| Coronavirus in Sudan exposes new leaders Posted: 24 May 2020 05:29 PM PDT  Some medics have refused to work and elderly people have been dying, writes Zeinab Mohammed Salih.
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| UK PM Johnson backs key aide over lockdown breach claims Posted: 24 May 2020 05:28 PM PDT  British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Sunday defied pressure from within his own party and backed top aide Dominic Cummings over allegations he breached coronavirus lockdown rules. Cummings has been a highly divisive figure in British politics since masterminding the successful 2016 Brexit campaign alongside Johnson. Johnson said during Sunday's news briefing he believed Cummings "acted responsibly and legally and with integrity" after the pair held crisis talks.
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| Judge rules against Florida on felons paying fines to vote Posted: 24 May 2020 04:36 PM PDT |
| New Zealand leader carries on with TV interview during quake Posted: 24 May 2020 03:47 PM PDT |
| White House imposes coronavirus travel ban on Brazil Posted: 24 May 2020 02:57 PM PDT  President Donald Trump on Sunday further limited travel from the world's coronavirus hotspots by denying entry to foreigners coming from Brazil, which is second to the U.S. in the number of confirmed cases. Trump had already banned certain travelers from China, Europe, the United Kingdom and Ireland and, to a lesser extent, Iran. Trump had said last week that he was considering limiting travel from Brazil.
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| South African President Ramaphosa says outbreak will get worse Posted: 24 May 2020 02:16 PM PDT  Cyril Ramaphosa said the worst is still ahead while announcing an ease in lockdown measures.
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| ‘Jesus Is Essential’: These Churches Answered Trump’s Call and Defied Lockdown Posted: 24 May 2020 01:40 PM PDT  On Sunday, just days after Donald Trump encouraged houses of worship to reopen even in states under coronavirus lockdowns, churches from Maine to California defied the law and welcomed worshippers at live services.In Washington State—the early ground zero of COVID-19 in America—Covenant Christian Church in Spokane welcomed a sizeable, mask-less crowd for morning prayers, according to the local Spokesman-Review. The Reverend Ken Peters, who claims he'd been holding in-person services since May 3, blasted the "satanic" agenda of Governor Jay Inslee's stay-at-home order and vowed to start offering a second in-person service each Sunday evening. And in California, where in-person services also remain banned and where officials say more than 180 people were exposed to the virus at an illicit church gathering on Mother's Day, News Channel 3 reported that Church Unlimited in Indio flouted state rules by reopening its doors this weekend. On Saturday, a Pentecostal church in Chula Vista also filed an emergency motion with the U.S. Supreme Court in hopes of forcing Governor Gavin Newsom to allow churches to open.Meanwhile, an independent Baptist church in southern New Jersey defied that state's lockdown to hold Sunday services in a challenge to Governor Phil Murphy—whose executive order has kept churches closed since March, and who on Friday announced he'd allow gatherings of up to 25 people, but only outdoors. The Solid Rock Baptist Church in Berlin, along with the nearby Bible Baptist Church in Clementon, invited their members to the first in-person services since March, when those initial stay-at-home orders went into effect.Both of the Solid Rock pastors, Charles Clark Jr. and Charles Clark III, couched their reopening as a First Amendment right. They insisted that it was a patriotic act, and during their Sunday sermons, they repeatedly invoked Memorial Day, reminding congregants that men and women died to give Americans their freedom. And that freedom, they said, included the right to assemble and practice religion inside their church. Out of precaution, coronavirus restrictions in New Jersey have kept church members worshipping via livestreams or limited to drive-in services. But many seemed eager to return, like the Clarks, who downplayed the risks of transmission by arguing that people were allowed in all sorts of places not protected by the Constitution, like Walmart and Starbucks. "I was just in town, it was hopping," Pastor Andrew Reese of the Clementon Bible Baptist Church told The Daily Beast on Saturday night. He had reopened last Sunday, and already has a court date in June for breaking Murphy's executive order. That won't stop him though, he said, even if he isn't certain what the legal consequences might be. Nor did it seem to be stopping Solid Rock members. The scene at the church Sunday morning looked less like the start of prayer and more like the beginning of a professional sporting event, as hundreds of congregants—many dressed in their church finest—flooded in to attend the 10 AM service.During a fiery press conference before the service, the elder Pastor Clark delivered a sermon of sorts to the news cameras, calling Governor Murphy a "tyrant" and going so far as to read out the Merriam-Webster definition of the word in full. At one point, he even compared New Jersey to Nazi Germany, emphasizing that the U.S. Constitution was at stake. "This is not North Korea," he said. "This is not China." That much was clear. American flags were everywhere—adorning the lawn, plopped next to the podium, draped behind the altar. Music blared from a pair of speakers. People carried signs and posters that read "Church Is Essential."A group of men and women in orange vests greeted members as they drove into the parking lot and led them to socially distanced spaces. At the entrance to the building, an usher directed church-goers through propped open doors, where they had their temperatures checked. "This is so stupid," a man murmured to church staff. Inside, members had to sit at least six feet away from each other in the pews. Nobody could attend without a mask either—even if they disagreed. "Personally, I can't stand the masks," said Andrew Heier, who has been a member of Solid Rock for five years and identified himself as a supporter of President Trump. "I'll wear them if I have to. If this was on a scale, though, I'd fall somewhere in the middle: States need to reopen, but they need to do it carefully. Just because I want to go to church doesn't mean I don't care about other people.""It's not, like, church is open, and then everybody's sitting on each other's laps and licking door handles," he continued. The younger Clark, who led Sunday morning's service, said that Solid Rock and Clementon Bible Baptist were prepared to file a lawsuit should the governor not change his executive order and deem churches essential by the end