| Stacey Abrams on police shooting of Rayshard Brooks: 'There is a legitimacy to this outrage' Posted: 14 Jun 2020 09:26 AM PDT  Stacey Abrams said the fatal Atlanta police shooting of Rayshard Brooks showed the "legitimacy" of the outrage expressed by Black Lives Matter protests.
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| 'Black Lives Matter' banner removed at U.S. embassy in South Korea after Trump displeased: sources Posted: 15 Jun 2020 08:49 AM PDT  A large "Black Lives Matter" banner draped on the outside of the U.S. embassy in Seoul was removed on Monday after President Donald Trump expressed his displeasure about it, two people familiar with the matter said. The banner was hung on the front of the mission building on Saturday as the embassy tweeted a message in support of the anti-racism campaign across the United States and worldwide in response to the killing last month of George Floyd, an African American, in Minneapolis police custody. The banner was seen as a rare show of open support for the Black Lives Matter movement by a Trump appointee.
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| Reconsider reparations. We need them morally and economically, and we can afford them. Posted: 14 Jun 2020 05:38 AM PDT  Money alone can't right the monumental wrong of slavery. But reparations are justifiable and affordable, and they'd give the economy a needed jolt.
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| Philippine journalist convicted of libel, given 6-year term Posted: 14 Jun 2020 08:54 PM PDT  A Manila court found Maria Ressa, her online news site Rappler Inc., and former reporter Reynaldo Santos Jr. guilty of libeling a wealthy businessman.
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| Australian PM 'concerned' over China death sentence for Oz actor Posted: 15 Jun 2020 02:31 AM PDT  Australia's prime minister expressed concern Monday for an Australian man sentenced to death in China in a case that could further inflame tensions between Beijing and Canberra. A Chinese court revealed on Saturday that Karm Gilespie, who used to work in Sydney as an actor and then an investment coach, had been condemned to death earlier in the week on drug-smuggling charges. Gilespie was detained seven years earlier but his case had not been made public by Beijing, Australian authorities or his family.
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| Report details how woman without ticket boarded Delta flight Posted: 15 Jun 2020 06:26 AM PDT |
| House GOP Report Finds WHO ‘Complicit’ in Beijing’s COVID Coverup, Calls for Director Tedros’s Ouster Posted: 15 Jun 2020 10:12 AM PDT  China violated the International Health Regulations (IHR) of the World Health Organization in the early days of the coronavirus outbreak, Republicans on the House Foreign Affairs Committee allege in a new report on the origins of the pandemic.The interim 50-page report, a copy of which was obtained by National Review, also raises new questions about the complicit role the WHO played in allowing the Chinese Communist Party to delay crucial information about the novel virus. It recommends that WHO director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus be removed from his position for his "full-throated defense of the CCP's response and embrace of their revisionist history," and calls for an international investigation into the CCP's failure to slow the spread of the disease."It is highly likely the ongoing pandemic could have been prevented," it states. "As such, it is incumbent upon the United States and likeminded WHO Member States to ensure the accountability and reforms necessary to prevent the CCP's malfeasance from giving rise to a third pandemic during the 21st century."One study has found that China could have prevented 95 percent of coronavirus infections if it had immediately implemented travel restrictions, containment measures, and social distancing after Wuhan laboratories sequenced the novel virus and discovered its resemblance to SARS by December 27. Instead, health officials ordered the labs to hand over or destroy the samples.The House Foreign Affairs Minority, led by Representative Michael McCaul (R., Texas) — leader of the China Task Force — claims that, despite reports to the contrary, the CCP never told the WHO of the outbreak, in direct violation of Article 6 of the IHR, which requires a member country to inform the WHO of all events occurring within their borders that may constitute a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC). The argument that China violated the IHR was first raised by Representative Jim Banks (R., Ind.), a member of McCaul's China Task Force who asked the State Department and Department of Justice in April to bring a case to the United Nations International Court of Justice.Based on the fact that the initial outbreak in Wuhan was "caused by an unknown agent and from an unknown source," Republicans argue that the WHO's guidance criteria for reporting potential incidents was not met. A timeline of the virus's early days shows that Wuhan doctors noticed a "cluster of pneumonia cases with an unknown cause" on December 21."In sum, as early as mid-December, and no later than December 27th, the CCP had enough information to assess it was legally obligated to inform the WHO that the outbreak in Wuhan was an event 'that may constitute a Public Health Emergency of International Concern,'" the report argues. "Had the CCP not been committed to covering up the outbreak, it would have answered YES to all four of the criteria and notified the WHO. The CCP failed to do so."The report points to comments made by Dr. Michael Ryan, the Executive Director of the WHO's Health Emergencies Program, who said in an April press conference that the organization learned of the new disease from "our epidemic intelligence from open-source platform partners PRO-MED" — not the CCP — on December 31. It also points to the WHO's COVID-19 Technical Lead, Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, who said on April 13 that "right from the start, from the first notification we received on the 31st of December" she believed "that of course there may be human-to-human transmission.""It is hard to reconcile the WHO's own Technical Lead saying that on December 31st she knew that 'of course' human-to-human transmission could be occurring with the WHO's January 13th statement that 'there has been no suggestion of human-to-human transmission,'" the report states. "Either the WHO willfully ignored their experts, or they deferred to CCP pressure."
