Author: CensorBiz

Seven Minneapolis police officers have quit as the future of the city’s entire police department is uncertain after the death of George Floyd.  It is unclear if their leaving has anything to do directly with Floyd.The department sent a statement to Minneapolis radio station WCCO saying “People seek to leave employment for a myriad of reason. The MPD is no exception. Due to these employment separations, we have not noted any indicators that would impact public safety.”But several officers have told the Minneapolis Star Tribune newspaper that they are upset by Mayor Jacob Frey’s decision to abandon the city’s third precinct during the Floyd protests two weeks ago.Officers were ordered to leave that section of the city and their precinct house was burned.  “If we decided to continue to hold the 3rd Precinct there very likely would have been hand-to-hand combat, likely serious injury and maybe death, and in the decision between a building and life-or-death we decided to evacuate,” Frey has said.FILE – Onlookers inspect the burnt ruins of the Minnehaha Liquor store near the Minneapolis 3rd Police Precinct, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, June 2, 2020.All 12 city council members said in a resolution last week that they intend to dismantle the city’s police department and replace it with “a transformative new model for cultivating safety” in the city — the details of which are unclear.  Fourteen police officers, who say they are speaking for the hundreds in the department of officers, have written an open letter to the people of Minneapolis, condemning the policeman who kept his knee on George Floyd’s neck for nearly nine minutes, which allegedly contributed to Floyd’s death.“We wholeheartedly condemn Derek Chauvin. We Are With You in the denouncement of Derek Chauvin’s actions on Memorial Day, 2020. Like us, Derek Chauvin took an oath to hold the sanctity of life most precious. Derek Chauvin failed as a human and stripped George Floyd of his dignity and life. This is not who we are,” the letter states.  Chauvin has been charged with second-degree murder and three other officers with aiding and abetting.Also in Minneapolis, the city’s parks department says they have no plans to fix a sign at a city park which an anonymous person altered to pay tribute to George Floyd.The sign at the entrance to George Todd Park – named for a former city alderman – now reads “George Floyd Park” with a large decal plastered over the name Todd.The city park is about five kilometers south of where Floyd died.People fill a street June 14, 2020, inside what has been named the Capitol Hill Occupied Protest (CHOP) zone in Seattle, Washington. Protesters calling for police reform and other changes have taken over several blocks near the city’s downtown area.In Seattle, Police Chief Carmen Best says she hopes officers can move back into a section of the city taken over by peaceful protesters without resorting to “something that devolves into a force situation.”Chief Best appeared on CBS television’s Face the Nation Sunday.Anti-racist protesters have peacefully occupied a four-block part of the city which they’ve named “Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone.” Organizers say they want a neighborhood without police. A huge “Black Lives Matter” mural covers the area’s main thoroughfare.U.S. President Donald Trump has called the occupiers “ugly anarchists” and said the city should “take back” the zone.  But Mayor Jenny Durkan last week likened the zone to “a block party atmosphere” and no threat to the public but said it will be restored to the city at some time.  A Chicago Sun Times newspaper report says 75% of those arrested for violating a citywide curfew imposed over the Floyd protests were African American. The curfew ended June 7.A Chicago police spokesman denies any implication that race had anything to do with the arrests, saying curfew enforcement was “universal” and equally enforced in all neighborhoods.Anti-racism marches inspired by George Floyd’s death continued all weekend in some large European cities.  Demonstrators in Berlin formed a nine-kilometer long chain that began at the Brandenburg Gate.Demonstrators attend a ‘This Is Solidarity’ rally organized by the Unteilbar (Indivisible) movement, in Berlin, Germany, June 14, 2020.Protesters in Milan painted the words “rapist” and “racist” on a statue honoring the late Italian journalist Indro Montanelli who had once admitted marrying a 12-year-old girl in Eritrea when it was an Italian colony more than 80 years ago.In Paris, it was the police who protested against what they say are unfair accusations of racism and brutality.Shortly after 15,000 people demonstrated in the French capital, about 50 officers and their police cars surrounded the Arc de Triomphe.  British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Sunday “racist thuggery” has no place in British streets after right-wing extremists attacked protesters against racism. About 100 people were arrested.London Mayor Sadiq Khan blamed the violence solely on the right-wingers and he thanked police for doing a “fantastic job” in restoring order.  Also Sunday, hundreds marched through Tokyo, holding banners reading “Black Lives Matter”.“I think it is so wrong to discriminate based on appearance, and I wanted to relay the message that the American people have allies in Japan,” said one young marcher, condemning what some Japanese say is occasional police harassment of dark-skinned foreigners.  Thousands also demonstrated Sunday in New Zealand and took a knee for a moment of silence for George Floyd in front of the U.S. consulate.
 
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The thousands of people expected to attend next Saturday’s political rally for President Donald Trump in Oklahoma “probably” ought to wear a face mask to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus, White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said Sunday. The Trump campaign, however, has not said whether it plans to enforce guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control calling for face coverings at large gatherings such as the Trump rally in in Tulsa. As many as 19,000 people could crowd into the city’s BOK Center to take part in the president’s first large-scale rally in three months. Kudlow told CNN that as U.S. workers return to their jobs after being laid off because of the spread of the coronavirus, they should continue to observe social distancing guidelines calling for people to stay two meters away from others and to wear face masks. Asked whether his suggestion for workers to wear a face mask also applied to people at the Trump rally, Kudlow said, “Well, OK. Probably so.”   Asked how the rally can be held safely, one of the president’s biggest supporters, Oklahoma Republican Senator James Lankford told ABC’s “This Week” show, “I don’t know how they’re going to handle that.” But he said he plans to go. Trump has repeatedly ignored suggestions that he wear a face mask in public to set an example for Americans to prevent the spread of the pandemic that has infected more than 2 million people and killed more than 115,000 in the U.S., both figures by far the most in any nation around the world. Asked about wearing a face mask, Trump at one point said, “I don’t think I’m going to be doing it.” But liability for the spread of COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus, is worrying the Trump campaign. It claims that 200,000 to 300,000 people have requested tickets for the Tulsa rally in one of the biggest Trump-supportive states in the country. FILE – President Donald Trump walks onstage to speak at a campaign rally, Feb. 28, 2020, in North Charleston, S.C.But anyone requesting a ticket must agree to a disclaimer saying they acknowledge the “inherent risk of exposure to COVID-19 exists in any public place where people are present” and agrees to relinquish any right to sue the Trump campaign or the arena if they subsequently contract the virus. Trump, believing large-scale rallies are a crucial political lifeline leading up to his November national re-election contest against former Vice President Joe Biden, has made it clear he does not want to speak to a two-thirds-empty arena to accommodate social distancing or a sea of faces wearing face masks.