of the week. Solid Rock already sent a letter directly to Murphy last week, and dozens of other pastors together recently signed a separate letter, urging the governor to reopen churches in New Jersey and threatening him with legal action should he not concede."This week, with or without permission, churches will be open," the elder Clark promised during the service. "Jesus," he later said, "is essential."A similar vibe emanated from in-person services in Orrington, Maine on Sunday, where between 200 and 400 people gathered inside an old gym that now serves as Calvary Chapel. They were there not only to worship God but also to defy a state order that churches not reopen until May 29.Governor Janet Mills announced May 22 that churches in Maine could reopen a week later for in-person services only if certain rules are followed. These include a 50-person limit, the wearing of face masks and maintaining six feet of space between attendees unless they are members of the same household.Also on May 22, President Donald Trump declared he was identifying houses of worship as "essential places that provide essential services" and called upon state governors to allow them to reopen immediately."The governors need to do the right thing and allow these very important essential places of faith to open right now, for this weekend," Trump said. "If they don't do it, I will override the governors."During the 8 a.m. service, Calvary pastor Ken Graves thanked Trump for his support. "I'm very grateful to the chief executive for speaking up for our churches," he told those gathered for the service, none of whom were wearing masks. Outside, a handful of people were wearing them but only intermittently.Graves encouraged worshippers to resist the "police state." Earlier this month, the church filed a complaint in U.S. District Court alleging that Mills' decision to limit gatherings to 10 or fewer people violates religious freedom guaranteed by the Constitution. The church lost but has appealed the decision. During a prayer, Graves asked God to "open the eyes of the state" and "cause people to recognize what is being done."Speaking to the Daily Beast after the service, Graves said the church has been "in a state of defiance" against Maine for the past month."We'll continue to meet in person in greater numbers than the state will allow," he said. "The state has no authority to ban people from going to church."Calvary Chapel has been holding outdoor services every Sunday for the past month to demonstrate that "what really matters to us is being able to gather," Graves said. On Sunday, two days after Trump's announcement, the 8 a.m. service moved indoors. Two additional services took place outside as they had previously. The church will continue this schedule.Graves maintains congregation members are just as safe attending church services indoors as they are going to Walmart."We can do a better job [of keeping people safe] than Walmart can," he said. "We're motivated by love.""We still recognize that it's a highly contagious virus," said Eric Meyerson, who serves as an assistant pastor. Attendees were advised not to shake hands and to make use of the hand sanitizer that was provided. Stacie Haverlock, who heads the church's school ministry, regularly sanitized surfaces including door handles, and cleaned the restrooms between uses.The church removed some of the seating on the gym floor to create physical distance. In the bleachers on either side of the room, people sat in small groups presumably with close family members. A few people sat outside the gym, watching the service on a TV screens. When services were over, people crowded around a table in the parking lot to get Trump campaign signs.People are allowed to address their physical health during the pandemic and should be able to address their spiritual health, said Haverlock."There's just nothing like getting together with fellow believers and worshipping our god," she said.Jade Dileonardi, who attended the indoor service with her husband, Michael, agreed."It strengthens our faith having other believers around," she said.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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| Slowly, surely, US houses of worship emerge from lockdown Posted: 24 May 2020 01:23 PM PDT  For the first time in two months, there was clapping, singing and fellowship inside Stithton Baptist Church in Radcliff, Kentucky, as members of the congregation returned to the sanctuary for Sunday morning services. There also were masks, hand sanitizer and social distancing. On a weekend when President Donald Trump declared houses of worship essential and asked governors to reopen them, some congregants around the country headed for their places of worship with numerous precautions in place.
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| A 'Domnishambles': Dominic Cummings holds on in Boris Johnson's office despite Cabinet losing faith and face Posted: 24 May 2020 12:06 PM PDT  Shortly after 6pm on Sunday night, Dominic Cummings left Downing Street with the beginnings of a smile on his face. Along with the nation, the 48-year-old advisor had just listened to his boss, Boris Johnson, defend him as a man of integrity who had merely followed the "instincts of every father". Just a few short hours earlier, Mr Cummings had emerged from his own front door besieged by media who demanded to know why he had apparently breached lockdown rules not once, but three times. It marked the start of an extraordinary day in which he faced calls to resign from Tory MPs and was accused of dragging the Government into a "Domnishambles". At one point the police turned up outside his north London home and knocked on the door in an apparent attempt to speak with him. In fact, Mr Cummings was by that time four miles away in Downing Street, masterminding his own political survival. Overnight, newspapers had accused Mr Cummings of repeatedly breaching lockdown rules, and issuing a misleading and contradictory account of his movements. Witnesses claimed Mr Cummings had been spotted twice travelling 270 miles from London to his parents' farm in County Durham with his sick wife and young son, as well as later taking a day trip to look at bluebells. The news prompted calls on Sunday for Mr Cummings' resignation from Labour MPs, Nicola Sturgeon and many of Mr Cummings' political foes from the Brexit campaign, who perhaps scented blood. Of deeper concern for Downing Street, however, was the level of anger among Tory MPs, many of whom complained that they - and the nation - appeared to have been misled.
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| Eid al-Fitr celebrations in Africa - amid coronavirus Posted: 24 May 2020 10:22 AM PDT  With mosques closed in some countries because of Covid-19, Eid feels a bit different this year.
