Trump executive order against social media giants denounced as unlawful ploy to ‘eviscerate public oversight of his lies
May 28, 2020 By Jake Johnson, Common Dreams


“Undoubtedly the first step down an increasingly dark path of Trump using the power of his office to intimidate media companies, journalists, activists, and anyone else who criticizes him into silence.”

Advocacy groups and legal experts say an executive order President Donald Trump is expected to sign Thursday—a document the White House claims is an effort to curtail the power of social media—is nothing more than an unconstitutional attempt by the president to “bully” into submission platforms that fact-check or criticize him.

“Trump’s threat to use the executive branch’s power to punish internet companies for Twitter’s mild fact check of his statements is exactly the kind of abuse of power that the Constitution and our First Amendment were written to prevent.”
—Gaurav Laroia, Free Press

The New York Times reported late Wednesday that a draft of the executive order “would make it easier for federal regulators to argue that companies like Facebook, Google, YouTube, and Twitter are suppressing free speech when they move to suspend users or delete posts, among other examples.” The changes, if upheld in court, could expose social media companies to more lawsuits.

“Under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, online companies have broad immunity from liability for content created by their users,” the Times reported. “But the draft of the executive order, which refers to what it calls ‘selective censoring,’ would allow the Commerce Department to try to refocus how broadly Section 230 is applied, and to let the Federal Trade Commission bulk up a tool for reporting online bias.”

David Kaye, United Nations special rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression, called Trump’s order “a ploy for him to dominate and eviscerate public oversight of his lies.”

Craig Aaron, president and co-CEO of advocacy group Free Press, echoed Kaye:
This order is about covering up lies and playing the refs so Trump can peddle dangerous disinformation. It’s not a legitimate debate over internet policy.
— Craig Aaron (@notaaroncraig) May 28, 2020

The executive order comes days after Twitter on Tuesday took the unprecedented step of adding a fact-check label to two tweets in which Trump erroneously attacked mail-in voting. “We believe those Tweets could confuse voters about what they need to do to receive a ballot and participate in the election process,” Twitter said in an explanation of its decision.

In response, Trump baselessly claimed Wednesday that social media platforms “totally silence conservatives’ voices” and threatened to “strongly regulate, or close them down, before we can ever allow this to happen.”

“This will be a Big Day for Social Media and FAIRNESS!” Trump tweeted Thursday, apparently referring to his executive order

“There are important reasons to restructure the law to make the web more open and free, but this executive order is a distraction.”
—Sarah Miller, American Economic Liberties Project

Gaurav Laroia, senior policy counsel at advocacy group Free Press, condemned the order as “a naked attempt by the president to bully into silence Twitter, other social-media sites and anyone who attempts to correct or criticize Trump.”

“Trump’s threat to use the executive branch’s power to punish internet companies for Twitter’s mild fact check of his statements is exactly the kind of abuse of power that the Constitution and our First Amendment were written to prevent,” Laroia said in a statement. “It’s undoubtedly the first step down an increasingly dark path of Trump using the power of his office to intimidate media companies, journalists, activists and anyone else who criticizes him into silence.”

Laroia said that Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act was “written to protect free speech on the open internet.”

“Changing Section 230 is Congress’ prerogative, not the president’s by fiat,” said Laroia. “His poorly written executive order is an embarrassment and would be laughable if it weren’t so dangerous.”

Jameel Jaffer, director of the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, tweeted that “whatever else this executive order may be, it is not a good faith effort to protect free speech online.”

Whatever else this Executive Order may be, it is not a good faith effort to protect free speech online. https://t.co/fZYKAVE0fL pic.twitter.com/DsEyCxbI5r
— Jameel Jaffer (@JameelJaffer) May 28, 2020

Sarah Miller, executive director of the American Economic Liberties Project, said in a statement that while there are important discussions to be had about the outsize power of social media companies and the implications for free expression, Trump’s executive order “is a silly distraction from a serious debate.”

“There are important reasons to restructure the law to make the web more open and free,” said Miller, “but this executive order is a distraction and we should all have learned to ignore distractions like this from Trump by now.

Trump’s new anti-Twitter order could blow up in conservatives’ faces: Top right-wing media personality

May 28, 2020 By Brad Reed


President Donald Trump’s new executive order that’s aimed at opening social media companies up to more lawsuits could seriously backfire on conservative critics of the platforms, writes one top right-wing media personality.

