Amid COVID-19 Crisis, Trump May Address UN General Assembly - In Person

US President Donald Trump is likely to travel to New York to attend the annual UN General Assembly session in September, the only world leader to address this year's virtual high-level week in...

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Opinion: Why India, US, Brazil Are Worst in COVID-19 Cases

India is now the epicentre of the global coronavirus pandemic. It ranks just behind the U.S. and Brazil in confirmed cases and is growing faster than either. The total rose 20% in just the last week,...

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New Education Policy More Important Than Rafale Jets: Sena

The New Education Policy 2020 unveiled by the Government of India is more important than the procurement of Rafale fighter planes but there are concerns on its proper implementation, Shiv Sena said...

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Two Huge Snakes Fight It Out In This Hair-Raising Video

Two huge snakes were seen fighting in a video that has captured Twitter's attention since being shared this morning. The video was posted on the microblogging platform by Indian Forest Service...

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New top story from Time: Hurricane Isaias Bears Down on Bahamas and Florida After Battering Puerto Rico

(SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico) — New Hurricane Isaias kept on a path early Friday expected to take it to the U.S. East Coast by the weekend as it approached the Bahamas, parts of which are still recovering from the devastation of last year’s Hurricane Dorian.

Isaias had maximum sustained winds of 80 mph (130 kph) late Thursday and was centered about 70 miles (110 kilometers) east-southeast of Great Inagua Island in the Bahamas, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said. It was moving northwest at 18 mph (30 kph).

It was forecast to pass over the southeastern Bahamas during the night, be near the central Bahamas late Friday and move near or over the northwestern Bahamas and near South Florida on Saturday.

On Thursday while still a tropical storm, Isaias knocked out power, toppled trees and caused widespread flooding and small landslides in the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico, where at least 35 people were rescued from floodwaters and one person remained missing. Hundreds of thousands of people in Puerto Rico were left without power and water.

A hurricane warning was in effect for the northwestern Bahamas, including Andros Island, New Providence, Eleuthera, Abaco Islands, Berry Islands, Grand Bahama and Bimini.

Two of those islands, Abaco and Grand Bahama, were battered by Dorian, a Category 5 storm that hovered over the area for two days and killed at least 70 people, with more than 280 reported missing. People are still living in tents on both islands, and officials said crews were trying to remove leftover debris ahead of Isaias.

Prime Minister Hubert Minnis announced late Thursday that he was relaxing a coronavirus lockdown as a result of the impending storm, but said a 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew would be implemented starting Friday. He said supermarkets, pharmacies, gas stations and hardware stores would be allowed to be open as long as weather permitted.

“These are especially difficult days,” he said during an online news conference. “We need at this time the spirit of love and unity.”

Stephen Russell, director of the Bahamas’ emergency management agency, said there were no plans to evacuate people, but he urged those living in low-lying areas to seek shelter.

The Bahamas has reported more than 500 confirmed COVID-19 cases and at least 14 deaths. It recently barred travelers from the U.S. following a surge in cases as it reopened to international tourism.

Given the pandemic, the prime minister urged young people booking hotel rooms to stay safe from the approaching storm to respect social distancing measures.

“Please do not engage in hurricane or COVID(-19) parties,” he said. “It can be devastating.”

Isaias was expected to produce 4 to 8 inches (10 to 20 centimeters) of rain in the Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands.

हीरो ओपन में शानदार शुरुआत के बाद फिसले शुभंकर

भारतीय गोल्फर शुभंकर शर्मा ने गुरुवार को यूरोपीय टूर के हीरो ओपन के पहले दिन शानदार शुरूआत की

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Chinese Territory Claims In Bhutan, India "Testing" The World, Says US

China's territorial claims in Bhutan and the recent incursion into Indian land are indicative of their intentions, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Thursday, adding that Beijing under...

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Review: The Numbers Add Up Nicely In Vidya Balan's 'Shakuntala Devi '

Shakuntala Devi Movie Review: It's easy to be put in the shade when the star is this good but Sanya Malhotra conveys to perfection the emotions of a girl at odds with her mother's global fame.

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First Dog To Test Positive For Coronavirus In US Dies: Report

The first dog to test positive for the coronavirus in the United States has died, National Geographic magazine reported, after struggling with symptoms that may be familiar to many of the virus's...

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"To Protect Students' Future": UGC Justifies In Top Court Holding Final Year Exams

The UGC Thursday justified in the Supreme Court it decision directing all universities and institutions to hold final year or semester examinations in September saying it was done to protect the academic future of students across the country. The University Grants Commission (UGC) filed a 50-page affidavit on a batch of petitions, including the one filed by Shiv Sena's youth wing "Yuva Sena", which have challenged its guidelines issued on July 6 for holding the exams in September amidst the persisting coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

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आयरिश कपः आज से ब्रिटेन के फुटबॉल स्टेडियमों में होगी दर्शकों की एंट्री

ब्रिटेन में कोविड-19 महामारी के कारण चार महीने पहले लागू लॉकडाउन के बाद फुटबॉल के प्रशंसकों को शुक्रवार को पहली बार स्टेडियम आने का मौका मिलेगा।

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मैच फिक्सिंग के आरोप में लाओस के फुटबॉलर पर अजीवन प्रतिबंधित

एशियाई फुटबॉल परिसंघ (एएफसी) ने लाओस की राष्ट्रीय टीम के खिलाड़ी टी इंथावोंगसा पर मैच फिक्सिंग के आरोप में आजीवन प्रतिबंध लगा दिया।

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Blog: NEP Is The Last Nail In The Lutyens Elite's Coffin

This is probably the last nail in the old elite's coffin. They have largely been evicted from Lutyens Delhi in any case. The NEP is one part of a massive project of creating a new Central Vista elite.

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What's Keeping Krishna Shroff And Eban Hyams Busy Is Sydney

This is what Krishna Shroff's "happy place" looks like

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Sonam Kapoor And A "Simple" Picnic Made Anand Ahuja's Birthday Phenomenal

"My birthday gifts - Sonam Kapoor and this simple outdoor picnic she organised," wrote Anand Ahuja

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New top story from Time: Alaska Man Killed in Apparent Bear Attack Near His Remote Cabin

(JUNEAU, Alaska) — A man who was clearing a trail behind his property in south-central Alaska was found dead with wounds consistent with a bear attack, Alaska State Troopers said Thursday.

Troopers said they received a report late Wednesday that a Hope man who set out to clear a trail about a mile behind his property had not returned home and a dog that had gone with him came back alone.

The man’s body was found by family and friends in the area in which he had been working, troopers said.

