rover, it will hunt for carbon-containing molecules that may point to Martian life in the past, as well as collect dirt samples for scientific analysis.After Tianwen-1 left its launchpad, NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine tweeted out well wishes, welcoming China to a small, elite group of nations that are exploring Mars. Yet it is impossible to ignore that the current confrontations between China and the U.S. look more and more like a Cold War with each passing day, and the competing space programs resemble a page out of the ideological showdown between the U.S. and Soviet Union.Beijing and Washington have locked horns on every front. The two largest economies in the world are trapped in a spiral of tariffs. China's military is looking to project its power in new places around the globe, grating against American spheres of influence, particularly in East Asia and the Middle East. And tech companies on either side of the Pacific Ocean are racing to one-up each other, fueled by bonfires of cash from venture capital funds that place bets on both coasts. The competition between China and the United States is multi-pronged, extending beyond the stratosphere too.If Tianwen-1 is a success, Xi Jinping will score a major win within the party's hierarchy, and feed the justification of his decree to remain president for life. Space exploration in any form is an inspiration, and the pride shared by Chinese people while watching a rocket built by their country fly to Mars is pure. Many young people will no doubt heed the call to build careers in STEM fields, or even dream of becoming the first Chinese person to leave footprints on another planet. But the CCP's extra dimension of conquest taints this legacy, and even maps the potential for conflict beyond our world.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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| N.Korean women faced torture, rape, malnourishment in detention, says U.N. report Posted: 28 Jul 2020 01:14 AM PDT |
| Utilization of Innovative Digital Technologies to Enhance Farm Productivity and Profitability Posted: 28 Jul 2020 12:39 AM PDT |
| N.Korea steps up coronavirus prevention after first possible infection Posted: 28 Jul 2020 12:23 AM PDT |
| Virus vanguard: Cape Town learned painful lessons early on Posted: 28 Jul 2020 12:17 AM PDT  When Cape Town emerged as Africa's first coronavirus hot spot, Dr. Abu Mowlana was surprised by the fear that broke out among his colleagues. Morale was crashing among doctors and nurses at Tygerberg Hospital even as infections surged in May and June, recalled Mowlana, one of the senior doctors leading the COVID-19 response there. By the end of June, when the virus was reaching its peak in Cape Town and the surrounding Western Cape province, the area had 62,481 of South Africa's 151,209 total cases, more than 40 percent, according to government figures.
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| Volunteers came to the rescue as virus raged in Kyrgyzstan Posted: 27 Jul 2020 11:59 PM PDT  When his mother began deteriorating from the coronavirus two weeks ago, Bektour Iskender knew that hospitals in Kyrgyzstan's capital, Bishkek, were full. Two hours later, volunteers in full protective gear arrived and showed Iskender how to use one of the machines he had borrowed from friends of his relatives. "I later spoke to my friend, a doctor, and he said that it was probably a breakthrough moment," said the 35-year-old Iskender, co-founder of the Kloop online news site.
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| Head of China CDC gets injected with experimental vaccine Posted: 27 Jul 2020 11:51 PM PDT  The head of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention says he has been injected with an experimental coronavirus vaccine in an attempt to persuade the public to follow suit when one is approved. "I'm going to reveal something undercover: I am injected with one of the vaccines," Gao Fu said in a webinar Sunday hosted by Alibaba Health, an arm of the Chinese e-commerce giant, and Cell Press, an American publisher of scientific journals. Gao did not say when or how he took the vaccine candidate, leaving it unclear whether he was injected as part of a government-approved human trial.
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| Virus exacts a heavy toll in Queens neighborhood of Corona Posted: 27 Jul 2020 10:04 PM PDT  Damiana Reyes is back at work at a busy Manhattan hair salon, making highlights, blowouts and extensions. The pandemic has changed Reyes' life and those of many in Corona, a Latino neighborhood in Queens that was among the hardest hit places in the world. Many people haven't paid rent in weeks, said Pedro Rodríguez, executive director of La Jornada, a food pantry.
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| Global Waste Heat Recovery Systems Industry Posted: 27 Jul 2020 09:34 PM PDT |
| Source: US, Oregon in talks about pulling agents in Portland Posted: 27 Jul 2020 09:24 PM PDT |
| Masked mourners brave heat, virus fears to honor John Lewis Posted: 27 Jul 2020 09:20 PM PDT  Mourners braved both coronavirus fears and brutal heat on Tuesday to pay their respects to the late Rep. John Lewis, the first Black lawmaker to lie in state at the Capitol Rotunda. The casket itself was at the top of the steps on the east side of the Capitol building, while mourners were restricted to the bottom of the steps.
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| Barr, Park Police distance Trump from clearing of protesters Posted: 27 Jul 2020 09:16 PM PDT  The head of U.S. Park Police insisted Tuesday that the forceful routing of protesters from the square in front of the White House last month had "zero correlation" with President Donald Trump's staged photo event minutes later. Gregory T. Monahan's testimony before the House Natural Resources Committee was his first extended accounting of the Park Police's offensive against protesters and journalists June 1 in Lafayette Square. Attorney General William Barr, testifying separately on Trump's deployment of hundreds of federal officers and agents against nationwide protests this spring and summer, also distanced Trump's photo event from the decision to drive demonstrators from Lafayette Square that night.
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| Barr defends aggressive federal response to protests Posted: 27 Jul 2020 09:15 PM PDT  Attorney General William Barr defended the aggressive federal law enforcement response to civil unrest in America as he testified for the first time before the House Judiciary Committee, pushing back against angry, skeptical Democrats who said President Donald Trump's administration is unconstitutionally suppressing dissent. The hearing, held Tuesday as the late civil rights icon John Lewis lay in state steps away outside the Capitol, highlighted the wide election-year gulf between the two parties on police brutality and systemic racism in law enforcement. Massive protests have sparked unrest across the nation following the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police, and calls for police reform are growing louder.
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