World Trend News : June 2020

Tuesday, June 30, 2020

Amy McGrath Will Face McConnell in Kentucky, and Hickenlooper Wins in Colorado

By Jonathan Martin and Adam Nagourney from NYT U.S. https://nyti.ms/2VAnS0J

What a Family That Lost 5 to the Virus Wants You to Know

By Tracey Tully from NYT New York https://nyti.ms/2YO9KD3

Carl Reiner, Multifaceted Master of Comedy, Is Dead at 98

By Robert Berkvist and Peter Keepnews from NYT Arts https://nyti.ms/2BgejNL

How Do Flying Snakes Glide Through the Air? ‘It’s Hard to Believe’

By David Waldstein from NYT Science https://nyti.ms/2YLiJ8b

Remote School Is a Nightmare. Few in Power Care.

By Michelle Goldberg from NYT Opinion https://nyti.ms/38rUIGB

Coronavirus Jumps the Border, Overwhelming Hospitals in California

By Miriam Jordan from NYT U.S. https://nyti.ms/2NJlOz9

Hong Kong: 'Anti-protest' law kicks in as city marks handover

As the city marks 23 years since British rule ended, critics say the new law is "the end of Hong Kong".

from BBC News - World https://bbc.in/31EoTZo

New world news from Time: First COVID-19 Case Confirmed in Asylum Seeker Camp at U.S.-Mexico Border

(CIUDAD VICTORIA, Mexico) — An international disaster relief organization reported Tuesday the first confirmed case of COVID-19 among migrants living in a tent encampment of asylum seekers at the U.S.-Mexico border.

Global Response Management said that one person in the Matamoros, Tamaulipas camp across the Rio Grande from Brownsville, Texas had tested positive.

“Aggressive isolation and tracing measures have been enacted,” the U.S.-based relief organization said via Twitter.

There are some 2,000 asylum seekers living in tents along the border. The migrants from Central America and other parts of the world have been stranded by the United States’ suspension of asylum hearings due to the pandemic through at least mid-July.

Last week, Andrea Leiner, a spokeswoman for GRM, said they had implemented measures to try to reduce the risk of the virus’ spread, but conceded it was a challenge with confirmed infections cropping up among U.S. and Mexican immigration officials and in residents on both sides of the border.

They had placed tents a meter (3 feet) apart, leaving them open for ventilation and having everyone sleep head to toe to curtail the chances of transmission while people sleep.

Two Tamaulipas state immigration officials, who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the case, said the infected person was a Mexican citizen who was deported earlier in June from the United States to Reynosa and who arrived at the camp over the weekend.

Four other people the young woman had contact with tested negative, the officials said.

Asylum seekers began pooling in border cities like Matamoros under the U.S. policy commonly known as “Remain in Mexico,” in which asylum seekers can make their initial request for U.S. asylum, but have to wait in Mexico for the lengthy process to play out.

More than 60,000 asylum-seekers have been returned to Mexico to wait for hearings in U.S. court since January 2019, when the U.S. introduced its “Migrant Protection Protocols” policy.

There had been concern since the arrival of the pandemic that the crowded tents and lack of proper sanitation could lead to infections in the Matamoros camp.

GRM started working in the camp last September. The organization provides medical treatment with a team of medical volunteers.

Dr. Michele Heisler, medical director at Physicians for Human Rights and professor of internal medicine and public health at University of Michigan, in a statement characterized GRM’s work in the camp as “Herculean.” She criticized the U.S. policy for creating the situation and said asylum seekers should be paroled to stay with relatives in the U.S. while their cases are processed.

“Local and national health authorities in Mexico must act immediately to improve access to COVID-19 testing and care in Matamoros,” Heisler said. “The families living in the Matamoros tent city are among the most vulnerable in the hemisphere to the spread of COVID-19.”

Mexico’s own national case load continues to rise steadily, with 5,432 confirmed cases reported Tuesday, to bring the nationwide total to more than 226,000. Confirmed COVID-19 deaths rose by 648 Tuesday, to bring the total to 27,769 deaths.

AP writer Julie Watson in San Diego contributed to this report.

New world news from Time: Politicians Call For U.N. Probe Into China Forcing Birth Control on Uighurs

Politicians around the world have called for a United Nations probe into a Chinese government birth control campaign targeting largely Muslim minorities in the far western region of Xinjiang, even as Beijing said it treats all ethnicities equally under the law.

They were referring to an Associated Press investigation published this week that found the Chinese government is taking draconian measures to slash birth rates among Uighurs and other minorities, while encouraging some of the country’s Han majority to have more children. The Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, a group of European, Australian, North American, and Japanese politicians from across the political spectrum, demanded an independent U.N. investigation.

“The world cannot remain silent in the face of unfolding atrocities,” the group said in a statement.

The AP found that the Chinese government regularly subjects minority women in Xinjiang to pregnancy checks and forces intrauterine devices, sterilization and even abortion on hundreds of thousands. New research obtained by The Associated Press in advance of publication by China scholar Adrian Zenz also showed that the hundreds of millions of dollars the government pours into birth control has transformed Xinjiang from one of China’s fastest-growing regions to among its slowest in just a few years.

The AP found that the population control measures are backed by mass detention both as a threat and as a punishment for failure to comply. Having too many children is a major reason people are sent to detention camps, documents and interviews show, with the parents of three or more ripped away from their families unless they can pay huge fines.

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom called for a U.N. and State Department investigation, saying the Chinese government’s birth control campaign “might meet the legal criteria for genocide.” According to a U.N. convention, “imposing measures intended to prevent births” with “intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group” is considered evidence of genocide. The last colonial governor of Hong Kong, Chris Patten, told Bloomberg Television that the birth control campaign was “arguably something that comes within the terms of the UN views on sorts of genocide.”

