| Pentagon intelligence employees raise concerns about supporting domestic surveillance amid protests Posted: 04 Jun 2020 12:49 PM PDT  The government's increasingly militarized response to nationwide protests has sparked concern among employees of a Pentagon intelligence agency, who fear they might be compelled to help conduct surveillance on American demonstrators, sources tell Yahoo News.
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| Coronavirus cases are climbing again in the South and the West. Will crowded protests spark bigger outbreaks? Posted: 04 Jun 2020 05:54 AM PDT  As people across all 50 states continue to gather to protest police brutality and systemic racism, the question is whether this will spark a COVID-19 resurgence right when the U.S. seemed to be getting its epidemic under control.
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| Some Louisville police stage protest, walking out on mayor Posted: 04 Jun 2020 11:13 AM PDT  Staging their own protest, some Louisville police officers walked out on the mayor to express their frustration amid demonstrations in the Kentucky city over police interactions with blacks. Video showed dozens of officers quietly filing out as Mayor Greg Fischer arrived at a roll call Wednesday. The walkout was an unplanned response to Fischer's appearance, said Ryan Nichols, the local Fraternal Order of Police president.
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| Activist DeRay Mckesson to critics of the Black Lives Matter movement: ‘We never want one leader … because if you kill the leader, you kill the movement’ Posted: 04 Jun 2020 09:45 AM PDT  The entire country is on edge right now with people protesting police brutality in the wake of the killing of George Floyd and other unarmed black people by law enforcement. All the while, the world continues to cope with a deadly pandemic, one that disproportionately affects African-Americans. And in November there is a presidential election. It's a lot for many people to grapple with and make sense of, but in a one-on-one interview with Yahoo News, civil rights activist DeRay Mckesson says it's important to focus on the crisis at hand and work from there.
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| Buffalo police riot squad quit to back officers who shoved man Posted: 05 Jun 2020 03:30 PM PDT  The police union says the two officers who pushed over an elderly man "were simply doing their job".
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| Putin declares a state of emergency after 20,000 tons of diesel oil leak into Arctic river due to climate change Posted: 04 Jun 2020 11:50 AM PDT  Vladimir Putin declared a state of emergency after more than 20,000 tons of diesel fuel spilled into a river in the Russian Arctic. Several miles of the Ambarnaya river were turned red after a fuel tank at a power plant in Norilsk, an industrial city in northern Siberia, collapsed on Friday. Mr Putin berated regional officials for their slow response in a Zoom call broadcast on state television on Wednesday. "Why did government agencies only find out about this two days after the fact?" he asked Sergei Lipin, the head of the subsidiary that runs the plant. "Are we going to learn about emergency situations from social media?" Yevgenny Zinichev, the head of the Emergencies Ministry and and Alexander Uss, the governor of Krasnoyarsk Krai said that they only learnt about the spill on May 31, two days after it occurred and established a true picture of the situation "only after information on social media." Mr Uss said officials were considering burning the oil off, but that there was no precedent for attempting to do so on such a large scale and it was not clear if it would succeed. The power plant is a subsidiary of Norilsk Nickel, the world's largest producer of nickel and palladium. The company said in a statement that no one had been hurt by the accident and that it had deployed emergency teams to clean up the spill. It said the spill appeared to have been caused by "a sudden sinking of supporting posts in the basement of the storage tank" and that it was reviewing the threat of melting permafrost at other storage facilities. Russia's investigative committee, its rough equivalent of the FBI, has opened a criminal investigation. The head of the power plant has been taken into custody but has not been charged.