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| U.S. Air Force pilot dead after jet crashes off U.K. coast Posted: 15 Jun 2020 11:19 AM PDT  The pilot of a fighter jet that crashed into the North Sea, off the coast of northern England, has been found dead, the U.S. Air Force said Monday.
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| First Covid-19 lawsuit filed against Chinese government in latest sign of bubbling unrest Posted: 14 Jun 2020 08:46 AM PDT  When Zhang Hai checked his father into a hospital in Wuhan mid-January, he had no idea a novel coronavirus was sweeping through the city. Chinese authorities had yet to sound the alarm, despite mounting evidence the virus was fatal and transmitting quickly – at least two were dead, and infections had spread abroad. But police pressured doctors to stay silent, and hospitals wouldn't allow extra protective gear, even as medical staff fell ill. So Mr Zhang never imagined his father, a 76-year-old veteran, would be infected with Covid-19 at the hospital while having a thigh fracture repaired, and die within a week. "If the government didn't cover up the disease in the early stages, my father wouldn't have died," Mr Zhang, 50, told the Telegraph. "I am furious... so many people lost their lives during this pandemic. What they did amounts to murder." On Wednesday, Mr Zhang filed the first lawsuit in China against the government that seeks restitution for its cover-up of the pandemic, according to lawyers and documents reviewed by the Telegraph.
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| ‘I just don’t understand how any of them can sleep’: Parents of seven-year-old allegedly maced at Seattle protest speak out against police Posted: 15 Jun 2020 08:42 AM PDT  The parents of a seven-year-old child who was allegedly sprayed with mace by police at a peaceful protest in Seattle have spoken out about the traumatising incident.Footage of the protest that showed the boy screaming in pain while protesters attempt to help by using a milk-like substance to wash the child's eyes went viral online at the beginning of June.
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| U.S. General Throws Mike Pompeo’s Iran Policy Under the Bus Posted: 15 Jun 2020 09:59 AM PDT  "There's actually no military component of what's known as the maximum pressure campaign."
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| U.S. Supreme Court turns away 10 gun rights cases Posted: 15 Jun 2020 06:54 AM PDT  The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to take up a series of cases seeking to expand gun rights, showing that even with its conservative majority it remains hesitant about wading into the contentious issue. The court rejected 10 different appeals that had piled up in recent months challenging whether various firearms restrictions violated the U.S. Constitution's Second Amendment right to bear arms. Two conservative justices, Clarence Thomas and Brett Kavanaugh, said they would have heard one of the cases, a dispute from New Jersey over that state's concealed-carry gun permits.
