Category: Aktualności

Former Secretary of State Colin Powell endorsed the Democratic nominee for president, Joe Biden, on Sunday. Speaking on CNN’s “State of the Union”, Powell, who served under Republican presidents George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush, said he would be voting for Biden. “I cannot in any way support President Trump this year,” Powell, who was Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff during the Gulf War in 1991, said Sunday. Powell said he is “very close to Joe Biden on a social matter and on a political matter.” FILE – In this Sunday, March 15, 2020, file photo, former Vice President Joe Biden participates in a Democratic presidential primary debate at CNN Studios in Washington.”I worked with him for 35, 40 years, and he is now the candidate and I will be voting for him,” Powell said, noting that he had not been asked to campaign for former vice president Biden and did not expect to be. Trump was quick to quip back on Twitter, calling Powell a “real stiff” and “highly overrated”. Few prominent Republicans have publicly rebuked Trump, though former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis denounced his handling of widespread protests in the U.S. last week.    
…

New York City is lifting its curfew spurred by protests against police brutality ahead of schedule, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Sunday morning.   The 8 p.m. citywide curfew, New York’s first in decades, had been set to remain in effect through at least Sunday, with the city planning to lift it at the same time it enters the first phase of reopning after more than two months of shutdowns because of the coronavirus.   “Yesterday and last night we saw the very best of our city,” de Blasio tweeted in his announcement of the curfew’s end “effective immediately.” “Tomorrow we take the first big step to restart.”   The move followed New York City police pulling back on enforcing the curfew Saturday as thousands took to the streets and parks to protest police brutality, sparked by the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police.   More than two hours after the curfew had passed Saturday night, groups of several hundred demonstrators continued to march in Manhattan and Brooklyn, while police monitored them but took a hands-off approach.   At protests in Manhattan earlier Saturday, volunteers handed out snacks, first aid kits and plenty of water bottles on a muggy afternoon. One person carried a sign listing nearby open buildings for those seeking to escape the heat — which some soon did when a rain storm arrived.   Thousands of people crossed the Brooklyn Bridge into lower Manhattan, where other groups numbering in the hundreds to thousands marched or gathered in places like Foley Square, home to state and federal court buildings, and Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village.   Further uptown, police had erected barriers to all but close off Times Square to vehicle and foot traffic.   As the curfew passed, a large group of protesters walked onto the FDR Drive, the main north-south artery along Manhattan’s east side, closely monitored by police, forcing police to temporarily shut down one side of the roadway.   Earlier, Julian Arriola-Hennings said he didn’t expect the movement to slow down anytime soon.   “I’m never surprised by people taking action because inaction, it really hurts the soul,” he said as he told protesters at Washington Square Park that they would soon march from there to City Hall.   “People’s feet get tired, their souls get re-energized for the right purpose.”   One of Saturday’s marches was enlivened by a band led by Jon Batiste, bandleader on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.   Local politicians and civil liberties advocates have called for an end to the 8 p.m. curfew, complaining that it causes needless friction when officers try to enforce it.   But Mayor Bill de Blasio has insisted the curfew will remain in place throughout the weekend.   Images on social media on Friday night about an hour after a Brooklyn protest ended showed officers surrounding a group of protesters and chasing down some with batons. And officers on Manhattan’s East Side also used force to break up remnants of a march that started near the mayor’s official residence.   There were about 40 arrests citywide Friday — far fewer than previous nights — and no obvious signs of the smash-and-grab stealing that marred protests earlier in the week.   On Saturday, Antoinette Henry wasn’t surprised people were still marching after more than a week, even though she said she had seen violence from police earlier in the week.   “Our first couple of protests ended a bit violently but we’re back out here. We’re not going to stop fighting,” Henry said.   She added she thinks protests could continue next week, even as some will go back to work when New York City begins its reopening.   “I think as long as we stay organized, that’s exactly what can and will and should happen,” Henry said.  
…

The mayor of Minneapolis ran a gauntlet of angry, jeering protesters on Saturday after telling them he was opposed to their demands for de-funding the city police following George Floyd’s fatal encounter with law enforcement.Mayor Jacob Frey, a former civil rights attorney who took office two years ago vowing to repair the police department’s strained relations with minorities, was showered with angry chants of “Go home, Jacob, go home,” and “Shame, shame,” as he stalked away through the crowd, head bowed.Onlookers’ video of the spectacle went viral on social media on a day when tens of thousands of demonstrators in cities across the country staged a 12th straight day of protests demanding an end to racial bias and brutality in America’s criminal justice system.Frey was first thrust into the national spotlight nearly two weeks ago, after cellphone footage emerged showing Floyd, a black man in handcuffs, lying face down in the street and struggling to breathe as a white policeman knelt on his neck.The 38-year-old mayor immediately decried the deadly use of force in Floyd’s May 25 arrest as unjustified.Within days, as street protests raged amid a storm of arson and looting that went largely unchecked by police, Frey drew criticism from some, including U.S. President Donald Trump, for doing too little to restore order. The mayor ultimately imposed a curfew to help quell the disturbances. All four Minneapolis police officers implicated in Floyd’s death have since been arrested, including Derek Chauvin, the white officer seen pinning Floyd’s neck to the ground, who is charged with murder.But demonstrators in Minneapolis and elsewhere have since refocused their demands from merely seeking justice for Floyd’s death to a quest for far-reaching police reforms.Some activists have gone so far as to call for de-funding and dismantling the police department altogether. They argue for shifting city dollars instead into public health programs and other initiatives aimed at preventing violent crime.On Saturday, according to an account by Minneapolis-based WCCO-TV, a throng of demonstrators marched to Frey’s home and called on him to come out to address the crowd.When the mayor was later spotted in the crowd, the TV station said, he was asked by one of the protest leaders whether he would commit to de-funding the police. Frey’s exact reply was drowned out, but the crowd erupted in a chorus of angry taunts and boos as he walked off and left the scene.WCCO caught up afterwards with Frey, who told the television station he favored “massive structural reform to revise a structurally racist system.” But he added, “I’m not for abolishing the entire police department. I will be honest about that.” 
…

A reenergized Tropical Storm Cristobal advanced toward the U.S. Gulf Coast on Saturday, spawning a tornado in Florida and bringing the heavy rains that already caused flooding and mudslides in Mexico and Central America. After weakening to a tropical depression while moving over land in Mexico’s Gulf coast, Cristobal headed back into the southern Gulf of Mexico from the Yucatan Peninsula on Friday and powered back up into a tropical storm. Forecasters said it would arrive on U.S. soil late Sunday but was not expected to grow into a hurricane.The National Hurricane Center in Miami said the storm was expected to slowly strengthen until making landfall Sunday night along the U.S. Gulf Coast.But the storm already made its presence felt Saturday evening, spawning a tornado that touched down near downtown Orlando, the National Weather Service said. The twister just missed a group of protesters at Lake Eola at around 7:30 p.m. local time. There appeared to be no injuries, but tree limbs were knocked down, and there were reports of power outages.”Yes, it is related to the tropical storm that is well to our west,” said Scott Kelly, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Melbourne, Florida. “But the tropical storm provided a lot of low-level shear and that has allowed for some tornadoes to form over Central Florida.”The threat for tornadoes would continue overnight, he said.Also, outer rain bands from the storm were moving across parts of the Gulf Coast on Saturday evening.Cristobal’s maximum sustained winds had strengthened to 85 kph by early Saturday and it was moving north at 19 kph. As of Saturday evening, the storm was centered about 340 kilometers south-southwest of the mouth of the Mississippi River.The Hurricane Center said the storm could cause heavy rains from East Texas to Florida this weekend and into early next week. A tropical storm watch was posted for the northern Gulf of Mexico coast from Intracoastal City, Louisiana, to the Alabama-Florida border.In Louisiana, Gov. John Bel Edwards has declared a state of emergency to prepare for the storm’s possible arrival.Rescuers are seen during the recovery of the bodies of seven victims of a landslide caused by heavy rains amid tropical storm Cristobal in Santo Tomas, El Salvador, on June 5, 2020.”Now is the time to make your plans, which should include the traditional emergency items along with masks and hand sanitizer as we continue to battle the coronavirus pandemic,” Edward said in a statement released Thursday.On Friday, he asked President Donald Trump to declare a pre-landfall emergency for the state due to the storm’s threat.”We are confident that there will be widespread, heavy rainfall and coastal flooding,” Edwards said in a letter to the White House. “I anticipate the need for emergency protective measures, evacuations, and sheltering for the high-risk areas. The length of possible inundation is unknown and will likely require post-flood activities.”Jefferson Parish, a suburb of New Orleans, called for voluntary evacuations Saturday of Jean Lafitte, Lower Lafitte, Crown Point and Barataria because of the threat of storm surge, high tides and heavy rain. Residents were urged to move vehicles, boats and campers to higher ground.”We want to make sure residents are safe as this storm approaches, so we are taking all the necessary precautions to be fully prepared,” Jean Lafitte Mayor Tim Kerner Jr. told The Advocate.A similar order was issued Saturday for several Plaquemines Parish communities, including Happy Jack, Grand Bayou, Myrtle Grove, Lake Hertiage, Harlem and Monsecour. President Kirk Lepine said the order was issued as a precaution.”We need to ensure residents are protected as this storm draws near, so we are taking all the necessary precautions to be completely prepared,” he said.The hurricane center’s forecast path puts Alabama on Cristobal’s east side, far from where the center comes ashore. Still, the southwest part of the state is expected to get gusty winds, heavy rain, storm surge and possibly tornadoes as the storm moves closer to the coast.”Sunday will be very wet and windy as Cristobal passes west of the area, placing the central Gulf Coast on the ‘dirty’ eastern side of the storm,” the weather service said.Cristobal formed this week in the Bay of Campeche from the remnants of Tropical Storm Amanda, which had sprung up last weekend in the eastern Pacific and hit Central America. The two storms combined to soak the region with as much as 89 centimeters of rain in some areas over the past week. At least 30 deaths have been attributed to the two storms and the flooding and landslides they unleashed.In Bacalar, in the south of Mexico’s Quintana Roo state, 230 families were isolated by the rains and had to be airlifted out, David Leon, Mexico’s national civil defense coordinator, said Friday. Leon added there had been light damage in 75 municipalities in seven states. 
…

