Big Time News Blog: 06/14/20

Sunday, June 14, 2020

Tanker truck explodes into a ball of fire on Chinese highway, killing 19 people

Nineteen people were killed and more than 170 injured when a tanker truck exploded on a highway in eastern China, local authorities said. The force of the blast on Saturday afternoon caused nearby homes and factories to collapse, and sent huge clouds of black smoke billowing into the air as flames engulfed several cars. Dramatic video footage of the accident in the eastern province of Zhejiang showed a ball of fire shooting into the air as people screamed. In one clip, a large piece of debris is seen flying into the air before crashing onto nearby buildings. Another video showed the remains of the tanker and several truck tyres smashed into a building, which had been reduced to rubble. Local authorities said the truck was loaded with liquefied gas. State news agency Xinhua reported Sunday that there was a second blast when the truck fell onto a workshop near the expressway after the first explosion. Emergency responders were still conducting search and rescue operations, it added. Deadly road accidents are common in China, where traffic regulations are often flouted or not enforced. Last year, at least 36 people died and 36 others were hurt in eastern China when a packed coach with a flat tyre collided with a truck.

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Libel verdict due for Philippine journalist critical of Duterte

Philippine journalist Maria Ressa faces a possible prison sentence when the verdict in her libel trial is handed down Monday in a case she and watchdogs say is aimed at silencing critics of President Rodrigo Duterte. Ressa, 56, and her news site Rappler have been the target of legal action and probes after publishing stories critical of Duterte's policies, including his drug war that has killed thousands. Monday's verdict in Manila will decide a trial that stems from a businessman's 2017 complaint over a Rappler story five years earlier about his alleged ties to a then-judge on the nation's top court.

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Sao Paulo cemeteries to dig up graves for coronavirus space

Brazil's biggest metropolis has an unorthodox plan to free up space at its graveyards during the coronavris pandemic: digging up the bones of people buried in the past and storing their bagged remains in large metal containers. Sao Paulo’s municipal funeral service said in a statement Friday that the remains of people who died at least three years ago will be exhumed and put in numbered bags, then stored temporarily in 12 storage containers it has purchased. Sao Paulo is one of the COVID-19 hot spots in Latin America's hardest-hit nation, with 5,480 deaths as of Thursday in the city of 12 million people.

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'The effect is greatest when 100% of the public wear face masks': Growing body of research shows the role of face coverings in curbing the spread of the coronavirus

Researchers underscore the need for preventative measures like social distancing, personal protective equipment, and enhanced hygiene.

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One Big Difference About George Floyd Protests: Many White Faces