Trump campaign chairman Brad Parscale said last week, “Americans are ready to get back to action and so is President Trump. The Great American Comeback is real and the rallies will be tremendous.” But Dr. Anthony Fauci, the country’s top infectious disease expert, voiced deep concerns last week about the crowd expected to hear Trump, saying that the pandemic is far from over. “Oh my goodness,” Fauci said. “Where is it going to end? We’re still at the beginning of really understanding.” Some Americans have equated wearing a face mask as a sign of weakness, but U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams said Sunday on Twitter, “Some feel face coverings infringe on their freedom of choice — but if more wear them, we’ll have MORE freedom to go out.” He said that with face coverings, there would be “less asymptomatic viral spread, more places open, and sooner! Exercise and promote your freedom by choosing to wear a face covering!” According to the Centers for Disease Control guidelines, the Trump rally would fall into the “highest risk” category, defined as “large in-person gatherings where it is difficult for individuals to remain spaced at least 6 feet (two meters) apart and attendees travel from outside the local area.” The CDC guidance also says that “cloth face coverings are strongly encouraged in settings where individuals might raise their voice (e.g., shouting, chanting, singing)” — all of which is typical of a political rally.  
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South Korea on Sunday convened an emergency security meeting and urged North Korea to uphold reconciliation agreements, hours after the North threatened to demolish a liaison office and take military action against its rival.There’s concern that North Korea could turn to provocation to bolster its internal unity and wrest outside concessions as nuclear talks with the United States remain deadlocked. Observers say North Korea desperately needs sanctions relief in the face of harsh U.S.-led sanctions and the coronavirus pandemic.South Korea’s national security director, Chung Eui-yong, held an emergency video conference with ministers in charge of security and military generals on Sunday morning to discuss the latest situation on the Korean Peninsula and the government’s possible steps, the presidential Blue House said in a statement.The Unification Ministry, which handles relations with North Korea, later said that both Koreas must strive to abide by all agreements they have reached. The Defense Ministry said separately it closely monitors North Korea’s military and maintains a firm military readiness.Both ministries said the South Korean government “views the current situation as grave.”On Saturday night, Kim Yo Jong, the influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, warned that Seoul will soon witness “a tragic scene of the useless North-South liaison office (in North Korea) being completely collapsed.” She also said she would leave to North Korea’s military the right to take the next step of retaliation against South Korea.North Korean Leader’s Sister Threatens Military Action Against South Korea ‘We will soon take a next action,’ vows Kim Yo Jong North Korea earlier suspended communication lines with South Korea and threatened to nullify 2018 agreements that led the Koreas to halt firing exercises, remove some land mines and tear down guard posts in front-line areas.The North has linked its recent series of threats to Seoul’s failure to prevent activists from launching propaganda leaflets across their border. But some experts say North Korea is deeply frustrated that South Korea hasn’t done enough to revive lucrative joint economic projects as well as over a lack of progress in its nuclear talks with Washington.The negotiations have made little progress since a second summit between Kim Jong Un and President Donald Trump in early 2019 fell apart because of disputes over how much sanctions should be lifted in return for Kim’s dismantling his main nuclear complex.Kim later vowed to expand his nuclear arsenal, introduce a new strategic weapon and overcome the U.S.-led sanctions that he said “stifles” his country’s economy.He also pushed South Korea to resume the operations of the two big inter-Korean projects — a factory park and a tourism site, both in North Korea — but South Korea was unable to do so due to the sanctions.Kim’s struggle to address economic woes has likely faced setbacks as the coronavirus pandemic forced North Korea to close its border with China, its biggest trading partner. North Korea says it hasn’t reported a single outbreak but foreign experts question that claim and warn a pandemic in the North could be dire due to its fragile heath care system.Some observers say the end of the 2018 deals could allow North Korea to send ships across the disputed sea boundary, float down mines on a border river or take other provocative steps at the border area. The South Korean Defense Ministry statement said the 2018 deals must be maintained to prevent accidental armed clashes and establish peace on the Korean Peninsula.But it’s still unclear if the North would go ahead with its threat to destroy the liaison office, which was built at a North Korean border town following a 2018 summit between Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in. Such a move could deepen anti-Pyongyang sentiments and make it difficult for the North to restore ties with South Korea when needed. 
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White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said Sunday the U.S. economy, the world’s largest, is “now in a recovery stage” from the debilitating effects of the coronavirus pandemic that closed thousands of businesses, even as forecasters say unemployment figures will remain high for months. Kudlow told CNN, “I think we are on our way back. 2021 is going to be a solid, solid year.” He indicated the $600-a-week unemployment compensation supplement the federal government has been paying more than 40 million unemployed workers in addition to state jobless benefits is likely to end as scheduled at the end of July. “We’re paying people not to work,” he said. “It’s better than their salaries” in some instances. He said a such a boost for unemployed workers might have made sense in the early stages of the coronavirus-caused business shutdowns, but not as the economy recovers.  FILE – White House chief economic adviser Larry Kudlow talks to reporters about the economic impact of the coronavirus, at the White House, March 16, 2020, in Washington.However, he said the Trump administration is envisioning “some kind of bonus to return to work” for those who have been laid off, although not as much as the weekly federal unemployment compensation supplements that have been paid for 2 ½ months. Some lawmakers have suggested a one-time $1,200 stipend might be paid to returning workers. “We want people to go back to work,” Kudlow said. “I think people want to go back to work. We don’t want to interfere with that.” He said state unemployment compensation benefits would not end, They, however, typically only amount to somewhat less than half of what workers are paid and vary widely among the 50 U.S. states. Despite Kudlow’s upbeat assessment of the U.S. economy, he said the continuing number of coronavirus infections and deaths in the U.S. “is a concern” in impeding the economic recovery. The U.S. far and away leads all countries across the world in the number of infections, more than 2 million, and the number of deaths, more than 115,000, with tens of thousands of more people expected to die in the coming months. Kudlow said, “People must observe the [coronavirus] safety guidelines” by maintaining social distancing of at least two meters from other people and wearing face masks “in key places.” The official U.S. jobless rate was 13.3% in May, although officials say that when a survey error was accounted for, the rate should have totaled 16.4%.  Another 1.5 Million US Workers Seek Jobless BenefitsIn all, 44 million workers have filed for unemployment compensation since mid-March, more than a quarter of the US labor force The Federal Reserve, the U.S. central bank, predicted Wednesday that the U.S. unemployment will fall to 9.3% by the end of this year and to 6.5% by the end of 2021, a rosier advance than some economists are forecasting.  Fed Chair Jerome Powell acknowledged the continuing employment hardship for millions of Americans.  “Unemployment remains historically high,” he said at a news conference. “The downturn has not fallen equally on all Americans. The rise in joblessness has been especially severe for lower wage workers, women, African Americans and Hispanics.”  The Fed, at the end of a two-day policy meeting, said, “The ongoing public health crisis will weigh heavily on economic activity, employment, and inflation in the near term, and poses considerable risks to the economic outlook over the medium term.”  
