Atlanta mayor: 2 officers fired in 'excessive force' arrests

Two police officers have been fired and three others placed on desk duty over excessive use of force during a protest arrest incident involving two college students, Atlanta's mayor said Sunday. Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms said at a news conference that she and police Chief Erika Shields made the decision after reviewing body-camera footage of a Saturday night incident that first gained attention from video online and on local news. “Use of excessive force is never acceptable," Bottoms told reporters.

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Rudy Giuliani calls for resignations of mayor of Minneapolis, governor of Minnesota

Don't elect progressive Democrats if you want to be safe, says former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani on 'Hannity.'

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'If you say you can't breathe, you're breathing': A Mississippi mayor defended the officer who stood on George Floyd's neck

Petal, Mississippi, Mayor Hal Marx tweeted Floyd likely "died of overdose or heart attack" and that Minneapolis police are being "crucified."

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Officers in Minneapolis use aggressive tactics against protesters

They lobbed tear gas at peaceful demonstrators in an attempt to enforce curfew.

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China's 'nervous' Xi risks new Cold War, last Hong Kong governor says

Chinese President Xi Jinping is so nervous about the position of the Communist Party that he is risking a new Cold War and imperilling Hong Kong's position as Asia's pre-eminent financial hub, the last British governor of the territory told Reuters. Chris Patten said Xi's 'thuggish' crackdown in Hong Kong risked triggering an outflow of capital and people from the city which funnels the bulk of foreign investment into mainland China. The West, he said, should stop being naive about Xi, who has served as General Secretary of the Communist Party since 2012.

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Cuomo pleads for calm after night of statewide protests

The New York governor repeated what he announced Saturday, that Attorney General Letitia James would be overseeing an investigation into police behavior.

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Tropical storm Amanda leaves 9 dead in El Salvador: officials

Tropical storm Amanda, the first named storm of the season in the Pacific, lashed El Salvador and Guatemala on Sunday, leaving nine people dead amid flooding and power outages. El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele declared a state of emergency, announcing it on his Twitter account. "We have nine dead," Salvadoran Interior Minister Mario Duran said, adding that the toll could rise.

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Labour whip resigns after breaking lockdown rules to meet married boyfriend

A Labour MP has stepped down from her front bench position as whip after admitting she broke lockdown rules to meet her married lover. Rosie Duffield met her boyfriend for a long walk in April, while it was still against the lockdown rules to meet people from different households, the Mail on Sunday reported. She resigned as a whip on Saturday night and said she was “attempting to navigate a difficult personal situation". Ms Duffield, 48, was living separately from married father-of-three James Routh, pictured below, a TV director, when they went for a long walk in her constituency and he visited her home, it was reported. The MP for Canterbury told the Mail on Sunday the pair observed the two-metre social distancing rules, but these incidents were before meetings between people from different households were allowed.

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A black congresswoman was pepper-sprayed by police while marching with George Floyd protesters in Ohio

"While it was peaceful, there were times when people got off the curb, into the streets, but too much force is not the answer to this," she said.

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German engineer on China charter flight tests positive for coronavirus

A German engineer on the first flight carrying European workers back to China has tested positive for coronavirus as an asymptomatic carrier, local authorities said Sunday. The man was on a Lufthansa flight from Frankfurt to the northeastern city of Tianjin which landed with around 200 passengers, mainly German workers and their families.

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'You need to give full credit to railway personnel'

ailway minister Piyush Goyal on Sunday said the public transporter, which is set to re-introduce several train services from Monday, transported nearly twice the amount of foodgrain as the corresponding period last year during the lockdown besides ensuring there was no shortage of coal to fire power plants or even milk and medicines.

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Semi-Trailer Drives Through George Floyd Protesters Marching in Minneapolis, No Apparent Injuries

MINNEAPOLIS — Officials in Minnesota say no protesters appear to have been hit after a semitrailer drove into a crowd demonstrating on a freeway near downtown Minneapolis.

The Minnesota State Patrol says in a tweet that the action appeared deliberate. The patrol says the driver was injured and taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

It wasn’t clear how the driver was hurt. TV footage showed protesters swarming the truck, and then law enforcement quickly moving in.

Other TV footage showed the tanker truck moving rapidly onto the bridge and protesters appearing to part ahead of it.

The protesters were demonstrating against the death of George Floyd.

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Coronavirus changes how doctors deal with death

Five doctors administering end-of-life care reflect on the current crisis.

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Glimmer of hope for world's rarest primate

The discovery of a new breeding pair raises hope for the future of a critically endangered gibbon.

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George Floyd death: Why do some protests turn violent?

In the US, peaceful protests over police violence have escalated into widespread riots and looting.

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Remote working: How cities might change if we worked from home more

Our homes, transport and city-centre spaces would change if we worked from home for good.

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Russia and Turkey risk turning Libya into another Syria

Gen Haftar's forces have been beaten back from Tripoli but that does not mean peace is at hand.

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The man whose death convulsed US

He was an athlete, friend and father whose life and struggles were emblematic of any American.

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Nasa SpaceX launch: What is the Crew Dragon?

A guide to SpaceX's Crew Dragon vehicle, which carried astronauts to the space station.

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How Venezuela's fuel crisis is hitting coronavirus victims

Venezuela's fuel crisis has been so acute that even funeral homes are struggling to transport bodies to the cemetery.

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Coronavirus: The South African village preparing for Covid-19

For people in South Africa's rural areas trying to protect themselves from Covid-19, hand washing in clean water isn't possible.

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Fox News Breaking News Alert

Fox News Breaking News Alert

Semitrailer speeds into crowd of protesters on Minneapolis bridge; injuries unclear

05/31/20 4:29 PM

Draw a Self-Portrait

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Here’s What You Need to Know About Breonna Taylor’s Death

By BY RICHARD A. OPPEL JR. from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/3eAuQdj

FBI's top lawyer, Dana Boente, ousted amid Fox News criticism for role in Flynn investigation

Boente was asked to resign on Friday and two sources familiar with the decision to dismiss him said it came from high levels of the Justice Department rather than directly from FBI Director Christopher Wray.

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Minnesota Riots Hurt Klobuchar’s VP Nomination Prospects, According to Biden Ally

The ongoing riots in Minnesota hurt Senator Amy Klobuchar's prospects for Democratic nomination as vice president, House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D., S.C.) said on Friday.Klobuchar declined to bring charges against multiple Minneapolis police officers involved in shootings over the course of her seven-year tenure as attorney for Hennepin County. Minneapolis has seen four days of riots after resident George Floyd, an African-American man, died following his arrest at the hands of white officers."We are all victims sometimes of timing….This is very tough timing for Amy Klobuchar, who I respect so much," Clyburn told reporters. When asked directly if Klobuchar's chances at the nomination were diminished, Clyburn said, "that is the implication, yes,” although he added that Klobuchar "absolutely is qualified" to be vice president.Clyburn is the highest-ranking African American member of Congress, and was instrumental in Biden's victory over Senator Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) in the Democratic primaries. Following Clyburn's endorsement of Biden, the former vice president received overwhelming support from African American primary voters.Biden on Friday denied that his campaign's vice presidential nomination process was affected by the Minnesota riots."What we are talking about today has nothing to do with my running for president or who I pick as a vice president," Biden told MSNBC. "It has to do with an injustice that we all saw take place."Klobuchar has expressed regret for not prosecuting police officers accused of offenses, instead opting to send the cases to grand juries."I think that was wrong now,” Klobuchar said in a Friday interview on MSNBC. “I think it would have been much better if I took the responsibility and looked at the cases and made the decision myself.”

