| Biden calls Trump a 'fool' for mocking masks during pandemic Posted: 26 May 2020 04:37 PM PDT  Joe Biden said Tuesday that wearing a mask in public to combat the spread of the coronavirus is a sign of leadership and called President Donald Trump a "fool" who was "stoking deaths" for suggesting otherwise. The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee's comments came a day after he wore a black face mask while making his first public appearance in more than two months. Biden has remained at his Delaware home amid a pandemic that has frozen the presidential campaign, but he marked Memorial Day by laying a wreath at a nearby veterans' memorial with his wife, Jill. Trump later retweeted a post that appeared to make fun of a photo of Biden in his mask, though he later said he didn't mean to be critical.
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| Germany extends distancing rules to end of June Posted: 26 May 2020 04:02 PM PDT  Germany has extended social distancing rules aimed at containing the spread of the coronavirus epidemic to June 29, Chancellor Angela Merkel's government said on Tuesday. Up to 10 people will be allowed to gather in public places but Germans should be in contact with as few people as possible, according to the rules agreed between the federal government and 16 states. Merkel's government had been embroiled in disagreements with the least-affected states, some of which wanted to ditch the measures and open up entirely.
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| US closes probes into 3 senators over their stock trades Posted: 26 May 2020 03:56 PM PDT  The Justice Department has closed investigations into stock trading by Sens. Dianne Feinstein of California, Kelly Loeffler of Georgia and Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma, according to people familiar with notifications sent to the senators. The senators came under scrutiny for transactions made in the weeks before the coronavirus sent markets downhill.
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| FBI: only 1 attacker in Texas naval base shooting Posted: 26 May 2020 03:35 PM PDT |
| Over $3 billion raised for Venezuelan refugees amid coronavirus pandemic Posted: 26 May 2020 02:01 PM PDT  "The plight of Venezuelan refugees and migrants has worsened even further," said Filippo Grandi, U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees.
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| Downing Street hoped Dominic Cummings row would be a culture war but criticism is crossing tribal divides Posted: 26 May 2020 01:45 PM PDT  When news broke of Dominic Cummings' lockdown trip to Durham, the first officially-sanctioned response from the Government was that the story had been cooked up by "campaigning newspapers". The implication of the phrase was deliberate and clear: Mr Cummings was being targeted by left-wing journalists opposed to Brexit as a way of settling scores. Downing Street still appears to be clinging to the hope that they can persuade the public this is nothing more than a culture war between left and right, Leave and Remain, faction against faction. Undoubtedly there are those in the Conservative Party and beyond who have watched Mr Cummings' travails over the past five days in a state of glee, for entirely personal or political reasons. It is also true that the first Tory MPs to call for Mr Cummings' head, including Steve Baker and Peter Bone, are long-standing critics with something of an axe to grind, while some of the bishops who have weighed in are also veteran Europhiles. But Tory backbenchers have been warning Downing Street for days that tribalism has nothing to do with the mess the Government now finds itself in, and the 30 or more Tory MPs who have now gone public with calls for Mr Cummings to resign are from every wing of the Party. They have been bombarded with emails and letters from constituents livid at Mr Cummings' behaviour, and the vast majority of those who are contacting them have no obvious allegiance to any particular camp. For them it is purely about right and wrong, or to use Mr Cummings' own word, a sense of "unfairness". Tellingly, a YouGov poll carried out on Tuesday showed that 52 per cent of 2016 Leave voters want Mr Cummings to resign, which appeared to kill off any lingering suggestions of tribal bias against Mr Cummings. The same poll said 71 per cent of people think Mr Cummings broke lockdown rules, compared with 68 per cent before his press conference, and 59 per cent of all those surveyed said he should resign, up from 52 per cent before his statement.
