British Prime Minister Boris Johnson sparred with opposition Labor leader Keir Starmer in Parliament Wednesday about Johnson’s strategies for dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic in Britain.Considering Johnson’s announcement Tuesday that much of Britain would reopen, effective July 4, Starmer said local leaders across the country do not have the proper guidance or powers to implement lockdowns, should there be a spike in coronavirus cases. He asked Johnson to define what a local lockdown might look like and what guidance those leaders might expect to receive.Johnson dismissed Starmer’s criticism, saying the government had a “very effective cluster-busting operation” in place, and local governments understand how it works. Speaking about the National Health Service’s “track-and-trace” app, Starmer said 33,000 people are estimated to have COVID-19 in England, but only 10,000 people with the virus were reached by contact tracers. The opposition leader noted, “This is a big gap,” and warned that if the app isn’t running, “we can’t open the economy.”Johnson said the Labor leader was giving a “false impression” of what the NHS app is doing and said that it is a “formidable achievement.” He said “no country currently has a functioning track-and-trace app.”Starmer noted Germany’s app, which reports say has been downloaded 10 million times. Italy, Singapore and South Korea also have tracing apps in use.
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Month: June 2020
Nigeria’s Fast-Growing Wedding Industry Struggles During Pandemic
Despite churches in Nigeria emerging from lockdown to once again hold weddings, they’re trying to cut down on the number of guests. The ongoing coronavirus pandemic has led many couples to get married online through video conferencing platforms bug Nigeria’s large wedding industry, which is geared towards entertaining large numbers of guests, is struggling to adjust to the new reality. Timothy Obiezu reports from Abuja.Camera: Emeka Gibson
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Polish President Duda Visits Trump at White House
U.S. President Donald Trump hosts Polish President Andrzej Duda at the White House Wednesday, as Duda finds himself locked in a surprisingly tight race for reelection back home.Polish voters will decide in four days whether the right-wing president will serve a second term in office.Duda, a close ally of Trump, reportedly hopes that Trump will announce more U.S. military assistance for Poland, which has expressed a need for more military support since Russia’s 2014 annexation of nearby Crimea.The hastily arranged meeting comes after Trump’s sudden announcement earlier this month to cut U.S. troops in Germany from 34,500 to 25,000, triggering speculation that Trump could decide to reassign some of them to Poland.Polish media reports say the U.S. could also provide fighter jets and military cargo planes.A senior U.S. official said it would be premature to discuss troop deployment in Europe.Michal Baranowski, the director of the German Marshall Fund, a Washington-based non-partisan public policy think tank, said Duda hopes his meeting with Trump will increase his prospects of reelection.“President Duda will have an opportunity to look very presidential and that’s, I think a big part of this,” he said.Baranowski added that the meeting, Trump’s first with a foreign leader since the coronavirus pandemic was declared in March, could also bolster support for Trump in Polish American communities in swing states before the U.S. presidential election in November.While Duda is currently the frontrunner in the Polish election, Rafal Trzaskowski, a centrist opposition candidate, has been catching up in the polls.Commentator Boguslaw Chrabota wrote in the Rzeczpospolita daily newspaper that Duda was “desperately looking for a triumphant ending” to his campaign.But Chrabota also said the meeting with Trump carried “considerable risk” if he promises to use large amounts of taxpayers’ money to pay for U.S. military hardware.Poland has agreed in recent years to buy fighter jets, rocket launchers and missiles from the U.S. and has closely aligned itself with Trump.
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Kim Jong Un Calls Off ‘Military Action’ Against South Korea
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has suspended unspecified military action against South Korea, state media said Wednesday, an apparent reduction in tensions following weeks of threats from Pyongyang. At a preliminary meeting of the ruling party’s central military commission, Kim “took stock of the prevailing situation and suspended the military action plans against the south,” according to the Korean Central News Agency. It is not clear exactly what steps Kim suspended and whether that means North Korea will now end its escalating campaign of provocations toward the South. The moves surprised many in Seoul, where officials had been preparing for a possible extended downturn in relations. South Korean army soldiers patrol along the barbed-wire fence in Paju, South Korea, near the border with North Korea, June 15, 2020.A spokesperson for South Korea’s Unification Ministry, which handles relations with Pyongyang, said Seoul was monitoring the situation and would continue to adhere to inter-Korean agreements. North Korea is upset at the South for failing to move ahead with a series of 2018 deals related to economic cooperation and reducing military tensions. International sanctions against North Korea have prevented Seoul from fully implementing the deals. This month, North Korea took several steps to roll back many aspects of those inter-Korean agreements, including by demolishing the two countries’ de facto embassy just north of the border. The North also threatened to redeploy troops in parts of the demilitarized zone, resume military exercises in the border area, and cut off all official lines of communication with the South Korean government.
In addition, state media have warned that North Korean university students are preparing to float 12 million propaganda “leaflets of punishment” into the South via thousands of balloons. South Korean soldiers take part in a live fire exercise near the demilitarized zone separating the two Koreas in Paju, South Korea, June 23, 2020.Why now?
The threats fit a familiar negotiating strategy for North Korea: escalate tensions in order to later de-escalate, possibly to receive concessions or restart diplomacy.
But it’s not clear why North Korea would de-escalate now, since it received no obvious concessions from the South, Ramon Pacheco Pardo, a Korea specialist at King’s College London, said.
“It does seem a bit early to de-escalate,” Pacheco Pardo said. “Clearly they weren’t getting anything from South Korea other than a stern response. So that could be a reason.”