The U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee called the forced birth control “beyond deplorable,” and said that “a nation that treats its own people this way should never be considered a great power.” U.S. senators Kirsten Gillibrand and Kamala Harris wrote a letter urging the Trump administration to respond to an “alarming” AP investigation, and U.S. Senator Marco Rubio and Representative Ro Khanna also called for action.

U.S. President Donald Trump told China President Xi Jinping he was right to build detention camps to house hundreds of thousands of ethnic minorities, according to a new book by former national security adviser John Bolton. However, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the reports of forced birth control for minorities were “shocking” and “disturbing” in a statement Monday.

“We call on the Chinese Communist Party to immediately end these horrific practices,” he said.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian fired back on Tuesday by calling Pompeo “a brazen liar,” saying the Uighur population had more than doubled since 1978 in response to criticism of Xinjiang’s birth control policies.

“If Mr. Pompeo is telling the truth, how can he explain the big increase in the Uighur population?” Zhao asked.

For decades, Xinjiang’s population grew quickly, as minorities enjoyed laxer birth control restrictions than Han Chinese. But in just three years, new measures have caused the birth rate in Xinjiang’s Uighur-majority areas to plunge, and it is now well under the national average.

Zhao also said the American government had been responsible for “genocide, racial segregation and assimilation policies” on Native Americans. on them.” University of Colorado researcher Darren Byler said the Chinese state-orchestrated assault on Xinjiang’s minorities does echo past birth control programs.

“It recalls the American eugenics movement which targeted Native and African Americans up until the 1970s,” he said. “China’s public health authorities are conducting a mass experiment in targeted genetic engineering on Turkic Muslim populations.”

In response to the AP story, which he called “fake news,” Zhao said the government treats all ethnicities equally and protects their legal rights. Chinese officials have said in the past that the new measures are merely meant to be fair, with the law now allowing minorities and China’s Han majority the same number of children.

However, the AP’s reporting found that while equal on paper, in practice Han Chinese are largely spared the abortions, sterilizations, IUD insertions and detentions for having too many children that are forced on Xinjiang’s other ethnicities, interviews and data show. Some rural minorities are punished even for having the three children allowed by the law.

British members of Parliament debated Xinjiang in the House of Commons on Monday, with both Labor and Conservative politicians urging the U.K. Foreign Ministry to adopt a stronger stance against the Chinese government. Nigel Adams, the British Minister of State for Asia, said the reports added to the U.K.’s “concern about the human rights situation in Xinjiang” and that it will be “considering this report very carefully.” Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne also told Australian broadcaster SBS that the reports “further compounded” their concerns.

Bill Browder, CEO of investment fund Hermitage Capital Management and brainchild of the Magnitsky Act, asked the U.S. government to level sanctions against Chinese officials, calling the birth control campaign part of a broader assault he called “vile persecution.”

Coronavirus: Czechs hold party to 'farewell' pandemic

Thousands attended the festive event in Prague, sharing food and drink with people around them.

from BBC News - World https://bbc.in/3dUr3Ha

The Cameroonian waging war against a French war hero’s statue

Essama Andre has repeatedly attacked the statue of French war hero Gen Philippe Leclerc in Doula.

from BBC News - World https://bbc.in/3dSjyA9

Persuading China to switch to 'fake' pork

Pork is China's favourite meat dish, but will new meat substitutes tempt consumers to give up meat?

from BBC News - World https://bbc.in/38iiAMD

Coronavirus: The human cost of fake news in India

False and misleading reports have surged in the country during the coronavirus pandemic.

from BBC News - World https://bbc.in/2BT73aw

Facebook bans 'violent' Boogaloo-linked network

It said the group seeks violence and is loosely affiliated with the far-right Boogaloo movement

from BBC News - World https://bbc.in/2YNVA4W

Coronavirus: Joe Biden will not hold campaign rallies

"This is the most unusual campaign, I think, in modern history," the Democratic nominee said.

from BBC News - World https://bbc.in/2VAJ2Mf

Coronavirus: What's behind new US outbreaks?

Cases are rising in Texas, Florida, Arizona and California - here's a look at the data and the theories.

from BBC News - World https://bbc.in/2BhYIxf

Russia's Putin appeals to patriotism as key vote reaches climax

Russians have one more day to decide on key reforms, but opponents say the vote is a farce.

from BBC News - World https://bbc.in/38iAm24

Belgian king expresses 'deepest regrets' for DR Congo colonial abuses

King Philippe expresses his "deepest regrets" to DR Congo's president for Belgium's colonial rule.

from BBC News - World https://bbc.in/2NKjAPW

Fox News Breaking News Alert

Fox News Breaking News Alert

China passes controversial Hong Kong security law: report

06/29/20 11:49 PM

Monday, June 29, 2020

India Bans Nearly 60 Chinese Apps, Including TikTok and WeChat

By Maria Abi-Habib from NYT World https://nyti.ms/2BomOpN

‘Our Luck May Have Run Out’: California’s Case Count Explodes

By Shawn Hubler and Thomas Fuller from NYT U.S. https://nyti.ms/3dNexch

Trump Got Written Briefing in February on Possible Russian Bounties, Officials Say

By Charlie Savage, Eric Schmitt, Nicholas Fandos and Adam Goldman from NYT U.S. https://nyti.ms/2NDG85b

New world news from Time: U.S. Restricts Hong Kong’s Access to Sensitive Technology Over Security Law

The Trump administration made it harder to export sensitive American technology to Hong Kong, escalating pressure on China as lawmakers in Beijing prepared to hand down a national security law that limits the former British colony’s autonomy.

The U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said in a statement Monday that the security legislation, which China’s top legislative body approved Tuesday, raised concerns about the transfer of key technology. The Commerce Department said it was suspending regulations allowing special treatment to Hong Kong over things including export license exceptions.