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| Corrupt Cop Linked to Trump Tower Lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya Exposes Russian Ops Posted: 05 Jun 2020 08:28 AM PDT  LONDON—A corrupt former police officer who was caught working with Trump Tower lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya has revealed in a Swiss court how Russia's complex foreign influence campaign targets justice systems in Western countries. The former consultant to the Swiss Federal Prosecutor's Office was sacked and convicted after his entanglement with Veselnitskaya and the Russian prosecutor general's office was exposed. He reportedly told a court in Switzerland this week that he discussed a high-profile corruption case against Russia with Russian officials during an all-expenses-paid hunting trip to Siberia. On the visit to the spectacular Kamchatka Peninsula and Lake Baikal, the official, who is identified only as Victor K., reportedly admitted that he spent a week fishing, enjoying the rugged countryside, and hunting for bear, including from a helicopter, with officials from the Russian prosecutor general's office. Victor K. told the appeals court Tuesday that he had conferred with the Russian officials on the trip about the high-profile Magnitsky case, which he was supposed to be investigating. The $230 million fraud against the Russian people was uncovered by Sergei Magnitsky, who was subsequently detained and beaten by Russian officials, who left him to die in a prison cell. The case led to American sanctions against Russia, which were signed into law by President Barack Obama in 2012, after a campaign by U.S.-born financier Bill Browder. While the Swiss authorities originally froze millions connected to the Magnitsky case that flowed through Switzerland nine years ago, the case has stalled.The appeals court ruled Friday that Victor K. was guilty of improperly accepting the hunting trip, but it dismissed the fine that had been imposed by a lower court. "The decision holds; he received undue benefit from the Russians, but it's just a slap on the wrist for a serious crime," Browder told The Daily Beast. "The fact that the Swiss discovered a Russian mole and he bears effectively no consequence is pretty alarming, and makes Switzerland look like a banana republic."According to a lawyer who attended the hearing, Victor K. told the court that he had spent three or four hours discussing the Magnitsky case with the Russian officials. The lawyer's transcript also said he told his bosses in the Swiss Federal Prosecutor's Office that they should drop the case, because they would never be able to follow the money trail, which he likened to finding the source of several bottles of wine once they had all been poured into the same barrel.On a previous trip to Moscow, Swiss court papers revealed that Victor K. met Veselnitskaya, the lawyer responsible for the notorious Trump Tower meeting with Donald Trump Jr., Paul Manafort, and Jared Kushner.Victor K., who was responsible for working on investigations into the Swiss financial dealing of the Russian mafia and oligarchs for decades, had met Veselnitskaya's collaborator, Russian Deputy Attorney General Saak Albertovich Karapetyan, in Geneva, Zurich, and Moscow "without the knowledge of his superiors," according to Swiss court papers. Karapetyan was one of the members of the delegation on the Siberian hunting retreat.Novaya Gazeta reported last month that Victor K. mysteriously continued to take trips to Russia after he stopped working for the Swiss authorities.Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet 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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| CDC: People are calling poison control after rubbing themselves and their food with bleach to prevent the coronavirus Posted: 05 Jun 2020 11:14 AM PDT  One third of CDC survey respondents engaged in unsafe cleaning practices, like using bleach to clean food.
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| Iranian foreign minister challenges Trump to return to nuclear deal Posted: 05 Jun 2020 06:19 AM PDT  Seizing on Donald Trump's conciliatory tone after Tehran released an American Navy veteran, Iran's foreign minister challenged the U.S. president on Friday to return to the nuclear deal that Washington abandoned two years ago. Iran freed Michael White on Thursday as part of a deal in which the United States allowed Iranian-American physician Majid Taheri to visit Iran.