Last week, the South Korean military said the North will “definitely pay” if it conducts any military provocation. Good cop? Many of North Korea’s threats this month were delivered by Kim Yo Jong, the increasingly powerful sister of Kim Jong Un. By making Kim Yo Jong the public face of the pressure campaign, North Korea may have been trying to preserve Kim Jong Un’s ability to eventually reverse course and improve relations with Seoul. However, many analysts caution it’s too soon to say whether the North has fully changed course, in part because its latest statement said only that the military action had been “suspended,” not reversed.
“The way it’s worded, it seems to be a wait-and-see approach before deciding on the next step; i.e., more de-escalation or re-escalation,” Pacheco Pardo said. As of midday Wednesday, North Korea had given at least two other signs de-escalation was on the horizon.
After Kim’s announcement that military action had been suspended, two North Korean propaganda outlets, DPRK Today and Meari, removed several recent articles that were critical of the South. North Korea also began removing propaganda loudspeakers it had recently reinstalled on the DMZ, according to South Korean media.
For decades, the two Koreas used the loudspeakers to denounce each other’s governments, as part of a psychological warfare campaign. The speakers were removed in 2018 as part of the inter-Korean military tension-reduction agreements.
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2 Republicans Opposed by Trump Win in N. Carolina, Kentucky
Voters rebuffed President Donald Trump and nominated two Republicans he opposed to House seats from North Carolina and Kentucky on Tuesday. Calls in higher-profile races in Kentucky and New York faced days of delay as swamped officials count mountains of mail-in ballots.
In western North Carolina, GOP voters picked 24-year-old investor Madison Cawthorn, who uses a wheelchair following an accident, over Trump-backed real estate agent Lynda Bennett. The runoff was for the seat vacated by GOP Rep. Mark Meadows, who resigned to become Trump’s chief of staff and joined his new boss in backing Bennett.
Kentucky Republican Rep. Thomas Massie, a libertarian-minded maverick who often clashes with GOP leaders, was renominated for a sixth House term. Trump savaged Massie in March as a “disaster for America” who should be ejected from the party after he forced lawmakers to return to Washington during a pandemic to vote on a huge economic relief package.
Cawthorn, who will meet the constitutionally mandated minimum age of 25 when the next Congress convenes, has said he’s a Trump supporter, and Massie is strongly conservative. Still, their victories were an embarrassment to a president whose own reelection campaign has teetered recently.
As states ease voting by mail because of the coronavirus pandemic, a deluge of mail-in ballots and glacially slow counting procedures made delays inevitable. That torturous wait seemed a preview of November, when more states will embrace mail-in voting and officials warn that uncertainty over who is the next president could linger for days.
Kentucky usually has 2% of its returns come from mail ballots. This year officials expect that figure to exceed 50%, and over 400,000 mail ballots were returned by Sunday.
New York officials expect the vast majority of votes to be mail ballots this year, compared to their typical 5% share. Counties have until eight days after Election Day to count and release the results of mail ballots, with 1.7 million requested by voters.
In the day’s marquee contests, two young African American candidates with campaigns energized by nationwide protests for racial justice were challenging white Democratic establishment favorites for the party’s nominations.
First-term state legislator Charles Booker was hoping a late surge would carry him past former Marine fighter pilot Amy McGrath for the Democratic Senate nomination from Kentucky. And in New York, political newcomer Jamaal Bowman was seeking to derail House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Eliot Engel’s bid for a 17th term.
In Kentucky, many counties including Jefferson, the state’s largest, faced piles of mail-in ballots and reported no results. The Associated Press doesn’t expect to call the McGrath-Booker race until June 30, when Kentucky plans to release additional tallies.
Even so, Booker and supporters gathered in Louisville chanted ”from the ‘hood to the holler,” the slogan he hoped would help build a coalition of urban Blacks and rural whites.
“We have the opportunity to transform history,” Booker said.
The AP was also delaying its call in New York’s Engel-Bowman race, pending additional vote tallies.
In other contests, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky easily won the Republican nomination for a seventh Senate term and will be favored in November against McGrath or Booker.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., won renomination, cementing her rise from obscurity to progressive icon status when she ousted Democratic Rep. Joe Crowley, on track to become speaker, from the New York City district.
In Virginia, retired Army Col. Daniel Gade won the GOP Senate nomination but seems certain to lose to Democratic Sen. Mark Warner in November. Republican Scott Taylor will face Democratic Rep. Elaine Luria in a rematch between two Navy veterans in a Virginia Beach district from which she toppled him in 2018.
And Cameron Webb, a health policy researcher, won the Democratic nomination for a central Virginia House district. GOP Rep. Denver Riggleman lost his party’s nomination, fueling Democrats’ hopes that Webb, an African American, can capture the seat.
Voters endured 90-minute waits in Kentucky’s second-largest city, Lexington, and social media posts showed long lines in New York’s Westchester County deep into the evening. Yet overall, the day’s problems seemed less widespread than in recent elections in Georgia and Nevada, where some people stood in line for hours.
In Louisville, voting advocates complained that an unknown number of people stayed home because of difficulty traveling to the city’s single polling place — the Kentucky Exposition Center.
“In my neighborhood, most people don’t have cars,” said voter Michael Baker. “It’s not fair for them to have one site.”
A judge kept the polling place open an extra half hour after about 175 people, some of whom pounded on the building’s doors, demanded to vote. Louisville, the state’s biggest city, has 600,000 residents.
In the big New York and Kentucky contests, Democrats were watching whether nationwide protests sparked by last month’s killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police would translate to a decisive turnout by African American and progressive voters.
Kentucky’s McGrath has a military resume, centrists views and fundraising abilities that helped her win support from Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., to oppose McConnell.
Booker’s campaign caught fire after he attended recent protests against the March police killing of 26-year-old Breonna Taylor in her Louisville home. That helped him win support from progressive Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and the state’s two largest newspapers.