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| Muslims worldwide celebrate Eid-al-Fitr amid curfews, coronavirus restrictions Posted: 24 May 2020 10:10 AM PDT  JERUSALEM— Muslims around the world on Sunday began celebrating Eid al-Fitr, a normally festive holiday marking the end of the fasting month of Ramadan, with millions under strict stay-at-home orders and many fearing renewed coronavirus outbreaks. Iran has reported over 130,000 cases and more than 7,000 deaths.
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| Yemeni gravediggers overwhelmed amid spike in virus deaths Posted: 24 May 2020 10:04 AM PDT  At a cemetery in Yemen's largest southern city, dozens of fresh graves were a testament to a spike in deaths amid the coronavirus pandemic. Mohammed Ebeid, a gravedigger in Aden, said there's been five times the normal traffic, with 51 burials in the last week at the cemetery where he works. The international aid group Doctors Without Borders has reported a spike in deaths and infections from coronavirus, including health workers at a facility it runs in the city.
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| Coronavirus in South Africa: Outbreak closes Mponeng gold mine Posted: 24 May 2020 09:27 AM PDT  South Africa's Mponeng gold mine only resumed operations in April following a national lockdown.
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| Seniors get diplomas on racetracks, chairlifts amid virus Posted: 24 May 2020 08:37 AM PDT  Immediately after giving his valedictorian speech, high school senior Philip Root, still clad in his cap and gown, climbed into a borrowed race car and drove up to the finish line at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. With the yellow tassel of his graduation cap flapping in the wind, Root leaned out the window and posed for a photo as he accepted his diploma — and then took off on a celebratory lap around the track. Root gave his speech over the radio from the broadcasting booth, which the graduating class of Faith Lutheran High School listened to as they sat with family in individual cars decked out with signs, banners and balloons.
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| Wuhan lab director says facility was studying bat coronaviruses but none that match the one behind COVID-19 Posted: 24 May 2020 08:07 AM PDT  Wang Yanyi, the director of the Wuhan Institute of Virology, told Chinese state media Sunday the lab was working on three live strains of bat coronavirus, but the closest genetic match to the virus that causes COVID-19 and sparked a global health crisis was only 79.8 percent. Therefore, Wang said, claims by the likes of President Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that the virus may have escaped from the facility are "pure fabrication."As tensions between the U.S. and China have heightened since the outbreak, Trump and Pompeo have leaned into the lab-origin theory. But the scientific consensus remains that the pathogen was passed from bats to humans through an intermediary species at a wet market in Wuhan last year, although it's becoming more challenging to pinpoint the animal.China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Sunday that some political forces in the U.S. are trying to push the two global powers "to the brink" of "a new Cold War" and endangering global peace. Wang's concerns were broader than just the back and the forth over pandemic blame, however; he also criticized the U.S. for slowing nuclear negotiations with North Korea and warned Washington not to cross Beijing's "red line" on Taiwan. Wang did say foreign interference concerning Hong Kong's renewed anti-government protests was unwelcome, but he didn't single the U.S. out in that regard. Read more at The Guardian and Bloomberg.More stories from theweek.com How pandemics change society 17 extra-easy dessert recipes to make in quarantine There's always a bigger scandal
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| 16 people injured following 5.1-magnitude earthquake in Iran Posted: 24 May 2020 08:04 AM PDT  At least 16 injuries were reported following a 5.1-magnitude earthquake that struck north-northwest of Do Gonbadan, Iran, on Sunday morning, the U.S. Geological Survey said.Emergency personnel was dispatched to impacted areas as soon as the earthquake hit. Gachsaran, Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad Province, Iran, are said to have been affected by the quake.State TV did not release any immediate information about possible casualties or damage, according to Reuters. The earthquake was not far below the surface at a depth of 10.0 km, which caused damage to buildings."Not only will the strength and distance away from the epicenter of an earthquake determine how much a city or town will feel the effects of the quake. But how shallow or deep in the earth's surface the earthquake occurs will also be a factor," AccuWeather Meteorologist Maura Kelly said.CLICK HERE FOR THE FREE ACCUWEATHER APP"Earthquakes deeper in the earth's crust will have less of an impact on nearby cities and towns as the seismic waves will have to travel a farther distance for reaching the surface, causing them to lose energy. However, tremors from deeper earthquakes can be felt by cities farther away from the center," Kelly said."Shallow earthquakes, or ones that occur closer to the surface, will not lose as much energy. This can lead to more widespread damage to buildings, which can lead to more injuries as well as deaths," Kelly said.The same area impacted by the quake is also dealing with large wildfires across the region. There are extensive fires in several parts of Gachsaran, particularly in Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad.> ���� آتش سوزی گسترده در چند نقطه از گچساران در کهگیلویه و بویراحمد @kalemehtv pic.twitter.com/Ug0Pn2HgvA> > -- kalemehtv (@kalemehtv) May 23, 2020"Largely dry conditions and hazy sunshine are expected across central and southern Iran in the coming days," added Kelly. "High temperatures are forecast to climb near 41 C (105 F) each afternoon. This could lead to dangerous conditions as rescue and recovery efforts continue across the region this week."Only a few weeks ago on May 8, two people died and 22 others were injured following a 5.1-magnitude earthquake that hit northern Iran.Keep checking back on AccuWeather.com and stay tuned to the AccuWeather Network on DirecTV, Frontier and Verizon Fios.
