| Trump brags he 'made Juneteenth very famous' despite learning about it just last week Posted: 18 Jun 2020 10:10 AM PDT  President Trump credited himself on Wednesday for bringing attention to the holiday commemorating the end of slavery in the United States after receiving pressure from African-Americans over scheduling a campaign rally on that day.
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| The emerging face of COVID: Younger patients, more cases, but fewer deaths Posted: 18 Jun 2020 08:52 AM PDT  Case counts are climbing in more than 20 states. But so far COVID-19 death counts have not been climbing along with them. Is that because patients are starting to skew younger?
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| Galwan Valley: The fake news about India and China's border clash Posted: 19 Jun 2020 08:48 AM PDT  With feelings running high between the two Asian nations, plenty of misleading content has been shared.
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| Two Jet Pilots from Carrier Roosevelt Safe After Ejecting in Philippine Sea Posted: 18 Jun 2020 09:40 AM PDT  An F-A-18F Super Hornet assigned to the carrier Theodore Roosevelt took a swim in the Philippine Sea.
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| Slave's grave vandalized in UK city in apparent retaliation Posted: 18 Jun 2020 08:33 AM PDT  British officials said Thursday the grave of an enslaved African man has been vandalised in an apparent "retaliation attack" after protesters in the city of Bristol toppled the statue of a prominent slave trader. Two headstones in memory of Scipio Africanus, who lived in Bristol in the 18th century, were smashed. A message scrawled in chalk nearby called for the statue of Edward Colston to be put back or "things will really heat up."
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| U.S. slaps sanctions on Mexican firms, individuals linked to Venezuelan oil trade Posted: 18 Jun 2020 11:43 AM PDT  The United States on Thursday blacklisted Mexico's Libre Abordo and a related company, accusing them of helping Caracas evade U.S. sanctions in the first formal action by the U.S. Treasury Department against Mexican firms involved in trading Venezuelan oil. The Treasury said in a statement it imposed sanctions on three individuals, eight entities and two vessels for activities related to a network attempting to skirt U.S. sanctions on Venezuela aimed at ousting President Nicolas Maduro.
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| Nazis used red triangles to mark political prisoners. That symbol is why Facebook banned a Donald Trump reelection campaign ad. Posted: 18 Jun 2020 05:07 PM PDT  Political prisoners filled Nazi concentration camps, and they were marked with red triangles. Learn the history of the symbol.
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| More than 2 weeks after start of nationwide protests, little sign of COVID spike, but officials remain cautious Posted: 19 Jun 2020 01:54 PM PDT  When protests started after the killing of George Floyd, health experts worried they could spark outbreaks of the coronavirus. There is little evidence that has happened, though officials caution it is far too early to draw conclusions.
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| McEnany says she will not wear a face mask at Trump’s Tulsa rally Posted: 19 Jun 2020 11:31 AM PDT  At a press conference on Friday, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany says she will not wear a face mask at President Trump's campaign rally in Tulsa, Okla., on Saturday. The CDC recommends that adults wear face coverings to stop the spread of coronavirus.
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| Colombian army rescues abducted Swiss and Brazilian tourists Posted: 18 Jun 2020 08:53 PM PDT  The Swiss and Brazilian tourists were kidnapped by dissidents from the former Farc rebel movement.
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| Seattle police union expelled from large labor group Posted: 18 Jun 2020 08:27 AM PDT  The largest labor group in the Seattle area has expelled the city's police union, saying the guild representing officers failed to address racism within its ranks. The vote Wednesday night by the King County Labor Council to exclude the Seattle Police Officers Guild comes after weeks of protests in the city over police brutality and racism following the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. It's also significant as the labor council is politically influential.
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| Honduras says its president has been hospitalized with COVID-19. Many don't believe it Posted: 18 Jun 2020 05:29 PM PDT  President Juan Orlando Hernández of Honduras is a polarizing figure who has been named in a U.S. drug trafficking case. He says he has the coronavirus. Some don't believe him.
