| Former Justice Department official says Trump is 'basically calling for the shooting of protesters' Posted: 29 May 2020 01:43 PM PDT  Vanita Gupta, head of the department's Civil Rights Division in the Obama administration, said the Minneapolis Police Department was on her "radar" during her tenure.
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| How should the U.S. respond to China's Hong Kong power grab? Posted: 29 May 2020 12:46 PM PDT  The Chinese government passed a law giving it sweeping new powers to stamp out dissent on the semiautonomous island of Hong Kong. Should the U.S. and others nations push back?
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| Journalists Under Attack Show How Trump’s Hate for the Press Has Spread Posted: 31 May 2020 06:39 AM PDT  Journalists have been attacked all over the world while on the job covering protests for years, but never like they were this week in the United States during the George Floyd protests.At least half a dozen incidences of arrests and attacks were reported in protests across the United States this weekend. Some were high profile, like the live-on-air arrest of CNN journalist Omar Jimenez and his crew Friday morning. Others got less attention, like Los Angeles Times reporter Molly Hennessy-Fiske getting pelted with rubber bullets and tear gas or the two Los Angeles Times photographers who were briefly taken into custody. To All Black Journalists: We See You, We Support YouWAVE-TV reporter Kaitlin Rust, who was covering protests in Louisville Saturday night, was shot with pepper bullets while live on air. Video showed a police officer aiming directly at her and her crew. "I've been shot! I've been shot!" Rust, who was wearing a fluorescent vest, carrying a microphone, and standing in front of a camera, can be heard screaming. Police later apologized for the incident. A crew in Denver tweeted after they were targeted by police there with paintballs and tear gas. "Luckily, I ducked," one of the journalists wrote. The video journalist who was shooting the protests wasn't so lucky and was struck.Anti-Trump protesters in front of the White House turned their anger to Fox News journalist Leland Vittert who told the Associated Press, "We took a good thumping. The protesters stopped protesting whatever it was they were protesting and turned on us and that was a very different feeling."Briana Whitney, a reporter in Phoenix, was attacked on air and tweeted, "THIS IS NOT OKAY. This is the moment I was intentionally tackled by this man while I was on air trying to report what was happening during the protest at Phoenix PD headquarters. I feel violated, and this was terrifying. Let us do our jobs. We are trying our very best."KDKA TV journalist Ian Smith said he was attacked while covering protests in Pittsburgh. "They stomped and kicked me," he wrote under a photo of him in the back of an ambulance. "I'm bruised and bloody but alive. My camera was destroyed. Another group of protesters pulled me out and saved my life. Thank you!"Journalists have been attacked in the U.S. before, but not nearly as often or as brutal as this weekend. Speaking to The Washington Post, Suzanne Nossel, chief executive of PEN America, blamed animosity towards the press on Trump. "By denigrating journalists so often, he has degraded respect for what journalists do and the crucial role they play in a democracy," she said. "He's been remarkably effective in contributing to this topsy-turvy sense that journalists are the opposition."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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| Israeli police fatally shoot Palestinian in Jerusalem: spokesman Posted: 30 May 2020 12:21 AM PDT  Israeli police officers fatally shot a Palestinian they suspected was carrying a weapon in Jerusalem's Old City on Saturday, a police spokesman said, but the man was later found to have been unarmed, Israeli media reported. Palestinian officials said the man killed suffered mental health issues. Rosenfeld said the suspect, a Palestinian resident of east Jerusalem, was dead.
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| Boy Scout victims' choice: Sue rashly, or wait and risk loss Posted: 31 May 2020 06:08 AM PDT |
| Letters to the Editor: Stacey Abrams lost in Georgia, but she could lift Biden as his VP. Posted: 31 May 2020 03:00 AM PDT  Even with alleged voter suppression, Stacey Abrams came very close to winning in Georgia. She would make a great VP pick for Biden.
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| Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque reopens after two months amid tensions Posted: 30 May 2020 05:53 PM PDT  Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque compound, Islam's third holiest site, reopened Sunday after a more than two-month-long coronavirus lockdown, but tensions marred the event which came hours after a deadly police shooting. Before dawn, worshippers in protective masks waited outside chanting "God is greatest, we will protect Al-Aqsa with our soul and blood", before they were let in for the first prayers of the day. Israeli soldiers were stationed at the gates to the site, which has often been a flashpoint in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and police said eight arrests were made throughout the day.
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| Could smoking be banned in Nevada casinos in wake of COVID-19? Don't count on it. Posted: 30 May 2020 09:40 AM PDT  Banning smoking in Nevada casinos is not up to gaming authorities. Lighting up at card tables and slot machines is protected by law.
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| A Tennessee police chief had a message for fellow law enforcement: turn in your badge if 'you don't have an issue' with George Floyd's death Posted: 30 May 2020 10:18 AM PDT  David Roddy's tweet about police brutality has garnered over 159,000 retweets. He has been part of the Chattanooga Police Department for 24 years.
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| Former top Justice Department official warns Trump may 'not cede power' Posted: 29 May 2020 06:05 PM PDT  A former top Justice Department official told Yahoo News she is deeply worried that President Trump could "delegitimize a lawful election" this November "and not cede power."
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| Burkina Faso gunmen 'kill dozens' at cattle market in Kompienga Posted: 31 May 2020 08:22 AM PDT  The gunmen arrived on motorbikes, shooting into the crowded market, reports say.