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| Where seniors would have walked to graduate, names in chalk Posted: 24 May 2020 08:02 AM PDT  As the pandemic upended commencement rituals across campuses, Kim Gaddie wanted to give the University of Oklahoma's class of 2020 a taste of tradition -- well, kinda. Armed with boxes of chalk, Gaddie, her husband and a few colleagues spent hours writing the names of graduating seniors on the concrete sidewalk where class members would have lined up to march into the ceremony. "I was thinking to myself, 'Wow, they're not going to get a chance to do that, another tradition that won't get to be fulfilled after four years of hard work,'" said Gaddie, associate senior fellow at the university's Headington College.
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| CDC, states' reporting of virus test data causes confusion Posted: 24 May 2020 07:46 AM PDT  In some places, there have been data gaps that leave local leaders wondering whether they should loosen or tighten restrictions. The CDC told The Associated Press on Friday that the problem started several weeks ago when the agency began collecting data from states using an electronic reporting system that had been developed for other diseases.
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| Smaller classes, online reservations new norm as gyms reopen Posted: 24 May 2020 07:32 AM PDT  Mike Weeks and his wife are fitness junkies. At Urban Body Fitness in Atlanta, gymgoers get a touchless thermometer check and their own disinfectant bottle along with a stern warning to clean equipment before and after use.
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| Coronavirus slams couple struggling to feed young daughter Posted: 24 May 2020 07:10 AM PDT  Earlier this month, The Associated Press documented the plight of Roberto, a restaurant cook in his mid-30s, and his wife, Janeth, a restaurant worker in her mid-40s, a Honduran couple now finding it hard to put food on the table for their sunny 5-year-old daughter, Allison. Janeth, feeling ill, later went in to be tested as well.
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| Memorial Day even more poignant as veterans die from virus Posted: 24 May 2020 07:03 AM PDT  One was a 94-year-old veteran of World War II who was the first of his 11 brothers to enlist in the military. One was a Vietnam veteran who lost his leg overseas and was always touched when people thanked him for his service. This year's Memorial Day will pay tribute not only to those who died on the battlefield but more recent fallen soldiers.
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| NEWSMAKER-Britain's Brexit mastermind fights for job over claims of lockdown hubris Posted: 24 May 2020 05:40 AM PDT |
| US Muslims try to balance Eid rituals with virus concerns Posted: 24 May 2020 05:28 AM PDT  With no congregational prayers or family gatherings, Salsabiel Mujovic has been worried that this year's Eid al-Fitr celebration will pale. This year, some Muslim-majority countries have tightened restrictions for the holiday which traditionally means family visits, group outings and worshippers flooding mosques or filling public spaces.
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| Xi says China could have set GDP growth goal around 6% had there been no coronavirus Posted: 24 May 2020 04:19 AM PDT |
| Fumbling the nuclear football: is Trump blundering to arms control chaos? Posted: 24 May 2020 02:30 AM PDT  The president believes he alone can negotiate away nuclear weapons and win a Nobel prize – but he has quit three treaties and gutted his administration of expertsThe Trump administration signaled this week that it was ready to get back in the business of nuclear arms control. A newly appointed envoy, Marshall Billingslea, made his first public remarks to announce talks with Russia are about to resume."We have concrete ideas for our next interaction, and we're finalizing the details as we speak," Billingslea said.The fact that this relaunch came on the same day that the US was pulling out of the Open Skies Treaty (OST) – the third withdrawal from an arms control agreement under the Trump presidency – underlined the contradictions at the heart of the administration's approach towards nuclear weapons.According to those who have worked for him on the issue, Trump is preoccupied with the existential threat of nuclear war, and resolved that he alone can conjure a grand arms control bargain that would save the planet – and win him the Nobel prize.But at the same time, he is clearly thrilled by the destructive power that the US arsenal gives him, boasting about the size of his nuclear button, and a mystery "super duper" missile he this week claimed the US had up its sleeve.Administration officials have been left to try to confect a coherent-sounding policy out of such contradictory impulses – so far without success."He believes only he has what it takes to make the big deal, if only everyone else – all the experts – would get out of his way," a former senior official said. "But he just has no idea about how to make it happen."Billingslea, the new envoy, is not an arms control specialist. He previously served as the undersecretary for terrorist financing at the US Treasury and was nominated last year to the top human rights job at the state department – but that foundered amid controversy over his involvement in the post 9/11 torture programme . The arms control envoy job did not require Senate confirmation.In his maiden speech as envoy, Billingslea made clear that if there were to be a new arms race, the US would win."We know how to win these races and we know how to spend the adversary into oblivion," he said in a videoconference organised by the conservative Hudson Institute thinktank on Thursday. It was a statement of bravado as the US plunged into recession owing about $7tn in foreign debt, $1tn to China.Billingslea argued Trump would succeed through his mastery of the art of the deal."The president has a long and successful career as a negotiator, and he's a master at developing and using leverage," he said, showing an early instinct for what it takes to keep your job in this administration.So far, however, Trump has failed to negotiate a single arms control agreement. His flamboyant summitry with Kim Jong-un produced nothing, and the North Korean nuclear weapons programme has continued unabated. Meanwhile the president has taken the US out of three arms control agreements, leaving them dead, dying or maimed.He walked out of the nuclear deal with Iran in 2018, and the following year withdrew from the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty, which had kept nuclear missiles out of Europe since the cold war. Then on Thursday, he confirmed the US was leaving the OST, agreed in 1992 as a means of building