In analyzing the reported contents of Trump’s new order, conservative Ben Shapiro warns that stripping websites’ immunity for the content posted on their pages by third parties could seriously damage conservative media in the future.

“Here’s the inevitable effect of destroying [Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act]: all comments sections will be taken down,” writes Shapiro. “No website has the resources to actively edit all comments in order to shield themselves from liability, and no website is willing to leave comments entirely standards-free.”



Shapiro also questioned why conservatives believe that giving the government broader regulatory powers over websites wouldn’t come back to haunt them.

“The invitation to redefine ‘unfair business practices’ to include comment-policing-based lawsuits will likely not end well for conservatives,” he argues. “I see the appeal, but I’m wondering just why conservatives are suddenly so unconcerned about political bias among regulators.”

The invitation to redefine "unfair business practices" to include comment-policing-based lawsuits will likely not end well for conservatives. I see the appeal, but I'm wondering just why conservatives are suddenly so unconcerned about political bias among regulators.
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) May 28, 2020

Bill Barr and the White House plan to collect information on social media users when Trump signs Executive Order: reports

May 28, 2020 By David Badash, The New Civil Rights Movement


A draft of President Donald Trump’s social media executive order shows it would create disturbing structures that could allow the President of the United States to personally target social media companies he feels are taking action against his supporters, enable his supporters to report that action directly to the White House, and empower the Attorney General of the United States to collect publicly available “watch-lists” of social media users that monitor not only their online activities but their offline activities as well.

The draft is not final, but both the speed with which it will be signed and reports show it likely has not gone through interagency review, as CNN’s Brian Fung, who calls it “hastily conceived,” notes.

NEW: The White House did not consult the FCC on a forthcoming executive order pertaining to social media companies, according to a person briefed on the matter.
This suggests the draft order has not gone through the normal interagency review process.
— Brian Fung (@b_fung) May 27, 2020

Reuters has confirmed a draft of the executive order, which President Trump has promised he will sign today. They report it “requires the Attorney General to establish a working group including state attorneys general that will examine the enforcement of state laws that prohibit online platforms from engaging in unfair and deceptive acts.”

The order directs the White House Office of Digital Strategy to turn back on the White House Tech Bias Reporting Tool, which the Trump administration created in 2019. It is currently dormant. The tool would be used to collect complaints of what social media users feel is online censorship by tech companies. Those complaints would be submitted by the White House to the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission.

The White House Office of Digital Strategy was not designed for that purpose. It was created for the sole purpose of crafting and promoting the President’s agenda online, not for acting as a conduit to enable spying. The Office of Digital Strategy is headed by a former Heritage Foundation employee.

Reuters also reports Barr is to create “working group” that “will also monitor or create watch-lists of users based on their interactions with content or other users.” That reporting appears to be inaccurate, based on NCRM’s reading, and reporting by other outlets.

NBC News technology correspondent Jacob Ward reports the draft “directs the White House Office of Digital Strategy to collect publicly available information regarding ‘watch-lists’ of users based on their interaction with content or users’ and ‘monitoring users based on their activity off the platform.'”

An ABC News report appears to confirm that reading.

But Barr would be directed to create the group, which would include hand-picked state attorneys general.

The mere existence of any such lists, whether or not they are created by Barr or identified by the DOJ, can easily be politicized.

Stanford Cyber Policy Center’s Platform Regulation Director says this is a copy of the draft. She has annotated it as well:

To aid in this endeavor, here is my color coded and annotated copy of the Executive Order in CDA 230 and platforms. https://t.co/H3zN22X4me https://t.co/1CosSHTpqd
— Daphne


Trump to target social media with executive order

AFP/File / Olivier DOULIERY

US President Donald Trump said Republicans feel the social media networks are trying to silence conservative voices

US President Donald Trump was set Thursday to target social media giants like Twitter, which he accuses of bias against him, with an executive order opening them to new regulation.

"This will be a Big Day for Social Media and FAIRNESS!" Trump said on Twitter.

The wording of the executive order remained under wraps. A White House spokeswoman on Wednesday said only that it would be "pertaining to social media."

But Trump is on the warpath against Twitter after the platform for the first time labelled two of his tweets, on the increasingly contentious topic of mail-in voting, with fact-check notices.

Although he is the dominant US political presence on Twitter and Facebook, a fight with social media also plays into Trump's narrative ahead of his difficult November reelection battle that liberal forces are trying to censor Republicans.

Leaked versions of the executive order in US media suggest that Trump will seek to remove liability protections that the social media giants enjoy over content they publish, thereby opening them to legal action and more government oversight.