“With the Chinese Communist Party’s imposition of new security measures on Hong Kong, the risk that sensitive U.S. technology will be diverted to the People’s Liberation Army or Ministry of State Security has increased, all while undermining the territory’s autonomy,” Ross said, providing little detail on specific impacts. “Further actions to eliminate differential treatment are also being evaluated.”

Exports of sensitive technologies to Hong Kong have previously been treated differently from those to mainland China, where exporters have to apply for special licenses. Those policies were put in place after China agreed to preserve Hong Kong’s “high degree of autonomy” — including civil liberties, free markets and independent courts — for at least 50 years after resuming sovereignty over the city in 1997.

President Donald Trump said after the National People’s Congress first approved the drafting of the security legislation last month that the U.S. would begin the process of eliminating policy exemptions for Hong Kong, including export controls on dual-use technologies. Monday’s announcement likely sets up a tedious application process for companies.

Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam dismissed U.S. concerns that such sensitive items could make it to the mainland, saying the city had “a stringent trade-control mechanism.” She told reporters at a weekly news briefing that the move would have “minimal” impact.

“Sanctions will not scare us,” Lam said. “We are fully prepared and I believe China will also take countermeasures when needed.”

Hong Kong stocks were little affected by either the trade actions or China’s passage of the national security law, with traders waiting for details about the content of the legislation. The benchmark Hang Seng index rose as much as 1.2% before paring gains.

The U.S. move was the latest as relations with China continue to deteriorate over Hong Kong and other fronts. The president has attempted to blame the country for the spread of the coronavirus, part of his re-election effort against presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden, who has also escalated his criticism of China. Both nations’ warships and combat jets continue to track each other around the contested South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait.

“There’s no immediate ability to predict a specific negative impact on businesses,” Anna Ashton, a senior director of government affairs at the U.S-China Business Council, told Bloomberg Television. “We’re in the midst of a strategic rethink about the relationship between the U.S. and China. And it’s very difficult to know right in this moment exactly what that means for the business side of the relationship.”

Last week, U.S. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo announced visa restrictions against unspecified Chinese officials involved in the Hong Kong actions, drawing a threat of retaliation from Beijing. Pompeo said on Monday that the U.S. would also cease selling defense equipment to Hong Kong, a largely symbolic act that will mostly affect sales with the city’s police and corrections forces.

Trump delivered remarks last Friday that, while harsh, did not threaten specific punishments for the Beijing government.

While the threat of the U.S. ending Hong Kong’s special trading status loomed over a historic wave of unrest that rocked the city for much of last year, it appears to have done little to change President Xi Jinping’s policy toward the city. Beijing has shown an increasing willingness to push back against foreign pressure, as its critics in Hong Kong grow more radical and mainland citizens demand steps to protect the country’s territory from outside influence.

‘Stop Meddling’

“Separatist forces intending to disrupt Hong Kong can clamor as they like and anti-China external forces may try to exert pressure, but neither will stop China’s resolute action to advance the legislation,” Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Zhao Lijian told a regular news briefing Monday in Beijing. “We urge the U.S. side to grasp the situation and immediately stop meddling in Hong Kong affairs and China’s internal affairs in any way.”

Hong Kong matters far less to China’s fortunes than it once did, with 12% of the country’s exports going to or through Hong Kong last year, compared with 45% in 1992. Still, the end of Hong Kong’s preferential treatment — which helps makes it an important base for international banks and trading firms — could deal yet another blow to the local economy, which has already been reeling from months of protests followed by the coronavirus outbreak.

U.S. interests could get damaged in the dispute, though. The U.S.’s largest trade surplus in 2018 was with Hong Kong — $31.1 billion. Some 290 U.S. companies had regional headquarters in the city that year and another 434 had regional offices.

“This won’t affect trade much,” said Iris Pang, chief economist for greater China at ING Bank NV. “Re-export is the main function of the ports. That will continue unless the U.S. decides not to export to mainland China.”

–With assistance from Ben Livesey, Nick Wadhams, Jing Li, Bill Faries, Eric Lam and Karen Leigh.

Coronavirus: Human trial of India vaccine in July

This is the first Indian vaccine and developed from a weakened strain of the virus isolated locally.

from BBC News - World https://bbc.in/2NJY0eo

Coronavirus Live Updates: States Pause Plans to Reopen as Cases Soar

By Unknown Author from NYT World https://nyti.ms/3ij9TGC

Another Fatal Shooting in Seattle’s ‘CHOP’ Protest Zone

By Kirk Johnson from NYT U.S. https://nyti.ms/3dJOyma

Trump Shares Video of Armed White Couple Confronting Protesters

By Annie Karni from NYT U.S. https://nyti.ms/2BcC2yl

The Reality Behind ‘Below Deck’

By Caity Weaver from NYT Style https://nyti.ms/3gfBwOV

‘Feeling Like Death’: Inside a Houston Hospital Bracing for a Virus Peak

By Sheri Fink from NYT U.S. https://nyti.ms/2ZeYAGo

Patriots Sign Cam Newton as N.F.L. Levies Fine in Video Scandal

By Ken Belson from NYT Sports https://nyti.ms/2NHmHbv

New world news from Time: Hong Kong National Security Law Passes in Beijing Amid Global Concern

A national security law for Hong Kong was passed on Tuesday by the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress in Beijing, amid international criticism and fear among pro-democracy figures in the former British colony.

The law prohibits acts of secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces.

The full text of the legislation has not yet been released, and even Hong Kong’s top official, Chief Executive Carrie Lam, acknowledged in a press conference shortly after the passage that she had not seen a full draft. Local media reports that the law is expected to come into effect on July 1, the 23rd anniversary of the resumption of Chinese sovereignty over the territory.

Beijing announced plans at the end of May to bypass Hong Kong’s lawmaking process and implement the laws for the enclave after Hong Kong failed to fulfill its constitutional obligation to do so.

