| Pompeo denies impropriety in firing of State Dept. watchdog Posted: 11 Jun 2020 05:37 PM PDT  Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and his top deputy are rejecting allegations that the State Department's independent watchdog was fired for investigating alleged impropriety by Pompeo and his wife. In separate letters sent to Congress late Thursday, Pompeo and Deputy Secretary of State Stephen Biegun denied suggestions that Pompeo was aware of any such probe by ousted inspector general Steve Linick or his office. Pompeo also denied that Linick was removed for no cause, accusing him of "strange and erratic behavior" and failing to do his job over many months.
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| Africa's week in pictures: 5 - 11 June 2020 Posted: 11 Jun 2020 04:43 PM PDT  A selection of the week's best photos from across the continent and beyond.
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| Boris Johnson to hold video meeting with EU leaders to push through Brexit trade talks Posted: 11 Jun 2020 04:36 PM PDT  Boris Johnson will hold video talks with the presidents of the three major EU institutions on Monday. He will discuss the progress of trade negotiations in the meeting, ahead of Thursday's EU summit. The UK hopes that the Prime Minister will be able to secure commitments from the EU to intensify the talks in what is effectively his last chance to ask for an extension to the Brexit transition period. EU sources claim that Britain wants to enter "tunnel" talks - Brussels jargon for secret discussions carried out under media blackout - in July, which Michel Barnier has ruled out, and UK sources deny. The EU's chief Brexit negotiator said on Wednesday that he hoped the "high-level meeting" would bring fresh political impetus to the trade talks, which are deadlocked over fishing rights and EU demands for level playing field guarantees. Rather than tunnel talks, the UK and EU have agreed to intensify negotiations in July after the high-level meeting. A UK spokesman said: "This new process will involve a mix of formal negotiating rounds and smaller group meetings, both in London and Brussels, assuming public health guidelines enable this." There will be talks every week between June 29 and July 27. UK officials said Britain wanted intensified talks in July, but not tunnel negotiations. "It remains to be seen if the EU is serious about making real progress next month," one source said. No 10 insists it will not ask for an extension, despite the risk of the UK leaving transition without a trade deal at the end of the year. Failure to secure a trade deal would mean trading on less lucrative World Trade Organisation terms, with tariffs, which would be less advantageous than the zero-tariff trade deal both sides are aiming for.
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| North Korea says it will keep building up military to counter long-term threat of US Posted: 11 Jun 2020 04:14 PM PDT  North Korea sees little use in maintaining a personal relationship between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and President Donald Trump if Washington sticks to hostile policies, state media reported on Friday on the two-year anniversary of the leaders' first summit. US policies prove Washington remains a long-term threat to the North Korean state and its people, North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Son Gwon said in a statement carried by state news agency KCNA. The Singapore summit in June 2018 represented the first time a sitting American president met with a North Korean leader, but the statement that came out of the meeting was light on specifics, opting instead for four general commitments. A second summit in February 2019 in Vietnam's capital Hanoi, failed to reach a deal because of conflicts over US calls for North Korea to completely give up its nuclear weapons, and North Korean demands for sanctions relief. Ri said in retrospect the Trump administration appears to have been focusing on only scoring political points while seeking to isolate and suffocate North Korea, and threatening it with preemptive nuclear strikes and regime change. "Never again will we provide the US chief executive with another package to be used for achievements without receiving any returns," he said. "Nothing is more hypocritical than an empty promise." On Thursday North Korea criticised the United States for commenting on inter-Korean affairs, and said Washington should stay quiet if it wants the upcoming presidential election to go smoothly. The US State Department did not respond to requests for comment, and the White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. On Thursday, a State Department spokesperson told South Korea's Yonhap news agency that the United States remains committed to dialogue with North Korea, and is open to a "flexible approach to reach a balanced agreement." Ri said North Korea's desire to open a new cooperative era runs as deep as ever, but that the situation on the Korean peninsula is daily taking a turn for the worse. "The U.S. professes to be an advocate for improved relations with the DPRK, but in fact, it is hell-bent on only exacerbating the situation," Ri said. The official name of North Korea is the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK). North Korea will continue to build up its military forces to cope with the threats from the United States, Ri said.
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| 'It's broken': Fears grow about strength of US voting system Posted: 11 Jun 2020 03:08 PM PDT  The chaos that plagued Georgia's primary this week is raising concerns about a potential broader failure of the nation's patchwork election system that could undermine the November presidential contest, political leaders and elections experts say. With less than five months to go, fears are mounting that several battleground states are not prepared to administer problem-free elections during the pandemic. The increasingly urgent concerns are both complex and simple: long lines disproportionately affecting voters of color in places like Atlanta with a history of voter suppression; a severe shortage of poll workers scared away by coronavirus concerns; and an emerging consensus that it could take several days after polls close on Election Day to determine a winner as battleground states struggle with an explosion of mail voting.
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| UN voices 'horror' after reports of Libya mass graves Posted: 11 Jun 2020 02:44 PM PDT  The United Nations voiced "horror" after reports that eight mass graves had been discovered in an area recently seized by the unity government after forces loyal to eastern strongman Khalifa Haftar withdrew. "International law requires that the authorities conduct prompt, effective & transparent investigations into all alleged cases of unlawful deaths," it added.
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| Differences on peace progress in Mali amid terrorist acts Posted: 11 Jun 2020 02:17 PM PDT |
| Historical figures reassessed after George Floyd's death Posted: 11 Jun 2020 01:34 PM PDT  The rapidly unfolding movement to pull down Confederate monuments around the U.S. in the wake of George Floyd's death has extended to statues of slave traders, imperialists, conquerors and explorers around the world, including Christopher Columbus, Cecil Rhodes and Belgium's King Leopold II. Protests and, in some cases, acts of vandalism have taken place in such cities as Boston; New York; Paris; Brussels; and Oxford, England, in an intense re-examination of racial injustices over the centuries. At the University of Oxford, protesters have stepped up their longtime push to remove a statue of Rhodes, the Victorian imperialist who served as prime minister of the Cape Colony in southern Africa.
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| Black Tulsans call Trump rally plan 'a slap in the face' Posted: 11 Jun 2020 01:28 PM PDT  Black community and political leaders called on President Donald Trump to at least change the Juneteenth date for a rally kicking off his return to public campaigning, saying Thursday that plans for a rally on the day that marks the end of slavery in America come as a "slap in the face." Trump campaign officials discussed in advance the possible reaction to the Juneteenth date, but despite fierce blowback there are no plans to change it. From Sen. Kamala Harris of California to Tulsa civic officials, black leaders said it was offensive for Trump to pick that day — June 19 — and that place — Tulsa, an Oklahoma city that in 1921 was the site of a fiery and orchestrated white-on-black killing spree.
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| Textile, Apparel Trade Plunges 12 Percent, Study Says Posted: 11 Jun 2020 11:42 AM PDT |
| Textile, Apparel Trade Plunges 12 Percent, Study Says Posted: 11 Jun 2020 11:42 AM PDT |
| Eight mass graves found in area retaken from Libyan rebel general Posted: 11 Jun 2020 11:30 AM PDT  UN expresses horror at finds, mainly in town of Tarhuna, and backs GNA investigation The United Nations has expressed horror at the discovery of eight mass graves in Libya, mainly in the town of Tarhuna, south of Tripoli, in an area recently retaken from forces loyal to Gen Khalifa Haftar.The UN mission in Libya said it welcomed the decision by the internationally recognised Government of National Accord (GNA) to launch an investigation into the gravesNo estimate of the number of dead has been made public, but one grave contained at least 15 badly decomposed bodies. Some graves are said to contain entire families.The UN mission in Libya said in a statement that it "notes with horror reports on the discovery of at least eight mass graves in past days, the majority of them in Tarhuna. International law requires that the authorities conduct prompt, effective and transparent investigations into all alleged cases of unlawful deaths."It called on investigators to "promptly undertake the work aimed at securing the mass graves, identifying the victims, establishing causes of death and returning the bodies to next of kin". It said it was willing to help with the inquiry.More bodies were found in the Tarhuna hospital, and according to the GNA at least 27 people have been killed by landmines and IED left by Haftar's fleeing forces as their siege on Tripoli collapsed.It is widely accepted that both sides may have committed war crimes in the year-long siege, but the scale of the crimes attributed to Haftar's allies has the potential to embarrass his principal external backers France, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Jordan.The German ambassador to Libya, Oliver Owcza, was seen shaking hands with Haftar only on Tuesday and has faced criticism within Libya for being seeing to prop up the strongman's credibility. Germany views the talks with Haftar as part of an attempt to revive peace talks, but many argue that a precondition of any talks should be the removal of Haftar from the scene and the development of a new political leadership in Libya's east.GNA diplomats in the US are working hard to persuade influential Republicans that the Trump administration's disengagement from Libya has left a vacuum that has been filled by Russia.Mohammed Ali Abdallah, a GNA political adviser in the US, told the Heritage Foundation, a thinktank, that unless the US stepped up there was a risk that Russia would establish a strong military presence in the southern Mediterranean, access to one of the world's largest gas fields and control of the pipeline for illegal refugees into Europe.He said Haftar's backers "have either acknowledged his defeat and started to look for alternative plans or gone back the drawing board in order to escalate the crisis and make sure a stable Libya is never achieved – which is the ultimate goal of Russia."Abdallah said Haftar "neither wants to be or can be part of any future political solution" and his continued involvement would be a disaster.He called on the US to increase the diplomatic pressure on allies such as the UAE to end their military support for Haftar.
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| Israel's Netanyahu welcomes Trump authorising sanctions against ICC officials Posted: 11 Jun 2020 11:16 AM PDT  Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday welcomed moves by US President Donald Trump to sanction any International Criminal Court officials who investigate US troops, as the tribunal examines alleged war crimes in Afghanistan. "This court is politicised and obsessed with carrying out a headhunt against Israel and the United States as well as other democratic countries that respect human rights, but turns a blind eye to the world's worst human rights offenders, including the terrorist regime in Iran," Netanyahu said at a press conference.
