Granting relief, the court directed authorities to give permission to the petitioner for online sale of liquor as a standalone retail store (Representational)
The Bombay High Court directed state authorities and the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to grant a liquor store located in a mall – but with a separate entrance – permission to sell alcohol online through home delivery service, and considered it a standalone store.
The court observed that access to the shop was separate and independent of the entrance to the mall. “In matters such as the present case, the approach of the respondent authorities needs to be practical, rather than technical,†it said.
Ojus Marketing Management Pvt Ltd, which owns the store ‘World of Wines’ inside CR2 Mall at Nariman Point had filed a plea seeking permission for the sale of liquor as a standalone retail shop, and the issuance of a clarification that all liquor stores, including those inside malls, be allowed to commence home delivery. A division bench of Justices S J Kathawalla and S P Tavade on Friday heard the plea.
The petitioner, through advocates Hiren Kamod, Prem Khullar and Abhishek Adke, maintained that their store, though situated inside a mall, had a separate entrance, but was refused permission for home delivery by authorities.
Municipal Commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal had allowed the online sale of liquor through home delivery in Mumbai from May 23 onwards for standalone stores. The service was to be allowed from 10 am to 6 pm. “Under no circumstances can over-the-counter sale of liquor be permitted.â€
On June 3, the High Court had directed authorities to respond to a plea filed by a south Mumbai shop owner seeking permission for the online sale of liquor to include shops inside malls.
Senior Counsel Anil Sakhare from BMC argued that it could not permit commercial activity for non-essential service stores inside malls as per guidelines, and therefore relaxation granted by the BMC to standalone liquor stores will not apply to the petitioner’s store. Moreover, additional government pleader Jyoti Chavan for the state, opposed the plea and submitted that the relaxation could not be given to the petitioner’s shop as it was inside a mall.
After hearing submissions and perusing photographs of the shop, the bench, led by Justice Kathawalla, said authorities should take a practical approach while granting permissions. “Economic impact or strain that has been caused…by the lockdown is common knowledge and the state had permitted businesses to operate while adhering to social distancing norms and other protective measures,†the court noted.
The bench further observed, “Petitioner’s shop does not fall in the containment zone. We are not impressed by the hyper-technical interpretation provided by authorities to show that it is inside a mall. The intent of the guidelines issued by the state in not allowing the operation of businesses situated in malls is to ensure that too many people do not gather in one place, where it will be difficult to follow norms of social distancing.â€
Granting relief, the court directed authorities to give permission to the petitioner for online sale of liquor as a standalone retail store in accordance with the guidelines.
The owner of a farmhouse eatery in the KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) Midlands was viciously hacked to death at his office by an unknown assailant on the morning of Saturday 6 June.Â
Police spokesperson Captain Nqobile Gala said that the 67-year-old man was hacked to death with a bush knife.Â
“There is a case of murder being investigated by Nottingham Road SAPS,†she said. Â
“A 67-year-old man was hacked with a bush knife in the early hours of Saturday morning. He was hacked while he was outside of the house,†she said.Â
She said that no arrests had been made, but that one suspect was urgently sought by the department.Â
Midlands Emergency Medical Services Spokesperson Mark Winterboer said that the scene that greeted the response team in the heart of the Midlands was “gruesomeâ€.Â
“Midlands EMS Howick crews were dispatched to a renowned eatery in the Lidgetton area at 8:30 this morningâ€.
He said in a statement that the man was killed with a panga, but police confirmed that a bush knife was used, with his assailant having been caught looking for money in his office.Â
“On crews arrival they were met by a gruesome sight of the body of the owner of the establishment who had been hacked by a panga.â€
“It appears that the owner was confronted just outside the office where he was then hit with a panga, the patient was then walked through to his office where the suspect checked for money.â€
“The patients companion heard the commotion and was subsequently able to raise the alarm and call for help before she got out of the house.â€
“At this point it appears that there was only one suspect, however all the necessary authorities are un attendance to continue further investigations.â€
FF Plus lament prohibition of farm watch services Â
The Freedom Front Plus (FF Plus) earlier on Saturday lamented the prolonged wait for confirmation that farm watch services would be able to operate during the Alert Level 3 lockdown period, and said that many farm related crimes had occurred while these services were forced out of commission.
Since the lockdown and consequent ban on neighbourhood and farm watch activities was implemented, there has been a sharp rise in farm attacks,†said party leader Pieter Groenewald.Â
“Today, the media reported of an attack at Reivilo near Schweizer-Reneke in the North West in which a man was tortured with boiling water. Yesterday morning, a couple, Pieter (65) and Ann (61) Nel, was also attacked in their farmhouse near Brits, also in the North West province. Mr Nel was shot in the leg and chest and is currently in a critical condition in hospital.â€
“Earlier this week, Mr Wim Struyf (68) and his wife, Martie (65), were attacked in their home in Mbombela, Mpumalanga. The couple escaped after Mr Struyf fought back with a baseball bat and Mrs Struyd activated an alarm,†he said.Â
BERLIN — Wearing “Black Lives Matter” armbands, Bayern Munich came from a goal down to beat Bayer Leverkusen 4-2 and take another step towards a record-extending eighth consecutive Bundesliga title on Saturday.
