US to Begin Steps to End Hong Kong Status over China-Imposed Security Law

PressNewsAgency
-
0
US to Begin Steps to End Hong Kong Status over China-Imposed Security Law

The Trump administration will begin the process of taking away the special trade and investment status it grants Hong Kong, in response to China’s decision to impose a national security law that end the city’s status as a separate legal jurisdiction, U.S. President Donald Trump said Friday.

In a brief speech, Trump also said he will start restricting some students from China from studying in the United States to prevent the transfer of sensitive technology, and consider new policies on what to do about U.S.-listed Chinese firms.

“My announcement today will affect the full range of agreements we have with Hong Kong from our extradition treaty to our export controls, on dual use of technologies and more, with few exceptions,” Trump said at a news conference in the White House Rose Garden.

“We will be revising the State Department travel advisory for Hong Kong to reflect the increase danger of surveillance and punishment by the Chinese state security apparatus,” he said. “We will take action to revoke Hong Kong as a separate customs and travel territory from the rest of China.”

China’s National People’s Congress ratified a plan on Thursday to impose a draconian sedition law on Hong Kong without going through the city’s own legislature; a dramatic departure from the promised “high degree of autonomy” promised to Hong Kong under the terms of the 1997 handover.

Chinese and Hong Kong officials “directly or indirectly involved in eroding Hong Kong’s autonomy” would face sanctions, added Trump.

Trump’s announcement follows Secretary of State Mike Pompeo statement Wednesday that he had told the U.S. Congress that Beijing’s imposition of a draconian national security law in Hong Kong show that the former British colony is not autonomous from China.

“Hong Kong does not continue to warrant treatment under United States laws in the same manner as U.S. laws were applied to Hong Kong before July 1997. No reasonable person can assert today that Hong Kong maintains a high degree of autonomy from China, given facts on the ground,” Pompeo said in a statement.

During his 10-minute speech, Trump also said his administration will also start expelling Chinese students believed to be involved in technology development projects for the People’s Liberation Army

“China’s theft of American technology, intellectual property, and research threatens the safety, security, and economy of the United States,” said a White House statement.

Pompeo told Fox News on Thursday: “We’re taking seriously the threat that students that come here who have connections deeply to the Chinese state, they shouldn’t be here in our schools spying.”

Explaining administration thinking on Hong Kong before Trump’s announcement Trump told Fox: “The President no longer believes that it’s justified to treat Hong Kong differently than we treat the rest of what takes place under the tyranny of the Chinese Communist Party.

Under the terms of the handover, Hong Kong was expected to bring in legislation banning acts of “treason, secession, sedition [or] subversion,” but city-wide protests and the likelihood of a pro-democracy landslide at Legislative Council (LegCo) elections in September have led Beijing to conclude that this might not occur for some time. An earlier version of the law was shelved following mass popular protests in 2003.

The law is also intended “to prohibit foreign political organizations from conducting political activities in Hong Kong, and to prohibit political organizations from establishing ties with foreign political organizations,” according to state media.

The decision will enable the authorities to “prevent, stop and punish” any activities deemed by Beijing to be subversive, or instigated by “foreign forces.” Such legislation has been used in mainland China to accuse journalists of spying, or to punish peaceful critics of the regime.



Source link

Protests Continue Nationwide Over George Floyd Killing In Minneapolis

PressNewsAgency
-
0
Protests Continue Nationwide Over George Floyd Killing In Minneapolis

Nationwide protests over the killing of George Floyd — the Black man who died Monday after a white Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck — continued Friday evening as Americans demanded that those involved face justice. 

On Friday, protesters took to the streets in Minneapolis; Washington; Louisville, Kentucky; New York City; Atlanta; Denver; Houston; San Jose, California; Chicago; Detroit; and other cities. 

After three nights of protests, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey announced a mandatory curfew going into effect at 8 p.m. But in the hours before that, hundreds of protesters marched across the Hennepin Avenue Bridge chanting Floyd’s name and holding signs emblazoned with three of his final words: “I can’t breathe.” As the curfew time approached, law enforcement appeared to deploy tear gas against protesters, according to multiple reports. 

At the protest in New York, police were filmed hitting demonstrators with batons and spraying what appeared to be pepper spray, according to reporters on the scene. 