One consequence of this could be to punish the companies over their decisions on what to allow and what to restrict on their platforms.

A draft of the order reported by CNN accuses platforms of not showing the "good faith" required under their current self-regulating status.

It attacks online platforms for damaging free expression by being able to "hand-pick the speech that Americans may access."

Democratic Senator Ron Wyden accused Trump of "bullying" social media companies into airing his "misinformation campaigns" and playing "host to his lies."

In any case, resetting the boundaries of how the mammoth companies operate would likely hit immediate legal and political roadblocks.

The constitution "clearly prohibits the president from taking any action to stop Twitter from pointing out his blatant lies about voting by mail," Kate Ruane, at the American Civil Liberties Union, said.

- Fact check fury -

A wider debate has long been underway on the power that social media companies wield and what responsibility they bear for posts that are misleading or hurtful.

Internet services like Twitter and Facebook have been struggling to root out misinformation, while at the same time keeping their platforms open to users.

The massive amount of unverified content in circulation has prompted a rise in fact-checking operations, including a vast Facebook effort in which AFP plays a role.

After long resisting calls to censure Trump over his frequently unfactual posts, Twitter on Tuesday flagged the president for the first time for making false claims.

Trump had tweeted -- without any evidence -- that more mail-in voting would lead to what he called a "Rigged Election" this November.

Twitter's slap on the wrist was enough to drive Trump into a tirade -- on Twitter -- in which he claimed that the political right in the United States was being shut out.

Thursday's order, according to unnamed White House officials quoted by The New York Times, will make it easier for federal regulators to argue that the companies are "suppressing free speech when they move to suspend users or delete posts."

Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg waded into the row, telling Fox News that his social network -- still the biggest in the world -- steers clear of fact-checking political speech.

"I just believe strongly that Facebook should not be the arbiter of truth of everything that people say online," Zuckerberg said in a snippet of the interview posted online Wednesday by Fox.

Twitter founder and CEO Jack Dorsey fired back on Wednesday night, saying that his platform's effort to point out misinformation did not make it an "arbiter of truth."

"Our intention is to connect the dots of conflicting statements and show the information in dispute so people can judge for themselves," he tweeted.

He doubled down on the new policy, writing: "Fact check: there is someone ultimately accountable for our actions as a company, and that's me.... We'll continue to point out incorrect or disputed information about elections globally."

Tell YOUR MP you support 10 permanent paid sick days to be legislated immediately, with no public subsidies for the likes of Loblaws, Chartwell or Amazon.

Organizing works! Just days after our #PaidSickLeaveSavesLives Day of Action, and under pressure from the federal NDP, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau pledged on Monday to push for 10 days of paid sick leave for every worker in Canada. With the support of health providers, faith leaders, labour unions, anti-poverty advocates and small business owners, we’ve been pushing for at least 7 paid sick days for ALL - plus an additional 14 days during public health outbreaks. Winning a commitment for 10 days of paid leave is a huge step forward. But, we can’t celebrate yet. Take 2 minutes and make your call now (click here for tips)! If you can, post a video or photo of yourself in action with the hashtag #PaidSickLeaveSavesLives, and challenge others to do the same. Despite his fine words, the Prime Minister has only promised to “explore” options with the provinces, and so far has made no effort to lead by example to legislate the 10 paid days for the nearly 1 million workers covered by the Canada Labour Code*. It’s up to all of us to make sure the federal government turns their words into action. Call your local Member of Parliament today (click here to find their number and a suggested script). Tell them you support 10 permanent paid sick days to be legislated immediately, with no public subsidies for the likes of Loblaws, Chartwell or Amazon. Mandate paid sick days now, without delayWith medical experts warning of a second wave of COVID-19 infections -- on top of day-to-day workplace outbreaks -- the lack of legislated paid sick days puts more people at risk of contagion… or worse. Workers who are ill must be able to stay home that same day without financial penalty, instead of having to lose income for 14 days to gain access to the Canada Emergency Response Benefit. Millions of people cannot afford to take a single unpaid day off when they are unwell. This is a disgrace - and a public health hazard for all of us. During COVID-19 and permanentlyFrom the heartbreaking conditions in for-profit long-term care homes, to the poverty wages facing many frontline workers, the pandemic did not create these injustices, but exposed them for what they are. Paid sick days are a necessity, not a luxury -- and if we are serious about limiting community transmission of contagious illnesses like the seasonal flu, we need this protection permanently. In Ontario, there are too many early childhood educators, paramedics, food handlers, nurses, security guards, cleaners and so many more without *any* paid sick days. This is unacceptable. NO public subsidies for wealthy corporationsMeanwhile, Loblaws, Walmart, Amazon - all companies raking in billions more in revenue during the COVID-19 outbreak - underpay their workers and provide no paid sick days. That’s exactly how they keep their profit high. These companies can certainly afford to provide paid sick days for every employee. Our tax dollars must not be used to subsidize the Loblaws of the world to provide paid sick days, or the likes of for-profit nursing home Chartwell that has been rightly slapped with a class-action lawsuit. Let’s not give them a single dime. Eugene, thousands of supporters like yourself sent in petitions, called our elected representatives and spoke up for this basic protection! For the Prime Minister to be giving voice to what thousands of us have been saying all along is a huge step forward and a vindication of our demands. However, we must force him to deliver on his promise.  As it stands, very few workers in Canada** have a government-guaranteed right to paid sick days. But together, we can change that! Make your call now (visit: 15andFairness.org/CallYourMP for more info). There’s no time to lose to legislate life-saving paid sick days for ALL! *  Canada Labour Code dictates the rights of federally regulated workers in sectors that cross provincial boundaries, like transportation, communication and banking.** Workers in Ontario have 0 legislated paid sick days, while workers in PEI are entitled to 1 paid sick day a year after working for the same employer for 5 years. Workers in Quebec get access to 2 paid sick days after working for the same employer for 3 months. Fight for $15 and Fairness http://www.15andfairness.org/

