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A U.S. Air Force sergeant with ties to an anti-government extremist group has been charged in the shooting death of a federal courthouse security officer in Oakland, California.   Staff Sergeant Steven Carillo is accused of killing David Patrick Underwood and wounding his partner in a drive-by shooting on May 29 during a violent protest over the death of George Floyd, a black man who died as he was being arrested by police in Minneapolis earlier that month.   Robert Alvin Justus, the man prosecutors say drove Carillo’s vehicle, has been charged with aiding and abetting the Oakland attack. Carillo has been in state custody since June 6 on charges of killing an officer with the Santa Cruz County sheriff’s department and the wounding of four other officers outside of San Francisco.  The sheriff’s department says the officers were investigating a tip that the vehicle used in the Oakland shooting had been located when they were ambushed by Carillo.  Carillo engaged in a gun battle with the officers, then stole a car in an attempt to escape before he was eventually arrested.  Authorities say Carillo is a follower of the so-called “boogaloo” movement, prominent on social media, which calls on its followers to prepare for a violent uprising against the U.S. government. Carillo and Justus allegedly planned the Oakland attack during an online chat with a third person the day before.  A search of his van turned up a bullet-proof vest with a boogaloo insignia patch sewn on it.   Three other men associated with the boogaloo movement were arrested by the FBI earlier this month in Las Vegas and charged with planning to incite violence and cause destruction during a Black Lives Matter protest. 
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A day after blowing up the de facto inter-Korean embassy, North Korea continued to ratchet up military pressure on the South, announcing the re-deployment of its forces near the border and angrily rejecting Seoul’s offer to send envoys to reduce tensions.   As of Wednesday, North Korea’s military will reenter the area near the Mt. Kumgang resort area and the Kaesong industrial complex, according to a spokesperson for the Korean People’s Army in the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).  In addition, guard posts that had previously been abandoned “will be set up again to strengthen the guard over the front line,” and North Korea will also resume “all kinds of regular military exercises” in the area near the country’s sea border with South Korea, KCNA reported.  Combined with its moves over the past week, North Korea has now reversed many of the achievements made during a series of historic 2018 meetings between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in.  On Tuesday, North Korea used controlled explosives to demolish the inter-Korean liaison center just north of the border. Last week, Pyongyang said it would cut off all official channels of dialogue with Seoul.  North Korea is ostensibly angry at the South for not doing more to stop defectors and other activists from floating anti-Pyongyang leaflets and other materials across the border. But in reality, the North’s anger appears to be a staged provocation cycle, possibly meant to unify domestic public opinion and force concessions from South Korea and the United States.  In an unsigned KCNA commentary Wednesday, North Korea described the liaison office destruction as a “first stage step,” saying further action will depend on South Korea’s response. But in a corresponding statement, senior North Korean leader Kim Jong Un rejected South Korea’s offer to send envoys. Kim called the offer “unrealistic,” “tactless,” “absurd,” “sinister,” “a petty farce,” “reckless,” “preposterous,” and “disrespectful.”A woman passes by a TV screen showing an image of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and his sister Kim Yo Jong during a news program at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Saturday, May 2, 2020.Another KCNA commentary hinted North Korea could soon resume its threats to set Seoul “on fire,” a warning Pyongyang has repeatedly made during past cycles of provocation. South Korea pushes back On Wednesday, a South Korean presidential spokesperson called Kim Jong Un’s  remarks “absurd.”  “This is fundamentally undermining the trust that has been built between the leaders, and we warn that we will not tolerate their unreasonable words and actions,” said the spokesperson.  South Korea’s Blue House also expressed outrage that North Korea publicly disclosed Seoul’s private offer to send envoys. “Unprecedented nonsense,” said a South Korean official, adding he hoped the North would show “basic courtesy” in the future. South Korea’s Ministry of National Defense also warned North Korea will “definitely pay for its behavior” if it conducts any military provocation.   Past provocations  North Korea has a long history of deadly military provocations against the South.  In March 2010, a North Korean torpedo sank a South Korean warship off Korea’s west coast, killing 46 sailors. A few months later, the North shelled the border island of Yeonpyeong, killing several more people.  Tuesday’s liaison office destruction falls far short of those steps, says Duyeon Kim, a senior adviser for Northeast Asia and nuclear policy at the International Crisis Group.     “It’s technically not an attack on South Korea nor an act that would invite a military response from Seoul,” she says. “We can expect Pyongyang will continue with similar military acts but not enough that would force Seoul to retaliate in kind with force.”  Though the destruction of the liaison office is a slap in the face to Seoul, the move was primarily symbolic, since the office had been nonfunctional for months. South Korean staff left the facility in late January due to coronavirus concerns.      “Blowing up the North-South Liaison Office conveys Kim Jong Un’s graphic rejection of President Moon’s attempts at rapprochement,” says Daniel Russel, a former top U.S. diplomat for East Asia. “It is also a reminder to the United States that North Korea cannot be ignored. Ramping up pressure through escalating provocations is how Kim makes the point that without sanctions relief, sooner or later he will also blow up Trump’s claim to have ‘ended the threat’ from North Korea,” said Russel who is now at the Asia Society Policy Institute. Trump and Kim have met three times, including in June 2018 where they agreed to work toward the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. But those talks have been mostly stalled since last year over disagreements on how to pace sanctions relief with steps to dismantle North Korea’s nuclear program. Some analysts say North Korea’s provocations against the South are intended to indirectly pressure the United States. But so far there are few signs Trump is interested in prioritizing the issue ahead of his presidential election in November.  
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Paris police blamed violent fringe groups for hijacking a peaceful protest by health workers in central Paris on Tuesday, where at least one car was overturned and projectiles were hurled at police lines. 
 