In one measure of McGrath’s financial advantage, she has spent $16 million in ads compared to Booker’s $2 million, according to Advertising Analytics, which studies campaign advertising.
In New York, Engel is supported by Democratic stars like Hillary Clinton, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the Congressional Black Caucus, plus major labor unions. He’s one of Congress’ most liberal members.
Bowman, an educator, has drawn strength from anti-racism protests and his accusations that Engel has grown aloof from his diverse district in parts of the Bronx and Westchester. Bowman has been helped by progressive groups and lawmakers like Sanders.
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US, Russia Signal Progress in Nuclear Arms Talks
U.S. and Russian negotiators signaled progress Tuesday in talks on a possible replacement to a nuclear arms reduction treaty due to expire next February. But there are significant hurdles ahead — including China’s opposition to being included in the talks.At issue is the 2010 New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, or START, restricting the number of deployed nuclear warheads held by the U.S. and Russia, the world’s two biggest nuclear powers. U.S. negotiator Marshall Billingslea says working group discussions may take place in late July or early August, paving the way for a possible second round of talks in Vienna. “We did indeed hold productive talks with Russia. Indeed, the talks were so productive that we found enough common ground to warrant the establishment of several technical working groups to dive further into the details of what a future trilateral arms control agreement should look like,” Billingslea said.But there are major sticking points moving forward. Washington wants any new deal to subject China to restrictions — and include all nuclear weapons, not just strategic weapons. Beijing, with an estimated fraction of the U.S. and Russian arsenal, has repeatedly refused to join the talks. The differences between Washington and Beijing were highlighted this week in clashing Twitter postings and official comments by the two sides. For its part, Russia says other nuclear powers, including France and Britain, should join future talks, but on a voluntary basis. Heading the Russian delegation, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov also noted progress in Vienna, according to Russia’s TASS news agency, but also that “substantial differences” remained. The discussions in the Austrian capital are the first between Moscow and Washington on their nuclear arsenals after more than a year’s break. President Donald Trump has withdrawn from several U.S. treaties with Russia, including those on overflights and intermediate-range nuclear forces. The New START treaty can be extended another five years, if both sides agree. Experts say that could pave the way for a wider-ranging and more stringent deal. Without the treaty, Washington and Moscow could be left without any significant limits on their nuclear weapons for the first time in decades.
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China Sends 8 Military Planes into Taiwan Airspace; Analysts See Move as Warning to US and Others
Taiwan says Chinese military planes have flown into its air defense space six times in a single week and eight times this month, so far. Although Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense escorts each aircraft away and alerts the public on an island that has long distrusted China, analysts believe leaders in Beijing are warning people as far away as Washington while helping to train their own troops in case of conflict in Asia. The U.S. government has saddled China with a 2-year-old trade dispute, accused it of ignoring COVID-19 for too long earlier in the year and sailed its navy vessels in Asian waters to check Chinese expansion. U.S. naval ships have sailed six times so far this year through the strait separating Taiwan from China, an irritant to Beijing. China claims sovereignty over self-ruled Taiwan and resents other countries for supporting it. The U.S. navy has also carried out four “freedom of navigation operations” in the South China Sea near Taiwan so far in 2020. “I don’t think we can say it stops at Taiwan and then that’s it,” said Derek Grossman, senior defense analyst with the RAND Corp. research institution in the United States. “There’s definitely some signaling to the U.S., as well,” he said. “Anything they can do to try to signal to the U.S. that it should not be getting as cozy with Taiwan as it has been over past few years, that’s an important thing.” China also lacks military experience since its 1970s land war with Vietnam, experts say, and it wants to train for anything new that comes up. On paper China has the world’s third strongest armed forces and has ruffled other Asian countries by placing military infrastructure on disputed islets in the South China Sea. “We should say it this way, that China has multiple goals, multi purposes,” said Huang Kwei-bo, vice dean of the international affairs college at National Chengchi University in Taipei. The Chinese planes spotted this month had crossed over the outer reaches of Taiwan’s air defense identification zone, according to Ministry of National Defense statements in Taipei. Taiwanese air force planes fly alongside each aircraft to make it leave. On Monday the ministry said a Chinese H-6 bomber and a Chengdu J-10 fighter jet had flown through the southwestern part of Taiwan’s airspace. Chinese officials want Taiwan’s president, Tsai Ing-wen, to endorse a “One China” policy as condition for further dialogue. Tsai rejects the condition and most Taiwanese have told government surveys they prefer at least today’s degree of autonomy over Beijing’s goal of unification. China has claimed Taiwan as its own since the Chinese civil war of the 1940s.Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen waves after inspecting the military police headquarters in Taipei.Before this month and since Tsai took office in 2016, Chinese aircraft had passed near Taiwan only periodically and seldom crossed into Taiwanese airspace. The two sides lie 160 kilometers apart at their nearest point. China has accused Washington of trying to stop Chinese expansion at sea. Australia and Japan have sent their own vessels into the South China Sea to remind China the waterway is open internationally. Washington historically sees Taiwan, Japan, South Korea and the Philippines as Asia Pacific allies against any conflict with China. U.S. senators are working this year on the Pacific Deterrence Initiative, a special budget for $1.4 billion in the plan’s first year for U.S. military activity in Asia and $5.5 billion in its second year. The bill is expected to bolster especially U.S. naval forces in the Western Pacific. Pressure at home over the COVID-19 outbreak and offshore military moves directed at China are pressuring Chinese President Xi Jinping to show strength, said Huang Chung-ting, assistant research fellow with the Institute for National Defense and Security Research in Taipei. “Xi Jinping’s attitude now is that he can’t fail,” the research fellow said. “He’s got to show he’s still got a lot of means. Whenever the external pressure goes up one point, he’s got to answer by ramping it up two points.” Taiwan has sent marines to the Pratas Islands, three features it controls in the South China Sea, in light of China’s movements, domestic news media reported this week. China’s planes have not approached Taiwan’s main island and they probably leave the air defense zone shortly after crossing into it, Huang Kwei-bo said. “We should feel worried, but not over-worried,” he said.