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| Trump orders sanctions against war crimes court as he ups the ante over Afghanistan investigation Posted: 11 Jun 2020 10:44 AM PDT  Donald Trump has ordered sanctions against the International Criminal Court in an attempt to block its investigation of alleged crimes against humanity by US troops and the CIA in Afghanistan. The US called the Hague-based ICC a "grossly corrupt kangaroo court" and claimed it was being "manipulated" by Russia. It also warned Nato allies, including the UK, to stand with the US, saying: "You're people could be next." In an extraordinary move, the ICC hit back at Mr Trump. "These attacks constitute an escalation and an unacceptable attempt to interfere with the rule of law and the Court's judicial proceedings," the court said in a statement. The ICC also said that the "unprecedented" sanctions "undermine our common endeavour to fight impunity and to ensure accountability for mass atrocities". The court added: "An attack on the ICC also represents an attack against the interests of victims of atrocity crimes, for many of whom the Court represents the last hope for justice." The move was the latest escalation by the White House as it seeks to prevent the court launching a detailed examination of America's longest war. It includes economic sanctions and travel restrictions against court employees directly involved in investigating or prosecuting US personnel, or those of its allies. Under the measures the court's employees can have their US financial assets and property seized and, along with their family members, they will be blocked from entering the US. Founded in 2002 the court was set up to investigate war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide, and is recognised by 123 countries, including the UK. The ICC opened a preliminary investigation in 2014 into allegations that British troops committed war crimes in Iraq. A preliminary inquiry remains open but Britain's chief military prosecutor said last week he expected it to be shut down. The court has always faced opposition from the US, which has refused to accept its jurisdiction. In March, the ICC ruled its chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda could investigate allegations of war crimes in Afghanistan. She wants to look at possible offences by US soldiers and intelligence officials between 2003 and 2014, including alleged "acts of torture, cruel treatment, outrages upon personal dignity, rape and sexual violence." Mass killings of civilians by the Taliban, and alleged torture of prisoners by Afghan authorities, are also part of the investigation. Last year, the US revoked the chief prosecutor's visa. Mr Trump has now signed an executive order imposing the new sanctions. Mike Pompeo, his secretary of state, made a clear call to the UK to back the move. He said: "We cannot, we will not, stand by as our people are threatened by a kangaroo court. It's grossly ineffective and corrupt. "I have a message to many close allies around the world - your people could be next, especially those from Nato countries who fought terrorism in Afghanistan right alongside of us." Josep Borrell, the European Union's chief diplomat, voiced "serious concern". He said: "We as the European Union are steadfast supporters of the International Criminal Court. "The court has been playing a key role in providing international justice and addressing the gravest international crimes. It is a key factor in bringing justice and peace. It must be respected and supported by all nations." The US has also been angered by the court's desire to look into alleged war crimes in the Palestinian territories by Israel. US officials argued that it has its own systems in place to examine allegations of wrongdoing by its troops. Last year, Mr Trump used his executive powers to clear Eddie Gallagher, a Navy SEAL who had been convicted of posing next to the corpse of a captured prisoner in Iraq. A senior Trump administration official said:" [The ICC] is an unaccountable, ineffective and out-of-control international bureaucracy that threatens American service members and intelligence officers, and those of our allies. "We have reason to believe there is corruption and misconduct at the highest levels of the ICC. We are concerned that Russia may be manipulating the ICC by encouraging these allegations into US personnel." Mr Trump's "America First" foreign policy has seen him withdraw from, or oppose, a litany of international agreements and organisations, putting him at odds with allies in Europe and Nato. He has withdrawn from the Iran nuclear deal, the Paris climate accord, and announced the termination of the US relationship with the World Health Organisation.
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| Trump fumes as protesters stake out festive zone in Seattle Posted: 11 Jun 2020 10:42 AM PDT  Following days of violent confrontations with protesters, police in Seattle have largely withdrawn from part of a neighborhood where protesters have created a festival-like scene that has President Donald Trump fuming. Trump taunted Gov. Jay Inslee and Mayor Jenny Durkan about the situation on Twitter and said the city had been taken over by "anarchists." The president continued his complaints in a Thursday interview with the Fox News Channel.
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| House Republicans Propose Blank Check For Middle East Wars Posted: 11 Jun 2020 10:12 AM PDT  "Congressional Democrats have tried on numerous occasions this Congress to handcuff the President's ability to respond to Iran-backed aggression," the Republican Study Committee argued.
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| Russian health workers' coronavirus compensation proves hard to get for some Posted: 11 Jun 2020 09:41 AM PDT |
| International Trade Estimates Plunge Alongside Other Economic Forecasts Posted: 11 Jun 2020 09:22 AM PDT  International trade could contract 27% in the second quarter as the pandemic ravages global industries, according to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. "Assuming persisting uncertainty, UNCTAD forecast indicates a decline of around 20% for the year 2020," according to the group."Trade in the automotive and energy sector collapsed, while trade in agri-food products has been stable."The conference's findings and forecasts contribute to a bleak picture of the global economy.Global GDP If the world sees a second outbreak of the coronavirus and the biotech community can't find a vaccine, global GDP could plunge by 7.6% this year, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said in a Wednesday report.This reflects an acceleration of unemployment to more than twice the pre-pandemic rate, an 8.5% decline in U.S. GDP and an 11.5% drop in Europe's GDP."As long as no vaccine or treatment is widely available, policymakers around the world will continue to walk on a tightrope," OECD chief economist Laurence Boone wrote in the report.Without a second wave, global GDP would still fall 6%, with the U.S. recording a 7.3% decline and Europe contracting 9%, according to the OECD."How governments act today will shape the post-COVID world for years to come," OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurria said in a statement."This is true not only domestically, where the right policies can foster a resilient, inclusive, and sustainable recovery, but also in terms of how countries cooperate to tackle global challenges together. International cooperation, a weak point so far in the policy response, can create confidence and have important positive spillover effects."Global GDP rose 2.7% last year, and U.S. GDP tried to keep pace, closing out the year with fourth-quarter growth of 2.1%. The coronavirus catalyzed a 5% contraction in the U.S. in the first quarter of 2020, marking an end to the nation's longest recorded expansion period."The decrease in PCE reflected a decrease in services, led by health care as well as food services and accommodations," the Bureau of Economic Analysis said in its report. "The decrease in private inventory investment was mainly in nondurable goods manufacturing, led by petroleum and coal products."Global Debt The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget predicted in April that the U.S. would close 2020 with a $3.8-trillion deficit -- more than double the previous record and almost four times 2019's deficit of $984 billion.Such a deficit would bring the national debt to $20.6 trillion by the end of FY2020, surpassing the country's nominal GDP. By the CRFB's estimates, the debt-to-GDP ratio could exceed World War II records by 2023 -- and that's if 2021 brings a strong recovery."Assuming a slower and weaker recovery (but no changes in law), we estimate debt would grow to 117 percent of GDP by 2025," the report said.Notably, the U.S. Treasury Department recorded an $1.88 -illion deficit for FY2020 by the end of May.The U.S. isn't the only country racking up debt. By mid-May more than 90 countries, including Egypt, Pakistan, Argentina and Ukraine, had requested bailout funds from the International Monetary Fund.As of mid-June, the IMF had granted 69 countries about $24.62 billion in emergency financing and 27 countries about $243.61 million in debt relief.Unemployment The U.S. unemployment rate in May likely exceeded 16%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In Canada, the rate struck 13.7%. Peer nations have yet to report their May figures, but the estimates don't inspire optimism.According to OECD estimates, a second outbreak of the coronavirus could yield fourth-quarter unemployment rates of 16.9% in the U.S., 14.8% in the U.K., 13.7% in France and 10.6% in Canada.Germany (5.5%) and Japan (4%) could see some of the lowest rates. If a second wave is avoided, the rates could drop to 10.4% in the U.S., 9.7% in the U.K., 12.3% in France, 8.8% in Canada, 5% in Germany and 2.4% in Japan.Inflation Rates Consumer price indexes across a number of developed countries plunged in April, according to the International Monetary Fund's most updated records. The U.S. CPI fell from 1.54 in March to 0.33 in April. The metric fell to 0.93 in the U.K. and 0.86 in Germany.The OECD expects the U.S. inflation rate to recover to 1.28% by the end of 2021, while the UK rate falls to 0.4% and Germany drops to 0.61%. The total rate for OECD countries is expected to rise to about 1.31%, buoyed by high inflation in Latin America, China, and a few countries in eastern and central Europe.Related Links:US GDP Contracts 5% In Q1 As Corporate, Consumer Spending Plunge: Coronavirus Triggers 'Rapid Changes In Demand'BlackRock Raises Credit Outlook To 'Modestly Overweight'See more from Benzinga * Weekly Jobless Report Improves As More US Businesses Reopen * True Love Or Last Resort? Morgan Stanley Takes On Match Group * BofA Upgrades Occidental, Downgrades Chevron(C) 2020 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
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| Coronavirus in Africa: Outbreak 'accelerating' across continent Posted: 11 Jun 2020 09:09 AM PDT  Outbreaks are spreading from capital cities to rural areas, with supplies running short, says WHO.
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| US, Iraq launch strategic talks on economy, American troops Posted: 11 Jun 2020 08:55 AM PDT  The United States and Iraq launched much-anticipated strategic talks Thursday that are to span the gamut of their bilateral relations, with Washington prioritizing the issue of the future of its forces in the country while Baghdad is expected to focus on the nation's dire economic crisis. The talks, which began with an initial meeting in the afternoon with participants tuning in online because of the coronavirus measures, are expected to drag out over several months. Iran's expanding influence in Iraq is also expected to be an underlining topic in the talks.