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| As Minneapolis rioters set buildings ablaze, grocer pleads to save his stores Posted: 30 May 2020 05:26 PM PDT |
| Pope presides over virus prayer in hint normalcy returning Posted: 30 May 2020 12:14 PM PDT  Pope Francis prayed Saturday for an end to the coronavirus pandemic and the development of a vaccine as he presided over an outdoor gathering that signaled a semblance of normalcy returning to the Vatican after a coronavirus lockdown lasting more than two months. Francis was joined in the Vatican Gardens by a representative sampling of people on the front lines of the emergency: a doctor, a nurse, a hospital chaplain, a pharmacist, a journalist and a civil protection official. A recovered COVID-19 patient, a person with a relative who died during Italy's outbreak, and the parents of a baby born during the emergency also were among the pope's more than 100 guests for the prayer at the grotto dedicated to the Virgin Mary.
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| How Germany tackled the coronavirus: 9 people tell us they are thankful for good leadership and a robust health system Posted: 30 May 2020 01:58 AM PDT  Germany's Chancellor Merkel, a former scientist, instilled confidence. A national tendency to follow rules also helped mute the effects of COVID-19.
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| Louisville police appear to shoot pepper rounds at reporters Posted: 29 May 2020 08:02 PM PDT  Footage from Wave 3 local news in Louisville, Ky., appears to show police shooting pepper rounds directly at news crew.
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| Trump’s campaign tries to recapture its magic on the virtual campaign trail. Will it succeed? Posted: 30 May 2020 02:00 AM PDT  Trump's virtual campaign rallies feature a 3D animated venue designed to make a big splash, in contrast to Biden's rec room. But Biden is still ahead in the polls.
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| Labour whip resigns after breaking lockdown rules to meet married boyfriend Posted: 31 May 2020 06:58 AM PDT  A Labour MP has stepped down from her front bench position as whip after admitting she broke lockdown rules to meet her married lover. Rosie Duffield met her boyfriend for a long walk in April, while it was still against the lockdown rules to meet people from different households, the Mail on Sunday reported. She resigned as a whip on Saturday night and said she was "attempting to navigate a difficult personal situation". Ms Duffield, 48, was living separately from married father-of-three James Routh, pictured below, a TV director, when they went for a long walk in her constituency and he visited her home, it was reported. The MP for Canterbury told the Mail on Sunday the pair observed the two-metre social distancing rules, but these incidents were before meetings between people from different households were allowed.
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| India coronavirus: Why is India reopening amid a spike in cases? Posted: 31 May 2020 10:01 AM PDT  India's caseload continues to rise even as restrictions ease across the country.
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| Saudi Arabia reopens mosques with strict regulations for worshippers Posted: 31 May 2020 02:26 AM PDT  Saudi Arabia's mosques opened their doors to worshippers on Sunday for the first time in more than two months as the kingdom, the birthplace of Islam, eased restrictions imposed to combat the coronavirus. "It is great to feel the mercy of God and once again call people for prayers at mosques instead of at their homes," said Abdulmajeed Al Mohaisen, who issues the call to prayer at Al Rajhi Mosque, one of the largest in the capital Riyadh.
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| Louisville PD apologizes for targeting news crew at protest Posted: 30 May 2020 12:43 AM PDT  Kentucky's governor on Saturday called in the National Guard to "help keep the peace" in Louisville after a second night of protests sparked by the police shooting of a black woman led to widespread damage. Gov. Andy Beshear said he didn't want to silence protesters but decided to activate the Guard to quell the actions of "outside groups" that are "trying to create violence." Police said six people were arrested during Friday's protest, which began peacefully but grew more destructive as the night went on.
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| Hundreds of schools in South Korea reopened, only to close again as the country sought to avoid a spike in coronavirus cases Posted: 30 May 2020 01:27 PM PDT  On May 28, Korean health officials announced 79 new coronavirus cases. Of those, 69 were reported at a distribution center in Bucheon.
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| Florida’s Seen a ‘Statistically Significant’ Uptick in Pneumonia Deaths. The CDC Says It’s Likely COVID. Posted: 30 May 2020 11:08 PM PDT  Since the beginning of this year, Florida has experienced an uptick in the number of pneumonia and influenza deaths, according to data from the Centers for Disease and Control. Experts and Trump administration officials responsible for keeping tabs on mortality rates across the country believe that many of those individuals had likely contracted and died from COVID-19.According to the data from the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics, since the beginning of the year there has been a total of 1,519 deaths in Florida where pneumonia and influenza were listed as the underlying cause. By comparison, in the same time period last year, Florida recorded 1,207 such deaths. The CDC has historically counted pneumonia and influenza deaths together. CDC officials told The Daily Beast that most of the deaths included in that category are pneumonia. Bob Anderson, the chief of the Mortality Statistics Branch in CDC's National Center for Health Statistics, told The Daily Beast that the increase of deaths in Florida where pneumonia and influenza were the underlying cause was "statistically significant" and that those mortalities were "probably COVID cases that weren't reported as such." The coronavirus can cause lung complications such as pneumonia.The increase has sparked a conspiracy theory on the left, that Florida is deliberately trying to undercount coronavirus fatalities by labeling them as something else. There's no evidence to suggest any such underhand efforts, or that the state is unique across the country. But officials, including Anderson, do believe that a portion of the pneumonia and influenza deaths in Florida involved patients who were infected with, but never tested for, COVID-19. In such scenarios, though the virus likely contributed to the death, it may not have been recorded as the cause of death by the physician, coroner or medical examiner. "We're definitely experiencing an underreporting issue nationwide," Anderson said, pointing to the CDC's study of "excess deaths" during the coronavirus. "[In Florida] most likely what we're seeing are folks dying without having been tested and the best evidence that the doctors or whoever is filling out the death certificate had pointed to the person dying of pneumonia."Anderson added that the numbers currently reflected on the CDC's website for pneumonia and influenza deaths for 2020 are lower than reality because the death certificate reporting system lags by several weeks, especially in states that do not have digitized systems to process the papers. 