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| Another Man Who Said 'I Can't Breathe' Died in Custody. An Autopsy Calls It Homicide. Posted: 04 Jun 2020 05:20 AM PDT  SEATTLE -- A black man who called out "I can't breathe" before dying in police custody in Tacoma, Washington, was killed as a result of oxygen deprivation and the physical restraint that was used on him, according to details of a medical examiner's report released Wednesday.The Pierce County Medical Examiner's Office concluded that the death of the man, Manuel Ellis, 33, was a homicide. Investigators with the Pierce County Sheriff's Department were in the process of preparing a report about the March death, which occurred shortly after an arrest by officers from the Tacoma Police Department, said the sheriff's spokesman, Ed Troyer."The information is all being put together," Troyer said. "We expect to present it to the prosecutor at the end of this week or early next week."Ellis's sister, Monet Carter-Mixon, called for action to bring accountability in the death and further scrutiny of both the Police Department's practices and how the investigation into his death has been handled."There's a lot of questions that still need to be answered," Carter-Mixon said.Ellis died from respiratory arrest, hypoxia and physical restraint, according to the medical examiner's office. The report listed methamphetamine intoxication and heart disease as contributing factors.Police officers encountered Ellis, a musician and father of two from Tacoma, on the night of March 3 as they were stopped at an intersection. They saw him banging on the window of another vehicle, Troyer said.Ellis approached the officers, Troyer said, and then threw an officer to the ground when the officer got out of the vehicle. The two officers and two backup officers who joined -- two of them white, one black and one Asian -- handcuffed him."Mr. Ellis was physically restrained as he continued to be combative," the Tacoma Police Department said in a statement Wednesday.Troyer said he did not know all the details of the restraint the officers used -- they were not wearing body cameras -- but said he did not believe they used a chokehold or a knee on Ellis' neck. They rolled him on his side after he called out, "I can't breathe.""The main reason why he was restrained was so he wouldn't hurt himself or them," Troyer said. "As soon as he said he couldn't breathe, they requested medical aid."Troyer said the call for aid came four minutes after the officers encountered Ellis.Ellis was still breathing when medical personnel arrived, Troyer said. He was removed from handcuffs while personnel worked on him for about 40 minutes, Troyer said. He was then pronounced dead.Family members said Ellis was the father of an 11-year-old son and 18-month-old daughter. He was a talented musician at his church. Carter-Mixon said Ellis was like a father figure to her boys, coaching them on things like how handle themselves to keep safe in a world of racial injustices."My heart literally hurts," she said. "It's painful. My brother was my best friend."On Wednesday night, she and others held a vigil in Tacoma.Brian Giordano, a close friend of Ellis, said that the two usually spoke several times a day and that Ellis had videochatted with him two hours before his death. He had been excited about a church service he had attended and proud of how he had played drums during the service, Giordano recalled.He said it would be uncharacteristic of Ellis to act in the violent way described by the police.He was living in a clean-and-sober house and was getting his life back together, he said. "He was always uplifting," Giordano said. "He was always on the up-and-up about taking care of people."The death comes as protests have spread around the nation over the case of George Floyd, a black man who died in the custody of Minneapolis police last week. Minnesota officials have charged all four officers in that case, including Derek Chauvin, who kept his knee on Floyd's neck for nearly nine minutes during the arrest.Forensics experts who conducted a private autopsy for Floyd's family concluded that another officer's knees on Floyd's back contributed to making it impossible for his lungs to take in sufficient air.Mayor Victoria Woodards of Tacoma said Wednesday that she would take appropriate steps based on the findings of the sheriff's investigation."We will learn the results of that investigation even as our country reels from the recent killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and too many others," Woodards said.Gov. Jay Inslee of Washington said the issue was a top priority for him."We will be pushing to make sure there is a full and complete investigation of that incident," Inslee said.This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2020 The New York Times Company
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| One of the officers charged in George Floyd's killing was hired despite having a criminal record and slew of traffic violations Posted: 05 Jun 2020 11:53 AM PDT  Lane, who was charged this week with aiding George Floyd's killing, had been charged with damaging property, disobeying police, and other offenses.
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| Lawsuit aims to hold nebulous 'antifa' to blame for injuries Posted: 04 Jun 2020 04:12 PM PDT  A conservative writer from Portland, Oregon, filed a lawsuit Thursday against purported elements of the nebulous, far-left militant groups collectively known as antifa, days after President Donald Trump blamed those groups for inciting violence at protests over police killings of black people. The suit was filed on behalf of Andy Ngo, who is known for aggressively covering and video-recording demonstrators. "I am hoping that this marks a turning point, that militants belonging to a criminal movement can no longer depend on the anonymity ... to get away with their crimes," said Ngo, who previously was a writer with the online publication Quillette and now is with The Post Millennial.