The unrest broke out as thousands of doctors, paramedics and nursing home carers, many dressed in their scrubs and white blouses, had been protesting near the health ministry for better wages and working conditions. 
 
Paris police said anarchist protesters known as “black bloc” were attacking its officers. Several were seen in video footage pushing an overturned car into the middle of a cobbled avenue as others threw missiles at the police. 
 
“Violent individuals do not belong in a peaceful demonstration,” the Paris police prefecture said in a Tweet. 
 
Tear gas swirled over the Invalides esplanade. Some protesters threw glass bottles and stones at the riot police who formed up along one side of the park. Firefighters extinguished one rubbish bin that had been set alight. 
 
At least 16 arrests were made, police said. 
 
The head of the Paris emergency room workers association told BFM TV the protest had been stolen from them: “It’s disgusting,” Patrick Pelloux said. 
 
Health care workers say the coronavirus crisis has laid bare strains that threaten to break public healthcare in France. 
 
Even before the pandemic, health workers participated in nationwide labor unrest late last year. President Emmanuel Macron’s government unveiled emergency plans in November for the sector, including a promise to take on some debt of hospitals, raise health spending and provide bonuses for nurses. 
 
“Our hospitals run like machines, it’s as if we’re workers. We’re no longer there to care,” said one protester who said she earned 1,450 euros a month after 10 years in the job. 
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Iran’s favorability rating among Iraqis has hit its lowest point in years, falling below the popular support the United States enjoys in the war-torn country, according to a new poll by an independent agency.   The poll, released Monday, was conducted by the Baghdad-based A handout picture released by the US Central Command on March 17, 2020, shows Qaim base commander US Major Luc Taylor, second from right, giving a tour of the base to the Iraqi Army aviation battalion.Strategic Dialogue  The decline of Iraqi popular support for Iran comes at a time when the U.S. and Iraq have begun a new round of talks to redefine the future of their partnership beyond the war against the Islamic State (IS) terror group.  Dubbed “the Strategic Dialogue,” the first virtual round of negotiations took place last week. Following the meeting, a joint communique was issued, saying the U.S. withdraws some of its 5,000 troops that are stationed in Iraq and broadens its security-oriented partnership to include more cultural and economic cooperation with the oil-rich nation. “The U.S. government, and I think this is support in a bipartisan way in the Congress, is looking also to morph the relationship away from a strictly security-driven one to a more and more sustainable one,” said Barbra Leaf, a former U.S. ambassador, during the webinar where the poll was announced.Islamic State resurgence  Hannah also warned of risks involving a premature departure of a large number of U.S. troops from Iraq, where IS continues to pose a significant threat, especially in the country’s disputed territories in the north. On Monday, an IS attack killed seven members of the Kakais, a non-Muslim Kurdish religious minority, according to local news reports. Kurdish officials accused Iraqi security forces of being “unable” to protect the Kurdish civilians in the disputed areas.  Raman Ghavami, a London-based counter-insurgency analyst, said recent events may push Iraq further away from Iran’s orbit.   “The timing of U.S.-Iraq dialogue is not in favor of Iran, neither its proxies,” he told VOA, adding that, “Months of protests in Iraq against Iran’s influence, mismanagement and corruption, an inevitable depression following COVID-19 pandemic, and Iran’s crippling economy which cannot offer any valuable support to Iraq have not left Baghdad with much space to dance further between U.S. and Tehran.” Continued influence  Despite the decline in Iran’s favorability rating among Iraqis, some experts argue that Iran will remain an influential actor in Iraqi politics for the foreseeable future.   “Iran still has the ability to play kingmaker in Iraqi politics,” said Jason Brodsky, policy director of United Against Nuclear Iran, a U.S.-based advocacy group.  He told VOA that the Iranian government recently claimed reaching a two-year energy deal with Iraq as well as the building of a highway that would connect the Iranian city of Mehran to the holy city of Najaf in Iraq.  “While sanctions and Soleimani’s demise have weakened Iran’s hand [in Iraq], Tehran continues to exert influence on the ground,” Brodsky said.    
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Arab media is reporting a sharp increase in the number of COVID-19 cases across the Gulf, Iran and Egypt, as countries begin lifting curfews and other restrictions that were imposed to curb the spread of the coronavirus.
 