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| 'I'm dying slowly': An Iranian teen says she has to travel from country to country or be sent back to her abusive father Posted: 11 Jun 2020 08:48 AM PDT  "I cut my wrists and he just stood there laughing," 19-year-old Samar said of her father back in Iran.
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| Judge blasts prosecutors in Iran-Venezuela sanctions case Posted: 11 Jun 2020 08:29 AM PDT |
| Moscow uses gift certificates to entice voters to referendum Posted: 11 Jun 2020 08:12 AM PDT  Moscow's city government is offering residents the chance to win gift certificates for voting in a national constitutional referendum next month that would allow Russian President Vladimir Putin to run for another two terms. Alexei Nemeryuk, head of the capital's trade and services department, said voters will be able to participate in a raffle for 2 million gift certificates from stores, for parking and for other services. Nemeryuk characterized the program on Thursday as a way to encourage consumer spending; Moscow businesses were hard-hit by a coronavirus lockdown that closed most stores.
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| Nigerian teenager freed after killing attempted rapist Posted: 11 Jun 2020 08:06 AM PDT  The 15-year-old was taken into custody in March after stabbing the man who had tried to rape her.
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| Trump battles Pelosi, some in GOP over Confederate symbols Posted: 11 Jun 2020 08:06 AM PDT  President Donald Trump is battling House Speaker Nancy Pelosi over renaming military bases that honor Confederate generals — and he's at odds with some in his own party as well. Pelosi swung forcefully against Trump on Thursday, saying it's time to remove symbols honoring Confederate figures from military bases and the U.S. Capitol as the pandemic and civic unrest force a national reckoning with racial discrimination.
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| Biden gets more aggressive as 2020 campaign heats back up Posted: 11 Jun 2020 08:04 AM PDT  Joe Biden is adopting an increasingly aggressive stance as he looks to break out of a monthslong campaign freeze imposed by the coronavirus outbreak. Over the course of 24 hours, the presumptive Democratic nominee sharpened his rhetoric against President Donald Trump, warning he could try to steal the election. The quick succession of developments signals Biden's growing desire to become more assertive.
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| Kenyan police arrested after dragging suspect by motorbike Posted: 11 Jun 2020 08:01 AM PDT  They accused the Kenyan woman of involvement in a robbery, as another man whipped her.
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| UN: 94,000 Yemenis displaced since January; clashes in south Posted: 11 Jun 2020 07:37 AM PDT |
| Amid pandemic, scores of US Catholic schools face closure Posted: 11 Jun 2020 07:01 AM PDT  Catholic schools have faced tough times for years, but the pace of closures is accelerating dramatically amid economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic, sparking heartbreak and anger in scores of affected communities. "It's not a pretty picture right now," said Sister Dale McDonald, public policy director of the National Catholic Educational Association, which says about 100 schools have announced in recent weeks that they won't reopen this fall. Most of the closures are occurring at the elementary level, but also on the list are a number of venerable and beloved high schools including some that produced some famous alumni.
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| Black Lives Matter goes mainstream after Floyd's death Posted: 11 Jun 2020 06:53 AM PDT  For much of its seven-year existence, the Black Lives Matter movement has been seen by many Americans as a divisive, even radical force. Its very name enraged its foes, who countered with the slogans "Blue Lives Matter" and "All Lives Matter." Times have changed — dramatically so — as evidenced during the wave of protests sparked by George Floyd's death at the hands of Minneapolis police.
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| Syria's Assad fires his PM amid worsening economic crisis Posted: 11 Jun 2020 06:49 AM PDT  Syrian President Bashar Assad on Thursday fired his prime minister, a month ahead of elections and as the economic crisis worsens and public anger rises in the territory under his control. Assad also appointed the current minister of water resources to replace Imad Khamis, who had been the premier since 2016. The Syrian president asked Hussein Arnous to replace Khamis as interim premier until parliament elections are held in July and a new government comes in.
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| Fortress China: What Could Happen if Beijing Goes Bust Posted: 11 Jun 2020 06:44 AM PDT  The China wave is receding fast, and what will remain is a smaller, more compact, less permeable country that neither welcomes the world in nor is eager to go abroad. Individual Chinese people, of course, will continue to be among the most mobile in the world, just as they were during the high Ming-era of the long sixteenth century. But the country will turn inward, seek to exclude foreign influences, and focus on stability overgrowth. Not for nothing is Xi Jinping called the Good Emperor: he is returning the country to its neo-Confucian, Han Chinese, Ming Dynasty roots. Welcome to Fortress China.
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| Military chief: Wrong to walk with Trump past park protest Posted: 11 Jun 2020 06:43 AM PDT  Army Gen. Mark Milley, the nation's top military officer, added to the already extraordinary tension between the Pentagon and President Donald Trump on Thursday, declaring he'd been wrong to stride in uniform with Trump past protesters who had been cleared from Lafayette Square to a photo op at a church. Milley said his presence in combat fatigues amid protests over racial injustice "created a perception of the military involved in domestic politics." "I should not have been there," the Joint Chiefs chairman said in remarks to a National Defense University commencement ceremony.
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| Rand Paul stalls bill that would make lynching a federal hate crime Posted: 11 Jun 2020 06:42 AM PDT  Republican argued anti-lynching legislation drafted too broadly after House renamed bill previously approved by SenateAmid the visceral national outcry for racial justice in the wake of the police killing of George Floyd, a lone US senator is standing in the way of a bill that would make lynching a federal hate crime.Rand Paul, a Republican with a reputation as a one-man awkward squad in the US Senate, has put the historic legislation into limbo, frustrating black colleagues and civil rights leaders, including the Rev Jesse Jackson.About 4,075 African Americans were lynched in 12 southern states between 1877 and 1950, according to a 2015 report by the Equal Justice Initiative. Some were watched by crowds, as if attending a form of public entertainment.Ida B Wells, a crusading African American journalist, once said: "Our country's national crime is lynching."The killing of Floyd by a white Minneapolis police officer who kneeled on his neck for nearly nine minutes, caught on film and seen by millions, has been likened to a 21st-century lynching. It spurred more than two weeks of worldwide protests.From 1882 to 1986, Congress failed to pass anti-lynching legislation 200 times, but this moment appeared to be different.Kamala Harris, Cory Booker and Tim Scott, the only three African American members of the Senate, led the unanimous passage of the legislation in that chamber in 2018 and 2019. The House of Representatives then passed it by a 410-4 vote in February but renamed it for Emmett Till, a 14-year-old boy lynched in Mississippi in 1955.That was the only change that returned the bill to the Senate, which makes Paul's sudden objection all the more idiosyncratic.The Democratic congressman Bobby Rush, who proposed the House legislation, tweeted: "The language of the Emmett Till Antilynching Act is IDENTICAL to the bill that was unanimously approved by the Senate. The only conclusion I can draw from Rand Paul's sudden opposition is he has an issue with the House bill being named after Emmett Till."But Paul, a licensed doctor, is notorious for rousing colleagues' ire by stalling legislation and for a life and career that are seldom conventional.In 2017 he was physically assaulted by a neighbour while mowing his lawn; in 2018 he visited Russia and delivered a letter from Donald Trump to Vladimir Putin; earlier this year he became the first senator to test positive for coronavirus, shortly after being the only one to vote against a bipartisan $8bn deal to provide emergency coronavirus funding.He now argues that the anti-lynching legislation is drafted too broadly and could define minor assaults as lynching."The bill as written would allow altercations resulting in a cut, abrasion, bruise, or any other injury no matter how temporary to be subject to a 10-year penalty," Paul said. "My amendment would simply apply a serious bodily injury standard, which would ensure crimes resulting in substantial risk of death and extreme physical pain be prosecuted as a lynching."He has previously worked with Democrats in pushing for criminal justice reform and taken a more progressive stance than many Republican colleagues.On Tuesday, the Associated Press reported, while speaking with activists in Louisville in his home state of Kentucky, Paul criticised no-knock search warrants, such as the one used at the home of Breonna Taylor, who was shot dead by police in March, and the militarisation of police departments. And he said he is likely to support some form of federal legislation aimed at overhauling police procedures.Challenged about his opposition to the bill, Paul called lynchings a "horror" of American history and said he supports the bill, the AP added, but reiterated that its language is too broad.Last Thursday, as Floyd was mourned at a memorial service in Minneapolis, Paul proposed an amendment to the bill, which would require a vote of the full Senate and would send the bill back to the House – currently out of session – for additional consideration.The amendment was defeated after emotions ran high on the Senate floor. Booker, of New Jersey, said: "One man, one man is standing in the way of the law of the land changing because of a difference of interpretation. Does America need a win today on racial justice?"Appearing on The View on the ABC network, Harris described the senator's contrarian stance as "insulting", adding: "What Rand Paul is doing, which is one man holding up what would be a historic bill recognising one of the great sins of America – and it was on the day of George Floyd's funeral which just added insult to injury and frankly made it so painful that on that day that's what was happening."Although Paul is often an outlier, there are fears that the holdup could be indicative of wider Republican reluctance to tackle systemic racism in the police and embrace reforms. Moe Vela, a former senior adviser to Joe Biden, said on Wednesday: "My thoughts on it are very simple: birds of a feather."If Rand Paul somehow doesn't believe we need an anti-lynching bill in the United States and his Republican colleagues can't get him to release the hold, to me it says everything Americans need to know about the Republican party. Either you're for lynching or you're against lynching. It's that simple." But Tara Setmayer, a political commentator and former Republican communications director on Capitol Hill, was less critical, noting the consistency of Paul's libertarian streak."I understand that he wants to strengthen the bill with certain language as an amendment," she said. "He doesn't want it to go away. He wants it to be strengthened from his perspective."But I think it's a bit out of step with the political climate that we're in … So he's going to get the backlash, but Senator Tim Scott said he's going to talk to him and see if they can work something out in the language. I think they will come to some type of agreement and it will eventually pass. I don't see it being held up forever."