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| China Promises ‘Consequences’ if Britain Grants Haven for Hong Kong Residents Posted: 05 Jun 2020 09:42 AM PDT  China is warning that the United Kingdom is opening itself up to serious "consequences" if it follows through on a plan to offer refuge and a path to citizenship for nearly three million Hong Kong citizens should China implement a restrictive national security law.China believes that "Hong Kong people who were born in Hong Kong are Chinese nationals," said Chen Wen, Minister and First Staff Member of Chinese Embassy in London, in a BBC interview."There will be consequences, that's for sure," Wen said.British Prime Minister Boris Johnson outlined the proposal on Tuesday, saying that if necessary, Britain will allow Hong Kong residents who hold British National Overseas passports to come to the UK for a "renewable period of 12 months and be given further immigration rights, including the right to work, which could place them on a route to citizenship." The move would be "one of the biggest changes in our visa system in British history," Johnson said.The prime minister declared that Beijing's new national security law violates the terms of the Sino-British Joint Declaration, the agreement the U.K. reached with China after Hong Kong returned to Chinese sovereignty in 1997.China warned Britain to abandon its "colonial state of mind" regarding Hong Kong.China last month approved national security laws, which have yet to be implemented, that would allow Beijing to wield expanded power over Hong Kong. Pro-Democracy activists and other critics say the national security laws would effectively scrap the "one country, two systems" policy that has allowed Hong Kong its political freedoms and civil liberties despite still being technically governed by China.Wen denied that China was threatening anything but warned that the UK's move would be "damaging" to Britain's "image of abiding by its own commitments" as well as to the "entire relationship.""I'm just saying this is not the correct decision, and it will be damaging to Hong Kong's stability," she said.
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| Watch Lightning Strike the Washington Monument, Then Watch It Again Posted: 05 Jun 2020 09:10 AM PDT  How big of a bolt would it take to actually damage the structure?
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| I'm a Minneapolis City Council Member. We Must Disband the Police—Here's What Could Come Next Posted: 05 Jun 2020 06:57 AM PDT  On Tuesday, May 26, we woke up to find a video circulating of a Minneapolis Police officer named Derek Chauvin kneeling on the neck of…
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| Chris Hayes Slams Cuomo and de Blasio for Trying to ‘Gaslight the Public’ on Cops Beating Protesters Posted: 04 Jun 2020 08:22 PM PDT  MSNBC host Chris Hayes took New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and New York Governor Andrew Cuomo to task on Thursday night for falsely claiming that New York police hadn't beaten protesters despite video evidence to the contrary.In recent days, several videos have surfaced on social media showing NYPD officers whacking peaceful protesters with batons, including a "horrifying" viral clip of three officers bludgeoning a cyclist on Wednesday night. The latter video prompted widespread outrage—except from the governor and mayor.Noting that Wednesday night's New York protest over George Floyd's death devolved into violence because "the NYPD started beating people," Hayes went on to highlight several incidents captured on video by protesters and journalists."In fact, the public advocate of the City of New York, Jumaane Williams, was present at the protest and live-streaming," he said. "A New York Times reporter was following the crowd and documenting the peaceful protest in the march of Brooklyn."After reading from a reporter's description of the police escalating the violence and beating multiple protesters, the MSNBC host lambasted Cuomo and de Blasio not only for the heavy-handed tactics but lying to the public about them."The mayor of New York City and the governor of New York state went before reporters to gaslight the public, all of us, into believing that we did not see what we all saw," he exclaimed. "That the witnesses are not telling the truth about police beating protesters with their batons."The MSNBC star went on to play clips of the NYC mayor claiming he hasn't seen any footage of police violence towards demonstrators and Cuomo taking umbrage at the very suggestion that officers would do that."A police officer doing their job, do you think there is any sensible police officer who believes their job is bludgeoning a peaceful person with a baton?" Cuomo huffed. "You see, it's that kind of incendiary rhetoric that is not a fact. It's not even an opinion. That is a hyper-partisan rhetorical attack. That is a hyperpartisan rhetorical attack. Police hit peaceful protesters with batons for no reason. That's not a fact. They don't do that."An incensed Hayes retorted to Cuomo: "Well, it is a fact. It is very much a fact."He would then go on to show more footage of police roughing up protesters before sounding one final note. "If this is what it looks like, and based on eye witness accounts it sure appears it's what it looks like, there must be consequences for the police officers and the people that command and supervisor them," Hayes concluded.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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| Kamala Harris and Corey Booker give emotional speeches after a Rand Paul amendment holds up anti-lynching bill Posted: 04 Jun 2020 11:02 PM PDT  "I object on substance, I object on the law, and for my heart and spirit and every fiber of my being, I object for my ancestors," Corey Booker said
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| U.S. warship sails through Taiwan Strait on Tiananmen anniversary Posted: 04 Jun 2020 05:48 PM PDT |
| Enraged New York driver who chased protesters with blades attached to arm is arrested Posted: 04 Jun 2020 04:51 PM PDT  Video shows a man speeding after a group of young protesters in his SUV, then rushing them with blades strapped to his arm.
