Edouard Philippe’s fate in Macron’s hands

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Edouard Philippe’s fate in Macron’s hands

PARIS — For French presidents, appointing a new prime minister is like giving a house a fresh coat of paint after a long winter.

Every president since the end of World War II, except Nicolas Sarkozy, has changed prime ministers after a big crisis in a bid to start afresh. While current Prime Minister Edouard Philippe survived both the Yellow Jackets and pension-reform crises, his time as President Emmanuel Macron’s head of government may soon be up.

Speculation over Philippe’s fate reached a fever pitch in recent weeks with leaks in the French press about reported conflicts with Macron over how to handle the coronavirus lockdown. But half a dozen French officials interviewed by POLITICO say any decision is not just about whether the president wants a fresh face. It’s more about the political priorities Macron wants to set for the last two years of his first term, with an eye on the 2022 presidential election.

“Matignon is not a beauty contest,” said an adviser to Macron, referring to the mansion that houses the prime minister’s office in a chic neighborhood of the Left Bank in Paris. “The real question is what political project the president has in mind for the upcoming period after the health crisis.”

When the coronavirus crisis hit, Macron had to suspend some of his fundamental reforms, but now, with the worst of the pandemic seemingly over in France, he is preparing to reinvent his political program for the two years left in his mandate — and Philippe may be the highest-profile casualty.

Hybrid government

Previously a local politician who was a lieutenant to conservative heavyweight Alain Juppé, Philippe did not vote for Macron in the first round of the presidential election that brought him to power. But he was recruited by the new president, whose background was on the center left, as part of his plan to build a hybrid movement that went beyond traditional political divides.

The early days of 2020 in France were dominated by protests over pension reform | Thomas Samson/AFP via Getty Images

Unlike many previous prime ministers, Philippe has largely steered clear of politicking. He is perceived as a sober technocrat, with a caustic sense of humor and an attachment to fiscal rigor, who eschews Macron’s lyricism in favor of more pragmatic speeches — in many ways the typical high-level public servant France’s elite schools produce to populate the high offices of state.

Philippe has regularly dismissed rumors of his impending departure, most recently during a press conference in early May presenting the plan for exiting lockdown.

“Over the past three years … I have always felt there has been much trust and fluidity in our relationship in a way that has rarely occurred before. It’s still the case and I hope it will always be the case and I think it will always be the case,” Philippe said.

His team both repeatedly denies there being any conflict between the two men and phlegmatically accepts that the prime minister, as an appointee, “serves at the pleasure of the president.”

“The prime minister will stay in Matignon as long as he has the trust of the president, the support of the majority and he is comfortable doing what he does in Matignon,” said an adviser to Philippe.

Herein lies part of the answer to a riddle only Macron can solve.

For his upcoming political shift, Macron is weighing whether a center-left and environmental turn or an attempt at uniting the right would be the best tactical choice to cope with the dire socioeconomic consequences of the pandemic, as well as positioning himself favorably if he decides to run for reelection in 2022.

He has sent signals in both directions since the coronavirus outbreak. First, he threw fiscal orthodoxy and reforms out the window and pumped money into the economy, nationalizing salaries to counter the economic consequences of the virus. But he’s also wooed the populist public through calls and text messages to some of their leading figures.

Philippe’s fate will depend not only on Macron’s political choices but also whether he opts for change to give his new program more democratic legitimacy by calling early parliamentary elections, a referendum or conducting an updated version of the so-called grand debate that helped him turn the page after the Yellow Jackets protests.

“There are some who are pushing the president to reshuffle the government between June 28 and July 14″ — Anonymous Macron adviser

“I think the president himself doesn’t know yet,” Macron’s adviser said.

To help him decide, he is consulting a wide array of people, among whom are economists, intellectuals and political heavyweights including Sarkozy, the presidents of the two chambers of parliament and former Minister Jean-Pierre Chevènement.

The timing too is uncertain. He could pull the trigger either at the beginning of summer — with a possible big speech around July 14 — or in the fall, during what the French refer to as la rentrée, when schools and businesses reopen after the long summer hiatus.