Alan Leong, the chairman of the pro-democracy Civic Party and the former chairman of the Hong Kong Bar Association told TIME that it was “totally unacceptable” that the law was passed without its details being known to Hong Kong officials. He said that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) may be signaling to Hong Kong officials that “They are just here to execute instructions given to them by the CCP.”

Many experts say that Beijing ran out of patience following violent anti-government protests that paralyzed the city for much of the second half of 2019, and plunged the global financial hub into its first recession in a decade. Under the One Country, Two Systems principle, agreed when the United Kingdom retroceded the colony to China, the city of 7.5 million has its own legislature and system of laws and courts. Article 23 of Hong Kong’s Basic Law, the mini-constitution governing the territory, required the Hong Kong government to enact national security laws itself, but local lawmakers could not agree on them.

“The rapid rise of unprecedented violence and calls for independence coupled with a dysfunctional [legislative council] left Beijing government with no alternatives but to enact a law with the hope of preventing the worse from happening,” Ronny Tong, a member of the Executive Council, Hong Kong’s de facto cabinet, tells TIME. “We can only hope that a proper balance will be struck between protecting national safety and integrity on the one hand and preserving the freedoms and core values of the people of Hong Kong on the other.”

The Chinese government says that matters of national security are the responsibility of Beijing, and that Hong Kong, like jurisdictions across the world, should have a national security law in place.

The Chinese foreign ministry said in June that the Hong Kong protests, which have seen thousands injured and arrested and caused millions of dollars worth of damage, made the national security legislation a matter of “the greatest urgency.”

“Some separatists even made a public appeal for foreign sanctions against China and invited the U.S. military to Hong Kong,” the statement said. “Forceful measures are therefore required to prevent, forestall and punish these acts,” the statement said.

Some experts say the law was rushed through to avoid further mass unrest. “[Chinese authorities] were afraid of the popular reaction,” Jean-Pierre Cabestan, a professor of political science at Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU), told TIME. “They want to make sure it’s going to be promulgated as soon as possible before people get organized and start protesting against it.”

How have the U.S. and other governments responded?

Beijing’s increasing hold over Hong Kong has been a point of contention between the U.S. and China. Following the Communist Party’s decision to roll out national security laws for the territory, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that Hong Kong was no longer sufficiently autonomous from mainland China, a decision that puts the city’s special trade and economic relationship with the U.S. at risk. The Senate approved legislation June 25 to require sanctions against entities deemed to violate the promises China made to Hong Kong at the time of its 1997 handover—and against foreign financial firms that knowingly conducts “significant transactions” with those entities.

On June 26, Pompeo announced that the State Department would impose visa restrictions on Chinese Communist Party officials that it believes are undermining Hong Kong’s high degree of autonomy, and restricting its human rights.

And on Monday, the U.S. announced that it will stop exporting U.S. defense equipment to Hong Kong. “We cannot risk these items falling into the hands of the People’s Liberation Army, whose primary purpose is to uphold the dictatorship of the CCP by any means necessary,” Pompeo said in a statement.

The European Parliament has meanwhile passed a non-binding resolution urging European Union member states to adopt “sanctions and asset freezes against Chinese officials responsible for devising and implementing policies that violate human rights.” It also recommended that the EU and its member states file a case before the International Court of Justice once the national security law was passed.

On June 26, about 50 United Nations rights experts denounced the repression of “fundamental freedoms” in China, highlighting the “repression of protests and democracy advocacy” in Hong Kong. The experts urged the Chinese government to withdraw the legislation.

The U.K. has said that if the law is implemented, it will amend immigration laws to make it easier for some Hongkongers to live in the country. Taiwan also said it will help Hongkongers who want to move to the island.

In response to the international criticism, Chinese officials have urged the U.S. and other governments to stop meddling in Hong Kong affairs. In retaliation for visa restrictions announced by the U.S., Beijing said on Monday it will impose visa restrictions on some Americans with “egregious conduct relating to Hong Kong.”

How have Hong Kong protesters responded?

The introduction of the national security legislation has sparked fresh unrest in Hong Kong, albeit on a reduced scale. More than 50 people protesting against the law were arrested on Sunday. Despite a police ban on the annual July 1 protest march, some activists are planning to demonstrate anyway.

Experts expect that the national security law might further dissuade moderate protesters, many of whom began to shy away from attending demonstrations late last year as the protests became increasingly violent.

“Some people might be afraid,” Willy Lam, an expert in Chinese politics at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, tells TIME. “Protests against the law might be construed as subversion of state power.”

Ahead of the law’s passage, some protesters have deleted or wiped out content from social media accounts for fear that past posts might incriminate them.

HKBU’s Cabestan said demonstrators might be more cautious about what slogans they chant and signs they carry going forward—protesters have frequently waved American and other foreign flags and called on foreign governments to come to their aid, and calls for Hong Kong independence have become increasingly popular at protests in recent weeks

But, he says, the implementation of the law may exacerbate tensions between young Hong Kongers and the police, and lead to more confrontations. “There’s one thing the law cannot change, the mindset,” he said. “I think if anything the new law is going to consolidate the anti-China mindset among a lot of young Hongkongese.”

One young protester told TIME that the law won’t stop him from taking to the streets.

“Nothing can stop us, we have lost so much already,” said W., a 20-year-old university student who asked to go by his initial for safety reasons. “We know it’s risky but there’s no turning back, the only thing we can do is resist until the end.”

New top story from Time: The 21 Best Documentaries to Stream Right Now

The great documentary filmmaker Albert Maysles once said in an interview that “what a documentary is very special at doing very well is depicting somebody experiencing something, so that the viewer experiences that as well.” Given that documentaries span so many subjects, moods and time periods, they offer to us as viewers a bottomless well of opportunity for new experiences. From true crime series that have become streaming sensations, to films that examine the full scope of the lives of artists and musicians, to a 1976 classic of the form from Maysles and his brother David Maysles, below are 21 of the best documentaries you can watch right now.