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| Watchdog who found hospital shortages unfazed by Trump barbs Posted: 26 May 2020 12:54 PM PDT  The author of a federal report that found U.S. hospitals faced severe shortages of coronavirus test supplies says she is not intimidated by criticism from President Donald Trump, even after he moved to replace her as chief watchdog of the Department of Health and Human Services. Christi Grimm, who has served as acting inspector general since January, told a House panel that there was no "chilling effect" from Trump's criticism of her last month and his subsequent move to replace her. "We are plowing ahead" with 14 new reports and audits on the health department's response to the virus, Grimm said during a videoconference briefing Tuesday with the House Oversight Committee.
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| U.N. Fears COVID-19 Dangers For Vast Rohingya Refugee Camps Posted: 26 May 2020 12:35 PM PDT  United Nations aid agencies are warning of a potentially severe coronavirus outbreak in densely packed refugee camps in Bangladesh. Health officials reported Tuesday that 15,000 Rohingya refugees have been put in quarantine in the Cox's Bazar region of the country. The U.N. has long considered the Rohingya among the planet's most vulnerable people.
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| U.N. Agencies Fear COVID-19 Danger For Vast Rohingya Refugee Camps Posted: 26 May 2020 12:35 PM PDT United Nations aid agencies are warning of a potentially severe coronavirus outbreak in densely packed refugee camps in Bangladesh. Health officials reported Tuesday that 15,000 Rohingya refugees have been put in quarantine in the Cox's Bazar region of the country. The U.N. has long considered the Rohingya among the planet's most vulnerable people.
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| Homes for the homeless is one of the best ways to protect them from COVID-19 | Opinion Posted: 26 May 2020 12:29 PM PDT  While the coronavirus is terrifying, imagine facing it without a home. As Leilani Farha, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on the right to adequate housing, put it, "Housing has become the front line defense against the coronavirus. Home has rarely been more of a life-or-death situation." However, for the more than 550,000 people experiencing homelessness in the United States, sheltering in place is a "luxury."
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| Israel passes on Chinese bid for major desalination plant Posted: 26 May 2020 12:09 PM PDT |
| Turkey nears end of latest lockdown, death toll up to 4,397 Posted: 26 May 2020 11:48 AM PDT  Turkey's COVID-19 death toll reached 4,397 as of Tuesday after 28 new deaths were reported in 24 hours, according to the country's health minister. Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said on Twitter that Turkey also recorded 948 more confirmed cases, bringing the total to 158,762. More than 121,500 people with the virus have recovered in Turkey, and the number of COVID-19 patients requiring intensive care continues to decline, according to Health Ministry statistics.
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| Trump's convention demand comes amid Charlotte virus surge Posted: 26 May 2020 11:38 AM PDT  President Donald Trump's demand for a full-capacity Republican convention in August is putting pressure on North Carolina health officials — and local Republicans — as coronavirus cases surge in the host county and statewide. Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper's administration has refused to give in, though, responding with a letter demanding a written safety plan from organizers of the Republican National Convention, slated for August in Charlotte. Asked about Trump's tweets threatening to move the convention, Cooper said Tuesday he's "not surprised at anything that happens on Twitter," without mentioning the president by name.
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| Weather better for historic SpaceX launch of NASA astronauts Posted: 26 May 2020 11:11 AM PDT  With the weather looking up, SpaceX and NASA officials vowed Tuesday to keep crew safety the top priority for the nation's first astronaut launch to orbit in nearly a decade. Veteran NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken were set to make history Wednesday afternoon, riding SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon capsule to the International Space Station on a test flight. SpaceX was on the cusp of becoming the first private company to put astronauts in orbit, something achieved by just three countries — Russia, the U.S. and China.
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| Zambian jailed gay couple pardoned in presidential amnesty Posted: 26 May 2020 10:46 AM PDT  Their 15-year sentence triggered a diplomatic row resulting in the recalling of the US ambassador.
