Iran’s new Parliament Speaker said on Sunday that any negotiations with Washington would be “futile” as he denounced the death of a black American that has led to violent protests across the U.S. Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf, a former commander of the Revolutionary Guards’ air force, was elected Speaker on Thursday of a chamber dominated by ultra-conservatives following February elections.
The newly formed Parliament “considers negotiations with and appeasement of America, as the axis of global arrogance, to be futile and harmful,” he said in his first major speech to the chamber. Mr. Ghalibaf also vowed revenge for the U.S. drone attack in January that killed Qasem Soleimani. “Our strategy in confronting the terrorist America is to finish the revenge for martyr Soleimani’s blood,” he told lawmakers, pledging “the total expulsion of America’s terrorist army from the region”.
Ghalibaf has also slammed the US over the death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man, during an arrest in Minneapolis which has led to widespread protests across the country.
Tens of thousands of protesters have taken to the streets from New York to Seattle demanding tougher, first-degree murder charges and more arrests over the death of Floyd, who stopped breathing after Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes.
Decades-old tensions between Tehran and Washington have soared in the past year, with the sworn arch enemies twice appearing to come to the brink of a direct confrontation.
The tensions have been rising since 2018, when President Donald Trump withdrew the US from a landmark nuclear accord and began reimposing crippling sanctions on Iran’s economy.
That was followed by the US drone strike near Baghdad airport in January that killed Soleimani, a hugely popular figure in the Islamic republic.
Days later, Iran fired a barrage of missiles at US troops stationed in Iraq in retaliation, but Trump opted against taking any military action in response.
Ghalibaf called for ties to be improved with neighbours and with “great powers who were friends with us in hard times and share significant strategic relations”, without naming them.
The 58-year-old Ghalibaf is a three-time presidential candidate who lost out to the incumbent Hassan Rouhani at the last election in 2017.
The newly elected speaker had also served as Tehran mayor and the Islamic republic’s police chief before taking up his latest post.
In a tweet on Saturday, he slammed what he called the United States’ “unjust political, judicial, and economic structure”.
This had been “pumping war, coups, poverty, indiscrimination, torture, fratricide and moral corruption to the world, and racism, hunger, humiliation, and ‘choking by knee’ in its own country for hundreds of years”, Ghalibaf said.
“What can one call it if not the Great Satan?” he added, using Iran’s term for its arch enemy.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif echoed his remarks on Twitter.
“Some don’t think “BlackLivesMatter. To those of us who do: it is long overdue for the entire world to wage war against racism. Time for a #WorldAgainstRacism,” he said.
The post was accompanied by an image of a 2018 statement by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in which the text was changed to be critical of the United States instead of Iran.
The altered text read: “The U.S. government is squandering its citizens’ resources.
“The people of America are tired of the racism, corruption, injustice, and incompetence from their leaders. The world hears their voice.”
Pompeo responded to Zarif by tweeting that “you hang homosexuals, stone women and exterminate Jews”, without elaborating further.
Islamabad: Pakistan’s Minister for States and Frontier Regions (Safron) and Narcotics Control Shehryar Afridi has tested positive for the novel coronavirus, he announced on Twitter.
“I have tested positive of COVID-19 & have isolated myself at home as per advice by medics,” Dawn news quoted the Minister as saying in the tweet on Saturday.
His announcement comes weeks after Sindh Governor Imran Ismail and National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser had tested positive for the virus. Both officials have since recovered.
Sindh Education Minister Saeed Ghani, who himself went into isolation after being infected with the virus in March and subsequently recovered, tweeted a “get well soon” message to Afridi.
So far 68,554 people across Pakistan have been infected with the virus that has killed 1,447 in the country.
Tense protests over the death of George Floyd and other police killings of black men grew Saturday from New York to Tulsa to Los Angeles, with police cars set ablaze and reports of injuries mounting on all sides as the country lurched toward another night of unrest after months of coronavirus lockdowns.
The protests, which began in Minneapolis following Floyd’s death on Monday after a police officer pressed a knee on his neck for more than eight minutes, have left parts of the city a grid of broken windows, burned-out buildings and ransacked stores.
The unrest has since become a national phenomenon as protesters decry years of deaths at police hands.
The large crowds involved, with many people not wearing masks or social distancing, raised concerns among health experts about the potential for helping spread the coronavirus pandemic at a time when overall deaths are on the decline nationwide and much of the country is in the process of reopening society and the economy.