What Happened, Miss Simone?

Where to watch: Netflix

Director Liz Garbus tracks the singer-songwriter Nina Simone’s life as a performer and activist, from her early years as a star musician to her rise in fame as the civil rights movement took hold across the United States. Using archival footage and unreleased recordings, the Oscar-nominated film chronicles the struggle Simone faced as she weighed her burgeoning success with her emergence as an activist.

13th

Where to watch: Netflix

Named for the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States constitution—which outlaws slavery and involuntary servitude, except when used as a punishment for a crime—this film from Ava DuVernay shows how the evolution of the U.S. criminal justice system has essentially allowed for a modern system of legalized slavery. 13th examines how various racist policies in the U.S. have oppressed and disenfranchised Black Americans, with mass incarceration at the center of it all.

Amy

Where to watch: Netflix

Released four years after the shocking death of Amy Winehouse, Amy attempts to make sense of the life of the beloved singer, whose struggles with mental health and substance abuse issues made her a target of tabloid coverage. From the filmmaker Asif Kapadia, Amy, which won the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature, features dozens of interviews with Winehouse’s family and friends to build a lasting, complex portrait of the artist.

Paris Is Burning

Where to watch: Rent on iTunes

The seminal 1990 documentary from director Jennie Livingston delves into New York City’s 1980s-era drag-ball scene. The film, which was added to the U.S. National Film Registry by the Library of Congress in 2016, showcases performances from and interviews with many of the central figures of the drag scene from rival fashion houses, who found dignity and purpose in the ballroom scene against the painful backdrop of rampant homophobia and transphobia, violence and the AIDS crisis.

Formula 1: Drive to Survive

formula-one-netflix — Courtesy of Netflix

Where to watch: Netflix

Across two seasons, the documentary series from Formula One takes viewers through the daily lives of the drivers racing in the Formula One World Championships. Season one covers the 2018 world championship, while season two tracks the 2019 competition. Its high level of access makes for a deep view into the world of racing, particularly for the uninitiated.

OJ: Made in America

Where to watch: WatchESPN

ESPN’s Emmy- and Oscar-winning five-part documentary from filmmaker Ezra Edelman walks viewers through O.J. Simpson’s life, from his triumphs as a Heisman-winning college football player and later professional athlete to becoming the prime murder suspect in the killings of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman in 1994. Through Simpson’s life, the series explores how race and celebrity play out in the United States, piecing together interviews, archival footage and news coverage.

Three Identical Strangers

Where to watch: Hulu

Three Identical Strangers follows the story of a set of triplets—Edward Galland, David Kellman and Robert Shafran—who found each other later in life after being adopted into three different families as infants. While their coincidental reunion at age 19 was at first joyous and made the trio a media sensation, the men’s quest to find out why exactly they were separated as babies unearths dark secrets that form the crux of the film.

Going Clear

Where to watch: HBO Now or HBO Go

Based on a book by Lawrence Wright, HBO’s 2015 documentary about Scientology premiered to controversy at the Sundance Film Festival when it dropped several bombshells about the secretive church that counts a number of Hollywood stars among its ranks. The film traces the rise of Scientology by exploring the story of the church’s founder, L. Ron Hubbard, and its influence in Hollywood. Revelations in the film include numerous allegations of violence and abusive behavior by church officials and claims over what really happened in Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman’s marriage.

Faces Places

Where to watch: Rent on Amazon Prime

The late filmmaker Agnès Varda, known for her influence in the French New Wave, and the French artist JR make for what seems, at first, like an unlikely pairing. In this charming documentary, Varda and JR, with an age difference of more than 50 years, meet out of a mutual admiration for one another’s work and decide to travel through France together for an art project in which they find subjects, make large images of them and paste them onto buildings. The result is both a moving homage to the people of France and a deep meditation on the friendship that grows between Varda and JR, who each come to new understandings of art, memory and mortality.

Tickled

Where to watch: Rent on Amazon Prime

The phenomenon of “competitive endurance tickling” is intriguing enough on its own, but this documentary goes beyond a basic FAQ on such quirky athletic pursuits. After director David Farrier, a New Zealand-based TV journalist, learns about the existence of endurance tickling competitions, he digs a little more only to be stonewalled by the producers behind videos of men tickling each other. As he researches further, his exploration of what seemed like a silly pastime becomes a gripping and insightful glimpse into the ethical practices of the video producers behind the endeavor.

Shirkers

Where to watch: Netflix

Filmmaker Sandi Tan dives into her own past for 2018’s Shirkers. The documentary explores how footage from a film Tan worked on with friends in 1992 disappeared when their mentor, Georges Cardona, absconded with it at the end of the project. The disappearance marks a pivotal loss for Tan, who decided to make a documentary about making the film after a search for answers led to Cardona’s ex-wife’s revelation that she had the long-missing footage.

The Keepers

Where to watch: Netflix

The unsolved murder of Sister Cathy Cesnick, who disappeared in 1969, is the basis for this 2017 Netflix series from director Ryan White. Cesnick, who taught at the Archbishop Keough High School in Baltimore and later at Western High School, was found dead two months after she disappeared. While it remains unclear who killed Cesnick, the series explores how her death may have been linked to efforts to keep secret allegations of sexual abuse against a chaplain at the former school.

Hoop Dreams

Where to watch: HBO Now

Initially meant to be a short PBS documentary, Steve James’ Hoop Dreams, released in 1994, is one of the most widely acclaimed documentaries ever made. Across three hours, the film follows two black teenagers from Chicago, who hope to eventually make it as professional basketball players, as they endure the challenges of high school. One of the first feature films to be shot on video, the documentary was hugely influential to a new generation of filmmakers. As Devil’s Playground director Lucy Walker told TIME, when it comes to her generation of documentarians, “You can point to the lineage of [James] more directly than anyone else.”