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| Statue of famed Italian writer defaced Posted: 14 Jun 2020 04:16 AM PDT 
The words "racist" and "rapist" were sprayed under the statue of Montanelli, who bought a 12-year-old Eritrean girl as his wife while serving in the Italian forces during its invasion of Ethiopia in the second Italo-Abyssinian War in 1936. Montanelli, a writer and right-wing journalist who died in 2001, appeared in a television interview in 1969 discussing how he bought the girl for marriage with money, describing it as "normal practice" in the region at the time. Anti-racism protesters on Saturday poured red paint over Montanelli's statue in a garden dedicated to the writer. Italian police have started an investigation on the incident, as global protests sparked by the killing of African American George Floyd in the United States enter their third week.
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| Trump's comments about Huawei exec's arrest to take center stage in extradition fight Posted: 15 Jun 2020 06:38 AM PDT |
| 'Embrace the change': Black officers sidestep unions to support police reform Posted: 15 Jun 2020 11:01 AM PDT  "We're talking about Black men dying. We're talking about systemic racism in police work," said a leader of one Black law enforcement association.
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| China warns "very high" risk of new Beijing COVID cluster spreading Posted: 15 Jun 2020 12:13 PM PDT  "Beijing will not turn into a second Wuhan," one city official has vowed amid fears of a possible second wave of coronavirus infections.
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| Argentine bishop resumes work as Vatican abuse probe wraps Posted: 15 Jun 2020 07:52 AM PDT  An Argentine bishop close to Pope Francis has gone back to work at the Holy See's financial administration office while under investigation in his native Argentina and at the Vatican for alleged sexual abuse. The Vatican spokesman, Matteo Bruni, confirmed Bishop Gustavo Zanchetta had resumed work at the APSA patrimony office but said it in no way interferes with the investigations. The developments came as Francis on Monday named a new No. 2 at the office, an Italian layman and auditor, Fabio Gasperini.
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| Indian embassy staff arrested over 'hit-and-run' in Islamabad Posted: 15 Jun 2020 11:25 AM PDT  Reports say a pedestrian was critically injured and the two High Commission employees tried to flee.
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| Israel army says targets Hamas infrastructure after rocket fire Posted: 15 Jun 2020 01:17 PM PDT  Israel retaliated by air and tank fire Monday against Hamas positions after rocket fire from the Gaza Strip, the army said. The tensions came after Gaza rulers Hamas called for unity among Palestinians and "resistance" against Israeli plans to annex parts of the occupied West Bank.
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| Thai PM warns against criticism of the monarchy Posted: 15 Jun 2020 04:27 AM PDT  Thailand's prime minister on Monday warned political activists not to criticize the monarchy, saying doing so could damage their job prospects even though the king had asked him not to make prosecutions under a law protecting the royal family. Insulting the monarchy is a crime under Article 112 of Thailand's criminal code, punishable by up to 15 years in prison. The suspected kidnapping of a Thai democracy activist in Cambodia this month ignited small protests by university students, with some questioning in online comments the "lese majeste" law.
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| Earth's Core: We Now Have An Idea of What Is Down There Posted: 14 Jun 2020 10:00 PM PDT  Structures made of hot, dense materials that wrap around our planet's core are much more widespread than previous research suggests.
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| Rayshard Brooks shouldn't be dead 'because he was drunk at a freaking Wendy's': Atlanta protests continue after fatal police shooting Posted: 14 Jun 2020 09:18 PM PDT  Outrage at the death of Rayshard Brooks in Atlanta continued, with protesters returning to the place where Brooks was shot by a former police officer.
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| A picture and its story: Black personal trainer carries suspected far-right protester to safety Posted: 15 Jun 2020 06:27 AM PDT  Protests have erupted across British cities and around the world after George Floyd died in police custody in Minneapolis on May 25.
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| China's enormous response to a localized coronavirus outbreak at a market shows it's taking COVID-19 far more seriously than the rest of the world Posted: 15 Jun 2020 03:30 AM PDT  Brazil, Mexico, and many US states are reopening despite reporting record new daily cases of the coronavirus.
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| At least 7 Minneapolis cops have quit since George Floyd's death Posted: 15 Jun 2020 12:42 PM PDT  Officials didn't specify if the departures are specifically due to Floyd's death, but the decisions to leave were made recently.