Dozens of scientists doing research funded by Mark Zuckerberg said Facebook should not be letting President Donald Trump use the social media platform to “spread both misinformation and incendiary statements.”The researchers, including 60 professors at leading U.S. research institutions, wrote the Facebook CEO on Saturday asking Zuckerberg to “consider stricter policies on misinformation and incendiary language that harms people,” especially during the current turmoil over racial injustice.The letter calls the spread of “deliberate misinformation and divisive language” contrary to the researchers’ goals of using technology to prevent and eradicate disease, improve childhood education and reform the criminal justice system.Their mission “is antithetical to some of the stances that Facebook has been taking, so we’re encouraging them to be more on the side of truth and on the right side of history as we’ve said in the letter,” said Debora Marks of Harvard Medical School, one of three professors who organized it.The others are Martin Kampmann of the University of California-San Francisco and Jason Shepherd of the University of Utah. All have grants from a Chan Zuckerberg Initiative program working to prevent, cure and treat neurodegenerative disorders including Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease.They said the letter had more than 160 signatories. Shepherd said about 10 percent are employees of foundations run by Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan.The letter objects specifically to Zuckerberg’s decision not to at least flag as a violation of Facebook’s community standards Trump’s post that stated “when the looting starts, the shooting starts” in response to unrest in Minneapolis over the death of George Floyd, a black man, while in police custody. The letter’s authors called the post “a clear statement of inciting violence.”Twitter had both flagged and demoted a Trump tweet using the same language.In a statement, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative noted that the philanthropic organization is separate from Facebook and said “we are grateful for our staff, partners and grantees” and “respect their right to voice their opinions, including on Facebook policies.”Some Facebook employees have publicly objected to Zuckerberg’s refusal to take down or label misleading or incendiary posts by Trump and other politicians. But Zuckerberg — who controls a majority of voting shares in the company — has so far refused.On Friday, Zuckerberg said in a post that he would review “potential options for handling violating or partially-violating content aside from the binary leave-it-up or take-it-down decisions”“I know many of you think we should have labeled the President’s posts in some way last week,” he wrote. “Our current policy is that if content is actually inciting violence, then the right mitigation is to take that content down — not let people continue seeing it behind a flag. There is no exception to this policy for politicians or newsworthiness.” 
…

As the U.S. and Iran welcome the latest freeing of each other’s citizens and call for more such releases, the next deal between the longtime foes could be complicated by who is involved and who isn’t.U.S. President Donald Trump and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif tweeted their approval of this week’s Swiss-mediated agreement. It saw Iran allow U.S. Navy veteran Michael White to return home almost two years after he traveled to Mashhad to meet his girlfriend, and the U.S. granting an early release to an Iranian American medical doctor, Matteo Taerri, also known as Majid Taheri, who had served 16 months in prison.White had been sentenced to 10 years in prison on what the U.S. called trumped-up charges of insulting Iran’s supreme leader and posting private photos on social media, while Taheri had been convicted of violating U.S. sanctions against Iran and U.S. banking laws. Switzerland represents U.S. interests in Iran and mediated the releases of the two men.U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo issued a Thursday statement saying “there is more work to do” and Washington “will not rest” until it brings home every American who he said is wrongfully detained in Iran. He singled out three: father and son Baquer and Siamak Namazi and conservationist Morad Tahbaz.But in a Friday phone briefing with reporters, U.S. Special Representative for Iran Brian Hook, who a day earlier accompanied White home from Zurich, the second leg of his return journey, acknowledged that winning the release of the other three Americans could be challenging. One reason, he said, is that Iran may not consider them Americans. All three are Iranian American dual nationals, and Iran has a policy of not recognizing its citizens as nationals of other countries.“I think the [Iranian] regime probably looks at dual citizens differently than we do,” Hook said. “The way we look at it, they are all Americans and they have the right to expect our best efforts to win their freedom as well.”No stated involvementA second complication in achieving more U.S.-Iran prisoner releases is that two former U.S. officials who helped negotiate this week’s agreement and a deal last December have no stated involvement in trying to secure the freedom of the Namazis or Tahbaz.The December 7 exchange involved Iran freeing Chinese American academic Xiyue Wang in return for the Trump administration releasing Iranian scientist Masoud Soleimani. The swap happened in Zurich, through Swiss mediation.Former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Bill Richardson and former U.S. Representative Jim Slattery, who have long-running contacts with Iranian government figures, met with Zarif and Iranian Ambassador to the U.N. Majid Takht-Ravanchi last September in New York to advocate for the release of Wang and White. Richardson and Slattery said they did so at the request of the Wang and White families.In a Thursday phone interview with VOA Persian, Richardson, who had a second meeting with Zarif in Doha on December 15 to talk about the White case, said he maintained phone contact with the Iranian top diplomat and relayed to the Trump administration what Tehran wanted in return for releasing the Navy veteran. An Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman confirmed Richardson’s involvement in the negotiations, while Hook told the briefing that he had no comment on Richardson’s role.“I have not been involved in the cases of the three Iranian Americans [held by Iran] because the families have not asked us to be,” Richardson said, referring to his foundation.Speaking separately to VOA Persian on Thursday, Slattery said he has offered to help the Namazi and Tahbaz families. “But it is not proper for me to actively engage on the issue, without the permission of the families or their counsel,” he said.Lack of interestA third complicating factor to another U.S.-Iran deal is Iran’s apparent lack of interest in the release or exoneration of 16 Iranians who are in either in U.S. detention, subject to home confinement after release or under federal prosecution in U.S. courts for Iran-related offenses.Neither Zarif nor other Iranian officials have mentioned the names of any of the 16 in their occasional public statements calling for the release of Iranians prosecuted in the U.S.Slattery said he has asked Iranian officials for a list of Iranian citizens held against their will or charged with criminal offenses in the U.S. but has not received one.A U.S. source familiar with Richardson’s efforts to free Wang and White told VOA Persian that Iranian officials never mentioned to Richardson the names of the 16, either. But the source said it was possible the names had been referred to U.S. and Swiss officials.VOA Persian compiled the names of the 16 Iranians through a review of U.S. Justice Department databases. They include eight Iranian American dual nationals and eight Iranian citizens, three of them with permanent U.S. residency.The Iranian Americans include Manssor Arbabsiar, Behrooz Behroozian, Mehdi “Eddie” Hashemi, Ahmadreza Mohammadi-Doostdar, Hassan Ali Moshir-Fatemi, Reza Olangian, and husband and wife Sadr Emad-Vaez and Pouran Aazad. The other Iranians are Mehrdad Ansari, Milad Rezaei Kalantari, Behzad Pourghannad, Seyed Sajjad Shahidian, Iranian Canadian dual national Bahram Karimi and U.S. permanent residents Majid Ghorbani, Amin Hasanzadeh and Ali Sadr Hashemi Nejad.Six of the individuals have been serving sentences in federal prisons after being convicted of various crimes, namely Arbabsiar, Behroozian, Kalantari, Mohammadi-Doostdar, Olangian and Pourghannad; three, Ansari, Hasanzadeh and Shahidian, have been detained pending trial.Of the other Iranians, five were on bail with court-ordered restrictions on their movements as they awaited sentencing for various convictions, namely Aazad, Emad-Vaez, Hashemi, Hashemi Nejad and Moshir-Fatemi; one, Ghorbani, was granted a “compassionate release” from a Washington prison in April because of ill health and was allowed to relocate to his daughter’s home in Orange County, California, with court-imposed restrictions on his movements until next February.A U.S. prosecutor asked a judge to drop the case against Hashemi Nejad and co-defendant Karimi, who has not been arrested, on Friday. The prosecutor cited the likelihood of continued litigation over suppression of evidence. The judge had not ruled on the prosecutor’s request by late Saturday.This article originated in VOA’s Persian service. Cindy Saine contributed from the State Department. 
…