Despite a recent uptick in the number of COVID-19 cases and fatalities in Egypt, the country’s sports minister, Ashraf Sobhi, told a press conference Monday that soccer players would be allowed to resume training June 20, and league matches would resume next month. Sports clubs are also expected to begin reopening during the next 10 days.
 
The sports minister’s optimism was tempered somewhat by the daily health ministry report that almost 100 people had died from the virus on Monday and that nearly 1,700 new cases had been registered. Health Minister Hala Zayed attributed the rise to older people contracting the virus.
 
She argued that the number of COVID-19 cases and deaths has risen mostly due to older people with chronic illnesses not seeking proper medical care during the latter part of the holy month of Ramadan.
 
Egyptian media also reported that the country’s Islamic scholars at Azhar University have issued a fatwah prohibiting anyone from gathering up used surgical masks to wash and resell. It was not clear if the practice was adding to the number of coronavirus infections.  
 
The number of reported COVID-19 cases in Iran has also increased in recent days, according to the country’s Health Ministry spokeswoman Dr. Sima Sadat Lari. She indicated that nearly 200,000 Iranians have been infected with the coronavirus to date, but that over 150,000 have recovered.FILE – A woman wearing a protective face mask checks the temperature of a worshipper, also with mask, ahead of Friday prayers at Qarchak Jamee Mosque, in Qarchak, Iran, June 12, 2020. (WANA/Ali Khara via Reuters)She said that 2,563 new COVID-19 cases have been reported during the past 24 hours, with 939 patients hospitalized. She added that 115 people have also died from the virus during the past 24 hours.Some Iranian opposition sources claim that the number of coronavirus cases in the country is much higher. However, VOA could not independently confirm those claims.Iranian TV showed military officials lauding their efforts to halt the spread of the coronavirus, along with video of military vehicles disinfecting public buildings, parks, squares, city streets and boulevards.The Saudi-owned London-based daily Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper reported a spike in the number of COVID-19 cases inside the kingdom in recent days as well, with a record 4,507 new cases reported Monday, along with 41 deaths during the past 24 hours.
 
Dr. Khaled Abdel Karim, Saudi deputy health minister, told Saudi TV that people should try to improve their health habits in order to strengthen their immune systems and avoid catching COVID-19.
 
He said that getting at least eight hours of sleep a night would strengthen a person’s immune system, and advised eating lots of fruits and vegetables and drinking at least eight cups of water a day. He also urged people to stop smoking.
 
On a positive note, the number of deaths from COVID-19 in some parts of the Arab world, including Lebanon, Tunisia, Algeria and the United Arab Emirates, has reportedly decreased in recent days.
 
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The Trump administration says it will make an eventual COVID-19 vaccine available for free to virtually anyone in the United States who wants it. Insurance companies are expected to cover the vaccine for most Americans, according to a senior administration official at a briefing Tuesday to discuss the government’s efforts to develop a vaccine by the end of the year. For those who are not insured, the official added, “Our role as the federal government is to ensure anyone who is vulnerable, cannot afford it and desires it gets it.”   The official said Americans would get any vaccine produced with federal funding before it would be made available to other countries.  FILE – A man stands outside an entrance to a Moderna, Inc., building in Cambridge, Mass., May 18, 2020. Moderna entered the first phase of a three-step clinical trial process for a COVID-19 vaccine in mid-March.”Our priorities are very clear. Let’s take care of Americans first,” the official said.  “To the extent there is surplus, we have an interest in ensuring folks around the world are vaccinated,” since the virus arrived through international travel, he noted. Other countries are signing separate contracts to manufacture the vaccine elsewhere, he said.   “In no way are we inhibiting through our contracts those vaccines from getting to others around the world,” the official added. As part of FILE – The AstraZeneca logo is shown on the company’s building in Shanghai, China.Fourteen vaccine candidates have been chosen from more than 100 in development. The government said it will select the most promising seven for clinical trials. President Donald Trump’s administration has already announced support for candidates produced by three companies: Moderna, which entered the first phase of the three-step clinical trial process in mid-March; Johnson & Johnson, which plans to start phase 1 testing this summer; and AstraZeneca, which is entering the final, large-scale testing phase this summer with a vaccine developed by the University of Oxford. The administration says this vaccine could be available as soon as October if it works. Federal funding is going toward building manufacturing capacity at the same time as vaccine candidates undergo testing, so that whatever vaccine proves safe and effective can be distributed as soon as possible.  The government has also signed contracts with companies that make the vials and syringes to package vaccines.  
 
