- U.S.Yahoo News
Downtown D.C. burns after another night of protests and provocation near the White House
The capital was awash with anger and pain as tear gas blew along the streets and rubber bullets flew Sunday night and into the early hours of Monday morning. Protesters clashed with law enforcement for the third straight evening outside the White House, and numerous businesses were vandalized by rioters defying a citywide curfew. Protesters gathered throughout Sunday in Lafayette Park, which is across the street from the White House and has been a focal point of the demonstrations that began here Friday evening.
- U.S.INSIDER
A New York police officer drew his gun on protesters. Mayor Bill de Blasio says he 'should have his gun and badge taken away.'
Seth Wenig/AP Photo A New York City police officer pointed his gun at peaceful protesters in Manhattan Sunday night. After a video of the incident trended on Twitter, Mayor Bill de Blasio said the officer's actions were "unacceptable" and he should "have his gun and badge taken away." On Saturday, de Blasio was widely criticized for defending police officers who drove into a protesting crowd, before backtracking on his comments Sunday.
- U.S.NBC News
Wife of Derek Chauvin says in divorce filing she wants to change her name
The estranged wife of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin intends to change her name and doesn't want any spousal support, her divorce petition revealed on Monday. Kellie May Chauvin, 45, filed for divorce on Saturday, a day after her 44-year-old husband of nearly 10 years, was arrested and charged with third-degree murder in the death of George Floyd, who died in police custody last week. The eight-page divorce petition, which was made public on Monday, revealed few details of the union, beyond basic language that "there has been an irretrievable breakdown of the marriage relationship of the parties within the definition of" Minnesota statutes.
- WorldReuters
WHO pushes to keep ties with 'generous' U.S. despite Trump's exit move
The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) on Monday praised the United States' "immense" and "generous" contribution to global health in a push to salvage relations after President Donald Trump said he was severing ties with the U.N. agency. Accusing it of pandering to China and overlooking an initially secretive response to the COVID-19 outbreak, Trump said on Friday he was ending Washington's relationship with the WHO. "The United States' contribution and generosity towards global health over many decades has been immense, and it has made a great difference in public health all around the world," he said.
- U.S.National Review
Biden Proposes Training Cops to Shoot Attackers in the Leg to Reduce Fatalities
Joe Biden on Monday suggested that police forces could train officers to shoot attackers in the legs in order to reduce potential fatalities. There is “the idea that instead of standing there and teaching a cop when there's an unarmed person, coming at him with a knife or something, to shoot him in the leg instead of in the heart,” Biden said. Biden made his remarks while meeting with African American community leaders at the Bethel AME Church in Wilmington, Del. The former vice president was discussing the widespread protests touched off by the killing of George Floyd, an African American man, at the hands of white police officers in Minneapolis, Minn.
- U.S.USA TODAY
Cities push back as airlines seek dozens of new service cuts. Is your airport on the list?
As cities reopen and air travel gradually picks up, the government is on the cusp of giving final approval to a lengthy list of cities that could lose some of their airline service. Airports on the list that could temporarily lose an airline or certain flights range from those in large cities like Albuquerque, New Mexico, and New Orleans, to towns like Platinum, Alaska, and Ogdensburg, New York. Most, however, fall somewhere in the middle when it comes to size, whether it's Columbus, Ohio, or Sacramento, California.
- WorldThe Telegraph
Hong Kong's Tiananmen commemoration banned by police for first time in three decades
Hong Kong police on Monday banned an upcoming vigil marking the Tiananmen crackdown anniversary citing the coronavirus pandemic, the first time the gathering has been halted in three decades. The candlelight June 4 vigil usually attracts huge crowds and is the only place on Chinese soil where such a major commemoration of the anniversary is still allowed. Last year's gathering was especially large and came just a week before seven months of pro-democracy protests and clashes exploded onto the city's streets, sparked initially by a plan to allow extraditions to the authoritarian mainland.
- PoliticsAssociated Press
Judge: Justice Department reversal in Flynn case 'unusual'
A federal judge on Monday defended his decision not to quickly approve the Justice Department's request to dismiss its own criminal case against former Trump administration national security adviser Michael Flynn, saying that the department's reversal was unusual and he wanted to consider the request carefully before ruling on it. The brief from U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan offers the most detailed explanation for his refusal to immediately sign off on the department's decision to drop its case against Flynn, who pleaded guilty as part of special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation. It raises the prospect of a drawn-out clash between two branches of government over whether a judge can be forced to unwind a guilty plea at the Justice Department's behest.