Tropical Storm Cristobal moved through the U.S. Gulf of Mexico on Saturday carrying strong winds and heavy rains that prompted the evacuation of a coastal Louisiana community and dozens of offshore oil platforms.Cristobal, packing winds of 50 mph (85 kph), was expected to strengthen somewhat before making landfall late Sunday along the Louisiana coast, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC).Grand Isle, a barrier island on the Louisiana coast, was under a mandatory evacuation, ahead of a storm surge expected to be as much as 2 to 4 feet (.6 to 1.2 meters) in an area between Morgan City, Louisiana, and the mouth of the Mississippi River.The early-season storm is not expected to become a hurricane, but its heavy rains could cause flash flooding in the central Gulf Coast. It could drop between 4 and 8 inches (10 to 20 cm) of rain along the Louisiana coast, NHC forecasters said.Oil companies on Saturday evacuated 177 Gulf of Mexico offshore facilities, shutting down 616,000 barrels per day of oil and 853 million cubic feet per day of natural gas output, the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement said.Traders pushed spot gasoline prices higher Friday, fearing storm-related production losses.Refineries to keep operatingThe nine Louisiana oil refineries in the path of Cristobal plan to keep operating through the rains and high winds expected to sweep over an area between Baton Rouge and New Orleans, according to people familiar with the matter.Combined capacity of the nine refineries is about 12% of the U.S. national total of 18.8 million barrels per day (bpd). U.S. Gulf of Mexico platforms account for about 1.93 million bpd, or about 15% of the U.S. total daily oil production.Exxon Mobil, Royal Dutch Shell Plc and PBF Energy prepared their Louisiana refineries to keep operating, the people said.The storm on Saturday afternoon was about 310 miles south of the mouth of the Mississippi River and traveling north at about 12 mph, according to the NHC.
…

RAEFORD, N.C. – Hundreds of mourners lined up Saturday to pay respects to George Floyd in his North Carolina hometown, and the nation’s capital prepared for what was expected to be the city’s largest demonstration yet against police brutality.Military vehicles and officers in fatigues closed off much of downtown Washington to traffic ahead of the planned march, which was expected to attract up to 200,000 people outraged by Floyd’s death 12 days ago at the hands of police in Minneapolis.Large protests also took place across the U.S. and in major cities overseas, including London, Paris, Berlin and Sydney, Australia.In Raeford, the small town near Fayetteville where Floyd was born 46 years ago, a long line of people formed outside a church, waiting to enter in small groups for a chance to look at his coffin. A private service was scheduled for later in the day.The line of people waiting to view the coffin included families with young children and teenagers. One young woman wore a green and gold graduation cap and gown as she walked beside her parents. Most people wore surgical masks or cloth face coverings.When a hearse bearing Floyd’s coffin arrived, chants of “Black Power,” “George Floyd” and “No justice, no peace,” echoed from beneath the covered entrance.”It could have been me. It could have been my brother, my father, any of my friends who are black,” said a man in the crowd, Erik Carlos of Fayetteville. “It was a heavy hit, especially knowing that George Floyd was born near my hometown. It made me feel very vulnerable at first.”Washington has seen daily protests for the past week — largely peaceful, with people marching back and forth from the White House to the Capitol and the Lincoln Memorial. Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy said local officials expected 100,000 to 200,000 protesters for Saturday’s event. The White House has been fortified with new fencing and extra security precautions.In general, demonstrations in the U.S. have shifted to a calmer tenor in recent days after frequent episodes of violence in the early stages. Protesters and their supporters in public office say they are determined to turn the extraordinary outpouring of anger and grief into change, notably in regard to policing policies.In Minneapolis, city officials have agreed to ban chokeholds and neck restraints by police and to require officers to try to stop any other officers they see using improper force. In California, Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered the state’s police training program to stop teaching officers how to use a neck hold that blocks the flow of blood to the brain.Democrats in Congress are preparing a sweeping package of police reforms, which are expected to included changes to police-accountability laws, such as revising immunity provisions and creating a database of police use-of-force incidents. Revamped training requirements are planned, too, among them a ban on chokeholds.The House is expected to vote by month’s end. With Democrats in the majority, the bills will almost certainly pass the House. The outcome in the Senate is less certain. Republican Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has said the chamber would look at the issues, but he has not endorsed any particular legislation.Meanwhile in New York, two Buffalo police officers were charged with assault Saturday after a video showed them shoving a 75-year-old protester, who fell backwards onto the pavement and was hospitalized. Both pleaded not guilty to second-degree assault and were released without bail. The two were suspended without pay Friday after a TV crew captured the confrontation.Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
download this video to view it offline.Download File360p | 7 MB480p | 10 MB540p | 15 MB720p | 33 MB1080p | 61 MB Embed” />Copy Download AudioIn London, thousands of demonstrators endured cold rain to gather in Parliament Square, a traditional venue for protests. They knelt in silence and chanted Floyd’s name before applauding his memory.Thousands of mostly young people, many dressed in black and wearing face masks, joined a Black Lives Matter protest in Berlin’s Alexanderplatz. Some held up placards with slogans such as “I can’t breathe” and “Germany is not innocent.”In Paris, hundreds of people gathered at the Place de la Concorde in defiance of a police ban on large protests. Members of the multiracial crowd chanted the name of Adama Traore, a black man whose death while in police custody a few years ago has been likened by critics of French police to Floyd’s death in Minnesota.Jessica Corandi, a subway driver, said she cried when she saw the video of Floyd’s death, which came after a white officer pressed his knee onto Floyd’s neck for more than eight minutes.Corandi said her three young girls have started to notice people looking at them strangely on the streets of Paris, which she believes is because they are black.”It’s sad to say to our kids that we have to fight just to exist,” said Corandi, 37, who attended the protest near the U.S. Embassy.Chris Trabot, who works for Paris City Hall and is black, said Floyd’s death triggered his decision to demonstrate for the first time in his life.Talbot said: “The violence happens every day. The moment has come to say stop.”
…