Bill Cunningham New York

Where to watch: Amazon Prime

The 2010 documentary from Richard Press follows Bill Cunningham, the late, bicycle-riding fixture of New York City who was known for the images he made for the New York Times’ style section. It turns out that Cunningham’s fashion photography, which captured the best of his city’s street style, is almost as fascinating as the man behind the camera.

Love, Gilda

Where to watch: Hulu

Gilda Radner, a Saturday Night Live original cast member who became known for her stellar impressions and whimsical comedy, comes alive in this documentary that combines her own audio narration, interviews with friends and read-aloud portions of her journals. Radner, who died in 1989 from ovarian cancer, is immortalized in the film, which traces her life, from growing up in Michigan to becoming a star.

Hip-Hop Evolution

Where to watch: Netflix

Over four seasons so far, artist and broadcaster Shad explores the history of hip-hop through interviews with some of the genre’s biggest names to break down the influence of DJs, producers and rappers who have shaped the genre into what it is today. The Peabody Award-winning series covers influential artists from Fab Five Freddy to The Sugarhill Gang, N.W.A. to LL Cool J.

Minding the Gap

Where to watch: Hulu

Filmmaker Bing Liu’s personal movie chronicles the friendship between himself and two other young men from Rockford, Illinois, as they bond over a shared love for skateboarding. Through this pastime, the men try to escape the violence and traumas of their past. Skate culture offers an opening for Liu to explore issues like domestic abuse and toxic masculinity, all while including his own story in the narrative.

Grey Gardens

Where to watch: Rent on Amazon Prime

The 1976 film from directors Albert and David Maysles about a mother-daughter pair, formerly members of high society who become recluses living in a dilapidated house in East Hampton, has become a classic of the genre and even inspired a feature film starring Drew Barrymore (as well as comedy spoofs). Known as “Big Edie” and “Little Edie,” the eccentric women at the center of the documentary, who were distant cousins of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, live out their daily lives in front of the camera as their surroundings crumble.

Honeyland

Where to watch: Hulu

Released in 2019, the Macedonian film follows a beekeeper named Hatidže Muratova who minds wild bees. The film’s drama comes from the arrival of a new neighbor to her village who poses a grave threat to the future of her bee colony.

Period. End of Sentence

Where to watch: Netflix

A 2018 Oscar-winning documentary short, Period. End of Sentence follows women in India who work to remove the cultural stigma associated with menstruation and provide proper sanitary products to women in the country. Directed by Rayka Zehtabchi, the documentary was filmed in central India’s Hapur district and chronicles the sea change brought about by a machine that makes affordable sanitary pads.

Stories We Tell

Where to watch: Rent on Amazon Prime

Filmmaker Sarah Polley examines her own childhood in this 2012 Canadian documentary, digging into the complicated relationship between her parents. Built on interviews with family members and friends, Polley gradually peels back the layers of how she discovered the identity of her true biological father, telling the story on her own terms.

China passes controversial Hong Kong security law

Beijing has passed the law, the BBC has learned, deepening fears for the city's freedoms.

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Coronavirus-hit Arizona reverses course on reopening

Arizona emerges as a new US virus epicentre, joining other Sun Belt states like Florida and Texas.

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Kweichow Moutai: 'Elite' alcohol brand is China's most valuable firm

Kweichow Moutai's share price rockets thanks to its popular and sought-after baijiu drink.

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Venezuela tells EU ambassador to leave country

Isabel Brilhante Pedrosa's expulsion comes after the EU placed sanctions on 11 Venezuelan officials.

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Two Friends in Texas Were Tested for Coronavirus. One Bill Was $199. The Other? $6,408.

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Bagged Salads Recalled After Hundreds Are Sickened in the Midwest

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Coronavirus overwhelms Afghanistan’s war-ravaged hospitals

Corruption, medical supply shortages and militant attacks have deepened the country's health crisis.

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New world news from Time: At Least 3 Dead After Gunmen Attack Pakistan Stock Exchange in Karachi

(KARACHI, Pakistan) — Gunmen attacked the stock exchange in the Pakistani city of Karachi on Monday, killing at least three people — two guards and a policeman, according to police. Special police forces deployed to the scene of the attack and in a swift operation secured the building, killing all four gunmen.

The attackers were armed with grenades and automatic rifles, police said. They launched the attack by opening fire at the entrance of the Pakistan Stock Exchange in the southern port city, the country’s financial center.

Rizwan Ahmend, a police official at the scene, said that after opening fire, the gunmen entered the high walled stock exchange grounds. He said the food supplies were found on the bodies of the gunmen, indicating they may have planned a long siege, which police quickly thwarted.

Inside the stock exchange, broker Yaqub Memon told The Associated Press that he and others were huddled inside their offices while the attack was underway.

Heavily armed special forces quickly have surrounded the building located in the heart of the city’s financial district, where the Pakistan State Bank is located as well as the headquarters of several national and international financial institutions.

Local television stations were broadcasting images of police in full body armor surrounding the building but still staying outside the high walled compound of the stock exchange.

Shazia Jehan, a police spokesman, says the bomb disposal squad was also called to the stock exchange and was trying to clear the building of explosive devises. There were no other details and no militant group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.

The Karachi stock exchange is Pakistan’s largest and oldest stock exchange, incorporated today with the exchanges in Islamabad and Lahore.

Sunday, June 28, 2020

Marty Baron Made The Post Great Again. Now, the News Is Changing.

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Gunmen attack Pakistani stock exchange in Karachi

Gunmen attack the Pakistani stock exchange in Karachi, with local media reporting a number of people killed or wounded.

from BBC News - World https://bbc.in/2NGTPju

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It's been out of the headlines for the past few months, but Brexit is back on the political menu.