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| US nears 100,000 pandemic deaths: Does Trump feel your pain? Posted: 26 May 2020 10:23 AM PDT  As diverse as they were in eloquence and empathy, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama each had his own way of piercing the noise of catastrophe and reaching people. Impeachment placed one indelible mark on Donald Trump's time in the White House. At every turn Trump has asserted the numbers would be worse without his leadership.
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| US says Russia sent jets to Libya 'mercenaries' Posted: 26 May 2020 10:16 AM PDT  Russia urges peace talks as the US accuses it of meddling in the Libya conflict.
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| Parties target control of state legislatures, redistricting Posted: 26 May 2020 09:57 AM PDT  Drowned out by the coronavirus and national politics, Republican and Democratic operatives are quietly preparing for a battle of state legislative supremacy later this year that could have a profound effect on political power for the next decade. The November ballot will feature more than 5,000 elections for state House and Senate members in 35 states who will play a significant role in crafting or passing new voting districts for Congress and state legislative chambers based on census results. Republicans, who currently control a majority of state legislative chambers, generally will be on defense against a well-funded Democratic effort.
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| Victim's wife says fugitive student sought their neighbor Posted: 26 May 2020 09:22 AM PDT  A college student police say is an armed fugitive after killing two people was looking for a young woman he knew when he began his rampage, the wife of his first victim said Tuesday. University of Connecticut senior Peter Manfredonia, 23, is a fugitive in the machete killing of the woman's neighbor, 62-year-old Ted DeMers, of Willington, Connecticut. Manfredonia was last reported seen in Pennsylvania on Sunday and is the target of a search involving police agencies and the FBI.
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| Russia virus peak 'passed', Putin orders WWII parade in June Posted: 26 May 2020 09:14 AM PDT  Russia has passed its peak of coronavirus infections, President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday, ordering a World War II victory parade postponed by the pandemic to be held next month. The postponement of the May 9 Victory Day parade had been a blow to Putin, who had hoped to gather world leaders to watch troops march on Red Square to celebrate 75 years since the defeat of Nazi Germany. "According to experts, the peak can be considered passed," Putin told Shoigu in a video link-up.
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| Woman fired after backlash from racist park confrontation Posted: 26 May 2020 09:03 AM PDT  The verbal dispute between a white woman with an unleashed dog and a black man bird watching in Central Park might normally have gone unnoticed in a city preoccupied by the coronavirus pandemic. The widely watched video — posted on Facebook by Christian Cooper and on Twitter by his sister — sparked accusations of racism and led to Amy Cooper getting fired. The confrontation began early Monday morning when Christian Cooper said he noticed Amy Cooper had let her cocker spaniel off its leash against the rules in the Ramble, a secluded section of Central Park popular with birdwatchers.
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| GOP govs offer states as alternative RNC convention host Posted: 26 May 2020 07:56 AM PDT  Two GOP governors are offering up their states to host the Republican National Convention — a day after President Donald Trump threatened to pull the convention out of North Carolina if that state's Democratic governor doesn't assure him that the August gathering can go forward despite coronavirus fears. Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp sent an open plea to Trump on Tuesday to consider his state as an alternate site for the quadrennial convention, which is set to gather more than 2,500 delegates and thousands more guests, press and security officials. Plans have been underway for more than a year to hold the convention in Charlotte, but Trump and national Republican officials have expressed concerns that local officials may not allow gatherings of that size during the pandemic.
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| Third Iranian fuel cargo approaches Venezuela's economic zone -data Posted: 26 May 2020 07:51 AM PDT |
| US military says Russia deployed fighter jets to Libya Posted: 26 May 2020 07:45 AM PDT  The U.S. military Tuesday accused Russia of deploying fighter planes to conflict-stricken Libya to support Russian mercenaries aiding east-based forces in their offensive on the capital, Tripoli. Russia called the claim "disinformation." In a strongly worded statement, the U.S. Africa Command said the Russian military aircraft arrived in Libya recently from an airbase in Russia via Syria, where they were repainted to hide their Russian origin.