'F*cking Dangerous': Dems in Pennsylvania Lose It After GOP Kept Virus Diagnosis a SecretThough other states are experiencing a similar phenomenon, there has been notable scrutiny placed on Florida, due to Gov. Ron DeSantis' (R) handling of the coronavirus response and his decision to move to quickly reopen the state. DeSantis allowed some Florida beaches to reopen in the middle of April, even as the number of coronavirus cases and related deaths continued to rise across the state. The governor has since criticized members of the press for rushing to warn that Florida would experience a spike in COVID-19 cases, and calling his actions cavalier. Conservative and Trump supportive commentators have pointed to the absence of a notable uptick as evidence that fears of a hasty reopening were overblown. DeSantis' office did not return a request for comment. But the actual story, like much related to the pandemic, appears to be more complicated. And it underscores how much of the public's understanding of, and opinions about, the pandemic are affected by bureaucratic decisions and accounting formulas related to categorizing fatalities. As The Daily Beast previously reported, President Trump and members of his coronavirus task force have pressed the CDC to change how the agency works with states to count coronavirus-related deaths, arguing for revisions that could lead to far fewer deaths being attributed to the disease. The administration has also moved to allow nursing homes the ability to only report coronavirus deaths that occurred after May 6—well after facilities across the country experienced a massive uptick in coronavirus-related deaths. States, as well, have different methods of collecting relevant data and calculating COVID-19 death counts and that, in turn, has sowed speculation about political motivations. On that front, few governors have been as closely watched as DeSantis. Part of that is because of his close relationship with the president. Part of that is because of decisions he has made. Earlier this month the DeSantis administration fired Rebekah Jones, the data manager for the Florida Department of Health who worked on the state's coronavirus online dashboard. In a statement posted to her website, Jones said she was removed from her position because she pushed back when officials in the health department asked her to "manipulate and delete data in late April as work for the state's reopening plan started to take off." The DeSantis administration has since said Jones was fired for insubordination.FL Gov. Overrides County Officials to Allow Church During Coronavirus LockdownWith Florida already under a national microscope, news of the state's pneumonia fatalities circulated on social media this week as liberals accused DeSantis and members of his administration of manipulating data and deliberately downplaying the number of coronavirus deaths. Howard Dean, the former Democrat governor from Vermont, commented on Florida's statistics Thursday, going so far as to accuse Florida of "cooking the books on COVID-19 deaths." Andy Slavitt, the former Acting Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said while Florida appears to have the coronavirus under control, it was experiencing an "unprecedented 'pneumonia' crisis."But Anderson said it is unlikely that a physician with a patient who tested positive for the coronavirus would have marked anything other than COVID-19 as the underlying cause on the death certificate. If individuals die, for example, in their homes or in nursing facilities without having been tested, a medical examiner or coroner could hypothetically mark the individual as having died of pneumonia. That scenario would have likely played out in the early days of the coronavirus outbreak when testing was difficult to access and when physicians were still learning how the coronavirus presented itself, Anderson said. According to a report by the Miami Herald, officials inside the DeSantis administration kept the Florida public in the dark in February for about two weeks as they scrambled to come up with a plan on how to respond to the state's outbreak. A similar phenomenon took place in Flint after a switch in water supply exposed thousands of people to lead poisoning and caused one of the largest outbreaks of Legionnaires' disease in U.S. history. Last year, a team of reporters at PBS Frontline found that there may have been about 70 more deaths from Legionnaires' during the outbreak than the 12 that were officially recorded. But because the government was not forthcoming about the crisis, doctors were not alerted to it and therefore did not know to look or test for the disease. Many people who died of Legionnaires' disease were originally reported as having died from other causes, such as pneumonia. Donald Trump Is Gaslighting Andrew Cuomo and Sucking Up to Ron DeSantisCurrently, health officials and statisticians are researching how many of the states' "excess deaths" over the last several months should be attributed to the coronavirus. One study by the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene published earlier this month said that there were thousands of "excess deaths" in the city from March 11 to May 2. About 18,879 of those deaths were explicitly tied to the coronavirus. But the study said there were also an additional 5,200 deaths that were not identified as either laboratory-confirmed or probable COVID-19-associated cases, but could have been tied to the virus in some other way. At the CDC, officials found 1,500 individuals who were mistakenly overlooked in the first few weeks the agency was calculating the coronavirus death count, and Anderson's team is now going back and correcting those calculations to produce a more accurate death toll.The CDC relies largely on the state department of health systems and a reporting system that is more than 100 years old to calculate the annual death toll in the U.S.. When an individual dies, a doctor, coroner or medical examiner records on the death certificate a sequence of events that contributed to that person's demise and what ultimately caused it. The certificate then goes to the state's registrar, or sometimes a funeral director, who examines the certificate and determines whether to send it back to the physician, coroner or medical examiner for more information. Once the state registrar is satisfied with the certificate, he or she sends it on to the state's department of health. Then, the state sends portions of data from the death certificate onto the CDC. Anderson's team is charged with using that death certificate data, along with data from a national digital coding system, to tabulate causes of death per state each year. The emergence of the coronavirus strained the reporting system in a way that has led to a significant national undercounting, Anderson said, adding that the death-certificate count usually lags anywhere from two to eight weeks. "We've never experienced anything like this before," Anderson said. "We're still learning new things about this virus every day. The reporting will only get better."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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| ‘If you can say you can’t breathe, you’re breathing’: Mississippi mayor faces backlash over George Floyd comments Posted: 29 May 2020 04:14 PM PDT  A mayor in Mississippi is facing fierce backlash and calls to resign after saying that he "didn't see anything unreasonable" about the death of George Floyd.Mr Floyd, who was black, died while in police custody in Minneapolis after a white officer was filmed pinned him to the ground by his neck for a prolonged period of time.