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| Trump OKs sanctions against international tribunal employees Posted: 11 Jun 2020 06:31 AM PDT  In a broadside against the International Criminal Court, President Donald Trump on Thursday authorized economic and travel sanctions against court workers investigating American troops and intelligence officials and those of allied nations, including Israel, for possible war crimes in Afghanistan and elsewhere. Trump's executive order was his administration's latest attack against international organizations, treaties and agreements that don't hew to U.S. policies. The order would block the financial assets of court employees and bar them and their immediate relatives from entering the United States.
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| Globalization really started 1,000 years ago Posted: 11 Jun 2020 05:20 AM PDT  Viking ships touched down on the Canadian island of Newfoundland around the year 1000, at what is now the archaeological site known as L'Anse aux Meadows.For the first time, the two sides of the Atlantic Ocean were connected.When the Vikings landed, the indigenous people immediately started to trade with them. The Vikings describe this initial encounter in "Eirik's Saga," an oral epic written down after 1264 about the Norse voyages across the North Atlantic from Greenland to today's Canada. The locals brought animal pelts to trade, and in exchange, the Vikings offered lengths of red-dyed woolen cloth. As their supply of cloth began to run short, the Vikings cut the cloth into smaller and smaller pieces, some just as wide as a person's finger, but the locals wanted the cloth so much that they continued to offer the same number of pelts in trade.All over the world at this time, the allure of novel goods led to 1,000 years of trade and interactions among people from different places, in what is now known as globalization. They are the subject of my recent book "The Year 1000: When Explorers Connected the World – and Globalization Began."The rapid spread of the coronavirus and the resulting social and economic shutdown around the globe have changed everyone's understanding of the dangers of globalization, including mine. A society that can get only certain necessary items from a trade partner is vulnerable as a result of that dependence. In the past, there were built-in limits in global trade that prevented earlier societies from becoming totally reliant on outside goods. Those limits no longer exist today. A worldwide network of pathwaysAbout 10 years after their arrival at L'Anse aux Meadows, the Vikings abandoned their settlement, most likely because of conflicts with the local inhabitants. But they continued to sail to Canada to get lumber to bring back to Greenland and Iceland, where trees were scarce.Similar encounters around the world took place when Muslim traders and missionaries went from the Middle East to West Africa around 1000, when speakers of Malayo-Polynesian languages sailed from the Malay peninsula west to Madagascar, settling there by 1000, and across the Pacific to Hawaii and Easter Island between 1025 and 1290. A whole new system of maritime and overland routes opened up as a result of these expeditions. In the year 1000, an object or message could travel all the way around the world for the first time.In the year 1000, of course, there was no electricity or steam power, but mass production was still possible. In China's Fujian province, dragon kilns, which stretched over 300 feet up the sides of hills, were fueled by wood, coke or coal. Producing between 10,000 and 30,000 vessels in a single firing, these kilns employed hundreds, possibly thousands, of craftsmen, who worked full-time.Individual potters crafted vases, bottles, bowls and plates on their potter's wheels and then fired them to higher temperatures than any other kilns in the world. The glazed pots were the iPhones of their day, goods desired by everyone because they were both beautiful and easy to clean.Archaeologists have excavated Chinese wares in coastal ports in Kenya, Tanzania and Comoros along the world's most heavily traveled sea route at the time, which connected East Africa, the Middle East and China. Complete dominance of foreign markets was impossibleChinese ceramics were among the the most highly coveted trade goods of their day, but Chinese potters never succeeded in dominating foreign markets in the way that modern exporters can. Two important factors prevented them from doing so. First, even though Chinese kilns could produce thousands of pots in a single firing, production was not sufficiently high to flood the markets of other countries. Second, ship transport in the past was much less reliable than modern transport today.Historically, ships could be blown off course during storms or sink when they ran into rocks. The uncertainties of transport limited the amount of goods reaching foreign ports. My research has revealed that China's export ceramics never overwhelmed local manufacturers, who copied Chinese jars and pots.For instance, archaeologists digging in the modern city of Shush in Iran excavated local knockoffs of Chinese pots. The imitations were ingenious, but inferior. Because they had been fired at much lower temperatures, they were much more fragile than Chinese pots, and the glazes are not smooth. Despite their defects, local copies have surfaced at archaeological sites alongside imported vessels from China at multiple Indian Ocean ports, showing that local manufacturers were able to innovate and hang onto market share. Even if the supply of Chinese ceramics was cut off, local consumers could obtain the goods they needed.When supply lines have been cut off in the past, people have managed to find new sources of the goods they desired. The clearest examples were during World War I and World War II. When it became impossible to import something from enemy powers – and this could happen overnight – ingenious merchants located new supplies or created an equivalent such as synthetic rubber or the ersatz teas Germans blended from herbs when they could not access real tea.Today, the vast capacity of cargo planes and modern ships means that they can supply a community with entirely imported goods and eliminate all local production. The coronavirus pandemic has made Americans realize how dependent they are on foreign countries for key goods. In 2018, for example, a confidential U.S. Department of Commerce study concluded China supplied 97% of all the antibiotics Americans consumed. Ceramics aren't as important to people's health as antibiotics, but modern imports of all kinds can overwhelm local manufacturers today in a way that was not possible in the past.That's the challenge for the future: figuring out how to tame globalization so that local producers can survive alongside manufacturing superpowers. The past gives us reason to be optimistic: When supply lines have been cut off, people have managed to come up with alternative sources. [Deep knowledge, daily. Sign up for The Conversation's newsletter.]This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts.Read more: * Brexit could spell the end of globalization, and the global prosperity that came with it * Compare the flu pandemic of 1918 and COVID-19 with caution – the past is not a predictionValerie Hansen received funding from the Institute of Advanced Study at the University of Birmingham in the United Kingdom, Xiamen University in China, the Collège de France, and Yale University.
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| Citing virus, some Russian election officials shun vote to extend Putin rule Posted: 11 Jun 2020 05:19 AM PDT |
| Iran's second wave of coronavirus infections is showing the rest of the world the 'triple threat' it needs to avoid Posted: 11 Jun 2020 05:14 AM PDT  Iran's response to the outbreak, which has involved insufficient testing and premature reopening, has led to a surge in new daily cases.
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| International trade set to shrink 27% in Q2 after April "nosedive", says UNCTAD Posted: 11 Jun 2020 05:00 AM PDT |
| Previous coronavirus daily briefing updates, June 7-9 Posted: 11 Jun 2020 04:34 AM PDT  Current daily briefings on the coronavirus can be found here. Scroll below to read previous reports from May 23 to May 25, listed in eastern time.Yosemite National Park will be reopening on Thursday, June 11, but visitors will need to do some planning before arriving at the park. "To increase park access while providing the public a reasonable opportunity to comply with health guidelines, Yosemite National Park will implement a temporary day-use reservation system," The National Park Service (NPS) said. Before the pandemic, visitors were able to drive up to the park and purchase vehicle passes at the park entrance, but now reservations will need to be made online ahead of time to enter the park. The park will only be offering 1,700 vehicles passes each day, a limit that will reduce the number of vehicles in the park by approximately 50%. Reservations will also be required for people planning to camp in the park. A full list of available services in Yosemite can be found on the park's website.New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy signed an executive order on Tuesday to lift the stay-at-home order across the state. "We cannot move through Stage 2 and into Stage 3, and beyond, unless we continue to see our numbers trending downward," Murphy said on Twitter. "We cannot become complacent or irresponsible." Additionally, indoor gatherings up to 50 people and outdoor gatherings up to 100 people will be permitted. The number of new COVID-19 cases per day across New Jersey has been on a downward trend for more than a month leading up to the decision to lift the stay-at-home order, according to the New Jersey Department of Health. As of Tuesday evening, there have been 164,796 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in New Jersey, leading to 12,303 fatalities.NASCAR has announced its plan to gradually allow fans to return to the grandstands to cheer on their favorite drivers in person. As many as 5,000 guests will be allowed to attend the upcoming race at Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday, June 21, but there are some stipulations. "All guests in attendance will be screened before entering, required to wear face coverings, mandated to social distance at 6 feet, and will not have access to the infield, among other revised operational protocols," NASCAR said in a statement. Wearing a face mask throughout the entire race could prove to be a challenge for some fans as it takes place on the first full day of summer in one of the most humid areas of the country. Additionally, only Alabama residents that live within 150 miles of Talladega will be permitted to attend the race. Plans to allow fans to attend future races has yet to be announced, but other tracks, as well as other professional sport leagues, will be keeping a close eye at the success of reintroducing fans at Talladega.Medical experts are concerned that the police departments' use of tear gas and pepper spray on protestors could increase the spread of the coronavirus, according to The Associated Press. The chemicals in the two irritate the mucous membranes of the eyes, nose and throat, causing people to cough and sneeze. An attempt to breathe better would result in the protestor pulling off their mask, possibly endangering those who come to their aid. A study from 2014 by then active duty Army Officer Joseph J. Hout, et al., focused on Army recruits and mandatory exposure to tear gas during training linked exposure to tear gas and doctors diagnosing acute respiratory illness."If there is a person who is positive for the virus, I can see them coughing on someone else and spreading it that way," Hout told the AP. "Another less likely way is through irritation of the respiratory system. It could create an environment for opportunistic infection in the body."Antarctica remains the only continent untouched by the coronavirus, and New Zealand is taking action to keep it that way. The country is dropping 23 of the 36 research projects planned to take place in Antarctica in the coming research season, which runs from October to March, the BBC reported. With fewer projects, it will decrease the risk of COVID-19 spreading to the continent. "Antarctica's an isolated environment - if you had a medical emergency with a high number of people sick, you just don't have the capacity to deal with it. And with close-quarter, confined environments, it's kind of like living on a cruise ship down there," said Rob McKay, Associate Professor at Victoria University of Wellington.NHL teams began to return to practice facilities earlier this week, giving players a sense of normalcy as the league heads toward a return to play. In the current phase, teams can begin limited workouts with small groups. Players are also being tested frequently to ensure that the coronavirus is not being spread during the workouts. "We did a test on the weekend, and then we did one today," New York Ranger John Bailey said. "As far as going forward, I'm not entirely sure how many we'll have to do, but it was a pretty easy test so we're not too worried about that." However, it will still be some time before the puck drops at the next game. Training camps are not expected to start until mid-July, with several more weeks before the Stanley Cup Qualifiers begin. "As far as optimism goes, I'm absolutely optimistic. We're just hoping for the best and that we can get a resolution and get this thing rolling," Bailey said.