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EU urges U.S. to reconsider decision to cut ties with WHO

The European Union urged the United States on Saturday to reconsider its decision to cut ties with the World Health Organization over its handling of the coronavirus pandemic. "In this context, we urge the U.S. to reconsider its announced decision," they said a day after President Donald Trump announced the move, accusing the U.N. agency of becoming a puppet of China. German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas also condemned the move and pledged intensive talks with Washington on the issue.

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Trudeau: Canadians watching US unrest and police violence in ‘shock and horror’

Prime minister condemned racism and called on Canada to ‘stand together in solidarity’ against racial hate as protests continue in US * George Floyd killing – follow live updatesCanadians are watching unrest and police violence in the United States in “shock and horror”, Justin Trudeau said on Friday – but the prime minister cautioned that his country also has entrenched problems with racism. The city of Minneapolis has been rocked by a third night of violent protests over the death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man, after a white police officer knelt on his neck as he lay on the ground following arrest. “Many Canadians of diverse backgrounds are watching, like all Canadians are, the news out of the United States with shock and with horror,” Trudeau told reporters at a daily briefing.“Anti-black racism – racism – is real. It’s in the United States but it’s also in Canada and we know people are facing systemic discrimination, unconscious bias and anti-black racism every single day,” said Trudeau, calling on the country to “stand together in solidarity” against racial hate. “We have work to do as well in Canada.” Racial inequities continue to persist throughout the country – a grim reality that is often apparent during interactions with police. In December 2018, the province of Ontario released a landmark report that found black residents in Toronto – the country’s largest city – are 20 times more likely to be shot dead by the police than white residents. “It’s a very Canadian tradition to speak in platitudes, to refer to the underground railroad and to speak about Canada as a haven and a place that acknowledges its past mistakes,” said Robyn Maynard, author of Policing Black Lives. “But we continue to see similar structural harms and structural kinds of violence as we do in places where leaders make more overtly vitriolic statements towards black communities.”Last month, 26-year-old D’Andre Campbell was shot dead by police inside his own home, north of Toronto, after Campbell himself called 911.Earlier this week, the family of Regis Korchinski-Paquet said a police officer shoved the young woman over the balcony of the family’s 24th-floor apartment, where she fell to her death. The case is currently under investigation by an arms-length police watchdog.Maynard also pointed out the coronavirus pandemic continues to have a disproportionate impact on black and indigenous residents, who are overrepresented in the country’s prison population.“We continue to see prisons and jails being epicentres of outbreaks,” she said. “Yet there is failure on the part of the federal government to meaningfully release to release prisoners.”Trudeau’s unprompted remarks marked a notable departure for a leader who has gone to great lengths to avoid irritating his US counterpart, Donald Trump.Canadian prime ministers have traditionally refrained from discussing political and social turmoil in the US – Canada’s main ally and largest trading partner. Justin Trudeau has long spoken about the need to tackle racism, but his re-election campaign was marred by pictures of him in blackface as a young man.

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Biden demands justice in George Floyd death

Former Vice President Joe Biden on Friday called for justice in the death of a black man in Minneapolis police custody that has inspired days-long, citywide protests.

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Hong Kong: China fury amid global pressure over security law

The UK and US condemn plans for a new security law at the UN Security Council, drawing Beijing's ire.

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Powell: Fed to soon begin 'challenging' Main Street lending

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell acknowledged Friday that the Fed faces a major challenge with the launch in the coming days of a program that will lend to companies other than banks for the first time since the Great Depression. The Fed's Main Street Lending is geared toward medium-sized companies that are too large for the government's small business lending program and too small to sell bonds or stock to the public. Powell said that Main Street will make its first loans in a “few days.”

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Will Trump dispute the 2020 election results? His tweets this week suggest so

Trump’s attack on mail-in ballots raise the possibility that, if he loses in November, he would reject the validity of the voteUnhinged as it may be for the president to accuse, without a scintilla of evidence, a morning television host of murder, that particular conspiracy theory was not the most disturbing accusation to issue from Trump’s Twitter feed this week. No, that prize goes to his tweet from 26 May, claiming:> There is NO WAY (ZERO!) that Mail-In Ballots will be anything less than substantially fraudulent. Mail boxes will be robbed, ballots will be forged & even illegally printed out & fraudulently signed … This will be a Rigged Election. No way!The president’s defamation of Joe Scarborough is no more than an extreme version of something we have seen throughout Trump’s tenure in office: his ability to deflect attention from one colossal misstep by simply committing a fresh outrage. The fact that even a handful of Republicans have expressed mild regret at Trump’s bizarre accusation only underscores that it has served its instrumental purpose. For the moment, the news cycle is consumed not with the fact that 100,000 Americans have died in a pandemic that the White House recklessly insisted posed no threat; instead, all attention is riveted on the spectacle of a sitting president accusing an opponent in the “lame stream media” of homicide. Trump’s attack on mail-in ballots, by contrast, is far more ominous. Here, the president is defaming not an individual but the integrity of our electoral process, confidence in which is a key to a stable democratic order. And the purpose of this attack is not distraction but pointedly political. The politics of disenfranchisement has emerged as a staple of Republican electoral strategy, and the reasons for targeting mail-in ballots are not hard to divine. The bulk of such ballots are cast in urban areas, where Democratic voters predominate, and as the nation continues to grapple with the Covid-19 outbreak, we can expect millions of urban voters to cast mail-in ballots in November as a hedge against the obvious health risks that come with in-person voting. Trump’s tweets serve, then, the politics of voter suppression. But that is only one aspect of the dark logic behind the tweets. Far more alarmingly, Trump’s attack on the reliability of mail-in votes establishes the groundwork for a radical refusal to acknowledge electoral defeat. In contrast to ballots cast in-person on 3 November, mail-in ballots often cannot be fully counted until several days after the election. This means that in a very tight race, the results announced on election day may be no more than provisional; and second, because of the demographic patterns I mentioned above, the full counting of ballots may well swing the outcome in the favor of Democratic candidates. The 2018 Arizona senatorial race witnessed a particularly dramatic case of this effect, dubbed the “blue shift” by election law expert Ned Foley. On election day, Martha McSally, the Republican candidate, enjoyed a 15,000-vote lead over her Democratic rival, Kyrsten Sinema. By the time the state’s canvassing had ended, however, McSally found herself defeated by Sinema by some 56,000 votes – a swing of 71,000 thousand votes. Trump is more than familiar with the phenomenon of blue shift. Also in 2018, when the senatorial race in Florida saw Republican Rick Scott’s lead over Bill Nelson shrink from over 56,000 on election day to an uncomfortable 10,000 by the time the state completed its canvass, Trump had urgently tweeted:> The Florida Election should be called in favor of Rick Scott…in that large numbers of ballots showed up from nowhere, and many ballots are missing or forged. An honest vote count is no longer possible—ballots massively infected. Must go with Election Night! Recall that in 2016, Trump’s margin of victory over Hillary Clinton was a combined 70,000 votes in the swing states of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin. It is more than possible that Trump could narrowly capture these states on 3 November, only to see his victory vanish as mail-in ballots are tallied in the days following the election. His tweet from Tuesday tells us how he would respond to such a loss. He will reject it as a product of fraud. That is an eventuality – or even a certainty – that the nation must prepare itself for.  * Lawrence Douglas is the author, most recently, of Will He Go? Trump and the Looming Electoral Meltdown in 2020, published by Twelve/Hachette on 19 May. Douglas holds the James J Grosfeld chair in law, jurisprudence and social thought, at Amherst College, Massachusetts, and is also a contributing opinion writer for the Guardian US.