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| Flynn and Russian ambassador transcripts released Posted: 29 May 2020 04:34 PM PDT  In one of their exchanges, Flynn asked the Russian ambassador to take "reciprocal" actions and not escalate tensions with the Obama administration.
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| Several Target stores temporarily closing in the Bay Area amid protests Posted: 30 May 2020 11:25 PM PDT  TARGET CLOSURES: Target has announced it is temporarily closing 22 Bay Area stores due to protests.
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| Thousands of Complaints Do Little to Change Police Ways Posted: 31 May 2020 09:27 AM PDT  In nearly two decades with the Minneapolis Police Department, Derek Chauvin faced at least 17 misconduct complaints, none of which derailed his career.Over the years, civilian review boards came and went, and a federal review recommended that the troubled department improve its system for flagging problematic officers.All the while, Chauvin tussled with a man before firing two shots, critically wounding him. He was admonished for using derogatory language and a demeaning tone with the public. He was named in a brutality lawsuit. But he received no discipline other than two letters of reprimand.It was not until Chauvin, 44, was seen in a video with his left knee pinned to the neck of a black man, prone for nearly nine minutes and pleading for relief, that the officer, who is white, was suspended, fired and then, on Friday, charged with murder.His case is not unusual. Critics say the department, despite its long history of accusations of abuse, never fully put in place federal recommendations to overhaul the way in which it tracks complaints and punishes officers -- with just a handful over the years facing termination or severe punishment.Even as outrage has mounted over deaths at the hands of the police, it remains notoriously difficult in the United States to hold officers accountable, in part because of the political clout of police unions, the reluctance of investigators, prosecutors and juries to second-guess an officer's split-second decision and the wide latitude the law gives police officers to use force.Police departments themselves have often resisted civilian review or dragged their feet when it comes to overhauling officer disciplinary practices. And even change-oriented police chiefs in cities like Baltimore and Philadelphia -- which over the last few years have been the sites of high-profile deaths of black men by white officers -- have struggled to punish or remove bad actors.The challenge has played out against and reinforced racial divisions in America, with largely white police forces accused of bias and brutality in black, Latino and other minority communities. Floyd's death came just weeks after Ahmaud Arbery, a black man in southeast Georgia, was pursued by three white men and killed, and after Breonna Taylor, a black woman, was fatally shot by police in Kentucky.Their deaths have unleashed a wave of tremendous protests across the country, extending far beyond Minneapolis on Friday, with protesters destroying police vehicles in Atlanta and New York, and blocking major streets in San Jose, California, and Detroit -- all cities that have wrestled with accusations of police misconduct.In Minneapolis, authorities took quick action against Chauvin and three other officers involved in Floyd's death, firing them one day after a graphic video emerged of the encounter. But that does not mean the officers are gone for good. Public employees can appeal their dismissals -- and in scores of cases across the country, the officers often win.The St. Paul Pioneer Press analyzed five years' worth of such appeals and found that between 2014 and 2019, Minnesota arbitrators -- a group that hears a range of public service complaints -- ruled in favor of terminated law enforcement and correction officers 46% of the time, reinstating them.In three terminations involving law enforcement officers that were reviewed this year, two were overturned.Dave Bicking, a board member of Communities United Against Police Brutality, a Twin Cities advocacy group, said many disciplinary actions are overturned because they are compared to previous cases, making it hard for departments to reverse a history of leniency or respond to changing community expectations."Because the department has never disciplined anybody, for anything, when they try to do it now, it's considered arbitrary and capricious," he said.Bicking described a history of attempts to clean up the Minneapolis police force, which is overwhelmingly white and for decades has faced accusations of excessive force, especially by African American residents.In Minneapolis, a city heralded for its progressive politics, pretty parks and robust employment, the racial divide runs deep. From education to wages, African Americans are at a disadvantage, graduating at much lower rates and earning about one-third less than white residents.And while black residents account for about 20% of the city's population, police department data shows they are more likely to be pulled over, arrested and have force used against them than white residents. And black people accounted for more than 60% of the victims in Minneapolis police shootings from late 2009 through May 2019, data shows.When there was a civilian review board to field the complaints, it would recommend discipline, but the police chief at the time would often refuse to impose it, said Bicking, who served on the board.Across the country, civilian review boards -- generally composed of members of the public -- have been notoriously weak. They gather accounts, but cannot enforce any recommendations.In 2008, the Police Executive Research Forum issued a report on disciplinary procedures in Minneapolis, at the department's behest. It recommended resetting expectations with a new, matrix specifying violations and consequences. But Bicking said the department soon fell back to old ways.In 2012, the civilian board in Minneapolis was replaced by an agency called the Office of Police Conduct Review. Since then, more than 2,600 misconduct complaints have been filed by members of the public, but only 12 have resulted in an officer being disciplined, Bicking said. The most severe censure has been a 40-hour suspension, he said."When we say there's a failure of accountability and discipline in this city, it is extreme," he said, adding that the City Council had promised to review the board, but has yet to do so.Any member of the public may file a complaint, and experts say that the volume of complaints may reflect a host of issues other than actual misconduct, such as the level of trust the community has in its department.Maria