“There are some who are pushing the president to reshuffle the government between June 28 and July 14. It’s a timeframe that could be appropriate if the president manages to sketch out his project, it means you could have a first window of opportunity, but the president could also consider that that’s premature and he should wait for the fall,” Macron’s adviser said.

French President Emmanuel Macron | Pool photo by Ludovic Marin/AFP via Getty Images

But don’t count Philippe out just yet.

The prime minister has enjoyed slightly higher approval ratings than Macron — French citizens seemingly appreciate his steadiness and factual responses during press conferences at various points of the crisis.

He is also expected to win reelection as mayor of the northern city of Le Havre at the end of June, despite having overseen unpopular government policies like the pension reform. However, if he loses, even his own camp says they “have a hard time imagining him staying in Matignon.”

And the latest splintering in parliament, when a handful of MPs from Macron’s La République En Marche who were politically close to Philippe left to form their own group, is being closely watched as a potential power play. Over recent weeks, some LREM MPs have attacked Philippe anonymously in the French press, dredging up his decision to limit the speed limit to 80km per hour, something widely blamed for the Yellow Jackets protests.

If not him, then who?

Philippe is strengthened by the dearth of alternatives.

“The strength of Edouard Philippe is that he controls his majority well and that there isn’t one other obvious candidate for the post,” said Jean-Daniel Lévy, head of the political and polling department at Harris Interactive.

Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian could be Philippe’s replacement | Sia Kambou/AFP via Getty Images

While there is no obvious front-runner, Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian is mentioned as a possible option at every big crisis, though officials close to him have consistently said he is not interested. Two other current ministers have been more bullish about campaigning for the job.

Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire, who unsuccessfully ran for president, has been omnipresent in the media, well beyond what is needed to explain the government’s economic recovery plan. Budget Minister Gérald Darmanin, who is close to Philippe, gave a front-page interview to the Le Journal du Dimanche, detailing a grassroots right-wing program and affirming that he wants to “weigh” in on the political debate, a move widely interpreted as a bid for the PM’s position.

Macron, ever the disrupter, could also throw a curveball. He could recruit someone from the business world or civil society, though he might be put off by such a choice after sour experiences with the likes of Nicolas Hulot, a famous environmental activist who served as his environment minister but quit in protest at the president’s policies.

Macron may also go where only one French president has gone before and appoint a woman to the post, although there has been no sign of any particular female candidate emerging.

Whatever Macron ends up deciding about Philippe and his own political priorities, some think he can still reclaim center-left voters who were a large part of his base in his presidential triumph in 2017 but have gradually been replaced by center-right supporters as Macron pursued policies widely perceived as tilting to the right.

“He fundamentally modified his electorate between 2017 and 2019, I don’t see why he couldn’t fundamentally modify his electorate again between 2019 and 2022,” Lévy said.



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UN needs $2.4bn to stem Yemen coronavirus ‘tragedy’: Live updates

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UN needs $2.4bn to stem Yemen coronavirus ‘tragedy’: Live updates

Hello and welcome to Al Jazeera’s continuing coverage of the coronavirus pandemic. I’m Kate Mayberry in Kuala Lumpur. 

  • Millions of people are at risk from a “tragedy” fuelled by the coronavirus in Yemen, an international UN-backed pledging conference is expected to hear on Tuesday. 

  • Health authorities in Spain have reported no new deaths from the coronavirus in the last 24 hours for the first time in nearly three months. 

  • More than 6.25 million coronavirus cases have been confirmed around the world, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. More than 375,000 people have died, including more than 105,000 in the US. At least 2.69 million have recovered from the disease.

Here are the latest updates:

Tuesday, June 2

01:30 GMT – Study shows masks, social distancing effective 

Masks and social distancing can help control the coronavirus but hand washing and other measures are still needed, a new study has found.

Researchers concluded single-layer cloth masks are less effective than surgical masks, while tight-fitting N95 masks provide the best protection, according to the study published in the medical journal, The Lancet.