After a tumultuous Friday night, racially diverse crowds took to the streets again for mostly peaceful demonstrations in dozens of cities from coast to coast. The previous day’s protests also started calmly, but many descended into violence later in the day.
Updates from cities:
– In Washington, growing crowds outside the White House chanted, taunted Secret Service agents and at times pushed against security barriers. President Donald Trump, who spent much of Saturday in Florida for the SpaceX rocket launch, landed on the residence’s lawn in the presidential helicopter at dusk and went inside without speaking to journalists.
– In Philadelphia, at least 13 officers were injured when peaceful protests turned violent and at least four police vehicles were set on fire. Other fires were set throughout downtown.
– In the Greenwood District of Tulsa, Oklahoma, the site of a 1921 massacre of black people that left as many as 300 dead and the city’s thriving black district in ruins, protesters blocked intersections and chanted the name of Terence Crutcher, a black man killed by a police officer in 2016.
– In Tallahassee, Florida, a pickup truck drove through a crowd of protesters, sending some running and screaming as the vehicle stopped and started and at one point had a person on its hood, police said, but no serious injuries were reported. Police handcuffed the driver but did not release his name or say whether he would face charges.
– In Los Angeles, protesters chanted “Black Lives Matter,” some within inches of the face shields of officers. Police used batons to move the crowd back and fired rubber bullets. One man used a skateboard to try to break a police SUV’s windshield. A spray-painted police car burned in the street.
– And in New York City, video posted to social media showed officers using batons and shoving protesters down as they made arrests and cleared streets. Another video showed two NYPD cruisers driving into protesters who were pushing a barricade against a police car and pelting it with objects, knocking several to the ground.
‘Look deeper’
“Our country has a sickness. We have to be out here,” said Brianna Petrisko, among those at lower Manhattan’s Foley Square, where most were wearing masks amid the coronavirus pandemic. “This is the only way we’re going to be heard.”
Back in Minneapolis, the city where the protests began, 29-year-old Sam Allkija said the damage seen in recent days reflects long-standing frustration and rage in the black community.
“I don’t condone them,” he said. “But you have to look deeper into why these riots are happening.”
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz fully mobilized the state’s National Guard and promised a massive show of force.
“The situation in Minneapolis is no longer in any way about the murder of George Floyd,” Mr. Walz said. “It is about attacking civil society, instilling fear and disrupting our great cities.”
Soon after the city’s 8 p.m. curfew went into force, lines of police cars and officers in riot gear moved in to confront protesters, firing tear gas to push away throngs of people milling around the city’s 5th police precinct station. The tougher tactics came after city and state leaders were criticized for not forcefully enough confronting days of violent and damaging protests that included protesters burning down a police station shortly after officers abandoned it.
Mr. Trump tweeted Saturday night that the Guard “should have been used 2 days ago & there would not have been damage & Police Headquarters would not have been taken over & ruined. Great job by the National Guard. No games!”
Overnight curfews were imposed in more than a dozen major cities nationwide, ranging from 6 p.m. in parts of South Carolina to 10 p.m. around Ohio. People were also told to be off the streets of Atlanta, Denver, Los Angeles, Seattle and Minneapolis — where thousands had ignored the same order Friday night.
More than 1,400 people have been arrested in 16 cities since Thursday, with more than 500 of those happening in Los Angeles on Friday.
The unrest comes at a time when most Americans have spent months inside over concerns surrounding the coronavirus, which the President has called an “invisible enemy.” The events of the last 72 hours, seen live on national television, have shown the opposite — a sudden pivot to crowds, screaming protesters and burning buildings, a stark contrast to the empty streets of recent months.
“Quite frankly I’m ready to just lock people up,” Atlanta Police Chief Erika Shields said at a news conference. Demonstrations there turned violent Friday, and police were arresting protesters Saturday on blocked-off downtown streets. “Yes, you caught us off balance once. It’s not going to happen twice.”
Not the first
This week’s unrest recalled the riots in Los Angeles nearly 30 years ago after the acquittal of the white police officers who beat Rodney King, a black motorist who had led them on a high-speed chase. The protests of Floyd’s killing have gripped many more cities, but the losses in Minneapolis have yet to approach the staggering totals Los Angeles saw during five days of rioting in 1992, when more than 60 people died, 2,000-plus were injured and thousands arrested, with property damage topping $1 billion.