Clay Adam, deputy chief with Cooper Landing Emergency Services, said local authorities received a call about 9:50 p.m. and when they arrived at the small, remote cabin learned the incident had occurred about a 45-minute to one-hour hike up the side of a mountain behind the residence. Given the darkness, there were safety concerns with trying to reach the area, Adam said.

People who had gone to the site earlier and returned were told not to go back or touch anything, and that troopers would be in charge of the scene, he said.

Cyndi Wardlow, a regional supervisor with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, said based on preliminary information, officials believe the animal involved was a brown bear. She said efforts were underway to locate the bear and kill it.

New top story from Time: Ellen DeGeneres Apologizes to Staff of Her TV Show After Warner Bros. Launches Workplace Inquiry

(LOS ANGELES) — Ellen DeGeneres apologized to the staff of her daytime TV talk show amid an internal company investigation of complaints of a difficult and unfair workplace.

“On day one of our show, I told everyone in our first meeting that ‘The Ellen DeGeneres Show’ would be a place of happiness — no one would ever raise their voice, and everyone would be treated with respect,” DeGeneres wrote. Something changed, she said, “and for that, I am sorry.”

In a separate statement, the Warner Bros. studio said the investigation’s “primary findings” revealed what it called some flaws in the show’s daily management.

DeGeneres’ memo and the probe by the studio’s parent company followed a BuzzFeed News report in which one current and 10 former show employees complained about issues including being fired after taking medical or bereavement leave. One worker said she left because of comments about her race.

Most of the complaints were tied to executive producers and senior managers, BuzzFeed News said, but one ex-employee said DeGeneres need to take more responsibility for the work environment. The people making the allegations were not identified.

The complaints contrast sharply with the show’s upbeat tenor and DeGeneres’ own public demeanor and exhortations for people to be kind and caring.

In its statement, Warner Bros. said it and DeGeneres take the allegations about the show’s “workplace culture very seriously” and that its parent company is seeking to determine the validity of the publicly reported allegations and understand the show’s daily workings.

“As a result, WarnerMedia interviewed dozens of current and former employees about the environment at ‘The Ellen DeGeneres Show’ … . And though not all of the allegations were corroborated, we are disappointed that the primary findings of the investigation indicated some deficiencies related to the show’s day-to-day management.”

Steps are being taken to make several staffing changes and implement other steps, the studio said, without citing specifics. The internal investigation was first reported by Variety.

DeGeneres wrote that she has “deep compassion” for people who are treated unfairly or disregarded. That comes from someone who has been judged for “who I am,” said DeGeneres, who has detailed the price she paid for being openly gay.

“As we’ve grown exponentially, I’ve not been able to stay on top of everything and relied on others to do their jobs as they knew I’d want them done. Clearly some didn’t. That will now change and I’m committed to ensuring this does not happen again,” she said in the memo.

“It’s been way too long, but we’re finally having conversations about fairness and justice,” DeGeneres said, adding that she would push herself and others to “learn and grow.”

She said the COVID-19 pandemic kept her from delivering her comments in person to staffers. She signed the message, “Stay safe and healthy” and “Love, Ellen.”

To Chinese Claim Of "Complete" Pullback In Ladakh, India's Rejoinder

The process of disengagement of troops in eastern Ladakh has not yet been completed though some progress has been made, India said on Thursday in a statement that countered China's claim that frontline forces of the two countries have "completed" this exercise at most locations along their border.

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शूटिंग कोच कोरोना संक्रमित, लेकिन जारी रहेंगी तैयारियां

साई की ओर से कर्णी सिंह शूटिंग रेंज में शूटरों की कराई जा रही तैयारियों को बड़ा झटका लगा है।

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Republicans and White House at Odds Over Kansas Senate Race

By BY JONATHAN MARTIN AND KATIE GLUECK from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/2PbxtYh

महिला पहलवानों का डर बना हज हाउस में कोरोना सेंटर

उत्तर प्रदेश सरकार की ओर से कानपुर रोड स्थित साई सेंटर के बिल्कुल साथ लगे हज हाउस को 500 बेड का कोरोना कोरेंटाइन सेंटर बनाना महिला पहलवानों का डर बन गया है।

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Ellen DeGeneres Apologizes to Staff Members as WarnerMedia Investigates Show

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New top story from Time: NBA Players, Coaches and Referees Kneel in Solidarity as Unprecedented Bubble Season Begins

(LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla.) — Players and coaches from the New Orleans Pelicans and Utah Jazz knelt alongside one another before the first game of the NBA restart on Thursday night, an unprecedented image for the league in unprecedented times.

The coaches — New Orleans’ Alvin Gentry and Utah’s Quin Snyder — were next to one another, their arms locked together. Some players raised a fist as the final notes of “The Star-Spangled Banner” were played, the first of what is expected to be many silent statements calling for racial justice and equality following the deaths of, among others, Breonna Taylor and George Floyd in recent months.

Even the game referees took a knee during the pregame scene, which occurred with the teams lined up along the sideline nearest where “Black Lives Matter” was painted onto the court. The Los Angeles Lakers and Los Angeles Clippers were expected to also take some sort of action before the second game of the re-opening night doubleheader later Thursday.

“It’s so important at this point for us to be unified and be able to peacefully protest many of the critical things that are going on in the country right now,” Snyder said.

The NBA has a rule going back to the early 1980s that players must stand for the national anthem. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, anticipating that players would kneel during these games at Walt Disney World, has made clear that he supports peaceful protests.

Many players warmed up wearing shirts that said “Black Lives Matter.” Thursday also marked the debut of new jerseys bearing messages that many players chose to have added, such as “Equality” and “Peace.”

The NBA season was suspended when Rudy Gobert of the Jazz tested positive for the coronavirus and became the first player in the league with such a diagnosis. Gobert was diagnosed on March 11; two days later, Taylor, a 26-year-old Black woman, was fatally shot when police officers burst into her Louisville, Kentucky apartment using a no-knock warrant during a narcotics investigation. The warrant was in connection with a suspect who did not live there and no drugs were found.

Then on May 25, Floyd died after a white Minneapolis police officer pressed a knee into the Black man’s neck for nearly eight minutes. That happened on a street, with the images — and sounds of the man saying he couldn’t breathe, then crying out for his mother — all captured on a cell phone video.

NBA players have used their platforms — both in the bubble and on social media — to demand equality, to demand justice for Taylor. Coaches have also said it is incumbent on them to demand change and educate themselves and others. And the pregame actions by the Jazz and the Pelicans were just the start of what is expected to be a constant during the remainder of this season.

“It’s taken a very long time to get this momentum going,” San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich said in a video that aired pregame, a project organized by both the NBA and the National Basketball Players Association. “And it cannot be lost.”

Gentry said he appreciated the accidental symmetry that came from the first games of the restarted season coming only hours after the funeral for U.S. Rep. John Lewis, who died July 17 at the age of 80.