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Airlines schedule major increase in flights in July as pressure mounts on ministers to ease quarantine

Airlines have scheduled a dramatic increase in flights in July in anticipation that Governments will lift travel restrictions for holidaymakers and save the industry from potential collapse, according to data seen by The Sunday Telegraph. The companies which have already laid off tens of thousands of workers are banking on a “V-shaped” recovery by scheduling 161,200 passenger flights and 29.5 million seats for July, just eight per cent down on last year’s July timetables. The strategy to open up business travel and holiday routes to hotspot favourites like Greece, Italy, France and Spain comes as most European countries are preparing to lift their quarantines or open their borders in mid June or at least by July 1. It will increase pressure on Boris Johnson to make good his suggestion last week that the UK’s quarantine - to be introduced on June 8 - could be replaced with “air bridges” to low-risk holiday destinations when it is reviewed on June 29. One senior industry source claimed: “The sense is that they might quietly do a U-turn after the first review period. Grant Shapps [the Transport Secretary] is against quarantine, the Treasury are against it, Beis is against it and DCMS hate it.” The exclusive data, from Cirium, a travel analytics firm, shows how the coronavirus pandemic devastated the aviation industry as it tore across the world. Scheduled passengers were 22.5 million in February, 10 per cent up on last year before it slumped by 93 per cent in April and May. It has risen in June to 38.5 per cent down on last year, as the Far East has opened up, and rises to just minus eight per cent in July as airlines anticipate Europe unlocking. June and July are “scheduled” rather than actual flights, which will depend on quarantines easing in June and July. Germany has lifted restrictions, Italy wants to resume travel on June 15, and Spain and Portugal are aiming for July 1. France hopes to drop border controls to and from EU countries after June 15 except with countries that impose quarantine on a “reciprocal” basis, namely the UK. Greece has excluded the UK from a “white list” of 29 countries it judges are low-risk enough from which to accept tourists from June 15 without quarantine although it will open up to more countries after it reviews their infection rates at the end of June. British Airways says it is aiming for a “meaningful return” to flying in July, RyanAir plans to ramp up flights to at least 40 per cent of its normal July schedule and EasyJet, which has laid off one in three staff, hopes to operate 30 per cent of its pre-crisis timetable from July to September. Paul Charles, chief executive of PC Consultancy, which advises the tourist industry, said Britain’s quarantine risked “killing” the economy. “Travel companies have not had any bookings for April or May. They are worried that if they don’t get them in June, they will go under,” he said. The Airport Operators’ Association (AOA) has urged ministers to aim for the first “air bridges” to “low risk” destinations by June 8 so that holidaymakers can sidestep quarantine and the requirement to self-isolate for 14 days on their return to the UK. The Department for Transport will shortly publish new guidelines for “safe” travel which will include face coverings or masks throughout the journey, temperature checks, social distancing in airports and contactless travel including for check-ins and payments. An AOA spokesman said: “Once these guidelines are agreed and given that they are based on a common European baseline, this puts in place the right conditions for opening up air bridges to low-risk countries.” The Home Office which has led the moves to introduce quarantine has, however, warned that it will block attempts to lift the quarantine unless it is safe and there is no risk of it sparking a second wave of coronavirus. A Department for Transport source said: “There is certainly a willingness in Government to do as much for this Summer as is safe.” Post-coronavirus air travel: No travel if you have symptoms If ill, no cost re-booking or refunds up to six hours before flying Face masks or coverings from arrival at airport to leaving terminal at destination Only passengers in the terminal, no tearful goodbyes at departure gates Contact-less electronic check-in and boarding Social distancing and one-way systems for waiting and queuing passengers Airports' association pressing for temperature checks Exemption from two-metre rule on plane No on-board duty free, reduced food and drink service, pre-packaged food and cashless payments

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Trump announces probe of Chinese companies listed in US

US President Donald Trump on Friday ordered a probe into the actions of Chinese companies listed on American financial markets as tensions flared anew between the world's two biggest economies. The announcement followed Beijing's move to implement a new security law on semi-autonomous Hong Kong that critics say would stifle freedom, as well as with Trump's claims that China obfuscated the origins of the coronavirus that has killed more than 100,000 people in the United States. "I'm instructing my presidential working group on financial markets to study the differing practices of Chinese companies listed on the US financial markets with the goal of protecting American investors," Trump said, without providing details on what steps his administration might take.

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Dragon-riding astronauts join exclusive inner circle at NASA

Astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken join NASA’s exclusive inner circle by catching a ride on a SpaceX rocket and capsule. It’s only the fifth time that NASA has put people aboard a brand new spacecraft line for liftoff. And it’s the first time the spacecraft belongs to a for-profit company in charge of the launch. The retired Marine colonel and former fighter pilot flew on NASA’s last space shuttle flight in 2011, closing out a 30-year era.

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Divert weapons funding to research to prevent next pandemic, pope says

Pope Francis on Saturday urged politicians to divert funds spent on weapons to research to prevent another pandemic, as he led the largest gathering in the Vatican in nearly three months. Francis presided at an outdoor prayer service with about 130 people, including many directly affected by the pandemic. Francis, 83, sat several meters away from most people during most of the service and did not wear a mask.

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GOP eyes flipping Michigan senate seat

As Republicans work to maintain their control of the Senate in November, they're looking to flip seats in some key battleground states. That includes Michigan, where two challengers are looking to unseat incumbent Democratic Senator Gary Peters. Riley Beggin, a political reporter for Bridge Magazine, spoke with CBS News about the contest.

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Minneapolis police officer who knelt on George Floyd’s neck had 18 previous internal complaints against him

The Minneapolis police officer who was filmed kneeling on George Floyd’s neck for several minutes even as he said “I can’t breathe” has previously been the subject of multiple complaints filed to the Minneapolis Police Department’s Internal Affairs Division, it has emerged.Mr Chauvin, who has been fired along with the other three police officers who apprehended Mr Floyd, was reported to the division 18 times. According to a police summary, only two of the complaints were “closed with discipline”.

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New report alleges killings, mass detentions in Ethiopia

A new report by the rights group Amnesty International accuses Ethiopia’s security forces of extrajudicial killings and mass detentions even as the country’s reformist prime minister was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. The report issued Friday says security forces killed at least 25 people in 2019 in the East Guji and West Guji zones of the restive Oromia region amid suspicions of supporting a rebel group, the Oromo Liberation Army, and a once-exiled opposition group. The government of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, who was awarded the peace prize in December for sweeping political reforms and restoring ties with neighboring Eritrea after two decades of hostilities, acknowledged that “the reform process has at times experienced bumps” but called the report “a one-sided snapshot security analysis that fails to appropriately capture the broader political trajectory and security developments."

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The reality of the 'new cold war' with China