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| U.S. fighter jet crashes into North Sea during training exercise Posted: 15 Jun 2020 06:17 AM PDT  A U.S. fighter jet has crashed into the North Sea on the east coast of England while on a routine training mission.
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| S Korea's leader calls on North to stop raising tensions Posted: 15 Jun 2020 12:54 AM PDT  South Korea's president called on North Korea to stop raising animosities and return to talks, saying Monday the rivals must not reverse the peace deals that he and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un reached during 2018 summits. President Moon Jae-in's efforts to defuse rising animosities came after North Korea threatened Friday to destroy an inter-Korean liaison office located in North Korea and take unspecified military steps against South Korea. If North Korean were to take such actions it would be a serious setback to Moon's efforts toward Korean reconciliation and finding a negotiated solution to the North Korean nuclear issue.
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| Supreme Court rejects cases over 'qualified immunity' for police Posted: 15 Jun 2020 07:00 AM PDT  The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear eight cases involving a legal defense called qualified immunity that can be used to shield government officials from lawsuits, including seven involving police accused of excessive force or other misconduct. In six of the seven cases involving police, plaintiffs who sued officers were challenging actions in lower courts that protected the defendants through qualified immunity. Among the cases the justices declined to hear was a dispute over whether officers in Tennessee can be sued for using a police dog that bit a man who has said he had put up his hands in surrender.
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| Mars: Green glow detected on the Red Planet Posted: 15 Jun 2020 11:50 AM PDT  A joint European-Russian satellite observes a light in Mars' atmosphere that's generated by oxygen.
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| Philippine American journalist Maria Ressa convicted in cybercrime case Posted: 14 Jun 2020 08:04 PM PDT  Ressa's conviction was seen as a severe blow to press freedom in the Philippines under strongman President Rodrigo Duterte.
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| Trudeau says in talks to extend Canada-US border closure Posted: 15 Jun 2020 11:01 AM PDT  Ottawa and Washington are in talks to extend the closure of the Canada-US border, as concerns persist over the spread of the new coronavirus, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Monday. "It is clear that there is broad consensus across the provinces that we need to continue to keep our current border measures in place," Trudeau said after consulting with provincial leaders. The world's longest international frontier -- at 8,900 kilometres (5,500 miles) -- was closed to all non-essential travellers on both sides on March 21 in response to the coronavirus crisis.
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| Japan suspends Aegis Ashore deployment, pointing to cost and technical issues Posted: 15 Jun 2020 06:52 AM PDT  The decision drastically alters the country's plans for defending itself against ballistic missiles.
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| De Blasio Tells Covid Contract Tracers Not to Ask Positive Cases If They’ve Attended BLM Protests Posted: 15 Jun 2020 06:43 AM PDT  New York City's coronavirus contact-tracing force are not asking those who test positive for COVID-19 whether they recently attended a Black Lives Matter demonstration, a city spokesperson confirmed."No person will be asked proactively if they attended a protest," Avery Cohen, a spokesperson for de Blasio, told THE CITY about the directive. "If a person wants to proactively offer that information, there is an opportunity for them to do so."De Blasio, who announced his program last month to hire 1,000 "contact tracers," has promised to reveal Monday how many city residents have been questioned so far.Tracers are supposed to ask those who test positive for Covid-19 to "recall 'contacts' and individuals they may have exposed," Cohen explained. Tracers also probe for any "close contacts" of the patient — anyone that has been within six feet of the infected person for at least 10 minutes.New York City officials have taken a soft stance over fears that mass protests could lead to a spike in coronavirus cases. "Let's be clear about something: if there is a spike in coronavirus cases in the next two weeks, don't blame the protesters. Blame racism," Mark Levine, head of the city council's health committee, tweeted earlier this month.The mayor, whose daughter was arrested during a Manhattan protest over the death of George Floyd, is facing a lawsuit from Catholics and Jews for violating the constitutional rights of religious New Yorkers by placing restrictions on religious services. But De Blasio has pushed back on claims that he has been hypocritical in allowing protests to proceed while keeping religious services shuttered."When you see . . . an entire nation, simultaneously grappling with an extraordinary crisis seated in 400 years of American racism, I'm sorry, that is not the same question as the understandably aggrieved store owner or the devout religious person who wants to go back to services," de Blasio said in a press conference earlier this month.