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Turkey has made the wearing of face masks mandatory in five more provinces, following an uptick in COVID-19 cases.
Health Minister Fahrettin Koca tweeted early Tuesday that the wearing of masks is now compulsory in 42 of Turkey’s 81 provinces.  
In the remaining provinces, residents are required to wear masks on public transportation and in shops and malls, and are being advised to wear masks and keep to social distancing practices elsewhere.
Koca tweeted: “we cannot struggle against the virus without masks.”
Turkey is seeing an upward trend in the daily number of infections after the government authorized cafes, restaurants, gyms, parks, beaches and museums to reopen, lifted inter-city travel restrictions and eased stay-at-home orders for the elderly and young at the start of June.  
The daily number of infections climbed to above 1,500 in the past five days after hovering around 800-900 previously. The country has registered a total of 179,831 cases and 4,825 deaths.
Pinar Oktay, a member of Turkey’s scientific advisory body spoke of the possibility of the resumption of some lockdown measures.
“The increase is being monitored very carefully,” Oktay told HaberTurk news channel. “If the increase continues in this way, we may have to reimpose some measures.
In the eastern province of Ardahan, the number of infections jumped from just three to 18 following the lifting of travel restrictions and the arrival from travelers from other regions, Gov. Mustafa Masatli said Monday.
A village in the central province of Konya was placed under quarantine after 22 people were infected following a funeral wake, Hurriyet newspaper reported.
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Some demonstrators in Louisville blocked traffic and threw a brick into a media car while police deployed pepper balls at them, the city’s interim police chief said in a joint news conference with the city’s mayor Monday night.
The statements from Chief Robert Schroeder came nearly three hours after police warned residents to avoid the city’s downtown area, and after a video posted on social media shows the brick being hurled into the window of a WLKY-TV camera crew’s car.
Some demonstrators created barricades on streets using road signs and rocks earlier in the evening while police monitored the scene from a helicopter and on the ground, news outlets reported.
 
