| 'My Nigerian great-grandfather sold slaves' Posted: 18 Jul 2020 04:36 PM PDT  Colonial slave-traders are seeing their legacies reassessed, but what about the Africans who profited?
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| 14 hours later, Trump says he is 'saddened' by Lewis' death Posted: 18 Jul 2020 03:11 PM PDT  In the hours after the death of American civil rights icon Rep. John Lewis, President Donald Trump took to Twitter to retweet old missives about Democratic rival Joe Biden and lash out at his former national security adviser and his niece for writing tell-all books about him. Trump then headed to his golf course in northern Virginia with a political confidant, Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, for a nearly four-hour outing. Shortly after 2 p.m., as Trump was returning from his golf outing — and more than 14 hours after Lewis' death was announced — he offered his and the first lady's condolences in a two-sentence Twitter message.
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| One reporter, witness to two executions, haunting last words Posted: 18 Jul 2020 02:28 PM PDT  Daniel Lewis Lee, a condemned man and convicted murderer, was asked if he wanted to make a final statement from the execution chamber, with its institutional green-tiled walls and plate-glass interior window, moments before he too would die. Lee's execution, one of two that I witnessed this past week at the Federal Correctional Complex in Terre Haute, Indiana, played out slowly, after painstaking hours of final, futile legal appeals, before prison officials administered a lethal injection and the federal government carried out capital punishment for the first time in almost two decades. Before the lethal injection for Lee, there had been a lot of waiting.
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| Israelis protest response to economic fallout from virus Posted: 18 Jul 2020 01:50 PM PDT  Thousands of Israelis protested in Tel Aviv on Saturday against what they see as a bungled government response to the economic fallout from the new coronavirus. On Monday, the Israeli government approved a "safety net" meant to offer benefits to unemployed Israelis and aid to struggling business for a year, but protesters have continued. Israel appeared to have largely contained a first wave of coronavirus infections earlier this year, but a reopening that critics say was hasty sent infections soaring and the country has begun to reimpose new restrictions on gatherings.
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| Given a chance, Trump would push court pick before election Posted: 18 Jul 2020 01:12 PM PDT  President Donald Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell have tried to make it clear: Given the chance, they would push through a Supreme Court nominee should a vacancy occur before Election Day. The issue has taken on new immediacy with the disclosure Friday that Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is receiving chemotherapy for a recurrence of cancer after four earlier bouts with the disease. The 87-year-old liberal, who apologized in 2016 for her pointed public criticism of Trump during his first campaign, says she has no plans to retire.
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| Germany, France, Italy urge end to interference in Libya Posted: 18 Jul 2020 12:43 PM PDT  The leaders of Germany, France and Italy are calling for nations to "end their increasing interference" in Libya and respect a much-violated arms embargo, saying Saturday that they are ready to consider sanctions if breaches of the embargo continue. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Emmanuel Macron and Italian Premier Giuseppe Conte issued a joint statement after discussing Libya on the sidelines of a European Union summit in Brussels.
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| 'Black Lives' mural outside Trump Tower defaced for 3rd time Posted: 18 Jul 2020 11:11 AM PDT  A "Black Lives Matter" mural painted on the street in front of President Donald Trump's namesake New York City tower has quickly become a target for vandalism, defaced with bucketfuls of paint three times in less than a week. In the latest incident, two women were arrested around 3 p.m. Saturday after police said they poured black paint on the block-long mural outside Trump Tower on Manhattan's chic Fifth Avenue. Bystander video showed police officers surrounding one of the women as she rubbed the paint on the mural's bright yellow letters and screamed: "they don't care about Black lives" and "refund the police."
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| Protesters hit with gas as locals demand feds leave Portland Posted: 18 Jul 2020 10:49 AM PDT  Militarized federal agents deployed by the president to Portland, Oregon, fired tear gas against protesters again overnight as the city's mayor demanded that the agents be removed and as the state's attorney general vowed to seek a restraining order against them. Federal agents, some wearing camouflage and some wearing dark Homeland Security uniforms, used tear gas at least twice to break up crowds late Friday night, The Oregonian/OregonLive reported. Protests against systemic racism and police brutality have been a nightly feature in deeply liberal Portland since Minneapolis police killed George Floyd on May 25.