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| Just 39 migrant kids avoided expulsion at the border in May Posted: 18 Jun 2020 03:42 PM PDT  U.S. officials at the southern border carried out 1,001 arrests of unaccompanied migrant children in May. Just 39 were allowed to stay.
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| China to Increase U.S. Agricultural Imports after Secret Trade Talks: Report Posted: 19 Jun 2020 02:42 PM PDT  China will increase its purchases of U.S. agricultural products following secret talks between the two nations held in Hawaii, Bloomberg reported on Friday.China is a vital market for American soybeans, corn, ethanol, meat, and other agricultural products. But Beijing, which committed to buying $36.5 billion in American agricultural goods under the terms of a phase-one trade deal signed by President Trump and Chinese premier Xi Jinping, had only purchased $4.65 billion worth through the first four months of 2020.The talks on Wednesday, attended by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Chinese foreign-policy chief Yang Jiechi, were intended to smooth conflicts over the trade deal."During my meeting with CCP Politburo Member Yang Jiechi, he recommitted to completing and honoring all of the obligations of Phase 1 of the trade deal between our two countries," Pompeo wrote on Twitter following the meeting.The Chinese commerce ministry did not respond to Bloomberg's request for comment.Phase one of the trade deal went into effect just before the coronavirus outbreak that started in Wuhan, China ballooned into a global pandemic. Relations between the U.S. and China have soured considerably since then, with American officials blaming China for not preventing the spread of the virus. The two nations were already in the midst of a trade war, with each imposing tariffs on exports from the other.
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| In US Military First, the Air Force has Picked a Woman as Top Enlisted Leader Posted: 19 Jun 2020 11:14 AM PDT  Bass emerged as "the consensus choice from more than a dozen finalists from across the Air Force's global operation."
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| US employers step up anti-unionization efforts as pandemic spurs activism Posted: 18 Jun 2020 03:45 AM PDT  The coronavirus crisis is making organization efforts difficult for unions and bosses seem keen to take advantageDuring the coronavirus pandemic, employers have opposed unionization elections even as workers' activism over safety protections, job security and wages has increased in the face of an economic shutdown and health fears.But the pandemic has created difficult conditions for workers to organize elections in – something many employers appear to have taken advantage of, despite the wave of labor activism sweeping the US.The number of resolved union election cases at the National Labor Relations Board dropped from 84 in March 2020 to 13 in April 2020 as the pandemic raged. Several of the delayed union elections then had petitions withdrawn or have yet to be scheduled. During the pandemic, union election petitions have declined significantly. According to the NLRB, union representation case intake in April 2020 decreased by 67.6% compared with April 2019.The NLRB initially froze all union elections, while permitting mail-in ballot elections if employers and workers agreed to proceed. The board lifted the freeze on 6 April, after 116 union elections were delayed, and several other groups of workers had petition hearings postponed.For many workers, the need to have a union has never been greater.Monica Luna, an associate at a T-Mobile retail store in Del Rio, Texas for nearly three years, filed for a union election with the NLRB in April 2020 in response to working conditions during the pandemic and the lack of job security as T-Mobile is shuttering stores around the US."A week and a half after, our district manager started making appearances and we started having union avoidance meetings," said Luna.Her retail store remained opened entirely throughout the pandemic, yet her pay of $13 an hour remained the same. "I think it's funny [that] all of a sudden we're trying to form a union, and the district manager showed up and stayed for the week, was buying us food, giving his opinion regarding the union, trying to give us facts, saying if we didn't pay dues we could get fired."A T-Mobile spokesperson said in an email: "We as a company have the right to educate our employees about the facts around union representation so they can make informed decisions."The Communications Workers of America lost the election. Organizer Tim Dubnau put the defeat down to the anti-union meetings and frequent intervention from the district manager, while organizers were unable to meet with workers due to concerns of spreading the virus.Activists and labor unions and several