As crowds have surged through American cities to protest the killing of George Floyd, one of the striking differences from years past has been the sheer number of white people.From Minneapolis to Washington, D.C., marchers noticed the change and wondered what it meant that so many white Americans were showing up for the cause of justice for black Americans."I was shocked to see so many white kids out here," said Walter Wiggins, 67, as he sat near the heart of the protests in Washington last week. Wiggins, a retired federal worker, who is black, remembered attending the 1963 March on Washington and other civil rights events with his parents. "Back then it was just black folks."Why is this happening now? The nine-minute video of a white police officer refusing to remove his knee from Floyd's neck has horrified Americans as attitudes on race were already changing, particularly among white liberals. Another driver is opposition to President Donald Trump, who has drawn large crowds of protesters since his election. Finally, there's the coronavirus pandemic, which has left millions of Americans -- including college students -- cooped up at home, craving human contact. The result was hundreds of thousands of white Americans in the streets."This is utterly different from anything we've seen," said Douglas McAdam, a Stanford sociologist who studies social movements, referring to the recent protests. Since the death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, in 2014, every highly publicized death of an African American man while in police custody brought protests, he said, "but overwhelmingly in the black community."The pattern evident in the streets has now been confirmed by early demographic data: Researchers fanned out across three American cities last weekend and found overwhelmingly young crowds with large numbers of white and highly educated people.A team of 11 volunteers asked every fifth person they encountered to fill out a survey and gathered data from 195 people in New York, Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles. The researchers, Dana Fisher, a sociologist at the University of Maryland, and Michael Heaney, a political scientist at the University of Michigan, used an established method for studying street protests. They said their numbers provide only rough estimates but offer the first, more systematic look at who the protesters are.White protesters made up 61% of those surveyed in New York over the weekend, according to the researchers, and 65% of protesters in Washington. On Sunday in Los Angeles, 53% of protesters were white.It's not just protests. White Americans are going through a wave of self-examination, buying books about racism, talking to black friends and arguing within their own families. Still, how much of this translates into broader change remains to be seen."All of these white people on the front lines of these protests go back to their white neighborhoods and their overwhelmingly white and better schools," said Hakeem Jefferson, who is black and a political scientist at Stanford University. "They protest alongside them, but they don't live alongside them," he said, referring to black people.He added, "As much as people really want that progress narrative, I don't think it exists yet."While opinion polls on race do not always capture what people actually think, surveys have shown that racial attitudes among white Americans have been shifting. There has been a sudden and sharp turn by white liberals toward a much more sympathetic view of black people in recent years, said Andrew Engelhardt, a postdoctoral researcher at Brown University, who has published papers documenting the shift."In the last 10 years or so we've seen something unprecedented with white Democrats," Engelhardt said.Racial groups tend to feel warmest toward their own group. White people favor white people, and black people favor black people. But by 2018, white liberals felt more positively about blacks, Latinos and Asians than they did about whites. That reversal surfaced in a recent poll by the Pew Research Center: About 49% of white Democrats said it bothered them that their nominee would be a white man, while just 28% of black Democrats said so.The researchers who collected data last weekend found that the crowds were overwhelmingly young and well educated. More than three-quarters of those surveyed were under the age of 34, and 82% of white protesters had a college degree, while 67% of black protesters had one.Younger Americans are much more racially diverse than earlier generations and tend to have different views on race."My parents have a lot of learning to do," said Isabel Muir, 22, a recent college graduate, who was standing in front of St. John's Church on Saturday in Washington. She said she was having conversations on social media, and with her mother, on "how to be a white ally."When her mother, who is 62, questioned the property destruction, Muir said she told her that "we have to understand this community's pain. This economy has been built on their backs."Trump also appeared to be a powerful driver. Of whites surveyed in Fisher's work, 45% cited Trump as a motivation for joining the protests, compared with 32% of blacks. Whites were the group most likely to report having attended the 2017 Women's March but the second-least likely, after Asians, to report having attended the March for Racial Justice in 2017."My outrage for Trump is so strong," said Tanya Holtzapple, 56, who is white, walking in a crowd of people on I Street on Saturday in Washington. Since he was elected, she said, she has felt "energized," and marching was channeling that energy. "I'm not just sitting at home," she said.Since 2017, as many as 27 million people have taken part in protests opposing Trump, equal to about 8% of the population, according to researchers from Harvard University and the University of Connecticut.These protests are part of that surge, said Fisher, who compiled the data on the protests last weekend. Groups like Indivisible, March On and Swing Left, whose goal is to prevent Trump's reelection, may see joining the anti-police-brutality protests both as a moral necessity and a way to "expand their tent," she said."It's emblematic of this moment, which is about the big-L left starting to pay attention to this issue," Fisher said. "Groups not typically focused on racial justice and police brutality are turning people out."White Americans have taken part in struggles for racial equality at times -- as abolitionists in the 19th century and Freedom Riders in the 1960s. But scholars of race in America said it remained to be seen whether a heightened awareness of racial injustice now would lead to broad change. Condemning the killing of George Floyd, said Jennifer Chudy, a political scientist at Wellesley College, was "relatively costless.""Who is going out on a limb when they are distancing themselves from murder?" Chudy asked. Her work has shown that most white Americans have sympathy for a stark story of a sufferer and a villain -- much like in the video of Floyd's death -- but far lower rates of sympathy for more abstract mistreatment, like a polluting bus depot in a mostly black neighborhood. Some participants will become passionate for life, she said, but most won't. For some of them, "it may be nothing more than a fad."In a Monmouth University poll released this week, 71% of white respondents called racism and discrimination "a big problem" in the United States, a spike since 2015. But Jefferson, the political scientist at Stanford, argued that it was too early to declare that a national reckoning had arrived. He pointed to another finding in the same poll: Just 49% of white Americans say that police are more likely to use excessive force against a black culprit.Karyn Wills, 57, who came to the protest in Washington on Saturday, said she was hopeful. Wills, who is African American and a medical doctor, remembers protesting as a child with her parents in Chicago. She raised her children in suburban Maryland and said she believed their generation, which was so much more racially mixed than hers, would bring progress. "Some people out here are just curious; they'll have a sign, post on social media, and life will go on," she said. "But for some of them it really will spark change."This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2020 The New York Times Company

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Statue of famed Italian writer defaced

The words "racist" and "rapist" were sprayed under the statue of Montanelli, who bought a 12-year-old Eritrean girl as his wife while serving in the Italian forces during its invasion of Ethiopia in the second Italo-Abyssinian War in 1936.