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Fitness junkies locked out of gyms, commuters fearful of public transit, and families going stir crazy inside their homes during the coronavirus pandemic have created a boom in bicycle sales unseen in decades. In the United States, bicycle aisles at mass merchandisers like Walmart and Target have been swept clean, and independent shops are doing a brisk business and are selling out of affordable “family” bikes. FILE- In this June 11, 2020 photo, bicycle display racks are empty at a Target in Milford, Mass. A bicycle rush has been brought on by the coronavirus pandemic.Bicycle sales over the past two months saw their biggest spike in the U.S. since the oil crisis of the 1970s, said Jay Townley, who analyzes cycling industry trends at Human Powered Solutions. “People quite frankly have panicked, and they’re buying bikes like toilet paper,” Townley said, referring to the rush to buy essentials like toilet paper and hand sanitizer that stores saw at the beginning of the pandemic. The trend is mirrored around the globe, as cities better known for car-clogged streets, like Manila and Rome, install bike lanes to accommodate surging interest in cycling while public transport remains curtailed. In London, municipal authorities plan to go further by banning cars from some central thoroughfares. Bike shop owners in the Philippine capital say demand is stronger than at Christmas. Financial incentives are boosting sales in Italy, where the government’s post-lockdown stimulus last month included a 500-euro ($575) “bici bonus” rebate for up to 60% of the cost of a bike. But that’s if you can get your hands on one. The craze has led to shortages that will take some weeks, maybe months, to resolve, particularly in the U.S., which relies on China for about 90% of its bicycles, Townley said. Production there was largely shut down due to the coronavirus and is just resuming. In this June 9, 2020 photo, Harvey Curtis, left, discusses repair plans with customer Jack Matheson outside Sidecountry Sports, a bike shop in Rockland, Maine. Matheson is looking forward to getting his 40-year-old Raleigh back on the road.The bicycle rush kicked off in mid-March around the time countries were shutting their borders, businesses were closing, and stay-at-home orders were being imposed to slow the spread of the coronavirus that has infected millions of people and killed more than 450,000. Sales of adult leisure bikes tripled in April while overall U.S. bike sales, including kids’ and electric-assist bicycles, doubled from the year before, according to market research firm NPD Group, which tracks retail bike sales. It’s a far cry from what was anticipated in the U.S. The $6 billion industry had projected lower sales based on lower volume in 2019 in which punitive tariffs on bicycles produced in China reached 25%. There are multiple reasons for the pandemic bicycle boom. Around the world, many workers were looking for an alternative to buses and subways. People unable to go to their gyms looked for another way to exercise. And shut-in families scrambled to find a way to keep kids active during stay-at-home orders. “Kids are looking for something to do. They’ve probably reached the end of the internet by now, so you’ve got to get out and do something,” said Dave Palese at Gorham Bike and Ski, a Maine shop where there are slim pickings for family-oriented, leisure bikes. Bar Harbor restaurateur Brian Smith bought a new bike for one of his daughters, a competitive swimmer, who was unable to get into the pool. On a recent day, he was heading back to his local bike shop to outfit his youngest daughter, who’d just learned how to ride. His three daughters use their bikes every day, and the entire family goes for rides a couple of times a week. The fact that they’re getting exercise and enjoying fresh air is a bonus. “It’s fun. Maybe that’s the bottom line. It’s really fun to ride bikes,” Smith said as he and his 7-year-old daughter, Ellery, pedaled to the bicycle shop. The pandemic is also driving a boom in electric-assist bikes, called e-bikes, which were a niche part of the overall market until now. Most e-bikes require a cyclist to pedal, but electric motors provide extra oomph. VanMoof, a Dutch e-bike maker, is seeing “unlimited demand” since the pandemic began, resulting in a 10-week order backlog for its commuter electric bikes, compared with typical one-day delivery time, said co-founder Taco Carlier. The company’s sales surged 138% in the U.S. and rocketed 184% in Britain in the February-April period over last year, with big gains in other European countries. The company is scrambling to ramp up production as fast as it can, but it will take two to three months to meet the demand, Carlier said. “We did have some issues with our supply chain back in January, February when the crisis hit first in Asia,” said Carlier. But “the issue is now with demand, not supply.” Sales at Cowboy, a Belgian e-bike maker, tripled in the January-April period from last year. Notably, they spiked in Britain and France at around the same time in May that those countries started easing lockdown restrictions, said Chief Marketing Officer Benoit Simeray. “It’s now becoming very obvious for most of us living in and around cities that we don’t want to go back into public transportation,” said Simeray. But people may still need to buy groceries or commute to the office one or two days a week, so “then they’re starting to really, really think about electric bikes as the only solution they’ve got.” In Maine, Kate Worcester, a physician’s assistant, bought e-bikes for herself and her 12-year-old son so they could have fun at a time when she couldn’t travel far from the hospital where she worked. Every night, she and her son ride 20 miles or 30 miles (30 or 50 kilometers) around Acadia National Park. “It’s by far the best fun I’ve had with him,” she said. “That’s been the biggest silver lining in this terrible pandemic — to be able to leave work and still do an activity and talk and enjoy each other.” Joe Minutolo, co-owner of Bar Harbor Bicycle Shop, said he hopes the sales surge translates into long-term change. “People are having a chance to rethink things,” he said. “Maybe we’ll all learn something out of this, and something really good will happen.” 