A distance of one metre (more than 3 feet) between people lowers the danger of catching the virus, while two metres (about 6 1/2 feet) is even better.

Eye protection such as eyeglasses or goggles can also help.

More:

00:00 GMT – Millions in Yemen at risk from unfolding coronavirus-fuelled ‘tragedy’

The UN is appealing for $2.41bn to continue its humanitarian programmes in Yemen until the end of the year to prevent an unfolding “tragedy” driven by the coronavirus.

A UN-backed international pledging conference will take place later on Tuesday.

The UN and its partners have been providing humanitarian aid to some 10 million people a month as a result of the five-year conflict in the country.

Yemen reported its first case of coronavirus in April. The UN says initial findings from intensive care units suggests 20 percent of those treated after being confirmed with the virus are dying, compared with a global average of 7 percent. 

23:15 GMT (Monday) – Brazil reports thousands of new cases, 623 deaths 

Brazil’s Health Ministry has reported some 11,598 new cases of coronavirus and 623 deaths over the past 24 hours.

Brazil has the second-highest number of cases in the world (526,447) after the United States. Nearly 30,000 people have died from the disease. 

23:00 GMT (Monday) – Met Opera to remain closed until the end of the year

New York’s Metropolitan Opera will reopen only for its traditional New Year’s Eve performance, cutting short its 2020/2021 season because of the coronavirus.

“Social distancing and grand opera simply don’t go together,” general manager Peter Gelb said in a video message.

The 137-year-old company, one of the world’s leading opera houses, had planned to start its season in September. 

Read all the updates from yesterday (June 1) here.


SOURCE:
Al Jazeera and news agencies



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Outcry after a Nigerian student dies from ‘brutal attack’ in church

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Outcry after a Nigerian student dies from ‘brutal attack’ in church

The 22-year-old died on May 30, just days after the brutal assault inside the church of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, or RCCG, in Benin city, a spokesman told CNN.

A Nigeria police spokesman described Omozuwa’s death as a “brutal attack” in a statement and said the force would “bring the perpetrators of the callous act to book in the shortest possible time.”

RCCG spokesman Olaitan Olubiyi said Omozuwa was a member of the choir who had studied privately at the church since lockdown measures due to the coronavirus pandemic were put in place in Nigeria in March.

“We are all devastated by her death. She decided to do some private studies during the lockdown because the church was peaceful. She’s been taking the key from the parish pastor and returning it after her studies.

“But that day she didn’t return it and the night guard who resumed duty found her in a pool of her own blood and half-naked in the church hall,” Olubiyi added.

The university student was taken to hospital where doctors battled to save her, but Omozuwa died three days later, the church said.

In an interview with Town Crier, a local media platform, Omozuwa’s mother, who was not named, described how she was told of her daughter’s death by a neighbor.

“I ran [to the church] but before I got there, they took her to a private hospital and when I saw my daughter, I cried. They raped her; the dress she was wearing that morning was white. The white had turned to red; all her body was full of blood,” she said.

CNN also spoke to Omozuwa’s father, Joseph, who said doctors told him she was raped.

“My daughter was very kind and very intelligent and disciplined. We had just celebrated her admission to university.”

A ‘shocking situation’

The RCCG church is one of the largest denominations in the country with hundreds of parishes. It also has global branches in the United Kingdom, India, USA, Canada, South Africa, Australia among other countries, according to its website.
Its General Overseer Enoch Adeboye, one of the most revered religious leaders in the country, issued a statement on Sunday saying that the church would pray for Omozuwa’s family.

“I and members of my Family condemn this act strongly and urge everyone to stay calm as we are already looking into the matter and cooperating with the police to establish the facts of the shocking situation… #justiceforuwa,” he said.

Omozuwa’s death is sparking outrage online as Nigerian women lash out against the attack.

The hashtag, #justiceforuwa was trending on Twitter, with thousands of Nigerians calling for action against the perpetrators.