elected officials in Congress have been pushing for the NLRB to develop procedures to hold union elections electronically, citing employer opposition to mail-in ballot elections and the urgency of safety protections for workers who risk exposure to coronavirus.As union elections resumed during the pandemic, several employers have continued to oppose unionization efforts through captive audience meetings and pushes to postpone or delay elections.Mission hospital in Asheville, North Carolina, has been fighting with nurses working to join National Nurses United, with the hospital pushing for an in-person voting election and to expand the bargaining unit from 1,600 nurses to all nurses, nurse practitioners and nurse anesthetists in the county.The hospital has also argued to postpone the election until after the pandemic, while hiring union avoidance consultants, the Crossroads Group, to hold anti-union meetings with workers and managers through the pandemic."We're still waiting for the NLRB to announce who will be able to vote and when and how the vote will take place," said Sarah Kuhl, a registered nurse at Mission Health's oncology department.Kuhl noted the hospital is still pushing for an in-person election vote, while anti-union meetings continue, and management distributes anti-union flyers. "Our cases of Covid-19 here in Asheville are increasing and staff members have been impacted, so an in-person vote would be irresponsible to patients and staff."A Mission hospital spokesperson told the Guardian: "We respect every colleague's right to decide for themselves whether they desire union representation or not. However, we do not believe unions benefit our facilities, our colleagues, and most importantly our patients."Rose Turner, organizing director at UFCW local 1529, filed a petition for a union election in Byhalia, Mississippi, as soon as the board lifted the election freeze on 6 April to represent workers at Hearthside Food Solutions, the largest private bakery in the US which packages cereal for Kellogg's.Immediately following the petition filing, Hearthside hired a union avoidance firm to hold regular meetings with workers to deter them from voting for the union. The vote was scheduled to be held via mail-in ballot due to the pandemic, but Hearthside Food Solutions pushed to hold a manual election and the NLRB agreed.The union won the election in a 62 to 47 vote."I've been with the union for over 30 years. That was the hardest election I ever experienced," said Turner, citing the difficulty for the union to hold meetings and speak to workers ahead of the vote. "In the end, we prevailed."Epic Academy College Prep and Hearthside Food Solutions did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
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| The deaths of George Floyd and Rayshard Brooks have soured the already strained relationship between Black people and the police Posted: 18 Jun 2020 08:38 PM PDT  The retired professor Delores Jones-Brown says her husband's motto is,"Don't call the police to this house unless somebody's dying."
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| India-China Himalayan standoff deadly for cashmere herds Posted: 18 Jun 2020 11:15 PM PDT  Antagonisms between Indian and Chinese troops high in the Himalayas are taking a dire toll on traditional goat herds that supply the world's finest, most expensive cashmere. This week, a deadly brawl between Indian and Chinese soldiers caused the deaths of at least 20 Indian soldiers in the Galwan Valley, an achingly beautiful landscape that is part of a border region that has been disputed for decades because of its strategic importance as the world's highest landing ground. The months-long military standoff between the Asian giants is hurting local communities due to the loss of tens of thousands of Himalayan goat kids died because they couldn't reach traditional winter grazing lands, officials and residents said.
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| Factbox: China's new national security proposals for Hong Kong riddled with uncertainty Posted: 19 Jun 2020 01:29 AM PDT  China's plans to impose new national security laws on Hong Kong are raising widespread fears the legislation could lead to profound changes in the former British colony. WILL MAINLAND CHINA'S POWERFUL SECURITY AND INTELLIGENCE AGENCIES BE ABLE TO TAKE ENFORCEMENT ACTION IN THE CITY? The initial resolution of the National People's Congress raises the prospect that officers from such agencies could be based in the city for the first time if needed on national security cases.
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| Photos show famed hidden treasure found after 10-year search Posted: 18 Jun 2020 05:00 AM PDT  Forrest Fenn posted three photos on his blog, saying the bronze chest filled with gold, jewels, and other valuables is indeed his famed treasure.