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| Scientist produces own Florida Covid-19 count after being fired by state Posted: 15 Jun 2020 08:40 AM PDT  * Dr Rebekah Jones says she refused to manipulate data * Florida has reopened despite only one county meeting criteria * Coronavirus – latest global updatesA scientist who was fired from overseeing Florida's Covid-19 database has created her own coronavirus dashboard – which she says proves Florida is not ready to reopen.Dr Rebekah Jones was fired by the Florida department of health in May. She said she was sidelined after she refused to manipulate data regarding the severity of Covid-19, which would have restricted the state's plan to reopen its economy.According to Jones's own online database, Florida's Community Coronavirus Dashboard, only one of 67 counties meets state criteria for easing social restrictions.Jones's dashboard also shows a higher number of coronavirus cases than the Florida DoH site, with 83,720 positive cases and 3,022 deaths compared with 75,568 cases and 2,931 deaths.Jones said the difference was due to a difference in counting technique."DoH publishes total cases, not positive people," her website says."Additionally, cases are not currently created for those who receive positive antibody test results, and so DoH excludes them from that total. We show the total number of people who have definitive lab results showing they have or have had Covid-19 regardless of the type of test."Florida recorded record levels of new coronavirus cases over the weekend, ABC News reported. On Sunday, the state health department reported a second consecutive day of more than 2,000 new cases.According to data from the Washington Post, in June Florida experienced its highest seven-day average of coronavirus cases since the beginning of the pandemic.Jones's database says Liberty county, in the north-west of the state, does meet criteria for reopening. Other counties do not.She has said she was fired on 18 May for refusing to "manually change data to drum up support for the plan to reopen"."When I went to show them what the report card would say for each county, among other things, they asked me to delete the report card because it showed that no counties, pretty much, were ready for reopening," Jones told NPR."And they didn't want to draw attention to that."A spokesperson for Florida's governor, Ron DeSantis, denied that Jones was fired for refusing to manipulate coronavirus data. The state health department said she had "exhibited a repeated course of insubordination".As of Monday morning researchers at Johns Hopkins University in Maryland had recorded about 2.1m coronavirus cases in the US and 115,697 deaths. The actual death toll is believed to be far higher.Cases are climbing in Florida and Arizona while in Texas hospitalizations from Covid-19 are up 42% since 25 May.On Friday the federal government's leading public health expert, Dr Anthony Fauci, said the US might not see a "second wave" of Covid-19 "if you approach it in the proper way".Fauci said the correct approach involved people continuing to wear masks and maintaining social distancing.Over the weekend, footage showed people in New York City, Washington and other places gathering without masks, and not practicing social distancing.
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| China's new virus outbreak needs further testing after 'hypothesis' on cause: WHO Posted: 15 Jun 2020 09:28 AM PDT  The origins of a new cluster of coronavirus infections in Beijing are uncertain, World Health Organization officials said on Monday, but the claim that it might have been caused by imports or packaging of salmon was not the "primary hypothesis". Several districts of the Chinese capital put up security checkpoints, closed schools and ordered people to be tested for the coronavirus on Monday after an unexpected rise in cases linked to the biggest wholesale food market in Asia. State-run newspapers reported that the virus was discovered on chopping boards used for imported salmon at Beijing's Xinfadi market amid worries about a second wave of the pandemic in China.
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| Woman apologizes after viral confrontation with resident Posted: 15 Jun 2020 07:34 AM PDT  She called cops on Filipino man for creating "Black Lives Matter" sign in front of his own home in wealthy San Francisco neighborhood, drawing slew of backlash online.
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| Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar supports calls to dismantle the Minneapolis Police Department: 'you can't really reform a department that is rotten to the root' Posted: 14 Jun 2020 10:37 AM PDT  "Nobody is saying that the community is not going to be kept safe," she said. "Nobody is saying crime will not be investigated."