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| Cummings and his 'Brexit friends' leave when they should stay, quips EU's Tusk Posted: 26 May 2020 07:08 AM PDT |
| Millions of U.K. Viewers Tune in As Boris Johnson Aide Dominic Cummings Defends Lockdown Travel Posted: 26 May 2020 07:08 AM PDT |
| UN condemns use of IEDs against civilians in Libya Posted: 26 May 2020 06:58 AM PDT  The United Nations has deplored the "grotesque" use of improvised explosive devices against civilians in Libya's capital Tripoli, the scene of more than a year of deadly fighting. The UN mission in Libya said it "strongly condemns these acts, which serve no military objective, provoke extreme fear among the population, and violate the rights of innocent civilians who must be protected under international humanitarian law." In a statement released late on Monday, it voiced alarm about reports that residents of the Ain Zara and Salaheddin districts in southern Tripoli had been killed or wounded by IEDs placed in or near their homes.
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| U.N. calls meeting to boost pandemic support for developing countries Posted: 26 May 2020 06:41 AM PDT |
| Russia to hold World War II victory parade on June 24 Posted: 26 May 2020 06:32 AM PDT  Russia will hold a military parade marking the 75th anniversary of the defeat over Nazi Germany in World War II on June 24, after the celebration was postponed from May because of the coronavirus pandemic. Russian President Vladimir Putin made the announcement Tuesday during a video conference with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and ordered the ministry to start preparing for the event. "We will do this ... on the day of the legendary, historical victory parade in 1945," Putin said.
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| What you need to know today about the virus outbreak Posted: 26 May 2020 06:25 AM PDT  As Brazil and India struggle with surging coronavirus cases, a top health expert is warning that the world is still smack in the middle of the pandemic, dampening hopes for a speedy global economic rebound and renewed international travel. Here are some of AP's top stories Tuesday on the world's coronavirus pandemic. — Georgia's governor is offering his state as the host of the Republican National Convention — a day after President Donald Trump threatened to pull the convention out of North Carolina if that state's Democratic governor didn't assure Trump that the August gathering can go forward despite coronavirus fears.
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| VIRUS DIARY: Finding a surprising source of support in an ex Posted: 26 May 2020 06:25 AM PDT  Embarrassing to admit but oddly comforting: My ex-husband's husband and I share a slight crush on our state epidemiologist. Frankly, I never thought I'd have an ex-husband, let alone one who has a new husband.
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| Four Minneapolis officers fired after death of black man Posted: 26 May 2020 05:30 AM PDT  Four Minneapolis officers involved in the arrest of a black man who died in police custody were fired Tuesday, hours after a bystander's video showed an officer kneeling on the handcuffed man's neck, even after he pleaded that he could not breathe and stopped moving. Mayor Jacob Frey announced the firings on Twitter, saying "This is the right call." The man's death Monday night was under investigation by the FBI and state law enforcement authorities.
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| Americans From All 50 States Submit Feedback to Help the UN Set Priorities Ahead of UN General Assembly Week Posted: 26 May 2020 05:00 AM PDT |
| Rights group: Satellite images show Myanmar village burning Posted: 26 May 2020 04:33 AM PDT  Satellite imagery that shows a village burning in a conflict zone in western Myanmar lends credence to reports that houses were set ablaze there by government soldiers, a major human rights group said Tuesday. Human Rights Watch said in a statement that an investigation is necessary to determine who was responsible for setting at least 200 buildings on fire on May 16 in the village of Let Kar in Rakhine state's Mrauk-U township. The burning of villages was a tactic used on a large scale by the military in Rakhine in 2017, according to investigations carried out separately by the United Nations and human rights groups.
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| Israeli court: Alleged child sex abuser fit to stand trial Posted: 26 May 2020 04:22 AM PDT  An Israeli court Tuesday ruled that a former teacher accused of sexually abusing her students in Australia is fit to stand trial for extradition, capping a years-long battle that has strained relations between the two allies and angered Australia's pro-Israel Jewish community. The ruling was hailed by Malka Leifer's alleged victims, who have accused their one-time school principal and Israeli authorities of dragging out the case for far too long. A July 20 extradition hearing was set by the court.