It's a good time to be a China hawk. Beijing's new national security law for Hong Kong, the latest effort to neuter the region's promised autonomy, has rung alarm bells across the political spectrum about China's intentions. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has already declared that the move would justify revoking the various special trade and financial agreements the United States has with the territory, and Biden advisers have announced that the presumptive Democratic nominee would impose even greater sanctions on China. While America's options for helping the people of Hong Kong are distinctly limited, that's unlikely to stop us from trying, even if an ineffectual move could backfire. The logic of confrontation appears to be taking over.It's important, though, to understand why.The "great unwinding" of America's economic entanglement with China has deep causes, and, more proximately, the novel coronavirus has revealed in stark terms how important it is from a national security perspective for the United States to reduce its outright dependence on the People's Republic. But that process need not lead to confrontation — indeed, it would be perfectly compatible with a policy of global retreat that would probably make China feel more secure.On the other side, the nature of China's regime has indeed been changing dramatically under Xi Jinping, becoming more nationalistic and repressive as well as less institutional, with power increasingly concentrated in a single leader's hands. But that process also need not lead to conflict — indeed, at the time of Nixon's opening to China, when Mao was in his final years, the communist country was far more insular and repressive, and its political system far more personalized, than it is today.What's truly different, and the necessary additional element that explains the "new cold war" that may be aborning, is the sheer scope of Chinese power. China has now grown sufficiently potent for it to reasonably expect to be able to shape the international order to its liking, and not merely thrive within it as it exists. That expectation would be alarming to the United States even if China were not increasingly repressive, and even if America had not allowed itself to be vulnerable to supply chain disruption.Consider the situation in Hong Kong. Imagine that China, instead of using a hammer on all visible nails, used softer tactics to woo Hong Kong's citizens over to a more complaisant stance, as it had been doing for years prior. Suppose, similarly, that rather than bullying Taiwan, Beijing put the bulk of its efforts into corrupting the island's political system — as, again, it has to some extent done. Suppose these efforts began to bear fruit, to the point that Taipei began to distance itself from Washington in an effort to avoid angering Beijing, and the prospect of reunification was in the air. Suppose that South Korea followed suit. Would the United States view these events with equanimity?Of course not. They would be obvious signs of dramatically weakened American clout in Asia. Moreover, they would materially weaken our military position in the case of a future confrontation with China. And that possibility could never be ruled out, even if China's regime at that moment were less-confrontational.Or consider the ongoing conflict with Europe over Huawei, China's 5G powerhouse. The United States is legitimately concerned for national security reasons about the prospect of a Chinese company becoming dominant in this area, because of the opportunities for espionage. But those concerns — along with the concerns about future Western dependence on Chinese technology in this area, as well as other areas like artificial intelligence — would obtain even if China were less-overtly truculent and bullying. After all, alarm bells were rung in the 1980s over increasing Japanese dominance in high technology, and Japan was an American ally with a pacifistic constitution. How could we not be more alarmed by the rise of a much larger China to something approaching peer-competitor status?In international affairs, intentions are important, but capabilities matter more. That's a tragic reality that Thucydides identified as a key cause of the ruinous Peloponnesian War, and that in modern times paved the way for World War I. The rise of China makes the United States more vulnerable — economically and militarily. We'd need to worry about those vulnerabilities even if China were more benevolent than it now appears, because there could be no guarantee that they would remain benevolent. Indeed, we're observing that transformation in China right now, and ruing the degree to which we have already allowed ourselves to give ground.China's turn to authoritarianism may well make it easier for us to pursue a policy of confrontation — easier to accumulate allies abroad as well as easier to justify ideologically at home — just as the Trump administration's full-spectrum obnoxious incompetence makes it harder. It may also make it seem necessary, since Beijing has closed off many other possible avenues to coexistence. But perceived lack of choice is precisely what leads to tragedy.Because however much we say that we have no quarrel with the Chinese people, all our efforts to respond to our vulnerability will be aimed at constraining their power. We're not trying to preserve a balance of power, after all, however much we may tell ourselves that we are. We're trying to preserve an American preponderance of power. If we choose that path, we should expect China to respond the way we would to efforts to impose such constraints on us, and prepare accordingly.Want more essential commentary and analysis like this delivered straight to your inbox? Sign up for The Week's "Today's best articles" newsletter here.More stories from theweek.com Amy Klobuchar didn't prosecute officer at center of George Floyd's death Minnesota governor says Trump's Minneapolis tweets are 'just not helpful' 'A riot is the language of the unheard,' Martin Luther King Jr. explained 53 years ago

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BJP gears up for tech-driven political activity

Speaking at a media interaction, party chief J P Nadda made it clear that the ruling BJP plans to use new technology in a big way, in the time of social distancing, to campaign and reach out to people essentially on how the Modi government tackled the situation on the ground, arising out of the spread of the deadly virus, to provide health and economic security to save the lives people in the country.

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Skymet announces arrival of monsoon over Kerala

The southwest monsoon has arrived in Kerala before its onset schedule, private agency Skymet Weather announced on Saturday, but India's official forecaster IMD said conditions are not yet ripe for the declaration. Skymet Weather said all conditions such as rainfall, Outwave Longwave Radiation value and wind speed have been met to declare the arrival of the monsoon.

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Sharp GDP data revision triggers row

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Ailing passengers among 81 dead on spl trains

A total of 80 people died on board Shramik Special trains between May 9 and May 27, among them cancer patien​ts, those suffering from heart ailments, a few with paralysis and many who were too ill to travel. Data accessed by TOI showed that among those who lost their lives were a 63-year-old cancer patient, Indu Devi, who died on way from Mumbai to Bihar on May 12.

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George Floyd: ‘As a black American I am terrified’

After the death of George Floyd, young African-Americans in Minneapolis say they are scared for their safety.

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Minneapolis bus drivers are refusing to help police transport protesters to jail

As tensions between police and protesters in Minneapolis reached a boiling point following the death of George Floyd, the city's bus drivers have made it abundantly clear which side they're on. The driver's union, ATU Local 1005, issued a statement of solidarity on Thursday, with some of its drivers going as far as to refuse to use their buses to help law enforcement transport protesters to jail."As a transit worker and union member, I refuse to transport my class and radical youth," one Minneapolis bus driver, Adam Burch, told the labor publication Payday. "An injury to one is an injury to all. The police murdered George Floyd and the protest against is completely justified and should continue until their demands are met."The union shared Burch's sentiment. "This system has failed all of us in the working class, from the coronavirus to the economic crisis we are facing," their statement read. "But the system has failed people of color and black Americans and black youth more than anyone else."The union added:> In ATU we have a saying: "NOT ONE MORE" when dealing with driver assaults, which in some cases have led to members being murdered while doing their job. We say "NOT ONE MORE" [to the] execution of a black life by the hands of the police. NOT ONE MORE! JUSTICE FOR GEORGE FLOYD! [ATU Local 1005]Payday notes that "it would be illegal for [the union] to call for a wildcat strike," though their statement makes the drivers' opinion heard. Meanwhile, transit workers have also launched a group called "Union Members for JusticeForGeorgeFloyd," assembling those who "are willing to do what we can to ensure our labor is not used to help the Minneapolis Police Department shut down calls for justice."More stories from theweek.com Amy Klobuchar didn't prosecute officer at center of George Floyd's death Minnesota governor says Trump's Minneapolis tweets are 'just not helpful' 'A riot is the language of the unheard,' Martin Luther King Jr. explained 53 years ago

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Warrant: Police find remains of second child in yard

The remains of a second child that belonged to a Tennessee couple facing abuse charges have been found buried in a yard, court records said. A search warrant affidavit says police recovered the remains of a boy from a Knox County property where Michael and Shirley Gray lived until about 2016, news outlets reported on Friday. Police began searching the property after finding the body of a girl buried under a barn at the Gray's current home in nearby Roane County.

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Photos of mass graves in Brazil show the stark toll of the coronavirus, as experts predict that it will surpass 125,000 deaths by August

Despite the growing number of coronavirus cases and deaths in Brazil, President Jair Bolsonaro has refused to impose a lockdown.

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Coronavirus: How the pandemic in US compares with rest of world

More than 100,000 people have died and the country is now slowly reopening amid fears of new spikes.

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China and U.S. should respect each other's core interests - Premier Li

China and United States should respect each other's core interests and manage their differences, Premier Li Keqiang said on Thursday, adding that a decoupling of their economies is not good for the world. "I believe both countries should respect each other and develop a relationship on the basis of equality, respect each other's core interests and major concerns and embrace cooperation," Li said in his annual news conference after the close of the annual meeting of parliament.