Robert Lewandowski scored Bayern’s fourth to claim his 30th goal of the season, set up by Thomas Muller, who now has 20 assists. However, both players were booked in the first half and will miss the next game against Borussia Monchengladbach due to an accumulation of yellow cards.
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Leverkusen’s players also wore black armbands as thousands of people across Germany attended anti-racism demonstrations in the wake of the police killing of George Floyd, a handcuffed black man, in Minneapolis on May 25.
The speed of Canadian international Alphonso Davies, who started in his usual left fullback position, and French international Kingsley Coman down the flank caused Leverkusen problems.
Davies’s pace drew two fouls that led to Leverkusen yellow cards in the first half. He also cut out a dangerous cross in his own penalty box in the 34th minute.
The 19-year-old former Vancouver Whitecap found himself up against 17-year-old Florian Wirtz as Leverkusen as one of three substitutes to open the second half. It marked Wirtz’s fourth league appearance.
Early in the second half, Davies used his wheels to cut out a passing lane to a Leverkusen attacker in front of goal and force a shot from a bad angle that was off-target. In the 51st minute, he snuffed out another attack by dispossessing a Leverkusen player on the edge of the Bayern penalty box.
Four minutes later, Davies was in the right place at the right time as a goal-bound header by Leverkusen’s Argentine forward Lucas Alario bounced off his back and into touch.
Davies made a trademark run down the left flank in the 61st minute only to see Coman’s touch let him down in front of goal.
Davies won the battle of teenagers in the 82nd minute, stealing the ball off Wirtz on the flank to launch another attack.
Davies, who like his teammates wore a Black Lives Matters armband, came off in the 85th minute. He was replaced by Lucas Hernandez, the 80-million-euro ($121-million) club-record signing he is helping keep on the bench.
Bayern’s players warmed up wearing anti-racism T-shirts in Leverkusen, where the home team had to do without young star Kai Havertz due to muscular problems.
It also had to do without fans, as all Bundesliga games are being played without supporters amid strict hygiene measures against coronavirus.
Alario opened the scoring in the ninth minute, staying cool to beat Manuel Neuer at the near post with the outside of his boot. The linesman lifted his flag for offside, but the goal was given after a VAR check.
The home side played well until Leon Goretzka set up Kingsley Coman to equalize in the 27th, then scored himself on a counterattack in the 42nd.
There was still time before the break for Serge Gnabry to grab Bayern’s third, lifting the ball over ‘keeper Lukas Hradecky.
Though his side had played well for the first half hour, Leverkusen coach Peter Bosz reacted with three changes at the break.
But another defensive mistake preceded Lewandowski’s goal in the 66th, a powerful header from Muller’s perfectly-placed cross.
Wirtz restored some pride for Leverkusen with a brilliant finish past Neuer in the 89th. He became the youngest goal-scorer in the Bundesliga.
Bayern moved 10 points clear of Borussia Dortmund with its ninth consecutive win. Dortmund was hosting Hertha Berlin later. Four rounds remain after this weekend’s games.
Also, last-place Paderborn claimed a 1-1 draw at 10-man Leipzig, Mainz defeated Eintracht Frankfurt 2-0 away in their derby and Fortuna Dusseldorf drew with Hoffenheim 2-2.
The event comes with a captive audience of thousands — Republicans, Democrats, “apolitical†relatives, little siblings too young to vote. Everybody sits trapped in their bleacher seats. After 20 minutes, they dutifully applaud.
For a politician, a commencement speaking gig offers the kind of advertising that money can’t buy. “You have people of all different backgrounds gathered,†said Senator Cory Booker, a Democrat from New Jersey, who delivered two dozen virtual commencement speeches this spring. “It’s a time of extraordinary diversity.â€
Mr. Booker recalled that when he was chosen to give the address at the University of Pennsylvania in 2017, there were Republican trustees “pooh-poohing†the choice of such a partisan speaker. (He won them over, he said, with his focus on “our common values†and “the larger body politic.â€)
College graduation ceremonies are fittingly focused on the graduates, but for some 20-odd minutes the spotlight turns to the illustrious speaker. Ideally the audience, in what Mr. Booker called its “extraordinary diversity,†might inspire a speech that transcends ideological divisions, as some of the most memorable ones have. The Apple founder Steve Jobs earned his spot in the commencement hall of fame with a 2005 speech at Stanford University reminding students that “you are going to die.†But when a politician steps up to the lectern, the message tends to veer away from death and toward politics.