Lewis spent most of his life championing civil rights and equality and was the youngest speaker at the 1963 March on Washington — the one where Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech. Gentry said he believes this movement, like the one Lewis helped spark six decades ago, will endure.

“If you talk to some of the younger generation, I think this is here to stay. I really do,” Gentry said. “I have a 20-year-old son and a 22-year-old son, and I know that they feel like this is the most opportune time for us to try to have change in this country.”

अंतरराष्ट्रीय शतरंज महोत्सव दूसरे स्थान पर रहे भारतीय ग्रैंडमास्टर हरिकृष्णा

पोलैंड के राडोस्लाव वोज्ताजेक ने स्थानीय खिलाड़ी नोएल स्टुडेर को हराने के बाद खिताब जीता।

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West Bengal Congress President Somen Mitra Dies At 78

West Bengal Congress president Somen Mitra died at a city hospital in the early hours of Thursday. He was 78.

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Kamala Harris for Vice President? Joe Biden's Notes Fuels Speculation

Joe Biden's vice presidential pick has been one of Washington's best kept secrets but a supposedly accidental news publication and Biden's own teasingly displayed notes are raising expectations that...

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Boris Johnson Rides Made-In-India Cycle At Launch Of Health Programme

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson rode a made-in-India Hero Cycles bike designed in the UK as he launched a new GBP 2-billion cycling and walking drive which is part of the government's anti-obesity...

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God's Own Angels In White PPE Units: Big B Writes For Healthcare Workers

"They work in extreme conditions, so our conditions are safe," tweeted Big B

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New top story from Time: Execution Date Set For Only Native American on Death Row

(FLAGSTAFF, Ariz.) — The only Native American on federal death row is scheduled to be executed in late August, the U.S. government announced Wednesday.

Lezmond Mitchell, who is Navajo, had been among the first of a handful of inmates set to be put to death after the Trump administration restored federal executions after an informal, 17-year moratorium. Mitchell has been spared temporarily by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals where his attorneys argued they should be able to interview jurors for potential racial bias.

Mitchell lost the bid in late April, but the case hasn’t technically been closed, preserving a stay of execution. His attorneys have asked the appeals court to essentially keep the stay in place while they seek review at the U.S. Supreme Court. The U.S. attorney in Arizona urged the appeals court Wednesday to make a quick decision.

The execution date for Mitchell, who was convicted of the 2001 murder of a Navajo woman and her 9-year-old granddaughter, now is Aug. 26 at the Federal Correctional Complex in Terra Haute, Indiana, where he’s being held.

Despite the grisly nature of the killings, tribal officials and even the victims’ family opposed the death penalty. Native American tribes for decades have been able to tell federal prosecutors if they want a death sentence considered for certain crimes on their land. Nearly all, including the Navajo Nation, have rejected that option.

Mitchell was convicted of carjacking resulting in death — a crime that carries a possible death sentence no matter where it happens, meaning the tribe had no avenue to object.

“The federal government’s announcement that it now plans to execute Lezmond Mitchell demonstrates the ultimate disrespect for the Navajo Nation’s values and sovereignty,” his attorneys, Jonathan Aminoff and Celeste Bacchi said in a statement Wednesday.

Mitchell is scheduled to be put to death in the same week as Keith Dwayne Nelson, who was convicted of kidnapping a 10-year-old girl while she was rollerblading in front of her Kansas home and raping her in a forest behind a church, then strangling her.

Three other federal inmates were put to death earlier this month — Dustin Honken, Wesley Purkey and Daniel Lewis Lee. All were convicted of killing children.

Mitchell and an accomplice abducted Alyce Slim, 63, and her granddaughter in October 2001 with plans to use Slim’s vehicle in a robbery. Prosecutors said the two fatally stabbed Slim and slit the girl’s throat. Their beheaded, mutilated bodies were found in a shallow grave on the Navajo Nation.

Mitchell’s attorneys have said he had no history of violence and wasn’t the primary aggressor. They said they’ll continue to pursue avenues for relief from the convictions and death sentence.

U.S. Attorney General William Barr noted Wednesday that courts repeatedly have ruled against Mitchell.

Navajo Nation Council Delegate Carl Slater, whose grandparents testified against capital punishment in Mitchell’s trial as educators, has been pushing the tribe to request clemency from the federal government and affirm its position against the death penalty.

If the execution moves forward, Slater said it would send a message that the federal government has no problem using loopholes to infringe on the tribe’s sovereignty.

“This completely conflicts with our values,” he said. “The government has an obligation to express our values and reflect them. That’s not just to our citizens, that’s to other sovereigns that have these relationships.”

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Report: N.B.A.’s Academies in China Abused Athletes

By BY SOPAN DEB from NYT Sports https://ift.tt/2Dlc2RL

Quotation of the Day: New Resistance in Remote City Confronts Putin

By Unknown Author from NYT Today’s Paper https://ift.tt/2XcLHN8

New top story from Time: Hiroshima Court Recognizes Victims of Radioactive ‘Black Rain’ as Atomic Bomb Survivors

(TOKYO) — A Japanese court on Wednesday for the first time recognized people exposed to radioactive “black rain” that fell after the 1945 U.S. atomic attack on Hiroshima as atomic bomb survivors, ordering the city and the prefecture to provide the same government medical benefits as given to other survivors.

The Hiroshima District Court said all 84 plaintiffs who were outside of a zone previously set by the government as where radioactive rain fell also developed radiation-induced illnesses and should be certified as atomic bomb victims. All of the plaintiffs are older than their late 70s, with some in their 90s.

The landmark ruling comes a week before the city marks the 75th anniversary of the U.S. bombing.

The U.S. dropped the world’s first atomic bomb on Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945, killing 140,000 people and almost destroying the entire city. The plaintiffs were in areas northwest of the ground zero where radioactive black rain fell hours after the bomb was dropped.

The plaintiffs have developed illnesses such as cancer and cataracts linked to radiation after they were exposed to black rain, not only that which fell but also by taking water and food in the area contaminated with radiation.

They filed the lawsuit after Hiroshima city and prefectural officials rejected their request to expand the zone to cover their areas where black rain also fell.

In Wednesday’s ruling, the court said the plaintiffs’ argument about their black rain exposure was reasonable and that their medical records showed they have health problems linked to radiation exposure.

One of the plaintiffs, Minoru Honke, who was exposed to black rain at age 4, said more than a dozen people died during the trial. “I want to tell them that we won,” he said.

Osamu Saito, a doctor who has examined atomic bomb survivors in Hiroshima, welcomed the ruling for considering the survivors’ welfare based on an assumption that anyone who was in these areas and hit by the rain could have been affected by radiation.