Police in several cities, including Boston and Fort Wayne, Indiana, reportedly fired tear gas to disperse protesters. 

The White House went on lockdown as protesters neared Pennsylvania Avenue and kicked down barricades guarded by the Secret Service, CNN reported. No one is allowed to leave the grounds, including members of the press.

Minneapolis police over previous nights had responded to protests by wearing riot gear and firing tear gas and rubber bullets on demonstrators. Amid some of the civil unrest on Thursday night, a local police precinct in Minneapolis was burned and a Target and other stores were damaged. 

The nationwide civil unrest follows a days-long wait for the Friday arrest of Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin. The white cop pressed his knee into Floyd’s neck as he repeatedly said he couldn’t breathe. Floyd, who was handcuffed and unarmed, was being arrested after he was accused of fraud involving a possibly counterfeit $20 bill. Chauvin held his knee on Floyd’s neck for nearly nine minutes, according to the complaint filed against him, with Floyd reportedly unresponsive for nearly three of those minutes. 

Chauvin is facing charges of third-degree murder and manslaughter. Floyd’s family issued a statement Friday saying they were disappointed authorities didn’t seek first-degree murder charges. The family, calling Chauvin’s arrest “welcome but overdue,” also demanded that the other three officers present Monday — Thomas Lane, Tou Thao and J. Alexander Kueng — be arrested. 

“The pain that the black community feels over this murder and what it reflects about the treatment of black people in America is raw and is spilling out onto streets across America,” the family’s attorney Ben Crump wrote in a statement.

The local NAACP chapter echoed the family’s demands for the arrest of the other officers. “All humanity should be outraged,” Leslie Redmond, president of the Minneapolis NAACP, said Friday. 

President Donald Trump tweeted early Friday about the previous nights’ protests in Minneapolis, calling the largely Black demonstrators “thugs” and threatening them with state-sanctioned violence, adding, “when the looting starts, the shooting starts.” 

Later in the day, Trump claimed to clarify his tweet, saying “looting leads to shooting” and noting a shooting in Minneapolis on Wednesday and seven shots fired in Louisville on Thursday during the demonstrations. At a Friday event, he also expressed “deepest condolences” to Floyd’s family and lamented the “horrible, horrible situation,” but he also condemned the civil unrest, saying “we can’t allow” protests “to turn into anarchy and chaos” and “looters should not be allowed to drown out the voices of peaceful protesters.”



Source by [author_name]

Coronavirus live news: deaths surge in Brazil and Russia as Trump says US is quitting WHO

PressNewsAgency
-
0
Coronavirus live news: deaths surge in Brazil and Russia as Trump says US is quitting WHO

Good morning and welcome to our ongoing global coverage of the coronavirus crisis.

This is how things stand.

The US president, Donald Trump, has said he is terminating the nation’s relationship with the World Health Organisation.

The United Kingdom is lifting lockdown restrictions in June but a senior health adviser to the government has warned that is happening too early. There are still 8,000 infections a day in the UK.

Australia, which is also easing restrictions in many states on 1 June, has had less than 50 new cases per day for the past several weeks and currently has less than 500 active cases recorded nationwide.

The death toll in Brazil has passed that of Spain as the country becomes the fifth-worst affected.

One-tenth of all coronavirus cases in Australia have been traced back to the Ruby Princess cruise ship, but a report published today found that in a pandemic practice drill in 2019 communications between cruise ships, government health and border control was found to be “robust and well-practised”. That’s not how it played out in March.

Elsewhere, Russia has suffered its biggest daily increase in deaths, with 232 in 24 hours, bringing the nationwide total to 4,374. Iran has identified more new coronavirus cases in a day than in any time since early April, with 2,819 more people testing positive on Friday. And health authorities in South Africa say they have a backlog of more than 100,000 unprocessed tests.

Sweden, which pursued a herd immunity policy, has been excluded from Norwegian and Danish plans to reopen to tourists. The UK, France, Spain and Italy have also been excluded from Greece reopening its borders to arrivals from 29 countries on 15 June.

Also in Australia, there has been barely a pause to mourn the loss of the Council of Australian Governments, which had been the central federalist mechanism since 1992. It’s been replaced permanently by the national cabinet, established in March to manage the Covid-19 response.