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| Jean Kennedy Smith, last surviving sibling of President John F. Kennedy, dies Posted: 18 Jun 2020 06:45 AM PDT  The last surviving sibling of President John F. Kennedy, Jean Kennedy Smith, has died at 92.
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| After week of Supreme Court defeats, Trump says he’ll release new shortlist of potential justices Posted: 18 Jun 2020 09:10 AM PDT  "Based on decisions being rendered now, this list is more important than ever before," the president tweeted.
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| Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor: China charges Canadians with spying Posted: 19 Jun 2020 04:43 AM PDT  Their arrests were seen as retaliation for the detention of a Huawei boss - something China denies.
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| The officer accused of killing Rayshard Brooks was moved to a different jail over security concerns Posted: 19 Jun 2020 11:19 AM PDT  Garrett Rolfe, who was scheduled to appear in court today, has moved correctional facilities due to security concerns.
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| Rise in coronavirus cases in L.A. puts Latinos at even greater risk, doctors say Posted: 19 Jun 2020 02:06 PM PDT  "We can't let the discrimination of this pandemic continue this way," a clinic director said.
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| Five reasons an arsenal plane isn’t the best choice for rebalancing America’s long-range strike forces Posted: 18 Jun 2020 04:57 AM PDT  There are two basic approaches to conducting long-range strikes. Today's force does not have the right balance.
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| Poland accuses Putin of re-writing history over WWII surrender jibe Posted: 19 Jun 2020 12:09 PM PDT  Poland has accused Vladimir Putin of manipulating history after he wrote an article claiming the pre-war Polish government threw "its own people under Hitler's machine of destruction". The article comes out just a week before Mr Putin is to host the annual Victory Day parade previously cancelled because of the coronavirus outbreak, and ahead of a nationwide vote that could allow him to stay in power until 2036. Mr Putin has used the Soviet Union's decisive contribution to defeating Nazi Germany in 1945 as an argument to justify Russia's special place in the world. Dwelling on the events of 1939 Mr Putin writes that Poland only has itself to blame for the Nazi invasion of September. "The blame for the tragedy that Poland then suffered lies entirely with the Polish leadership, which had impeded the formation of a military alliance between Britain, France and the Soviet Union and relied on the help from its Western partners, throwing its own people under the steamroller of Hitler's machine of destruction," he states. Later, he says Red Army units were sent into "the so-called Eastern Borderlines" instead of writing that the Soviet Union invaded Poland under the terms of Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. Poland reacted furiously. Stanislaw Zaryn, director of the National Security Department of the Polish prime minister's office, said: "It is not the first time the Russian president has manipulated history with the goal to present a false picture of WWII. "Russia's continued 'memory war' aims to whitewash the disgraceful Soviet past, erase from collective memory the fact that during the war Stalin and Hitler colluded with each other, and underpin the myth of the Soviet Union as a sole conqueror of Nazi Germany." While Russian authorities in the 1990s publicly condemned and apologised for multiple crimes committed by the Soviet regime, the Kremlin in recent years has sought to defend its wartime record, arguing among other things that a 1939 non-aggression pact between the Soviet Union and Germany, carving up Europe into spheres of influence, was a necessary evil.
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| Al-Qaeda North Africa confirms chief is dead: SITE Posted: 18 Jun 2020 04:24 PM PDT  Al-Qaeda's North Africa wing has confirmed that its Algerian chief Abdelmalek Droukdel is dead, according to SITE, the US watchdog for extremist groups. France said early this month that its forces killed Droukdel in northern Mali near the Algerian border, where it says the group has bases it uses to carry out bombings and abductions of Westerners. "After nearly two weeks, AQIM (Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb) has officially acknowledged the death of its long time leader Droukdel (Wadud), with a video eulogy narrated by AQIM's head of media, pledging continued battles against occupying French forces and others in N. Africa and the Sahel," SITE director Rita Katz said Thursday on her Twitter account.