NDP Three Things Workers Need Before Going Back to Work

https://action.npd.ca/page/m/2a8b87a9/38dff358/3031a54a/6c384e7e/4024801346/VEsE/?g=0SkADQJfXzlTvIQfwwWD4RA

https://www.facebook.com/jagmeetndp/videos/240636517267635/

Three Things Workers Need Before Going Back to Work

Jagmeet Singh

May 6 at 9:45 AM · 

As businesses reopen and workers return to work, the government needs to make sure:

1. Workers are safe
2. Every worker has paid sick leave
3. Parents have access to childcare

Workers want to go back to work – they need to be able to go back to work safely.

EasyJet axes almost a third of staff on virus fallout

AFP / Fabrice COFFRINI

Cutting costs 'at every level'


British no-frills airline EasyJet said Thursday that it will axe up to 4,500 jobs, or almost a third of its workforce, as coronavirus ravages demand and grounds global air travel.

"We are planning to reduce the size of our fleet and to optimise the network and our bases. As a result, we anticipate reducing staff numbers by up to 30 percent across the business and we will continue to remove cost and non-critical expenditure at every level," said Chief Executive Johan Lundgren in a statement.


The job cuts will impact up to 4,500 of the carrier's 15,000 staff, a spokesman told AFP. A consultation process will be launched in the coming days.


The COVID-19 outbreak has devastated the global aviation sector, with passenger numbers slumping during lockdown measures as air travel demand evaporates.


EasyJet follows competitors British Airways, Ryanair and Virgin Atlantic, which have all slashed staff numbers to save costs.


"We realise that these are very difficult times and we are having to consider very difficult decisions which will impact our people, but we want to protect as many jobs as we can for the long-term," added Lundgren.


"We remain focused on doing what is right for the company and its long-term health and success, following the swift action we have taken over the last three months to meet the challenges of the virus."


EasyJet had grounded its entire fleet at the end of March, and currently plans to resume to the skies in mid-June with a limited number of flights.


"Although we will restart flying on 15 June, we expect demand to build slowly, only returning to 2019 levels in about three years' time," added Lundgren.


"We want to ensure that we emerge from the pandemic an even more competitive business than before, so that EasyJet can thrive in the future."


Travellers arriving in Britain will meanwhile face 14 days in quarantine from next month to prevent a second coronavirus outbreak.


The pandemic has battered the air transport sector by all but grounding planes, resulting in layoffs, bankruptcies and rescue plans worldwide -- although Lufthansa is wavering over a nine-billion-euro ($9.9 billion) German state lifeline.


The International Air Transport Association (IATA) forecast this week that global airlines will lose some $314 billion (286 billion euros) in 2020 revenues on the back of coronavirus.


EasyJet added Thursday that it would not provide any outlook as a result of the turmoil.


"At this stage, given the level of continued uncertainty, it is not possible to provide financial guidance for the remainder of the 2020 financial year.