> Alex Chiasson, Matt Benning, Kris Russell, Tyler Benson & Stuart Skinner are on the ice for the Oilers today at @RogersPlace as Phase 2 of the @NHL's Return to Play Plan is officially underway. > > Welcome home, fellas! �� pic.twitter.com/E8DUaBvaLe> > -- Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) June 8, 2020Arizona hospitals are already preparing for another surge in COVID-19 cases. The director of the Arizona Department of Health Services informed hospitals across the state to activate emergency plans as the number of available ICU beds dwindles, ABC 15 reported, a news station based in Phoenix. By activating emergency plans, hospitals will be preparing for more patients, reducing or suspending elective surgeries, and cross-training staff. Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey lifted stay-at-home orders on May 15, which included the phased reopening of business such as salons and dine-in restaurants. At that time, Arizona was averaging around 450 to 550 new COVID-19 cases every day. Since then, the number has sharply risen, exceeding 1,000 new cases per day in early June, according to the Arizona Department of Health Services.Contrary to many countries that have experienced a decrease in coronavirus cases, the U.S. has hit a plateau. According to a report from AFP, experts say this is the result of the cumulative impact of regional outbreaks, as cases peaked in April along coastal regions and in major cities of the country before the virus moved to smaller cities and the inner regions of the country. Additionally, cases have increased as lockdown restrictions have eased, and, in some places, social distancing guidelines aren't being followed due to economic hardship, AFP reported. Tom Frieden, a former director of the CDC, says that the country's size plays a big role on this plateau. "The U.S. is a large country both in geography and population, and the virus is at very different stages in different parts of the country," Frieden told AFP.Wearing face masks will be required by law enforcement in Spain until there is a coronavirus vaccine. Police will hand out 100 euros ($113) fines to people not complying with the new rule, the government said. The measure will reportedly continue after the country's state of emergency ends on June 21 and will "remain in place until we permanently defeat the virus, which is when we have an effective treatment or vaccine against it," Health Minister Salvador Illa said. It has been mandatory for everyone age 6 and older to wear a mask in public where it is not possible to maintain a 6.5 feet distance from other people since May 21. Although this new rule is not for very young children, it is "recommended" for those between three and five, according to Yahoo.Polling stations across Georgia opened their doors Tuesday morning for the state's primary election after it was delayed twice due to the pandemic. Long lines were reported at several voting locations across the Atlanta area not only due to high voter turnout, but because people in line were practicing social distancing. For some, this meant standing out in the rain as showers and thunderstorms tracked across the state, including the Atlanta area. Many, but not all, of the people waiting to vote were wearing face masks or face coverings. There were also issues with Georgia's new touchscreen voting system, The Associated Press reported. Georgia isn't the only state where voters are casting ballots on Tuesday. West Virginia residents are also heading out to vote after their primary election was delayed from May 12 due to the pandemic. People wait in a line to vote in the Georgia's primary election at Park Tavern on Tuesday, June 9, 2020, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson) The coronavirus caused a "swift and massive shock" that has triggered the most broad collapse of the global economy since 1870, the World Bank said Monday In its latest Global Economic Prospects report, the World Bank said the economy is expected to shrink by 5.2 percent this year which is the worst recession in 80 years, AFP reported. It is said that the crisis could put up to 100 million people into extreme poverty. Economists have had a difficult time measuring the impact caused by the coronavirus to the world economy because of the sheer size of the impact across many different industries. The worst-case scenario as a result from the global recession would be contraction of 8 percent."This is a deeply sobering outlook, with the crisis likely to leave long-lasting scars and pose major global challenges," World Bank Group Vice President for Equitable Growth, Finance and Institutions, Ceyla Pazarbasioglu, told AFP.South Korea's largest water park is now open to the public after weeks of being closed due to the coronavirus pandemic. Caribbean Bay, located an hour southeast of Seoul in the city of Yongin, reopened its doors on Friday, June 5, Reuters reported. Only one ride was open, and to ensure everyone's safety the government announced that people should maintain distance in all pools and locker rooms at the park. Additionally, the venue's operators released guidelines in which they state that all visitors will have to fill an online health form and have their temperatures checked before they're allowed in. Employees will also disinfect the park's premises every hour and all visitors will be asked to wear masks when not in the water. Although the park had few visitors on its Friday reopening, this is expected to change as summer approaches. Watch a video in the tweet below which shows some of the first guests to return to the park cooling off on a hot day.> Testing the waters: South Korea's waterparks open under new social distancing measures pic.twitter.com/5l2ssFPFTL> > -- Reuters (@Reuters) June 6, 2020The World Health Organization has cautioned that much is still unknown about COVID-19 and its asymptomatic spread. Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, the head of WHO's emerging diseases and zoonosis unit, has said that it is "a really complex question and much is still unknown." Van Kerkhove also said that WHO officials don't have an answer to how easily it can spread asymptomatically yet and that current estimates are anywhere between 6% and 41% of the population may be infected but show zero symptoms, according to CNBC.The remarks were a clarification on what she said Monday during a press conference. "From the data we have, it seems to be rare that an asymptomatic person actually transmits onward to a secondary individual," Van Kerkhove told reporters. On Tuesday, she said during a live social media broadcast that her comments on Monday had been in response to a question and she wasn't stating a specific WHO policy. "And in that [press conference], I used the phrase 'very rare,' and I think that that's misunderstanding to state that asymptomatic transmission globally is very rare. I was referring to a small subset of studies," she said, according to CNBC. "Some estimates of around 40% of transmission may be due to asymptomatic, but those are from models, so I didn't include that in my answer yesterday, but wanted to make sure that I covered that here," she said. Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, the head of WHO's emerging diseases and zoonosis unit, speaks with reporters in Geneva, Switzerland, on Monday June 8, 2020. (Twitter / WHO) A restaurant in Brussels is trying to return to normalcy with a fun initiative. After being closed for three months, The Lodge restaurant partnered with marketing and advertising company Cheesebox to create custom masks with the staff's faces printed on them. CEO of Cheesebox, Charles de Bellefroid, told AFP this was a way of making everyone feel more comfortable. "We thought it was a bit dehumanizing and it's true that in some industries that doesn't help with business, so we wanted to put a smile, a face, an identity on people," de Bellefroid said. "And so, we came up with the idea of printing faces on masks." The idea has also been praised by the restaurant's customers. "I think it's great, at least you can recognize people," said a guest only identified as Audrey. "You can see what people look like, so it's a great initiative." Watch a video embedded in the tweet below to see how the masks look when worn by staff and customers.> VIDEO: On the occasion of its reopening after three months of confinement, a restaurant in Brussels worked with a Belgian company, which prints faces on masks via an improved photo booth, to equip its employees with face masks showing a picture of their face pic.twitter.com/d0ehQPzUps> > -- AFP news agency (@AFP) June 9, 2020Mounting evidence now suggests that at-risk individuals may need to add eye protection to further protect against transmission of the coronavirus in addition to wearing face masks. According to ABC News, research has shown that the virus that causes COVID-19 can be transmitted through the eyes, mouth and nose from direct exposure "of a droplet from coughing, sneezing or even yelling." A recent study published in The Lancet suggested that individuals are three times less likely to contract COVID-19 if they're wearing eye protection, such as face shields, goggles and glasses. The study says the risk of contracting the virus is reduced from 16% to 6% when wearing eye protection. Moscow lifted its strict coronavirus lockdown on Tuesday following more than two months of restrictions. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin announced Monday that the lockdown and pass system would end Tuesday, allowing residents to take to the streets once more, according to AFP. Russia currently has the third highest number of confirmed cases in the world at about 484,630, behind Brazil (707,412) and the U.S. (1,961,187). The nation has had over 6,000 COVID-19-related deaths, about 241,917 recoveries and more than 13 million tests have been conducted across the country. Russia's capital city had been under lockdown since March 30, with some measures gradually easing over the most recent weeks. Critics have accused authorities of under-reporting deaths and pushing reopening too soon for political reasons, AFP reported. On July 1, Russia will hold a nationwide vote on constitutional reforms, which, if passed, could extend President Vladimir Putin's term until 2036.The easing of the lockdown restrictions came on a pleasant day in Moscow. The sun was shining and temperatures were in the mid-80s in the city, well above the normal high of 69 F for June 9. "It's nice out and there are a lot of people on the streets. It's a beautiful day, in every sense of the word," Olga Ivanova, a Moscow resident, told AFP.The World Health Organization says asymptomatic patients are not increasing the spread of the coronavirus. According to Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, head of the WHO's emerging diseases and zoonosis unit, coronavirus patients without symptoms are not likely to transmit the virus. "From the data we have, it seems to be rare that an asymptomatic person actually transmits onward to a secondary individual," Van Kerkhove said Monday, according to CNBC. She later added that in order to slow the spread of the virus, governments should focus on isolating infected people with symptoms and everyone who came into contact with them.Rigorous testing conducted in the northern Italian province of Bergamo found that more than half of the residents who were tested had COVID-19 antibodies, local health authorities said on Monday, according to Reuters. The health officials said a sample survey found that of 9,965 residents who had blood tests