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An Atlanta police officer was fired following the fatal shooting of a black man and another officer was placed on administrative duty, the police department announced early Sunday.         FILE – Atlanta Police Chief Erika Shields attends a news conference in Atlanta, Jan. 4, 2018. On June 13, 2020, Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms announced that Shields was resigning following a fatal shooting by an officer the night before.The moves follows the Saturday resignation of Atlanta Police Chief Erika Shields, who stepped down as the Friday night killing of Rayshard Brooks, 27, sparked a new wave of protests in Atlanta after turbulent demonstrations following the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police had simmered down.         The terminated officer was identified as Garrett Rolfe, who was hired in October 2013, and the officer placed on administrative duty is Devin Brosnan, who was hired in September 2018, according to a release from police spokesperson Sgt. John Chafee.         The police department also released body camera and dash camera footage from both officers.         More than 40 minutes elapses between the time Brosnan first knocks on Brooks’ car door while he’s in Wendy’s drive-thru and when gunshots ring out; Rolfe arrives on scene about 16 minutes in. The shooting is audible in footage from Rolfe’s dash camera and both officers’ body cameras but wasn’t captured on any of the four recordings provided by police. Both body cameras fall off during the struggle that ensues when Rolfe moves to handcuff Brooks after speaking to him for about 20 minutes, although Brooks is briefly glimpsed being Tased before he’s shot.         A protester holds a sign in front of police, near the Wendy’s restaurant in Atlanta where Rayshard Brooks was fatally shot by police the night before, June 13, 2020.Protesters on Saturday night set fire to the Wendy’s restaurant where Brooks was fatally shot the night before and blocked traffic on a nearby highway. The fire was out by 11:30 p.m., but video from local news stations showed it again aflame around 4 a.m. Sunday. Atlanta police said 36 people were arrested at protests as of midnight.         Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms announced the police chief’s resignation at a Saturday afternoon news conference and had called for the immediate firing of the officer who opened fire.         “I do not believe that this was a justified use of deadly force,” Bottoms said.       She said it was Shields’ own decision to step aside and that she would remain with the city in an undetermined role. Interim Corrections Chief Rodney Bryant will serve as interim police chief.         The Georgia Bureau of Investigation, which is probing the shooting, said the deadly confrontation started with a complaint that a man was sleeping in a car blocking the restaurant’s drive-thru lane. The GBI said Brooks failed a field sobriety test and then resisted officers’ attempts to arrest him.         Rolfe is seen on body camera video administering the field sobriety test, followed by a Breathalyzer test with Brooks’ permission. He moves to arrest Brooks after the Breathalyzer test; while he doesn’t tell Brooks the result, the machine displays a 0.108 in video captured by Rolfe’s own body camera.         The GBI released security camera video of the shooting Saturday, which does not show Brooks’ initial struggle with police. The footage shows a man running from two white police officers as he raises a hand, which is holding an object, toward an officer a few steps behind him. The officer draws his gun and fires as the man keeps running, then falls to the ground in the parking lot.         This screen grab taken from body camera video provided by the Atlanta Police Department shows Rayshard Brooks speaking with Officer Garrett Rolfe in the parking lot of a Wendy’s restaurant, late Friday, June 12, 2020, in Atlanta.GBI Director Vic Reynolds said Brooks had grabbed a Taser from one officer and appeared to point it at the officer as he fled. The officer fired an estimated three shots.         L. Chris Stewart, an attorney for Brooks’ family, said the officer who shot him should be charged for “an unjustified use of deadly force, which equals murder.”          “You can’t have it both ways in law enforcement,” Stewart said. “You can’t say a Taser is a nonlethal weapon … but when an African American grabs it and runs with it, now it’s some kind of deadly, lethal weapon that calls for you to unload on somebody.”         He said Brooks was a father of four and had celebrated a daughter’s eighth birthday Friday before he was killed.          The shooting came at a time of heightened tension over police brutality and calls for reforms across the U.S. following the May 25 death of Floyd in Minneapolis.         Demonstrators, including members of Brooks’ family, gathered Saturday outside the restaurant where he was shot.          Among those protesting was Crystal Brooks, who said she is Rayshard Brooks’ sister-in-law.          “He wasn’t causing anyone any harm,” she said. “The police went up to the car and even though the car was parked they pulled him out of the car and started tussling with him.”         She added: “He did grab the Taser, but he just grabbed the Taser and ran.”         Shields, Atlanta’s police chief for under four years, was initially praised in the days following Floyd’s death. She said the officers involved should go to prison and told demonstrators she understood their frustrations and fears. She appeared at Bottoms’ side as the mayor made an impassioned plea for protesters to go home when things turned violent with smashed storefronts and police cruisers set ablaze.         Days later, Shields fired two officers and benched three others caught on video in a hostile confrontation with two college students whose car was stuck in traffic caused by protests. The officers fired Tasers at the pair and dragged them from the vehicle. When prosecutors later charged six of the officers involved, however, Shields openly questioned the charges.         The shooting of Brooks two weeks later raised further questions about the Atlanta department.          “It is time for the city to move forward and build trust between law enforcement and the communities they serve,” Shields said in a statement.         Reynolds said his agents will turn over results of their investigation to Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard, whose office will decide whether criminal charges are warranted against either officer.         Howard said Saturday his office “has already launched an intense, independent investigation of the incident.”         Brooks died after being taken to an Atlanta hospital. One of the officers was treated and released for unspecified injuries.       
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Brazil has moved past Britain to become the country with the second-highest COVID-19 death toll.  The South American country’s death tally early Sunday was 42,720, while Britain’s was 41,747, according to Johns Hopkins University.The U.S. count of 115,436 deaths keeps the country at the top of the list.Johns Hopkins reports the number of coronavirus cases around the world is steadily climbing toward the 8 million mark.The U.S. has more than 2 million cases, followed again by Brazil with more than 850,000 infections.  Russia has the third-highest number of cases, with more than 519,000.China reported 57 new COVID-19 cases Sunday, its highest one-day total in two months. Thirty-six locally transmitted cases were detected in Beijing. China reported 45 positive cases Saturday.Most of the cases in Beijing have been traced to a wholesale seafood and produce market. Officials said Saturday the new cases in the capital have placed the city in a ‘’wartime emergency mode.” The market, the largest wholesale agricultural market in Asia, and its surrounding neighborhoods are on lockdown.Beijing officials plan to test 10,000 people for infection. A city spokesman said sports events and plans to reopen schools Monday will be suspended and the National Theatre and Yonghe temple will be closed.More than 20,000 rugby fans in New Zealand were allowed into a sports stadium Saturday without masks or social distancing.  New Zealand has not recorded a new case of coronavirus in three weeks.Spectators watch the Super Rugby Aotearoa rugby game between the Highlanders and Chiefs in Dunedin, New Zealand, June 13, 2020.“It’s a world first and it’s a payoff for all the hard work of 5 million New Zealanders,” Sports Minister Grant Robertson told the Associated Press.A European pharmaceutical giant reached agreement Saturday with an alliance of European countries to supply those nations with up to 400 million doses of an experimental COVID-19 vaccine.AstraZeneca struck a deal with the Inclusive Vaccines Alliance, established by France, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands, to accelerate production of a vaccine being tested by the University of Oxford that may be available by year’s end.Saturday’s agreement aims to make the vaccine available to other European countries that wish to participate in the initiative.AstraZeneca previously reached similar deals with Britain; the Serum Institute of India; the U.S.; the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, which works to develop vaccines for future epidemics; and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance — aimed at providing access to new and underused vaccines for children in the poorest countries. 