Haberfeld, an expert on police training and discipline at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York, said Chauvin's complaint tally averaged to less than one a year, not unusual for a street officer, and probably not high enough to trigger an early warning system.But the patchwork nature of the city's disciplinary tracking was clear in Chauvin's case. The city released an Internal Affairs summary with 17 complaints. The city's police conduct database listed only 12, some of which did not appear to be included in the summary, and Communities United Against Police Brutality, which also maintains a database, had yet more complaint numbers not included in the first two sources.The nature of the complaints was not disclosed.Chauvin was one of four officers who responded to a call on Memorial Day that a man had tried buying cigarettes with a fake $20 bill. The other officers, identified by authorities as Thomas Lane, Tou Thao and J. Alexander Kueng, also were fired and remain under investigation. The county attorney said he expected to bring charges, but offered no further details.Neither Lane nor Kueng had misconduct complaints filed against them, according to the department. But Thao faced six in his career and also was the subject of a lawsuit that claimed he and another officer punched, kicked and kneed an African American man, leaving the man with broken teeth and bruises.According to the lawsuit, the incident occurred in early October 2014, when the man, Lamar Ferguson, then 26, was walking home with his girlfriend. A police car approached and Ferguson's girlfriend kept walking.The lawsuit states that Thao asked Ferguson to put his hands on the roof of the car and then handcuffed him. The complaint said that the other officer then "falsely stated there was a warrant out" for Ferguson's arrest regarding an incident involving family members. Ferguson told the officers he had no information to tell them.During the encounter, "Officer Thao then threw" Ferguson, "handcuffed, to the ground and began hitting him."Patrick R. Burns, one of the lawyers who represented Ferguson, said in an interview Friday that the city settled the case for $25,000."What I learned from that case and several others I have handled against the department is that some of the officers think they don't have to abide by their own training and rules when dealing with the public," he said.The head of the police union, Lt. Bob Kroll, is himself the subject of at least 29 complaints. Three resulted in discipline, The Star Tribune reported in 2015. Kroll was accused of using excessive force and racial slurs, in a case that was dismissed, and was named in a racial discrimination lawsuit brought in 2007 by several officers, including the man who is now the police chief.Teresa Nelson, legal director for the ACLU of Minnesota, said attempts by the city's police leaders to reform the department's culture have been undermined by Kroll, who she said downplays complaints and works to reinstate officers who are fired, no matter the reason.She said that in a 2015 meeting after a fatal police shooting, Kroll told her that he views community complaints like fouls in basketball. "He told me, 'If you're not getting any fouls, you're not working hard enough,'" she said.Kroll did not return several messages seeking comment this week.Changing department policies and culture can take years, even when there is a will to do so.In 2009, the Minneapolis department instituted an Early Intervention System to track red flags such as misconduct allegations, vehicle pursuits, use of force and discharge of weapons. Such systems are supposed to identify "potential personnel problems" before they become threats to public trust or generate costly civil rights lawsuits.In a case similar to the death of Floyd, David Cornelius Smith, a black man with mental illness, died in 2010 after two officers trying to subdue him held him prone for nearly four minutes. The chief at the time defended the officers, and they were never disciplined, said Robert Bennett, a lawyer who represented Smith's family.In 2013, the police chief at the time, Janee Harteau, asked the Department of Justice to review the department's warning system. A federal report found that it had "systemic challenges" and questioned its ability to "create sustainable behavior change."Early warning systems are considered a key part of righting troubled departments, criminologists say. Most cities that have been found to have a pattern of civil rights violations and placed under a federal consent decree, or improvement plan, are required to have one.Harteau, who left the top post in the wake of a 2017 fatal police shooting, said she took many steps to reform the department, including training officers on implicit bias and mandating the use of body cameras. But the police union, she said, fought her at every turn.In 2016, the department updated its use of force policy to hold officers accountable for intervening if they see their fellow officers using excessive force, Nelson said.The new policy, made in the wake of previous fatal shootings, was part of an effort to reform police culture in the city."It's why you saw four officers fired," in Floyd's case, she said.It's not clear whether an improved early warning system would have flagged Chauvin, who also had been involved in at least three shootings in his career, or the other officers involved in Floyd's death. Departments choose from a number of bench marks, and from a range of responses when they are exceeded.Haberfeld, the training expert, said police departments will not change until they invest significantly more in recruitment and training, areas where the U.S. lags far behind other democracies.Otherwise, she said, "There is a scandal, there is a call for reform -- committees and commissions and nothing happens. Nothing."This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2020 The New York Times Company
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| Italy records 111 new coronavirus deaths, 416 new cases Posted: 30 May 2020 09:31 AM PDT  Deaths from the COVID-19 epidemic in Italy climbed by 111 on Saturday, against 87 the day before, the Civil Protection Agency said, while the daily tally of new cases fell to 416 from 516 on Friday.
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| Israeli defense minister apologizes for Palestinian's death Posted: 31 May 2020 02:36 AM PDT  The shooting of Iyad Halak, 32, in Jerusalem's Old City on Saturday, drew broad condemnations and revived complaints alleging excessive force by Israeli security forces. Benny Gantz, who is also Israel's "alternate" prime minister under a power-sharing deal, made the remarks at the weekly meeting of the Israeli Cabinet.