This was no exception for the class of 2020. While isolated at home in their pajamas because of the coronavirus pandemic, graduates were saluted in virtual ceremonies headlined by government figures and entertainers. Former President Barack Obama celebrated the more than 27,000 graduates of historically black colleges and universities in May, and on Sunday he is set to join Lady Gaga, Malala Yousafzai and others in a “Dear Class of 2020†event hosted by YouTube, a lineup that even the most ambitious real-life commencement would find impossible to replicate.
One class of graduates will get its celebration in person: the 1,000 West Point cadets, who will be addressed by President Trump on June 13.
Tia Humphries, a Howard University graduate from Orlando, Fla., watched Mr. Obama’s virtual address with family in her living room, which her parents had decorated with streamers and balloons to mimic what Howard’s gymnasium would have looked like for the ceremony.
It quickly became clear the speech was not just for Ms. Humphries and her friends. The speech, given on May 16, weeks before Mr. Obama addressed the nation on the killing of George Floyd and the protest movement that followed, still used the momentous occasion as a way to reach beyond the graduates and their families.
The former president made headlines by using the opportunity to criticize the country leadership’s response to the coronavirus. He urged the graduates to take responsibility in the midst of the crisis, when political leaders “aren’t even pretending to be in charge.â€
Mr. Obama’s words followed in a long tradition of graduation speeches, landing in moments of national crisis, that are partly for the graduates and partly their country at large.
President John F. Kennedy called for a nuclear test ban treaty at American University’s 1963 graduation. President Lyndon B. Johnson created the framework for affirmative action policy at Howard University in 1965, the year after the Civil Rights Act passed. In 2002, President George W. Bush told graduates of the U.S. Military Academy that the country should be prepared for “pre-emptive action” in Iraq.
These speeches form a presidential ritual as familiar as it is peculiar: addressing the nation through its newly minted adults.
Leland Shelton, a 2013 graduate of Morehouse College, recalled his experience with the personal milestone turned political. Mr. Shelton had spent the months before his graduation lobbying class leaders to pick Ray Lewis, a Baltimore Ravens linebacker, as the commencement speaker. Instead, they chose their president, Mr. Obama.
Midway through the speech the improbable happened. “Where’s Leland?†Mr. Obama said. The president went on to praise Mr. Shelton, a foster care child with a mother in prison who was Phi Beta Kappa and Harvard Law-bound. Mr. Shelton stood up to thunderous applause, listening in disbelief and wishing his mother was present.
But to Mr. Shelton, being included in the speech was also complicated. Mr. Obama spent several minutes urging the Morehouse graduates to be good parents to their children.
“I was thinking, ‘You’re talking to an audience of 550 black men going on to some of the best professional schools in the country,’†Mr. Shelton said. The message seemed to “harken to stereotypes about black men not being good fathers, which I don’t think are true.â€
Some political commencement speeches evoke far more than mixed emotions. In 2014, Condoleezza Rice had to withdraw from the Rutgers commencement after students staged a sit-in condemning her foreign policy at the university president’s office.
Kathleen Sebelius, former secretary of health and human services in the Obama administration, was interrupted by a heckler at the Georgetown Public Policy Institute in 2012, and a small group protested her appearance at the university’s front gate. Georgetown’s president said it was the decision of students at the institute to invite Ms. Sebelius as a speaker.
Bethune-Cookman University, a historically black university in Daytona Beach, Fla., had its 2017 commencement interrupted when some students turned their backs on the speaker, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos. Student leaders said they were protesting comments Ms. DeVos made three months earlier that referred to historically black institutions as “pioneers†of “school choiceâ€; they were established at the height of racial segregation.
For Fedrick Ingram, an older alumnus of the university who helped coordinate the protests, the disruption was the highlight of the ceremony. “It was electricity,†he said. “It was almost like 1968 with the Freedom Riders.†The university president had threatened to withhold degrees from students who disrupted the ceremony, but dozens booed Ms. DeVos anyway.
Updated June 5, 2020
How many people have lost their jobs due to coronavirus in the U.S.?
The unemployment rate fell to 13.3 percent in May, the Labor Department said on June 5, an unexpected improvement in the nation’s job market as hiring rebounded faster than economists expected. Economists had forecast the unemployment rate to increase to as much as 20 percent, after it hit 14.7 percent in April, which was the highest since the government began keeping official statistics after World War II. But the unemployment rate dipped instead, with employers adding 2.5 million jobs, after more than 20 million jobs were lost in April.
Will protests set off a second viral wave of coronavirus?
Mass protests against police brutality that have brought thousands of people onto the streets in cities across America are raising the specter of new coronavirus outbreaks, prompting political leaders, physicians and public health experts to warn that the crowds could cause a surge in cases. While many political leaders affirmed the right of protesters to express themselves, they urged the demonstrators to wear face masks and maintain social distancing, both to protect themselves and to prevent further community spread of the virus. Some infectious disease experts were reassured by the fact that the protests were held outdoors, saying the open air settings could mitigate the risk of transmission.
How do we start exercising again without hurting ourselves after months of lockdown?