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The new coronavirus has left its mark on Angkor Wat, the world’s top tourist attraction.Foreign visitors are rare, the elephants are being rehoused and local businesses have gone bankrupt, but for Cambodians it’s a chance to reclaim their heritage.Authorities say the number of paying visitors have been measured by the dozens on any given day and all are among those who remained in the country after the coronavirus began crossing borders in late January, forcing lockdowns around the world and ending international travel.That compares with more than 2.2 million tourists who last year paid almost $100 million to get through the gates of the 12th century temple, which covers 208 hectares.“I find it very interesting without the tourists, because we usually have a lot of people out there and when we go there it’s just like you are visitors, not the real people who own this country, but now it’s very good,” Sreynath Sarum, a hospitality worker from Phnom Penh, said.Cambodia’s tourism industry had blossomed over the last 10 to 15 years with Angkor Wat, the ruins and surrounding temples in the country’s north west consistently winning international awards, and the nearby town of Siem Reap was rebuilt into a tourist hub.Mass tourism also brought problems, though.In this April 15, 2016, photo, tourists visit the Banteay Srey temple of the Angkor complex.Long lines at the gate, endless rows of buses, lines of Chinese visitors with selfie sticks and Westerners in Hawaiian shirts, shorts and joggers had turned a sacred religious site of Hindu gods and Buddhist traditions into a carnival theme park.That doesn’t always sit well with the monks and ordinary Khmers who value Angkor Wat as the foundation of Cambodian society, a reminder that this country was once a regional superpower and as a symbol of survival during 30 years of bloody civil war.Lonely Planet author and filmmaker Nick Ray said if there can be a positive side to a pandemic, then it was Cambodians reconnecting with their spiritual side.“From an economic point of view, it’s pretty tragic to see the absence of tourists. We know what that means for the economy and how badly businesses are hurting, like hotels, guesthouses, restaurants, cafes, bars, it’s like a ghost town, really,” he added.“But from a Cambodian perspective, it’s like they’ve reclaimed the temples. It’s Cambodian ancestry, it’s Cambodian heritage, it’s on the flag, Angkor is the spiritual symbol of a nation, and they’ve really taken that to heart again.”Angkor Wat today is not unlike it was two decades ago, when the archaeological site was serenely quiet with the Khmer Rouge disarming but bandits and the widespread theft of ancient relics by organized crime rings were issues that had to be dealt with before opening the temples up to global tourism.Standards of living have also improved over the last 20 years, and amid the ruins Cambodian children are now riding push bikes and playing in sand pits, while their parents pray at Buddhist shrines and hike through tropical forests.“I can’t imagine a time when Cambodians could go to Angkor Wat and pray in peace without hordes of people, or play badminton or picnic with their families – and that was a really kind of special experience to see,” travel writer Marissa Carruthers said.“But like I say, it’s quite stark seeing the temples and Siem Reap completely shut down.”This July 19, 2012, photo shows the Apsara sculptures carved on a wall of the Angkor Wat temple complex in Siem Reap, northwest of Phnom Penh, Cambodia.The big bucks and crowds evaporated almost immediately as the COVID-19 pandemic took hold, and getting them back as lockdowns end remains tricky.The government has announced a complicated set of rules including COVID-19 tests, medical certificates, health insurance and a new type of visa for future holiday makers.If a passenger on an inbound flight displays any COVID-19 symptoms and tests positive, everyone on board could be quarantined for two weeks. Moreover, every foreign visitor to the country must deposit $3,000 in a local bank account on arrival to cover any costs.Money that is not spent is expected to be returned, but these are moves which have upset the dormant tourism industry as unnecessary obstacles to be negotiated by travelers, particularly those from the West who already require at least two flights to get here.“That’s pretty off-putting to be honest,” Ray said regarding the deposit.“It’s almost akin to saying, ‘You know, we are closed for business,’” he added.Locals are also aware of the problems associated with COVID-19 and the harsh economic realities caused by the disease.“I would like to have the tourists come back because the people out there, they are struggling a lot, but slowly, slowly, not like a million people come back at the same time,” Sreynath Sarum said. 
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Idaho police say the two sets of remains found last week have been identified as those of two children missing since September.The police said Saturday the remains of 17-year-old Tylee Ryan and 7-year-old Joshua “JJ” Vallow were found at the home of Chad Daybell who is married to Lori Vallow, the children’s mother.“It is not the outcome we had hoped; to be able to find the children safe,” the Rexburg, Idaho, police department said in a statement.Vallow and Daybell married late last year after the suspicious deaths of their previous spouses and after the children were last seen. The police say the couple refused to participate in the missing children investigation.The newlyweds were found and arrested in Hawaii in February. They were extradited to Idaho, where they are facing multiple charges.  