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Team Biden on Klobuchar: ‘We Need to Avoid Her’

In recent weeks, Sen. Amy Klobuchar has positioned herself as a leading contender in the race to join former Vice President Joe Biden on the Democratic ticket. But growing civil unrest in her home state of Minnesota in response to the death of an unarmed black man at the hands of a white police officer—and renewed scrutiny of her record as the top prosecutor in the state’s largest county—appears to have severely hampered her ambition to be the Democratic Party’s vice presidential nominee.“Vertiginous,” a campaign adviser said in a one-word text, describing Klobuchar’s fall in the rankings of potential running mates.The three-term senator’s drop has been so swift that a planned Minnesota digital event with Dr. Jill Biden and coronavirus first-responders scheduled for Friday was pulled, according to a source familiar with the campaign’s deliberations, “partly because we need to avoid her.” According to a Biden campaign official, all of Dr. Biden’s virtual events on Friday were canceled “because of George Floyd’s tragic killing and the events that followed” and the “decision had nothing to do with the fundraiser Dr. Biden was scheduled to participate in with Sen. Klobuchar.” Still, top figures in Bidenworld couldn’t help but remark on the convergence of events in Minnesota at a pivotal moment for Klobuchar. “This is very tough timing for Amy Klobuchar, who I respect so much,” House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.), who was instrumental to Biden’s victory in the first-in-the-South primary, said in a phone call with reporters on Friday, the Los Angeles Times reported. “The timing is tough.”The death of George Floyd—a 46-year-old black man who appeared to suffocate as now-former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin held his knee on Floyd’s neck for at least eight minutes—has ignited days of protests in the Twin Cities, as demonstrators have called for Chauvin and three other since-fired police officers to be charged with Floyd’s death. On Thursday night, protesters set a police station on fire while chanting “I can’t breathe,” the same words Floyd spoke repeatedly as Chauvin kneeled on his neck as a bystander recorded the episode on their phone. On Friday, Chauvin was charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter for his role in Floyd’s death.As Minnesota’s governor has called in the National Guard to quell the uprising and President Donald Trump has called for the “shooting” of looters who have damaged private property during the protests, criminal justice advocates have pointed to Klobuchar’s seven-year tenure as Hennepin County attorney, when she declined to bring charges against numerous police officers who had been accused of police brutality. Instead, she preferred the use of grand juries to weigh charges, a process that usually obscured proceedings and tended to favor police.Recent anger at Klobuchar has focused on a shooting of a civilian involving Chauvin in October 2006, months before Klobuchar would leave the Hennepin County Attorney’s office for the U.S. Senate. On social media Thursday night, progressives seized on reports that Klobuchar declined to prosecute Chauvin in the case. Her successor, Mike Freeman, issued a statement Friday saying he, not Klobuchar, was responsible for Chauvin’s prosecution, which resulted in a grand jury declining to charge the officer. Klobuchar’s Prosecutor Past Could Haunt Her Presidential BidAppearing on MSNBC Friday, Klobuchar hit back against those reports, saying “this idea that I somehow declined a case, which has been reported on some news blogs and then sent out on the Internet, against this officer is absolutely false.” She also bristled at questions from Andrea Mitchell about whether she should drop out of contention for the VP nod. “This is Joe Biden’s decision,” Klobuchar said. “He will make that decision. He’ll decide who he’s considering.”Klobuchar has been under consideration for the running-mate role practically since she dropped out of the race for the Democratic nomination and endorsed Biden in early March. That endorsement kickstarted a coalescing behind the former vice president of nearly all of his former rivals for the nomination, helping Biden regain frontrunner status after a series of blistering losses in early-voting states; he openly credited Klobuchar with his surprise win in Minnesota’s primary. Klobuchar has since been a visible surrogate for Biden’s campaign, hosting million-dollar fundraisers and appearing with other campaign surrogates regularly. Those anxiously waiting on Biden’s decision—particularly Democrats of color—see the unrest in Minnesota clearly impacting Klobuchar’s case to be the strongest possible companion for the former vice president. “I do think the past couple of days adds several more layers of complications for a potential Amy Klobuchar pick,” said Antjuan Seawright, a South Carolina-based Democratic strategist. “The events that are happening around us also tend to fertilize the soil more for an African-American woman to be planted and nurtured as the VP pick.”“I don’t think we can afford to have really any division or confusion, anger or frustration, within the party,” said Seawright.Rashad Robinson, executive director for the civil rights advocacy group Color of Change, has been critical of Klobuchar’s record when she was running. He didn’t say Klobuchar should not be considered as a nominee but told The Daily Beast her explanations this week of her record prosecuting police brutality cases have been “far too cute” and “have seemed to avoid responsibility at a time when we know DAs were not doing their jobs.” “To look us in the eyes and pretend we don’t know what’s happening,” said Robinson, “is a disappointment.”Meanwhile, at a “Women for Biden” fundraiser on Friday afternoon, Jill Biden appeared alongside Rep. Val Demings of Florida, a former Orlando police chief and another contender for the vice presidential slot. Demings, a favorite of Jill Biden’s who has been increasingly mentioned as a potential running mate, said during the event that the nation’s police officers must “take a serious look at ourselves as law enforcement agencies, not just Minnesota but throughout the nation.”Perhaps Klobuchar’s greatest weakness as a presidential candidate—and as a vice presidential candidate—stems from her inability to reach and win over voters of color.The senator’s years as a big-city prosecutor in the tough-on-crime 1990s and 2000s heavily influenced that struggle, as scrutiny on her record revealed very little to like for a Democratic primary electorate more attuned than ever to issues of race and criminal justice.Those issues ended up literally punctuating Klobuchar’s presidential bid: the day before she dropped out of the race, on March 1, protesters overtook a Twin Cities rally for her campaign as they chanted for justice for a man named Myron Burrell. In 2003, Burrell—a teenager accused of murder—was aggressively prosecuted by Klobuchar’s office, and was sentenced to life in prison. A February investigation by the Associated Press, however, revealed that the case against Burrell was built on shaky evidence. After the story broke, the Hennepin County Attorney’s office began a review process—which Klobuchar supported—but the revelation outraged criminal justice reform advocates, some of whom called on the senator to drop out of the presidential race.Over her yearlong presidential candidacy, Klobuchar frequently found herself explaining these aspects of her record and trying to persuade Democratic voters that she’d approach things differently now. But that didn’t translate into increased support from black voters: a January Washington Post/Ipsos poll found that 62 percent of black Democratic primary voters didn’t know who Klobuchar was or had no opinion of her. The amount of support she got from black voters was represented by an asterisk—unmeasurable. In South Carolina, the primary’s barometer for black support, Klobuchar notched 3.2 percent of the overall vote, lagging behind leading candidates. Exit polls found that just 1 percent of black voters—who made up more than half of the primary electorate—backed Klobuchar.In responding to the unrest in Minnesota, a low point even in her home state’s long history of racial tension, Klobuchar has appeared animated by criticisms of her record and of her past outreach to voters of color.  The senator’s response to the Floyd killing was quick: She called for an investigation into it and declared “Justice must be served for this man, justice must be served for our community, and justice must be served for our country.” But she took criticism from activists for the statement’s phrasing; for example, it didn’t state explicitly that he had been killed by a police officer.On MSNBC Friday from Minneapolis, Klobuchar was more direct. “Anyone that watched that video of George Floyd’s life literally evaporating in front of our eyes as he’s trying to breathe while that police officer had a knee on his neck, is something that’s etched in the minds of everyone in our state and everyone in our country,” she said. In that interview, Klobuchar also took pains to note that she was busy on the ground meeting with civil rights leaders in Minneapolis, mentioning in particular the Rev. Al Sharpton, in a show of stepped-up outreach to the black community. The New York Times reported that the head of the Minneapolis NAACP—which had called for Klobuchar to exit the presidential race over the Burrell news—received a surprise call from the senator to talk about Floyd’s death. Biden, of course, has faced pressure from progressive and minority groups to select a person of color as his running mate, reflecting how essential voters of color—a core constituency of the Democratic Party—are to Biden’s chances to defeat Trump in November. Biden, said Color of Change’s Robinson, will “have to explain to the public why he thought, in this moment, that Sen. Klobuchar was the best candidate” to run with him, if he continues to consider her.In livestreamed remarks on Friday, the person whom Klobuchar has said will make the ultimate decision about her future on the ticket told viewers that the unrest in Minneapolis “will require those of us who sit in positions of influence to finally deal with the abuse of power.”“With our complacency, with our silence, we are complicit in perpetuating these cycles of violence,” Biden said. “Nothing about this will be easy or comfortable. But if we simply allow this wound to scab over once more, without treating the underlying injury, we will never truly heal.”Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.