Exercise researchers and physicians have some blunt advice for those of us aiming to return to regular exercise now: Start slowly and then rev up your workouts, also slowly. American adults tended to be about 12 percent less active after the stay-at-home mandates began in March than they were in January. But there are steps you can take to ease your way back into regular exercise safely. First, “start at no more than 50 percent of the exercise you were doing before Covid,†says Dr. Monica Rho, the chief of musculoskeletal medicine at the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab in Chicago. Thread in some preparatory squats, too, she advises. “When you haven’t been exercising, you lose muscle mass.†Expect some muscle twinges after these preliminary, post-lockdown sessions, especially a day or two later. But sudden or increasing pain during exercise is a clarion call to stop and return home.
My state is reopening. Is it safe to go out?
States are reopening bit by bit. This means that more public spaces are available for use and more and more businesses are being allowed to open again. The federal government is largely leaving the decision up to states, and some state leaders are leaving the decision up to local authorities. Even if you aren’t being told to stay at home, it’s still a good idea to limit trips outside and your interaction with other people.
What’s the risk of catching coronavirus from a surface?
Touching contaminated objects and then infecting ourselves with the germs is not typically how the virus spreads. But it can happen. A number of studies of flu, rhinovirus, coronavirus and other microbes have shown that respiratory illnesses, including the new coronavirus, can spread by touching contaminated surfaces, particularly in places like day care centers, offices and hospitals. But a long chain of events has to happen for the disease to spread that way. The best way to protect yourself from coronavirus — whether it’s surface transmission or close human contact — is still social distancing, washing your hands, not touching your face and wearing masks.
What are the symptoms of coronavirus?
Common symptoms include fever, a dry cough, fatigue and difficulty breathing or shortness of breath. Some of these symptoms overlap with those of the flu, making detection difficult, but runny noses and stuffy sinuses are less common. The C.D.C. has also added chills, muscle pain, sore throat, headache and a new loss of the sense of taste or smell as symptoms to look out for. Most people fall ill five to seven days after exposure, but symptoms may appear in as few as two days or as many as 14 days.
How can I protect myself while flying?
If air travel is unavoidable, there are some steps you can take to protect yourself. Most important: Wash your hands often, and stop touching your face. If possible, choose a window seat. A study from Emory University found that during flu season, the safest place to sit on a plane is by a window, as people sitting in window seats had less contact with potentially sick people. Disinfect hard surfaces. When you get to your seat and your hands are clean, use disinfecting wipes to clean the hard surfaces at your seat like the head and arm rest, the seatbelt buckle, the remote, screen, seat back pocket and the tray table. If the seat is hard and nonporous or leather or pleather, you can wipe that down, too. (Using wipes on upholstered seats could lead to a wet seat and spreading of germs rather than killing them.)
Should I wear a mask?
The C.D.C. has recommended that all Americans wear cloth masks if they go out in public. This is a shift in federal guidance reflecting new concerns that the coronavirus is being spread by infected people who have no symptoms. Until now, the C.D.C., like the W.H.O., has advised that ordinary people don’t need to wear masks unless they are sick and coughing. Part of the reason was to preserve medical-grade masks for health care workers who desperately need them at a time when they are in continuously short supply. Masks don’t replace hand washing and social distancing.
What should I do if I feel sick?
If you’ve been exposed to the coronavirus or think you have, and have a fever or symptoms like a cough or difficulty breathing, call a doctor. They should give you advice on whether you should be tested, how to get tested, and how to seek medical treatment without potentially infecting or exposing others.
Political commencement speeches aren’t always mired in drama, but for many students and families they evoke a simpler question: Why draw politics into a day that’s otherwise festive and uncontroversial?
That was a question on Michael Agnello’s mind, when the University of Massachusetts, Amherst announced Elizabeth Warren as its undergraduate commencement speaker, in 2017. Mr. Agnello was a fan of the Massachusetts senator, but he knew his more conservative family members would be skeptical of the university’s decision. He decided to bring some levity to the day by creating “Elizabeth Warren’s Commencement Speech Drinking Game.â€
The rules Mr. Agnello designed were straightforward. For a mention of “the disappearing middle class,†he advised readers to “fight fire with fire and rip that Fireball.†For a discussion of “student debt,†the rule was to “quell such injustice†with “a nip of Smirnoff.â€
But he was not expecting the senator to stumble upon his game online and refer to it directly — which she did midway through her speech, with a reference to Fireball that delighted his conservative relatives.
“By the time we walked out of the football stadium I had 30 texts on my phone like, ‘Oh my God, I can’t believe that just happened,’†Mr. Agnello said. “My family was cracking up.â€
Politicians, for their part, realize the difficulties of imparting wisdom to an audience with lots of competing concerns, from family drama to last hurrah hangovers. “It’s always a crapshoot with graduating seniors because a lot of them might have been out super late the night before,†said Cody Keenan, a speechwriter for Mr. Obama.