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Coronavirus Live Updates: The Global Death Toll Now Tops 500,000

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With Flights Banned, Son Sails Solo Across Atlantic to Reach Father, 90

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Trump Retweets Racist Video Showing Supporter Yelling ‘White Power’

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Trump Faces Mounting Defections From a Once-Loyal Group: Older White Voters

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Spies and Commandos Warned Months Ago of Russian Bounties on U.S. Troops

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Hebei: China locks down 400,000 people after virus spike near Beijing

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from BBC News - World https://bbc.in/2Bm6qWR

New world news from Time: After Trump Denies Knowledge of Reported Russian Bounties on U.S. Soldiers, Lawmakers From Both Parties Demand Answers

Leaders of both parties pressed on Sunday for answers from the White House about reports that Russian President Vladimir Putin had put bounties on U.S. troops in Afghanistan and that the U.S. had taken no action in response. Democrats called for hearings to be held.

In his first comment on the matter, President Donald Trump tweeted Sunday that “nobody briefed or told me” about the “so-called attacks,” a comment that his former national security adviser termed “remarkable.”

The New York Times reported Friday on the alleged actions by Russian military intelligence — paying Taliban-linked militias to kill American and British troops — and that Trump and other top White House officials had been briefed on the matter months ago. Major elements were also reported by the Washington Post.

In a follow-up story Sunday, the Times wrote that commandos and spies on the ground in Afghanistan had reported their findings to superiors in January and that they had first grown suspicious after discovering a large stash of U.S. dollars at a Taliban outpost. The U.S. military was reviewing attacks on Americans for possible links to the alleged Russian incentive plan, the Times said, while the Washington Post said the bounties likely resulted in the deaths of several U.S. service members.

Nobody briefed or told me, @VP Pence, or Chief of Staff @MarkMeadows about the so-called attacks on our troops in Afghanistan by Russians, as reported through an “anonymous source” by the Fake News @nytimes. Everybody is denying it & there have not been many attacks on us…..

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 28, 2020

Representative Liz Cheney of Wyoming, the third-ranking Republican in the House, on Sunday appeared to accept Trump’s comment as true. In a tweet she called for an explanation of “who did know and when,” and asked if the topic had been raised in the PDB, or the president’s daily brief. Representative Dan Crenshaw of Texas retweeted Cheney, adding, “we need answers.”

A key Trump ally, Senator Lindsey Graham, said on Saturday it was “imperative Congress get to the bottom of” the allegations about Russia.

“I expect the Trump administration to take such allegations seriously and inform Congress immediately as to the reliability of these news reports,” the South Carolina Republican said on Twitter. Graham golfed with Trump on Sunday in Virginia.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Sunday she wasn’t aware of the intelligence about the Russian bounty on U.S. forces in Afghanistan, but “we have called for a report to the Congress on this.”

If reporting about Russian bounties on US forces is true, the White House must explain:
1. Why weren’t the president or vice president briefed? Was the info in the PDB?
2. Who did know and when?
3. What has been done in response to protect our forces & hold Putin accountable?

— Liz Cheney (@Liz_Cheney) June 28, 2020

“This is as bad as it gets, and yet the president will not confront the Russians on this score, denies being briefed. Whether he is or not, his administration knows,” Pelosi said on ABC’s “This Week.”

Senator Tim Kaine, Democrat of Virginia, questioned Trump’s continued friendly relationship with Putin, including his call for the Russian leader to be present at the next G7 meeting, “all while his administration reportedly knew Russia was trying to kill U.S troops in Afghanistan.”

Rhode Island Democrat Jack Reed, the ranking member on the Senate armed forces committee, said the apparent lack of a response by Trump to the alleged Russian bounties had put U.S. troops in Afghanistan in further danger. “The U.S. must hold accountable anyone who targets our troops,” he said.

In a letter requesting that hearings be held as soon as possible, Senator Tammy Duckworth dubbed the president’s inaction a betrayal of the U.S. military. A veteran, Duckworth is often mentioned as a possible vice presidential pick for Joe Biden, Trump’s presumptive rival in November’s election.

“Members of the U.S. Armed Forces, military families and the American people deserve answers and accountability for President Trump’s outrageous failure of leadership and apparent betrayal of our troops,” the Illinois Democrat wrote to James Inhofe, the Republican chairman of the armed services committee.

‘Pretty Remarkable’

Former National Security Adviser John Bolton, on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” said it was “pretty remarkable the president’s going out of his way to say he hasn’t heard anything about it, one asks, why would he do something like that?”

“He can disown everything if no one ever told him about it,” Bolton said. “It looks like just another day in the office at the Trump White House.”

Bolton said he didn’t know the quality of the intelligence on the Russian bounty plan, or the extent of it. And not all information that flows through the many U.S. intelligence agencies is passed on to the commander-in-chief, Bolton noted.

“There needs to be a filter of intelligence for any president, especially for this president,” he said.

Asked why Trump is often defensive of Putin, Bolton said he didn’t read anything into it, necessarily. “I just don’t know what to say other than if he likes dealing with strong authoritarian figures.”

Bolton is in the middle of a media blitz to promote his tell-all book depicting the president as consistently prioritizing his own re-election, even above national security. On NBC he repeated a contention that while he won’t vote for Trump in November, he won’t vote for Biden, either.

Bolton paints Trump in the book as ignorant, easily manipulated by foreign leaders and unfit for office. Trump has fired back, calling the book “lies” and tweeting that Bolton is “wacko” and a “disgruntled boring fool.”

–With assistance from Shawn Donnan.