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FBI Says Noose Found in Track Garage of Black Driver Not a Hate Crime
Federal authorities say a noose found in the team garage of African-American race car driver Bubba Wallace at an Alabama race track was not a hate crime. A joint statement issued Tuesday by U.S. Attorney Jay Town and FBI Special agent Johnnie Sharp said an extensive investigation revealed the noose had been hanging in the garage at Talladega Superspeedway since last October, and that it was a coincidence that Wallace’s team had been assigned that garage. A statement issued by NASCAR (National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing) said the noose, which was found Sunday by a member of Wallace’s race team, was a garage door pull rope fashioned in the shape of a noose. NASCAR President Steve Phelps told reporters during a conference call that the results of the FBI investigation was “the best result we could hope for,” but insisted the organization would continue with its own investigation. A noose is commonly associated with lynching, the extrajudicial killing of Blacks and other minorities carried out mainly in the southern United States.Nascar drivers Kyle Busch, left, and Corey LaJoie, right, join other drivers and crews as they push the car of Bubba Wallace to the front of the field prior to the start of the NASCAR Cup Series auto race at the Talladega Superspeedway, June 22, 2020Several of Wallace’s fellow drivers pushed his car to the front of pit row Monday before the start of a race that had been postponed for a day due to heavy rain. The procession moved past an area on the infield grass with the phrase “#IStandWithBubba” painted on it. Wallace is the lone African American driver in NASCAR’s premier Cup Series. He drew widespread support earlier this month when he successfully urged NASCAR to ban the Confederate flag at its races in the aftermath of the death of George Floyd, a Black man who died while in police custody in Minneapolis last month. The flag, which represented the slave-owning southern states that split from the North during the 1861-65 Civil War, remains a prominent symbol of southern culture, but many African Americans consider the flag a lasting symbol of slavery, racism and white supremacy. Floyd’s death has sparked a backlash against other perceived symbols of white supremacy, including statues of Confederate generals and other historical figures. Some statues have either been defaced or torn down by protesters, or removed by local officials. Like the Confederate flag, NASCAR also has deep roots in southern U.S. culture. Protesters on Saturday and Sunday drove cars and trucks flying the Confederate flag on the roads near Talladega Superspeedway.
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Obama Raises $7.6M for Joe Biden’s Campaign
Former President Barack Obama helped raise a record-breaking $7.6 million from more than 175,000 individual donors ahead of his first fundraiser for presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden. “I’m here to say that help is on the way if we do the work,” Obama said during the virtual fundraiser. “Because there’s nobody that I trust more to be able to heal this country and get it back on track than my dear friend Joe Biden.” The small-dollar fundraiser Tuesday offered a fresh test of Obama’s ability to transfer his popularity to Biden, his former vice president who is now seeking the White House on his own. It was a kickoff of what Obama’s team says will likely be a busy schedule heading into the fall, as he looks to help elect not just Biden but Democrats running for House and Senate. Obama sometimes struggled to lift other Democratic candidates while he was in the White House, notably losing control of the House in 2010 and the Senate in 2014. But in the era of President Donald Trump, Democrats believe Obama’s appeal, especially among Black and younger voters, can help boost energy for Biden. “There’s two groups of voters that Biden needs to move,” said Dan Pfeiffer, former White House communications director. “You have the 4 million Obama 2012 voters that sat out in ’16, Obama obviously has cache with them. And you have to persuade some number of voters who voted for Barack Obama in 2012 and either Trump or a third party candidate in 2016, and Obama obviously is very, very high-performing with those as well.” Obama endorsed Biden with a video message in April, but kept an otherwise low profile throughout the primary and largely avoided wading into national politics. In recent weeks, however, he’s reemerged publicly to speak out on policing and the civil unrest that followed the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Some Democrats say that, in the wake of Floyd’s killing, Obama’s voice as an advocate for Biden and a leader for the party is needed. “Biden doesn’t have the strongest record on criminal justice reform so having Obama there is helpful in reinforcing that issue,” said Ben Tulchin, who polled for progressive Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign. “Given what’s going on with criminal justice reform and Black Lives Matter, having the first African American president out there publicly backing Biden is extremely helpful.”In this June 17, 2020, photo, Democratic presidential candidate, former Vice President Joe Biden speaks in Darby, Pa.But Obama’s reemergence is not without risks for Biden. For Trump’s campaign, it offers an opportunity to resurface some of their favorite political attacks — charges that the Obama administration’s policies undermined the American middle class and U.S. interests abroad. They believe the focus on Obama will help reinvigorate Trump’s base, and remind waffling Trump voters — those considering voting for Biden, or staying home — of their dissatisfaction with the prior administration. And they see a potential opportunity to drive a wedge between Biden and his base by resurfacing issues from the Obama administration — like the high rate of deportations — that riled progressives during the Democratic primary. Trump campaign deputy communications director Ali Pardo said that together, Obama and Biden “put ‘kids in cages’ and failed to stop China from ripping off Americans while overseeing the worst economic recovery since the Great Depression and stagnant wage growth for American workers.” Trump himself has pushed unfounded conspiracy theories about Obama, hoping to taint Biden by association. Still, Democrats say Obama is eager to take Trump on to defend his legacy in a debate over whose policies have better benefited Americans. “Trump’s election just devastated the country and Obama’s legacy,” Tulchin said. “Beating Trump is important for his legacy and important for the country.” Biden’s embrace of Obama during the Democratic primary created some headaches for the former vice president within his own party as well. Biden was criticized by some opponents as too focused on returning to the status quo of the Obama years at a time when the progressive base of the party was clamoring for significant structural change. But by the end of the primary contest, at least five candidates — including Sanders — aired ads featuring praise from the former president or photos of the candidate alongside him. And both Biden and Sanders have made overtures toward progressives, with Biden embracing some of Sanders’ policies and Obama praising him by name in his endorsement video for Biden. But Stephanie Cutter, who served as Obama’s 2012 campaign manager, said that if Obama’s reemergence into the campaign raises any further debates about the policies of his administration, he’ll be prepared to respond. “There’s nobody better to answer those questions than Obama,” she said.