Mr. Obama gave more than two dozen commencement speeches while in office — at military schools like West Point, state institutions like Ohio State and private ones like Barnard. Over years of commencement speechwriting, Mr. Keenan developed rules of the road. The speaker should be funny and self-deprecating. He should not over-index on the political, even in an election season.
Most important, Mr. Keenan said, is that speechwriters not fixate on producing a speech that becomes an instant classic.
“One of the mistakes people make is that they’re like, ‘I want to break through,’†he said. “‘I want to be Steve Jobs in 2005.’ Steve Jobs broke through because he was dying and explicitly talked about that.â€
Kendra Grissom, who graduated from Spelman College last month, was looking forward to the many rites of commencement weekend: marching through the alumni arch, dressing up for senior soiree, passing down the class cymbal. Instead, she said, she spent it propped up in bed watching a parade of digital speeches from “Debbie Allen, some executive from Chase and a basketball player.â€
But Mr. Obama offered some assurance for graduates like Ms. Grissom: “The disappointments of missing a live graduation, those will pass pretty quick,†he said. The greatest solace, according to the former president: “Not having to sit there and listen to a commencement speaker isn’t all that bad. Mine usually go on way too long.â€
Some reports though have found that Russia-China relations are warming in terms of resource development | Maxim Shipenkov/AFP via Getty Images
‘I really worry that there is this split, this schism, between the way that China and Russia will do international business, versus the West.’
Russia and China’s warming relations in the Arctic are the largest threat to security in the region, a British defense official said Thursday, in a break from those who view Moscow and Beijing as separate actors.
“We cannot distinguish much, as you have arguably two power competitors there, in the American perspective, they should be treated as one alliance,†Tobias Ellwood, the U.K.’s chair of the Defence Select Committee in the House of Commons, said in a Center for Strategic and International Studies virtual panel on High North security issues.
“You can see this alliance developing, getting strong and stronger, and like I say, I really worry that there is this split, this schism, between the way that China and Russia will do international business, versus the West,†he added.
Ellwood took a specific swipe at China, arguing the pandemic has allowed many in Britain to “recalibrate†their view of the country. Beijing has not accepted any of the “unwritten responsibilities†that come with being a superpower in upholding international rules and laws, and “they enjoy exploiting them for their own benefit.â€
Norway’s defense representative who also spoke at the panel took a different tone, similar to how other international players speak about Russia and China’s influence in the High North. Russia’s oft-cited military buildup and China’s economic investment in Arctic nations is typically seen as two competing Arctic strategies, rather than the pair uniting on one front.
While Tone Skogen, the Norwegian Ministry of Defense’s state secretary, did say that “the fact that China is now showing increased ambition also for the Arctic introduces some new challenges,†the focus for Norway is on Russia.
“We would still argue that we consider Russia, sort of the biggest challenge at least for the time being,†Skogen said. The Arctic is “not a top priority for China.â€
Some reports though have found that Russia-China relations are warming in terms of resource development, cooperation on shipping and governance. Russia has looked to Asia for potential investors and technology partnerships as a key consumer market.
“Sino-Russian bilateral trade has steadily grown. … Today, China is Russia’s largest trading partner and Russia is China’s largest oil supplier. … Notably, increased Sino-Russian economic engagement is also evident in the Arctic region,†a May report from the Arctic Institute found.
Two Buffalo, New York, police officers have each been charged with second-degree assault for their roles in an incident that left a protester seriously injured.
A widely circulated video shows police shoving Martin Gugino, 75, before he falls backward to the ground, smacking his head and beginning to bleed from the ear, apparently unconscious.
Buffalo Police Commissioner Byron Lockwood suspended Officers Robert McCabe and Aaron Torgalski without pay on Thursday night and ordered an internal investigation. In response to the disciplinary action, all 57 members of the Buffalo Police Department’s Emergency Response Team “resigned in disgust†from their spots in the crowd-control unit, John Evans, president of the Buffalo Police Benevolent Association, told WGRZ Friday afternoon.
Graphic video captured by local media, which can be seen in the tweet below, shows Gugino walking up to officers in Buffalo’s Niagara Square as they begin to enforce the city’s 8 p.m. curfew. Two cops aggressively push Gugino, causing him to fall. His head hits the pavement with an audible thud. The officers stop to look while Gugino lies motionless, blood pooling by his ear, until a third officer steps in and motions for them to keep walking.
The department initially said Gugino “tripped and fell,†a description that does not accurately depict the encounter.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) called the video “fundamentally offensive and frightening†during his regularly scheduled news conference Friday.