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| Trump coronavirus travel ban on Brazil to take effect Tuesday Posted: 26 May 2020 04:12 AM PDT  Trump had already banned certain travelers from China, Europe, the United Kingdom and Ireland and, to a lesser extent, Iran
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| Afghan government releases hundreds of Taliban prisoners Posted: 26 May 2020 03:50 AM PDT  The Afghan government released hundreds of Taliban prisoners Tuesday, its single largest prisoner release since the U.S. and the Taliban signed a peace deal earlier this year that spells out an exchange of detainees between the warring sides. The government announced it would release 900 Taliban prisoners as a three-day cease-fire with the insurgents draws to an end. The Taliban had called for the truce during the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr that marks the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.
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| Trafficked Nigerian women rescued from Lebanon Posted: 26 May 2020 03:28 AM PDT  The 50 return home a month after a woman working as a maid in Beirut was put up for sale on Facebook.
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| 5 things to know today - that aren't about the virus Posted: 26 May 2020 03:00 AM PDT  2. TWITTER REPROACHES TRUMP For the first time, the social network has flagged some of the president's tweets with a fact-check warning. The move comes after years in which Twitter has declined to apply its community guidelines and other rules of the road to the 45th U.S. president. 5. 'ON THE RECORD' TO PREMIERE A new #MeToo documentary about rape accusations against hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons is a powerful look at one woman's agonizing decision to go public — and an exploration of misogyny and sexual harassment in the music industry.
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| UN says both Koreas broke armistice in DMZ shooting Posted: 26 May 2020 02:24 AM PDT  An exchange of gunfire between North and South Korean forces in the Demilitarized Zone dividing the peninsula was a violation of the armistice agreement, the United Nations Command (UNC) said Tuesday. The two sides remain technically at war, since fighting in the Korean War ended with an armistice in 1953 that was never replaced with a peace treaty. The UNC -- which monitors compliance with the ceasefire -- opened an investigation into the shooting and concluded that "both sides committed Armistice Agreement violations", it said in a statement.
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| UN probe: Both Koreas violate armistice in gunfire exchange Posted: 26 May 2020 02:21 AM PDT  A U.N. investigation into a recent exchange of gunfire between the two Koreas has determined that both countries violated the armistice that ended the 1950-53 Korean War, the American-led U.N. Command said Tuesday. The May 3 gunfire exchange was the first shooting inside the Korean Demilitarized Zone in about 2½ years. The DMZ, which was established as a buffer at the end of the Korean War, is a de facto border separating North and South Korea.
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| U.N. Command finds both Koreas violated armistice agreement in DMZ shooting Posted: 26 May 2020 01:24 AM PDT |
| Bethlehem Nativity Church reopens after coronavirus closure Posted: 26 May 2020 01:07 AM PDT |
| AP PHOTOS: Confined Moroccans find new ways to celebrate Eid Posted: 26 May 2020 12:12 AM PDT  Instead of mass prayers and large family gatherings filled with colorful clothes, gifts and traditional foods, millions of Moroccan Muslims celebrated Eid Al-Fitr at home, subdued and isolated amid their country's newly extended coronavirus lockdown. The mood was somber for the normally joyous holiday marking the end of the holy month of Ramadan, but also mixed with gratitude that Morocco's brush with the virus has been so far milder than those in the U.S. or Europe. In Casablanca, Morocco's most populous city, where police tasked with enforcing the lockdown guarded deserted streets, 21-year-old Yousra Sandabad's family greeted loved ones over video calls.