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Huawei's Meng Wanzhou drawn closer to extradition

Huawei's financial chief Meng Wangzhou suffered a major blow in her legal fight in Canada Wednesday (May 27).

A judge there ruled that prosecutors cleared a critical hurdle to justify her extradition to the United States.

It paves the way for Meng to stand trial there for charges of fraud.

It also dashes hopes for an end to her 18-month house arrest in Vancouver.

The ruling could cause ties between Canada and China to crumble further.

It sparked immediate backlash from Beijing's embassy in Canada which said the country is quote 'accomplice to United States efforts to bring down Huawei and Chinese high-tech companies'.

Meng is a Chinese citizen - and was arrested two years ago on a warrant issues by US authorities.

Her fraud charges include misleading the bank HSBC about Huawei's relationship with a company operating in Iran.

That put HSBC at risk of fines for breaking U.S sanctions on Tehran.

Meng says she is innocent.

Her lawyers have argued that the charges should be thrown out, because Canada did not have sanctions against Iran.

But British Columbia judge Heather Holmes disagreed, saying the charges against Meng - are also crimes in Canada.

It means Meng's extradition will likely proceed to a second phase, starting in June, Ties between the U.S. and Canada are steadily unraveling, with disputes over trade and the future of Hong Kong.

China's Global Times newspaper later said the ruling quote "will make Canada a pathetic clown and a scapegoat in the fight between China and the US."

Shortly after her arrest two years ago, Beijing detained two Canadians on national security charges and froze imports of Canadian canola seed.

Canada's justice ministry said its lawyers were committed to moving ahead as fast as possible.

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Transcripts released of Flynn's calls with Russian diplomat

Transcripts of phone calls that played a pivotal role in the Russia investigation were declassified and released Friday, showing that Michael Flynn, as an adviser to then-President-elect Donald Trump, urged Russia's ambassador to be “even-keeled” in response to punitive Obama administration measures, and assured him “we can have a better conversation” about relations between the two countries after Trump became president. Democrats said the transcripts showed that Flynn had lied to the FBI when he denied details of the conversation, and that he was undercutting a sitting president while ingratiating himself with a country that had just interfered in the 2016 presidential election.

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Govt delinks site promoting online drug sale from Setu

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Covid squeezes core sector in April, output slumps 38%

Output of eight core sector industries plunged 38.1% in April — probably the steepest ever — led by an over 80% slump in cement and steel production due to the nationwide lockdown. The numbers indicated that overall industrial production is headed for a high double-digit decline as the Covid-19-induced lockdown has taken a toll on economic activity.

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Medical problems? Don’t travel: Railways

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NYPD Officers Who Made Violent Social Distancing Arrest Set to Face Disciplinary Charges

(NEW YORK) — A New York City police officer will face disciplinary charges for a violent arrest during a social distancing enforcement action that ended with him kneeling on a man’s back or neck, a technique similar to the one that led to George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis.

Several other officers involved will also face discipline, the department said Friday, after an internal affairs investigation into the caught-on-video confrontation May 2 in Manhattan’s East Village. Police did not specify what violations the officers are alleged to have committed.

Bystander video showed plainclothes officer Francisco Garcia pulling a stun gun on 33-year-old Donni Wright and leveling him in a crosswalk, slapping him in the face and punching him in the shoulder before dragging him to a sidewalk and kneeling on his backside to handcuff him.

Read more: ‘We Cannot Police Our Way Out of a Pandemic.’ Experts, Police Union Say NYPD Should Not Be Enforcing Social Distance Rules Amid COVID-19

Garcia was stripped of his gun and badge and placed on desk duty after the incident, which Mayor Bill de Blasio called “very troubling” and “absolutely unacceptable.” He could still face criminal charges.

The Manhattan district attorney’s office said Friday that it is “conducting an independent review of this incident.”

A message seeking comment was left with Garcia’s union.

The police disciplinary process sometimes involves an administrative trial, where a department employee acting as a judge hears testimony before deciding what, if any, punishment is warranted, such as a loss of vacation days all the way up to firing. The final decision is left to the police commissioner.

Wright was treated at a hospital after his arrest and has filed a notice of claim with the city, the first step before a filing a lawsuit. Prosecutors deferred charges resulting from his arrest pending further investigation.

Wright’s lawyer, Sanford Rubinstein, called the disciplinary charges a “step in the right direction” and said Garcia should be fired.

The Rev. Kevin McCall, an adviser to Wright’s family, said: “We want to send a clear message that Donni Wright could have been dead today. Before we were calling George Floyd’s name, we could’ve been calling Donni Wright’s name. Thank God he wasn’t also killed by the actions of the police.”

The video of Wright’s arrest was one of several that spurred outrage over the city’s use of police to enforce social distancing, along with data showing people of color were subject to the vast majority of distancing-related arrests and summonses in the city.

Read more: Police Data Reveals Stark Racial Discrepancies in Social Distancing Enforcement Across New York City

One video showed a police officer running at a black man and throwing him to the ground for mouthing off. Another showed an officer punching a man in the head as he lay pinned to a sidewalk, unable to fight back.

The city later altered its approach, telling officers to stop citing people for not wearing face coverings.

Minutes before the confrontation with Wright, video from a security camera showed officers using force to arrest a couple for allegedly failing to comply when asked to disperse. Police said officers saw that one of them had a “bag of alleged marijuana in plain view.”

Bystander video of Wright’s arrest showed Garcia helping take one of those people to the ground before turning to Wright, who was walking toward the area of that arrest from about 10 to 15 feet away.

Garcia turned toward Wright and cursed at him to “[get] back right now,” according to the video. At the same time, the officer pulled up his Taser and pointed it at Wright, possibly triggering the device. Garcia continued toward Wright and eventually holstered his Taser.

It wasn’t clear what Wright was doing because he wasn’t in the frame the entire time, though just before Garcia tackled him, he stopped and stood in front of the officer with what appeared to be a clenched fist at his side.

“What you flexing for? Don’t flex,” Garcia said, before grabbing Wright and wrestling him to the ground. Another officer then stepped in and helped handcuff Wright.

A police spokeswoman said shortly after the arrest that Wright “took a fighting stance against the officer” when he was ordered to disperse.

Over the years, Garcia been named as a defendant in six lawsuits that the city settled for a total of $182,500, according to court records and a Legal Aid Society database.

In a case similar to the May 2 incident, Garcia and other officers allegedly threw a man to the ground and then punched and kicked him. In another, Garcia was accused of throwing a woman against a metal grate and onto a sidewalk and using a homophobic slur after she asked for his badge number.

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Beauty Brand Coty Sees Shares Tumble After ‘Forbes’ Report Questions Kylie Jenner’s Wealth

(Bloomberg) — Coty Inc. tumbled Friday after Forbes reported that Kylie Jenner allegedly provided the magazine with misleading financial information about her cosmetics brand.