Dr. Kemi Ibru founded the non-profit organization Women at Risk International Foundation, or WARIF in 2016 to help survivors of sexual and gender-based violence.

Ibru told CNN: “We can not look away as our young girls and women endure horrific acts of rape and sexual violence perpetrated against them. Our silence has made us all complicit and now is the time to speak out and put an end to our rape culture.”

‘Inadequate’ response

While authorities have not said if Omozuwa was sexually assaulted, Amnesty International Nigeria is describing the attack as rape.

The rights group issued a statement calling for a stronger government response.

“While the nation is still coming to terms with this gross violation, in Jigawa state 11 men were arrested for raping a 12-year old girl at Limawa in Dutse, the state capital. Although rape is a crime in Nigeria government’s response to it continues to be, woefully inadequate,” according to the statement posted to Twitter.

“We are deeply concerned that perpetrators of rape in Nigeria invariably escape punishment.”

The governor of Edo State, where the incident happened, also released a statement saying he has ordered an investigation into Omozuwa’s death.

“I have ordered the Nigeria Police Force to thoroughly investigate the circumstances that led to the death of Miss Vera Uwaila Omozuwa, a 100-level student of the University of Benin (UNIBEN),” Gov. Godwin Obaseki said on Twitter.



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Fauci says his contact with Trump has ‘dramatically decreased’

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Fauci says his contact with Trump has ‘dramatically decreased’

Anthony Fauci, the government’s top public health expert and a member of the national coronavirus taskforce, said on Monday that he was no longer in frequent contact with Donald Trump, which is likely to spark fresh fears that he is being frozen out of the White House.

The pandemic continues to ravage communities across the United States, where the death toll on Monday had reached 105,000, and last month Fauci warned the US Congress during a hearing that the virus was not yet under control.

Asked on Monday whether the president talked to him often about Covid-19 vaccine work, he told a reporter with Stat News, “No … As you probably noticed, the taskforce meetings have not occurred as often lately. And certainly my meetings with the president have been dramatically decreased.”

Fauci noted that they used to have taskforce meetings daily, including on the weekend, and said that frequently, the two would talk after the meetings, estimating that a month ago, they met four times a week.

The director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases also told a CNN reporter that he had not spoken or met with Trump in two weeks and that their last interaction was on 18 May, during a teleconference with governors.

Jim Sciutto
(@jimsciutto)

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of NIAID & member of Coronavirus Task Force, tells me he has not spoken or met with President in 2 weeks & his contact w/Trump has become much less frequent. Their last interaction was May 18, during teleconference with the nation’s governors.


June 1, 2020

Fauci has repeatedly warned against a rush to reopen America for business and social movement until federal guidelines have been met involving a sustained decrease in new cases and adequate testing and hospital facilities being available.

He said last month: “There is a real risk that you will trigger an outbreak that you might not be able to control. Not only leading to some suffering and death, but it could even set you back on the road to get economic recovery.”

But the president, despite the federal guidelines, sharply and repeatedly diverged from his own leading expert and spent weeks urging state governors to reopen, while talking up the prospect of a vaccine at unprecedented speed and a swift economic recovery, both of which are far from solid prospects.

Trump has also been touting misinformation about treatments for coronavirus, promoting the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine as a miracle cure and then apparently taking it himself, despite pessimistic recent studies and federal regulators warning it could be dangerous when taken for, or as a prophylactic against, Covid-19, outside of a clinical trial.

Fauci tried tactfully to dampen the president’s hype of hydroxychloroquine and the antiviral drug chloroquine.

The White House and Trump himself had previously dismissed questions about tension between the president and Fauci as “media chatter”. After conservative commentators urged his firing, the White House said: “President Trump is not firing Dr Fauci.”

A drumbeat of calls for Fauci to be ousted have been promoted most aggressively by pro-Trump zealots in the far-right media ecosystem – political bomb-throwers, medical quacks and an unknown number of foreign bots posing as American internet users.