- U.S.Military.com
Minnesota National Guard Opened Fire on a Vehicle, Commander Says
A soldier in Minneapolis opened fire on a speeding vehicle that posed a threat Sunday night -- the second known instance of a National Guard member discharging a weapon during the nationwide mass protests, the Minnesota National Guard commander said Monday. "Our soldier fired three rounds from his rifle in response to a direct threat" from a vehicle that drove at a position held by local law enforcement supported by the Guard, said Army Maj. Gen. Jon Jensen, adjutant general of the Minnesota National Guard. Read Next: Army Vet Lawmaker: Invoke Insurrection Act, Deploy Active-Duty Troops to Riots The driver ignored warnings to stop or turn away before the soldier opened fire, Jensen added.
- U.S.Yahoo News
Protesters tear through D.C. after National Guard troops and Secret Service keep them from the White House
Downtown Washington, D.C., was filled with flames and broken glass in the early hours of Sunday morning as large groups of protesters moved through the city for the second straight night. The protesters caused extensive damage to businesses in the blocks surrounding the White House after a large contingent of law enforcement — including National Guard troops, the U.S. Park Police and the Secret Service — kept the demonstrators back from the president's residence. Protesters lit fires at multiple locations around the city and clashed with law enforcement, hurling fireworks and other projectiles at the officers.
- U.S.The Independent
White supremacists attending George Floyd protests, Minnesota officials believe
Officials in Minnesota believe that white supremacist “agitators” were inciting chaos at protests against police brutality and the killing of George Floyd. The Minnesota state corrections department said on Sunday that white supremacists were thought to be attending demonstrations in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, and making chaos. “They're agitators,” said Department of Corrections Commissioner Paul Schnell on those who have caused destruction during demonstrations.
BusinessReuters VideosChina orders firms to stop buying U.S. farm goods
China is striking back at the U.S. over Washington's punitive actions on Hong Kong. Sources tell Reuters Beijing has ordered state-owned firms to stop buying soybeans and pork from the U.S. Also put on hold: large volume purchases of U.S. corn and cotton. The sources said Beijing is ready to expand that list if Washington takes more action on Hong Kong.
- U.S.NBC News
Supreme Court upholds Puerto Rico's financial oversight board
The Supreme Court on Monday upheld the oversight board established by Congress to help Puerto Rico out of a devastating financial crisis that has been exacerbated by the coronavirus outbreak, recent earthquakes and damage from Hurricane Maria in 2017. The justices reversed a lower court ruling that threatened to throw the island's recovery efforts into chaos. In a unanimous holding, the court will allow the oversight board's work to pull the island out of the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history to proceed.
- U.S.The New York Times
8 Minutes and 46 Seconds: How George Floyd Was Killed in Police Custody
On May 25, Minneapolis police officers arrested George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, after a deli employee called 911, accusing him of buying cigarettes with a counterfeit $20 bill. Seventeen minutes after the first squad car arrived at the scene, Floyd was unconscious and pinned beneath three police officers, showing no signs of life. The day after Floyd's death, the Police Department fired all four of the officers involved in the episode, and on Friday the Hennepin County attorney, Mike Freeman, announced murder and manslaughter charges against Derek Chauvin, the officer who can be seen most clearly in witness videos pinning Floyd to the ground.
- U.S.USA TODAY
'Nowhere to be found': Governors blast Trump after he tells them they are 'weak' on phone call
Governors including one Republican pushed back at President Donald Trump Monday after he told them on a phone call they are "weak" and need to use force to "dominate" riots that have erupted during protests over the death of George Floyd. Democratic Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a frequent target of Trump, called the phone call deeply disturbing, adding that instead of offering support or leadership to bring down the temperature at protests, Trump told governors to 'put it down' or we would be 'overridden.
- WorldReuters
Pompeo says U.S. considers welcoming Hong Kong people, entrepreneurs
The United States is considering the option of welcoming people from Hong Kong in response to China's push to impose national security legislation in the former British colony, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in remarks released on Monday. Influential Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell told that chamber on Monday he hoped the Trump administration would soon identify specific ways to "impose costs on Beijing" for curbing freedoms in Hong Kong, and said the United States should mirror the response of other democracies and open its doors to people from the territory. Speaking to the American Enterprise Institute on Friday, Pompeo gave no details about immigration quotas or visas when asked about Hong Kong, and merely said: "We are taking a look at it."
- U.S.INSIDER
2 Atlanta police officers were fired and 3 were placed on desk duty for their use of force in arresting 2 college students during a Saturday night protest
Two Atlanta police officers were fired Sunday for their conduct at a protest Saturday, the city's mayor and police chief said. Investigators Mark Gardner and Ivory Streeter, who were both members of the department's fugitive unit, were terminated from the police force, a spokesperson for the Atlanta Police Department told Insider. Investigators Carlos Smith and Willie Sauls, and Sergeant Lonnie Hood, were placed on administrative duty, the spokesperson said.