Source link

Justice Department Says Maine’s 2-Week Quarantine Rule Discriminates Against Tourists

PressNewsAgency
-
0
Justice Department Says Maine’s 2-Week Quarantine Rule Discriminates Against Tourists

Motels are closed in late April in Old Orchard Beach, Maine, during measures to stem the spread of the coronavirus.

Robert F. Bukaty/AP


hide caption

toggle caption

Robert F. Bukaty/AP

Motels are closed in late April in Old Orchard Beach, Maine, during measures to stem the spread of the coronavirus.

Robert F. Bukaty/AP

Updated at 8:13 p.m. ET

The U.S. Department of Justice is siding with campground and restaurant owners in Maine who sued the state over a two-week self-quarantine policy for out-of-state visitors.

Democratic Gov. Janet Mills imposed the restriction as part the state’s response to the ongoing pandemic. Several other states have imposed similar measures.

In a brief filed on behalf of Bayley’s Campground in Scarborough and other plaintiffs, attorneys with the Department of Justice, including the U.S. attorney for Maine, said the government is getting involved because of its “compelling interest in protecting the public and citizens’ constitutional right to be free from unjustified discrimination on the basis of state residency.”

In this case, the federal attorneys said Maine has likely exceeded the Constitution’s limits by discriminating between Mainers and people from out of state, with respect to the ability to patronize campgrounds and recreational vehicle parks.

The government’s statement noted that the order doesn’t require all nonresidents to go into quarantine. “As far as public safety goes, it is unclear why out-of-state residents may enter Maine to engage in any ‘legal, business, professional, environmental permitting and insurance services,’ for example, but not to patronize a campground or RV park. … If Maine wants to prevent the spread of COVID-19, one would think it would start by preventing outsiders from attending a boardroom meeting, not from pitching a tent.”

In response, Mills said in a statement she is “deeply disappointed and frankly disgusted – that the U.S Department of Justice is making a concerted effort to undermine the health of the people of Maine.”

Mills pointed out that these objections “were never raised when the President and his own task force took steps to limit travel.”

“Maintaining the 14-day quarantine … has never been about anything other than protecting the health and safety of Maine people at a time when millions are expected to flock to our state from COVID-19 hot spots,” Mills said. “I imagine it is for this same reason that so many other governors have enacted similar measures.”

On Friday, the judge rejected a motion for a preliminary injunction against the governor’s orders.

Source link

Greece to allow tourists from Israel, Lebanon

PressNewsAgency
-
0
Greece to allow tourists from Israel, Lebanon

May 29, 2020

Greece will allow tourists from Israel and Lebanon to visit in June.

As of June 15, Greece will allow visitors from Israel, Lebanon and several European countries for its peak summer tourism season, Reuters reported. The Mediterranean country’s economy relies heavily on tourism.

Israel and Lebanon are the only two countries on Greece’s list in the Middle East. Both nations have been praised for their responses to the virus.

Israel received praise for stopping tourism and forcing people to stay home early on. The country also used surveillance technology to track people with the virus.

Lebanon has likewise been lauded for its relatively low numbers of just over 1,100, despite a worsening economic crisis and high population of refugees who lack access to hygiene materials.

Israel has had 16,987 confirmed COVID-19 cases, but only 1,976 remain active. Lebanon has registered only 1,172 cases, with about 400 remaining active.

Greece began a nationwide lockdown to limit the spread of COVID-19 in March, and has registered 2,909 cases. This number is relatively low in the European Union, according to Reuters.



Source link

Twitter is now in completely uncharted waters

PressNewsAgency
-
0
Twitter is now in completely uncharted waters

When Twitter slapped a warning label on one of President Donald Trump’s tweets Friday for “glorifying violence,” it was almost certain that the move — a first for the platform — would escalate tensions with the White House.

But even Twitter may not have guessed that the official White House Twitter account would then choose to repost the same language hours later in an apparent attempt to further test Twitter’s limits. Having already made its position clear, Twitter really only had one option: It added a warning label onto that tweet, too.