transparency and trust between Russia and the west through observation overflights of each other's territory.That may not be the end of Trump's arms control demolition. The Senate never ratified the 1996 Comprehensive Test Ban treaty, which – partly as a result – has yet to come into force. But the US has signed it and observes a voluntary moratorium on nuclear tests.Hawks in the administration, however, want a renunciation. At a high-level White House meeting last week, the suggestion was raised that the US carry out its first underground nuclear test since 1992, according to former officials. The proposal was resisted by the state and energy departments. A senior administration official told the Washington Post however the proposal is "very much an ongoing conversation."The only arms control agreement still in effect is the 2010 New Start treaty, which limits US and Russian deployed strategic nuclear weapons to 1,550 each. It is due to expire in February but it can be extended for another five years. The Trump administration has not taken a position on whether it wants an extension, however."There'll be plenty of time to look at the full range of options related to that treaty," Billingslea said. At the same time he made clear he viewed New Start as being inadequate, criticising its verification requirements, its exclusion of non-strategic, shorter-range weapons – and, most importantly, the fact that it does not include China.The Trump administration's arms control policy has been stuck for nearly three years on its insistence that China be involved in any new treaty. Beijing has so far refused to be drawn into negotiations which it believes are the responsibility of the US and Russia, who together possess more than 90% of the world's stockpile of nearly 14,000 warheads. The Federation of American Scientists estimates China has 320 warheads, which are stockpiled, not deployed."The administration continues to stall," the Democratic senator Chris Van Hollen told the Guardian. "The best way to describe their position is that it's under review. And the problem of course is this has been under review for a very long time now and the clock is ticking."By the accounts of those who have worked for him on the issue, the president remains convinced that he can somehow work out a deal if he was able to speak face-to-face with Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping.It is a long-held belief. In the 1980s he claimed he could bring the cold war to an end if he was given an hour alone with Mikhail Gorbachev.Once installed in office himself, he regaled aides with tales of what he might have achieved with the Soviet Union's last leader."He would sometimes claim to have met with Gorbachev, or had been going to meet with him – all with this goal of sitting him down to talk about nuclear weapons and claiming he could learn all he needed to know about nuclear weapons in 90 minutes as he already knew a lot from being the nephew of a guy in MIT," said a former senior official.The "guy in MIT" was his uncle John, an electrical engineer and physicist noted for his work on X-ray technology. Trump frequently credits him with opening his eyes to the ever-imminent threat of nuclear weapons.Trump has brought up the subject unprompted in discussions with foreign leaders, such as with the former UK prime minister Theresa May during a state visit to London in June 2019."He told May the number one existential threat is still nuclear weapons, and not climate change or any of these other issues that all these other people were raising," said a former official.US officials first raised the idea of including China in New Start with their Russian counterparts at talks held in Helsinki in September 2017. But the Russians showed little enthusiasm.When the proposal was put directly to Chinese officials they rejected it outright."I raised it when we were in New York, I raised it when we were in Beijing, and raised it at every opportunity. But we got no traction," said Andrea Thompson, former undersecretary of state for arms control and international security affairs. "They were not interested in having a discussion."In the face of such adamant refusal, there was no agreed plan within the administration on how to proceed. Arms control advocates in the administration believe that the insistence on China's inclusion was originally pushed by Trump's third national security adviser, John Bolton, a lifelong opponent of arms control treaties, and his like-minded aide, Tim Morrison, as a means of killing off New Start.Morrison adamantly denies the "poison pill" accusation, and insists that the president fully supported the position that arms control was meaningless without China."He believes that arms control does not currently reflect the threats that exist," he told the Guardian. "If arms control is important, you can't not include China … Do we wait to include them in arms control until they get 800 nuclear weapons? … Why would we continue to wait to include them in arms control? It's silly."Morrison attributed the failure to make progress on the absence of a chief negotiator, – which he blamed on deliberate bureaucratic inertia."The president needs to understand that there are those around him who would be happy to see him run out of time to get a bigger agreement, and put him in a binary position of either to extend or not extend New Start," he said.Disarmament advocates worry that even if Billingslea re-establishes regular contacts with Moscow, the US no longer has the diplomatic muscle to pursue substantive, complex arms negotiations because of the steady loss of experienced staff responsible for such negotiations."It's not obvious they have a kind of a serious team in place to try and make that happen," a western diplomat said."Three years after entering office, the Trump administration lacks a coherent set of goals, a strategy to achieve them, or the personnel or effective policy process to address the most complex set of nuclear risks in US history," a group of arms control experts wrote in a report this month by the disarmament group, Global Zero. "Put simply, the current US administration is blundering toward nuclear chaos with potentially disastrous consequences."
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| Desperate Indian girl bikes 745 miles home with disabled dad Posted: 24 May 2020 02:17 AM PDT  From her village in eastern India, 15-year-old Jyoti Kumari reflected on her desperate 1,200-kilometer (745-mile) bicycle journey home with her disabled father that has drawn international praise. Kumari said that she and her father risked starvation had they stayed in Gurugram, a suburb of New Delhi, with no income amid India's coronavirus lockdown. As the temperature climbed, Kumari pedaled for 10 days, with her father riding on the back of the hot-pink bike.