As protesters demand justice for George Floyd, a black man who died in police custody in Minneapolis, many Native Americans in Montana are showing solidarity for black Americans.Floyd, 46, died after pleading for his life as a white police officer pressed his knee into his neck. The incident sparked outrage, and protesters flooded cities worldwide, including Great Falls, Helena, Bozeman, Missoula and Billings, calling for justice and an end to systemic racism.Resulting anger and frustration are compounded by the coronavirus pandemic, which illuminates inequity, as it disproportionately ravages minority communities.  Demonstrations for Racial Justice and Police Reform Resume Across AmericaNearly two weeks of demonstrations sparked by the death of an African American man who was restrained by white policemanA May report from the APM Research Lab found that the COVID-19 mortality rate for black Americans is 2.4 times higher than for white Americans. While the report acknowledged “limited and uneven data” regarding Indigenous populations, it stated that in New Mexico, which contains portions of the Navajo Nation, the Indigenous mortality rate is eight times as high as the white mortality rate.Rep. Barbara Bessette (D-Great Falls), a Chippewa Cree tribal member, said, like coronavirus, she views systemic racism as a public health crisis.”Minority communities have high health disparities, economic injustice and inadequate housing. This isn’t about just one incident but a myriad of things. What’s happening now is symptomatic of a much deeper ‘disease,'” she told the Great Falls Tribune.As Floyd’s death sparks an anti-racism movement, some Native Americans wonder if they will be included in conversations of injustice and change.Indian Education for All Instructional Coach Jordann Lankford said that while the growing movement provides an opportunity to discuss inequity, she is disappointed that other minorities have been excluded from the dialogue.”I fear people in Montana will see these things and see the riots and think, ‘Well, that really doesn’t affect Montana because we don’t have a big black population here.’ But it’s not just a black and white issue — racial inequity affects all minority groups, and it needs to be an open dialogue, including everyone,” she said.Craig Falcon, a Blackfeet tribal member who is running for council in Seville District No. 7, said that when it comes to conversations about racism, American Indians are often treated “like the forgotten stepchild of the family that no one likes.”  “The African American population often gets the spotlight on racism, but our struggle is very similar,” Falcon said. “We also deal with racism on a daily basis, so this touches home for us, too. Native Americans are often dehumanized and portrayed as savages. It seems like we get forgotten because America is ashamed, or embarrassed about its treatment of us.”But, Ben Pease, an artist who, through his work, challenges cultural appropriation and confronts Indigenous stereotypes, said including Native voices in anti-racist movements “happens at a different trajectory and velocity.””This country is quite literally founded on stolen lands and the conquering of many peoples, thousands of tribes. But we have a small population; we don’t have a large representation in media. As individuals and culturally, we are not as vocal. We haven’t had a Dr. (Martin Luther) King or a Dr. Cornel West. We’ve had other scholars, activists and educators, but our voice is much smaller,” he said.  Lance Morris, 62, a member of the Assiniboine and Sioux tribes and local activist, said unrest is a familiar story in America.He remembers the ransacking of the Bureau of Indian Affairs building, the burning of a courthouse in South Dakota and protests at Wounded Knee in the 1970s. He also attended Stewart Indian School, which, along with other boarding schools in the country, punished students for embracing their cultural identity.  It’s hard for Morris to reconcile new anti-racist movements with past injustices. He often wonders where the protesters were when he was fighting for equality.  “We’ve had the Indian Removal Act, Trail of Tears, ethnic cleansing and genocide. This man didn’t deserve to die, and it’s very tragic, but where were these people when we needed them to stand?” he said. “Indigenous women, men and children go missing and are murdered every day … where’s the outrage for them? Where’s the outrage for the generational trauma that people are still dealing with on reservations? We’re still being forgotten.”Lankford works with Indigenous youth and often talks with them about how to effectively incite change.She said she encourages students to confront, rather than confirm, stereotypes and worries that when people see riots and the destruction of property, it will be harder to have conversations about race.  “Absolutely, people should stand for what they believe in. We have the right to protest, but we have a moral responsibility to uphold, and there’s a line between protesting and anarchy,” she said. “I don’t want to teach children that this is how you get your way. I’m trying to teach kids how to rationally look at situations and make room for dialogue. Reacting violently is not going to allow people to listen to you.”Artist Ben Pease disagrees.  “Personally, I think, how loud do you have to be to be heard? How many times do you have to die? How many African Americans have to die at the hands of the police for there to be systemic change? Rioting does work. Looting does work. Protesting does work,” he said. “People are speaking up, and if no one is listening, it takes yelling.”While feelings of anger, frustration and exhaustion reverberate nationwide, many see the growing movement as a sign of hope.  Lankford likened the new movement to the #MeToo movement, which supports survivors of sexual violence.  “With the #MeToo movement, we saw a trickle-down effect that made a lot of room for conversation about missing and murdered Indigenous women. Even though the issue has been around for more than 500 years, that movement allowed Indigenous voices to be heard. It’s unfortunate that it takes a catastrophe for us to have an opening to talk about these things, but I hope the dialogue will stay open,” she said.  Falcon said he is proud of Montanans for speaking up.”We don’t want these atrocities to happen to any person of any color, and it seems that people are finally fed up with racism,” he said.  Pease wrestles with his emotions on the topic but ultimately takes solace in local activism.  “This country was built to say that yes, white people are more valuable,” he said. “So, how am I supposed to feel? I’m angry, disappointed, scared and unsure of the future for myself, my children and their children. But there is hope. I am seeing a lot of beautiful things in our state of Montana, and I’m seeing people protest peacefully and race boundaries begin to dissolve.”  Rep. Bessette offered advice for Montanans who want to support the movement:”Speak up if you see injustices, be a known ally for those who are disproportionately represented in these situations and, no matter what, vote.” 
…

The United States says there is no doubt that the long-time leader of a key al-Qaida terror group affiliate in North Africa is dead. Officials with U.S. Africa Command Saturday confirmed the death of Abdelmalek Droukdel, the emir of al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), citing an independent assessment of a June 3 operation led by France. “This mission is a collective win,” U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) spokesman Colonel Chris Karns told VOA. “This was a great example of cooperation and partnership to get after a common threat,” he said, praising France’s commitment to fighting both al-Qaida and Islamic State-linked terror groups in Africa. French Armed Forces Minister Florence Parly first announced Droukdel’s death in a series of tweets late Friday. “On June 3, French army forces, with the support of their local partners, killed the emir of al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, Abdelmalek Droukdel, and several of his closest collaborators, during an operation in northern Mali,” she said.  France Says It Killed Al-Qaida North Africa Chief With US HelpFrance also had help of local partners in killing Abdelmalek Droukdel, the emir of al-Qaida in the Islamic MaghrebFrench forces had been hunting Droukdel, a key figure within North African jihadist circles, for years. Various reports had placed him in Tunisia or the mountains of northern Algeria, although he also had been active in Mali. The French, along with partner forces, finally caught up to Droukdel this past week with help from the U.S., which provided intelligence and surveillance support to “fix the target,” according to AFRICOM. The long-time AQIM emir rose to power after starting out as an explosives expert for the Algerian-based Armed Islamic Group (GIA) before assuming control of the group that was to become AQIM in 2004. U.S. officials designated Droukdel in 2007, blaming him and AQIM for a series of deadly attacks and bombings, including one on a bus belonging to a U.S. company in Algiers and a bombing at the Algerian prime minister’s office and at police facilities that killed 33 people.Starting in 2011, Droukdel proved support to Ansar Dine, a Malian terror group, and helped it engineer a take-over of parts of Mali until French forces intervened two years later. U.S. officials said, more recently, Droukdel, had been seeking to expand the amount of territory under his control and increase recruiting while plotting to ramp up attacks across the region. “This definitely is a blow to AQIM and certainly degrades their ability to plan and carry out operations,” Africa Command’s Chris Karns said. Even with Droukdel’s death, however, French, U.S. and African officials remain concerned that AQIM and other jihadist terror groups are growing, taking advantage of economic and political turmoil across parts of West Africa and the Sahel. As part of an effort to counter that, France, along with Burkina Faso, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, and Chad, created a combined force this past January. Public sentiment has soured, though, and some critics blame French forces for failing to do more to restore stability. West African Leaders, France Vow New Fight on TerrorismLeaders invited by French President Emmanuel Macron to G5 summit agree to pursue their engagements with France – and put aside their differences with former colonial power – to fight against jihadismFrance has about 5,100 troops in the region and has been urging other Western countries to do more. Already, French officials say European allies have pledged to send 100 special forces to aid in the counterterrorism efforts. And Parly, the French defense minister, promised there will be no let-up. A separate French operation, on May 19, led to the capture of Mohamed el Mrabat, a veteran jihadist with Islamic State in the Greater Sahara. And more operations are to come.  “Our forces, in cooperation with their local partners … will continue to track these (terrorists) down without respite,” Parly said. French calls for greater assistance in the fight against terrorism in Africa have been joined by the U.S., though officials in Washington have said they are looking to drawdown the U.S. military in presence in Africa in order to focus more on countering threats posed by powers like Russia and China.  US Noncommittal on Keeping Troops in AfricaDespite pleas from France, which is spearheading counterterror efforts in the Sahel, US Defense Secretary Mark Esper says Washington’s focus is on China, RussiaEarlier this year, the U.S. began by withdrawing combat troops stationed in Africa, replacing them with military trainers. In Africa, US Sees Trainers as ‘Better Fit’ Than Combat TroopsDefense Secretary Mark Esper says the change will improve US relations with African partners while freeing up combat troops for great power competition with China and RussiaFrench officials, however, have urged the U.S. to keep some forces in Africa, stressing that some U.S. assets cannot be replaced, including the intelligence and surveillance capabilities that help lead to the death of AQIM’s Droukdel. Members of the global coalition to defeat IS also have expressed a desire to focus additional efforts in Africa, but planning has been delayed due to the global coronavirus pandemic. In a communique issued following a virtual meeting Thursday, coalition members promised to move ahead with those efforts, with a focus on “capacity building … upon the request and prior consent of the countries concerned, and be coordinated with existing efforts and initiatives.”
…