The back-to-back incidents capped off a rocky week in which Twitter’s decision to place warning labels on two Trump tweets set off a presidential firestorm that culminated in an executive order that seeks to punish the entire social media industry. Twitter now finds itself in an unprecedented position. For years it was Trump’s favored platform; now Twitter is locked in a war with the president simply for choosing to enforce its policies. Seemingly every tweet on the platform — those from general users and those from Twitter employees — are being scrutinized anew. Republicans are coming after it. Rivals are throwing it under the bus or staying silent. Fact-checking organizations are calling for greater transparency.

And there is no end in sight.

Even as Twitter scrambled to address Trump’s warning to Minneapolis protesters on Friday that “when the looting starts, the shooting starts,” Republican Sen. Ted Cruz was getting ready to call on Attorney General William Barr for a criminal investigation of Twitter. The allegation: Twitter has violated US sanctions by giving Iranian officials a platform for speech.
It’s a reflection of the dizzying number of ways that Twitter has opened itself up to attacks, virtually overnight, because it dared to add “context” to Trump’s claims. Suddenly, Twitter — a platform with far fewer users and far less money than rivals like Facebook and Google — faces the threat of government action, an hourly onslaught of attacks from the President and death threats directed at one employee singled out by Trump and his allies.
Twitter declined to comment for this story beyond referring CNN Business to a blog post on its policies.

An era of inaction comes to an end

When Trump threatened to nuke North Korea, Twitter took no action despite pressure from users. When he attacked four Democratic congresswomen by telling them to “go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came,” Twitter allowed the tweets to stand. When he revived a decades-old conspiracy theory against TV host Joe Scarborough, Twitter said it was “deeply sorry” for the pain the tweets caused — but did nothing.

The company has long sought to walk a tightrope between angering too many users on the left, and too many users on the right. The result was a kind of inaction that primarily benefited Trump. Now, after years of upsetting the people out of power, Twitter has finally resolved to upset the people in power for a change.

“I would not be surprised if the voices in the company that may have been trying to steer towards moderation and trying to find a middle ground have sort of stepped away from that,” said Adam Sharp, the former head of news, government and elections at Twitter.

Nu Wexler, a former spokesman for Twitter, Google and Facebook at various points in his career, said Trump provided Twitter this week with an ideal opportunity to begin enforcing its policies with his tweets about mail-in ballots and “looting” leading to “shooting.”

“If you had to pick a test case to litigate in the court of public opinion, fact-checking a demonstrably false claim about voting and a very specific violent threat are the ones you would pick,” he said.

Still, if the back-and-forth between Twitter and the White House this week is any indication, it may just be the first of many tests to come.

Can’t stop, won’t stop

Twitter can’t stop now; if it does, it would have created a public firestorm and invited a war with Trump for nothing. But the conflict also puts Twitter in a difficult position. The more the company tries to clarify and correct the record with its warning labels, the more it serves Trump’s political interests by playing into his preferred narrative of an antagonistic, partisan media.

Enforcing the rules on Trump doesn’t just create dangers for Twitter whenever it acts on his tweets. It also inherently creates an inverse risk: tweets that go un-checked could be interpreted by some users as implicitly accurate or true. And it exposes the company to unending allegations of hypocrisy and partisanship.

Trump and his allies are all too willing to spotlight any perceived inconsistencies. “This Tweet violated the Twitter Rules about glorifying violence,” read a tweet from the White House account on Friday that cited a post by the Supreme Leader of Iran, Ali Khamenei, on Palestine. “However, @Twitter has determined that it will allow terrorists, dictators, and foreign propagandists to abuse its platform.”
The legal limits of Trump's executive order on social media

Baybars Örsek, the director of the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN) at the Poynter Institute, said the issue is symptomatic of a deeper problem facing Twitter: Despite its efforts, the company hasn’t communicated clearly enough about how its enforcement works. The IFCN’s members, which include PolitiFact, the Associated Press and dozens of others, are the independent partners behind Facebook’s third-party fact-checking operation. Örsek said neither IFCN nor its members have heard from Twitter.

“Twitter needs to make it a big, transparent process how they decide what to fact check,” said Örsek. “It’s not easy if you have it done as an internal team. People will be asking questions about how are they choosing to do this duty.”