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200 Gather for Funeral of Rayshard Brooks
More than 200 friends and family members said goodbye Tuesday to Rayshard Brooks, the African American man shot to death by a white police officer in Atlanta nearly two weeks ago while apparently trying to avoid arrest on a suspicion of drunk driving. Brooks’ funeral was held in Ebenezer Baptist Church, where Martin Luther King preached in the 1950s and ‘60s. “We are here because individuals continue to hide behind badges and trainings and policies and procedures rather than regarding the humanity of others in general and Black lives specifically,” King’s daughter, the Reverend Bernice King, told the mourners. Brooks’ friends and relatives said they remember him as a family man who loved to tell jokes, dance and help others in his community. A white officer, Garrett Rolfe, has been charged with murder, accused of shooting Brooks in the back and killing him in a Wendy’s restaurant parking lot June 12. A second officer, Devin Brosnan, has been charged with aggravated assault, accused of stepping on the wounded Brooks while he was on the ground.A hearse carying the casket of Rayshard Brooks passes by the area where he was killed near a Wendy’s restaurant on Tuesday, June 23, 2020, in Atlanta. The funeral of Brooks was held today.Police dashboard and body cam videos show Brooks resisting arrest and attempting to escape when the officers tried to handcuff him. Brooks grabbed a taser from one of the officers and ran off, firing it at Rolfe. Rolfe fired two bullets at Brooks’ back. Activists say the shooting is just another example of white police brutality against a Black man. But some law enforcement experts say Rolfe may have been justified in shooting Brooks. Brooks’ death set off protests in Atlanta, and the Wendy’s restaurant where Brooks was shot was burned to the ground. Atlanta police say one of the two suspects in the arson attack on the Wendy’s turned herself in Tuesday. A lawyer for Natalie White said she was a close friend of Brooks’ and is innocent of setting the restaurant on fire. A Brooks family lawyer said he is unaware of any ties between White and Brooks. Brooks could be heard talking about a woman named Natalie White on the police video, but it is unclear if it is the same person suspected of arson.
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Civilian Killed in Attack on Turkey Military Training Center in Somalia
One person was killed, and two others were injured after a suicide bomber blew himself up near the Turkey-Somalia military training academy in Mogadishu on Tuesday, witnesses and officials say. The incident occurred outside a primary school supported by the academy, according to witnesses. The bomber, strapped with a suicide vest, tried to join a line of military cadets outside the military training facility known as TurkSom. Members of Somali National Army guarding the facility opened fire after they suspected him, but the man detonated his suicide vest. A civilian bystander was killed, and two cadets were injured according to the officials. The al-Shabab militant group claimed responsibility for the attack. The Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned the bombing. Turkey inaugurated the military facility in Somalia’s capital on Sept. 30, 2017. It’s the largest overseas military training academy built by the Turkish government. Four battalions of the Somali National Army have graduated from the TurkSom facility so far, and the fifth is currently being trained at the facility, according to Turkish officials. A total of 150 officers and 250 non-commissioned officers also graduated from TurkSom since 2018. Somali military officials say the facility has been key to rebuilding the Somali National Army as some of the battalions who graduated have already been fighting Shabab militants in Lower Shabelle region.