Shares of Coty, which acquired a majority stake in Kylie Cosmetics last year, dropped 13% to close at $3.63, extending its 2020 decline to 68%.

The news report raises questions about one of Coty’s most visible brands as it seeks to overcome stagnating sales, changing consumer tastes and retail challenges caused by the coronavirus pandemic. The company, which took billions of dollars in writedowns last year, agreed this month to sell the Wella and Clairol brands to buyout firm KKR & Co. as part of a $4.3 billion deal, allowing it to focus on mass beauty and the Jenner brand. Last week, it launched the Kylie Skin beauty line in Europe.

Representatives at management company Jenner Communications and her publicist, Christy Welder, didn’t immediately reply to messages seeking comment, nor did Lisa Kessler, a spokeswoman for New York-based Coty.

“All I see are a number of inaccurate statements and unproven assumptions,” Jenner said Friday in one of several tweets responding to the Forbes report. “I can name a list of 100 things more important right now than fixating on how much money I have.”

Forbes spokesman Matthew Hutchison defended the report.

“Today’s extensively-reported investigation was triggered by newly filed documents that revealed glaring discrepancies between information privately supplied to journalists and information publicly supplied to shareholders,” he said in an email. “Our reporters spotted the inaccuracies and spent months uncovering the facts.”

Jenner, 22, a scion of the Kardashian family, became the world’s youngest self-made billionaire in March 2019 and agreed to sell a 51% stake in her cosmetics line to Coty in November. The $600 million deal valued her business at roughly $1.2 billion.

Some analysts questioned the price tag at the time and, on top of the recent writedowns, “any renewed suggestion they overpaid for Kylie Cosmetics will shake investors,” said Deborah Aitken at Bloomberg Intelligence.

The pandemic has diminished her net worth, leaving her with a fortune of less than $1 billion. Forbes said the social media star spent years inflating the size and success of her business to the magazine in order to boost its estimate of her wealth.

Jenner, in one of the tweets, said: “I’ve never asked for any title or tried to lie my way there EVER. Period.”

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Pixar Makes History With First LGBT Protagonist in Short Movie Out

(NEW YORK) — In Steven Clay Hunter’s 23 years as an animator at Pixar, he has drawn a seven-armed octopus, a Canadian daredevil and a wheezing toy penguin. But there were scenes he never expected to animate until he began working on his short, Out.

Hunter wrote and directed the nine-minute Pixar film, which recently debuted on Disney+. It’s about a man named Greg who, while packing up to move, temporarily switches bodies with his dog, Jim. While frantically trying to hide evidence of his boyfriend, Manuel, Greg discovers the courage to reveal his sexual orientation to his parents.

Greg, who’s loosely based on Hunter, is Pixar’s first LGBTQ protagonist. And while Out includes some more typically Pixar material (a pair of rainbow animals, a cameo from Wheezy of Toy Story), it features images never seen before in the 25 years of the studio, or in the longer history of Disney. Like when Greg and his boyfriend, Manuel, hug each other.

“The first time I drew Greg and Manuel holding each other in the bedroom, I was bawling my face off,” says Hunter. “All this emotion came welling up because I realized I had been in animation for decades and I had never drawn that in my career. It just hit me.”

Out is a small movie on a streaming service, not one of Pixar’s global blockbusters. But it has already had an outsized impact and been celebrated as a milestone for inclusion in family entertainment. GLAAD called it “a huge step forward for the Walt Disney Company.”

“Out represents the best of Disney and Pixar’s legacy as a place for heartwarming stories about finding one’s own inner strength in the face of life’s challenges,” said Jeremy Blacklow, GLAAD’s director of entertainment media.

From his home in Oakland, California, Hunter, a 51-year-old animator making his directorial debut, has humbly taken in the warm responses. He managed to meet his producer, Max Sachar, for a celebratory, socially distanced glass of rose last weekend. But he’s been reluctant to talk about such a personal film.

“I felt like this was something I had to do,” said Hunter in one of his first interviews. “I didn’t come out until I was 27 and I’m 51 now, and I feel like I’m still dealing with it. You can’t hide who you are for half of your life and then not carry that baggage around. You’ve got to process it somehow. I got lucky enough to process it in the making of this movie.”

It’s part joke, part truth that Out is labeled “based on a true story.” The first shot is of a magical dog and cat jumping through a rainbow. Hunter has had a dog named Jim but, naturally, hasn’t experienced a canine Freaky Friday. But the central story is autobiographical.

“The relationship of Manuel and Greg is something I went through,” he says. “I wasn’t out to my family and I was in a relationship but they didn’t know about him. It took a toll on our relationship and we ended up breaking up because of that. And that break-up led to me coming out to my family, over the phone in a conference room at Pixar.”

Hunter first came up with the idea of a coming-out film five years ago. But it was the Pixar SparkShorts program, which is meant to discover new voices and experiment with different techniques, that presented Hunter with an opportunity. After working on the Spark short Purl, he pitched Out. It was greenlit and finished by December.

“It was cool that he was telling this coming out story but he was doing so while coming out as a filmmaker,” says Sachar. “It was really wonderful for everyone to be a part of and witness.”

LGBTQ characters have been increasingly appearing in Disney films but often do so fleetingly. Gaston’s sidekick LeFou (Josh Gad) was suggested to be gay in 2017’s live-action Beauty and the Beast. Pixar’s Onward, released earlier this year, featured what many consider Disney’s first outwardly gay animated character: a police officer voiced by Lena Waithe who refers to her girlfriend. Some Middle East nations banned the film.

Out, finally, is far more straightforward. It includes, for example, a tender kiss between Manuel and Greg. To animate it, Hunter approached Wendell Lee, the only other gay animator still at Pixar from Hunter’s early days with the company.

“I just went to him and said, ‘You’ve got to animate this.’ And he was like, ‘Heck yeah,’” says Hunter. “I said: I want a kiss. I don’t want a peck.”

Hunter recently watched Out with his family, who live in Canada, over Zoom. It was a moment of connection that he hopes plays out similarly for others during quarantine. For young and old, gay and straight, Out is about being proud of who you are, whoever you are.

Reflecting on the film’s significance, Hunter on Thursday noted the passing of playwright and AIDS activist Larry Kramer. Out, not coincidentally, came out on Harvey Milk Day.

“We’re just an extension of that. We’re moving toward more visibility. It doesn’t mean we’re taking over. We’re just trying to tell our stories like everyone else,” says Hunter. “And we’re not going anywhere. We’re here to stay.”

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Coronavirus: Belgian zoo comes back to life from lockdown

After two months without visitors, Pairi Daiza is welcoming the public back, but in smaller numbers.

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George Floyd death: Why has a US city gone up in flames?

Tensions in Minneapolis did not start with the death of George Floyd. They've been years in the making.

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Akinwumi Adesina: Why the US is targeting a flamboyant Nigerian banker

The US pushes for new inquiry into allegations of corruption against the African Development Bank boss.

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China-India border: Why tensions are rising between the neighbours

Tensions in the Himalaya have the potential to escalate as they pursue their strategic goals.

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'You can't ask people to die': Coronavirus woes deepen Argentina's crisis

A new deadline to restructure the country's debt is just days away.

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Coronavirus: Bill Gates ‘microchip’ conspiracy theory and other vaccine claims fact-checked

Fact-checking vaccine claims - including ones about the ex-Microsoft boss and a dubious cow-dung trial.

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George Floyd death: Ex-officer charged with murder and manslaughter

Derek Chauvin, one of the officers seen kneeling on George Floyd's neck, has been charged with murder.

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90-year-old woman tries to help grandson during arrest

Bodycam footage shows a woman, dressed in a nightgown, seem to fall onto her grandson during the incident.