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| Intelligent alien civilisations could number 36, says Nottingham University Posted: 15 Jun 2020 08:23 AM PDT  Intelligent alien civilisations could number 36, new research from Nottingham University has found. Although there is no evidence for intergalactic life which could communicate with humans, the calculation has put a number on how many different types scientists should be looking for. Scientists also added that we would "not be surprised" by the alien life, and that it would likely be similar to humanity. Researchers said the average distance to these civilizations would be 17,000 light-years, which with our technology would make the chances of encountering such life very slim. They worked out that humanity would likely have to survive another 6,120 years for two-way communication. The paper, published in the Astrophysics Journal, is based on the assumption that intelligent life would evolve on other planets in the same way that it has done on Earth. They used a theory called the Astrobiological Copernican Limit, which is when scientists apply evolution on a cosmic scale. Their calculation is a refinement of one first thought up in 1961 by Francis Drake, who set seven criteria for alien life, ranging from number of stars in the galaxy to the presence of detectable electronic signals. However, estimates using this equation are far-ranging, from zero to many billions. There are two Astrobiological Copernican Limits, which dictate that intelligent life forms in less than five billion years, or after about five billion years, based on the fact that on Earth a communicating civilisation formed after 4.5 billion years. Intelligent life would only form in this time for planets which are, like Earth, within a star's habitable zone and have the right distribution of elements. First author of the paper Tom Westby said: "In the strong criteria, whereby a metal content equal to that of the Sun is needed (the Sun is relatively speaking quite metal rich), we calculate that there should be around 36 active civilizations in our Galaxy." Scientists estimated the number of Communicating Extra-Terrestrial Intelligent civilisations (CETI), which are civilisations similar to those on Earth, which broadcast radio signals into space, by using these limits. Professor of Astrophysics at the University of Nottingham, Christopher Conselice led the research. He said: "There should be at least a few dozen active civilisations in our Galaxy under the assumption that it takes five billion years for intelligent life to form on other planets, as on Earth." Another factor in the equation is how long the technology used by intelligent civilisations, such as televisions and satellites, broadcasts signals into space. Our technological civilisation is 100 years old, and if others are of a similar age then then there will be about 36 ongoing intelligent technical civilisations throughout our galaxy. This is the lower limit, scientists said, meaning that if it is likely that our technological civilisation lasts far longer than 100 years, there are likely to be many alien communities out in space. If all the civilisations were found, the scientists said, they could work out how long humanity is likely to survive. The researchers said that if it was found that intelligent life was common, and there were many dozens of civilisations, we could expect humanity's technological civilisation to last a few hundred years. If it is not, then that does not bode well for the longevity of the human race. Professor Christopher Conselice explained: "By searching for extraterrestrial intelligent life - even if we find nothing - we are discovering our own future and fate."
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| Vietnam couple detained over killing pet dogs and cats for meat Posted: 15 Jun 2020 02:58 AM PDT  A couple accused of poisoning dozens of pet dogs and cats in Vietnam have been arrested, state media said Monday, as local authorities clamp down on animal snatchers who sell the meat to food shops and markets. Traditionally eaten with rice wine or beer, dog meat is considered a delicacy in parts of the country. Cat -- although less popular -- also features on some menus, often dubbed "little tiger".