"However, as shown in this release, we continue to take every step necessary to reduce cost, conserve cash burn, enhance liquidity, protect the business and ensure it is best positioned on our return to flying."

Archives for the unexplained (AFU) preserves a rich world-wide heritage of paper archives, book libraries, recordings, e-files, objects and other materials related to all kinds of unexplained phenomena. Our aim is to continously develop an independent archive foundation for research by generations to come.

Our present system of facilities has a total shelf capacity of more than 2 kilometers. After cataloguing of recent donations the library will include more than 20.000 titles/editions about anomalistic phenomena of all kinds.

The core of our collections has come, and keep coming, from ‘ufologists’ – people who are specialized in the study of unidentified flying objects (UFOs). That is why we have built an international reputation (1973-2013) as the Archives for UFO research, under the acronym AFU.

By decision of the AFU board, in April 2013, we took on the new name Archives for the unexplained, but still continue under the old, well known acronym AFU.

http://www.afu.se/afu2/

The Flying Saucers Are Real Donald E Keyhoe 1950

THE CLASSIC THAT STARTED IT ALL

The Flying Saucers Are Real

by Keyhoe, Donald E. (Donald Edward), 1897-1988

Publication date 1950Usage Public Domain Mark 1.0]]Topics UFOs, UFO, Unidentified Flying Objects, Paranormal, Art Bell, Conspiracy TheoryCollection folkscanomy; additional_collectionsLanguage English

Seminal 1950 Ufology text, which documents encounters between UFOs and the U.S. Air Force 1947-1950.

Keyhoe was a Major in the Marine Air Corps.

Mystic Magazine [#7, December 1954] (35¢, 132pp, digest)

https://archive.org/details/mysticmagazinev01n07195412palmerpythagorasfsa/page/n3/mode/2up

Publication date 1954-12

Usage Public Domain Mark 1.0

Topics Pulps, Pulp Magazines, Paranormal, Occult, UFOs, Flying Saucers, Ray Palmer, Fire Walking, Harry Houdini

Collection pulpmagazinearchive; additional_collections

Language English

Mystic Magazine was primarily an occult non-fiction magazine which, in its early issues, was about half fiction and half articles. After the fourth issue the fiction was greatly reduced and appeared only sporadically after the seventh issue. Later issues contain articles by Richard S. Shaver that may be of interest to some collectors. The magazine settled firmly into a non-fiction format about the time that Palmer sold his interest in its chief competitor, Fate, and the title was changed to Search with the October 1956 issue. It was still running at the time of Palmer’s death in 1977.



CONTENTS:Mystic Magazine [#7, December 1954] (35¢, 132pp, digest)
fc. · [photo] · D. C. McGowan · cv
10 · The Exposer Exposed · Dr. W. D. Chesney · ts
20 · Extra-Terrestrial Visitor? · Miriam Teel Clarke · ts
40 · The Phantom Jeep · Bobette Gugliotta · ss
53 · Fire Walking · D. C. McGowan · ts
56 · The Golden Kitten · Charles Lee · ss
74 · God Is In The Mountain [Craig Barnes] · Peter Worth

THE RIGHT WAY TO DO WRONG
WRITINGS OF HARRY HOUDINI 

INTRODUCTION BY TELLER OF PENN AND TELLER
PUBLISHED 2012
https://archive.org/details/TheRightWayToDoWrongByHarryHoudini/page/n7/mode/2up


SPECIAL BONUS FEATURE

https://archive.org/details/MiracleMongersAndTheirMethodsByHarryHoudini/page/n5/mode/2up

Angry US protests for second night over police killing of black man

AFP / kerem yucelPolice fire pepper spray at protesters during a demonstration over the killing of George Floyd by a policeman outside the Third Police Precinct in Minneapolis, Minnesota on May 27, 2020

Demonstrators clashed with police, looted stores and set fires as a man was fatally shot during a second night of protests in the US city of Minneapolis Wednesday over the killing of a black man by a police officer.

Police fired tear gas and formed a human barricade to keep protesters from climbing a fence surrounding the Third Precinct, where the officers accused of killing George Floyd worked before they were fired on Tuesday.

They pushed protesters back as the crowd grew, a day after firing rubber bullets and more tear gas on thousands of demonstrators angered by the latest death of an African-American at the hands of US law enforcement.

Minnesota state Governor Tim Walz urged people to leave the area around the precinct where several fires were burning, warning of the "extremely dangerous situation" in a tweet late Wednesday.