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| Biden’s Digital Team Knows He’d Be a Disaster on TikTok. And They’re Fine With That. Posted: 24 May 2020 01:55 AM PDT  The currency of electoral politics is exposure. But what if exposure is not always a good thing? That's the question the Biden campaign is trying to answer as it navigates a novel political landscape, in which the act of campaigning has been reduced to a series of decisions about which platforms to engage from the candidate's home.Often, the choices they've made have proved correct. Biden is, after all, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee with persistent, healthy polling leads over an incumbent president. But occasionally they have not, as evidenced by the storm kicked up Friday when, appearing on Charlamagne tha God's The Breakfast Club, the former vice president said (in jest, the campaign insists) that one can't be black and vote for Donald Trump. The inability to get the balance just right remains an internal campaign riddle, one that has profound implications for November. For Biden, can less truly, actually, be more? In an interview with The Daily Beast the day prior to the Charlamagne interview, Biden's digital director, Rob Flaherty, didn't directly say the campaign is deliberately limiting exposure. But he did say that the campaign wasn't just cognizant of the dangers of over-engagement but actively strategizing against it. As documented by Peter Hamby in Vanity Fair, Biden's appearances have been selected with the awareness that contrived settings are likely counterproductive—convincing the very audiences they're trying to reach that he was there merely to shill for their votes. "For us to try and force it by having him go on TikTok and Hit The Woah or whatever, that just doesn't compute with who the guy is," said Flaherty. "And so, for us, it's... how do we use these digital tools in ways that aren't going to feel super weird for him to do?"And yet, Biden's appearance on The Breakfast Club shows the potential limitations that come with the approach. Placing your candidate on platforms that feel natural or accentuate his strengths makes a lot of sense, except perhaps when he eventually ventures beyond that bubble. "For most candidates, more exposure is a good thing, but then there's Biden," said Rebecca Katz, a progressive strategist who has been critical of Biden. "It's important to meet voters where they are, but only if you're not offending them when you do it."* * *Biden's relationship with the internet has not always been quite so delicate. The depiction of him during the Obama years wasn't flattering. But even the caricature driven home by countless Onion articles and accompanying memes was inherently relatable. He was the vice president who lacked self-awareness and said things that made his boss cringe. But he was also the aviators-wearing, scarf-discarding, DGAF uncle who drove the dope car and seemed fun to throw a few beers back with even though, in real life, he didn't drink. Being a presidential candidate, however, is different than being the vice president. And Biden's experiences online during the 2020 cycle have not been all that enjoyable. During the primary, he lagged in building up a small-dollar donor network, despite benefiting from the Obama-Biden email list. His campaign's engagement on social media platforms was pedestrian and he kept largely within his media comfort zone. There was mockery that ensued on Twitter, as if the platform had another tone. But that proved to be just a small corner of the Democratic electorate. Biden made a bet that nostalgia for the Obama years and old-school campaigning would prove more determinative and, well, he was right. Whatever plans the campaign had to adjust its approach online came to a halt with the spread of the coronavirus. Early on, it appeared that being confined to his basement merely accentuated Biden's deficits. The portrait of a candidate stuck in the dial-up generation was hardened by the daily tech problems and the verbal stumbles that defined his live streaming. Joe Biden Outlines His Pandemic Plan In Basement BroadcastAnd yet, once more, the mockery seems to have been overstated. Biden's standing against Trump is both remarkably persistent and historically good for a challenger facing an incumbent. His grassroots fundraising has notably improved, having scored the single-day and single-hour record for donations through the online giving site ActBlue, according to ActBlue. And those who work in Democratic politics are slowly coming around to the possibility that maybe, just maybe, Biden's team knows what it's doing. "Contrary to what folks are saying in New York Times op-eds, I believe they're doing everything they need to be doing," said Tim Lin, a longtime Dem digital strategist. "This pandemic makes all previous playbooks less relevant, so they should stick to what is working for the vice president and his campaign, and not spin their wheels just for the sake of doing so. And if you look at the polls and their fundraising, it seems to be working."When Biden was first on the presidential ballot 12 years ago, he didn't have to worry about any of this. Not because the internet was still in its infant stages (at least politically) but because the man on top of the ticket—Barack Obama—had the type of charisma and message that translated across platforms. That stayed true for the eight years the two were in the White House. Obama experimented with different online mediums, held court with internet celebrities, and did shows like Between Two Ferns that would be dangerous territory for most politicians. Biden is adopting a different tack. One of the principles of his online outreach is that the candidate himself can't always be the primary messenger. That's a reflection not just of how different he is from Obama but how the internet itself has changed. Peer-to-peer communication and trusted social networks are increasingly important, not just for grabbing eyeballs but for essential campaign functions like raising money, fighting disinformation, organizing political actions. "People are looking for realness in an internet that they don't trust," is how Flaherty put it. "Their friends matter more. Trusted voices matter a little bit more. The internet has just gotten smaller in that way."In order to tap into that paradigm, the campaign has tried to create organic content that Biden-supportive voters or trusted voices can help push through various channels. But in order for that content to be successful, they've concluded, it can't merely be anti-Trump. The prospect of getting the current president out of office may be a great motivator for the Democratic base. But the campaign's own metrics show that people clicking on ads or videos that emphasize Biden's positive qualities tend to give more money and have longer engagements. As Biden himself said of his approach during a fundraiser on Friday night: "I think we can win online by connecting people, not tearing them apart, by showing compassion, not cruelty, by building a strategy that respects the campaign we're running." * * *What's been notable for the Biden team is not