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| Billionaire Shari Redstone’s Son, 35, Deported From Israel for Flouting Quarantine to See Teen Lover Posted: 15 Jun 2020 04:24 AM PDT  You know how it is. Your mom's the billionaire boss of the ViacomCBS media empire, having emerged victorious from a messy, Succession-style family feud.You've spent your life criss-crossing the globe on airplanes. You're 35, and you're dating an 18-year old Israeli model. You don't think the normal rules apply to you. Perhaps it is not entirely surprising then that Brandon Korff, son of Shari Redstone and grandson of Sumner Redstone, thought he could get away with flouting Israel's tedious quarantine regulations.His pressing need to break the health and safety guidelines amid a deadly global pandemic? Hooking up with his beautiful young girlfriend, Yael Shelbia, an 18-year-old Instagram star who has appeared in campaigns for Kim Kardashian's KKW Beauty makeup line.No doubt Korff wasn't expecting to be caught, and, having been caught, it seems unlikely that the scion of one of America's most prominent billionaire families would have ever imagined he would be thrown out of the country in disgrace.But that is exactly the fate that befell Korff, who was unceremoniously ejected from Israel on Sunday night after he violated the terms of an "exceptional permit," which allowed him into the country to visit and stay with his brother, who is serving with the Israeli army.Korff promptly abandoned his brother's company in favor of the more compelling charms of his girlfriend.A statement from the Israeli government said Korff "violated the isolation orders from the moment he entered the country and met his Israeli partner," and "stayed with her in the same apartment."It said Korff, whose mother is the chairwoman of ViacomCBS, was ordered to leave the country immediately.The Times of Israel said the official statement did not identify Korff's partner, but Korff is known to be dating Shelbia, a part-time model who is also doing compulsory military service.Israel banned entry to non-citizens and non-residents in March in an effort to clamp down on the spread of the coronavirus. Israel requires all individuals entering the country to remain in quarantine for two weeks following their arrival.Unluckily, perhaps, for Korff, the country's leaders had every reason to come down hard on him; last week, Israel's health ministry came under fire after an Israeli billionaire businessman, Teddy Sagi, was granted an exemption from the isolation orders only to be spotted attending a party with Israeli celebrities.Minister of Health Yuli Edelstein issued a statement late last week saying: "No one is above the guidances, not even celebrities or the one percent. No one! The virus does not differentiate between celebrities and ordinary people."And nor, it seems, does the Israeli Population and Immigration Authority.Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| Aurora police release dashcam video of traffic stop arrest Posted: 15 Jun 2020 04:04 AM PDT  Aurora police have released dashcam video of a traffic stop that resulted in the arrest of a couple.
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| Why Trump loves the US military – but it doesn't love him back Posted: 13 Jun 2020 10:00 PM PDT  The president's West Point speech went smoothly but protests have focused a harsh light on his use of the militaryDonald Trump attempted to solidify his bond with the US army on Saturday, delivering the graduation speech to cadets at the United States Military Academy and boasting of a "colossal" $2tn rebuilding of American martial might.Trump's West Point speech was studiously vapid, with only a modicum of partisan boasting. But the political setting crackled with civil-military tension.When all else fails – and that has happened a lot – the president has embraced the flag and hugged the military. But these days the military is not hugging back. It stands to attention as duty demands, but as inertly as Old Glory, the banner which Trump has taken to fondling at public events.The president likes to refer to the soldiers around him as "my generals" and "my military". The possessive pronoun always jarred with the spirit of civ-mil rectitude, even before it became evident how literally Trump interpreted it.Saturday's ceremony at West Point was the embodiment of the president's approach. More than a thousand cadets from the class of 2020 were called back from their homes to the campus, 50 miles north of New York City, despite the coronavirus pandemic, so Trump could give a televised speech.Fifteen cadets tested positive. The rest had to quarantine for two weeks. The whole show was widely disparaged as stage dressing for Trump's re-election campaign, days after the president crossed a line in the exploitation of military leaders as props.> What we have here is an effort to use the military to partisan advantage> > Risa BrooksOn 1 June, the president had the area around the White House cleared of peaceful demonstrators who were protesting police killings of black Americans. Teargas and other chemical irritants were used as well as rubber bullets, baton charges and mounted police, all so Trump could walk across Lafayette Square to pose with a Bible in front of St John's, the so-called "church of the presidents".In his entourage were the defense secretary, Mark Esper, and the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, Gen Mark Milley, the latter dressed in battle fatigues. In the presence of scores of soldiers from the national guard, it certainly looked like Trump's suppression of peaceful protests was a military operation, in violation of norms that have underpinned US military conduct for a century and a half.Trump planned to go much further, invoking the 1807 Insurrection Act to deploy an elite combat unit from the 82nd Airborne