Montanelli, a writer and right-wing journalist who died in 2001, appeared in a television interview in 1969 discussing how he bought the girl for marriage with money, describing it as "normal practice" in the region at the time.

Anti-racism protesters on Saturday poured red paint over Montanelli's statue in a garden dedicated to the writer.

Italian police have started an investigation on the incident, as global protests sparked by the killing of African American George Floyd in the United States enter their third week.

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3 nights, 3 hotels: What it's really like to stay in a hotel during the coronavirus pandemic

Daily housekeeping and valet parking are out and free masks are plentiful but often not worn as hotels reopen during the coronavirus crisis.

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Europe starts to reopen borders but no free travel yet

European countries ease some border controls on Monday after coronavirus lockdowns, but Spain's continued closure, a patchwork of restrictions elsewhere and new ways of working mean pre-pandemic levels of travel are a long way off.

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China reports 49 new COVID-19 cases for June 14; 36 in Beijing

Mainland China reported 49 new confirmed COVID-19 cases for June 14, down from 57 a day earlier, the national health authority said on Monday.

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Rayshard Brooks shooting: Use of deadly force by Atlanta police condemned

The death of another African-American man during an arrest prompts protests and official criticism.

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U.S. ramps up expulsions of migrants as border crossings rise

A CDC coronavirus directive, which has been extended indefinitely, has given the Trump administration the power to rapidly remove most border-crossers from U.S. soil.

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Fox News Host Tucker Carlson Loses More Advertisers

On Monday's segment of his prime-time show, Fox News host Tucker Carlson cast doubt on the reasons behind the worldwide unrest prompted by the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis last month."This may be a lot of things, this moment we are living through," Carlson said. "But it is definitely not about black lives, and remember that when they come for you. And at this rate, they will."Since he made those statements and others, prominent companies including The Walt Disney Co., Papa John's, Poshmark and T-Mobile have distanced themselves from "Tucker Carlson Tonight," joining other businesses that have backed away from the show in recent years.The flight of advertisers accelerated Tuesday, when watchdog group Sleeping Giants tagged T-Mobile in a Twitter post, saying that Fox News had aired what amounted to an "extremely racist segment scaremongering about the Black community."The telecommunications giant responded on Twitter, saying that its ads had not run on the show since early May and would not run in the future. Mike Sievert, T-Mobile's chief executive, added a post of his own: "Bye-bye, Tucker Carlson!"Fox News said that Carlson was referring to Democratic leaders, not protesters, when he said "they" in his remarks on Monday night's program."No matter what they tell you, it has very little to do with black lives," Carlson had said. "If only it did."Advertiser disavowals of the show gained momentum Wednesday, after the newsletter Popular Information highlighted that Disney had run commercials 29 times on Carlson's program this year. The entertainment giant responded by saying that it had asked the third-party media agency that placed the ads, which were for Disney's ABC network, to stop doing so on the show.Papa John's, a pizza chain that was the center of an uproar in 2018 over a racial slur used by its founder, also backed away from Carlson. The company said that Havas, its media agency, placed a general buy for ad space across several cable news networks and left the positioning of the spots up to the networks.Papa John's began advertising on cable only after the pandemic began, as live sports and other content disappeared. It has run ads on "The Rachel Maddow Show" on MSNBC and "CNN Tonight With Don Lemon."After Carlson's comments, Papa John's said in a statement that it would stop spending on opinion shows, noting that "placement of advertising is not intended to be an endorsement of any specific programming or commentary."Steven Tristan Young, chief marketing officer of Poshmark, said in a statement Thursday that the e-commerce company stopped advertising on "Tucker Carlson Tonight" on June 2."We do not agree with the comments he made on his show and stand in solidarity with those who seek to advance racial justice and equality," Young said.Companies are trying to be especially sensitive amid the nationwide reckoning over race. Many, including Disney, T-Mobile, Poshmark and Papa John's, have posted messages on social media in support of the Black Lives Matter movement. Others have been advertising less in recent weeks.Carlson has spoken harshly about the unrest, urging a more severe crackdown on protests. In a segment posted to YouTube on June 1, which was preceded by a note that it could be "inappropriate or offensive to some audiences," he chided Vice President Mike Pence for having "scolded America for its racism" and told President Donald Trump that "people will not forgive weakness."Fox News said the advertiser departures had not caused the network to suffer a financial hit overall, noting that the commercials that would have run nationwide on "Tucker Carlson Tonight" had moved to other programs on the network.On Thursday night, a hashtag campaign -- IStandWithTucker -- sprang up on Twitter, with his fans appending it to messages of support for the host. As the phrase made the list of the platform's trending topics, Carlson's detractors tweeted insults at the host and the network that employs him while making use of the same hashtag.Carlson, who recently sold his stake in the conservative site The Daily Caller, has lost major advertisers in the past few years. Dozens of companies, including Pacific Life, Farmers Insurance and IHOP, have distanced themselves following his on-air comments about white supremacy, immigrants and women.But his show remains a linchpin of the Fox News lineup, drawing 4.8 million viewers last week. So far this year, "Tucker Carlson Tonight" generated 16% of ad revenue for Fox News, according to iSpot.tv, the television ads measurement company. Out of $75 million in total spending, more than a third came from a single advertiser: MyPillow, a pillow manufacturer in Minnesota run by Mike Lindell, a supporter of Trump who appeared at a White House Rose Garden news briefing in March.Few major brands remain on Carlson's program. Several major media buyers said they did not have clients with recent spots on the show.Alongside spots from the computer security brand Norton, skin care brand Proactiv and Trump's reelection campaign, recent ads have included a beet powder company that has used gun rights personality Dana Loesch as a spokeswoman, a foot fungus treatment brand and several law firms, according to iSpot.tv.This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2020 The New York Times Company