Earlier in the day, dozens of plaintiffs walked into the Hiroshima court in the rain, showing a banner saying “Certificates to all ‘black rain’ victims.” As soon as the ruling was issued, lawyers for the plaintiffs ran out of the court, showing a banner saying “Full victory,” and their supporters applauded and cheered.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told reporters that the government will closely examine the ruling and respond after consulting with related government agencies and Hiroshima officials.

Sponsored: Know The Symptoms Of Dry Eye And How It Is Treated

Dry eye is a common condition that occurs when tears are not able to provide adequate lubrication to the eyes. July is observed as Dry Eye Awareness month. Watch Dr. J.S. Thind, Cataract and Refractive Surgeon at Thind Eye Hospital, Jalandhar as he explains what really dry eye is and symptoms to watch out for.

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New top story from Time: Ruth Bader Ginsburg Undergoes Medical Procedure at Hospital

(WASHINGTON) — Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has undergone a nonsurgical medical procedure in New York City and expects to be released from a hospital there by the end of the week, the Supreme Court said Wednesday night.

The court said in a statement that the 87-year-old Ginsburg underwent a minimally invasive procedure to “revise a bile duct stent” at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. The stent had originally been placed last August, when Ginsburg was treated for a cancerous tumor on her pancreas.

The statement said that, according to Ginsburg’s doctors, “stent revisions are common occurrences and the procedure, performed using endoscopy and medical imaging guidance, was done to minimize the risk of future infection.”

The procedure follows another one earlier this month at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore to clean out the stent. Ginsburg had gone to the hospital after experiencing fever and chills and was treated for a possible infection.

The statement from the court Wednesday said that Ginsburg “is resting comfortably and expects to be released from the hospital by the end of the week.”

Ginsburg, the oldest justice on the nine-member court, announced earlier this month that she is receiving chemotherapy for a recurrence of cancer. The liberal justice, who has had four earlier bouts with cancer, said her treatment so far has succeeded in reducing lesions on her liver.

New top story from Time: Hong Kong Police Arrest Four Under New Security Law Over Online Posts

(HONG KONG) — Hong Kong police have signaled their intent to enforce a new Chinese national security law strictly, arresting four youths Wednesday on suspicion of inciting secession through social media posts.

Three males and one female, aged 16 to 21, were detained, a police official said at an 11 p.m. news conference. All are believed to be students.

“Our investigation showed that a group has recently announced on social media that they have set up an organization for Hong Kong independence,” said Li Kwai-wah, senior superintendent of a newly formed unit to enforce the security law.

The 1-month-old law has chilled pro-democracy protesting as activists along with academics and others wonder if their activities could be targeted.

The central government in Beijing imposed the national security law on the semi-autonomous Chinese territory after city leaders were unable to get one passed locally. The move has raised fears that Hong Kong’s freedoms and local autonomy are being taken away.

Police did not identify the suspects or their group. An organization called Studentlocalism — which announced it was disbanding just before the law took effect — said on Facebook that four former members had been arrested on secession charges, including ex-leader Tony Chung.

The police action appeared to target the Initiative Independence Party, which says on its Facebook page that it consists of former Studentlocalism members who have completed their studies and are overseas.

The party, which also posted the news of Wednesday’s arrests, advocates for independence because it believes full democracy for Hong Kong is impossible under Chinese rule, its Facebook page says.

Li said only that the group in question had set up recently and that the posts were made after the law took effect late on June 30.

“They said they want to establish a Hong Kong republic, and that they will unreservedly fight for it,” he said. “They also said they want to unite all pro-independence groups in Hong Kong for this purpose.”

He warned anyone who thinks they can carry out such crimes online to think twice.

Police have made a handful of other arrests under the new law, all of people taking part in protests and chanting slogans or waving flags deemed to violate the law.

China promised Hong Kong would have its own governing and legal systems under a “one country, two systems” principle until 2047, or 50 years after Britain handed back its former colony in 1997.

China, in justifying the new law, says issues such as separatism are a national security concern and, as such, fall under its purview.

The latest arrests came one day after a leading figure in Hong Kong’s political opposition was fired from his university post.

Hong Kong University’s council voted 18-2 to oust Benny Tai from his position as an associate law professor, local media reported.

Tai has been out on bail since being sentenced to 16 months in prison in April 2019 as one of nine leaders put on trial for their part in 2014 protests for greater democracy known as the Umbrella Movement.

In a posting Wednesday on his Facebook account, Tai said he intended to continue writing and lecturing on legal issues and asked for public support.

“If we continue in our persistence, we will definitely see the revival of the rule of law in Hong Kong one day,” Tai wrote.

While the 2014 movement failed in its bid to expand democracy, protests returned last year over a legislative proposal that would have allowed criminal suspects to be extradited to face trial in mainland China.

Although the legislation was eventually shelved, protester demands expanded to include calls for democratic change and an investigation into alleged police abuses. They grew increasingly violent in the second half of the year.

In a statement issued after the vote to remove Tai, the Chinese government’s liaison office in Hong Kong said it was “a punishment for evil doing.”

New top story from Time: U.S. Postal Service Considers Downsizing, Senator and Union Leader Say

(CHARLESTON, W.Va.) — The U.S. Postal Service is considering closing post offices across the country, sparking concerns ahead of an anticipated surge of mail-in ballots in the 2020 elections, U.S. Sen Joe Manchin and a union leader said Wednesday.

Manchin said he has received numerous reports from post offices and colleagues about service cuts or looming closures in West Virginia and elsewhere, prompting him to send a letter to Postmaster General Louis DeJoy asking for an explanation.

The possible cutbacks come as DeJoy, a major donor to President Donald Trump who took control of the agency last month, moves to eliminate overtime for hundreds of thousands of postal workers, potentially causing a delay in mail deliveries. A recent document from the Postal Service, obtained by The Associated Press, described the need for an “operational pivot” to make the cash-strapped agency financially stable.

“It’s just asinine to think that you can shut something down or throttle it back in terms of the pandemic when basically the lifeline for voting and democracy is going to be in the hands of the Postal Service,” Manchin, a Democrat, told reporters Wednesday.

He said at least two post offices in West Virginia had been scheduled to close next month but that the agency had “slowed” its plans.

A spokesman for the Postal Service referred questions to a prior statement from DeJoy, which said the agency “has experienced over a decade of financial losses, with no end in sight, and we face an impending liquidity crisis.” The statement goes on to say that “it is critical that the Postal Service take a fresh look at our operations and make necessary adjustments.”

Mark Dimondstein, president of the American Postal Workers Union, which represents more than 200,000 postal workers and retirees, said there’s “definitely buzz” about closures although he said he was not aware of specific details. A spokesman for the union said rank-and-file postal employees have been told by managers that their offices are being targeted for potential cutbacks.