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Bill Cosby Appeal Will Test Scope of #MeToo Prosecutions
In a stunning decision that could test the legal framework of #MeToo cases, Pennsylvania’s highest court will review the trial decision to let five other accusers testify at Bill Cosby’s sexual assault trial in 2018, which ended with the longtime TV star’s conviction. Cosby, 82, has been imprisoned in suburban Philadelphia for nearly two years after a jury convicted him of drugging and sexually assaulting a woman at his home in 2004. He’s serving a three- to 10-year sentence. The Supreme Court has agreed to review two aspects of the case, including the judge’s decision to let prosecutors call the other accusers to testify about long-ago encounters with the actor and comedian. Cosby’s lawyers have long complained the testimony is remote and unreliable. The court will also consider, as it weighs the scope of the evidence allowed, whether the jury should have heard Cosby’s own deposition testimony about getting quaaludes to give women in the past. Secondly, the court will examine Cosby’s argument that he had an agreement with a former prosecutor that he would never be charged in the case. Cosby has said he relied on the alleged promise before agreeing to give the deposition in trial accuser Andrea Constand’s lawsuit. Those issues have been at the heart of the case since Cosby was charged in December 2015, days before the 12-year statute of limitations expired. Prosecutors in suburban Philadelphia had reopened the case that year after The Associated Press fought to unseal portions of Cosby’s decade-old deposition in Constand’s sex assault and defamation lawsuit. Cosby paid $3.4 million to settle the lawsuit in 2006. Cosby, in the deposition, acknowledged a string of extramarital relationships. He called them consensual, but many of the women say they were drugged and molested. Dozens came forward in the years that followed to accuse Cosby, long beloved as “America’s Dad” because of his hit 1980s sitcom, of sexual misconduct. Montgomery County Judge Steven O’Neill allowed just one of them to testify at Cosby’s first trial in 2017, which ended with an acquittal. But a year later, after the #MeToo movement exploded in the wake of reporting on Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein and other powerful men, the judge allowed five other accusers to testify at the retrial. The jury convicted Cosby on all three felony sex-assault counts. Lawyer Brian W. Perry argued in the appeal that letting other accusers testify in #MeToo cases “flips constitutional jurisprudence on its head, and the ‘presumption of guilt,’ rather than the presumption of innocence, becomes the premise.” However, the judge said he found “striking similarities” in the women’s descriptions of their encounters with Cosby, and said the testimony was therefore permissible to show evidence of a “signature crime.” “In each instance, (he) met a substantially younger woman, gained her trust, invited her to a place where he was alone with her, provided her with a drink or drug, and sexually assaulted her once she was rendered incapacitated,” O’Neill wrote in a post-trial opinion. “These chilling similarities rendered (their) testimony admissible.” Spokesman Andrew Wyatt on Tuesday said the decision comes as demonstrators across the nation protest the death of Black people at the hands of police and expose the “corruption that lies within the criminal justice system.” “The false conviction of Bill Cosby is so much bigger than him — it’s about the destruction of ALL Black people and people of color in America,” Wyatt said in a statement. Constand, a former professional basketball player who now does outreach to sex assault victims, asked the appeals court Tuesday to not allow “Cosby’s wealth, fame and fortune to win an escape from his maleficent, malignant and downright criminal past.” Questioned about the encounter with her in the 2006 deposition, Cosby described being on his couch and putting his hand down her pants after giving her three pills he identified as Benadryl. Constand said they made her pass out. “I don’t hear her say anything. And I don’t feel her say anything. And so I continue and I go into the area that is somewhere between permission and rejection. I am not stopped,” he said. Legal experts said the appellate review could help clarify when judges should allow “prior bad act” testimony from other accusers in sex crime cases, at least in Pennsylvania, and whether a supposed verbal promise from one prosecutor should bind their successor. “I think that Cosby still has an uphill battle. The good news is the state Supreme Court will look at the appeal,” said Loyola Law School professor Laurie Levenson. The AP typically does not name people who say they have been victims of sexual assault without their permission, which Constand has granted.
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Twitter Puts Warning Notice on Trump Tweet for ‘Abusive Behavior’
Twitter Inc. said on Tuesday it had placed a warning notice on a tweet from U.S. President Donald Trump for violating its policy against abusive behavior.
“There will never be an “Autonomous Zone” in Washington, D.C., as long as I’m your President. If they try they will be met with serious force!” the president’s tweet read.There will never be an “Autonomous Zone” in Washington, D.C., as long as I’m your President. If they try they will be met with serious force!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 23, 2020In a tweet, the company said it had hidden Trump’s tweet behind its “public interest” notice because there was a threat of harm against an identifiable group.
Anti-racism protesters on Monday declared a Black House Autonomous Zone – referencing a Seattle area known as the Capitol Hill Organized Protest (CHOP) zone or the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone – near the White House in front of St. John’s Church.
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Civilian Killed as Suicide Bomber Attacks Turkey Military Training Center in Somalia
One person was killed, and two others were injured after a suicide bomber blew himself up near the Turkey-Somalia military training academy in Mogadishu on Tuesday, witnesses and officials say. The incident occurred outside a primary school supported by the academy, according to witnesses. The bomber, strapped with a suicide vest, tried to join a line of military cadets outside the military training facility known as TurkSom. Members of Somali National Army guarding the facility opened fire after they suspected him, but the man detonated his suicide vest. A civilian bystander was killed, and two cadets were injured according to the officials. The al-Shabab militant group claimed responsibility for the attack. The Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned the bombing. Turkey inaugurated the military facility in Somalia’s capital on Sept. 30, 2017. It’s the largest overseas military training academy built by the Turkish government. Four battalions of the Somali National Army have graduated from the TurkSom facility so far, and the fifth is currently being trained at the facility, according to Turkish officials. A total of 150 officers and 250 non-commissioned officers also graduated from TurkSom since 2018. Somali military officials say the facility has been key to rebuilding the Somali National Army as some of the battalions who graduated have already been fighting Shabab militants in Lower Shabelle region.
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What Is Title VII of the Civil Rights Act?
Equal treatment. That’s the idea behind the Civil Rights Act. One part of the legislation, called Title VII deals with the workplace. What does that mean for American workers? VOA explains.
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President Mutharika Votes in Malawi’s Fresh Presidential Election
Millions of Malawians cast votes Tuesday in the re-run of last year’s presidential election. The fresh election comes after Malawi’s Constitutional Court nullified President Peter Mutharika’s victory in last year’s election, citing massive fraud. Malawi’s Electoral Commission (MEC) says it expects a free and fair election this time, although a few incidents of violence were reported. Electoral officials said people started queuing as early five o’clock in the morning Tuesday, waiting for the polling centers to open at six. Honasis Mphepo is the commission’s presiding officer at Goliati polling station in Thyolo district in southern Malawi. “We have a good number of registered voters. Turn up was just very good, and individuals are coming in large number according to how they registered and they are voting,” he said.MEC officials said in many parts of the country voters started queeing an hour earlier to cast their votes. (Lameck Masina/VOA)The election took place as Malawi continues to register a rise in COVID-19 cases. As of Tuesday, the southern African country had 803 cases with eleven deaths since the first case was confirmed in April. But Mphepo said all preventive measures were observed throughout the voting process. “We are provided with the hand sanitizer, face masks and also we are observing the distance which is required; one meter apart when they [voters] are coming towards administration clerk,” he said.He said voters were also encouraged to use their own pens for marking the ballots. The MEC chairperson, Chifundo Kachale, told a press conference in Blantyre that the voting process was generally peaceful and that 99 percent of the polling stations opened on time. President Mutharika was among those who voted in his home village, Goliati, in Thyolo district. The president condemned acts of violence reported in some parts of the country. In at least two locations, opposition backers beat supporters of the ruling party who they suspected of trying to rig the polls. Mutharika said the violence would likely make some people afraid of voting. “This is very sad that this is happening. It’s obvious the people are afraid of the people who are engaged in these barbaric acts. I condemn it completely,” he said. Voters queueing in Thyolo district in fresh presidential elections. (Lameck Masina/VOA)Voters who spoke with VOA said they were happy to participate in the fresh elections and that they are eagerly waiting the results. The MEC says vote counting starts soon after voting ends and the final results will be announced within eight days, as required by the law.