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| 'We are at the breaking point', U.N. chief says in call to end inequalities Posted: 18 Jul 2020 10:22 AM PDT  Saying "we are at the breaking point," the U.N. secretary-general made a sweeping call Saturday to end the global inequalities that sparked this year's massive anti-racism protests and have been further exposed by the coronavirus pandemic. "COVID-19 has been likened to an X-ray, revealing fractures in the fragile skeleton of the societies we have built," Antonio Guterres said as he delivered the Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture. The U.N. chief's address marked what would have been the birthday of former South African president and Nobel Peace Prize winner Mandela.
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| 'We are at the breaking point', U.N. chief says in call to end inequalities Posted: 18 Jul 2020 10:22 AM PDT  COVID-19 is "exposing fallacies and falsehoods everywhere," including "the delusion that we live in a post-racist world," U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said.
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| Up to 25 million in Iran may have contracted COVID-19, nation’s president says Posted: 18 Jul 2020 09:36 AM PDT  Iran's president estimated that up to 25 million in the Middle Eastern country may have contracted coronavirus since the outbreak began. President Hassan Rouhani announced the sobering figure Saturday, while urging people to regard COVID-19 seriously, according to the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency, The Associated Press reports. The politician pointed to a new Iranian Health Ministry study, which has not yet been made public, for the stats.
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| Trump talks less about virus, states look inward for answers Posted: 18 Jul 2020 09:30 AM PDT  President Donald Trump has taken an increasingly hands-off approach to the coronavirus crisis in recent days even as COVID-19 cases and deaths have surged to record highs in a huge slice of the country, including areas where he has enjoyed strong support. Meanwhile, governors and big city mayors in much of the United States are sending a blunt message to their constituents: Don't expect a federal cavalry to save the day. Large districts in Los Angeles, Houston and suburban Washington are among those to defy Trump's demand that schools fully reopen this fall.
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| UN chief: World 'at the breaking point' due to inequalities Posted: 18 Jul 2020 08:45 AM PDT  Saying "we are at the breaking point," the U.N. secretary-general made a sweeping call Saturday to end the global inequalities that sparked this year's massive anti-racism protests and have been further exposed by the coronavirus pandemic. "COVID-19 has been likened to an X-ray, revealing fractures in the fragile skeleton of the societies we have built," Antonio Guterres said as he delivered the Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture. The U.N. chief's address marked what would have been the birthday of former South African president and Nobel Peace Prize winner Mandela.
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| Trump's trouble in suburbs key to suddenly competitive Ohio Posted: 18 Jul 2020 08:45 AM PDT  During a background briefing with reporters in December, President Donald Trump's reelection campaign team gave only passing mention of Ohio. Trump's campaign has budgeted $18.4 million in television advertising in Ohio for this fall, second only to Florida, according to campaign advertising tracking data. Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, has named Aaron Pickrell, a former top Ohio adviser to Barack Obama's presidential campaign, as a senior strategist, Biden campaign officials said.
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| As virus surges in some US states, emergency rooms swamped Posted: 18 Jul 2020 08:42 AM PDT  A fast-rising tide of new coronavirus cases is flooding emergency rooms in parts of the United States, with some patients moved into hallways and nurses working extra shifts to keep up with the surge. Patients struggling to breathe are being placed on ventilators in emergency wards since intensive care units are full, officials say, and the near-constant care they require is overtaxing workers who also are treating more typical ER cases like chest pains, infections, and fractures. In Texas, Dr. Alison Haddock of the Baylor College of Medicine said the current situation is worse than after Hurricane Harvey, which swamped Houston with floodwaters in 2017.