Twitter has been reluctant to reveal too much about its exact workflows when it comes to reviewing speech. The company has published numerous blog posts explaining its general approach to public figures and misinformation. But when pressed for specifics on the fact-checking of Trump’s tweets or its decision-making surrounding Trump’s baseless allegations against Scarborough, CEO Jack Dorsey has preferred to reply with vague platitudes.

It had to be Twitter

If this week proves anything, it’s that any action Twitter might have taken against Trump’s tweets was likely to provoke an extreme reaction. But Twitter is one of the few remaining major tech platforms Trump has not targeted with the levers of government, giving it wider latitude than some others to push back.

Facebook and Google are under active antitrust investigations, which, although by law must be conducted dispassionately and without a view to politics, have been interpreted as inextricably linked to Trump’s frequent outbursts about political bias.

Twitter labeled Trump tweets with a fact check for the first time

Twitter doesn’t have an antitrust problem because there are far larger and more powerful tech companies. So its exposure to regulatory retaliation is comparatively less, and its flexibility to challenge Trump somewhat greater, said Wexler. And for all his bluster, Trump has long depended on Twitter to communicate with millions.

Twitter now has to hope that Trump’s threats — and the executive order he signed this week calling for rethinking legal protections the industry was built on — end up being as toothless as some expect.

At least on that point, Twitter is probably in good company.



Source link

Mississippi mayor ignores calls to resign over comments on George Floyd’s death

PressNewsAgency
-
0
Mississippi mayor ignores calls to resign over comments on George Floyd’s death

A Mississippi mayor who sparked outrage when he said “if you can talk, you can breathe” about the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody is resisting calls to resign, including from his town’s board of aldermen.

“Why in the world would anyone choose to become a #PoliceOfficer in our society today?” Hal Marx, mayor of Petal, about 90 miles southeast of Jackson, tweeted Tuesday, the same day four Minneapolis police officers involved in detaining Floyd were fired.

Floyd, 46, who was black, died in Minneapolis police custody after a white officer, Derek Chauvin, pinned him to the ground and put his knee on his neck for about eight minutes. Chauvin was arrested Friday and charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter.

In a follow-up tweet, Marx said: “If you are talking about the incident in MN, I didn’t see anything unreasonable. If you can say you can’t breathe, you’re breathing. Most likely that man died of overdose or heart attack,” with no evidence. He also said that the police involved were being “crucified.”

Marx’s Twitter account no longer exists, and it was unclear who deactivated it and why.

The Petal Board of Aldermen held a special meeting Thursday night where some residents demanded he resign. The meeting was broadcast live on Facebook.

Alderman Clint Moore led the meeting and read a statement before the board voted unanimously to ask for Marx’s resignation. In Mississippi, an elected official can only be involuntarily removed from office if he or she has committed a felony, according to the Clarion Ledger.

“The city of Petal, Mississippi, and the cities surrounding have grown to be a place where individuals of all walks, backgrounds and beliefs are valued, supported and celebrated,” Moore said. “It is our goal to continue to embrace our diverse community and prosper.”

He said the strides made in the community have been great.

“Petal has become a hometown destination to many due to our excellent school district, safe way of life and community support,” Moore said. “Recently, Mayor Hal Marx has taken to social media and repeatedly made comments that have isolated, enraged and belittled individuals in a way that is unbecoming of our city.

“Furthermore, these remarks have alienated certain groups of our population, which is counter productive to our diverse community. Over the past few days, the vast number of our constituents who have reached out to us showing their disapproval and disdain have made it obvious that we can no longer accept this reality.”

Moore said the board believed Marx was “out of touch with the citizens” and unfit to continue in his capacity as mayor. Moore also said Marx’s comments are not an embodiment of the values that the city stands for and pledged the board would take every action available to ensure that Marx’s future as a leader in Petal is limited.

Moore’s statement drew applause from the audience.

Marx said in response that his wife has often advised him to stay off social media and to watch what he said and had he listened to her, he “probably wouldn’t have had some problems.”

He said he did not think through what he said in his tweets to include sympathy for Floyd and his family.

“What I said, came out in a way that I wish I said it differently,” Marx said. “It wasn’t to minimize that gentleman’s death.”