done between April 23 and June 3, 57% had antibodies, which indicated they had come into contact with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, Reuters said. The Bergamo health agency said in a statement that most residents who provided blood samples were from the hardest-hit areas and had already been under quarantine, Reuters reported.Here are the latest updated totals from around the world, according to data compiled by researchers from Johns Hopkins University: * Total confirmed cases: 7,136,366 * Total deaths: 406,913 * Total recovered: 3,309,447Homestead-Miami Speedway is planning for 1,000 guests at their NASCAR Cup race on June 14. The guests -- who were approved by Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez -- will be made up of military personnel, first responders and household members, according to NBC Sports. The guests will not be charged, and will be the only ones in the stands. They will be required to receive a temperature check and health screening prior to entrance. Since the season resumed in May, they will be the first people to watch a NASCAR race from the stands due to health concerns regarding COVID-19.Texas sees the consequences of an early reopening as the state announced a record number of coronavirus hospitalizations on Monday. As reported by the Texas Department of State Health Services, there are currently 1,935 COVID-19 patients in hospitals across the state. This is an increase from the previous hospitalization record of 1,888 patients on May 8. According to experts, hospitalization numbers are the best way to track the spread of the virus and the main indicator that the government should use when making the decision to reopen the economy. "Looking at things like how many ICU admissions and deaths are probably some of the strongest and most reliable (data points) because they are the worst outcomes that could happen," said Dr. David Hardy, an adjunct professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Texas was one of the first states to reopen the economy, with some businesses reopening as early as May 1. Due to this, the positivity rate for COVID-19 increased from 4.27% in late May to a current rate of 7.55%, according to the state's health department.The last cruise ship carrying passengers has made its final port of call after six months of being at sea. On Monday, the MV Artania cruise ship that had traveled all the way to Australia, tied up in a German port. The ship's arrival comes more than two months after other major cruise ships were taken out of commission due to the coronavirus pandemic. The 140-day cruise sailed on December 21, 2019 from Hamburg, Germany, and in March, 36 passengers tested positive for the coronavirus. While most of the passengers got off the ship after two weeks of quarantine, eight passengers decided to travel back to Germany aboard the Artania and they finally arrived on Monday at noon., local timeNew protocols were announced by the NFL for players and staff members returning to facilities. Commissioner Roger Goodell released the protocol, which is broken up by: * Access * Physical distancing * Facility and equipment cleaning and disinfecting * Food services * Personal protective equipment (PPE) and hygiene * Compliance with protocols * Education on the spread So far, no date has been pinned down for players to return to club facilities, but the NFL is in discussion about allowing some players to return by June 26. While in the facilities, masks must be worn at all times by staff and players and areas available to use must be restricted. Further protocols and travel issues will be addressed in the future.On Friday, Ontario is set to reopen more businesses, including hair salons and restaurants with outdoor dining in areas outside of coronavirus hot spots. The openings will occur in 24 health regions and will increase the maximum of social groups from five to 10 people in some permitted health regions, which includes Ottawa, Reuters reports. Toronto will remain in phase one, as will other areas with higher rates of the novel coronavirus, meaning residents will need to wait a bit longer before being able to visit businesses like hair salons. The decision on which regions to allow reopening was "based on trends of key public health indicators such as lower rates of transmission, increased capacity in hospitals, and progress made in testing," a statement from the office of Premier Doug Ford said, according to Reuters.South Africa President Cyril Ramaphosa grows worried as COVID-19 cases in the country are "rising fast." Out of South Africa's 48,000 confirmed cases, more than half have been recorded in the last two weeks, according to The Associated Press. Currently, there are more than 184,000 confirmed cases in Africa, and most of those cases are in South Africa, which concerns the citizens of the country. "Like many South Africans, I, too, have been worried as I watch these figures keep rising," Ramaphosa wrote on Monday's weekly letter to the nation. Despite this, the country's restrictions are being eased after a 10-week lockdown that started on March 27. Ramaphosa said that the lockdown had achieved "the objective we had of delaying the spread of the virus" and "gave us time to prepare our facilities."The transmission rate of COVID-19 in L.A. County is once again on the rise, officials report. The pandemic reached its lowest levels of transmission on May 31 for the county, according to the Los Angeles Times. When at its highest point, the effective transmission rate for the county was 3 to 3.5, meaning each person that became infected with the virus transmitted it to an average of 3 to 3.5 people. Since then it has gotten as low as 1; however, director of health services for L.A. County, Christina Ghaly, said the transmission rate is above 1 once again and is continuing to rise. "We must all do everything we can to keep the [transmission rate] from continuing to increase," Ghaly said.Central de Abasto in Mexico City, the world's biggest fruit and vegetable market, becomes a COVID-19 hotspot. Described as "a city within a city" by locals, the market is visited by half a million people every day and is the workplace of 90,000 people, most of whom have been sick. In addition, around 500 customers have tested positive for COVID-19. Alejandro, a porter at the market, got sick and had to spend a month in isolation but had to come back due to financial reasons. "Money runs out, in the little time I was out my savings got used up," he told Aljazeera reporter John Holman. To help bring awareness and slow down the spread of COVID-19 in the market, Mexico City's government decided to send medical workers to spread awareness. However, this hasn't helped. "They think COVID is a game, they're like 'whatever, nothing's going to happen to me'," said Jokebed Reyna, a medical worker.When the COVID-19 pandemic struck the world, cruise ships, oil tankers and other commercial ships halted their trips. As a result, the lack of human noise pollution in the world's oceans will allow for scientists the unique opportunity to hear the true sounds of the ocean without any man-made interference. "Well, we're not excited that COVID happened, but we're happy to be able to take advantage of the scientific opportunity," Peter Tyack, a professor of marine mammal biology at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, said. "It would have just been impossible any other way." Scientists have set up 130 underwater hydrophones to listen in around the globe, as well as six stations to monitor nuclear tests underwater, Reuters reported. Tyack said the scientists will be mainly listening in to learn if whales and other sea creatures will adjust their communication methods, by shifting their volume or even their habitat, to adjust to the newfound lack of noise. "What did the pre-industrial ocean sound like and how are marine ecosystems going to respond to that?" Tyack said.As restrictions are eased across the U.S., more people are starting to travel by air. Recent data released by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) from March 1 to June 7 shows a slight increase in the number of air passengers. According to JetTip, "U.S. pax airlines operated 35% of the number of pre-crisis flights to accommodate 15% of the passengers." Although these numbers are still low, they are slowly increasing and are predicted to continue doing so.The U.S. remdesivir supply is set to run out by the end of June. Robert Kadlec, a US Department of Health and Human Services official, said the supply of the drug, which is currently the only drug known to be effective in treating COVID-19, is fleeting in availability. CNN reported that the last shipment of the drug is scheduled to go out on June 29, but the company that makes it is rushing to produce more. It is not yet clear if there will be any more availability through the summer. "Right now, we're waiting to hear from Gilead what is their expected delivery availability of the drug as we go from June to July," Kadlec said. "We're kind of not in negotiations, but in discussions with Gilead as they project what the availability of their product will be."As the U.S. continues to fight the spread of COVID-19, antibody tests to determine who have been infected with the virus have become a tool rising in use, but they may not be as effective as people think. Previously, it was believed that only about 5% of COVID-19 cases were asymptomatic, however new research suggests the real number could be anywhere between 25% and 50%, meaning many cases could have gone undetected and spread to others. However, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Dr. Anthony Fauci said they may not be as useful as people assume. According to WTOP, many antibody tests are lacking in accuracy, and only a few have been granted emergency use authorization from the Food and Drug Administration. Additionally, not everyone who has been infected will end up with a high enough antibody count to be picked up by the tests. Fauci said while it isn't extremely common, it is common enough "to confuse the picture." Experts are also unsure how long antibodies stay in a person's system after recovery. "If you are taking a test and it's a validated test, then you can rely on its accuracy, but you can't ask the test to do too much," Fauci said. "In the big picture, it certainly is compatible with and likely that if you are antibody positive you've been infected and you're protected, at least for a finite period of time. But the details of that are still evolving."A coronavirus vaccine could be ready by 2021, says Dr. Anthony Fauci. As of early June, there are more than 120 candidate vaccines, and Fauci is confident one "will be proven safe and effective" by the first quarter of 2021. "By the beginning of 2021, we hope to have a couple of hundred million doses," Fauci said. However, some doctors, including Dr. Larry Corey, an expert in vaccine development, believe that this is a highly ambitious goal. "Everything will have to go incredibly perfectly if that's going to happen," Dr. Corey said. According to Dr. Emily Erbelding, an infectious disease expert, developing a vaccine can take anywhere between eight to 10 years, as they have to go through multiple trials to for safety and efficiency. Despite this, Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, still believes that a possible coronavirus vaccine could be ready soon. "Because we have a number of these (trials), and they all use a different strategy, I am optimistic that at least one, maybe two, maybe three, will come through looking like what we need," Collins said.COVID-19 may have been spreading in China as early as late summer 2019, according to a new study from Harvard Medical School. Researchers analyzed satellite data that shows an increase of traffic around major hospitals in Wuhan, the original epicenter of the virus, meaning the virus may have been spreading through central China long before it was reported to the rest of the world. Additionally, the study revealed that the increase in traffic also aligned with an uptick in internet searches for what is now understood to be symptoms of the new coronavirus, ABC News reported. "So more cars in a hospital, the hospital's busier, likely because something's happening in the community, an infection is growing and people have to see a doctor," John Brownstein, the Harvard Medical professor who led the research, said. "We saw this across multiple institutions." For more on the report, watch the video below.