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| 'We really need help': Coronavirus overwhelms rural Oregon Posted: 18 Jul 2020 08:02 AM PDT  Heather Griggs presses a phone to her ear in a makeshift office in the small brick courthouse that once served as a jail in rural Pendleton, a place best known for its annual rodeo. The coronavirus has torn through the small Oregon community where farmers grow crops such as potatoes, onions and grains. In Umatilla County, where Pendleton is located, the rate of people testing positive for COVID-19 is about 16%.
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| U.N. chief to world leaders: 'Inequality starts at the top' Posted: 18 Jul 2020 07:57 AM PDT |
| Cost, hassle of stamps questioned as mail-in voting surges Posted: 18 Jul 2020 07:17 AM PDT  Even if it weren't for her disability and fear of catching COVID-19, Delinda Bryant said getting the necessary postage to cast a ballot this year will be a struggle. Bryant, 63, doesn't have $10 for a book of stamps, a printer to make them at home or a working car. "My car needs its transmission fixed, but my utilities are so high I can't afford it," the south Georgia woman said in testimony for a federal voting rights lawsuit.
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| Chipmunks, fattened up on acorns, are driving people nuts Posted: 18 Jul 2020 07:04 AM PDT  There were plenty of acorns this spring, and now the chipmunks are driving people nuts. Plentiful acorns last fall meant there was still plenty of food on the ground when the chipmunks emerged from winter and got busy breeding this spring, said Shevenell Webb, a small mammal biologist with the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife. When their cheeks aren't bulging with nuts, chipmunks make a distinctive "chip" sound, she said.
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| Doctor who survived COVID-19 bewildered by public disregard Posted: 18 Jul 2020 06:44 AM PDT  Dr. Michael Saag spends much of his time treating patients fighting for their lives and working with colleagues who are overwhelmed and exhausted by the relentless battle against the COVID-19 pandemic. "It's a mixture of emotions, from anger to being demoralized to bewilderment to frustration," Saag said. Confirmed cases of COVID-19 have increased an average of more than 1,500 a day over the past week in Alabama, bringing the total to more than 62,100 since the pandemic began in March.
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| AP FACT CHECK: Trump and the virus-era China ban that isn't Posted: 18 Jul 2020 05:43 AM PDT  President Donald Trump's "ban" on travel from China is his go-to point when defending his response to the coronavirus pandemic. The problem with his core argument starts with the fact that he did not ban travel from China. Over the past week, Trump cited his China action repeatedly and as part of a scattered indictment of Democratic presidential rival Joe Biden.
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| Civil rights activists pay tribute to Rep. John Lewis Posted: 18 Jul 2020 05:34 AM PDT  Following the death of civil rights icon Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) on Friday, fellow activists took to social media late Friday and early Saturday to pay tribute to his life and memory.Rev. Jesse Jackson, who in 1965 participated alongside Lewis in the famous protest march from Selma, Alabama, to the state capitol in Montgomery to demand voting rights protection for Black Americans, called the congressman "the gift that kept on the giving" and the "valedictorian" of the class of civil rights leaders who "broke out of the bubble of segregation in the 1960s."> Sharing my reflections on the passing of @repjohnlewis. Rest in heavenly peace. GoodTrouble. pic.twitter.com/jcA6OPm7Eh> > — Rev Jesse Jackson Sr (@RevJJackson) July 18, 2020Andrew Young, another early civil rights leader who previously represented the same Georgia district as Lewis in Congress and later served as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and the mayor of Atlanta, lauded his friend's ability to always remain calm, grounded, and humble, even in heated situations. Young said Lewis didn't have a "trace of arrogance or hubris about him."> "I don't know anybody that is respected by more people than John Lewis," says civil rights leader and former Rep. Andrew Young. "I have never seen John Lewis angry, I've never seen John Lewis short-tempered. He is always understanding, he is always determined." pic.twitter.com/RoeJBneGvK> > — CNN (@CNN) July 18, 2020Rev. Al Sharpton called Lewis his role model and said "he changed the world without hate, rancor, arrogance," while Martin Luther King III, the oldest son of Martin Luther King Jr., said Lewis "was an American treasure" who "gave a voice to the voiceless."More stories from theweek.com What Americans are finally learning about freedom Has Trump incidentally squashed his own argument about the Supreme Court? Marco Rubio mistakenly tweets a picture of Elijah Cummings alongside tribute to John Lewis
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| Breathtaking virus numbers show normal life still far away Posted: 18 Jul 2020 04:24 AM PDT  South Africa on Saturday became one of the top five worst-hit countries in the coronavirus pandemic, as breathtaking new infection numbers around the world were a reminder that a return to normal life is still far from sight. The World Health Organization again reported a single-day record of new infections with 259,848. "The simple fact is that many South Africans are sitting ducks because they cannot comply with World Health Organization protocols on improved hygiene and social distancing," the foundation of former South African archbishop and Nobel Peace Prize winner Desmond Tutu and his wife, Leah, warned in a statement.