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| Airlines schedule major increase in flights in July as pressure mounts on ministers to ease quarantine Posted: 30 May 2020 11:44 AM PDT  Airlines have scheduled a dramatic increase in flights in July in anticipation that Governments will lift travel restrictions for holidaymakers and save the industry from potential collapse, according to data seen by The Sunday Telegraph. The companies which have already laid off tens of thousands of workers are banking on a "V-shaped" recovery by scheduling 161,200 passenger flights and 29.5 million seats for July, just eight per cent down on last year's July timetables. The strategy to open up business travel and holiday routes to hotspot favourites like Greece, Italy, France and Spain comes as most European countries are preparing to lift their quarantines or open their borders in mid June or at least by July 1. It will increase pressure on Boris Johnson to make good his suggestion last week that the UK's quarantine - to be introduced on June 8 - could be replaced with "air bridges" to low-risk holiday destinations when it is reviewed on June 29. One senior industry source claimed: "The sense is that they might quietly do a U-turn after the first review period. Grant Shapps [the Transport Secretary] is against quarantine, the Treasury are against it, Beis is against it and DCMS hate it." The exclusive data, from Cirium, a travel analytics firm, shows how the coronavirus pandemic devastated the aviation industry as it tore across the world. Scheduled passengers were 22.5 million in February, 10 per cent up on last year before it slumped by 93 per cent in April and May. It has risen in June to 38.5 per cent down on last year, as the Far East has opened up, and rises to just minus eight per cent in July as airlines anticipate Europe unlocking. June and July are "scheduled" rather than actual flights, which will depend on quarantines easing in June and July. Germany has lifted restrictions, Italy wants to resume travel on June 15, and Spain and Portugal are aiming for July 1. France hopes to drop border controls to and from EU countries after June 15 except with countries that impose quarantine on a "reciprocal" basis, namely the UK. Greece has excluded the UK from a "white list" of 29 countries it judges are low-risk enough from which to accept tourists from June 15 without quarantine although it will open up to more countries after it reviews their infection rates at the end of June. British Airways says it is aiming for a "meaningful return" to flying in July, RyanAir plans to ramp up flights to at least 40 per cent of its normal July schedule and EasyJet, which has laid off one in three staff, hopes to operate 30 per cent of its pre-crisis timetable from July to September. Paul Charles, chief executive of PC Consultancy, which advises the tourist industry, said Britain's quarantine risked "killing" the economy. "Travel companies have not had any bookings for April or May. They are worried that if they don't get them in June, they will go under," he said. The Airport Operators' Association (AOA) has urged ministers to aim for the first "air bridges" to "low risk" destinations by June 8 so that holidaymakers can sidestep quarantine and the requirement to self-isolate for 14 days on their return to the UK. The Department for Transport will shortly publish new guidelines for "safe" travel which will include face coverings or masks throughout the journey, temperature checks, social distancing in airports and contactless travel including for check-ins and payments. An AOA spokesman said: "Once these guidelines are agreed and given that they are based on a common European baseline, this puts in place the right conditions for opening up air bridges to low-risk countries." The Home Office which has led the moves to introduce quarantine has, however, warned that it will block attempts to lift the quarantine unless it is safe and there is no risk of it sparking a second wave of coronavirus. A Department for Transport source said: "There is certainly a willingness in Government to do as much for this Summer as is safe." Post-coronavirus air travel: No travel if you have symptoms If ill, no cost re-booking or refunds up to six hours before flying Face masks or coverings from arrival at airport to leaving terminal at destination Only passengers in the terminal, no tearful goodbyes at departure gates Contact-less electronic check-in and boarding Social distancing and one-way systems for waiting and queuing passengers Airports' association pressing for temperature checks Exemption from two-metre rule on plane No on-board duty free, reduced food and drink service, pre-packaged food and cashless payments
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| Los Angeles restaurants reopen as virus lockdown eases Posted: 29 May 2020 03:40 PM PDT  Los Angeles restaurants and hair salons were granted permission to reopen immediately Friday, as restrictions were eased despite fears the city has become a coronavirus hotspot. Restaurants in Los Angeles county -- which has suffered more than half of California's virus deaths -- will be allowed to offer dine-in services with capacity limited to 60 per cent. "This further brings our communities together and resumes a sense of normalcy, representing monumental progress for Los Angeles County on the path toward recovery," Board of Supervisors Chairwoman Kathryn Barger said.
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| Thirteen years later, mother of Fort Drum soldier found dead after disappearing from bar seeks answers Posted: 30 May 2020 08:09 AM PDT  Patrick Rust, 24, was last seen on March 16, 2007, at a bar in Watertown, New York, called "Clueless." The soldier had just finished two tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan. He was stationed in New York at Fort Drum and had just received news he was being assigned to Fort Lewis, Washington, where he'd be trained to become a staff sergeant. Six months later, a farmer found Patrick's skeletal remains in a field about five miles from the bar. The Jefferson County Sheriff's Office is inves
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| Car plows through crowd peacefully protesting the death of George Floyd in California Posted: 29 May 2020 09:23 PM PDT  "Hey guys, just get out of the street. Just be safe," someone could be heard saying in the video. It's unclear if there were any injuries.
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| Newly released transcripts show Michael Flynn asking the Russian ambassador not to 'box us in' before Trump's inauguration Posted: 29 May 2020 03:35 PM PDT  "When we come in, we can then have a better conversation about where, where we're gonna go, uh, regarding uh, regarding our relationship," Flynn said.