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World's largest all-electric plane takes flight

An historic day for the aviation industry as the world's largest all-electric plane takes flight.

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Russia slams 'dangerous' US foreign policy moves

Russia said on Thursday the United States was acting in a dngerous and unpredictable way, after Washington withdrew from a key military treaty and moved to ramp up pressure on Iran. Foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova made the comments after Washington announced it would end sanctions waivers for nations that remain in a nuclear accord signed with Iran.

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The next 100 days: How the coronavirus will continue to change your life at home, at work, at school and beyond

In a little over 100 days, the coronavirus killed 100,000 Americans. What awaits the country over the next 100 days in the COVID-19 battle?

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Rights group urges inquiry into Philippine drug war killings

Human Rights Watch is calling on the U.N.’s top human rights body to launch an independent investigation into the Philippine government’s drug war that has left thousands dead, pointing in particular to its harmful effects on children. The advocacy group made the call alongside Wednesday's launch of a report timed for the U.N.-backed Human Rights Council session next month. The 48-page report is based on nearly 50 interviews and examines the impact of about two dozen killings under President Rodrigo Duterte’s drug war.

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Coronavirus deaths in US top 100,000

The US has seen more deaths (currently 100,047) and infections (1.69 million) than any other country.

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Cheered by Private Schools, DeVos Demands Public Education Shares Pandemic Aid

WASHINGTON -- Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, defiant amid criticism that she is using the coronavirus pandemic to pursue a long-sought agenda, said she will force public school districts to share a large portion of federal rescue funding with private school students, regardless of income.DeVos announced the measure in a letter to the Council of Chief State School Officers, which represents state education chiefs, defending her position on how education funding from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act, or CARES Act, should be spent."The CARES Act is a special, pandemic-related appropriation to benefit all American students, teachers and families," DeVos wrote in the letter Friday. "There is nothing in the act suggesting Congress intended to discriminate between children based on public or nonpublic school attendance, as you seem to do. The virus affects everyone."A range of education officials say DeVos' guidance would divert millions of dollars away from disadvantaged students and force districts starved of tax revenues during an economic crisis to support even the wealthiest private schools. The association representing the nation's schools superintendents told districts to ignore the guidance, and at least two states -- Indiana and Maine -- said they would.DeVos accused the state education chiefs of having a "reflex to share as little as possible with students and teachers outside of their control" and said she would draft a rule codifying her position to "resolve any issues in plenty of time for the next school year." The proposed rule would need to go through a public comment process before it could take effect.Private school leaders​​​, who serve about 5.7 million of the nation's children, say they too are in crisis. Enrollment and tuition revenues are plunging along with philanthropic donations and church collections that help some religious schools operate. Many of those schools serve low-income students whose parents have fled failing public schools. Private school groups say 30% of ​the​ families​ they serve have​ annual incomes below $75,000, and those families are most at risk without federal aid. ​"I don't understand why we have to pick winners and losers when everything we're asking for is targeted at helping children and families," said Jennifer Daniels, associate director for public policy for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.Under federal education law, school districts are required to use funding intended for their poorest students to provide "equitable services," such as tutoring and transportation, for low-income students attending private schools in their districts. But DeVos maintains the coronavirus rescue law does not limit funding to just poor students, and her guidance would award private schools more services than the law would normally require.Last week, leaders from education committees in the House and Senate, including Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., said DeVos' interpretation was flawed.Democratic leaders called on DeVos to revise her guidance, which they said would "repurpose hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars intended for public school students to provide services for private school students, in contravention of both the plain reading of the statute and the intent of Congress."Carissa Moffat Miller, executive director of the Council of Chief State School Officers, said the organization believed the secretary's guidance "could significantly harm the vulnerable students who were intended to benefit the most from the critical federal COVID-19 education relief funds Congress has provided."DeVos has been unabashed in her use of coronavirus funding to further her decadeslong effort to divert public dollars to private and parochial schools. In a radio interview last week, first reported by Chalkbeat, the Roman Catholic archbishop of New York, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, asked DeVos if she was "utilizing this particular crisis to ensure that justice is finally done to our kids and the parents who choose to send them to faith-based schools." She responded, "Absolutely."In her letter, DeVos said "a growing list of nonpublic schools have announced they will not be able to reopen, and these school closures are concentrated in low-income and middle-class communities."At least 26 schools, the vast majority of them Catholic, have announced closures caused by or attributed to the pandemic, according to the Cato Institute, a libertarian research organization that is tracking such announcements. The National Catholic Educational Association said that at least 100 of its member schools are at risk of not reopening. More than 40 groups that support private schools wrote to House and Senate leaders this month asking for tuition aid, tax credits for families and other measures to prevent "massive nonpublic school closures."Leaders in some religious communities say they cannot fall back on public education."It is unthinkable for us not to give our children a Jewish education, in the same way it is unthinkable for us not to keep the Sabbath or the kosher dietary laws -- it is fundamental to Jewish life," said Rabbi Abba Cohen, vice president for federal affairs at Agudath Israel of America, one of the groups that signed the letter.Earlier this month, the Archdiocese of Newark, New Jersey, announced it would close 10 schools. ​While the organization said a plan to consolidate had already been underway, Cardinal Joseph Tobin, archbishop of Newark, ​wrote in a letter to the community that​ "this historical moment presents crucial challenges to the sustainability and ongoing success of our schools."Among the closed schools was Cristo Rey Newark High School, part of a network of 37 Catholic college-preparatory schools across the country that exclusively serves low-income students."My concern is that people are painting this with a very large brush stroke that's based on an assumption that Catholic and private means fancy and expensive, and that is not the case," said Elizabeth Goettl, president of the Cristo Rey Network.Ninety-eight percent of the network's 12,000 students are students of color, and all of them are from financially disadvantaged families, Goettl said. Only 10% of the schools' operational revenue comes from tuition, and every family pays what they can on a sliding scale, on average about $900 a year, though some pay as little as $20 a month.Fifty percent of the school's operational revenue comes from a corporate work-study program that could be affected by the economic fallout from the pandemic. Companies employ students in entry-level jobs, and students assign their wages to their tuition."They're literally earning their education at age 14, which is remarkable in itself," she said. "For the federal government to say we're not going to help your kids sanitize, or do whatever COVID-related things that need to be done, seems reprehensible."A recently passed House bill would limit private schools from accessing any new emergency relief funding, including equitable services. But private school leaders have launched an aggressive campaign to lobby Congress and the White House."When all is said and done, people are going to try to do the right thing and not try to pick which students we're not going to keep safe," said Michael Schuttloffel, executive director of the Council for American Private Education.Private school groups lobbying Congress say that mass closures would also hurt public schools. If 20% of private school students have to be absorbed into the public school system, it would cost the public system roughly $15 billion, according to estimates from those groups.Public school groups said that the argument proves their point."I think it's more proof that we need to be focused on public education, because if public education is not fully funded, there is no fallback," said Maggie Garrett, co-chairwoman of the National Coalition for Public Education, which represents more than 50 national organizations that oppose private school vouchers.Ruth Arias, an Amazon warehouse worker and single mother of five in New York City, said moving her children back to their neighborhood school would mean taking them "out of a place where they feel their best and putting them into a school system where they fall apart."With the help of an organization called the Children's Scholarship Fund, Arias said she enrolled her children in a private Christian school to "believe in something better."Arias was battling the coronavirus last month when she saw that the city's Department of Education would help students get iPads for remote learning.Having only one computer and a cellphone for her children to share, she was relieved -- until she was told her children's private schooling made them ineligible."I honestly had one thought," she said, "which I had a lot when I was dealing with the public school system: Are you kidding me?"This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2020 The New York Times Company

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