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| Iran estimates up to 25 million virus cases since outbreak Posted: 18 Jul 2020 03:47 AM PDT  Iran's president Saturday estimated as many as 25 million Iranians could have been infected with the coronavirus since the outbreak's beginning, and urged the public to take the pandemic seriously, the state-run IRNA news agency reported. President Hassan Rouhani cited a new Iranian Health Ministry study in offering the unprecedentedly high number of infections. Rouhani also said he believes an additional 30-35 million people could be infected in coming months, again without citing the basis for his estimate.
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| Tens of thousands stage anti-Kremlin protests in Russia's Far East Posted: 18 Jul 2020 03:17 AM PDT  Tens of thousands of people took to the streets in Russia's Far East in a rare show of defiance against the Kremlin as they protested the arrest of a popular governor. The huge rallies in the city of Khabarovsk on the border with China present a growing headache for the Kremlin, observers say, and come after President Vladimir Putin this month oversaw a controversial vote that allows him to extend his hold on power until 2036.
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| Kuwait's ruler, 91, admitted to hospital for medical checkup Posted: 18 Jul 2020 02:50 AM PDT  Kuwait's 91-year-old ruler was admitted to the hospital Saturday for a medical checkup and the country's crown prince temporarily took some of his powers in his absence, the oil-rich nation's state-run news agency reported. Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah was in "good health," the KUNA news agency said, citing a statement from the country's royal court minister. A later statement said Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al Ahmad Al Sabah had assumed some of Sheikh Sabah's powers temporarily, without explaining why that was necessary.
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| Iran sends downed Ukrainian plane's black box to France Posted: 18 Jul 2020 02:43 AM PDT  Iran has sent the black box from the Ukrainian passenger jet that its armed forces mistakenly shot down in January to France for reading, an Iranian semi-official news agency said Saturday. Iran accidentally shot down the Boeing 737-800, killing all 176 people aboard, after mistaking it for an incoming missile. Iranian armed forces had been bracing for a counterattack after launching missiles at U.S. bases in Iraq in response to the killing of its top commander, Gen. Qassim Soleimani, in a U.S. strike earlier in January.
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| French protesters mark death of Black man in police custody Posted: 18 Jul 2020 02:37 AM PDT  BEAUMONT-SUR-OISE, France (AP) — Singing "No justice, no peace!" thousands of protesters marched through a Paris suburb Saturday to mark the fourth anniversary of the death of a Black man in police custody whose case has mobilized broad anger against police brutality and racial injustice in France. The festive demonstration and concert in Beaumont-sur-Oise honored Adama Traoré, who died on his 24th birthday in July 2016 after an arrest in circumstances that remain unclear. But it was also about broader anti-government grievances, and climate activists co-organized this year's protest. Since George Floyd's killing by Minneapolis police in May, campaigning by Traore's family and other French activists against police violence targeting minorities has gained renewed attention and mobilized thousands in protests around the European Union nation.