“The logical conclusion is that he’s going to try to close some post offices,” Dimondstein said of the postmaster general’s belt-tightening strategies.

The coronavirus pandemic has created further strain on Postal Service finances. The service reported a $4.5 billion loss for the quarter ending in March, before the full effects of the shutdown sank in.

Manchin’s letter noted that the coronavirus relief package passed by Congress in March included authorization for the agency to borrow up to $10 billion from the U.S. Treasury. The money was intended to help the Postal Service maintain essential services during the pandemic.

“Unfortunately, not only has little to none of that funding been utilized, you are now proposing the very cuts that we sought to avoid with that emergency line of credit,” Manchin said in his letter.

Later Wednesday, Treasury announced it had reached agreement with the Postal Service on the terms of any future borrowing but also said the service was able to fund its operations at this time without using a loan.

Justice Ginsburg in the Hospital Again

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Corrections: July 30, 2020

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Ashleigh Barty Will Skip U.S. Open

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As Trump Undercuts Aid Talks, White House Says Extra Jobless Benefits Will Lapse

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New top story from Time: ‘We’re Nowhere Close to the Deal’. Coronavirus Aid Package Talks Break Down as Trump Rejects Help for Cities

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Wednesday dismissed Democratic demands for aid to cash-strapped cities in a new coronavirus relief package and lashed out at Republican allies as talks stalemated over assistance for millions of Americans. Another lawmaker tested positive for the virus.

Republicans, beset by delays and infighting, signaled a willingness to swiftly approve a modest package to revamp a $600 weekly unemployment benefit that’s running out. But House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., roundly rejected that approach as meager, all but forcing Republicans back to the negotiating table. Without action, the aid expires Friday.

“We’re nowhere close to the deal,” said White House chief of staff Mark Meadows. He said they’re “miles apart.”

Stark differences remain between the $3 trillion proposal from Democrats and $1 trillion counter from Republicans, a standoff that is testing Trump and Congress ahead of the November election and putting aid for communities nationwide at risk.

Pelosi said the best way to reopen schools and the economy is to defeat the virus, and that can’t be done with the “skinny” bill Republicans are rushing to cobble together. “They still don’t get it,” Pelosi said.

The virus toll continued to mount in the U.S., with 4.4 million confirmed cases and deaths passing 150,000. Outspoken Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, who often objects to mask-wearing, became the latest lawmaker at the Capitol to test positive for the virus.

Money for states and cites is a crucial dividing line as local governments plead for help to shore up budgets and prevent deeper layoffs as they incur COVID-19 costs and lost tax revenue in shutdown economies.

Trump complained about sending “big bailout money” to the nation’s cities, whose mayors he often criticizes.

“It’s a shame to reward badly run radical left Democrats with all of this money they’re looking for,” he said at the White House.

Democrats proposed nearly $1 trillion for the local governments, but Trump and Republicans are resisting sending the states and cities more cash.

Instead, the GOP offers states flexibility to use $150 billion previously allotted for the virus on other needs. At one point this year, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said states could just declare bankruptcy.

Governors and mayors who have been urging Congress to help warned that inaction would hit hard.

“If Congress fails to dedicate financial assistance to state and local governments, it will force deep cuts to the very programs workers and families need to get back on their feet,” said Tara Lee, spokeswoman for Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, a Democrat.

Most states have built up reserves since the Great Recession, but the pandemic stopped swaths of the economy in March.

Municipal cutbacks and layoffs began. By June, about 1.5 million fewer people were working for governments in the U.S. compared with February, according federal data. More than half the government layoffs have been in education, a sector facing daunting costs as schools prepare to reopen to students.

Last month, Moody’s Analytics said states were facing a cumulative budget gap of $312 billion over the next two years and local governments would need nearly $200 billion more. Some estimates have calculated the budget gaps as even bigger.

“These are not fancy actions,” said Democrat Nan Whaley, the mayor of Dayton, Ohio, and vice president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors. “These are actions around emergency medical providers, fire, police, services the president claims he values.”

It’s clear that Democrats are trying to push an advantage in the negotiations because Republicans are so deeply divided over the prospect of big government spending.

Trump dismissed the GOP bill as “semi-irrelevant” as his team launched talks with Pelosi and Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York.

McConnell defended his approach as “serious,” but he was unable to bring his majority on board. Many Republicans came around to the White House’s pitch for a smaller package by Friday.

That’s when the $600 unemployment benefit boost as well as a federal eviction moratorium on millions of rental units expire, potentially sending households into devastating turmoil.

Speaking at the White House, Trump signaled his interest in reaching a deal and averting an eviction crisis.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, who is leading the negotiations, said “the president is very focused” on unemployment aid and assistance for renters.

But the president said his GOP allies should “go back to school and learn” after they balked at $1.7 billion for FBI headquarters in the bill. Trump wants the FBI’s central building to remain in Washington, across the street from his Trump International Hotel. McConnell opposed the request as unrelated to virus relief.

But Pelosi showed no interest in going small bore on aid. Asked what she thinks of that approach, Pelosi said: “Nothing. Not even ‘not much.’ Nothing.”

Republicans propose cutting the $600 weekly unemployment benefit bump to $200 a week as an incentive to push people back to work. On the eviction freeze put in place in March, Democrats proposed extending it, but Republicans did not include it in their bill and Trump hasn’t specified what he’s wants to do.

“There’s no consensus on anything,” said Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas.

At the Capitol, Pelosi used a zoo metaphor to explain to Mnuchin and Meadows the divide. You see a giraffe, you see a flamingo, Pelosi told the White House team late Tuesday during private talks. These two bills, she said, “aren’t mateable.”

The conversations were relayed by two people who were not authorized to publicly discuss the private session and spoke on condition of anonymity.

___

Associated Press writers Geoff Mulvihill in Cherry Hill, New Jersey; Rachel La Corte in Olympia, Washington; and Jill Colvin, Mary Clare Jalonick and Andrew Taylor in Washington contributed to this report.

Prohibitory Orders Imposed Near Ambala Air Base Ahead Of Rafales' Arrival

Authorities tightened security and imposed prohibitory orders near the Ambala Air Force Station in Haryana on Tuesday ahead of the arrival of five Rafale jets from France, banning shooting of videos and photography.

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देश प्रदेश : लॉकडाउन के दिन मनेगी बकरीद

कोरोना के दौर में इस बकरीद में कुर्बानी के बकरे भी अब ऑनलाइन बिकने लगे हैं, जिनकी होम डिलिवरी भी हो रही है. इस बार की बकरीद शनिवार को पड़ने वाली है. इस दौरान उत्तर प्रदेश में लॉकडाउन भी रहेगा. ऐसे में बाहर त्यौहार नहीं मनाया जा सकेगा. दारुल उलूम देवबंद ने लॉकडाउन दूसरे दिन करने की मांग की थी, लेकिन सरकार इसके लिए तैयार नहीं हुई.