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| Mark Zuckerberg just got called out by more than 70 employees of his philanthropic initiative who are demanding the charity make big changes to combat systemic racism Posted: 18 Jun 2020 10:39 AM PDT  The rare activism within a major charity comes days after Zuckerberg-funded scientists slammed his inaction on controversial Trump Facebook posts.
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| Senate confirms Trump's pick to the D.C. Circuit Posted: 18 Jun 2020 11:34 AM PDT  Senate Republicans and the conservative legal community lauded Trump's decision to nominate Justin Walker.
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| Coronavirus Beijing: Why an outbreak sparked a salmon panic in China Posted: 18 Jun 2020 03:46 AM PDT  Beijing is seeing a rise in virus cases - but is frozen salmon really the cause?
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| Europe scrambles to save Iran nuclear deal as Trump insists key part of accord is scrapped Posted: 19 Jun 2020 09:17 AM PDT  Western European diplomats are working on how to save the Iran nuclear accord in a day of important developments on the issue which saw Tehran censured by the UN nuclear watchdog, and the US reiterate its demand that a key part of the deal is scrapped.Foreign ministers of Britain, France and Germany - three signatory states to the agreement - met in Berlin to formulate a strategy for the next crucial months with Iran and its nuclear programme under focus.
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| Fresno Unified employee arrested for sexually assaulting child, police say Posted: 18 Jun 2020 09:30 PM PDT  A Fresno Unified employee has been arrested for sexually assaulting a child, according to Fresno Police.
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| Turkish court rules Kurdish leader's jailing violated rights Posted: 18 Jun 2020 11:06 PM PDT  Turkey's Constitutional Court has ruled that the lengthy jailing of a former head of Turkey's main pro-Kurdish party violated his rights, a decision published on Friday showed, but he was not expected to be released due to a separate investigation. Selahattin Demirtas, one of Turkey's best known politicians, has been in jail since November 2016 on terrorism-related charges. Prosecutors then launched a new investigation into him and requested his arrest again after the lifting of the previous detention order.
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| Florida reports record-high spike in coronavirus cases and a 'plunging' median age of infection Posted: 19 Jun 2020 12:48 PM PDT  Despite the surge, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said he wouldn't issue a statewide order requiring face masks.
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| US official says China not forthcoming in talks with Pompeo Posted: 18 Jun 2020 02:56 PM PDT  A senior State Department official said Thursday that the United States was disappointed by China's attitude at a meeting between Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and a top Chinese diplomat in Hawaii this week. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and Pacific Affairs David Stilwell said the Chinese were not "really forthcoming" during Pompeo's closed-door talks on Wednesday with Yang Jiechi, the Chinese Communist Party's top foreign affairs official. Although he said the Chinese had made a "very clear commitment" to following through on the first phase of a trade agreement reached with the Trump administration last year, Stilwell said there was little sign of progress on other issues of dispute that have sent relations between Washington and Beijing to new lows.
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| Breonna Taylor: Louisville officer to be fired for deadly force use Posted: 19 Jun 2020 05:47 PM PDT  The police chief accused the officer of "blindly" firing into Breonna Taylor's apartment.
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| Bath Iron Works shipbuilders are on the verge of striking Posted: 18 Jun 2020 12:17 PM PDT  The largest union at U.S. Navy shipbuilder Bath Iron Works begins voting Friday on a contract proposal that was unanimously rejected by its negotiating committee, raising the possibility of the first strike in 20 years.
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| Bernie Sanders criticises Republican policing bill and says ‘we need to abolish qualified immunity’ Posted: 18 Jun 2020 02:42 PM PDT  Vermont senator Bernie Sanders has criticised the proposed Republican police reform bill, and has demanded the end to qualified immunity.On Wednesday, Republican senators announced a new bill that aims to reform police forces in the US, amid mass protests in response to the death of George Floyd, who died after being detained by a Minneapolis police officer.
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