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UN Weather Agency to Investigate Reported Record Arctic Heat
The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said Tuesday it is seeking to investigate record high temperatures reported from inside the Arctic Circle June 20.
At a news conference in Geneva, WMO spokeswoman Clare Nullis told reporters the U.N. weather agency is seeking to verify the reported 38 degrees Celsius temperature in the Russian town of Verkhoyansk, amid a prolonged Siberian heat wave and increased wildfire activity.
The WMO says it will confer with Russia’s weather agency, Roshydromet. If the temperature is confirmed, a team of investigators will then search the WMO’s archives to ensure it is indeed a record.
Nullis said the Russian weather agency reports that the region of Eastern Siberia where the record was reported “has very, very cold extremes in winter but is also known for its extremes in summer.”
Even so, she said, Siberia has had a very warm spring, with temperatures running about 10 degrees Celsius above normal.
Nullis said that heat helped drive May temperatures up globally, making it one of the highest temperatures ever.
The WMO reports the Arctic is among the fastest warming regions in the world and is heating at twice the global average. Annual surface air temperatures from 2016 to 2019 in the Arctic have been the highest on record.
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Britain Further Relaxes COVID-19 Restrictions
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson Tuesday announced plans to further relax COVID-19 restrictions, including the opening of pubs, restaurants and hair salons beginning July 4.
Speaking before Parliament, Johnson said social distancing of two meters apart will be advised, but where they cannot, at least one meter is now acceptable, provided there are other “mitigations” such as masks. He said hair salons will also reopen with appropriate precautions, including the use of visors.
Johnson said he would like to open other “close contact” services such as nail salons as soon as they show they can operate in a “COVID-secure way.”
The prime minister said beginning July 4, they will allow most “leisure facilities” and tourist attractions to reopen “if they can do so safely,” including outdoor gyms and playgrounds, movie theaters, museums, galleries, theme parks and arcades, libraries, social clubs and community centers.
Johnson said the National Health Service (NHS) will be conducting test-and-trace activities, and he encouraged businesses and citizens to cooperate with the effort and respond to any local outbreaks by collecting contact details from customers.
Britain has had one of the highest death rates in the world during the pandemic, but the number of cases in the country has fallen steadily in recent weeks, allowing for the easing of restrictions.
Johnson said the government will not hesitate to “apply the brakes” and reintroduce restrictions, even at a national level, should COVID-19 cases rise again.
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India, China Agree to Cool Border Tensions
India and China have agreed to cool tensions along their disputed Himalayan border following their worst border clash in 50 years that left 20 Indian soldiers dead.Indian army officials said on Tuesday “there was mutual consensus to disengage” following marathon talks held the previous day between military commanders of the two countries. The officials told local media that the “modalities for disengagement from all friction areas in eastern Ladakh are being discussed and will be taken forward by both sides.”Large contingents of Indian and Chinese forces are confronting each other at three strategic points in eastern Ladakh, a barren icy desert in the Himalayas along their disputed border.Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian takes a question at the daily media briefing in Beijing, April 8, 2020.In Beijing, Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said that the two sides “agreed to take necessary measures to cool down the situation.”Zhao said that both sides “had a candid and deep exchange of views on the border management and control issue, agreeing to take the necessary measures to lower the temperature on the situation.”Neither China nor India has given any details of how they will deescalate, but the statements were the first signal that both countries have made some progress in bringing down tensions that had spiraled dangerously over the past week.Commentators in New Delhi, however, pointed out that the disputed Himalayan border between the two countries would continue to be volatile, as the bloody brawl on June 15 had breached agreements that they had reached over the last 25 years to maintain peace.“The elaborate series of confidence-building measures put in place since 1993 have collapsed. That was the regime through which border patrols and army commanders were able to interact to maintain peace,” says Manoj Joshi, a security expert at the Observer Research Foundation in New Delhi. “Now the whole thing has come apart. What happens next time you meet a Chinese patrol?” According to earlier agreements, Chinese and Indian border patrols, which are often in close proximity, were not allowed to use firearms during any confrontation. While the latest incident involved hand-to-hand combat, it was more brutal than any in the past and fought with rocks and clubs studded with nails.Indian officials have called it “premeditated and planned action by Chinese troops.” Beijing has blamed India for the incident.The two countries also face a mammoth task in resolving the fresh disputes that have erupted in recent weeks along what is known as the Line of Actual Control.Indian officials have demanded the restoration of the status quo after accusing Beijing of entering its territory. China on the other hand has laid claim to the Galwan Valley in eastern Ladakh, where the clash between troops from the two sides took place.Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, who took part in a virtual conference with his counterparts from Russia and China on Tuesday, underlined the need to “respect international law and recognize the legitimate interest of partners.”Jaishankar said that the meeting “reiterates our belief in the time-tested principles of international relations. But the challenge today is not just one of concepts and norms, but equally of practice.”