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4 Crore Masks, 20 Lakh Medical Goggles: "Restriction-Free" Export Allowed

The government on Wednesday said it has allowed the export of four crore surgical masks and 20 lakh medical goggles every month, weeks after giving a nod to the monthly export of 50 lakh units of PPE (personal protection equipment) medical coveralls.

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Facebook, Google, Apple, Amazon Chiefs To Testify In US Congress Hearing

Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos will defend the Internet giants they built, painting them as US success stories in a fiercely competitive world during a major antitrust...

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4 Crore Masks, 20 Lakh Medical Goggles: "Restriction-Free" Export Allowed

The government on Wednesday said it has allowed the export of four crore surgical masks and 20 lakh medical goggles every month, weeks after giving a nod to the monthly export of 50 lakh units of PPE...

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US To Possibly Supply COVID-19 Vaccine To Other Countries, Says Trump

US President Donald Trump during a press briefing said the United States may provide a vaccine for the novel coronavirus to other countries when it is ready.

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"China Under Xi Has Become Bullish," Says Ex-US Envoy Nikki Haley: Report

China under President Xi Jinping has become more aggressive and bullish, former US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said on Tuesday, asserting that such a behavior is unlikely to last...

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"Forever Indebted:" Aishwarya Writes After Being Discharged From Hospital

"All my love always and prayers for the well-being of you all," wrote Aishwarya Rai Bachchan

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N.Y.P.D.’s Use of Unmarked Van in Arrest Draws Parallels to Portland

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‘Nobody Likes Me,’ Trump Complains, Renewing Defense of Dubious Science

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Mumbai Survey Finds 57% Have Had COVID-19 In Slums, 16% In Other Areas

A medical survey of nearly 7,000 people in Mumbai has found that one in six or about 16 per cent of residents in the city had contracted the coronavirus. In slum areas, where lakhs of people live in cramped spaces usually sharing toilets, the number was a whopping 57 per cent.

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Twitter Limits Trump Jr's Account Over COVID-19 "Misinformation" Video

Twitter Inc said on Tuesday it had reined in access to Donald Trump Jr's account for 12 hours because a tweet he had posted violated the social media site's misinformation policy on COVID-19.

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New top story from Time: Judge Says OxyContin-Maker Purdue Must Halt Some Political Contributions

A federal bankruptcy judge ruled Tuesday that OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma can’t make any more contributions to partisan organizations that seek to boost the election efforts of candidates for state attorney general offices.

The company can keep contributing to some other political groups, according to the ruling from Judge Robert Drain.

Lawyers asked Drain to block Purdue from making political contributions earlier this month when it was revealed that the company had given $185,000 to political groups after declaring bankruptcy last year.

Advocates were particularly troubled by contributions to the Democratic Attorneys General Association and the Republican Attorneys General Association because state attorneys general are suing the company and trying to negotiate a settlement with it. Both groups said earlier this month that they would return the contributions to Purdue, as have partisan groups representing the nation’s governors.

The company said participating in the political groups is a normal part of its business.

Under Drain’s order, the company can make annual cash contributions to the Democratic Governors Association, the Republican Governors Association, the Republican State Leadership Committee and the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee.

The amounts will be limited. Purdue can give no more than $25,000 to each group during the remainder of its bankruptcy proceedings, plus the cost of conference registration. It can make contributions to other political organizations, but only after notifying the court. The total of all contributions must be under $125,000.

Through its bankruptcy, Purdue is attempting to settle thousands of lawsuits filed by governments that accuse the company of contributing to the nation’s opioid addiction crisis.

Something That Is Bid

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Quotation of the Day: Overwhelmed Funeral Homes in South Texas Struggle to Keep Up

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Barr Clashes With House Democrats, Defending Responses to Protests and Russia Inquiry

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New top story from Time: China Battles Coronavirus Outbreak in Xinjiang Region

(BEIJING) — China reported more than 100 newly confirmed cases of coronavirus on Wednesday as the country continues to battle an outbreak in Xinjiang.

The northwestern region accounted for 89 of the new cases, with another eight in the northeastern province of Liaoning and one in Beijing. Another three cases were brought from outside the country by returning Chinese citizens, bringing the daily total over the past 24 hours to 101, the highest number in weeks.

Outside of Xinjiang the virus has been largely contained with the death toll from COVID-19 remaining at 4,634 among 84,060 cases registered since the global pandemic first emerged from the central Chinese city of Wuhan late last year.

Xinjiang’s outbreak has centered on the region’s capital and largest city of Urumqi, where authorities have isolated some communities, restricted public transport and ordered widespread testing.

Remdesivir Could Be in Short Supply. Here’s a Fix.

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Minneapolis Police Link ‘Umbrella Man’ to White Supremacy Group

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‘Nobody Likes Me,’ Trump Complains, Renewing Defense of Dubious Science

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Corrections: July 29, 2020

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The Director Gina Prince-Bythewood Has Always Had Game

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177 Questions to Inspire Writing, Discussion, Debate and Reflection

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Corrections: July 28, 2020

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Quotation of the Day: Female Guard Is Latest Target of Taliban Violence

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Chainsmokers Concert in Hamptons Is Under Fire Over Social Distancing

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New top story from Time: Former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Found Guilty on Charge in 1MDB Trial

A Malaysia court has ruled former prime minister Najib Razak guilty in the first verdict to come in the series of trials linked to 1MDB.

Najib was guilty of one charge in the case involving 42 million ringgit ($10 million) of funds deposited in his personal accounts from a former unit of 1MDB. He has earlier said he plans to appeal the judgment.

New top story from Time: Kansai Yamamoto, Avant-Garde Designer Behind David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust, Dies at 76

(TOKYO) — Japanese fashion designer Kansai Yamamoto, known for his avant-garde and colorful work that included flamboyant costumes of the late rock icon David Bowie, has died of leukemia, his company said Monday. He was 76.

Yamamoto developed leukemia in February and was determined to recover and come back with renewed energy, said the company, Kansai Yamamoto. He died last Tuesday.

Born in 1944 in Yokohama, near Tokyo, Yamamoto debuted in 1971, becoming the first Japanese fashion designer to hold a show in London. He became internationally known for blending traditional Japanese motifs with brilliant colors and bold designs.

Debi Doss–Hulton Archive/Getty ImagesDavid Bowie performing as Ziggy Stardust at the Hammersmith Odeon, 1973. He is wearing a silver costume with gold tassels by Japanese designer Kansai Yamamoto.

Yamamoto designed the costume for Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust alter ego, and also developed friendships with top artists including Elton John and Stevie Wonder, his company said.