just that the pro-Biden content has worked conceptually, but that it's worked in ways that go against the tides of fairly recent conventional wisdom. In the age of short, home-made videos and viral memes, the campaign's defining digital successes have been relatively lengthy videos that are expertly produced. Straight-to-camera explainers from policy experts have gotten millions of views. Candid moments captured and re-packaged by campaign videographers have gone viral. A six-minute-long Biden riff on the Iran missile crisis that he gave at a campaign town hall became the campaign's second-best-performing Facebook video of all time. More recently, sharply edited clips of Trump's handling of the coronavirus pandemic have ricocheted across the internet.Flaherty's explanation for this success is, once again, that the digital team isn't trying to force a proverbial square peg through a round hole. The clips play up the very features of Biden that people view as his strengths: empathy and managerial experience. And they do so in a format that's comfortable to the audience. "Our base, the people who engage with our content, the formats that they like most are Vox-y… also like Upworthy and NowThis," he said. "So for us, the content architecture that we're going to build for the people who are our own audience is just really different than Trump's because our base and his base are just very different people... Doing what Trump does with memes, it would feel weird for us, it would look weird for us, and it's not what our audience responds to."But while Team Biden has found a groove in its video production operations, there remains glaring problems still to solve in its overall approach. The plurality of their video viewers on Facebook are women 65 and older. On Facebook, their largest growth in audience is older people. That may simply be because Facebook's audience is itself skewing older. But it also seems to be a byproduct of the calculations the campaign is making. Others running for the Democratic primary had different approaches. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) took pride in directly engaging audiences that weren't always capital-D Democratic, figuring that the surest way to convert people was to talk to them. Former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg built an entire campaign persona around the idea that he was willing to go everywhere and anywhere—no media hit too adversarial or, seemingly, obscure. Then again, neither of them won. Biden did. And when it comes to elections, another 55-year-old swing-state suburban mother who the campaign convinces to cast a ballot is just as important as a college student from the same state that they persuade to go to the polls. Still, Flaherty acknowledges that there is work to be done in generating interest among progressives and younger voters; that it is, in his words, "not enough for us to spend our time making content for my grandmother." But herein lies the balancing act that Biden's team must perform. Can they reach those audiences without the candidate actually appearing on the platforms those audiences increasingly use? More importantly, can the campaign and the candidate talk about the issues that matter to young people and minorities in ways that don't feel distant or patronizing? The Breakfast Club snafu aside, that's certainly the hope. It's why instead of going on TikTok, Biden sat down with soccer star Megan Rapinoe on her Instagram live feed—a choice, Flaherty said, that was made in part to reach young women voters. It's why Biden won't likely be a guest anytime soon on Chapo Trap House ("probably not" said Flaherty) but will try and reach progressives through livestreamed conversations with Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA). It's why some groups, like the youth turnout organization NextGen, will do drag shows on Twitch and others—mainly, the Biden campaign—will take a pass."NextGen ought to be doing that," said Flaherty, "it's super smart. But if Joe Biden hosted a Twitch drag show that would be weird. But if Joe Biden had a real serious policy conversation with a streamer about issues in the gaming community, like that's just less weird." 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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| Jerusalem's Holy Sepulcher reopens after coronavirus closure Posted: 24 May 2020 12:40 AM PDT  The Christian authorities managing the site closed it to visitors in March to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, but clerics maintained prayers inside the shuttered church throughout its closure. On Sunday, church authorities limited entrance to 50 people at a time, and required that those entering the cavernous site maintain social distance and avoid touching any of the church's stones, icons or other religious items. Israeli authorities have gradually reopened schools, houses of worship and markets as the spread of the novel coronavirus has slowed.
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| Israel's Netanyahu attacks justice system as trial begins Posted: 24 May 2020 12:20 AM PDT  To the sounds of his impassioned supporters chanting outside, a defiant Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu strode into a Jerusalem courtroom Sunday to face corruption charges in a long-awaited trial that has overshadowed three inconclusive elections and deeply divided the country. As he entered the courthouse to become the country's first sitting prime minister to go on trial, Netanyahu launched into a lengthy tirade against the nation's justice system in which he accused police, prosecutors, judges and the media of a deep state-type conspiracy aimed to oust him against the will of the people. "I stand before you with a straight back and head raised high," he said, surrounded by leading Cabinet ministers of his Likud party.
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| In fight against virus, South Africa expects a long wait Posted: 24 May 2020 12:02 AM PDT  With her winning smile and outgoing nature, Fino Dlamini was a natural to succeed in South Africa's booming tourism industry. Dlamini was confined to her small home under a strict lockdown, with few options for earning money. The country with the continent's most developed economy also has its highest number of confirmed infections — more than 22,000, representing 20% of Africa's total.
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| Hong Kong police fire tear gas, water cannon at protesters Posted: 23 May 2020 11:03 PM PDT  Hong Kong police fired tear gas and a water cannon at protesters in a popular shopping district Sunday, as thousands took to the streets to march against China's move to impose national security legislation on the city. Pro-democracy supporters have sharply criticized a proposal, set to be approved by China's rubber-stamp parliament this week, that would ban secessionist and subversive activity, as well as foreign interference, in the semi-autonomous Chinese territory. The pro-democracy camp says the proposal goes against the "one country, two systems" framework that promises Hong Kong freedoms not found in mainland China.