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Brussels Aims to Halt Purchases of Strategic European Firms by Chinese Investors
The European Union is moving to stop the purchase of strategic European companies by foreign subsidized corporations, especially from China. The European Commission has taken a first step by adopting a white paper on distortions that foreign subsidized companies are causing in Europe. More in this report by Alfonso Beato in Barcelona narrated by Jonathan Spier.
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Novak Djokovic Tests Positive for Coronavirus
Novak Djokovic tested positive for the coronavirus on Tuesday after taking part in a tennis exhibition series he organized in Serbia and Croatia. The top-ranked Serb is the fourth player to test positive for the virus after first playing in Belgrade and then again last weekend in Zadar, Croatia. His wife also tested positive. “The moment we arrived in Belgrade we went to be tested. My result is positive, just as Jelena’s, while the results of our children are negative,” Djokovic said in a statement. Djokovic has been criticized for organizing the tournament and bringing in players from other countries amid the coronavirus pandemic. Viktor Troicki said Tuesday that he and his pregnant wife have both been diagnosed with the virus, while Grigor Dimitrov, a three-time Grand Slam semifinalist from Bulgaria, said Sunday he tested positive. Borna Coric played Dimitrov on Saturday in Zadar and said Monday he has also tested positive. There were no social distancing measures observed at the matches in either country. “Everything we did in the past month, we did with a pure heart and sincere intentions,” Djokovic said. “Our tournament meant to unite and share a message of solidarity and compassion throughout the region.” Djokovic, who has previously said he was against taking a vaccine for the virus even if it became mandatory to travel, was the face behind the Adria Tour, a series of exhibition events that started in the Serbian capital and then moved to Zadar. He left Croatia after the final was canceled and was tested in Belgrade. The statement said Djokovic was showing no symptoms. Despite the positive test, Djokovic defended the exhibition series. “It was all borne with a philanthropic idea, to direct all raised funds towards people in need and it warmed my heart to see how everybody strongly responded to this,” Djokovic said. “We organized the tournament at the moment when the virus has weakened, believing that the conditions for hosting the Tour had been met. “Unfortunately, this virus is still present, and it is a new reality that we are still learning to cope and live with.” Djokovic said he will remain in self-isolation for 14 days and also apologized to anyone who became infected as a result of the series.
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Ugandan Champion Runner Struggles to Train for Tokyo Olympics During Pandemic
The coronavirus pandemic has some world athletes struggling to stay sharp for next year’s Tokyo Olympics after training facilities were shut down and competitions cancelled. Ugandan runner Halima Nakaayi, the gold medalist in the 800 meters at the 2019 World Athletics Championships, is doing her best to prepare under the restrictions imposed by COVID-19. Halima Athumani reports from Kampala. VIDEOGRAPHER: Francis MukasaPRODUCER: Rod James
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Ex-CEO of Wirecard Arrested in Case Over Missing Billions
The former CEO of German payment service provider Wirecard has been arrested, accused of inflating the company’s balance sheet in an accounting scandal that centers on a missing sum of 1.9 billion euros ($2.1 billion), prosecutors in Munich said Tuesday.
Markus Braun resigned on Friday after the company said that auditors couldn’t find accounts containing the money. On Monday, Wirecard said it has concluded that the money probably doesn’t exist.
Prosecutors said a court issued an arrest warrant shortly afterward and Braun, who had been in Vienna, turned himself in on Monday evening.
He is accused of inflating the company’s balance sheet and revenue using sham income from business with third-party acquirers, “possibly in collaboration with further perpetrators,” in order to “portray the company as financially stronger and more attractive for investors and clients,” they said in a statement.
Braun, an Austrian who had led Wirecard since 2002, was arrested on suspicion of incorrect statements of data and market manipulation.
Prosecutor Anne Leiding said it remains to be seen whether the case may expand to include other offenses, and investigators have yet to determine “how often, for example, these incorrect results were used to obtain loans from other banks.”
After Braun turned himself in, “he pledged his cooperation” in a first meeting with investigators, Leiding told reporters.
Wirecard AG was once regarded as a star of the growing financial technology sector, but its shares have fallen sharply after the company became the subject of multiple Financial Times reports about accounting irregularities in its Asian operations. Wirecard disputed the reports, which started in February 2019, and said it was the victim of speculators.
On Monday the company fired its chief operating officer, Jan Marsalek, who had been suspended from the management board last week. German news agency dpa reported that Marsalek had been in charge of overseeing daily operations including in Southeast Asia, where the possible fraud occurred.
Two Philippine banks that were said to hold the missing money in escrow accounts said in recent days that they had no dealings with Wirecard, and the country’s central bank chief said none of the missing money entered the Philippines’ financial system.
In the early hours of Monday, Wirecard said its management board “assesses on the basis of further examination that there is a prevailing likelihood that the bank trust account balances in the amount of 1.9 billion euros do not exist.”
Wirecard said it is in “constructive discussions” with banks on continuing credit lines, and is “assessing options for a sustainable financing strategy for the company.” It said it is examining other possible measures to keep the business going, including restructuring and disposing of business units.
After huge declines last week and on Monday, Wirecard shares rallied somewhat on Tuesday. They were up 19.8% in Frankfurt trading at 17.29 euros.
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Push for Confederate Monument Removal Heats Up
In the weeks since George Floyd’s death while in police custody in the state of Minnesota set off protests over the treatment of African Americans, several Confederate monuments in the United States have been damaged or toppled by demonstrators. VOA’s Mariama Diallo explains why.
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