Newspaper comic strips have always operated in a parallel universe, seldom reflecting the problems of the real world.No matter what the reader is going through, Dagwood has never had to apply for unemployment benefits; there’s no global warming in Mark Trail’s forest; and people get old but don’t die in Gasoline Alley.But this Sunday, sharp-eyed readers will find tributes and thank-you’s to front-line workers who have spent the last five months fighting the coronavirus and making sure vital services don’t stop.The artists of more than 70 strips will hide six items associated with the COVID-19 battle lines within the pictures – a medical mask, a steering wheel for those who drive delivery trucks, a supermarket shopping cart, apples for teachers, a fork to thank food service workers and a microscope to salute medical researchers.The idea was the brainchild of Rick Kirkman, who is one of the creators of the comic strip “Baby Blues.”“Every time somebody finds or discovers one of those little symbols in the artwork, to me, I hope that evokes a little bit of gratitude that goes out into the universe,” he said.Kirkman threw out the idea to other cartoonists, and the results can be seen Sunday.“You can hide these things and just be really devious about it,” he said. “You can leave them in the open. You can use them as props. You can even build your gag around them. I don’t care as long as they’re in there.”But working an apple into a cartoon to thank schoolteachers is not as simple as it may sound.Sunday comic strips are drawn and submitted to their syndicates sometimes as much as three months in advance.Bruce Simon is a Berkeley, California-based cartoonist and comics historian.“The coordination problems are horrific with all these people having different deadlines and the syndicates need to work so far ahead,” Simon said.“Wiley Miller who does ‘Non-Sequitur’ actually pulled his scheduled strip and did a new one because he works so far ahead. But he wanted to be a part of it so he did a special one for Sunday and the one he had scheduled will show up some other time,” Simon added.And while it’s easy to camouflage a truck steering wheel into a 21st century-era cartoon, what about a long-running saga of the fifth century?“Prince Valiant. Now, how ‘Prince Valiant’ is going to incorporate a grocery cart or microscope into his historic strip is going to be something interesting,” Simon said.Because no newspaper carries every comic strip, all the strips with a thank-you to front-line workers can be seen after Sunday on the ComicsKingdom.com and GoComics.com websites.    
…

A ceremony to honor the sacrifice of those who lost their lives in the D-Day landings in 1944 was held on Omaha Beach in Saint-Laurent-Sur-Mer in France Saturday.Due to the coronavirus restrictions, the commemoration was much smaller than previous annual events, when tens of thousands or people congregated on the northern French beaches of Normandy.Billie Bishop, from San Jose, California, holds a photo of his uncle, WWII soldier Billie Bishop, as he prepares to lay a rose in the sea during a D-Day 76th anniversary ceremony in Saint Laurent sur Mer, Normandy, France, June 6, 2020.France, however, would not let the day pass unnoticed, Philippe Laillier, mayor of the city said, where he led the ceremony around the Omaha Beach monument.”We couldn’t imagine doing nothing! So yes, we figured that there would be people on the beach this morning even if nothing was organized – we knew because it’s a ritual and when we say we won’t forget, we mean it, we don’t forget,” said Philippe Laillier, Mayor of Saint-Laurent-Sur-Mer. “Last night, I exchanged with Americans who couldn’t be here, and with us – in thoughts. Whatever happens, on June 6th in Normandy, we can’t forget.”A bigger and more flamboyant event would have posed a threat to the surviving D-Day veterans, most of whom are now in their late nineties, or to other elderly persons who had participated in previous years ceremonies.On Sad Anniversary, Few to Mourn the D-Day Dead in NormandySaturday’s anniversary will be one of the loneliest remembrances ever for the June 6, 1944 D-Day landings in NormandyFrench soldiers jointed some 160,000 of their counterparts from the United States, Britain, Canada and other countries who landed on the beaches on June 6, 1944 and continued the fight to force the Nazis to surrender almost one year later.
…

National Football League Commissioner Roger Goodell said the league made mistakes in not listening to players, in a video on Friday denouncing racism in the United States amid widespread protests over police brutality against black people.”We, the National Football League, admit we were wrong for not listening to NFL players earlier and encourage all to speak out and peacefully protest,” said Goodell. “We, the National Football League, believe black lives matter.”The NFL has been locked in an ongoing debate with players over kneeling protests during the customary pre-game playing of the national anthem. The practice was popularized by quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who is black, in 2016 to protest racial injustice and police brutality.Kaepernick, who in 2013 led the San Francisco 49ers to the Super Bowl but lost to the Baltimore Ravens, filed a grievance against the league in 2017, claiming collusion as no teams signed him after he parted ways with the Niners. The NFL and Kaepernick settled in 2019.”Protests around the country are emblematic of the centuries of silence, inequality and oppression of black players, coaches, fans and staff,” said Goodell. “I will be reaching out to players who have raised their voices and others on how we can improve.”The NFL sent the video out just hours after U.S. President Donald Trump renewed his call for an end to kneeling protests during the national anthem.”We should be standing up straight and tall, ideally with a salute, or a hand on heart,” Trump wrote on Twitter. “There are other things you can protest, but not our Great American Flag – NO KNEELING!”The statement was a response to quarterback Drew Brees, who apologized this week for equating the kneeling protest with disrespecting the American flag.On Thursday, several players, including reigning Super Bowl MVP Patrick Mahomes of the Kansas City Chiefs, appeared in a video on social media calling for the league to “admit wrong in silencing” players and to support protests.”How many times do we need to ask you to listen to your players?” Chiefs player Tyrann Mathieu said in the video.The league also faced criticism earlier this year when just one of five head-coaching vacancies went to a non-white candidate in the most recent hiring cycle, and last month the NFL introduced rules designed to boost racial diversity among coaching staffs. 
…

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Friday said he would consider changes to the policy that led the company to leave up controversial posts by U.S. President Donald Trump during recent demonstrations protesting the death of a black man while in police custody, a partial concession to critics.Zuckerberg did not promise specific policy changes in a Facebook post, days after staff members walked off the job, some claiming he kept finding new excuses not to challenge Trump.”I know many of you think we should have labeled the President’s posts in some way last week,” Zuckerberg wrote, referring to his decision not to remove Trump’s message containing the phrase “when the looting starts, the shooting starts.””We’re going to review our policies allowing discussion and threats of state use of force to see if there are any amendments we should adopt,” he wrote. “We’re going to review potential options for handling violating or partially-violating content aside from the binary leave-it-up or take-it-down decisions.”Zuckerberg said Facebook would be more transparent about its decision-making on whether to take down posts, review policies on posts that could cause voter suppression and would look to build software to advance racial justice, led by important lieutenants.At a staff meeting earlier this week, employees questioned Zuckerberg’s stance on Trump’s post.Zuckerberg, who holds a controlling stake in Facebook, has maintained that while he found Trump’s comments “deeply offensive,” they did not violate company policy against incitements to violence.Facebook’s policy is either to take down a post or leave it up, without any other options. Now, Zuckerberg said, other possibilities would be considered.However, he added, “I worry that this approach has a risk of leading us to editorialize on content we don’t like even if it doesn’t violate our policies.”  
…

Legislators from eight countries and the European Parliament have launched an international platform to counter what they see as the “greatest challenge to the free world” — namely, China’s behavior under the leadership of its Communist Party. “The group exists to allow parliamentarians who represent the people to make clear to their governments that a more robust response is necessary,” Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) spokesperson Sam Armstrong told VOA in a phone interview from London. The group introduced itself to the world on Thursday with a Chinese Premier Li Keqiang speaks on screen during a press conference by video conferencing at the end of the National People’s Congress in Beijing on May 28, 2020.On the video, members of the group took turns reading aloud from the statement, which calls for a coordinated and coherent response to China’s behavior in the world.“It is a challenge which touches all of us,” said Michael Brand of the German Bundestag. “What we once believed about China’s rise no longer corresponds to reality,” said Shiori Yamao, a legislator from Japan. “We thought China would open up over time. This hasn’t happened,” said Elisabet Lann of Sweden. John McKay, a member of Canada’s parliament, said, “The world wants and needs China, a country of profound tradition, culture, and industry,” but, according to the group’s mission statement, the government in Beijing has instituted more authoritarian rule at home while “repeatedly and explicitly stat[ing] its intention to expand its global influence.”  Armstrong said the idea of establishing a platform spanning party and national lines began about six weeks before Thursday’s declaration and was prompted by Beijing’s response to the FILE PHOTO: Anti-government demonstrators scuffle with riot police during a lunch time protest as a second reading of a controversial national anthem law takes place in Hong Kong, May 29, 2020.Armstrong said legislators from any other democratic country are welcome to join the group as long as their delegation is chaired by a representative from each of the major parties in that country. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., center, confers with Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wisc., as Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., far right, speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington, Jan. 9, 2018.The co-chairs of the American delegation to the alliance are Senator Bob Menendez of New Jersey, the most senior Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Senator Marco Rubio of Florida. Rubio, a Republican, issued a statement stressing the importance of what the group is hoping to achieve. “How we respond to the People’s Republic of China and the Communist Party’s attempt to reshape the globe is the defining foreign policy question of our time,” he said. Menendez said he is looking forward to making “concrete progress on critical issues presented by Beijing, grounded on the respect and promotion of universal human rights.”
…