“We can not have vehicles blocked from passing on roads safely,” Mayor Greg Fischer said.  
The demonstrators could be heard saying, “No Justice, No Peace,” and calling for three officers involved in the shooting of Breonna Taylor, a black woman gunned down by officers who burst into her Kentucky home in March, to be fired and charged, WLKY-TV reported.
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U.S. President Donald Trump is set to sign an executive order Tuesday on some police reforms, the goal of which a senior administration official said is “to invest more and incentivize best practices.” Briefing reporters Monday ahead of the signing, a senior administration official said the main piece will be creating certification bodies to train officers on de-escalation techniques and use of force standards. “We’re leveraging our ability to execute discretionary grants and prioritizing those police departments that take the time to get that credentialing,” the official said. Another part would push for creating so-called co-respondent services, a system in which officers would pair with social workers when responding to nonviolent calls, especially those involving mental health concerns and drug addiction issues. More sweeping overhauls to the nation’s policing are under consideration in Congress. The Senate Judiciary Committee is holding a hearing on the issue Tuesday with testimony from law enforcement and civil rights officials. The chamber’s Republican majority is crafting its package of proposals, which includes a ban on chokeholds and increased used of police body cameras. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell called the legislation “a serious proposal to reform law enforcement.” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said the Republican effort does not go far enough, and that “now is the time to seek bold and broad-scale change.” The Democrat-led House of Representatives is expected to vote sometime this month on its own package that includes a provision that would make it easier to file civil lawsuits against officers who violate someone’s rights. The White House has signaled President Donald Trump would not endorse ending what is known as the qualified immunity doctrine.A person looks back as officials move closer during protests Saturday, June 13, 2020, near the Atlanta Wendy’s where Rayshard Brooks was shot and killed by police Friday evening following a struggle in the restaurant’s drive-thru line.Proposals for police reforms come after three weeks of nationwide protests renewed by the death in police custody of George Floyd, an African American man who died in Minneapolis, Minnesota, after an officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes. Floyd’s was the latest case to spark outrage at the use of force by police, especially against African Americans. Last Friday brought another with police shooting dead Rayshard Brooks in Atlanta. Protesters, organized by civil rights groups, including the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), gathered outside the Georgia Capitol where lawmakers were returning to work after a coronavirus shutdown. More than a thousand demonstrators demanded lawmakers take up criminal justice reform, as well as voting issues, after last week’s election was marred by long lines at the polls.    A few protesters came inside the Capitol, chanting in the building’s rotunda.    Several Democratic state lawmakers, who are in the minority in the Georgia House and Senate, joined the protest Monday and said they are ready to act on calls for reforms. Republican House Speaker David Ralston told lawmakers Monday he wants to pass a bill to further penalize hate crimes, saying its passage is “just as important” as passing a state budget. The House has previously passed a hate crimes bill, but it has stalled in the Senate.        Many Democrats are proposing an array of new legislation to reform policing practices, however Republicans, as well as some Democrats, say there is not enough time to pass a big legislative package with only 11 days remaining in the lawmakers’ session following a lengthy coronavirus shutdown.          Demonstrations also took place Monday evening in Washington’s Lafayette Park across the street from the White House to mark two weeks since law enforcement forcefully cleared a peaceful crowd shortly before U.S. President Donald Trump walked through the area for a photo opportunity at a nearby church.             Also Monday, the U.N. Human Rights Council agreed to hold an urgent debate on Wednesday “on the current racially inspired human rights violations, systematic racism, police brutality and violence against peaceful protesters.” 
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Law enforcement officials are trying to identify the people who dumped more than $2 million overboard during a boat chase off the coast of Puerto Rico. U.S. Customs and Border Protection said the money was found Monday in bags, near the popular tourist island of Vieques, just east of Puerto Rico’s main island. Last July, customs police seized more than $3 million dollars from an abandoned boat off the coast of Puerto Rico. Customs and Drug Enforcement agents spotted the boat heading toward the U.S. Virgin Islands with no lights, when it abruptly turned back to Puerto Rico, where police followed the boat and found people unloading duffel bags.  The unidentified people on the boat fled when police arrived, leaving their cargo. Both seizures have similarities to drug trafficking activity. 