> EXCLUSIVE: Satellite imagery showing spikes in vehicles around major hospitals in Wuhan last fall suggests coronavirus may have been spreading through central China long before it was first reported to the world, a new study says. @TomLlamasABC reports. https://t.co/1G4bfFBNg6 pic.twitter.com/nNU6iBVQAQ> > -- Good Morning America (@GMA) June 8, 2020With a death toll of more than 100,000 in the United States, the coronavirus pandemic could become the second-deadliest outbreak in the country's history, only after the Spanish Flu of 1918. On May 27, the coronavirus passed the number of deaths from the flu season of 1967 when the toll eclipsed the 100,000 mark, and it is close to surpassing the death toll of the 1957 flu outbreak, which killed an estimated 116,000 nationwide. According to Dr. Bryan Lewis, a professor at the Biocomplexity Institute at the University of Virginia who recognized early on that this outbreak had the potential to be devastating, things could've have been far worse in the U.S. "Fortunately, the populace really stepped up and took some drastic measures that we in the pandemic preparedness field were never sure folks would actually do, such as closing schools, certain workplaces and having people stay at home," Lewis told AccuWeather's John Roach. "Plus, he added, "the level of mask wearing is surprising." Lewis also warned that the U.S. is not out of the woods. "The weather angle may finally come to bear and help out a little here in the midst of summer," he said, "but I am concerned about how things will look in September."New coronavirus cases in Pennsylvania could be linked to Jersey Shore beach house gatherings. Bucks County health officials have traced 11 out of the new 33 coronavirus cases to gatherings at the Jersey Shore. Officials added that this number is expected to increase as family members could also become infected. With the increase in temperatures as summer is approaching, Dr. David Damsker, director of the Bucks County Health Department, fears that more people will start going to the beach, making the situation worse, according to CBS 3 in Philadelphia. "This is exactly why we can't let our guard down now, even if it feels 'safe to be at the beach," Damsker said. "One unlucky exposure can lead to a large cascade of cases down the line. We want everyone to enjoy the warm weather and have fun, but let's keep in mind that COVID is still circulating in the community at baseline levels."How effective have all of the lockdowns been? They may have been very disruptive to life as we know it, but a new study says the lockdowns and other social distancing measures implemented by governments around the world may have prevented more than 500 million cases of COVID-19. On Sunday, the worldwide total number of cases crossed the 7 million mark, and the disease has claimed 400,000 lives around the world. The new study was published in the journal Nature on Monday and the researchers said it took about three weeks for places that implemented strict lockdown measures to see the true effects of those measures. Similarly, they warned, as municipalities begin to ease lockdowns, any negative impacts will be recognizable about three weeks later.The study focused on six countries and estimated what the total number of cases might've been in those nations had governments not acted as swiftly as they did. According to the researchers, the U.S. would've seen 60 million cases of COVID-19 under their analysis. As of Monday, the U.S. is on the verge of reaching 2 million cases. The researchers also point out that many COVID-19 cases are on the mild side and the vast majority of the half a billion figure would've gone undetected. "We estimate that across these six countries, interventions prevented or delayed on the order of 62 million confirmed cases, corresponding to averting roughly 530 million total infections," the researchers wrote in the study. A security person checks the temperature of an Indian Muslim man who arrives to offer prayers after Jama Mosque opened after lockdown in New Delhi, India, Monday, June 8, 2020. India is reopening its restaurants, shopping malls and religious places in most of its states after a more than 2-month-old lockdown even as the country continues to witness a worrying rise in new coronavirus infections. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup) Oregon just reported its highest single-day case count yet. On Sunday, The Oregon Health Authority reported 146 new cases of COVID-19 and one new death. According to Oregon Live, this was the highest single-day tally yet, with the second-highest day being April 4 when 100 new cases were reported. State officials say the rise in new cases comes from outbreaks in workplace environments. Pacific Seafood in Newport reported an outbreak of 65 cases on Sunday. the company also disclosed an additional 59 cases that were not included in the Sunday tally through the state Health Authority.Many celebrities, politicians and everyday people have donated their plasma after recovering from COVID-19 -- but how does that process work? According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), plasma is the liquid part of blood that develops antibodies after becoming infected with the virus, which can help prevent the person from getting infected again. When the plasma of a coronavirus survivor is injected in a patient suffering from COVID-19, that patient is given the antibodies to help them fight off the virus. The method of plasma injection has been used to fight previous outbreaks of disease as well, such as polio, measles, mumps and influenza, according to USA Today.A 2004 study on SARS showed convalescent plasma therapy resulted in patients being discharged from the hospital sooner and having a higher chance of survival. Some studies suggest convalescent plasma therapy is effective with other coronaviruses, but evidence to suggest it is effective in battling COVID-19 is minimal. "Once they get to the ICU stage, it seems like they're too far gone because there's all these physiological things going on with them that antibodies won't touch at that point," Camille van Buskirk, medical director for the Mayo Clinic Blood Donor Program, told USA Today. Buskirk did say, however, that patients who are not severely ill have shown signs of improvement after being injected with plasma.Early data from a clinical study suggests there may be an effective new treatment for the respiratory difficulties in patients with COVID-19. Researchers at the Center for Cancer Research at the National Cancer Institute found that blocking the Bruton tyrosine kinase (BTK) protein could be beneficial for patients suffering from severe COVID-19. They tested this as they treated a small group of patients with the off-label use of the cancer drug acalabrutinib, a BTK inhibitor that is approved to treat several blood cancers. The drug helped the patients as it reduced the respiratory distress associated with the virus, and for most of the patients who were treated, there was a reduction in the overactive immune response, the National Institutes of Health said in a statement.Pope Francis warned Italy not to celebrate the low coronavirus numbers just yet. While addressing hundreds in St. Peter's Square on Sunday, he spoke to a crowd erupting in applause and told them, "Be careful, don't cry victory too soon," according to Reuters. Italy entered the final phase of reopening on June 3, which allows for travel between regions. The country holds the fourth-highest death toll from COVID-19 with more than 33,000 fatalities, according to Johns Hopkins University. "We still have to follow the rules. Thank God, we are leaving the worst part, but always by obeying the rules that the authorities have stipulated," Francis said.Brazil's government has stopped publishing its running coronavirus death toll in what some call an attempt to hide the true toll of COVID-19-related deaths in the country, The Associated Press reported. After being criticized for manipulating and failing to show the true number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the country, the federal Health Ministry took down the website that showed the daily, weekly and monthly figures on infections and deaths in the country. The site now only shows figures for the last 24-hour period. According to the latest figures released by officials, Brazil is currently the third country with the most COVID-19-related deaths with a death toll of 34,000. In terms of confirmed cases, Brazil is second globally with more than 690,000 -- behind only the United States. Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro said on Twitter that the figures published are "not representative" of the country's current situation. However, health secretaries are worried that Bolsonaro is trying to diminish the severity of the situation. "The authoritarian, insensate, inhuman and unethical attempt to make the COVID-19 deaths invisible will not prosper," the health secretaries council said on Saturday.India reopened on Monday, despite a record daily rise in new COVID-19 cases. Following a 10-week lockdown, the government allowed the reopening of restaurants, mosques, malls, and temples in order to help the economy begin recovering, AFP reported. The decision has raised concerns due to the high number of COVID-19 cases that already existed in the country. According to government figures, there was a total of 256,611 confirmed cases with a reported death toll of 7,135, and with lockdown measures eased, the country's number of confirmed cases is expected to peak in July. Despite this, Indian citizens are happy to have some normalcy after 10-weeks of what was the world's largest lockdown. "It felt like something was missing when I couldn't come to the temple for all these weeks," said businessman Mohit Budhiraja, according to AFP. "I hope things improve, but now I will come every day."New Zealand officials have declared the nation "virus-free," and announced a plan to lift restrictions. The country will leave its strict border regulations in place, however the remainder of the lockdown rules will disappear, making New Zealand a place "where life feels as normal as we can in the time of a global pandemic," Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said in a press conference. The restrictions were lifted at midnight on Monday. New Zealand has received praise from the World Health Organization and global attention for its swift and effective actions against COVID-19, The Guardian reported. "Our collective results I think speak for ourselves. This was what the sacrifice of our team of five million was for -- to keep one another safe and to keep one another well," Arden said. When asked how she celebrated the turning point in the country's battle against the coronavirus, Arden replied, "I did a little dance."> 'I did a little dance,' Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said when she was asked how she celebrated after New Zealand eliminated transmission of the coronavirus https://t.co/NZSE2BGFSx pic.twitter.com/H6lMVRsfwd> > -- Reuters (@Reuters) June 8, 2020Here are the latest updated totals from around the world, according to data compiled by researchers from Johns Hopkins University: * Total confirmed cases: 7,036,623 * Total deaths: 403,131 * Total recovered: 3,153,223The world surpassed the 7 million case threshold on Saturday evening, just one day after seeing the global death toll reach 400,000.World hits 7 million confirmed cases and more than 400,000 fatalities since the coronavirus outbreak erupted. The pandemic has upended life on earth in ways not seen in more than a century, and over the weekend the global death toll and number of cases each crossed sobering milestones. In the U.S., the coronavirus has now killed more than 110,000 and the country is on the verge of reaching 2 million confirmed cases, according to figures kept by researchers at Johns Hopkins University. More than 500,000 Americans infected have recovered from the illness. Around the world, more than 3.1 million have overcome the coronavirus. COVID-19 testing in the U.S. has ramped up considerably over the last month -- according to Johns Hopkins University, more than 20 million coronavirus tests have been administered nationwide. The World Health Organization (WHO) reversed its stance on healthy people wearing face coverings in public, the BBC reported. Previously, the WHO contended that wearing a face mask does not help protect healthy people from COVID-19, but WHO officials have advised sick people to wear them in order to protect healthy people from the spread of the virus. "In light of evolving evidence, the WHO advises that governments should encourage the general public to wear masks where there is widespread transmission and physical distancing is difficult," WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.GAP reported a nearly $1 billion quarterly loss this week. The significant setback for the retail giant comes amid stores being forced to close from the coronavirus outbreak, and it also caused the company's stock shares to tumble down about 8%. Some 55% of the nearly-2,800 GAP stores across North America are now open and online operations are "booming," according to a report by Reuters. Expensive brands have been seeing fewer sales amid the pandemic while affordable clothing brands such as Old Navy have been seeing stronger demand. The total net loss for GAP was $932 million for the three months ending May 2nd.The Michigan Supreme Court unanimously sided with a barber who defied Gov. Gretchen Witmers lockdown orders by reopening his shop. Karl Manke opened his shop on May 5, despite lockdown regulations in the state not authorizing barbershops to open until June 12. The Supreme Court decision vacated a lower court order to keep the shop closed. Manke continued to cut hair while the legal battle was ongoing, causing him to receive thousands of dollars in fines and lose his licenses, according to The New York Post.COVID-19 deaths in New York are at the lowest numbers they've been since the beginning of the pandemic. In 24 hours, 35 people in New York died from the virus on Saturday, compared to more than 700 at the peak of the the outbreak in April. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced the record low numbers on Saturday, calling it "really really good news." The numbers have now allowed Cuomo to fast track reopening places of worship by allowing them to hold services with 25% capacity, according to The New York Post. "Our metrics are all, today, very good. We are going to open the valve more than we originally anticipated because the metrics are so good. Compared to where we were, this is a big sigh of relief," Cuomo said.Can eating cheese help alleviate coronavirus symptoms? A team of researchers studying patients at a Dutch hospital have found that those who were deficient in vitamin K, primarily found in spinach, eggs and hard and blue cheeses, tended to be more affected by the virus. Two known symptoms of the coronavirus are blood clotting and degradation of elastic fibers in the lungs, and according to these researchers, vitamin K can help by regulating blood clots and promoting lung health. The Dutch researchers are seeking funding for a clinical trial to see if vitamin K truly helps alleviate these two symptoms of COVID-19.Doctor Rob Janssen, one of the scientists working on the study, says that the vitamin could lead to a safe and practical treatment if it were to work. "We are in a terrible, horrible situation in the world," Janssen said. "We do have an invention which does not have any side effects, even less than a placebo. There is one major exception: people on anti-clotting medication. It is completely safe in other people."New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said the city is within parameters to proceed with reopening on Monday as planned. The statewide thresholds to enter phase one include having less than 200 people admitted to hospitals per day, to have under 375 intensive care unit patients across the city, and to have less than 15% of city residents testing positive for the virus, according to CNN. As of Sunday, NYC hospitals have admitted 72 people due to coronavirus, 324 people remain in ICUs, and 4% of the city is currently testing positive for coronavirus, de Blasio announced. "That is what you've achieved together, that's another way we're going to move forward in this city," de Blasio said. Vehicles move through a nearly empty Times Square during the coronavirus pandemic, Saturday, May 23, 2020, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II) On Sunday, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it's closely monitoring the protests and demonstrations happening across The United States. The statement comes amid concerns that the protests could spur additional coronavirus transmission. "CDC and our federal partners are monitoring closely the demonstrations happening across America. Protests and large gatherings make it difficult to maintain our recommended social distancing guidelines and may put others at risk," CDC spokesperson Kristen Nordlund said in a statement. "It is too early to know what, if any, effect these events will have on the federal COVID-19 response. Every local situation is different. State and local officials will make decisions to protect public health and safety based on circumstances on the ground."Now that infection rates have fallen, Pope Francis warned Italians to not let their guard down against coronavirus during his St. Peter's Square Sunday blessing. "Be careful. Don't cry victory too soon," he cautioned them, sidetracking from his prepared text, Reuters said. Italy entered the latest phase of an easing of restriction on June 3, when people were allowed to travel between regions again. A little more than 33,000 people have died in Italy from the virus, the fourth-highest toll in the world after the United States, Britain and Brazil. The number of daily deaths has fallen from nearly 1,000 several months ago to 72 on Saturday, according to Reuters.Brazil has stopped publishing coronavirus deaths and infections data after months of criticism from experts that Brazil's statistics were deficient, and in some cases manipulated. According to the Associated Press, Brazil's last official numbers showed it had recorded more than 34,000 deaths related to the coronavirus, the third-highest number in the world. It reported nearly 615,000 infections, putting it second, behind the United States.The federal Health Ministry took down a website that previously showed daily, weekly and monthly figures on infections and deaths in Brazilian states. The next day the site returned but the cumulative numbers of infections for states and the nation were no longer there, according to The Associated Press. Now, the website only shows the numbers for the previous 24 hours. Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro tweeted that totals are "not representative" of the country's current situation.Here are the latest updated totals from around the world, according to researchers from Johns Hopkins University: * Total confirmed cases: 6,920,214 * Total deaths: 400,225 * Total recovered: 3,100,180
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| Zimbabwe's MDC 'abductees arrested for lying about torture' Posted: 11 Jun 2020 04:27 AM PDT  The opposition says three women tortured by state agents have been charged over their allegations.
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| European court backs pro-Palestinian BDS protest movement Posted: 11 Jun 2020 04:22 AM PDT  The European Court of Human Rights ruled Thursday that France violated the freedom of expression of pro-Palestinian activists who were convicted for campaigning against Israeli goods. The court ordered the French government to pay 101,000 euros ($115,000) in overall damages to a group of 11 activists. France's top court upheld the conviction.
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| Iran says virus cases top 180,000 Posted: 11 Jun 2020 04:20 AM PDT  More than 180,000 people have been infected in Iran's coronavirus outbreak since it first emerged nearly four months ago, an official said on Thursday. As the figures were announced, President Hassan Rouhani called on Iranians to stick to guidelines aimed at stopping the spread of COVID-19. "If everyone follows the health instructions exactly, then all jobs can be reopened," he said in remarks broadcast on state television.
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| News agency: Iranian police confiscate 2 tons of morphine Posted: 11 Jun 2020 03:16 AM PDT |
| Rights group: Egypt police raid homes of activist's uncles Posted: 11 Jun 2020 02:21 AM PDT  Police raided the houses of two uncles of an Egyptian-American activist who recently sued a former Egyptian prime minister in a U.S. court, accusing him of crimes against humanity, an international rights group said on Thursday. Human Rights Watch quoted a member of Mohamed Soltan's family as saying that more than a dozen uniformed and plainclothes police on Wednesday searched the houses of two of Soltan's uncles in the Delta province of Menoufeya. The security forces also looked at passports, phones and laptops before asking about Soltan, a dual U.S.-Egyptian citizen, and whether the family had been in touch with him, according to the statement released by the New York-based group.
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| A Call to Support Africa’s Health and Science Workforce Posted: 11 Jun 2020 02:00 AM PDT |
| German govt's stimulus could boost economy by 1.3 pct points this year- DIW Posted: 11 Jun 2020 02:00 AM PDT |
| Michel Barnier blocks UK plan for secret 'tunnel' talks on Brexit trade deal Posted: 11 Jun 2020 01:45 AM PDT  Michel Barnier has ruled out a British plan to enter intensive "tunnel" negotiations over an EU trade deal in July. Brussels' chief Brexit negotiator told EU ambassadors of the move for secret talks and accused the UK of reneging on Withdrawal Agreement commitments to allow EU officials to regularly scrutinise the new customs arrangements in Northern Ireland after the end of the transition period. He warned senior diplomats on Wednesday that David Frost, the UK's chief negotiator, was attempting to use leverage over access to UK fishing waters to exact major concessions that would transform Britain into a manufacturing rival to the EU. Boris Johnson is meant to meet the presidents of the three EU institutions for "high-level" talks to discuss progress in the deadlocked free trade negotiations this month. Diplomatic sources claimed the reason an exact date was still not nailed down was because the UK wanted to announce the "tunnel" talks after the meeting and paint it as a success for the Prime Minister. British sources blame scheduling difficulties caused by the need to match the diaries of the presidents of the European Commission, Council and Parliament. UK officials said Britain wanted intensified talks in July, but not "tunnel" negotiations. "It remains to be seen if the EU is serious about making real progress next month," a British source said. "The Tunnel" is Brussels jargon for secret talks carried out under media blackout and without regular briefings of EU ambassadors. The secrecy is used to encourage negotiators to break taboos and find a breakthrough. The UK and EU entered the "tunnel" before compromises were found over the Irish border during negotiations over the Withdrawal Agreement. Mr Barnier told ambassadors of the 27 member states in Brussels that the two sides were too far apart on fishing rights, the "level playing field" and the European Court of Justice to go into the "tunnel". He said the UK had to show willingness to compromise on its red lines first. "The UK wants the negotiating tunnel with constant bargaining over the summer, but it is totally unclear on what as the positions are so far apart at this stage," an EU diplomat said, before suggesting any "tunnel" talks would only happen in September or October. "The wish to have a 'tunnel' when there are no grounds to build it is blocking progress on the high-level meeting," a diplomat told The Telegraph. "The UK request is only meant to justify not asking for a extension to transition."
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| Norwegian man gets 21 years for slaying, mosque attack Posted: 11 Jun 2020 01:22 AM PDT  A white nationalist Norwegian who killed his stepsister and then stormed an Oslo mosque and opened fire, hitting no one, was found guilty Thursday and sentenced to 21 years in prison, the longest jail term under Norwegian law. Philip Manshaus, who had said in court that he regretted not having caused more damage, "has proven to be an extremely dangerous person," prosecutor Johan Oeverberg said as he demanded the maximum penalty. On Aug. 10, 2019, Manshaus, 22, killed his 17-year-old stepsister, Johanne Zhangjia Ihle-Hansen, by shooting her four times with a hunting rifle at their home in the Oslo suburb of Baerum.
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| How Ghana paid tribute to George Floyd Posted: 11 Jun 2020 01:10 AM PDT  The African-American is immortalised in the West African state where people were once enslaved.
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