He said what he meant was that no one knows for sure how Floyd died or what occurred before he was pinned to the ground by a Minneapolis police officer.

“I spoke impulsively before I really looked at the whole picture and my point was simply to say that, in situations like this, a lot of times there’s a rush to judgment on things where things turn out to be differently than what they appear,” he said. “That’s my point. Nothing that I said in my mind was anything racial.”

As Marx spoke, members of the audience shouted over him, with some residents saying this was not his first insensitive or racist remark on social media.

Marx said he declined the request to resign and that he did not believe he did anything that warrants his resignation.

Afterward, the board voted unanimously to ask for Marx’s resignation.

Marx refused and said he does not believe in giving in to bullying and mob mentality.

Marx and Moore did not immediately return requests for comment Friday.

Many residents delivered emotional statements at Thursday’s meeting.

Myla Cox, 17, a student at Brown University, who grew up in Petal, said she faced a stigma at the Ivy League school because she was from Mississippi.

“Everybody looked down on me, everybody saw the type of people that ran my city, specifically you,” she told Marx. “People did a lot of research and they saw your social media and they saw what you said and what you openly didn’t apologize for.”

Cox said she had to work her freshman year to earn the respect of her peers.

“I’m very intelligent and for people to already have this kind of stigma because of words that you’ve said that didn’t at all reflect my opinion infuriates me,” Cox told Marx. “You not taking responsibility for things that you’ve openly said in the past … shows who you are and we do not want you leading.”

Source link

Home schooling boosts parents’ interest in teaching as a career

PressNewsAgency
-
0
Home schooling boosts parents’ interest in teaching as a career

School closures have turned the UK into a nation of temporary teachers since the coronavirus lockdown – and that may have inspired some people to seek new careers in the classroom, according to a new survey.

Now Teach, the charity co-founded by the former journalist Lucy Kellaway, encourages older workers to change careers, and has found that the lockdown has increased the status of school teachers among the population at large, as parents have come to appreciate the joys of designing scientific experiments that impart knowledge rather than just make a mess in the kitchen.

The survey of 2,000 UK adults found that 3% said they had “been thinking about becoming a teacher and I wasn’t before the coronavirus lockdown”, while a further 5% agreed that they had been “already thinking about becoming a teacher before the coronavirus lockdown but I’m thinking about it more seriously now”.

“The leap in interest in teaching is exactly what I’d hoped would happen during this wretched time,” said Kellaway, who left her post as a columnist at the Financial Times in 2016 and is now an economics teacher at Mossbourne Victoria Park academy in east London.

While 3% might not sound significant, Kellaway points out that across the UK population as a whole that would amount to more than enough recruits to solve any teaching shortages in Britain’s schools for a generation.

Now Teach said it has seen a 70% rise in applications for its training programme between March and May this year, at the height of the lockdown.

One of those, Aisha Singleton, who worked in publishing in Norwich, said: “My previous industry had so many opportunities and I have many great memories of it, but the bottom line is, I don’t feel I’ve really helped anyone.

“When coronavirus broke out, I thought, ‘I want to inspire young people, I want to be giving back.’ This pandemic has given me the final push in that direction.

“When children go back to school in September, they’re going to need support, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds.”

The survey found that despite some high-profile complaints, 64% of parents have enjoyed the experience of home schooling and only 9% reported a negative experience – which Kellaway thought might help explain the new attraction of a career in teaching.

The desire to change careers was strongest among workers who are still in full-time employment, according to the survey, rather than those who had been furloughed or were unemployed during the lockdown.

“I co-founded Now Teach four years ago because I hoped there were other professionals out there who, like me, wanted to do something more useful with their lives. The pandemic has made this point more powerfully than I ever could. It has shone a light on the emptiness of some jobs and made people want to do something that really matters,” Kellaway said.

The survey also found that respondents with school-age children – who have spent the past two months home schooling – “overwhelmingly reported increased gratitude to teachers and respect for what they do”, compared with just 4.5% who said their respect had lessened.

This came despite high-profile attacks on teaching unions by some in the media and government, over their concerns about the safe return of pupils into schools.