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| Hong Kong leader says security law not a threat to freedoms Posted: 26 May 2020 12:12 AM PDT  Hong Kong's leader said Tuesday that national security legislation proposed by China's legislature will not threaten the semi-autonomous territory's civil rights, despite widespread criticism of the move as an encroachment on freedom of speech and assembly. The city's chief executive, Carrie Lam, told reporters that there was "no need for us to worry" over the move being considered by China's ceremonial National People's Congress. "Hong Kong has proven that we uphold and preserve those values," Lam said.
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| Lebanon's migrant workers' plight worsens as crises multiply Posted: 25 May 2020 11:08 PM PDT  Now, some 250,000 registered migrant laborers in Lebanon — maids, garbage collectors, farm hands and construction workers — are growing more desperate as a crippling economic and financial crisis sets in, coupled with coronavirus restrictions. Lebanon's unprecedented foreign currency crisis means that many migrants have not been paid for months or that the value of salaries is down by more than half. Others have lost their jobs after employers dumped them on the streets or outside their embassies.
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| Boris Johnson Leaves the Dirty Work to Everyone Else Posted: 25 May 2020 11:00 PM PDT  (Bloomberg Opinion) -- An awkward question hangs over the Covid-shuttered world of Downing Street. At his daily morning meeting, Boris Johnson, back to full duties after suffering a serious bout of the virus, recently asked who was in charge of relaxing Britain's lockdown plan, with all of the risks and uncertainties that entails for a government. "There was just silence," an insider told the Sunday Times newspaper. "He looked over at Mark Sedwill (his top civil servant) and asked, 'Is it you?' The official replied, 'No, I think it's you, prime minister.'" Sedwill was right. The U.K.'s leader enjoys some of the strongest centralized powers in Europe — and yet, paradoxically, the man who fought so hard to gain control of his party and Britain's destiny is reluctant to take responsibility.Before the crisis, Johnson ruled as a near-absolute monarch, often through his eccentric but effective adviser (and key Brexit strategist) Dominic Cummings. In a tale familiar to English court politics down the centuries, the arrogant outsider resented by lesser talents has himself become a hindrance to the man he serves. Cummings, one of the architects of Britain's lockdown, bent the rules by driving his sick wife and child 250 miles to his family's northern home, where he may or may not have breached self-isolation to walk in local beauty spots.Hitherto, an 80-seat majority in the House of Commons and the trouncing of Jeremy Corbyn's Labour Party in the December election had boosted the prime minister's natural self-confidence, and a cabinet largely composed of inexperienced unequals reinforced his dominance.The Coronavirus has changed everything. It has seen Johnson dither over using his executive power to lay down the law. True, most democratic leaders find life-and-death decisions unnerving, but the prime minister has made too many missteps for Britain's emergence as the "the sick man of Europe" to be seen as mere bad luck.The U.K. has an unwelcome lead in the continent's league table of fatalities, in part due to its role as a transport and business hub. But Johnson's administration bears the blame for failing to lock down as quickly as Germany, for prematurely terminating track and tracing of the infected in March, and for allowing hospital patients to be discharged untested into care homes for the elderly.Voters have given Johnson the benefit of the doubt so far out of sympathy for his own near-death encounter with Covid-19. But the prime minister, while a convincing advocate for social distancing, still sounds uncertain on many big calls. No. 10 staffers and his chief ministers lack confidence. His acolytes are already looking over their shoulders at a likely public inquiry into their handling of the emergency.An unfamiliar crisis that demands fast, big-state solutions plays more easily to the strengths of social democrats or even paternalist Conservatives. Johnson, a carefree libertarian by instinct, at first ignored the peril, expecting others to take responsibility for a threat that seemed more tangential than finalizing a post-Brexit trade deal with the European Union.Personal foibles matter too. Johnson's absence from five key meetings in the initial stages of the pandemic is a matter of record. There are crude metrics (still evolving) that suggest Scotland's devolved government has performed even worse during the outbreak, but perceptions are otherwise and they matter. The left-leaning Scottish nationalist leader, Nicola Sturgeon, cuts a more commanding figure, happy to tell her fellow citizens what to do (or in