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Ukrainian officials on Saturday said they were offered $5 million in bribes to end a probe into energy company Burisma’s founder, but said there was no connection to former board member Hunter Biden, whose father is running for the U.S. presidency.The Ukrainian company was thrust into the global spotlight last year in the impeachment inquiry into whether U.S. President Donald Trump improperly pressured Kyiv into opening a case against former Vice President Joe Biden, his rival in the November election race, and Biden’s son.Artem Sytnyk, head of Ukraine’s national anti-corruption bureau (NABU), said three people had been detained, including one current and former tax official, over the bribe offer.The money was the largest cash bribe ever seized in the country, NABU said. It was put on display during a press briefing, brought by masked men in see-through plastic bags.Founder now abroadBurisma said in a statement it had nothing to do with the matter. It did not respond to a request for comment from the company’s founder, Mykola Zlochevsky, a former ecology minister now living abroad.“Let’s put an end to this once and for all. Biden Jr. and Biden Sr. do not appear in this particular proceeding,” Nazar Kholodnytsky, head of anti-corruption investigations at the prosecution service, told Saturday’s briefing.The bribe related to a case of embezzling state money given to a bank, officials said. Some $5 million was offered to anti-corruption officials and a further $1 million was intended for an official acting as a middleman, Sytnyk said.The suspects were in a hurry to pay the bribe because they wanted to end the case against Zlochevsky in time for his birthday on Sunday, “to close the criminal proceedings and ensure the return of Mr. Zlochevsky to Ukraine,” he said.No evidence of Biden wrongdoing foundThe country’s former prosecutor general told Reuters in June that an audit he commissioned while in office of thousands of old case files had found no evidence of wrongdoing by Hunter Biden while he worked for Burisma.Hunter Biden joined Burisma in 2014, one of several high-profile names to join what the private company said was an attempt to strengthen corporate governance.His role has been attacked as corrupt without evidence by Trump and congressional Republicans in Washington. The Bidens deny any wrongdoing, and Democrats said Trump was trying to help his re-election prospects.
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Islamic militants killed at least 20 soldiers and more than 40 civilians and injured hundreds in twin attacks in northeast Nigeria’s Borno state Saturday, residents and a civilian task force fighter said.The attacks, in the Monguno and Nganzai local government areas, came just days after militants killed at least 69 people in a raid on a village in a third area, Gubio.Two humanitarian workers and three residents told Reuters that militants armed with heavy weaponry including rocket launchers arrived in Monguno, a hub for international non-governmental organizations, at roughly 11 a.m. local time. They overran government forces, taking some casualties but killing at least 20 soldiers and roaming the area for three hours.The sources said hundreds of civilians were injured in the crossfire, overwhelming the local hospital and forcing some of the injured to lie outside the facility awaiting help.The militants also burned down the United Nations’ humanitarian hub in the area and set on fire the local police station. Fighters distributed letters to residents, in the local Hausa language, warning them not to work with the military or international aid groups.Militants also entered Nganzai about the same time Saturday, according to two residents and one Civilian Joint Task Force (CJTF) fighter. They arrived on motorcycles and in pickup trucks and killed more than 40 residents, the sources said.A military spokesman did not answer calls for comment on the attacks. U.N. officials could not immediately be reached for comment.Boko Haram and its offshoot, Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), have killed thousands and displaced millions in northeastern Nigeria. ISWAP claimed the two Saturday attacks, and the Gubio attack.  
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Istanbul’s Grand Bazaar, one of the world’s oldest and largest, is open for business after being closed for 70 days as part of Turkey’s COVID lockdown. The reopening early this month is an important symbolic step in what the government calls its normalization efforts, a move that cannot come soon enough for the 30,000 people working at the bazaar. Dorian Jones reports from Istanbul.Producer: Rod James. Videographer: Berke Bas.
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A European pharmaceutical giant reached agreement Saturday with an alliance of European countries to supply those nations with up to 400 million doses of an experimental COVID-19 vaccine.AstraZeneca struck a deal with the Inclusive Vaccines Alliance, established by France, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands, to accelerate production of a vaccine being tested by the University of Oxford that may be available by year’s end.Saturday’s agreement aims to make the vaccine available to other European countries that wish to participate in the initiative.AstraZeneca previously reached similar deals with Britain, the Serum Institute of India, the U.S., the coalition of Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance.In other developments:— Officials are warning that elderly people in the large refugee camps in Sudan’s Darfur region are getting sick and dying at surprisingly high rates. Medical officials and humanitarian workers believe the coronavirus is spreading rapidly and untracked among the country’s most marginalized people.There are few medical facilities near the camps in the war-torn western region of Sudan, to which 1.6 million people fled during years of conflict.FILE – People speak with a health worker about their relatives at a COVID-designated hospital in New Delhi, India, June 10, 2020.— India reported its largest surge in new COVID-19 cases in a 24-hour period Saturday.  The 11,458 new infections surpassed the previous record of 10,956 cases reported Friday.The surge comes as India has reopened stores, shopping malls, manufacturing plants and places of worship. The country’s two-month lockdown that began in March has been eased, with restrictions remaining largely intact in high-risk areas.India’s record surge of new cases propelled the massive South Asian nation to fourth place worldwide in the total number of coronavirus cases, surpassed only by the U.S., Brazil and Russia.— China’s National Health Commission reported 11 new cases Saturday.  The agency said five of the new infections were detected in people who had traveled overseas, while the remaining six were locally transmitted in Beijing.  The coronavirus first emerged in China late last year.— Health systems around the world have been drained by the COVID-19 pandemic, leaving few resources for anything else.As a result, World Health Organization Director General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Friday, women may face a “heightened risk of dying from complications of pregnancy and childbirth.”Dr. Natalia Kanem, executive director of the U.N. Population Fund, said, “Even before the emergence of COVID-19, for millions of women, timely, high-quality maternal health care was unavailable, it was inaccessible, or it was not affordable. And now, with the pandemic, we’re seeing exacerbation of already limited access to care, putting women’s health and lives at risk.”The agency is encouraging new mothers, however, to nurse their babies. “So far, we have not been able to detect live virus in breast milk,” said Dr. Anshu Banerjee, director for WHO’s Department of Maternal, Newborn, Child, Adolescent Health and Ageing.— U.S. President Donald Trump delivered the commencement address at the West Point Military Academy on Saturday.  The graduation ceremonies were held on the academy’s parade grounds instead of the football stadium so cadets could be seated six feet apart, in keeping with COVID-19 distancing guidelines.  Family and friends were not allowed to attend.FILE – Data show about 70 percent of Malawians live below the poverty line. The U.N. wants to target primarily them in its COVID-19 mitigation efforts. (Lameck Masina/VOA)— A major study forecast millions sinking into extreme poverty because of the coronavirus pandemic.The report by the United Nations University said the economic fallout could plunge 395 million people into conditions in which they are forced to live on $1.90 a day or less — the definition of extreme poverty.A separate World Bank report this week put that number between 70 million and 100 million people.“The outlook for the world’s poorest looks grim unless governments do more and do it quickly and make up the daily loss of income the poor face,” one of the U.N. report’s authors, Andy Sumner, said. “The result is progress on poverty reduction could be set back 20 to 30 years and making the U.N. goal of ending poverty look like a pipe dream.”The U.N. report said South Asia — India, in particular — would see the largest number of people sinking into extreme poverty, followed by sub-Saharan Africa.Experts are appealing to economically powerful nations, such as the United States, to forgive the debts of developing countries that take a strong hit from the pandemic.