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| California again extends major contract for protective masks Posted: 05 Jun 2020 12:24 PM PDT |
| Sweden puts ex-envoy on trial over China dissident negotiations Posted: 05 Jun 2020 04:37 AM PDT  Sweden's former ambassador to China went on trial in Stockholm on Friday accused of overstepping her mandate and risking national security by trying to negotiate the release of a dissident. Anna Lindstedt faces up to two years in prison if she is convicted of brokering an unauthorised meeting in January last year when she was ambassador. Lindstedt, a former envoy in both Vietnam and Mexico who acted as Sweden's chief negotiator at the 2015 climate summit in Paris, denies the charge.
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| Czech Republic expels two Russian diplomats over 'made-up information' about attacks Posted: 05 Jun 2020 12:39 PM PDT  The Czech Republic on Friday accused a Russian embassy employee of spreading false information about a planned poison attack and expelled two Russian diplomats, prompting an angry reaction from Moscow. The Russian foreign ministry slammed the expulsion in a statement as a "hostile measure" and said it would deal a "serious blow to Russian-Czech relations." In April, Respekt newspaper cited security sources as saying that a Russian national using a diplomatic passport had arrived in Prague carrying ricin, a toxic poison that can be used as a biological weapon. Around the same time, three Prague politicians who had each made political gestures that angered Russia were placed under police protection. "One embassy employee sent deliberately made-up information about a planned attack on Czech politicians to BIS," Prime Minister Andrej Babis said, referring to the Czech intelligence service. "We have adopted appropriate and adequate measures and declared two embassy staff personae non gratae." The case further soured already tricky relations between Prague and the Kremlin. Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova dismissed the Respekt report as "sick fantasies" in April. On Friday, the foreign ministry said: "Prague's measures will not only receive an adequate response, but they will also be considered in Russia's policy-making towards the Czech Republic. "We will seek a response to such provocations," it said. One of the three politicians named in the hoax, Ondrej Kolar, had spearheaded the April removal of a Cold War-era statue dedicated to Soviet general Ivan Konev - a hero to many Russians but a symbol of Soviet-era oppression to many Czechs. Another of those targeted, Prague mayor Zdenek Hrib, supported renaming the Prague square where the Russian embassy is based after Boris Nemtsov, a Russian opposition leader murdered in 2015. The embassy has since started using a different door without moving to have a different address. And the district run by Pavel Novotny, the third politician mentioned in the hoax, installed a memorial to the so-called Vlasov Army - Red Army defectors who helped to liberate Prague in May 1945. Mikhail Bryukhanov, head of the Russian foreign ministry's international cooperation agency Rossotrudnichestvo, said both of the expelled diplomats were its employees. Speaking to the RIA Novosti news agency, Bryukhanov said one was Andrei Konchakov, the interim head of Rossotrudnichestvo's Czech branch, while Czech media identified the other diplomat as Konchakov's deputy Igor Rybakov. Czech media have previously reported that Konchakov arrived in Prague in March, suggesting he was the supposed man with ricin in his suitcase. "The Czech Republic has invented this 'ricin scandal', a mean story out of a cheap thriller. "The decision is absolutely unjustified and it obviously won't help relations between the two countries," Bryukhanov said. Babis cited intelligence as showing the hoax was the result of infighting at the Russian embassy. "Besides burdening our security forces, (the employee) caused further complications in Czech-Russian relations and harmed the good reputation of the Russian Federation in the Czech Republic," said the billionaire populist prime minister. Foreign Minister Tomas Petricek said Russia's approach to the problem had left his country with no option other than to expel the diplomats "even though we're aware of the expected reciprocal steps".