Source link

Coronavirus latest: at a glance

PressNewsAgency
-
0
Coronavirus latest: at a glance

Key developments in the global coronavirus outbreak today include:

US ‘terminating’ WHO relationship, says Trump

The US president says he is terminating the nation’s relationship with the World Health Organization. Donald Trump, who has previously threatened to withhold funding from the organisation, says the US will redirect the money to other bodies.

Brazil’s death toll surpasses that of Spain

The death toll in Brazil exceeds that of Spain as the country becomes the fifth-worst affected.

Reuters reports that Brazil’s health ministry has said another 1,124 people have died, taking the total number of fatalities to 27,878. That surpasses the 27,121 deaths that researchers at Johns Hopkins University believe Spain has suffered.

Another UK government adviser questions plan to ease lockdown

The UK government is lifting lockdown restrictions too early, another member of its own advisory committee warns.

Sir Jeremy Farrar, the director of the Wellcome Trust and a member of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage), voices approval of comments made by his Sage colleague Prof John Edmunds, who said the government is “taking risks” by relaxing measures from Monday.

Cummings breached spirit of lockdown, says former PM

Dominic Cummings, a senior Downing Street aide, did not follow the spirit of the UK’s lockdown rules with his actions , the former prime minister Theresa May says.

Her successor, Boris Johnson, has refused to sack Cummings, despite anecdotal evidence lending weight to experts’ concerns his transgressions are harming the country’s public health efforts during an epidemic that has killed tens of thousands of people in the country.

Turkish Muslims return to communal Friday prayers

Worshippers in Turkey hold their first communal Friday prayers in 74 days as the government reopens some mosques.

Prayers are held in the courtyards of selected mosques to minimise the risk of infection. Authorities distribute masks at the entrance to the mosques, spray hand sanitisers, and check temperatures.

Egypt suffers worst day since outbreak began

Egypt’s health ministry registers 1,289 new cases and 34 deaths, marking another record of daily increases on both counts despite stricter curfew rules. The figures bring the total number of fatalities to 879 and confirmed cases to 22,082, of which 5,511 people have recovered.

Known global death toll passes 363,000

The number of people around the world known to have been infected exceeds 5.8 million, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. At least 363,210 people are known to have died.

The US accounts for about 30% of cases, way ahead of Brazil (7.2%), Russia (6.6%), the UK (4.7%), Spain (4.1%) and Italy (4%).

Russia records biggest rise in deaths

Russia suffers its highest daily increase in deaths, with 232 more in 24 hours. That pushes the nationwide total to 4,374. Officials say 8,572 new infections have been confirmed, bringing the national tally to 387,623. Russia has the third highest reported total of cases in the world after the US and Brazil.

Iran sees highest tally of new infections since early April

Iran identifies more new cases in a day than at any time since early April, with 2,819 more people testing positive on Friday.

Kianoush Jahanpour, the Iranian health ministry spokesman, adds that 50 more people have died in the same period, pushing the total death toll from the outbreak to 7,677. Out of 146,668 cases detected so far, 114,931 people have recovered.

South Africa has backlog of nearly 100,000 tests

Health authorities in South Africa say the country has a backlog of nearly 100,000 unprocessed tests as it and other countries on the continent face difficulties in obtaining essential supplies.

“This challenge is caused by the limited availability of test kits globally,” the health ministry says. Priority is given to processing tests from hospital patients and health workers.

Source link

Free daily horoscope, celeb gossip and lucky numbers for 30 May, 2020

PressNewsAgency
-
0
Free daily horoscope, celeb gossip and lucky numbers for 30 May, 2020

CELEBRITIES BORN ON THIS DAY: Benny Goodman, Mel Blanc, Meredith MacRae, Keir Dullea, Brandon Blue, Wynonna Judd, Christine Jorgensen, Michael J. Pollard.

ARIES (March 21-April 19): While you can be quite resistant to change, you may find that you’re unusually keen to implement new ideas, thanks to an energetic vibe. There’s a possibility of an interesting lead, but you may have to rely more on lucky timing than skill. All that said; don’t try to change too much too soon!

Want to know what the future holds? Get a FREE tarot card reading.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): It’s a day where communications may be a little unreliable and your drive could dip as a result. You might misinterpret a gesture, an offer or some advice. It may even be that the advice/offer won’t address what you really need. Just in case; don’t depend too heavily on others!