When the taskforce was still holding daily press briefings, televised live, at the White House, Trump said of Fauci: “Today I walk in, I hear I’m going to fire him. I’m not firing him. I think he is a wonderful guy.”

Trump held two-plus-hour briefings that veered far from their original purpose as a public information platform at the height of the coronavirus crisis in April. They petered out after he pondered dangerously whether taking disinfectant internally could be a possible treatment for coronavirus.

Fauci has done fewer interviews lately, despite warning that while efforts to contain the virus were “going in the right direction”, it did “not mean by any means that we have it under control”.

Now there are worries that protests across the country, after police in Minneapolis killed George Floyd last week, will spread more coronavirus – while America’s top public health expert is pushed to the margins.



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Gold price today: Rs 47,043 per 10 gm; silver at Rs 49,330 per kg

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Gold price today: Rs 47,043 per 10 gm; silver at Rs 49,330 per kg



Gold price on Tuesday rose from Rs 46,929 to Rs 47,043 per 10 gram, while silver was recorded at Rs 49,330 per kilogram, according to India Bullion and Jewellers Association (IBJA).


The gold jewellery prices vary across India — the second largest consumer of the metal — due to excise duty, state taxes and making charges.



The August gold futures were down 0.21 per cent to Rs 47,007 per 10 gram on MCX, their second decline in three days, said media reports.


According to website goodreturns.in, the price for 24-carat gold in New Delhi is Rs 47,700 per 10 gram. Gold rate in Chennai is Rs 49,220 and Mumbai Rs 47,070.


The price of 22-carat gold is about Rs 45,900 in New Delhi per 10 gram while in Chennai, the price is at Rs 45,120. In Mumbai, it is Rs 46,070.


ALSO READ: Oil rescues big banks’ commodities profits as gold income tumbles


On Monday, the website had recorded the 24-carat gold price at Rs 47,010, up Rs 10 from previous day.


The lowest record of gold rate past month stood at Rs 45,300 on May 12, and highest price touched Rs 47,600 on May 20.


Meanwhile, the rates of silver kept on increasing per kilogram. According to goodreturns.in, the price of silver today was recorded Rs 50,150 per kilogram across the country.


The price of silver jumped by 3.33 per cent in Mumbai’s spot Zaveri Bazaar on Saturday to hit the highest in six-and-a-half years as investors booked the white precious metal as an alternative to gold.


ALSO READ: Silver surges 3% to trade at Rs 50,000 a kg, its highest in over six years


Globally, the gold-silver ratio hit a historical high of 117 last week. Silver offers a good opportunity to earn high returns. With gold stagnating at $1,700-1,750 an oz, silver prices moved up to trade at $17.84 a oz. A sharp increase in silver prices brought gold-silver ratio to 93.


On Monday, the gold prices rose supported by increasing friction between Washington and Beijing and protests in the US over racism.


Spot gold climbed 0.8 per cent to $1,740.62 per ounce, while US gold futures was up 0.1 per cent to $1,753.40.


“There are growing concerns that the US-China Phase One trade deal is about to get ripped-off,” Edward Moya, a senior market analyst at broker OANDA told the Reuters, adding widespread protests in the US has raised concerns of another wave of coronavirus cases.



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Tropical Storm Amanda weakens after killing 17 people in El Salvador and Guatemala, could reform next week in Gulf of Mexico

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Tropical Storm Amanda weakens after killing 17 people in El Salvador and Guatemala, could reform next week in Gulf of Mexico

CLOSE

2019’s Atlantic hurricane season was a busy one and AccuWeather’s forecasters are anticipating another active season for 2020.

Accuweather

The remnants of Tropical Storm Amanda formed into a tropical depression on Monday after killing at least 17 people in El Salvador and Guatemala, where heavy rains produced flooding and landslides.

The weather disturbance is expected to move through the Gulf of Mexico in the coming days, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said, and is likely to regain tropical storm strength over the milder waters of the Bay of Campeche in Mexico.

Amanda’s remnants are predicted to produce heavy rains in El Salvador, southern Guatemala, western Honduras, Nicaragua, Belize and parts of Mexico, according to the hurricane center. 