Outrage has grown across the country at Floyd's death on Monday, fuelled in part by bystander cellphone video which shows him, handcuffed and in the custody of four white police officers, on the ground while one presses his knee into the victim's neck.

AFP / Kerem YucelProtesters clash with police during a demonstration outside the Third Police Precinct in Minneapolis, Minnesota on May 27, 2020 over the killing of George Floyd by a policeman

President Donald Trump in a tweet called Floyd's death "sad and tragic", and all four officers have been fired, as prosecutors said they had called in the FBI to help investigate the case.

Minneapolis police chief Medaria Arradondo cautioned protestors Wednesday to remain peaceful.

But by 10:00 pm (0300 GMT Thursday) an auto parts store across from the precinct had been set alight and a nearby Target was being looted, according to US media.

Police continued to hold the crowds back from scaling a fence into the precinct's parking lot, where their cruisers contain guns.

As the violence escalated, with more businesses looted, a man was shot near the protests and later died, police said. A person has been arrested.

Protesters remained peaceful at two other locations in the city.

At the place where Floyd was first taken into custody, people chanted and carried placards and sent out bouquets were set out as tributes to Floyd.

AFP / Kerem YucelAn injured woman is carried by other protesters during clashes with police at a demonstration outside the Third Police Precinct on May 27, 2020 in Minneapolis, Minnesota over the killing of George Floyd by a policeman

Calls for justice came from around the country.

"I would like those officers to be charged with murder, because that's exactly what they did," Bridgett Floyd, the victim's sister, said on NBC television.

"They murdered my brother.... They should be in jail for murder."

Protesters marched on downtown Los Angeles and briefly blocked the 101 Freeway.

Some demonstrators smashed the windows of two police highway patrol cruisers, clambering on the hood of one of the vehicles. One of the protesters was injured when they fell off the vehicle as it sped away.

Minneapolis mayor Jacob Frey said he could not understand why the officer who held his knee to Floyd's neck on a Minneapolis street until the 46-year-old restaurant worker went limp has not been arrested.

"Why is the man who killed George Floyd not in jail? If you had done it, or I had done it, we would be behind bars right now," Frey said.

- 'I can't breathe' -

Facebook/Darnella Frazier/AFP / Darnella FrazierA Minneapolis police officer holds his knee to the neck of George Floyd, who died in police custody.

The case was seen as the latest example of police brutality against African Americans, which gave rise six years ago to the Black Lives Matter movement.

Floyd had been detained on a minor charge of allegedly using a counterfeit $20 bill to make a purchase at a convenience store.

In the video, policemen hold him to the ground while one presses his knee to Floyd's neck.

"Your knee in my neck. I can't breathe.... Mama. Mama," Floyd pleaded.

He grew silent and motionless, unable to move even as the officers told him to "get up and get in the car."

He was taken to hospital where he was later declared dead.

AFP / Kerem YucelA protester wearing a facemask holds up his hands during a demonstration outside the Third Police Precinct on May 27, 2020 in Minneapolis, Minnesota over the killing of George Floyd by a policeman

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden said the FBI needs to thoroughly investigate the case.

"It's a tragic reminder that this was not an isolated incident, but part of an engrained systemic cycle of injustice that still exists in this country," Biden said.

"We have to ensure that the Floyd family receive the justice they are entitled to."

Democratic Senator Kamala Harris called the policeman's using his knee on Floyd's neck "torture."

"This is not new, it has been going on a long time... what our communities have known for generations, which is discriminatory implementation and enforcement of the laws," she said.

"He was begging to be able to breathe," she said. "It was a public execution."

AFP / Kerem YucelTwo police officers stand on the roof of the Third Police Precinct holding a projectile launcher during a demonstration against the death of George Floyd, in Minneapolis, Minnesota on May 27, 2020

The protests evoked memories of riots in Ferguson, Missouri in 2014 after a policeman shot dead an African American man suspected of robbery, and the case of New Yorker Eric Garner, who was detained by police for illegally selling cigarettes and filmed being held in an illegal chokehold that led to his death.

"How many more of these senseless excessive-force killings from the people who are supposed to protect us can we take in America?" said civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who was retained by Floyd's family

Crump pointed out that the arrest involved a minor, non-violent crime, and there was no sign, as police initially claimed, that Floyd resisted arrest.

"There is no reason to apply this excessive fatal force," Crump said.