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| George Floyd protests: Georgia official say police should ‘shoot to kill’ demonstrators Posted: 04 Jun 2020 07:14 AM PDT  An official in Georgia has apologised after he suggested police should "shoot to kill" George Floyd protesters in Milwaukee if "they continue to destroy."Bibb county commissioner Joe Allen wrote the comment on a television news outlet's Facebook live stream showing damage caused during demonstrations against police brutality and institutionalised racism across the US.
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| Coronavirus: Madagascar minister fired over $2m lollipop order Posted: 05 Jun 2020 09:16 AM PDT  Rijasoa Andriamanana said pupils would be given lollipops to mask the taste of a coronavirus "cure".
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| Delta says it will stop flying to 11 US cities indefinitely — here's the full list Posted: 05 Jun 2020 01:27 PM PDT  Delta is continuing to shrink its route network amid a slow-going recovery and subpar summer season with daily passenger numbers still below 500,000.
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| U.S. forces conduct airstrikes on Taliban in Afghanistan Posted: 05 Jun 2020 08:25 AM PDT |
| Florida police officer put on leave after pinning black man to the ground with knee Posted: 04 Jun 2020 11:10 AM PDT  The officers in the department "are not trained to use tactics" such as neck restraints. The officer has remained unidentified.
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| Group carrying guns watch Floyd protesters march in Indiana Posted: 05 Jun 2020 04:43 AM PDT  Anti-racism protesters who marched through the streets to condemn the killing of George Floyd were met with a line of bystanders, some armed, in rural Indiana.
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| News agency: Iranian ship sinks in Iraqi waters, 1 dead Posted: 05 Jun 2020 03:05 AM PDT |
| China could lose 95% of ballistic, cruise missiles under strategic arms control pact, says new analysis Posted: 05 Jun 2020 09:32 AM PDT |
| Under-fire African Development Bank boss facing new graft probe Posted: 04 Jun 2020 07:16 PM PDT  The African Development Bank on Thursday launched an independent inquiry into allegations of embezzlement and preferential treatment against its embattled president Akinwumi Adesina, who is seeking re-election in August, its board of governors said. The investigation into Adesina, a former Nigerian minister for agriculture, follows calls for a probe by Washington, and must wrap up within a "maximum" of four weeks as the institution prepares to elect a new head, the board said in a statement. In April, whistleblowers submitted a 15-page report to the bank's governors detailing alleged embezzlement, preferential treatment for fellow Nigerians in senior appointments, and the promotion of people suspected or convicted of fraud and corruption.
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| WHO changes COVID-19 mask guidance Posted: 05 Jun 2020 11:36 AM PDT  The agency previously had recommended that only health care workers, people with COVID-19 and their caregivers wear medical masks.
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| Do You Use Google Chrome’s Incognito Mode? You May Be Eligible for $5K Posted: 04 Jun 2020 03:00 PM PDT  That's a fair amount of money.
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| Mark Cuban commissioned a 3-way poll last month as he considered running as an independent against Biden and Trump in the 2020 presidential election Posted: 04 Jun 2020 02:10 PM PDT  "I dominated the independent vote," Cuban said of his performance against Biden and Trump in the poll. "I got like 77% of it."
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| Qatar's foreign minister says there is a new initiative to end Gulf crisis Posted: 05 Jun 2020 10:48 AM PDT  Qatar's foreign minister said on Friday there is a new initiative to end the three-year-old Gulf crisis and that Qatar is open to negotiations, Qatar's Al Jazeera broadcaster reported on its twitter account. "We hope the initiative will produce results, we are open to dialogue and ready to meet each step forward with 10 steps from our side," Al Jazeera's tweet quoted foreign minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani.
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| Ahmaud Arbery: White man 'used racial slur' after shooting black jogger Posted: 04 Jun 2020 03:59 PM PDT  A judge has ruled that there is enough evidence to try three suspects for Ahmaud Arbery's murder.