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| South Carolina’s Biggest Paper Forcing ‘Terrified’ Reporters Back to Office Even as Confirmed COVID Cases Rise Posted: 30 May 2020 10:03 AM PDT  On the same day that South Carolina had its largest number of coronavirus deaths, the company that owns the Post & Courier had a message for the newspaper's staff: You're all coming back to the office next week.When confronted about the decision, Evening Post Industries would not provide a concrete reason, seemingly dismissing staffers' concerns about potential exposure to the virus as South Carolina's increase in confirmed infections. And, in one instance, the publisher fired a staffer for effectively boosting criticism of their policy."People are terrified," one staffer said, adding: "They're asking us to risk our health and maybe our lives and they won't even tell us why. It just seems cruel." The Daily Beast spoke to a half-dozen Post & Courier insiders, all expressing similar sentiments and requesting anonymity for fear of retaliation from the publisher.Buried on the third page of an internal weekly newsletter Evening Post Industries sent to all staff this week was a matter-of-fact decree that all employees at South Carolina's largest newspaper must return to its offices full-time beginning Monday."All schedules will be back to normal beginning the week of June 1," the note said, adding that staff could speak to the human-resources department if they were not able to return.Top editors have not given a reason for the decision to return to work amid an ongoing pandemic. An HR representative explained to some concerned staff this week that the return order was a "business decision," but would not elaborate. Employees were told in an email on Friday that they could continue to work from home only if they had a "health decision that places you or someone in your household at high risk."In a statement to The Daily Beast, executive editor Mitch Pugh said that the paper had followed "all federal, state and local regulations and guidance," and pointed out that like many other news organizations, it was a designated essential workplace. "Like many essential workplaces, including other news organizations, we have had personnel working in the building throughout this period," Pugh said. "We believe it is now reasonable for other employees to return to work. We will continue to monitor federal, state and local regulations and SC DHEC data moving forward to inform future decision-making and continue to take suggestions from our employees. Our company, which has not instituted COVID-related furloughs or layoffs, remains committed to serving our community as a designated essential workplace."The move is the latest in a series that have rattled the paper's staff, who have repeatedly raised concerns about the news organization's aggressive return-to-work strategy as the coronavirus continues to spread through the state.Since its first reported case in March, South Carolina has reported more than 10,770 cases and at least 470 deaths. The state also marked two new grim milestones this week: the highest single-day death count (20 on Wednesday); and the highest single-day number of reported cases (331 on Friday). Experts fear a potential surge in the state as public activity resumes amid loosened social-distancing restrictions.While forcing its employees back to a physical workspace, the Post & Courier has taken some public-health precautions in the main Charleston office. Management has revised the seating arrangement, installed sneeze-guard-like dividers between cubicles, placed hand sanitizer around the office, and provided staff with masks. In an email on Friday afternoon the company laid out new safety procedures, noting that contractors will be required to wear masks—though full-time staff were only asked to wear facial coverings "if you desire"—and that mandatory temperature checks would be required to enter the building. The company also acknowledged employee apprehension about Monday's reopening. "We understand that many employees are concerned about safety as well as the changes to company policies and procedures that we have implemented," Friday's memo said. "It is important for all employees of Evening Post Industries to know that employee safety and wellbeing is and always will be a primary focus of our organization."But the company appears to be eager to move on from focusing on the crisis. Evening Post Industries, which owns the paper and operates several South Carolina health and real-estate companies, said it would no longer send around its weekly newsletter with coronavirus updates, and that it would resume on-site yoga and workout classes (with some social-distancing measures in place). And among one of the last pieces of advice the company offered staffers following Wednesday's edict was a list of "10 Foods To Help Boost Your Immune System."This week's return-to-work declaration isn't the first time that Post & Courier management has charged ahead with plans to get staff back into the office.In late April, the paper said at the end of a staff call that it would require employees to return to the office at least twice a week, a decision that managers scaled back a day later, requiring staff to instead come in once a week on staggered schedules.Employees expressed alarm with the decision at the time, noting that the state's outbreak did not seem to be abating. Several sent concerned letters to top editors, others requested days off on the days they were required to go into the office, and some even lamented anonymously about the policy to Poynter, a journalism-focused media organization.The resultant Poynter article, which chronicled the discontent among P&C staffers over the one-day-a-week office policy, led to Evening Post Industries firing one newspaper employee—a move that outraged staffers say was a direct attempt to stifle any criticism of the publisher's policies.Earlier this month, one Post & Courier reader shared the Poynter article on the newspaper's subscriber Facebook group, which is lightly moderated by the paper's staff to prevent any of the group's 1,000-plus users from spamming with ads or hate speech. An audience engagement editor approved the post, thus allowing members of the group to see the article and comment.According to documents reviewed by The Daily Beast, P&C executive editor Pugh quietly deleted the post and called the engagement editor into the office to be fired, which the company ascribed to the editor's approving of an "inappropriate reader post."The Post & Courier is one of the only major publications in America to return full-time to its offices amid the outbreak. Most national media organizations, especially those based in New York, have delayed a return to offices until at least after Labor Day. Indeed, employees at the paper have pointed out that P&C's rival McClatchy-operated local newspapers aren't asking staff to return to work until at least the late summer. Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet our top stories in your inbox every day. 