the case of following Johnson's lead in easing the lockdown, what not to do).Britain's muddled approach to immigration, a central policy area for the Conservatives, is equally perplexing. While the contagion was still spreading, the U.K. permitted free entry from China, Italy, Iran and other countries with high infection rates. Johnson's Brexit vision is of an outward-looking Global Britain, not the protectionist Little England imagined by his enemies, and that rendered him reluctant to pull up the drawbridge. Now his government has lurched in the opposite direction, devising a draconian regime that will force all U.K. arrivals to self-isolate for 14 days. The policy looks unworkable.Similarly, Johnson suggests that Brits wear masks while going about their business, but his inner libertarian makes him reluctant to give this guidance the force of law. Another area of confusion is his marriage of convenience with his frazzled health secretary, Matt Hancock, whose unhappy lot is to run a department that prepared for the wrong pandemic: influenza. The prime minister sometimes gives the appearance of "neither backing him nor sacking him" — as one senior Whitehall figure puts it. More cynical souls think the health secretary's political life is being held in reserve to offer up for sacrifice after a punishing public inquiry.What of the charge, leveled since the Brexit referendum campaign, that Johnson is averse to expertise? This is a cheap shot, since the prime minister is clearly deferential to SAGE, the committee of scientists advising government. If anything, he has listened lately to more cautious advisers on reopening the economy in an attempt to stave off a second spike of the virus. But fallible scientific opinion has to be balanced against economics and politics, and that's a prime minister's call. Jeremy Hunt, a former long-serving Conservative health secretary, claims that SAGE's advice to end contact tracing back in March was "one of the biggest failures of scientific advice to ministers in our lifetimes."In the end, people will judge a leader's competence by their impact on them and their families. It should be a priority to get children back to school by June 1, not least to allow their parents to return to work. But the teaching unions are obstructive, the devolved governments of Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales are going their own way and many parents are fearful. Gavin Williamson, the education secretary, needs louder support from his prime minister, a first-class salesman when he puts his mind to it.And here is the Boris anomaly: The prime minister is a brilliant election campaigner but, as London's mayor, he left it to his team — notably Edward Lister, now No. 10's chief of staff — to do the heavy lifting while he took the credit, gave the speeches and swung gaily on a zip wire over the Thames. A mayor can wield personal power fitfully, but national government requires a consistent driving will to get things done. Overreliance on Cummings — personal and political — has damaged Johnson at a time of jeopardy. The lesson surely is to better develop and deploy his cabinet talent rather than gamble so much on a single consigliere.Today, the machinery of state needs a clarifying moment and clearer division of roles than the present buck passing. The modus operandi of the current government is that civil servants must be kept in check, lest a "blob" of resistance hobbles Johnson's and Cummings's plans on Europe or anything else. That is no recipe for cohesion.The prime minister's character won't change. While an aversion to nannying and a low boredom threshold are foibles, they also explain his personal appeal. But the Covid-19 crisis means the "PM" can be neither the one-man show of the Brexit wars, nor a figurehead, leaving the hard work to others. The job is prime minister and the clue to success is in that title.This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.Martin Ivens was editor of the Sunday Times from 2013 to 2020 and was formerly its chief political commentator. He is a director of the Times Newspapers board. For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinionSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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| In Lockdown Scandal, Johnson Reaps What He Sowed Posted: 25 May 2020 11:00 PM PDT |
| California lays out pandemic rules for church reopenings Posted: 25 May 2020 10:01 PM PDT  Rabbi Shalom Rubanowitz looks forward to reopening his synagogue doors — if his congregation can balance the laws of God and California during the coronavirus pandemic. On Monday, the state released a framework that will permit counties to allow in-person worship services. The Orthodox congregation of Shul on the Beach in Los Angeles County's Venice Beach will follow the guidelines, consulting with rabbinical authorities who place a high importance on preservation of life, Rubanowitz said.
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