“You see that video, and it disturbs your basic sense of decency and humanity. … Where was the threat?†he said. “It’s just fundamentally offensive and frightening. … How did we get to this place?â€
An attorney for Gugino said in a statement on Friday that his client “has been a longtime peaceful protester, human rights advocate and overall fan of the U.S. Constitution for many years.â€
“At this time, Mr. Gugino is in serious but stable condition. He is alert and oriented. Mr. Gugino requests privacy for himself and his family as he recovers,†the statement read. “He appreciates all of the well wishes he has received and requests that any further protests continue to be peaceful.â€
Police arrested five people in the otherwise peaceful demonstration in Buffalo on Thursday night, according to local news outlet WIVB. Four were blocking traffic, and a fifth was involved in a “skirmish†with the protesters.
Protesters around the world have taken to the streets since the killing of George Floyd, a Black man in Minneapolis who died after a white police officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes as Floyd repeatedly gasped, “I can’t breathe.â€
Derek Chauvin, the officer who knelt on Floyd’s neck, has been charged with second-degree murder and manslaughter. The three other officers who were with Chauvin at the time ― Tou Thao, Thomas Lane and J. Alexander Kueng ― were arrested Wednesday and charged with aiding and abetting Floyd’s murder.
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Premier League stadiums will apparently be divided into three zones when the season resumes behind closed doors on 17 June.
West Ham vice-chairman Karren Brady revealed the plans on Saturday 6 June.
Premier League to split stadiums into ‘zones’
The Premier League will resume later this month after a three-month enforced absence due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Brady said stadiums would be divided into red, amber and green zones for the purposes of controlling access to the pitch, tunnel and dressing rooms.
The revelations come after representatives of Premier League clubs met on Thursday 4 June to discuss logistics and safety protocols for the looming return to play.
Access to the most restricted zone will be granted to limited personnel and all entering this zone must have tested negative for COVID-19 in the five days prior to the match.
The Premier League’s ‘zones’
In her Sun column, Brady wrote: “[The] red zone will be the most severely restricted area, including the pitch, the tunnel, technical areas, changing rooms will be limited to 105 people maximum, to include players, coaching staff, match officials and all the essential staff only.
“And only those who have tested negative for COVID-19 in the past five days can enter this area.â€
Only the red and amber zones will allow access to the stadium itself which will be closed to the general public. Clubs will also make efforts to prevent mass gatherings outside or near their stadiums.Â
“The amber zone will be restricted to the minimum number of staff required to meet contractual requirements for broadcasting, media and club staff… And anyone entering this area will be subject to a temperature check and a health questionnaire.
“And the green zone is the stadium exterior, eg car parking.â€
Players have instructed not to shake hands, spit or share drinks. Social distancing will be observed even in the dressing room and showers, with a 15-minute limit for pre-match talks by managers.
“A new strict accreditation process will be developed, including an isolation room should someone, unfortunately, develop symptoms of COVID-19 whilst within the stadium,†Brady added.
Enhanced TV experience
The Premier League have promised television viewers an immersive experience that will include access to 360-degree replays and pre-match tunnel shots.Â
Premier League players’ shirts will feature the logo of Britain’s state-run National Health Service to pay tribute to their efforts to combat the spread of the virus.
“So we are in good shape,†Brady said. “We are ready. We are raring to go.â€
Brady’s West Ham had been among the strongest voices calling for the season to be voided but it seems only a massive surge in cases linked to football might stop the planned return.
Kameko proved too good for red-hot favourite Pinatubo as he lifted the Qipco 2000 Guineas at Newmarket.
Pinatubo arrived unbeaten in six juvenile starts and boasting the highest two-year-old rating for 25 years – but he was only third as Kameko triumphed for Andrew Balding and champion jockey Oisin Murphy.
There was drama from the start as Kenzai Warrior nearly unshipped Jason Watson leaving the stalls, but all the main contenders soon settled in the pack as outsiders Persuasion and Juan Elcano cut out the early pace.
Kameko and Pinatubo were both perfectly poised to challenge and with a furlong to run it was between that pair and Aidan O’Brien’s Wichita for the first Classic of the season.
However, while 10-1 shot Kameko found plenty in the final half-furlong, the 5-6 favourite Pinatubo had no more to give and it was left to Wichita to chase home the winner, beaten a neck. Pinatubo finished a further length adrift.
Murphy said: “I’ve never won a Classic in Britain and it means the absolute world to me. It’s the stuff of dreams.
“It was a gutsy performance. He hardly blew a candle out afterwards – he must have a tremendous amount of ability.”
Carmen Berkley spent four years directing the AFL-CIO’s civil rights department, trying to advance the cause of underrepresented communities at the country’s largest labor federation. Her tenure overlapped with seismic social justice events, including the protests that followed the killing of Michael Brown by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, in 2014.
Berkley felt that the AFL-CIO often broached difficult conversations about race, but failed to follow through. With the country now engulfed in anger over police brutality, she believes the federation needs to cut its ties with police unions.
“It will take an extraordinary amount of bravery for the conversation to have action,†said Berkley, who is Black. “My hope is that Americans know that American trade labor unions are different from police associations. Police associations are a dangerous group that need to be defunded.â€
The recent police killing of George Floyd has brought new scrutiny to the power of police unions. Their collective bargaining agreements often undermine transparency and accountability around shootings, delay investigations and protect bad cops with long histories of excessive force. Their political power with both Democratic and Republican officials has made them hard to tame.