“This rainfall may produce life-threatening flash floods and mudslides,” according to a news bulletin on the site.

The storm could track into the Gulf of Mexico by the weekend, becoming the third named Atlantic tropical storm of the season by Tuesday, meaning winds of 39 mph or greater. It would be named Tropical Storm Cristobal.

A ‘cataclysmic scenario’: A busy hurricane season and the coronavirus pandemic

Such were the conditions in El Salvador and Guatemala, which took the brunt of Amanda’s force.

“The storm has come to show how vulnerable this country is, as well as the lack of investment in infrastructure,” El Salvador Interior Minister Mario Durán said.

El Salvador was devastated by flash floods, landslides and power outages as it ripped into poor Central American states. Durán said Monday some 7,000 people were scattered across 154 shelters as torrential rain caused landslides and flooding, which damaged at least 900 homes.

Study: Global warming is making hurricanes stronger

The storm hit later Sunday in Guatemala, where heavy rains killed two people, according to Guatemalan officials.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) calls for a 60% likelihood of an above-average storm season, with a 70% chance of 13 to 19 named storms, six to 10 of which will become hurricanes.

Contributing: The Associated Press.

Follow Elinor Aspegren on Twitter: @elinoraspegren.

Read or Share this story: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/06/01/tropical-storm-amanda-kills-17-el-salvador-guatemala/5313434002/

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GOT7’s Mark Tuan, Day6’s Jae, pH-1, Jay Park, Crush among others make donations amid Black Lives Matter movement : Bollywood News – Bollywood Hungama

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GOT7’s Mark Tuan, Day6’s Jae, pH-1, Jay Park, Crush among others make donations amid Black Lives Matter movement : Bollywood News – Bollywood Hungama

The United States Of America is making headlines. The citizens of the country are protesting against racial injustice after a man named George Floyd was killed by a cop. The cop was arrested and has been charged with third-degree murder. Meanwhile, citizens of the country and in other parts of the world are supporting #BlackLivesMatter protests against police brutality as they want to end violence and system racism against the Black community.

Amid the protests, celebrities have come forward to donate for several fundraisers including one for George Floyd, others for bail funds for protestors who have been arrested. While Western celebrities are on the ground protesting and donating, the Korean music industry has also come forward to help in every way they can. GOT7’s rapper Mark Tuan, Day 6’s Jae, musicians ph-1, Jay Park, Crush among others have donated to several fundraisers.

K-pop group GOT7’s Mark Tuan has donated $7000 to Official George Floyd Memorial Fund on GoFundMe. The fund is established to cover funeral and burial expenses, mental and grief counseling, lodging and travel for all court proceedings, and to assist the family in the days to come as we continue to seek justice for George.  A portion of these funds will also go to the Estate of George Floyd for the benefit and care of his children and their educational fund.

Korean group Day6’s member Jae donated $1,000 donation to the Minnesota Freedom Fund. The fund pays criminal bail and immigration bond for those who cannot afford to as we seek to end discriminatory, coercive, and oppressive jailing.

Jay Park also stepped up to donate $10,000 to Black Lives Matter Fund. The fund’s goal is to end state-sanctioned violence, liberate Black people, and end white supremacy forever.

Rapper pH-1, real name Junwon Park, donated $3000 to Official George Floyd Memorial Fund on GoFundMe

Musician Crush, real name Shin Hyo Seob, also made donation to George Floyd Memorial Fund on GoFundMe. “Many artists and people around the world get so much inspiration by black culture and music including me. We have a duty to respect every race.#ripgeorgefloyd #blacklivesmatter,” he wrote on Instagram.

Many artists like Amber Liu, Matthew of the group KARD, hip hop legend Tiger JK, Eric Nam, Samuel, Jessica, Momoland’s Ahin, Nancy and Jooe, Kevin Woo, Tiffany of Girl’s Generation among others have also shown support to the movement.