- U.S.The Daily Beast
Journalists Under Attack Show How Trump’s Hate for the Press Has Spread
Journalists have been attacked all over the world while on the job covering protests for years, but never like they were this week in the United States during the George Floyd protests. At least half a dozen incidences of arrests and attacks were reported in protests across the United States this weekend. Others got less attention, like Los Angeles Times reporter Molly Hennessy-Fiske getting pelted with rubber bullets and tear gas or the two Los Angeles Times photographers who were briefly taken into custody.
- WorldBusiness Insider
The coronavirus is disappearing in Italy, according to Italian doctors
PIERO CRUCIATTI/AFP via Getty Images Italy has been one of the worst-affected countries in the global coronavirus pandemic. However, the COVID-19 virus is now disappearing in the country according to Italian doctors Alberto Zangrillo, who heads a hospital in Milan, said that "in reality, the virus clinically no longer exists in Italy." A leading doctor in Genoa said that "the strength the virus had two months ago is not the same strength it has today."
- U.S.The Independent
Joe Biden issues emotional plea calling for an end to riots: ‘We are a nation enraged’
The former vice president, Joe Biden, has called for an end to the violent riots and looting, which were sparked by major demonstrations throughout the United States over the death of George Floyd, in an emotional new statement. In it, Mr Biden suggested he supported protests against the death of Mr Floyd, a 46-year-old unarmed black man who died after a white police officer in Minneapolis restrained him for more than eight minutes by kneeling on his neck as he pleaded for air, according to charging documents. “These last few days have laid bare that we are a nation furious at injustice,” Mr Biden began.
- WorldThe National Interest
India Has Lots of Nuclear Weapons
India is estimated to have produced enough military plutonium for 150 to 200 nuclear warheads, but has likely produced only 130 to 140,” according to Hans Kristensen and Matt Korda of the Nuclear Information Project at the Federation of American Scientists. Nonetheless, additional plutonium will be required to produce warheads for missiles now under development, and India is reportedly building several new plutonium production facilities. In addition, “India continues to modernize its nuclear arsenal, with at least five new weapon systems now under development to complement or replace existing nuclear-capable aircraft, land-based delivery systems, and sea-based systems.
- WorldAssociated Press
UN: Libya's warring sides have agreed to restart peace talks
The United Nations said Libya's warring factions have agreed to resume cease-fire talks, following days of heavy fighting and eastern-based forces retaking a key town from their rivals after a string of setbacks. The U.N. Mission in Libya said it hoped the new round of talks would “mark the beginning of calm on the ground," especially to allow the country's war-scarred health system to cope with a coronavirus outbreak. Delegates from the rivals, Khalifa Hifter's east-based forces and militias allied with the U.N.-supported government in Tripoli, will conduct the talks through video calls because of the pandemic, the U.N. Mission said in the announcement late Monday.
- U.S.CBS News
Cuomo: "Don't snatch defeat from the jaws of victory" in virus fight
Governor Andrew Cuomo on Monday warned New Yorkers gathering in ongoing protests that "we don't know the consequences of the COVID virus in mass gatherings." As parts of the state continue to move ahead with reopening and New York City set to reopen on June 8, Cuomo said "don't snatch defeat from the jaws of victory." "It took us 93 days to get here," Cuomo said.
WorldAFPDeadlock as Qatar embargo marks three-year anniversary
In June 2017, Saudi Arabia led its Gulf allies the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, along with Egypt, to cut all ties with Qatar, accusing it of backing radical Islamist movements and Iran -- a charge denied by Doha. On May 24, 2017, a statement attributed to Qatar's ruler appears on the state news agency's website, apparently endorsing Islamist movements and criticising US President Donald Trump. Qatar says the site has been hacked and that the statement is fake, but it is picked up and published in regional media.
- WorldReuters
French health ministry says COVID-19 cases in hospitals slips
The French health ministry said on Monday that people should continue taking protective measures against the coronavirus even as cases in hospitals and intensive care continue to fall. As France readies for a second phase of easing restrictions from Tuesday, with parks, bars, restaurants and beaches expected to reopen, the ministry said "good news should not make us forget the danger of the virus". The ministry said in a daily update that 31 coronavirus deaths were recorded in hospitals in the past 24 hours, taking the total to 18,506 since March 1.
What to Read Next
Rush Limbaugh, Charlamagne tha God agree on George Floyd death, clash on white privilege
USA TODAY Entertainment