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| All in the Trump family: meet the president’s surrogates and strategists Posted: 23 May 2020 10:00 PM PDT  The president's children and their partners play important roles in his re-election campaign, rallying his base and trashing opponents * Why Donald Trump's children are key to his re-election campaign Donald Trump JrAge: 42Twitter bio: EVP of Development & Acquisitions The @Trump Organization, Father, Outdoorsman, In a past life Boardroom Advisor on The Apprentice.Twitter followers: 5mRole: Lead attack dog for his father, firing up crowds, goading liberals and savaging the media. A graduate of his father's alma mater, the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, he went into the family business. Chris Cillizza, CNN editor-at-large, wrote: "The easiest way to understand Donald Trump Jr is this: he is his father on steroids. With a lot more internet savvy." Kimberly GuilfoyleAge: 51Twitter bio: Mother, Sister, Patriot, Proud American. National Chair of Trump Victory Finance Committee 2020 and Senior Advisor to @TeamTrump.Twitter followers: 1.7m Role: A lawyer, she started appearing on Fox News as a legal analyst in 2004 and a full-time host from 2006. She was previously married to Gavin Newsom, then the Democratic mayor of San Francisco (they were billed as "the new Kennedys" by Harper's Bazaar magazine), but is now dating Don Jr and frequently appears as his sidekick at Trump campaign events. Eric TrumpAge: 36Twitter bio: Executive Vice President of The @Trump Organization. Husband to @LaraLeaTrump. Large advocate of @StJude Children's Hospital @TrumpWinery MakeAmericaGreatAgain.Twitter followers: 3.5m Role: An energetic campaigner for the cause, though much mocked as the dumber younger brother. He is a graduate of Georgetown University who, with Don Jr, stepped in to run the Trump Organization after their father became president. Like Don Jr, he has been criticised for posing with wild animals they killed during big game hunts in Africa. Lara TrumpAge: 37Twitter bio: NC girl in NYC MAGA.Twitter followers: 880,000Role: Born in Wilmington, North Carolina, the former TV producer is arguably the most prominent face of Trump campaign broadcasts. She is generally less combative than her husband, Eric, and more focused on building support among women. But last year she declared that German chancellor Angela Merkel's decision to accept refugees from Syria in 2015 was "the downfall of Germany", adding: "It was one of the worst things to ever happen to Germany." Ivanka TrumpAge: 38Twitter bio: Wife, mother, sister, daughter. Advisor to POTUS on job creation + economic empowerment, workforce development & entrepreneurship. Personal Pg. Views are my own.Twitter followers: 8.8m Role: Senior adviser to the president, who once said: "If Ivanka weren't my daughter, perhaps I'd be dating her." In 2018, she announced the closure of her namesake fashion brand amid concerns over a conflict of interest. Introducing her father at the 2016 Republican national convention, she said: "Like many of my fellow millennials, I do not consider myself categorically Republican or Democrat. More than party affiliation, I vote on based on what I believe is right, for my family and for my country." Jared KushnerAge: 39Twitter bio: None (he has never tweeted).Twitter followers: 107,000Role: Senior adviser to the president with a seemingly endless portfolio. He is the son of property developer Charles Kushner, who was imprisoned on charges of tax evasion, witness tampering and illegal campaign donations. Kushner took over the family business and also went into publishing. He married Ivanka in 2009 and oversaw the Trump campaign's digital strategy in 2016. He recently described the White House's response to the coronavirus pandemic as a "success story".
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| Iranian fuel shipment reaches Venezuelan waters Posted: 23 May 2020 09:23 PM PDT  The first of five tankers carrying much-needed Iranian fuel and oil products entered Venezuelan waters on Saturday, a Venezuelan government official said. "The ships of the sister Islamic Republic of Iran are in our exclusive economic zone," Venezuelan oil minister Tareck El Aissami wrote on Twitter after the arrival of the first tanker, named Fortune. The fleet is carrying about 1.5 million barrels of gasoline according to media reports, and arrives amid tensions between Tehran and Washington, which has imposed sanctions on Venezuelan oil exports and Iran.
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| N. Korea discusses new policies for increasing 'nuclear war deterrence': KCNA Posted: 23 May 2020 07:22 PM PDT  North Korea discussed new policies for increasing its "nuclear war deterrence" during a military meeting presided over by leader Kim Jong Un, state media reported Sunday. The meeting was Kim's first reported public appearance in more than three weeks and came after US media said Friday that the Trump administration had discussed holding the first US nuclear test in decades. Set forth at the meeting of the Central Military Commission were "new policies for further increasing the nuclear war deterrence of the country," the North's official KCNA news agency said, without giving further details.
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| Muslims celebrate major holiday amid curfews, virus fears Posted: 23 May 2020 06:39 PM PDT  Muslims around the world on Sunday began celebrating Eid al-Fitr, a normally festive holiday marking the end of the fasting month of Ramadan, with millions under strict stay-at-home orders and many fearing renewed coronavirus outbreaks. Iran has reported over 130,000 cases and more than 7,000 deaths.
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| Kim Jong-un in talks to bolster North Korea's nuclear capabilities Posted: 23 May 2020 06:15 PM PDT  North Korean leader Kim Jong-un hosted a military meeting to discuss new policies to bolster the country's nuclear capabilities amid stalled denuclearisation talks with the United States, state media KCNA said on Sunday. The meeting of the ruling Workers' Party's powerful Central Military Commission marked Mr Kim's first public appearance in three weeks. He made an unusually small number of outings in the past two months amid coronavirus concerns. North Korea has imposed strict anti-coronavirus measures although it says it has no confirmed cases. This follows intense speculation about Mr Kim's health last month after he missed a key anniversary. US-led negotiations aimed at dismantling North Korea's nuclear and missile programmes have made little progress since late last year, especially after a global battle on the coronavirus began. The meeting discussed measures to bolster armed forces and "reliably contain the persistent big or small military threats from the hostile forces," KCNA said. "Set forth at the meeting were new policies for further increasing the nuclear war deterrence of the country and putting the strategic armed forces on a high alert operation," it said. "Taken at the meeting were crucial measures for considerably increasing the firepower strike ability of the artillery pieces."
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