Police unions have long occupied an uneasy place within the labor movement. Many otherwise fierce trade unionists believe they need to be curbed in the interest of public safety and social progress. That might include opening their bargaining sessions up to public oversight, or restricting what they can bargain over. Some go so far as to say they should be abolished completely.
The same debate took place in labor circles in the wake of the events in Ferguson. But now, with civil unrest that surpasses 2014, labor leaders will have a difficult time avoiding a basic question: Should there be a place for police unions within the labor movement?
ASSOCIATED PRESS
A police officer fires rubber bullets at protesters during a demonstration next to the city of Miami Police Department on May 30. Anti-racist protests were held throughout the country, sparked by the death of George Floyd, a Black man who was killed by Minneapolis police.
In the case of the AFL-CIO, that question hovers over one of its affiliates, the International Union of Police Associations, which represents 100,000 workers. The Fraternal Order of Police, which is larger and better known, is not part of the federation. The AFL-CIO includes other unions that represent corrections officers and law enforcement personnel, though they are a minority of those unions’ overall members.
There does not appear to be a broad or coordinated effort within the AFL-CIO to expel the IUPA, or to force the union to embrace police reform as a condition of membership. At least not yet.
According to the AFL-CIO constitution, ejecting a member union would require an investigation and vote by its executive council, which includes the federation’s top officers and representatives from the 55 member unions. The federation has parted ways with individual unions before, however: both the Teamsters and the Bakery and Confectionery Workers International Union were expelled decades ago over corruption charges. Others more recently disaffiliated by choice over strategic differences.
Richard Trumka, the federation’s president, suggested on a call with reporters about racial justice this week that he had little interest in a debate on whether to boot police unions. The answer “is not to disengage and condemn,†he said. And the reluctance goes well beyond Trumka. The Center for Public Integrity recently reached out to 10 major unions and labor groups to discuss police unions and found no takers.
But the debate over law enforcement unions is already escalating inside some of the federation’s affiliates. Sara Nelson, president of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, acknowledged that members of her own union have recently raised concerns about being part of a federation with law enforcement unions. She also said the subject was recently discussed on a call with other members of the AFL-CIO’s executive council.
“Everyone who works needs a union. That is the truth,†Nelson told HuffPost.
But she said there are expectations of any union in the federation, including those in law enforcement.
“I think we have to make it very clear for every union in the AFL-CIO that when we see outright violence and oppression against working people, we have to stand against it,†she said. “They have to be a part of the solution, or they shouldn’t be around. It’s that simple.â€
On Friday, Nelson’s union adopted a formal “Black Lives Matter†resolution. It included the sort of criticism most unions have shied away from: “Many police and law enforcement unions across the country have refused common-sense steps to reform departments, address systemic bias in law enforcement and hold their own members accountable.â€
Kim Kelly, an influential labor reporter, recently wrote in The New Republic that police unions should be eliminated, arguing it “wouldn’t make any sort of strategic sense for police-affiliated unions to try and make nice with the rest of the movement.†Kelly is a member of the Writers Guild of America-East, an AFL-CIO union, and sits on its council. Other members of the WGAE have publicly called on the federation to drive out the IUPA. (The WGAE represents HuffPost staffers.)
As a union with the @WGAEast , which is a member of the @AFLCIO, we believe the AFL-CIO should disengage from police unions and stop giving resources to enemies of labor https://t.co/rt5JgVRcCD
The issue of police brutality cuts to a core tension within the AFL-CIO. The most progressive members believe the federation needs to do everything it can as an agent for social change. Other, more conservative members insist it should focus its energy on basic workplace issues: improving the pay and benefits of members.
Those two aims are not mutually exclusive, of course, and they are often inextricably linked. But the friction between those two goals often surfaces when it comes to heated political issues like the Keystone Pipeline or immigration reform.
The AFL-CIO has a financial interest in the IUPA remaining a member, since unions pay per-capita taxes to the federation, although the IUPA is relatively small compared to other public-sector unions. Those who want the union to remain might make a philosophical argument as well: that the federation should keep the tent as broad as possible and not draw lines around who does or doesn’t belong, at a time when unions are fending off attacks on collective bargaining around the country. More than half of states and the entire public sector are now right-to-work.
There are reasons the IUPA might want to stay in the federation even if it didn’t feel welcome. The AFL-CIO functions as a powerful trade group for labor, lobbying on unions’ behalf and offering aid in battles with employers and legislators. Being an affiliate comes with another lesser-known but significant benefit: protection from “raids†― that is, when one union tries to poach another union’s members. The AFL-CIO maintains a no-raiding rule among its affiliates.
A concerted push to expel police unions could make for messy and surprising schisms within the federation.