on the streets of the capital."What we have here is an effort to use the military to partisan advantage to the point of potentially putting troops in the streets to confront protesters [and] to present himself as the law and order president, which is a concept with pretty historical racial overtones," said Risa Brooks, professor of political science at Marquette University.As the full impact of the photo op debacle dawned, Esper and Milley slammed on the brakes. Esper reportedly came close to being fired, by opposing the use of the Insurrection Act and ordering the 82nd Airborne home. The former army officer and arms trade lobbyist pleaded cluelessness, saying he had no idea he was being roped into a photo op at St John's.This week, in a video address to the National Defense University, Milley apologised for his presence, saying it had been a mistake. In an administration for which absolute personal loyalty is everything, the longevity in office of both men seemed to be in question. They are facing powerful countervailing winds.A string of retired generals denounced Trump's behaviour. James Mattis, the marine commander who was Trump's first defense secretary, accused him of "abuse of executive authority" and making a "mockery of the constitution".Ahead of the West Point ceremony, hundreds of its graduates wrote to the class of 2020."We are concerned that fellow graduates serving in senior-level, public positions are failing to uphold their oath of office and their commitment to Duty, Honor, Country," the open letter said, in a reference to Esper, class of 1986. "Their actions threaten the credibility of an apolitical military."Peter Bergen, director of international security at the New America thinktank, and author of Trump and His Generals: The Cost of Chaos, said: "I think this is the biggest split between the military and the civilian leadership. I can't recall a time where there was more of a fissure." 'A very delicate position'Such tremors under the pillars of the republic have been amplified by racial tensions, the restless fault line in US society and politics.The US armed forces reflect the diversity of the nation far more than other institutions. Amid protests over the killing of George Floyd, black officers who posted emotional videos expressing the agonies of bearing witness to systemic racism were backed by the top brass.The protest movement also gave new impetus to attempts to do away with symbols of the Confederacy. The navy and marine corps banned displays of the Confederate flag and the army has been taking steps to review whether 10 of its bases should be named after Confederate officers.> Senior military leaders want to talk about how important it is for the American military to be anti-racist.> > Alice Hunt FriendAlice Hunt Friend, a former senior Pentagon policy official now at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, said: "Senior military leaders, both active and retired, are in a very delicate position because they want to maintain their nonpartisanship … but they also want to talk about how important it is for the American military to be anti-racist."The widening gap between racially sensitive armed services and a presidency that draws significant support from white nationalists became vividly apparent this week. On Monday, the Pentagon indicated that Esper was considering changes to bases named for Confederate generals. On Wednesday, Trump decreed by tweet: "My Administration will not even consider the renaming of these Magnificent and Fabled Military Installations."Our history as the Greatest Nation in the World will not be tampered with," he declared. "Respect our Military!"Respect for the military is a powerful drug in US politics. It has retained the confidence of an overwhelming majority of an electorate largely contemptuous of other institutions. The endorsement of seasoned flag officers is enthusiastically sought at election time, though the actual electoral benefits appear to be marginal.Trump surrounded himself with generals at the start of his tenure. They have all since fled and are now either critical or silent.The president is their commander-in-chief, but their loyalty is to the constitution. They must obey every order Trump gives them, as long as it is legal. In admitting he had been led into crossing that line, Gen Milley signalled he was on guard to stop it happening again.But that can be a hard judgment to make. What happens, say in October, if Trump is behind in the polls and wants to conjure up a military adventure abroad or a show of strength on US streets?In October 2018, the army went along with an order to send hundreds of troops to the Mexican border, a couple of weeks before the midterm elections, a move that allowed the president to claim he was taking strong action on immigration."There is no way that the senior military leaders are not having a host of really difficult conversations among themselves about what the next six months or so will look like, about what they might be asked to do, and what would be appropriate to do," said Mara Karlin, former assistant secretary of defense for strategy and force development, now director of strategic studies at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies."I think it's going to be a really bumpy few months."
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| WHO's Kluge warns against further lifting of lockdown in England: Guardian Posted: 14 Jun 2020 12:37 PM PDT  In an interview https://bit.ly/2MYn0hK with the Guardian newspaper, Kluge also cautioned that Britain remained in a "very active phase of the pandemic" and warned against rushing into reopening the economy. Britain said on Sunday it was reviewing its two-metre (6.5-foot) social distancing rule ahead of the next stage of lockdown easing planned for July 4.
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