He contributed to collections in Tokyo, New York and Paris for nearly two decades until 1992 and produced the “Kansai Super Show” and “Nippon Genki Project.”

Yamamoto, who sought a career in engineering before turning to fashion, also demonstrated his talent in designing venues and organizing social events for the 2008 G-8 summit in Toyako in northern Japan. He also won awards for his interior and exterior design of the Keisei Skyliner train connecting Tokyo and Narita International Airport.

“’Human energy is limitless’ was his motto he would never let go, and he bravely kept challenging no matter how hard the situation,” his company said in a statement.

China Discusses 4-Point Plan With Pak, Nepal, Afghanistan Amid Pandemic

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Google Extends Work From Home For Employees Till June 30 Next Year

Google will allow most employees to work from home through to July 2021 in response to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, the tech giant said Monday.

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Trump Bets On COVID-19 Vaccine For Political Shot In Arm

US President Donald Trump vowed to defeat the coronavirus by "unleashing American scientific genius" as he toured a COVID-19 vaccine facility in the swing state of North Carolina on Monday.

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New top story from Time: Militarized Feds Will Stay in Portland Until Attacks on the Federal Courthouse End, U.S. Attorney Says

(PORTLAND, Ore.) — U.S. militarized officers will remain in Portland until attacks on a federal courthouse cease, a top official said Monday after another night of violence. And more officers may soon be on the way.

“It is not a solution to tell federal officers to leave when there continues to be attacks on federal property and personnel,” U.S. Attorney Billy Williams said. ”We are not leaving the building unprotected to be destroyed by people intent on doing so.”

Local and state officials said the federal officers are unwelcome.

Meanwhile, the mayors of Portland and five other major U.S. cities appealed Monday to Congress to make it illegal for the federal government to deploy militarized agents to cities that don’t want them.

“This administration’s egregious use of federal force on cities over the objections of local authorities should never happen,” the mayors of Portland, Seattle, Chicago, Kansas City, Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Washington wrote to leaders of the U.S. House and Senate.

Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler and City Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty late called for a meeting with Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf to discuss a cease-fire and removal of heightened federal forces from Portland.

The city has had nightly protests for two months since the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis in May. President Donald Trump said he sent federal agents to Portland to halt the unrest, but state and local officials said they are making the situation worse.

Trump’s deployment of the federal officers over the July 4 weekend stoked the Black Lives Matter movement. The number of nightly protesters had dwindled to perhaps less than 100 right before the deployment, and now has swelled to the thousands.

Early Monday, U.S. agents repeatedly fired tear gas, flash bangs and pepper balls at protesters outside the federal courthouse in downtown Portland. Some protesters had climbed over the fence surrounding the courthouse, while others shot fireworks, banged on the fence and projected lights on the building.

Trump said on Twitter that federal properties in Portland “wouldn’t last a day” without the presence of the federal agents.

The majority of people participating in the daily demonstrations have been peaceful. But a few have been pelting officers with objects and trying to tear down fencing protecting the Mark O. Hatfield United States Courthouse.

Williams, whose office is inside the courthouse, called on peaceful protesters, community and business leaders and people of faith to not allow violence to occur in their presence and to leave downtown before violence starts. He said federal agents have made 83 arrests.

Demonstrations in support of racial justice and police reform in other cities around the U.S. were marred by violence over the weekend. Protesters set fire to an Oakland, California, courthouse; vehicles were set ablaze in Richmond, Virginia; an armed protester was shot and killed in Austin, Texas; and two people were shot and wounded in Aurora, Colorado, after a car drove through a protest.

The U.S. Marshals Service has lined up about 100 people they could send to hotspots, either to strengthen forces or relieve officers who have been working for weeks, agency spokesperson Drew Wade said.

Kris Cline, principal deputy director of Federal Protective Service, said an incident commander in Portland and teams from the Department of Homeland Security and Department of Justice discuss what force is needed every night.

Cline refused to discuss the number of officers currently present or if more would be arriving.

Some protesters have accused Wheeler of hypocrisy for speaking out against the federal presence because, under his watch, Portland police have used tear gas and other riot-control weapons on protesters, including peaceful ones.

Cline said Portland police should take over the job of dispersing protesters from the courthouse area from the federal officers.

“If the Portland Police Bureau were able to do what they typically do, they would be able to clear this out for this disturbance and we would leave our officers inside the building and not be visible,” Cline said.

He said relations between the federal officers, some of whom live in Portland, and city police were good.

Portland police responded Sunday evening to a shooting at a park close to the site of the protests. Two people were detained and later released, police said. The person who was shot went to the hospital in a private vehicle and was treated for a non-life-threatening wound.

Also late Sunday, police said someone pointed out a bag in the same park, where officers found loaded rifle magazines and Molotov cocktails. The shooting was not related to the items, police said.

___

Associated Press writer Mike Balsamo contributed to this report from Washington. Selsky reported from Salem, Oregon.

New top story from Time: Kim Jong Un Says Nuclear Weapons Ensure North Korea’s Security: ‘There Won’t Be Any War on This Land Again’

(SEOUL, South Korea) — North Korea leader Kim Jong Un said his country’s hard-won nuclear weapons were a solid security guarantee and a “reliable, effective” deterrent that could prevent a second Korean War, state media reported Tuesday.

Kim’s comments before war veterans marking the 67th anniversary of the end of the 1950-53 Korean War again show he has no intention of abandoning his weapons as prospects dim for resuming diplomacy with the United States.

North Korea has previously ratcheted up fiery rhetoric or conducted weapons tests to wrest outside concessions. But some experts say Pyongyang will likely avoid serious talks with Washington before the U.S. presidential elections in November as there is a chance for a U.S. leadership change.

Kim said in his speech Monday his country has tried to become “a nuclear state” with “an absolute might” to prevent another war and that it has now built such a deterrent, according to the Korean Central News Agency.

“Now, we’ve changed to a country which can defend itself reliably and unwaveringly against high-intensity pressures and military threats and blackmailing by imperialistic reactionaries and hostile forces,” Kim said.

“There won’t be any war on this land again and our national security and future will be guaranteed firmly and permanently because of our reliable, effective self-defensive nuclear deterrent,” Kim said.

Kim’s speech followed recent remarks by both North Korean and U.S. officials suggesting they were reluctant to engage in a new round of diplomacy on the North’s nuclear program anytime soon.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had said President Donald Trump would only want to engage with Kim if there were real prospects of progress. Kim’s sister and senior ruling party official, Kim Yo Jong, said a new summit would be “unpractical” for North Korea and that Pyongyang won’t gift Trump a high-level meeting that he can boast as a foreign policy achievement.