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Several al-Qaida-aligned militant groups in the northwestern Syrian province of Idlib have announced the formation of a joint military operations room aimed at coordinating efforts to fight Syrian government troops and its allied forces. The new operations center, dubbed as “Be Steadfast”, consists of five jihadist groups that operate in parts of the restive Idlib province, according to a statement published Friday on jihadist blogs and local media outlets. “In order to repel the attacks of the aggressors and to break the conspiracies of the occupiers, the following factions mentioned announce the formation of the ‘Be Steadfast Operations Room’,” the statement said. These factions include Hurras al-Din, Jamaat Ansar al-Islam and Jabhat Ansar al-Din, all of which are affiliated with the al-Qaida terror group. The other two groups, al-Jihad Coordination and the al-Muqatileen al-Ansar Brigade, are recent splinters from the powerful Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which was al-Qaida’s Syria branch until 2016 when it formally severed ties with the global jihadist group. That decision by the HTS, formerly known as al-Nusra Front, triggered many members to break away from it and form jihadist groups loyal to al-Qaida.  Idlib is the last major stronghold for anti-government rebels and jihadist groups in Syria. While Syrian government troops and allied Russian and Iranian forces have captured parts of Idlib, rebels and Islamist fighters still control strategic parts of the border province. HTS is the main Islamist group that operates in Idlib. Rejecting truce deals The new so-called operations room “is an attempt by the jihadist critics of HTS to bolster their efforts, continue to launch raids against the enemy and in their view work to sabotage the international agreements over Idlib that they view as a conspiracy,” said Aymenn Jawad al-Tamimi, a Syria researcher at Swansea University in the UK. Jihadist groups active in Idlib have consistently rejected several agreements sponsored by regional and international actors over the province.  In March, Russia and Turkey brokered a cease-fire deal in Idlib aimed at bringing an end to a Syrian government offensive that had begun last year to recapture Idlib. Moscow and Ankara, who support opposing sides of Syria’s civil war, reached the agreement after several previous unsuccessful deals over Idlib, which is currently home to over 2 million people. For example, Russia and Turkey reached an agreement in September 2018 that had postponed a planned Syrian offensive on Idlib and other areas near the Turkish border. According to that agreement, Turkey was required to remove all extremist groups from the province, including those allied with the al-Qaida. But the deal proved unsuccessful as Ankara allegedly failed to implement its part of the agreement. The current truce, however, remains largely holding as Russia and Turkey have been conducting joint patrols in the Syrian province. But fighting between Syrian government forces and jihadist groups have continued in the northwestern part of the war-torn country. Last week, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that at least 22 jihadists and 19 government soldiers were killed in fierce clashes in the province of Hama, south of Idlib. The Observatory, which has researchers across Syria, said jihadist fighters affiliated with the Hurras al-Din group briefly seized two villages in Hama before government troops regained control of them. Balance of power Analyst al-Tamimi says he doesn’t believe jihadist factions in Idlib “are going to alter the balance of power with HTS,” noting that the latter “still has the effective sway over the area.” He added that supporters of HTS “find them annoying and dismiss them as small groups falsely claiming to unify efforts.” Other experts, however, argue that these extremist groups haven’t entirely broken away from their mother organization, the HTS. “Most of the leaders of these jihadist groups were until recently crafting the current ideology of HTS,” Ahmed Rahal, a former Syrian military general who is now based in Istanbul, told VOA. “On the one hand, the HTS tells Turkey that it agrees with the deployment of Turkish troops and military observation posts in Idlib,” he said. “On the other hand, the HTS activates these groups to show the Turks that it has leverage and cards to use in any negotiations over the future of Idlib.” 
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The president and the vice president of the United States are seeking to assure the public that the coronavirus pandemic has passed its peak in the country despite continuing alarm among many health officials.  “We’re at a low mark,” Trump told reporters in the Cabinet Room on Monday afternoon. The growth of new COVID-19 cases and deaths overall in the United States has slowed, but some new hot spots are emerging. The projected number of U.S. COVID-19 deaths by October 1 was raised Monday to 201,129 by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington. As of Monday, the new virus has killed more than 116,000 people in the United States, and 2.1 million have tested positive for COVID-19, according to Johns Hopkins University.  “If we stop testing right now, we’d have very few cases, if any,” Trump asserted. Earlier in the day, the president, on social media, called “testing a double-edged sword” that makes the country “look bad” but is “good to have.” Our testing is so much bigger and more advanced than any other country (we have done a great job on this!) that it shows more cases. Without testing, or weak testing, we would be showing almost no cases. Testing is a double edged sword – Makes us look bad, but good to have!!!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) FILE – A supporter wears a face mask ahead of President Donald Trump’s visit to an Owens and Minor warehouse in Allentown, Pennsylvania, May 14, 2020.Asked why Tulsa was selected at the first site for the revival of the president’s political rallies, Pence replied because “in a very real sense, they flattened the curve” for the coronavirus in the state of Oklahoma. “Their hospital capacity is abundant.”  