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): There may be couple of one-off openings on the work front. Tread carefully here. Select the things which you know you can do. Avoid anything that might require you to be strict or pushy with others in the next few days, since today’s bubbly vibe is not likely to last for long!

CANCER (June 21-July 22): There may be a vague sense of pressure. If there is, then it could involve a project or an interest, but it’s more likely to relate to a recent work related deadline. Your sense of staying- power will be admirable, but only if you can somehow get past the initial stumbling block!

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): There may be some lively moments on the emotional front, but there’s a strong chance of making a couple of risky decisions when it comes to material matters. Work to your strengths. It’s a day to think ahead and make informed decisions rather than a day to try and impress others!

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Minor planetary aspects will tend to cast a subtle flavor to the day. There may be some initial tension in a specific relationship. If so, then don’t assume that you’re right and that someone else is wrong over a particular matter: chances are that you’ll both need to give a little!

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): There’s little change in today’s influences. The vibe generally should be settled, to the extent where you’ll feel very clear- headed and on track. Work issues can be dealt with efficiently, and with that in mind, don’t waste the dynamic vibes on the more mundane things: push yourself a little!

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): A minor but negative Mars/moon aspect will settle in early on. Minor risks with cash or with material matters in general might look safe enough, but do reconsider any transactions. If it’s an old-versus-new choice, then it might be wise to stick with what you know and trust!

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): An ability to pick up other people’s thoughts and feelings should make this day an easy one in some respects, although an overly pessimistic approach to ongoing issues could initially cause some minor friction. Avoid judgmental statements, or you could test someone’s patience too much!

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): It’s a day to take on board any useful signs and signals on the career front. This may involve taking a back seat position for the day. You may not like the idea of a slower pace, but pausing to take a breather will help you to spot something that you might otherwise miss!

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): It may be one of those so-so days where nothing really takes off. There may be a vague sense of something brewing in the air; there may be more direct signs of a development or it could even be a feeling that you’re on the verge of something important or big. Give this a day or two to develop further!

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): A tactful approach will get you further than an overly harsh or demanding one. Giving other people a little time to come round might appear to be counter-productive, especially if you’re the one shouldering most of the burden, but actually, as a strategy it’s likely to work!

FOR THOSE OF US BORN ON THIS DAY: Happy Birthday! The months ahead will begin a series of practical challenges that will relate to problems with the home or possibly transport arrangements. None of these issues will be too major, but the process of solving them will be important in building your inner confidence. This will also help when an unexpected opportunity requires you to have the self belief to say yes mid-year. Romance may be a little tricky from the summer months to the fall, probably due to extra work commitments. However, the last few months of the year will bring a special event that will cement any relationship and make it much stronger and more secure. Singles are most likely to meet that special someone and have a fantastically romantic time!

CELEBRITY GOSSIP: Vanessa Hudgens may have been fined for creating graffiti with her current love, but the $1,000 penalty will feel worthwhile to Vanessa. The planets suggest that she is feeling extremely loved up right now!

Today’s lucky numbers

ARIES  4, 17, 25, 28, 32, 45

TAURUS  7, 12, 23, 28, 35, 41

GEMINI  9, 14, 20, 36, 42, 47

CANCER  1, 18, 21, 33, 37, 45

LEO  2, 15, 23, 29, 33, 49

VIRGO  7, 13, 27, 34, 41, 45

LIBRA  9, 14, 25, 32, 35, 43

SCORPIO  6, 15, 17, 28, 34, 41

SAGITTARIUS  9, 17, 21, 30, 38, 46

CAPRICORN  3, 7, 12, 25, 33, 49

AQUARIUS  8, 14, 23, 30, 35, 48

PISCES  9, 17, 22, 29, 34, 40

TODAY’S CHINESE PROVERB: A sly rabbit will have three openings to its den.

TODAY’S MOTIVATIONAL QUOTE: The bitterest tears shed over graves are for words left unsaid and deeds left undone. – Harriet Beecher Stowe.

TODAY’S WISDOM FROM AROUND THE WORLD: Use soft words and hard arguments. – English proverb.



Source link

1...67,10067,10167,102...67,235Page 67,101 of 67,235