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President Donald Trump on Saturday highlighted the diversity of West Point’s graduating class and appealed for America’s newest officers to uphold the country’s core values, a speech emphasizing unity at a time when the commander in chief’s relationship with military leaders has become strained and questions have arisen about the role of soldiers in a civil society.Trump also told them that under his administration, American soldiers no longer will be responsible for rebuilding foreign nations.”It is not the duty of U.S. troops to solve ancient conflicts in faraway lands that many people have never even heard of,” he said. “We are not the policeman of the world, but let our enemies be on notice: If our people are threatened, we will never, ever hesitate to act. And when we fight, from now on, we will only fight to win.”Trump Threatens Wide Use of Military Force Against ProtestersDeclaring ‘acts of domestic terror’ have been committed by violent demonstrators, president vows to end ‘riots and lawlessness’ that has spread throughout countryTrump’s commencement speech came as arguments rage over his threat to use American troops on U.S. soil to quell protests stemming from the killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer.To an audience of more than 1,100, he said members of the Class of 2020 “come from the farms and the cities, from states big and small, and from every race, religion, color and creed. But when you entered these grounds, you became part of one team, one family, proudly serving one American nation.:The president said they “became brothers and sisters pledging allegiance to the same timeless principles, joined together in a common mission: to protect our country, to defend our people, and to carry on the traditions of freedom, equality and liberty that so many gave their lives to secure.”  Tensions between the White House and the military have escalated since nationwide protests began over the death of Floyd, a black man who was pinned by the neck by a white police officer for several minutes despite saying he couldn’t breathe.Trump seemingly alluded to the protests, saying: “What has made America unique is the durability of its institutions against the passions and prejudices of the moment. When times are turbulent, when the road is rough, what matters most is that which is permanent, timeless, enduring and eternal.”He said that from the U.S. Military Academy came “the men and women who fought and won a bloody war to extinguish the evil of slavery within one lifetime of our founding.”Lt. Gen. Darryl A. Williams, the West Point superintendent and the first African American to hold the post, told the cadets that their “challenges ahead will require moral and physical courage.”In the past two weeks, Trump yelled at Defense Secretary Mark Esper for publicly opposing Trump’s call to use active-duty troops to crack down on the demonstrations. Trump then shut down Esper’s attempt to open a public debate on removing the names of Confederate Army officers from military bases.Gen. Mark Milley, the Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman, further risked Trump’s ire Thursday by declaring it had been “a mistake”  for him to accompany Trump on a June 1 walk through Lafayette Square. The trip ended with the president holding up a Bible and posing for the news media outside St. John’s Church, which was damaged by fire during the unrest.Milley’s comments amounted to an extraordinary expression of regret by Trump’s chief military adviser, who said his appearance led to the perception of the military becoming embroiled in politics, which in his view — one shared by Esper — is a threat to democracy.The events have stirred debate within the military and among retired officers. More than 500 West Point graduates from classes spanning six decades signed an open letter reminding the Class of 2020 of its commitment to avoid partisan politics.The letter, published this week on Medium, also alluded to the problems Esper and Milley encountered at the White House after Floyd’s death.Esper, who did not attend the graduation, told cadets in a video address that he expects them “to remain committed to our core values — loyalty, duty, respect, selfless service, honor, integrity and personal courage. These principles will guide you in challenging times and in the face of new and emerging threats.”Trump’s appearance had been criticized as a political move that would put the graduates at risk in order to put Trump on a grand stage in a picturesque part of New York, the one remaining military service academy where he had yet to give a graduation address. Historic West Point is located 40 miles (65 kilometers) up the Hudson River from New York City, the epicenter of the U.S. coronavirus outbreak.  Army officials defended the move, saying the cadets would have had to brave the health risks of traveling back to campus anyway for their final medical checks, equipment and training.  The cadets had been home since spring break in early March, just before the coronavirus was declared a pandemic and Trump announced a national emergency. They returned to campus in late May.  A group called Veterans For Peace announced a protest outside West Point’s main gate Saturday against what it called “Trump’s dangerous narcissistic Photo-Op Stunt at the West Point Graduation.”The recently commissioned second lieutenants wore masks as they marched onto West Point’s parade field, instead of into Mitchie Stadium, the longtime commencement venue. They sat 6 feet (1.8 meters) apart, in keeping with federal guidelines to practice social distancing during the outbreak. They removed the masks when the ceremony began.  Instead of shaking hands with the president, graduates stepped up on a platform before the main dais and saluted. Guests were not allowed; family and friends had to watch online.The graduating class immediately underwent coronavirus testing when they returned to campus in late May. More than 15 class members who tested positive were isolated for two weeks before they were allowed to rejoin their classmates.
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Protesters demanding an end to racial injustice following the death of an African American man in police custody are taking to the streets of Washington for the third straight weekend.In Washington, Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia said Thursday that “multiple First Amendment demonstrations” had been scheduled for Saturday and Sunday.Officials said they don’t know how many protesters to expect, noting that grass roots demonstrations are not planned by a primary organizer.Protests demanding justice and systemic reforms erupted across the U.S. after George Floyd died on May 25 after white officer Derek Chauvin pressed his knee into Floyd’s neck for nearly nine minutes as Floyd pleaded he could not breath, one of the many deaths of black Americans over recent years during or after encounters with police.Demonstrations quickly spread to large cities throughout the world, including London, Paris and Sydney.Last Saturday (June 6), thousands of people protested in the streets of Washington against police brutality, the largest demonstration in the capitol city since Floyd’s death.Officials said many streets in downtown Washington, including those around the White House and the National Mall, will be closed intermittently on Saturday and throughout the day on Sunday.Police officers walk next to the horse-drawn carriage carrying the casket containing the body of George Floyd to Houston Memorial Gardens cemetery in Pearland, Texas, June 9, 2020.Floyd’s family and American civil rights leader Reverend Al Sharpton said in a permit application filed recently with the U.S. National Park Service they were planning a large demonstration for criminal justice reform in Washington in late August on the 57th anniversary of the March on Washington.The historic “March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom” occurred on August 28, 1963, drawing between 200,000 and 300,000 people.The march featured Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous “I Have a Dream” speech at the Lincoln Memorial, during which he said “There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright days of justice emerge.” 