Epidemiologists note new cases of the virus are actually increasing in the state.  There will be “measures in place” to screen attendees entering the rally, Pence said.  Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer on Monday noted that the president’s reelection campaign is asking those planning to attend the rally to sign waivers pledging not to sue if they contract the coronavirus.  “I guess he worries that they might get it, but he doesn’t care. He wants to have his rally. That’s the superficiality of this president,” Schumer said on the Senate floor. Trump on Monday, at a roundtable discussion on the health of America’s seniors, also stood by the therapeutic use of a malaria drug after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration removed its emergency use authorization for hydroxychloroquine in hospitals.  The FDA noted that hydroxychloroquine and the more toxic chloroquine are not likely be effective in treating COVID-19 based on the latest scientific evidence. “I’ve had a lot of people tell me they think it saved their lives,” the president said. “I took it and I felt good about taking it,” he added. “It certainly didn’t hurt me.” The World Health Organization said Monday it continues to review the use of hydroxychloroquine as a treatment option for the coronavirus. Last month, WHO temporarily halted a study involving patients in 35 countries amid concern about the drug’s safety but resumed the program earlier this month. Trump again Monday blasted the WHO as a puppet of China, where the new virus was first reported.  “They have been a disaster,” Trump said. “China should not have let it happen. But it happened.”   Katherine Gypson contributed to this report.
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A global medical humanitarian organization has withdrawn from a hospital in Kabul, Afghanistan, a month after unknown gunmen raided the facility’s maternity ward and “systematically” killed 16 women.Doctors Without Borders, known by its French acronym MSF, announced its decision Monday, noting that the May 12 “horrifying” assault on the Dasht-e-Barchi hospital in the Afghan capital remained unclaimed, nor has there been any information about the perpetrators or motive.A midwife working for MSF, two young children and six other people present at the time of the attack were also killed.The statement explained MSF has run the maternity ward at the hospital since November 2014 and provided free-of-charge maternity and neonatal care. It said the humanitarian mission was “deeply concerned” that similar attacks targeting its staff and patients may be repeated in the future.“We were aware that our presence in Dasht-e-Barchi carried risks,” said Thierry Allafort-Duverger, MSF’s general director. “But we just couldn’t believe that someone would take advantage of the absolute vulnerability of women about to give birth to exterminate them and their babies.”Five of the slain women were in labor and were minutes, or at most hours, from giving birth, according to MSF.An Afghan security personnel carries a newborn baby from a hospital, at the site of an attack in Kabul, May 12, 2020.In a previous post-attack statement, MSF had called for an investigation into the bloodshed to bring the perpetrators to justice.Afghan officials at the time vowed to investigate the attack thoroughly, but they have since not discussed the probe’s fate.From the outset, the government blamed Taliban insurgents for plotting the carnage, while others suspected Islamic State terrorists were behind it.The Taliban denied its involvement and instead strongly condemned the attack, as well as government officials, for pointing fingers at the Islamist insurgent group.The United States publicly blamed Islamic State for the violence, saying the terror group was opposed to Washington’s efforts aimed at peacefully resolving two decades of conflict between the Taliban and other Afghan groups.The ill-fated Kabul hospital is located in the western part of the city where most of the residents are from the Hazara community.The historically marginalized minority Shi’ite group’s gatherings and worship places have routinely come under attack. Islamic State has claimed credit for plotting almost all recent bombings on the community.Afghan security forces standing guard outside the Dasht-e-Barchi Hospital which came under attack in Kabul, Afghanistan, May 12, 2020.“This attack cannot be classified as a tragic, isolated incident, as the Hazara population living in the area has been subject to a series of attacks, as have various aid organizations,” MSF said.The aid group lamented the end of its operation, saying it was a “necessary but painful” decision. It noted that its maternity ward in the hospital was serving a population of more than 1 million people who already face limited access to health care.”With almost 16,000 deliveries in 2019, the Dasht-e-Barchi maternity ward was one of MSF’s biggest such projects worldwide,” the statement said. “By pushing MSF to end its work in the hospital, the assailants have also left women and babies without access to essential medical care in a country where maternal and neonatal mortality remain high.”While the security conditions have forced MSF’s withdrawal from the hospital, the organization said it was looking into ways to support local initiatives aimed at improving access to health care in the region.MSF said that more than 70 of its personnel and patients admitted into its health care programs in Afghanistan have been killed over the past 16 years. They include the killing of 42 patients and medical staff in an airstrike the United States military mistakenly carried out against an MSF hospital in the northern Afghan province of Kunduz in October 2015.
 