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| Mass protests rock Russian Far East city, challenge Kremlin Posted: 18 Jul 2020 01:37 AM PDT  Mass rallies challenging the Kremlin rocked Russia's Far East city of Khabarovsk again on Saturday, as tens of thousands took to the streets to protest the arrest of the region's governor on charges of involvement in multiple murders. Local media estimated the rally in the city 3,800 miles east of Moscow drew 15,000 to 50,000 people, while city authorities put the number at 10,000. Hundreds of people have rallied in the city every day this week against the arrest of Sergei Furgal, reflecting widespread anger over the arrest of the popular governor and a simmering discontent with the Kremlin's policies.
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| Rep. John Lewis remembered for legacy of 'good trouble' Posted: 18 Jul 2020 12:25 AM PDT  Congressman John Lewis, a civil rights icon and the last of the Big Six civil rights activists led by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., died Friday at age 80. He is being remembered by congressional colleagues, civil rights leaders and former presidents as a "titan" of the struggle against racial discrimination.
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| AP PHOTOS: Greece's great declutter at battle coastline Posted: 17 Jul 2020 11:10 PM PDT  Greece is commemorating one of the greatest naval battles in ancient history this year at Salamis, the claw-shaped island skirting the mainland near Athens. Salamis, now known as Salamina, has become an extended suburb of the capital, a blue-collar retirement and summer home spot. It still looks out over a fleet of sunken and partially sunken vessels.
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| John Lewis' legacy shaped in 1965 on 'Bloody Sunday' Posted: 17 Jul 2020 09:56 PM PDT  John Lewis saw the line of Alabama state troopers a few hundred yards away as he led hundreds of marchers to the apex of the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma on March 7, 1965. Lewis, who died Friday at age 80, was just 25 at the time. With fellow civil rights activist Hosea Williams at his side, Lewis finally stopped a few feet away from the phalanx of troopers commanded by Maj. John Cloud of the Alabama Department of Public Safety.
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| Remembering John Lewis, rights icon and `American hero' Posted: 17 Jul 2020 09:26 PM PDT  People paid great heed to John Lewis for much of his life in the civil rights movement. A son of Alabama sharecroppers, the young Lewis first preached moral righteousness to his family's chickens. Lewis, who died Friday at age 80, was the youngest and last survivor of the Big Six civil rights activists who organized the 1963 March on Washington, and spoke shortly before the group's leader, Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., gave his "I Have a Dream" speech to a vast sea of people.
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| Justice Ginsburg says cancer has returned, but won't retire Posted: 17 Jul 2020 09:16 PM PDT  Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said Friday she is receiving chemotherapy for a recurrence of cancer, but has no plans to retire from the Supreme Court. The 87-year-old Ginsburg, who has had four earlier bouts with cancer including pancreatic cancer last year, said her treatment so far has succeeded in reducing lesions on her liver and she will continue chemotherapy sessions every two weeks "to keep my cancer at bay."
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| John Lewis, lion of civil rights and Congress, dies at 80 Posted: 17 Jul 2020 08:53 PM PDT  John Lewis, a lion of the civil rights movement whose bloody beating by Alabama state troopers in 1965 helped galvanize opposition to racial segregation, and who went on to a long and celebrated career in Congress, has died. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi confirmed Lewis' passing late Friday night, calling him "one of the greatest heroes of American history." "All of us were humbled to call Congressman Lewis a colleague, and are heartbroken by his passing," Pelosi said.
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| Rouhani says 35 million Iranians face virus infection Posted: 17 Jul 2020 05:01 PM PDT  President Hassan Rouhani said Saturday that 35 million Iranians may contract the coronavirus, as the country still did not have herd immunity although a quarter of the population may have already been infected. It appears to be the first time a senior Iranian official has indicated the country is seeking to defeat COVID-19 via herd immunity. Iran has been battling a resurgence of COVID-19, with figures showing a rise in both new infections and deaths since a two-month low in May.
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