New world news from Time: The World Hits Sobering Coronavirus Milestones: 500,000 Dead and 10 Million Confirmed Cases

(ROME) — The world surpassed two sobering coronavirus milestones Sunday — 500,000 confirmed deaths, 10 million confirmed cases — and hit another high mark for daily new infections as governments that attempted reopenings continued to backtrack and warn that worse news could be yet to come.

“COVID-19 has taken a very swift and very dangerous turn in Texas over just the past few weeks,” said Gov. Greg Abbott, who allowed businesses to start reopening in early May but on Friday shut down bars and limited restaurant dining amid a spike in cases.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom rolled back reopenings of bars in seven counties, including Los Angeles. He ordered them to close immediately and urged eight other counties to issue local health orders mandating the same.

More Florida beaches will be closing again to avoid further spread of the new coronavirus as officials try to tamp down on large gatherings amid a spike in COVID-19 cases. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said interactions among young people are driving the surge.

“Caution was thrown to the wind and so we are where we are,” DeSantis said.

South Africa’s health minister warned that the country’s current surge of cases is expected to rapidly increase in the coming weeks and push hospitals to the limit. Health Minister Zwelini Mkhize said the current rise in infections has come from people who “moved back into the workplace.

New clusters of cases at a Swiss nightclub and in the central English city of Leicester showed that the virus was still circulating widely in Europe, though not with the rapidly growing infection rate seen in parts of the U.S., Latin America and India.

Poland and France, meanwhile, attempted a step toward normalcy as they held elections that had been delayed by the virus.

Wearing mandatory masks, social distancing in lines and carrying their own pens to sign voting registers, French voters cast ballots in a second round of municipal elections. Poles also wore masks and used hand sanitizer, and some in virus-hit areas were told to mail in their ballots.

“I didn’t go and vote the first time around because I am elderly and I got scared,” said Fanny Barouh as she voted in a Paris school.

In Texas, Abbott appeared with Vice President Mike Pence, who cut campaign events from upcoming visits to Florida and Arizona because of rising virus cases in those states.

Pence praised Abbott for both his decision to reopen the state, and to roll back the reopening plans.

“You flattened the curve here in Texas … but about two weeks ago something changed,” Pence said.

Pence urged people to wear masks when unable to practice social distancing. He and Abbott wore face masks as they entered and left the room, taking them off while speaking to reporters.

Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, meanwhile, defended the fact that President Donald Trump has rarely worn a mask in public, saying he doesn’t have to follow his own administration’s guidance because as a leader of the free world he’s tested regularly and is in “very different circumstances than the rest of us.”

Addressing spikes in reported coronavirus cases in some states, Azar said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that people “have to take ownership” of their own behaviors by social distancing and wearing masks if possible.

A reported tally Sunday from Johns Hopkins University researchers said the death toll from the coronavirus pandemic had topped 500,00.

About 1 in 4 of those deaths – more than 125,000 – have been reported in the U.S. The country with the next highest death toll is Brazil, with more than 57,000, or about 1 in 9.

The true death toll from the virus, which first emerged in China late last year, is widely believed to be significantly higher. Experts say that especially early on, many victims died of COVID-19 without being tested for it.

To date, more than 10 million confirmed cases have been reported globally. About a quarter of them have been reported in the U.S.

The World Health Organization announced another daily record in the number of confirmed coronavirus cases across the world – topping over 189,000 in a single 24-hour period. The tally eclipses the previous record a week earlier at over 183,000 cases, showing case counts continue to progress worldwide.

Overall the U.S. still has far and away the most total cases. At more than 2,450,000 – roughly twice that of Brazil. The number of actual cases worldwide is much higher.

New York, once the nation’s pandemic epicenter, is now “on the exact opposite end,” Gov. Andrew Cuomo said in an interview with “Meet the Press.”

The state reported five new virus deaths Saturday, its lowest reported daily death toll since March 15. During the state’s peak pandemic in April, nearly 800 people were dying every day. New York still leads the nation in COVID-19 deaths with nearly 25,000.

In the state of Washington, Gov. Jay Inslee put a hold on plans to move counties to the fourth phase of his reopening plan as cases continue to increase. But in Hawaii, the city of Honolulu announced that campgrounds will reopen for the first time in three months with limited permits to ensure social distancing.

Britain’s government, meanwhile, is considering whether a local lockdown is needed for the central English city of Leicester amid reports about a spike in COVID-19 among its Asian community. It would be Britain’s first local lockdown.

“We have seen flare-ups across the country in recent weeks,” Home Secretary Priti Patel told the BBC on Sunday.

Polish voters were casting ballots, in person and by mail, for a presidential election that was supposed to have taken place in May but was chaotically postponed amid the pandemic. President Andrzej Duda, a 48-year-old conservative backed by the nationalist ruling Law and Justice party, is running against 10 other candidates as he seeks a second five-year term.

Iwona Goge, 79, was encouraged to see so many people voting in Warsaw.

“It’s bad. Poland is terribly divided and people are getting discouraged,” she said.

French voters were choosing mayors and municipal councilors in Paris and 5,000 towns and cities in a second round of municipal elections held under strict hygiene rules. Key battlegrounds include Paris, where the next mayor will preside over the 2024 Summer Olympics.

Italy was honoring its dead later Sunday with an evening Requiem concert in hard-hit Bergamo province. The ceremony in the onetime epicenter of the European outbreak came a day after Italy registered the lowest daily tally of COVID-19 deaths in nearly four months: eight.

European leaders were taking no chances in tamping down new clusters. German authorities renewed a lockdown in a western region of about 500,000 people after about 1,300 slaughterhouse workers tested positive.

Africa’s confirmed cases of COVID-19 continued to climb to a new high of more than 371,000, including 9,484 deaths, according to figures released Sunday by the African Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

___

Associated Press journalists around the world contributed to this report.

New top story from Time: The World Hits Sobering Coronavirus Milestones: 500,000 Dead and 10 Million Confirmed Cases