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| U.S. to Designate Additional Chinese Media Outlets as Foreign Embassies Posted: 04 Jun 2020 06:46 AM PDT  The U.S. will designate four Chinese state media outlets as foreign embassies in addition to five such outlets that have already been placed under restrictions, Reuters reported on Wednesday.The State Department could announce the designation as early as Thursday. China Central Television (CCTV) and China News Service are expected to be among the outlets listed by the department. The designation would apply certain restrictions to those outlets' operations on U.S. soil, mandating they register employees and property with the State Department.The Trump administration in February placed the same restrictions on five other Chinese state media organizations including the Xinhua News Agency and the China Global Television Network. In March, the administration ordered those five outlets to reduce personnel stationed in the U.S. by 40 percent, after China expelled three Wall Street Journal reporters. China subsequently moved to revoke press credentials for additional reporters from the Journal, the New York Times, and the Washington Post.On May 18, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warned China against interfering with the work of American journalists in then-semi-autonomous Hong Kong."It has recently come to my attention that the Chinese government has threatened to interfere with the work of American journalists in Hong Kong. These journalists are members of a free press, not propaganda cadres, and their valuable reporting informs Chinese citizens and the world," Pompeo said in a statement at the time.However, China has since moved to apply new laws to the territory that Hong Kong pro-democracy legislators have warned will end the territory's autonomy and relative freedom. Pompeo told Congress last week that the city of Hong Kong is effectively no longer autonomous, and President Trump announced on Friday that the U.S. would revoke Hong Kong's special trading status.
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| Study: Blood pressure drug could lower virus deaths Posted: 05 Jun 2020 07:03 AM PDT  A new study has found drugs that are widely used to control high blood pressure may help protect against severe COVID-19 infections.
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| Indonesia couple lashed in Aceh despite virus fears Posted: 04 Jun 2020 05:49 PM PDT  Two Indonesians caught having pre-marital sex were flogged a hundred times each on Friday in conservative Aceh province with a fraction of the usual crowd watching, due in part to coronavirus fears. Aceh is the only region in Muslim-majority Indonesia to impose Islamic law, which allows whipping for charges including gambling, adultery, drinking alcohol, and gay sex. Local officials have continued the practice despite bans on mass gatherings during the coronavirus pandemic, insisting they have taken adequate safety measures to prevent infections.
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| Adoptee's historic court case could change how adoptees use the legal system Posted: 04 Jun 2020 01:52 PM PDT  Kara Bos's lawsuit could help her find out why she was abandoned and who her mother was. It could also change how adoptees use the legal system.
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| Fact check: CDC's estimates COVID-19 death rate around 0.26%, doesn't confirm it Posted: 05 Jun 2020 01:54 PM PDT  Current CDC estimates put the "best estimate" for COVID-19 at 0.26%. The claim that CDC confirmed the coronavirus death rate is partly false.
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| I'm a doctor in Minneapolis treating coronavirus patients. Until racism is abolished, it will always be a greater threat to justice than this virus. Posted: 04 Jun 2020 08:45 AM PDT  "Yes, wear a mask. Yes, wash your hands. Yes, do your best to maintain distance. And yes, absolutely yes, join your allies to abolish injustice."
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| Syria: Israeli warplanes strike targets in central Syria Posted: 04 Jun 2020 12:20 PM PDT |
| Protests over police abuses spread to Mexico City, stones thrown at U.S. embassy Posted: 05 Jun 2020 03:19 PM PDT  Masked men and women protesting police abuses vandalized buildings and threw stones at the U.S. embassy in Mexico City on Friday as Mexican state authorities arrested three officers in a bid to quell anger over the death of a man in police custody. Protesters have been demanding that authorities be held accountable over the death of Giovanni Lopez, who died in police custody in the western state of Jalisco last month. Jalisco Attorney General Gerardo Solis said authorities had arrested three police officers over the death of Lopez, a construction worker.
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| China Wants to Built a 85,000 Ton Aircraft Carrier Posted: 05 Jun 2020 05:17 AM PDT  China is planning a massive 85,000 ton, 40-plus aircraft-strong high-tech carrier engineered with an electromagnetic catapult and a much greater attack range than its first carriers. Such a move is part of an aggressive, multi-year Naval modernization initiative to help the country emerge as a leading global power.
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