ALSO READ: GOT7’s Yugyeom participates in The King Of Masked Singer

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Jamie Foxx, Nick Cannon, Ariana Grande and more protest police brutality and the death of George Floyd: ‘We’re not afraid to stand’

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Jamie Foxx, Nick Cannon, Ariana Grande and more protest police brutality and the death of George Floyd: ‘We’re not afraid to stand’

Several celebs spent their weekends on the streets, protesting police brutality following the death of yet another unarmed black man, George Floyd, while in the custody of law enforcement officers in Minneapolis.

They walked alongside protestors taking to the streets in the Minnesota city, as well Atlanta, Los Angeles, New York City, Washington, D.C. and cities across the country.

Jamie Foxx

The Oscar winner kicked off the weekend on May 29 by speaking at a Minneapolis protest. “We’re not afraid to stand. We’re not afraid of the moment,” Foxx said.

By Monday, after a weekend in which peaceful protests in some places devolved into violence, he was part of a “kneel-in” protest in San Francisco, in which participants dropped to their knee in honor of Floyd while chanting, as Floyd did, “I can’t breathe.” He instructed other celebs to take action as well: “My Hollywood friends, you gotta get out here. You can’t sit back, you can’t tweet, you can’t text,” he said, per Los Angeles Times reporter Johana Bhuiyan.

Nick Cannon

Cannon marched in Minneapolis wearing a hoodie that said, “Please I Can’t Breathe” and carrying a “Justice for Floyd” poster.

Tessa Thompson

The Westworld actress shared video from Los Angeles protests where the crowd chanted, “This is our America!”

J. Cole

News crews in Fayetteville, Ark., spotted the musician protesting May 30 with a group in his hometown.

Kendrick Sampson

The Insecure actor said he was struck seven times by rubber bullets and his friend was with a baton while demonstrating in Los Angeles.

Kehlani

Singer Kehlani was part of the protests in L.A., and she captured snapshots of some of the chaos that followed. “Respect existence or expect resistance,” she wrote.

Camila Cabello and Shawn Mendes

In Miami, the two were photographed wearing masks and carrying signs by a Miami Herald reporter.

Lil Yachty

“I am no different from the next man,” he said into a megaphone at one of the many protests across the country. “Every voice matters and must be heard.”

Tinashe

Another West Coaster, Tinashe, even carried her sign on the freeway during a non-violent protest in downtown L.A. “We were there to protest police brutality and black lives, period,” she said.

Ariana Grande

Grande was disappointed about the news coverage of the day, which tended to focus on the looting that went on in some cities. “Hours and miles of peaceful protesting yesterday that got little to no coverage,” she pleaded May 31. “All throughout beverly hills and west hollywood we chanted, people beeped and cheered along. we were passionate, we were loud, we were loving. cover this too please.”

Machine Gun Kelly

The rapper (aka Colson Baker) also went out to L.A. protests. He carried a sign that read, “Silence is betrayal.”

Halsey

Halsey, whose real name is Ashley Frangipane, said police officers used gas and rubber bullets on her group.

John Cuscak

Police came at the Say Anything star with batons during a May 30 protest, he said in a shaky video.

Timotheé Chalamet

The actor was in Santa Monica, Calif., with a sign remembering Floyd and others who died in police violence.

Ellen Page

The Juno star was part of the crowd at a Brooklyn protest at the Barclays Center.

Cole Sprouse

The Riverdale star said he was arrested May 31 during a peaceful protest in Santa Monica, Calif. but he noted that the focus shouldn’t be on him. “It needs to be stated that as a straight white man, and a public figure, the institutional consequences of my detainment are nothing in comparison to others within the movement,” he said.

Read more from Yahoo Entertainment:



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Dozens in quarantine after preschool teacher tests positive to COVID-19

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Dozens in quarantine after preschool teacher tests positive to COVID-19
A kindergarten teacher and an aged care worker in Melbourne’s north are among Victoria’s 10 new coronavirus infections.

At least 20 people from Macleod Preschool are in self-isolation following the positive test result, including 12 children and eight staff.