U.S. President Donald Trump has ordered the Pentagon to slash the number of troops it maintains in Germany by more than a quarter in the coming months, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday.The newspaper said the Defense Department would cut the number of military personnel by 9,500 from the current 34,500 permanently assigned to Germany postings.The Journal also said a cap of 25,000 would be set on how many U.S. troops could be inside German at any one time, whether in permanent postings or temporary rotations, half of the current allowance.The move would significantly reduce the U.S. commitment to European defense under the NATO umbrella, though it could also affect Pentagon operations related to Africa and the Middle East.White House and Pentagon officials declined to confirm or deny the story, which comes amid tensions between the Trump administration and European allies over longstanding cooperation agreements.Washington in particular does not think Germany spends enough for its own defense.John Ullyot, a spokesperson for the White House National Security Council, said in a statement that as commander in chief, Trump is always reassessing the presence of U.S. forces overseas.”The United States remains committed to working with our strong ally Germany to ensure our mutual defense, as well as on many other important issues,” Ullyot said. 
…

Twitter has blocked a Trump campaign video tribute to George Floyd over a copyright claim, in a move that adds to tensions between the social media platform and the U.S. president, one of its most widely followed users.
The company put a label on a video posted by the @TeamTrump account that said, “This media has been disabled in response to a claim by the copyright owner.” The video was still up on President Donald Trump’s YouTube channel and includes pictures of Floyd, whose death sparked widespread protests, at the start.
“Per our copyright policy, we respond to valid copyright complaints sent to us by a copyright owner or their authorized representatives,” Twitter said in a statement. It did not say who made the complaint.
The Burbank, California lawyer who requested the takedown, Sam Koolaq, declined to identify his client or the copyright violation in the video. He said in an email that he also submitted takedown notices to YouTube, Facebook and Instagram, where the video was still up as of midday Friday.
Facebook, which owns Instagram, and YouTube didn’t respond to requests for comment.
The three minute and 45 second clip is a montage of photos and videos of peaceful marches and police officers hugging protesters interspersed with some scenes of burning buildings and vandalism, set to gentle piano music and Trump speaking.
Last month, Twitter placed fact-check warnings on two tweets from Trump’s own account that called mail-in ballots “fraudulent” and predicted problems with the November U.S. elections. Under the tweets, there is now a link reading “Get the facts about mail-in ballots” that guides users to a Twitter “moments” page with fact checks and news stories about Trump’s unsubstantiated claims.
It also demoted and placed a stronger warning on a third Trump tweet about Minneapolis protests that read, in part, that “when the looting starts, the shooting starts.” Twitter said that the tweet had violated the platform’s rules by glorifying violence.
Trump responded by threatening to retaliate against social media companies.
Last year, Twitter also removed a Trump tweet that featured a  doctored Nickelback music video clip that took aim at former Vice President Joe Biden, after receiving copyright complaints.
…

The Pentagon will be sending back the remaining 900 active-duty troops who were sent to the Washington D.C. area to potentially respond to civil unrest, and they are expected to start heading back to their home bases, a U.S. official told Reuters.The official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the order had been signed by U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper and that the troops would be heading back to Fort Bragg in North Carolina and Fort Drum in New York.While the troops were in the National Capital Region, they were not deployed to Washington D.C. and were on standby in case they were needed.
…

Protests following the death of George Floyd, an African American man who died in police custody in Minneapolis, Minnesota, were largely peaceful in U.S. major cities Thursday evening, and fewer incidents of violence were reported.Unlike previous days’ demonstrations, protest intensity was subdued, including in New York, where demonstrations lasted beyond an 8 p.m. curfew, and in Washington.Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser said the city’s curfew was being lifted, although it was not clear from her statement whether the change would be permanent.Military police and law enforcement units from several federal agencies have been out in force in Washington, and their presence has been a source of friction between city officials and the federal government. ”Obviously, the very first thing is we want the military, we want troops from out of state, out of Washington, D.C.,” Bowser said.City officials have demanded that the federal response to the protests not extend beyond the area around the White House and adjacent Lafayette Square.A protester is arrested on Fifth Avenue by NYPD officers during a march, June 4, 2020, in the Manhattan borough of New York.National Guard
Two National Guardsmen were hurt in Washington on Thursday night during thunderstorms and heavy rain after a lightning strike in Lafayette Park, close to the White House, The Washington Post reported.The guardsmen were taken to a hospital nearby with serious injuries, but according to a spokesman for the city fire department, the injuries were not life-threatening.No injuries to the hundreds of protesters congregated there were reported.A large protest is expected in Washington on Saturday.George Floyd memorial service
Earlier Thursday, Floyd was remembered as a devoted father and family man in Minneapolis, in the first of several memorial services, where civil rights leader the Rev. Al Sharpton made an appeal to all Americans, with a reference to the white police officer kneeling on Floyd’s neck as he cried out that he could not breathe.Thursday’s service in Minneapolis included civil rights activist Jesse Jackson, Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar, several members of Congress, and celebrities, including Ludacris, Kevin Hart, Tiffany Haddish, and T.I.At one point, the audience at the sanctuary at North Central University stood in silence for eight minutes and 46 seconds — the length of time white police officer Derek Chauvin knelt on Floyd’s neck.“George Floyd’s story has been the story of black folks. Because ever since 401 years ago, the reason we could never be who we wanted and dreamed to be is you kept your knee on our neck,” Sharpton said in his eulogy. “It’s time for us to stand up in George’s name and say, ‘Get your knee off our necks!’”He said it is time for those in the U.S. justice system to stop “making excuses and empty promises.”Demonstrators protest June 4, 2020, near the White House in Washington, over the death of George Floyd, a black man who was in police custody in Minneapolis.Philonise Floyd, one of George Floyd’s brothers, recounted their childhood games and said he was amazed at the number of people who came to memorialize George Floyd.Sharpton announced he is organizing a march on Washington to be held August 28 – 57 years to the day when Martin Luther King Jr. led a march and made history with his iconic “I Have a Dream” speech.Congressional Black Caucus observance
Also Thursday, members of the Senate Democratic Caucus held their own 8-minute, 46-second moment of silence for Floyd in the Capitol’s Emancipation Hall.Thousands of demonstrators have also turned out in major cities around the world, including Paris, London, Sydney and Rio de Janeiro.The mayors of several large U.S. cities, including Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle, have lifted nightly curfews.Bail set for accused policemen
Meanwhile, a Hennepin County, Minnesota, judge Thursday set bail at $750,000 each for the three officers who stood by while Officer Chauvin knelt on Floyd’s neck.Chauvin was been charged with second-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.Officers J.A. Keung, Thomas Lane and Tou Thao have all been charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder.Two members of Congress — Libertarian Justin Amash and Democrat Ayanna Pressley — are co-sponsoring a bill limiting what is known as qualified immunity, so victims of civil rights abuses will have an easier time suing officers in court.“Qualified immunity shields police from accountability, impedes true justice and undermines the constitutional rights of every person in this country,” Pressley said.  
…

Ten long weeks after a massive coronavirus outbreak sidelined one of the Navy’s signature warships, the U.S.S. Theodore Roosevelt has returned to sea and is conducting military operations in the Pacific region.
Lining the flight deck in their dress white uniforms, sailors wearing white face masks stood a virus-safe 10 feet (3 meters) apart in a final, formal thank you as the ship sailed out of port in Guam on Thursday and headed into the Philippine Sea.
“We manned the rail, which we don’t normally do. There was a lot of symbolism in that,” Navy Capt. Carlos Sardiello told The Associated Press in an interview from the ship Thursday. “They’re excited. They’re fired up to be back at sea doing the mission.”
The Roosevelt pulled into Guam on March 27, with a rapidly escalating number of sailors testing positive for the virus. Over time, more than 1,000 were infected with COVID-19, setting off a lengthy and systematic process to move about 4,000 sailors ashore for quarantine and treatment, while about 800 remained aboard to protect and run the high-tech systems, including the nuclear reactors that run the vessel.
Slowly, sailors were methodically brought back on board, while the others who had remained went ashore for their mandated two-week quarantine. And in late March, the ship with only about 3,000 crew aboard went out to sea for roughly two weeks of training, including the recertification of the flight deck and fighter squadron, such as takeoffs and landings on the carrier.
Earlier this week, the Roosevelt wrapped up training and returned to Guam to pick up nearly 1,000 sailors who had been left there to either complete their quarantine or to manage and work with those still on the island. As the ship sailed into the port, it was flying a flag with the words “Don’t Give Up the Ship,” a famous Navy battle cry from the War of 1812.
“Our sailors didn’t give up the ship. They fought and got it back. So I thought it was appropriate,” said Sardiello, who asked one of the other Navy ships to borrow their flag. “The ship was clean and the ship was healthy with no COVID cases. So I said, OK, we’re going to fly that one time on the way into Guam as a symbol to bolster their morale.”
RS1 Katie VanDrimmelen was one of the sailors left ashore during the two-week training. She had tested positive for the virus and was in quarantine for about five weeks. Walking back onto the ship, she said, was like being welcomed home from a deployment.
“It was amazing,” said VanDrimmelen, of Ogden, Utah. “It was very comforting to be back in our normal atmosphere. Everybody was happy.”
Sardiello said that watching the sailors board the ship was a great feeling, But he knows he’s not done yet. There are still about 350 sailors on Guam who are either in isolation or are there as support staff.
“More and more of those sailors are meeting the return-to-work criteria, and we’re flying them on board every single day. So we’re whittling down that number day by day,” said Sardiello. “But I really want those 350 remaining back. And we’re working hard on that.”
He said that any sailors who don’t recover in time will be transported back to the U.S. The ship is expected to continue operations in the Pacific, and then would likely head home to San Diego later this summer.
The Roosevelt has been at the center of a still unresolved controversy that led to the firing of the ship’s previous captain, the resignation of the Navy secretary and an expanded investigation into what triggered the outbreak and how well top naval commanders handled it.
 