"That has to be the tipping point. Everybody deserves justice ... We can't have two justice systems, one for blacks and one for whites."

China approves plan to impose Hong Kong security law

AFP / ISAAC LAWRENCEThe latest unrest in Hong Kong comes days after China announced plans to impose a sweeping national security law on the city following last year's huge and often violent pro-democracy rallies

China's parliament approved plans Thursday to impose a security law on Hong Kong that has ratcheted up tensions with the US and sparked new protests over fears the city is losing its special freedoms.

The vote by the rubber-stamp National People's Congress (NPC) came hours after the United States revoked the special status conferred on Hong Kong, paving the way for the territory to be stripped of trading and economic privileges.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the status had been withdrawn because China was no longer honouring its handover agreement with Britain to allow Hong Kong a high level of autonomy.

"No reasonable person can assert today that Hong Kong maintains a high degree of autonomy from China, given facts on the ground," Pompeo said.

AFP / NICOLAS ASFOURIChinese President Xi Jinping votes on the plan to produce a law banning secession in Hong Kong

China made the security law a priority at its annual NPC session, after huge pro-democracy protests rocked the financial hub for seven months last year.

The law would punish secession, subversion of state power, terrorism and acts that endanger national security, as well as allow mainland security agencies to operate openly in Hong Kong.

On Thursday, the final day of the congress, delegates endorsed plans for the law with an almost unanimous vote and enthusiastic applause.

Li Zhanshu -- the chairman of the NPC Standing Committee which will now draft the law -- said the move was "in line with the fundamental interests of all Chinese people, including Hong Kong compatriots".

AFP / ANTHONY WALLACEHong Kong police have arrested thousands of people in demonstrations over the last year

Hong Kong's embattled leader, Carrie Lam, said she welcomed the resolution being passed.

As required in the resolution, Lam said she would submit regular reports to Beijing and "step up law enforcement and public education for safeguarding national security".

But the law has met fierce criticism.

"It's the end of Hong Kong... they are cutting off our souls, taking away the values which we've always embraced, values like human rights, democracy, rule of law," pro-democracy lawmaker Claudia Mo told AFP.

POOL/AFP/File / NICHOLAS KAMMUS Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says that China has clearly trampled on Hong Kong's autonomy

Joshua Wong, a prominent pro-democracy activist, told AFP the security law "will kill Hong Kong's democratic movements".

NPC Standing Committee Vice Chairman Wang Chen said last week that Hong Kong's delays in implementing its own security law had forced the Chinese leadership to take action.

Hong Kong pro-Beijing politician Maria Tam told AFP this week that the planned law would allow mainland authorities to work with city police to investigate suspects.

- US action -

Under a law passed last year by the US Congress aimed at supporting Hong Kong's pro-democracy movement, the US administration must certify that Hong Kong still enjoys the freedoms promised by Beijing when it negotiated with Britain to take back the colony.

AFP /Hong Kong protests

Washington's decision on Wednesday that Hong Kong does not enjoy those freedoms means it could lose trading privileges -- including lower tariffs than the mainland -- with the world's largest economy.

US President Donald Trump will ultimately decide which actions to take, said David Stilwell, the top State Department official for East Asia.

"The steps will be considered and they will be as targeted as possible to change behaviour," Stilwell told reporters.

He said the United States did not want to hurt the people of Hong Kong, adding: "This decision was made by the government in Beijing, and not by the US."

China's foreign ministry office in the financial hub said Thursday that the US revoking Hong Kong's special status was "the most barbaric, the most unreasonable and the most shameless".

- Anthem law -

Washington's move came after fresh protests broke out in Hong Kong on Wednesday over another controversial proposed law that criminalises insults to the national anthem.

Police surrounded fired pepper ball rounds at protesters and arrested more than 300 people, mostly for unlawful assembly.

"It's like a de facto curfew now," Nathan Law, a prominent pro-democracy advocate, told AFP.

"I think the government has to understand why people are really angry."

Under the "one country, two systems" model agreed before the city's return from Britain to China, Hong Kong is supposed to be guaranteed certain liberties until 2047 that are denied to those on the mainland.

The mini-constitution that has governed Hong Kong's affairs since the handover obliges the territory's authorities to enact national security laws.

But an effort to do so in 2003 was shelved after huge protests by Hong Kongers.

China is motivated by fear of a younger Hong Kong generation that "does not agree with the political system of the Communist Party," said Hua Po, an independent political commentator based in Beijing.

"If they lose control over Hong Kong, the impact on the Chinese mainland will be huge," Hua said.