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Nepal snubs powerful neighbour India by claiming disputed territory as its own in new map

The lower house of Nepal's parliament on Saturday approved a controversial new map of the country that includes areas disputed with India. The move signals a hardening of Nepal's position over a decades-long border row that has strained ties between the neighbours. India's foreign ministry rejected the map, arguing that the addition of Indian territory is not based on historical fact or evidence. "It is also violative of our current understanding to hold talks on outstanding boundary issues," foreign ministry spokesman Anurag Srivastava said in a statement. In Nepal's capital city of Kathmandu, dozens of people painted the new map on a street and lit candles in celebration of Saturday's decision. The move comes after India inaugurated a 50-mile road connecting its northern Uttarakhand state with Lipulekh on the border with Tibet that passes through the disputed land. Agni Prasad Sapkota, Speaker of Nepal's House of Representatives, said the new map was approved by 258 out of 275 members of parliament, exceeding the required two thirds majority. There were no votes against. The map must also be passed by the National Assembly, parliament's upper chamber, and approved by President Bidhya Devi Bhandari before it becomes a part of the constitution.

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President blames 'slippery' ramp for trouble walking while health experts issue coronavirus warning over his Tulsa rally

Donald Trump has threatened to boycott the NFL and US Soccer after the leagues decided to repeal bans on players kneeling during the national anthem due to ongoing Black Lives Matter protests.In a series of tweets, the president said he would no longer be watching the sports over the decisions following criticism from Republican lawmakers.

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Spain says will reopen EU borders, barring Portugal, on June 21

Spain, one of the world's leading tourist destinations, will next Sunday re-establish free travel with fellow EU countries, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez announced. The land border with Portugal will however remain closed until July 1. Portugal has suffered a much lower death rate than Spain from the coronavirus epidemic.

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Minneapolis officers quit in wake of George Floyd protests

At least seven Minneapolis police officers have quit and another seven are in the process of resigning, citing a lack of support from department and city leaders as protests over George Floyd's death escalated. Current and former officers told The Minneapolis Star Tribune that officers are upset with Mayor Jacob Frey’s decision to abandon the Third Precinct station during the protests. The Minnesota Department of Human Rights launched a civil rights investigation into the city's police department this month and the FBI is investigating whether police willfully deprived Floyd of his civil rights.

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Italy death toll from coronavirus outbreak rises by 44 to 34,345

Deaths from the COVID-19 epidemic in Italy climbed by 44 on Sunday, the Civil Protection Agency said, while the tally of new cases increased by 338. The northern region of Lombardy, where the outbreak was first identified, remains by far the worst affected of Italy's 20 regions, accounting for 244 of the 338 new cases reported on Sunday.