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| Trudeau: Canadians watching US unrest and police violence in ‘shock and horror’ Posted: 29 May 2020 11:25 AM PDT  Prime minister condemned racism and called on Canada to 'stand together in solidarity' against racial hate as protests continue in US * George Floyd killing – follow live updatesCanadians are watching unrest and police violence in the United States in "shock and horror", Justin Trudeau said on Friday – but the prime minister cautioned that his country also has entrenched problems with racism. The city of Minneapolis has been rocked by a third night of violent protests over the death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man, after a white police officer knelt on his neck as he lay on the ground following arrest. "Many Canadians of diverse backgrounds are watching, like all Canadians are, the news out of the United States with shock and with horror," Trudeau told reporters at a daily briefing."Anti-black racism – racism – is real. It's in the United States but it's also in Canada and we know people are facing systemic discrimination, unconscious bias and anti-black racism every single day," said Trudeau, calling on the country to "stand together in solidarity" against racial hate. "We have work to do as well in Canada." Racial inequities continue to persist throughout the country – a grim reality that is often apparent during interactions with police. In December 2018, the province of Ontario released a landmark report that found black residents in Toronto – the country's largest city – are 20 times more likely to be shot dead by the police than white residents. "It's a very Canadian tradition to speak in platitudes, to refer to the underground railroad and to speak about Canada as a haven and a place that acknowledges its past mistakes," said Robyn Maynard, author of Policing Black Lives. "But we continue to see similar structural harms and structural kinds of violence as we do in places where leaders make more overtly vitriolic statements towards black communities."Last month, 26-year-old D'Andre Campbell was shot dead by police inside his own home, north of Toronto, after Campbell himself called 911.Earlier this week, the family of Regis Korchinski-Paquet said a police officer shoved the young woman over the balcony of the family's 24th-floor apartment, where she fell to her death. The case is currently under investigation by an arms-length police watchdog.Maynard also pointed out the coronavirus pandemic continues to have a disproportionate impact on black and indigenous residents, who are overrepresented in the country's prison population."We continue to see prisons and jails being epicentres of outbreaks," she said. "Yet there is failure on the part of the federal government to meaningfully release to release prisoners."Trudeau's unprompted remarks marked a notable departure for a leader who has gone to great lengths to avoid irritating his US counterpart, Donald Trump.Canadian prime ministers have traditionally refrained from discussing political and social turmoil in the US – Canada's main ally and largest trading partner. Justin Trudeau has long spoken about the need to tackle racism, but his re-election campaign was marred by pictures of him in blackface as a young man.
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| EU urges U.S. to reconsider decision to cut ties with WHO Posted: 30 May 2020 06:20 AM PDT  The European Union urged the United States on Saturday to reconsider its decision to cut ties with the World Health Organization over its handling of the coronavirus pandemic. "In this context, we urge the U.S. to reconsider its announced decision," they said a day after President Donald Trump announced the move, accusing the U.N. agency of becoming a puppet of China. German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas also condemned the move and pledged intensive talks with Washington on the issue.
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| British expat on frontline of Hong Kong protests says UK has abandoned former colony Posted: 30 May 2020 09:28 AM PDT  As pepper balls and rubber bullets rained down on the crowd of Hong Kong protesters crouched by the entrance of a carpark tunnel, protecting themselves from the riot police with flimsy umbrellas, a chill of terror swept over one young man as he dived for cover with his girlfriend. "I remember the moment when it felt like a truck hit the end of my umbrella, it was like it didn't even exist. I put my arm under [her] and said get your head down and our umbrellas were caving in," said the protester, who asked to be identified as Mark. That night in October Mark blended into the crowd of mainly black-clad protesters, most of them wearing face masks. But as one of the only British expats to join the front lines of the protests, he had a unique background. Speaking to the Sunday Telegraph as protests got back under way in Hong Kong last week he said he had taken to the streets of his adopted city because his own government had "turned its back" on the people of Hong Kong. The UK government this week offered a "path to citizenship" to almost three million Hong Kong residents as it condemned China's move to crush dissent in the former British colony. But Britain has been criticised for failing to act against the steady erosion of Hong Kong's rights and freedoms for years. It stands accused of doing too little too late to support the pro-democracy movement over the past year of civil unrest.
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| Coronavirus' latest target? Rural counties. Posted: 31 May 2020 05:57 AM PDT  The number of COVID-19 cases is dropping nationally. But for rural counties, the worst appears yet to come.
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| Looting of Retail Takes Over L.A.’s George Floyd Protests Posted: 30 May 2020 07:07 PM PDT  Alexander McQueen, Marc Jacobs and Gucci were all early targets of looters, but many more were hit during a night of protesting and unrest.
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| The looting continued Sunday morning, after a peaceful protest Saturday turned violent with fires set and storefronts smashed. Posted: 31 May 2020 04:47 AM PDT  The looting continued Sunday morning, after a peaceful protest of the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis Saturday in Center City Philadelphia turned violent with fires set and storefronts smashed.
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| Coronavirus: Brazil now fourth-highest nation in Covid-19 deaths Posted: 31 May 2020 07:33 AM PDT  Brazil records almost 1,000 deaths in a day, taking its overall number of fatalities past France.
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| Iran berates U.S. over police killing, slams racism Posted: 30 May 2020 12:01 PM PDT  Iran took Washington to task on Saturday over the alleged killing of an unarmed black man by a white police officer that sparked protests in the United States over racial injustice. "Some don't think #BlackLivesMatter," Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Twitter. "The U.S. government is squandering its citizens' resources," Zarif said in a tweet echoing a 2018 statement from U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
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