Sardiello, had previously captained the Roosevelt but was abruptly sent back to the ship in early April to take command after Capt. Brett Crozier was fired for urging his commanders to take faster action to stem the virus outbreak onboard.  
After a preliminary review last month, Adm. Mike Gilday, the Navy’s top officer, recommended that Crozier be reinstated as ship captain. But the Navy decided to conduct the broader investigation.
That review, which effectively delays a decision on Crozier’s reinstatement, was finished and submitted to Gilday at the end of March and he is still reviewing the extensive report, which includes several hundred pages of interviews, documents and recommendations.
Cmdr. Nate Christensen, spokesman for Gilday, said it will take time for the admiral to finish his review and make any decisions. 
…

After an initial cancellation due to weather conditions, NASA and SpaceX achieved a historic launch Saturday, marking the first time in nine years that astronauts went to orbit from U.S. soil.  Many moving parts behind the scenes ensured the launch’s success.  VOA’s Arash Arabasadi spoke with two teams keeping travelers safe in This Week in Space.
Camera: NASA/AP/REUTERS/SpaceX/SKYPE  Produced by: Arash Arabasadi
…

Ahmaud Arbery was called a racial slur as he lay dying shortly after being chased and fatally shot by three white men, a Georgia Bureau of Investigation agent testified Thursday. Gregory McMichael, 64, his son Travis McMichael and their neighbor William “Roddie” Bryan, now charged with felony murder, will face trial after Glynn County Magistrate Court Judge Wallace Harrell determined there was enough evidence to proceed. Furthermore, their testimonies could contribute to deciding if there are enough grounds for a hate crime charge. “[Arbery] was chased, hunted down and ultimately executed,” special prosecutor Jesse Evans said. “I don’t think it was self-defense by Mr. Michael. I think it was self-defense by Mr. Arbery.” Arbery was out for his morning jog on Feb. 23 when the McMichaels and Bryan used two pickups to chase down 25-year-old Arbery. Arbery attempted several direction changes and even jumped into a ditch to avoid the trucks but was ultimately confronted by Travis McMichael, who shot Arbery first in the chest, then in the hand and finally in the chest again and claimed self-defense, Richard Dial, the lead Georgia Bureau of Investigation agent on the case, testified. Bryan told investigators he heard Travis McMichael use the racial slur. No charges against either McMichael or Bryan were brought until May 7, 74 days after Arbery’s death and two days after video evidence of the shooting surfaced. Georgia is one of the few states that does not have a hate crime law. U.S. Department of Justice officials said May 11 that they are “assessing all the evidence to determine whether federal hate crime charges are appropriate.” 
…

State-backed hackers from China have targeted staffers working on the U.S. presidential campaign of Democrat Joe Biden, a senior Google security official said Thursday. The same official said Iranian hackers had recently targeted email accounts belonging to Republican President Donald Trump’s campaign staff. The announcement, made on Twitter by the head of Google’s Threat Analysis Group, Shane Huntley, is the latest indication of the digital spying routinely aimed at top politicians. Huntley said there was “no sign of compromise” of either campaign. Iranian attempts to break into Trump campaign officials’ emails have been documented before. Last year, Microsoft Corp announced that a group often nicknamed Charming Kitten had tried to break into email accounts belonging to an unnamed U.S. presidential campaign, which sources identified as Trump’s. Earlier this year, the threat intelligence company Area 1 Security said Russian hackers had targeted companies tied to a Ukrainian gas firm where Biden’s son once served on the board. No detailsGoogle declined to offer details beyond Huntley’s tweets, but the unusually public attribution is a sign of how sensitive Americans have become to digital espionage efforts aimed at political campaigns. “We sent the targeted users our standard government-backed attack warning and we referred this information to federal law enforcement,” a Google representative said. Hacking to interfere in elections has become a concern for governments, especially since U.S intelligence agencies concluded that Russia ran a hacking and propaganda operation to disrupt the American democratic process in 2016 to help then-candidate Trump become president. Among the targets was digital infrastructure used by 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s campaign. Moscow has denied any meddling. Commonplace attacksAttempts by foreign adversaries to break into presidential campaigns are commonplace. “We are aware of reports from Google that a foreign actor has made unsuccessful attempts to access the personal email accounts of campaign staff,” a Biden campaign spokesman said. “We have known from the beginning of our campaign that we would be subject to such attacks and we are prepared for them.” The Trump campaign, the Chinese Embassy in Washington and the Iranian mission to the United Nations in New York did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Charming Kitten, the group identified by Google as being responsible for the targeting of the Trump campaign, has also recently been in the headlines over other exploits, including the targeting of the pharmaceutical company Gilead Sciences Inc . Earlier this year, Reuters tied the group to attempts to impersonate high-profile media figures and journalists. John Hultquist, senior director of intelligence analysis with U.S. cybersecurity firm FireEye Inc, described the two hacking groups as “espionage actors” and said they were likely attempting to collect intelligence rather than steal material to leak online. The FBI and Office of the Director of National Intelligence both declined to comment.
…

A new U.S. ban on Chinese graduate students with military ties went into effect this week, and universities are still grappling over its expected impact on American universities and several thousand Chinese students.  President Donald Trump signed a FILE – Ailu Xu, a graduate student from China, posts a sign directing Chinese students to new student orientation at the University of Texas at Dallas in Richardson, Texas, Aug. 22, 2015.Supporters of Trump’s new immigration policy told VOA Mandarin that the administration’s decision to limit students from military-affiliated universities is carefully considered and measured. They said China now threatens to use its military to coerce and settle differences by force, which undermines global security and stability.   “No country should be helping the Chinese military increase its capabilities while it threatens its neighbors,” said Drew Thompson, a former U.S. Defense Department official who helped manage bilateral relations with China, Taiwan and Mongolia. He added that until China renounces the use of force against Taiwan and countries that it has territorial disputes with, countries in Europe and Asia should also limit technology transfer to Chinese military organizations, including its universities.  Yet other experts argue that international students, especially Chinese students, play a key role in science research in America universities.  Elizabeth Bowditch used to teach cultural awareness at Defense Language Institute in Monterey, California. She said that in limiting visas to Chinese graduate students, the administration is undercutting the ability of American universities to conduct cutting-edge research.  “Graduate research assistants are disproportionately international students, many of whom are from China,” she said, “The upshot is that the U.S. will no longer be able to benefit from the contributions Chinese students make at American universities and that will be a huge loss to scientific and innovation and research.”  Yet Thompson argued that the policy would not negatively impact U.S. universities, since “the total number of affected students is very small compared to the overall numbers of Chinese students still eligible to study in the United States.” A top Chinese scientist shared his opinion with VOA Mandarin on the condition of anonymity. He said that he has benefited from academic exchanges with U.S. colleagues. “America and the world also benefited greatly from free academic exchange among scientists,” he said. “Don’t forget that scientists [who] immigrated from Britain, Germany and then Soviet Union after WWII also contributed greatly to America’s leading position in technology today.” Secure Campus Act   While the current ban appears limited in scope because it targets only graduate students with direct ties to specific schools, American lawmakers are considering much broader bans.  Two days before Trump announced the proclamation, Republican Senators Tom Cotton and Marsha Blackburn, from Arkansas and Tennessee respectively, introduced the Secure Campus Act, which would ban visas to all Chinese nationals seeking STEM studies in the United States.The Wilson Center’s Daly said the proposed bill is too biased and harmful to the United Sates.  “We must distinguish which suspicions are based on reasoning,” he told VOA Mandarin. “We can’t just say they are all spies. The senators provided the bill, but they didn’t provide the evidence.” Berlin Fang is the director of instructional design at Abilene Christian University in Texas. He told VOA Mandarin that from the American perspective, the proposed bill, if passed, would hurt the U.S. as well, “because some students would choose to stay and work in the U.S., contributing to the competitiveness of the country. Many U.S. companies, especially high-tech companies, would probably protest it,” he said.  According to data from National Science Foundation, 72% of foreign students who graduate with STEM doctorates were still in America 10 years after receiving their degrees. Among Chinese students, that percentage went up to 90%.  Fang added that the bill has sent a signal to international students so that even if it does not become law, it will reduce the number of Chinese students applying to US graduate schools in the future.  “I feel bad for students who have not done anything to become victims in the crossfire between two countries as [the relationship] turns sour,” he said.   
…

Programs have been launched in two of the largest U.S. states to provide economic assistance to undocumented immigrants who have been ineligible for benefits under massive federal stimulus packages enacted to combat financial fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic.Immigrant relief funds have been set up in California and Pennsylvania. A similar initiative was launched in Baltimore, Maryland.
 