Embracia Aged Care in Reservoir has also been forced into lockdown due to the worker also returning a positive diagnosis.

Staff wearing masks outside the aged care facility. (Nine)
Embracia Aged Care has gone into lockdown. (Nine)

In a statement on its website, the aged care facility said the employee last worked on May 26, as well as three other shifts in the previous two weeks.

All staff and residents are set to undergo precautionary coronavirus testing.

“We thank the staff member for attending their GP as soon as they developed signs and symptoms as well as staying away from the workplace. Once they returned a positive test, they informed us immediately enabling us to take prompt action,” the statement read.

Macleod Preschool. (Google Maps)

“We have begun tracing all close contacts, so everyone is informed of the current situation.

“The staff member is now in isolation in their home and managing their symptoms.”

Deputy Chief Health Officer Annaliese van Diemen said the infected employees were detected through routine COVID-19 testing.

A thorough deep clean of the facilities would also be undertaken today.

“The teacher did the right thing, got symptoms and got tested,” she said.

“We haven’t seen it spreading in schools. We will continue to be precautionary.”

Reason parents are delaying toilet training
A kindergarten in Melbourne’s north has closed temporarily after a teacher tested positive to coronavirus. (Getty)

The new infections were all household members of known cases.

Ms van Diemen said the cause of the hotel outbreak was still under investigation.

“A number of staff over the past few days have been placed into quarantine,” she said.

“At this point we haven’t determined the precise cause of the outbreak. We know it’s linked to the other cases of returned travellers.”

Victorian Deputy Chief Health Officer Annaliese van Diemen gives an update on the coronavirus. (AAP)
Keilor Downs College in Melbourne’s north-west reopened today following its coronavirus cluster, while Holy Eucharist Primary School in St Albans South is due to reopen tomorrow after a grade two student returned a positive diagnosis.

Victoria’s coronavirus tally sits at 1663. There are nine people in hospital, including two in intensive care.

Community transmission has risen to 169 cases.

The source of the remaining four other new cases is under investigation.

The state has 79 active cases of coronavirus.

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‘Teetering On A Dictatorship’: Don Lemon Asks If Trump Is ‘Declaring War On Americans’

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‘Teetering On A Dictatorship’: Don Lemon Asks If Trump Is ‘Declaring War On Americans’

CNN anchor Don Lemon asked Monday if President Donald Trump is “declaring war on Americans” after the president’s surreal Rose Garden address promising a crackdown on nationwide anti-racism demonstrations, even as police could be heard deploying tear gas on protesters outside the White House.

“Open your eyes, America. Open your eyes. We are teetering on a dictatorship. This is chaos,” Lemon said. “Is the president declaring war on Americans?”

“What is happening here?” he added, as footage showed police and military troops facing protesters near the White House. “He’s saying he wants to protect peaceful protesters. At the same time, sending law enforcement and military into the streets to push peaceful protesters back, to be aggressive with peaceful protesters. He is doing the exact opposite of what he said in that speech.” 

Calling himself “your law-and-order president,” Trump announced in his Rose Garden address that he would mobilize “all available” civilian and military resources to “stop the rioting and looting, to end the destruction and arson, and to protect the rights of law-abiding Americans, including your Second Amendment rights.”

He made no note of the heavy-handed actions police used against protesters in the last several days and made no effort to call for national unity.

Earlier, CNN showed footage of protesters outside the White House demonstrating peacefully, then being met with flash-bang grenades and tear gas as authorities attempted to divert them ahead of Trump’s address.

“I think the president is playing a very, very dangerous game here,” Lemon continued. “There are a lot of Americans who are out on these streets who are upset, who are frustrated, who are angry.”

He added that he was “not condoning violence at all” and hoped that protests would continue to be peaceful, adding: “But I hope that they stand up and fight for their rights to peacefully protest in this country.”

Tens of thousands of people around the country have taken to the streets after the death of George Floyd ― a Black man killed by a police officer who knelt on his neck last Monday ― and the killing of other Black people ignited national outrage.  



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