The labor movement stands for working people, and working people don’t kill other working people. Ana Avendaño, former co-chair of an AFL-CIO race commission
The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees carries the torch of the Memphis sanitation strikers, and has one of the country’s most powerful Black labor leaders as its president, Lee Saunders. AFSCME also includes a fair number of corrections officers. The American Federation of Government Employees is waging a bitter fight with the Trump administration over collective bargaining rights for government workers. It also represents Trump-supporting officers within Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Some in the public sector may be leery of ostracizing any union for government workers, even if they believe police unions need to be reined in. And the building trades unions tend to be more conservative than those in the service and public sectors. Although there are exceptions ― notably, the work of the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades in challenging immigration crackdowns ― members in those unions often bristle at the AFL-CIO’s use of time and resources toward progressive causes.
Ana Avendaño saw these internal tensions up close as a co-chair of an AFL-CIO race commission that convened after Ferguson. The commission held what she believed were meaningful hearings on structural racism. She thought there was strong internal support for those efforts, but there was also resistance from the IUPA and the building trades.
Avendaño said a showdown will become increasingly difficult for the federation to avoid.
“Kicking IUPA out would be largely symbolic. But it would be, I think, hugely symbolic,†she said. “It would really make a statement about what the federation and what the labor movement values, and doesn’t value.â€
Whether police deserve collective bargaining rights, she noted, is a different question from whether they belong in the labor movement.
“The labor movement stands for working people, and working people don’t kill other working people,†she said.
Chip Somodevilla via Getty Images
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka has spoken out against police brutality and joined calls for reform.
Avendaño said she saw Trumka as a pretty strong leader in the wake of Ferguson. At the time, he added his name to a letter sent to the White House from the late civil rights icon Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) calling for the creation of a commission to implement reforms and a police czar to oversee law enforcement.
Trumka’s signature infuriated the IUPA. The union’s president, Sam Cabral, sent Trumka a scathing two-page missive. Whatever problems the Black community is facing, Cabral wrote, police deserve none of the blame (the full letter can be read here).
“They are not responsible for the single parent families, the unemployment, the school dropout rate or its attendant unacceptable literacy rate among black youth,†he wrote. “They are not responsible for the gangs, black on black crime or the infant mortality rate.â€
Cabral said the federation had no business weighing in on policing and the Black community. “You are using resources, time and credibility on an issue that has nothing what so ever to do with labor,†he wrote. The views laid out in Cummings’ letter “are not reflective of the blue collar American worker who builds homes, fights fires, installs telephones, or teaches students.â€
The letter left plenty of staffers within the federation doubtful they could ever work constructively with the union on reform. The IUPA has since become a booster for Trump and last year endorsed his reelection bid. The union did not respond to interview requests left by HuffPost.
In 2014, Trumka delivered a gutsy speech to the Missouri AFL-CIO taking racism head-on. It included a memorable line ― “our brother killed our sister’s son†― a reference to Darren Wilson, the police officer who was not charged in Michael Brown’s death, and Brown’s mother, Lezley McSpadden, a grocery store worker and member of the United Food and Commercial Workers union. “If we in the labor movement truly want to act as a positive force for change around issues of racism and classism we have to acknowledge our own shortcomings,†Trumka said.
The speech was not what attendees were expecting from a burly, mustachioed white guy who came up through the United Mine Workers of America, said Amaya Smith, who worked at the AFL-CIO for nearly a decade, including as an adviser to Trumka. She now co-owns the Brown Beauty Co-Op, a D.C. beauty boutique devoted to women of color. Smith remembers complete silence ― and palpable awkwardness ― as Trumka spoke. She said she will always respect him for “delivering hard truths to people who needed to hear it.â€
“When I was at the AFL-CIO, I was wildly optimistic we could be the place to have this really difficult conversation about what that means to work together to solve these problems,†Smith said.
But she never saw the serious discussion about law enforcement unions that she believes needs to happen. Still, even she is not sold on the idea of expelling the IUPA.
“Can you use their membership for accountability?†she wondered. “I don’t think they’d be receptive to the message, but I’m not sure folks have tried to have that internal conversation. … The AFL-CIO could use its platform.â€
The anger over police brutality arrived at the AFL-CIO’s front door this week, quite literally. A crowd vandalized its Washington headquarters near the White House during protests on May 31, smashing windows to the lobby and defacing the building with phrases like “fuck the law†and “we matter.†The federation condemned the violence, calling it “disgraceful,†but supported peaceful protesters’ message, with Trumka reiterating support for the Black Lives Matter movement.
It’s not easy to know the intentions of the vandals, and whether there was any more significance to the AFL-CIO being damaged than a nearby tea shop. But Berkley thought at least one person with a can of spray paint had made a deliberate target of the building. The photos from that night aren’t entirely clear, and the building has since been boarded up and decorated with “AFL-CIO supports Black Lives Matter†signs. But one tag appeared to say: “Those who remain silent are part of the problem.â€Â
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