Immigrant advocates say that at a time when much of the U.S. workforce has been idled to slow the spread of the coronavirus, it is counterproductive to exclude those lacking legal status from assistance that has made it easier for people to stay at home.
 
“Immigrant rights organizations recognized immediately that this was going to exacerbate our public health crisis,” Pennsylvania Immigration and Citizen Coalition executive director Sundrop Carter told VOA.
 
Enacted in March, the CARES Act provided stimulus checks of up to $1,200 to low and middle-income individuals. Families were also eligible for $500 per child under the age of 17.
 
Passed by a Democratic-led House and a Republican-led Senate, the bill provided benefits to U.S. citizens and permanent residents but excluded undocumented immigrants and individuals in mixed-status families.
 
Some Democratic lawmakers criticized the exclusions as unjust, noting that many workers lacking legal status pay federal taxes.  
 
“COVID-19 does not care about your immigration status, so neither should our response,” Arizona Democratic Congressman Raul Grijalva said in an April statement.
 
President Donald Trump’s Republican allies on Capitol Hill were unmoved.Earlier this month, Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas introduced the “No Bailouts for Illegal Aliens Act.” Congressman Ken Buck of Colorado introduced a companion legislation in the House. Their goal is to block funds being sent to U.S. states giving coronavirus-related stimulus checks or other cash payments to unauthorized workers.“The federal government shouldn’t be subsidizing states’ efforts to send cash to illegal aliens,” Cotton said in a statement last month.
 
With federal aid restricted, California stepped in with its own initiative. America’s most populous state set up a $125 million fund that is providing a maximum of $1,000 per undocumented household.In Pennsylvania, more than 40 nonprofit groups have joined with a charitable foundation to launch the PA Immigrant Relief Fund. The program, which several cities are promoting but receives no state money, has provided financial aid to hundreds of families in its first days of operation, and organizers hope to help thousands more in the weeks and months to come.
 
“So many organizations really wanted to match the federal stimulus of $1,200 dollars, but we ended up on $800 (per undocumented household in Pennsylvania),” Carter said, adding that the initiative aims “to reach as many people as possible” with funds she describes as “a drop in the bucket.”
 
Some local governments are stepping in, as well. In Baltimore, Maryland, a mayoral office for immigrant affairs established an emergency fund to “help families achieve economic stability by using funds towards rent, utilities and/or other basic needs.”
 
The key requirement for federal stimulus money is a social security number given to U.S. citizens and permanent legal residents. The stipulation has served to deny benefits to mixed status families in which a citizen or resident is married to an undocumented immigrant who files taxes using an alternative to the social security number.
 
Multiple lawsuits are underway challenging the withholding of stimulus money to mixed-status families, as well as undocumented immigrants with children who are U.S. citizens.
 
…

The U.S. Senate Thursday approved President Donald Trump’s nominee for the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), the federal agency that oversees Voice of America and other international broadcasting entities.    On a 53-38 party-line vote, the Republican-controlled Senate approved conservative documentary filmmaker Michael Pack to head USAGM for a three-year term. Pack’s nomination has been under consideration for two years, held up in part because of Democratic concerns about alleged financial self-dealing in his businesses.   Through his company Manifold Productions, Inc., Pack has written, directed and produced numerous documentaries, many of which have aired on PBS. He has served as CEO of the conservative Claremont Institute and held positions on the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. He has also worked on film projects with former Trump chief strategist and co-founder of Breitbart News, Stephen Bannon.Pack has previous experience with U.S. broadcasting, having served as director of WORLDNET, the global satellite network of the U.S. Information Agency that became the TV unit of Voice of America.”This man is uniquely qualified to hold this position,” Senate Foreign Relations Chairman James Risch said Thursday. “He’s done an outstanding job – everyone should look at the most recent documentary he did on the Supreme Court – it was just outstanding. There’s been a political battle fight over him for two years and one day – today is the moment of truth.”In his confirmation hearing last September, Pack addressed concerns he would attempt to impose a political bias on USAGM agencies, including VOA, which is mandated by U.S. law to be objective and balanced in its reporting.    “The whole agency rests on the belief the reporters are independent, that no political influence is telling them how to report the news and what to say. Without that trust, I think, the agency is completely undermined,” Pack told the committee.   With Pack’s nomination seemingly stalled in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, President Trump last month expressed frustration about the wait, saying it was due to Democratic obstruction. The president previously threatened to adjourn Congress to push the nomination through.  Despite reports that Pack’s business dealings were the subject of an investigation by the District of Columbia’s attorney general, the Foreign Relations Committee approved Pack’s nomination May 20, on a strict 12-10 party-line vote, and then sent it to the Senate floor for final approval.  At the time, Senator Risch said the committee was prepared to stand down on the nomination “if the United States attorney general department, Department of Justice asks to stand down; [we] will do so. That has not happened here.”  Democrats say nomination sets bad precedentFILE – Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez speaks with the media on Capitol Hill in Washington, March 5, 2019.Senator Bob Menendez of New Jersey, the ranking member of the Foreign Relations Committee, said the final vote on the Pack nomination endangered the Senate’s historic advise and consent role on presidential nominees in light of the way it was pushed through without a full airing of Pack’s business dealings.  The D.C. attorney general’s office said it has opened an investigation into whether Pack unlawfully used funds from his nonprofit, Public Media Lab, to benefit himself.“I know that the president has spoken both publicly and privately of his intense desire to confirm Mr. Pack, come what may,” Menendez said Thursday. “The objections that I have raised today and have been raising for months are not political or partisan in nature. They go to the most basic and critical question – is Michael Pack fit to serve? Should he be confirmed while he is under investigation and after having been dishonest with the Senate and the IRS?”Menendez detailed committee Democrats’ unanswered questions, alleging that Pack had “misrepresented the relationship between his nonprofit organization and his for-profit company to the IRS.   The White House dismissed Democratic concerns, stating that, “The President stands behind Michael Pack and is disappointed, but not surprised, that Do-Nothing-Democrats have once again decided to throw political mud on a public servant’s clean record.”   Pack’s film company, Manifold Productions, Inc., received millions in grants from his non-profit, Menendez said. Yet he repeatedly told the IRS that there was no relationship between the two when in fact he ran both of them. Menendez said that Pack has yet to correct misinformation provided to the IRS and to the committee regarding the status of his tax returns.Menendez said Pack had not provided the committee with requested documents detailing the relationship between his nonprofit and his business, claiming sensitive business information.   “Business interests are so sensitive that the United States senators cleared to review the most sensitive classified information cannot see them,” Menendez said.   VOA did not receive a response to a request for comment from Pack’s spokesperson.  US Broadcasting editorial stanceIn recent weeks, Trump has criticized VOA for its news coverage of China during the coronavirus crisis. When asked about the Pack nomination on May 15th, Trump said, “Voice of America is run in a terrible manner. They’re not the Voice of America. They’re the opposite of the Voice of America.”   VOA Director Amanda Bennett defended the U.S.-funded news agency’s mission and reporting in a statement last month.     “We export the First Amendment to people around the world who have no other access to factual, truthful, believable information,” she said.        “That’s why more than 80% of our 280 million audience in 47 languages in more than 60 countries say they find our work credible,” she added.      Senator Menendez said on the Senate floor ahead of the final vote Thursday that the connection with foreign audiences depends on the agency’s protections from political interference.“People around the world have come to view the products from all of the networks and grantees as reliable and trustworthy news sources as this pandemic has highlighted,” he said.“It is absolutely critical that any person in this position maintain a strong firewall between the work of its networks and grantees and political interference or influence from the White House or any others.”
The USAGM oversees five U.S. civilian broadcast networks, which include VOA, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), the Office of Cuba Broadcasting (OCB), Radio Free Asia (RFA), and the Arabic-language stations Alhurra Television and Radio Sawa of the Middle East Broadcasting Networks (MBN).    
…