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The ‘Black Lives Matter’ protests that have erupted across the world in recent weeks have reinvigorated demands in Europe for statues of slave traders and colonial figures to be removed. A memorial to Cecil Rhodes at Oxford University is the focal point of protests in Britain. As VOA’s Henry Ridgwell reports from London, racial tensions are resurfacing as counter-protestors also take to the streets.Camera: Henry Ridgwell
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Senegalese artists are taking a stand against racism and police brutality after George Floyd died in police custody in the United States. One street art crew is creating a fresco in the capital, Dakar, where Senegalese have held demonstrations this month in support of the Black Lives Matter movement.Camera: Estelle Ndjandjo Produced by: Rod James 
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Protesters plan to greet a returning Georgia General Assembly on Monday morning, seeking in part an end to police brutality and changes to the state’s criminal justice system.
The session comes on the heels of the death of Rayshard Brooks, 27,  a black man who was shot and killed by a white officer following a confrontation with police outside a fast food restaurant in Atlanta on Friday. The city’s police chief resigned hours later and the officer who fired the fatal shot was terminated. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation is handling the case and will forward its findings to the Fulton County District Attorney.
Democrats say they’re ready to act, with the minority party in both the House and the Senate rolling out extensive proposals last week.
But Republican leaders and even some Democrats say there’s not enough time to make a whole slate of changes, with only 11 working days left beginning Monday in a session disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. While lawmakers may consider giving Georgia a law imposing stiffer sentences for hate crimes, other proposals such as abolishing the state’s citizen’s arrest law, ending no-knock warrants or allowing people to sue police officers for misconduct seem unlikely to reach Republican Gov. Brian Kemp’s desk this year.
Not that there won’t be a fight. House Minority Leader Bob Trammell, a Luthersville Democrat, said in an interview Friday that he believed lawmakers have “the opportunity and time to get it done. The question is do we have the political will for it.”
“For the General Assembly to turn a deaf ear to the cries that are occurring all over Georgia and throughout the country would be a tragic missed opportunity and a dereliction of responsibility,” Trammell said, referring to nationwide protests of recent weeks.
Those cries will arrive at the Capitol on Monday morning as the state NAACP marches across downtown Atlanta, demanding changes to criminal justice and voting systems after Tuesday’s election delays.
“It’s going to take real effort on the part of every elected official in the Georgia General Assembly to do their part to protect every single Georgian,” the organization said in statement last week announcing the march.
House Democrats say they’re backing 12 separate bills including the hate crimes bill. Senate Democrats are backing a package including 10 previously introduced bills plus seven new ideas. Senate Minority Leader Steve Henson said Friday that the recycled bills prove Republicans have been ignoring criminal justice problems.
“These are important issues that have been neglected by the majority party, that we haven’t been able to get a hearing on,” said Henson, a Stone Mountain Democrat.
Some Republicans also support ending Georgia’s citizen’s arrest law, a possible factor in the February shooting of Ahmaud Arbery, an unarmed black man killed while running through a subdivision near Brunswick.
Both House and Senate Democrats want to abolish Georgia’s “stand your ground” law, which states people can use force without retreating.
“We need to literally revoke the license to kill in public spaces that is stand your ground,” Trammell said Thursday during an online news conference.
Other proposals shared by House and Senate Democrats include requiring police to announce themselves before serving a warrant, creating a registry of traffic stops to look for racial profiling, banning chokeholds, ending officers’ immunity from lawsuits if they’ve done something wrong, and requiring all officers to wear and use body cameras. The packages have some differences — House Democrats want an oversight commission for prosecutors, while senators want bans on rubber bullets and limits on police chases.
House Speaker David Ralston said Friday that Democrats are proposing far-reaching changes, and that anything beyond a hate crimes bill may be too much for the remaining time.
“I think the scope of the discussion expands when you throw in citizens arrest and other issues like that,” the Blue Ridge Republican said.
Ralston said he’ll send new bills to the House Judiciary Non-Civil Committee and tell Chairman Chuck Efstration, a Dacula Republican, to hold hearings this summer, possibly setting up action when a new General Assembly convenes in January 2021.
“It would be aggressively looking at these issues rather than putting them in the corner and letting them gather dust,” Ralston said. “We would at least be letting the process keep moving with a view toward taking up these bills and acting on them next session.”
And at least some Democrats say that they may have to look toward next year.
“Many of the items we are bringing up will be hard to address in this session,” Henson said. “We’re not trying to purport that we’re going to pass everything we’re talking about.”
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Monday sees more reopenings in France, Britain, Greece and other locations, while China is reimposing some coronavirus restrictions after dozens of new cases in Beijing. Restaurant owners in Paris are able join those in the rest of the country by opening their doors for patrons to eat inside.  Travelers from other European countries can also travel to France again as countries open their borders to travelers from other parts of the continent. “We must relaunch our economy,” French President Emmanuel Macron said. In Britain, non-essential shops are opening again Monday, as are places of worship for individual prayer, and recreation sites such as drive-in movie theaters and zoos.  People will still need to observe social distancing rules and the government is advising the use of facemasks when people are inside. On Britain’s public transit, Monday brought new orders for mandatory face coverings. Greece opened the international airport in is second largest city, Thessaloniki, to EU travelers, and the country’s museums reopened after a three-month shutdown.People visit the Pnyx Hill in Athens overlooking the ancient Acropolis on May 29, 2020 as Greece eases lockdown measures taken to curb the spread of the COVID-19 (the novel coronavirus).Set to reopen Thursday is Hong Kong Disneyland.  The park has been shuttered since January and at first only a limited number of visitors will be allowed in. Guests will need to make a health declaration as part of their pre-arrival reservation process. The Disney park in Shanghai reopened last month. China reported 49 new confirmed COVID-19 cases, the majority linked to a wholesale market in Beijing, prompting authorities to reimpose some social isolation restrictions and suspend plans to restart some classes. Many areas around the world have struggled with the decision about when and how quickly to relax measures put in place to slow the spread of the virus that has infected 7.9 million people worldwide and killed at least 433,000. The governor of New York state, the hardest-hit area of the United States, expressed his concerns Sunday about complaints local authorities and businesses are not properly enforcing restrictions, leading to large gatherings with poor social distancing and few people wearing masks. “If you have large gatherings of people who are not socially distanced, who are not wearing masks, you will have an increased spread in the virus,” Cuomo said.  “It may not come for a period of time, but it will come. And once it comes, it’s too late. Now you’re back up in a spike situation and it’s going to take you weeks of extraordinary effort to bring it down.” Turkey’s health minister also expressed concerns about his country’s efforts, saying Turkey is “moving away from the target” with more than 1,500 new confirmed cases in one day.  It was the highest such figure for Turkey since June 3. 
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