Kim Jong Un and Trump met three times since Kim in 2018 abruptly reached out to Washington and Seoul for talks after expressing his intent to deal away his advancing nuclear arsenals. Many experts were skeptical of Kim’s disarmament commitment and said he only aimed to weaken U.S.-led sanctions and perfect his nuclear program.

The nuclear diplomacy remains largely stalled since a second Kim-Trump meeting in February 2019 in Vietnam collapsed without reaching any agreement because Trump Kim rejected Kim’s proposal to get extensive sanctions relief in return for a limited denuclearization step.

Kim entered this year with a vow to bolster his nuclear program and threatened to unveil a new “strategic” weapon. He also said he would no longer be bound by a self-imposed moratorium on nuclear and long-range missile tests. Kim hasn’t performed such high-profile weapons tests, which some analysts say could completely derail diplomacy with the United States.

New top story from Time: For Myanmar’s Elections to Be Free and Fair Rohingya Must Get the Right to Vote

Americans won’t be the only voters going to the polls in November. Myanmar’s third national election since transitioning from half a century of military rule is slated for Nov. 8.

Already, several questions loom over this test of the country’s democratic trajectory. How will the government ensure ethnic civilians displaced by armed conflict can vote? How will Facebook protect voters from disinformation? How will the government manage campaigns and polling in the age of COVID-19?

These are tough challenges. But there is another critical question, easy to resolve, that will also determine whether the exercise is free and fair: Will the government ensure the right to vote for Rohingya?

The Rohingya are an ethnic and religious minority, mostly Muslim, indigenous to western Myanmar; and today, far more live outside the country than inside. The reason for this is summed up in a word: genocide.

In October 2016 and August 2017, the Myanmar military responded to nascent Rohingya militancy with full-scale attacks on civilians, forcing more than 800,000 to flee into neighboring Bangladesh. They have no hope of safely returning to Myanmar anytime soon, and this creates new but surmountable logistical challenges for the 2020 elections.

Rohingya-led refugee groups have already said they want the government to facilitate voting from the camps in Bangladesh. One of these organizations, called the Arakan Rohingya Society for Peace and Human Rights (ARSPH), has urged Myanmar to set up voter registration and polling in collaboration with the Bangladesh authorities. Many other Rohingya have since reiterated the request.

Some in Myanmar dismiss this option out-of-hand, calling it unfeasible. But this is a cop-out.

In 2004, some 850,000 Afghan refugees voted in their country’s first presidential election from camps in Pakistan and Iran and through absentee ballots. In that case, concerned governments and international humanitarian organizations did their part to ensure refugees could exercise their right to vote. Myanmar and its bilateral partners could do the same.

There are also an estimated 600,000 Rohingya still in Myanmar, and many there are also anxiously awaiting news about the election. The three Rohingya-led political parties in the country—the Democracy and Human Rights Party (DHRP), the National Democratic Party for Development (NDPD), and the National Democracy and Peace Party (NDPP)—are all registered and intending to field candidates.

But Myanmar has denied Rohingya the right to vote since the 2015 elections that brought Aung San Suu Kyi and her party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), to power. Despite Myanmar’s wholesale exclusion of Rohingya, the international community made the profound mistake of lauding those elections. President Barack Obama, U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron, and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon all congratulated Aung San Suu Kyi on the outcome. Hillary Clinton even claimed partial credit for nudging Myanmar onto the reform path during her tenure as Secretary of State, recognizing the election was “imperfect” but calling it “an affirmation of the indispensable role the United States can and should play in the world as a champion of peace and progress.”

Few stopped to consider the repercussions the disenfranchisement of the Rohingya could have. Some analysts suggested that Aung San Suu Kyi would have to build a constructive working relationship with Senior General Min Aung Hlaing in order for her government to be effective. None imagined she’d do so in the commission of genocide against Rohingya, but that’s precisely what happened.

In December last year, State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi went so far as to represent Myanmar at the International Court of Justice, defending the military from allegations of genocide in a historic, ongoing lawsuit brought by The Gambia.

By wholly denying any intent to destroy Rohingya, Aung San Suu Kyi won military favor, and by taking aim at Rohingya on the global stage she strategically scored perverse ethno-nationalist points ahead of the elections.

Now, the cycle is poised to continue. Government insiders, diplomats and even representatives of international non-governmental organizations are saying that if all Rohingya were in Myanmar, they would still not meet the requirements of the election law because they lack citizenship. This is a politically convenient excuse.

Not only did Rohingya vote in past elections—during which they were still unjustly denied full citizenship rights—but since the 1990s, Myanmar authorities have kept detailed records of Rohingya through “household lists.” The government has other sources of data on Rohingya as well, including former identity cards and other evidence it could use to determine Rohingya voter eligibility.

Officials may suggest that Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh and those in Myanmar will have the right to vote only if they accept National Verification Cards (NVCs). However, these cards are discriminatory, effectively requiring Rohingya to identify as outsiders, thereby foregoing any chance to restore full citizenship under the current law. Any demand that Rohingya accept NVCs in exchange for the right to vote would be unacceptably coercive.

As November approaches, Rohingya in Myanmar and Bangladesh are hoping that access to the polls might help them secure a better future.

“Rohingya need a voice in parliament,” Abdul Rasheed, an expected candidate with DHRP in Sittwe Township, tells me from Yangon. This will be his second attempt to seek office.

“This is not only about voting and democracy, it’s also about dignity and protection,” he says.

The international community, including the U.N. and other organizations, must now do everything in their power to ensure the Rohingya have the right to vote.

Governments around the world overlooked Rohingya disenfranchisement in 2015, and that was at least one paver on the road to genocide. They must not make the same mistake twice.

Taylor Swift’s ‘Folklore’: Let’s Discuss

By Unknown Author from NYT Arts https://ift.tt/2D9Jw5F

New top story from Time: Swimmer Killed in Apparent Shark Attack Off Maine Coast

HARPSWELL, Maine — A woman was killed in an apparent shark attack off the coast of Maine on Monday, a rare occurrence that has only been recorded once before in the state by an unprovoked shark.

Maine Marine Patrol said a witness saw the woman swimming off the shore of Bailey Island when she was injured in what appeared to be a shark attack.

Two kayakers helped the person get to shore, and an ambulance provided further assistance, but she was pronounced dead at the scene, Marine Patrol said.

The name of the woman was not available on Monday.

There has only been one recorded unprovoked shark attack in Maine, New England shark expert James Sulikowski told the Portland Press Herald. Sulikowski, who researches for Arizona State University, said it’s possible the shark mistook the person for food.

The state Marine Patrol is urging swimmers and boaters to use caution near Bailey Island and to avoid swimming near schooling fish or seals.

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By BY KATE CONGER, THOMAS FULLER AND MIKE BAKER from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/32ZEkMB