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Amid weeks of protests over systemic racism triggered by the death of a black man in the custody of a white police officer in Minneapolis, the U.S is facing a renewed culture war over symbols of the Confederacy – 11 states in the American South that wanted to preserve slavery in a Civil War that almost tore the country apart more than 150 years ago.  A statue of Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederacy, in Richmond, Virginia, and a statue of the Confederacy’s most honored general, Robert E. Lee, in Montgomery, Alabama, have been removed along with dozens of other Confederate monuments. Others have been vandalized.NASCAR,  the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, an organization that has celebrated its Southern roots since its inception 72 years ago, announced Wednesday it is banning the Confederate flag at its events and properties, declaring it “runs contrary to our commitment to providing a welcoming and inclusive environment.” FILE – The car for driver Bubba Wallace has a Black Lives Matter logo as it is prepared for a NASCAR Cup Series auto race in Martinsville, Va., June 10, 2020.In another area of American culture, citing “ethnic and racial prejudices,” streaming service HBO Max has removed “Gone With the Wind,” a 1939 Oscar-winning film for “racist depictions” that “were wrong then and are wrong today” of the antebellum South and slavery, the service said in a statement.Now 10 military bases that bear the names of Confederate Army officers, including Fort Bragg, Fort Hood and Fort Lee are front and center. Earlier this week, a Pentagon official said that Defense Secretary Mark Esper and Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy were “open to a bipartisan discussion” of removing Confederate names from the bases. This came as the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps announced each would ban the Confederate flag from installations. On Wednesday, the Republican-led Senate Armed Services Committee approved an amendment to the annual defense policy bill backed by Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts that would require the Pentagon to scrap Confederate names and symbols from all military assets.“This is the right time for it. And I think it sends the right message,” Mike Rounds, Republican senator from South Dakota, said.President Donald Trump has threatened a veto, tweeting that his administration will not even consider the renaming of “these Magnificent and Fabled Military Installations.”It has been suggested that we should rename as many as 10 of our Legendary Military Bases, such as Fort Bragg in North Carolina, Fort Hood in Texas, Fort Benning in Georgia, etc. These Monumental and very Powerful Bases have become part of a Great American Heritage, and a…
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) The “Appomatox” statue at the corner of South Washington Street and Prince Street in Alexandria, Virginia, honored the city’s Confederate war dead. It was removed on June 2, 2020. (Photo: Diaa Bekheet)“There’s just something very visceral about having to look at the glorification of the people and the symbols that really wanted to have you, your people, people who look like you, held in chattel slavery,” said Steve Phillips, founder of A street sign of Black Lives Matter Plaza is seen near St. John’s Episcopal Church, as the protests against the death in Minneapolis police custody of George Floyd continue, in Washington, U.S., June 5, 2020.Despite this changing political landscape, critics say Trump is responding to events in the past few weeks, since Floyd’s death, by stoking racial division to motivate his base. Trump sees race as a wedge issue that can be used to his advantage for reelection, Brandon Byrd, assistant professor of African American History at Vanderbilt University, said.Byrd said the president has revived the so-called Southern Strategy, a Republican electoral plan to increase political support among white voters in the South with racially coded appeals targeting blacks, other minorities and immigrants.While the results of the November election remain to be seen, Byrd said, “the groundswell of dissent” may mean Trump does not have the political advantage he thinks he does.Still a president who takes sides in a culture war will likely deepen polarization among voters. While politics is about compromise and finding middle ground, culture is ultimately about the things that are sacred and we don’t want to compromise. “Because culture is driving our politics, these ideological divisions, our political polarization is going to be with us for quite some time,” Hunter, of the University of Virginia, said.
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Health systems around the world have been drained by COVID-19 pandemic, leaving few resources for anything else.  As a result, World Health Organization Director General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Friday, women may face a “heightened risk of dying from complications of pregnancy and childbirth.”Migrant workers from Bihar state, wearing masks as a precaution against the coronavirus, wait for buses to catch home bound train in Kochi, southern Kerala state, India, June 12, 2020.India reported its largest surge in new COVID-19 cases in a 24-hour period Saturday.  The 11,458 new infections surpassed the previous record of 10,956 cases reported Friday.  The surge comes as India has reopened stores, shopping malls, manufacturing plants and places of worship. The country’s two-month lockdown that began in March has been eased, with restrictions remaining largely intact in high-risk areas. India’s record surge of new cases propels the massive South Asian nation to fourth place worldwide, surpassed only by the U.S., Brazil and Russia. China’s National Health Commission reported 11 new cases Saturday.  The agency said five of the new infections were detected in people who had traveled overseas, while the remaining six were locally transmitted in Beijing.  The coronavirus emerged in China late last year. U.S. President Donald Trump is delivering the commencement address at the West Point Military Academy Saturday.  The graduation ceremonies will be held on the academy’s parade grounds instead of the football stadium so the cadets can be seated six feet apart, in keeping with COVID-19 distancing guidlines.  Family and friends will not be allowed to attend. The cadets may remove their masks, if they want, once they are seated.  Trump does not like to wear a mask. A woman wears a protective mask as she walks past a Primark store in Oxford Street, ahead of the reopening of the non-essential businesses on Monday, June 15, as some of the coronavirus lockdown measures are eased, in London, June 12, 2020.Norway said Friday it would maintain travel restrictions for visitors from Sweden. Unlike other European countries, Sweden did not impose lockdown measures, opting only to advise social distancing and banning gatherings of more than 50 people. While new infections are slowing in most of Europe, the European Union’s health commissioner, Stella Kyriakides, said Friday that countries should be prepared to reimpose restrictions if they see a rise in infections. A major study forecasts millions sinking into extreme poverty because of the coronavirus pandemic.  A report by the United Nations University says the economic fallout could plunge 395 million people into conditions in which they are forced to live on $1.90 a day or less – the definition of extreme poverty. A separate World Bank report this week put that number between 70 million and 100 million people.  “The outlook for the world’s poorest looks grim unless governments do more and do it quickly and make up the daily loss of income the poor face,” one of the U.N. report’s authors, Andy Sumner, said. “The result is progress on poverty reduction could be set back 20-30 years and making the UN goal of ending poverty look like a pipe dream.”   The U.N. report says South Asia – India in particular – will see the largest number of people sinking into extreme poverty, followed by sub-Saharan Africa.  Experts are appealing to economically powerful nations, such as the United States, to forgive the debts of developing countries that take a strong hit from the pandemic.  
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