India faces its worst locust swarm in nearly 30 years

The pests have destroyed over 50,000 hectares of cropland, putting further strain on the food supply in India as authorities battle to contain the coronavirus.



On Tuesday, Indian authorities sent out drones and tractors to track desert locusts and spray them with insecticides, in one of the worst locust swarms seen by the country in nearly 30 years. With about 50,000 hectares of cropland destroyed by locusts, India is facing its worst food shortages since 1993.

"Eight to 10 swarms, each measuring around a square kilometer, are active in parts of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh," K.L. Gurjar, the deputy director of India's Locust Warning Organization, told news agency AFP. The locusts have also made their way to other states of India including Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh.

On Monday, a swarm of locusts infested the city of Jaipur in Rajasthan, after traveling into India from Pakistan. Gurjar warned that the locusts could move towards the capital city of Delhi if wind speed and direction was favorable.


More than half of the 33 districts in Rajasthan were affected by the locusts

Why a locust swarm is alarming

According to the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) desert locusts typically attack the western part of India and some parts of the state of Gujarat from June to November. However, the Ministry of Agriculture's Locust Warning Organization spotted them in India as early as April this year.

A swarm of 40 million locusts can eat as much food as 35,000 humans, according to FAO estimates. The current swarm has destroyed seasonal crops in the states of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. This will lead to lower production than usual and a rise in prices of foodstuff.

An agrarian crisis and subsequent food inflation will severely impede India's response to the coronavirus pandemic. Thousands of migrant workers have died from hunger after India suddenly imposed a nationwide lockdown to contain the spread of the coronavirus, leaving workers penniless. An agrarian crisis because of a locust swarm will further hamper relief efforts of the government.

Heavy rains and cyclones in the Indian Ocean are being cited by experts as reasons for increased breeding of locusts this year. The attack is also spread over a wider geography in India. The FAO has warned that the locust infestation will increase next month, when locusts breeding in East Africa reach India.

Other parts of the world affected by locusts

India isn't the only country attacked by a huge swarm of locusts this year. Pakistan,countries in East Africa, and Yemen have also faced the desert pests and their destruction. In February, Pakistan declared a national emergency because of locust attacks in the eastern part of the country. The pests damaged cotton, wheat, maize and other crops.

Earlier this month, the FAO said that it had made a headway in dealing with the locust invasion by saving 720,000 tons of cereal in 10 countries

Date 27.05.2020

Related Subjects India

Keywords India, locusts, crops, famine

Permalink https://p.dw.com/p/3coS


Historic swarm of locusts descends upon India, destroying cropsMay 27 (UPI) -- India is experiencing a historic swarm of locusts as the country also deals with the COVID-19 pandemic and sweltering heat.

Swarms of desert locusts have descended upon portions of the states of Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Madhya, Pradesh, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh, while alerts were issued in the capital city of Delhi warning the insects could soon arrive there.

India's Locust Warning Organization has said at least 10 swarms of up to 80 million locusts have made their way through India, destroying crops.

The organization said locust infestation is the worst the country has ever seen, coming before their usual migration from Pakistan between July and October and extending far beyond Rajasthan, where they have historically been centralized

Experts say that extreme heat in the nation, which has reached highs of 122 degrees, has contributed to the uncommonly large swarm.

"The outbreak started after warm waters in the western Indian Ocean in late 2019 fueled heavy amounts of rains over east Africa and the Arabian Peninsula," Dr. Roxy Mathew Koll, a senior scientist at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, said. "These warm waters were caused by the phenomenon called the Indian Ocean Dipole -- with warmer than usual waters to its west and cooler waters to its east. Rising temperatures due to global warming amplified the dipole and made the western Indian Ocean particularly warm."

The swarms have destroyed about 123,500 acres of cropland in the Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh state.

States, including Jaipur, have deployed drones to spray locusts in order to clear the areas of locusts.

"It has successfully contained the movement of locusts in an open area and on the foothills where it was not possible for the usual tractors to make it reach. A detailed assessment of its impact is being studied by the field officers," said Om Prakash, commissioner of the Jaipur state agriculture department.

The drones are attached with spray tanks that can disperse chemicals for 10 minutes before being refilled by a handler.

"The biggest advantage of the drone is that it can fly above the flying zone of the locusts giving the flexibility to the officials to carry out combat operation while they are flying. Earlier, the operations were restricted to when they are resting n a tree or on a crop," Prakesh said

SEE
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