Many protesters spoke of frustration that Floyd’s death was one more in a litany. It came in the wake of the killing in Georgia of Ahmaud Arbery, a black man who was shot dead after being pursued by two white men while running in their neighborhood, and in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic that has thrown millions out of work, killed more than 100,000 people in the U.S. and disproportionately affected black people.
The officer who held his knee to Floyd’s neck as he begged for air was arrested Friday and charged with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. But many protesters are demanding the arrests of the three other officers involved.
Mr. Trump stoked the anger on Twitter, ridiculing people who protested outside the White House and warning that if they had breached its fence, they would “have been greeted with the most vicious dogs, and most ominous weapons, I have ever seen.”
Leaders in many affected cities have voiced outrage over Floyd’s killing and expressed sympathy for protesters’ concerns. But as the unrest intensified, they spoke of a desperate need to protect their cities and said they would call in reinforcements, despite concerns that could lead to more heavy-handed tactics.
Minnesota has steadily increased to 1,700 the number of National Guardsmen it says it needs to contain the unrest, and the governor is considering a potential offer of military police put on alert by the Pentagon.
Governors in Georgia, Kentucky, Ohio and Texas also activated the National Guard after protests there turned violent overnight, while nighttime curfews were put in place in Portland, Oregon, Cincinnati and elsewhere.
Police in St. Louis were investigating the death of a protester who climbed between two trailers of a Fed Ex truck and was killed when it drove away. And a person was killed in the area of protests in downtown Detroit just before midnight after someone fired shots into an SUV, officers said. Police had initially said someone fired into the crowd from an SUV.
Hong Kong officials lashed out on Saturday at moves by U.S. President Donald Trump to strip the city of its special status in a bid to punish China for imposing national security laws on the global financial hub.
Speaking hours after Mr. Trump said the city no longer warranted economic privileges and that some officials could face sanctions, Security Minister John Lee told reporters that Hong Kong could not be threatened and would push ahead with the new laws.
‘We are right’
“I don’t think they will succeed in using any means to threaten the (Hong Kong) government, because we believe what we are doing is right,” Mr. Lee said. Justice Minister Teresa Cheng said the basis for Mr. Trump’s actions was “completely false and wrong”, saying national security laws were legal and necessary for the former British colony.
In some of his toughest rhetoric yet, Mr. Trump said Beijing had broken its word over Hong Kong’s high degree of autonomy from Beijing, by proposing the national security legislation and that the territory no longer warranted U.S. economic privileges. “We will take action to revoke Hong Kong’s preferential treatment as a separate customs and travel territory from the rest of China,” Mr. Trump said, adding that Washington would also impose sanctions on individuals seen as responsible for ”smothering — absolutely smothering — Hong Kong’s freedom”. Mr. Trump said that China’s move was a tragedy for the world, but he gave no timetable.
China’s Parliament earlier this month approved a decision to create laws for Hong Kong to curb sedition, secession, terrorism and foreign interference. Mainland security and intelligence agents may be stationed in the city for the first time.
Israeli police officers shot a Palestinian they suspected was carrying a weapon in Jerusalem’s Old City on Saturday, a spokesman said, but the man was later found to have been unarmed, Israeli media reported.
“Police units on patrol there spotted a suspect with a suspicious object that looked like a pistol. They called upon him to stop and began to chase after him on foot, during the chase officers also opened fire at the suspect,” police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said. Mr. Rosenfeld said the suspect, a Palestinian resident of east Jerusalem, was dead. Palestinian officials said he had mental health issues.
Police did not confirm to reporters whether the man had been carrying a weapon. Israel’s Channel 13 News said earlier that he was unarmed. The secretary general of the Palestine Liberation Organization Saeb Erekat condemned the incident on Twitter.
SpaceX, the private rocket company of billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, launched two Americans into orbit from Florida on Saturday in a landmark mission marking the first spaceflight of NASA astronauts from U.S. soil in nine years.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from the Kennedy Space Center at 3:22 p.m. EDT (1922 GMT), launching Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken on a 19-hour ride aboard the company’s newly designed Crew Dragon capsule bound for the International Space Station.
Just before liftoff, Hurley said, “SpaceX, were go for launch. Lets light this candle,” paraphrasing the famous comment uttered on the launch pad in 1961 by Alan Shepard, the first American flown into space.
Minutes after launch, the first-stage booster rocket of the Falcon 9 separated from the upper second-stage rocket and flew itself back to Earth to descend safely onto a landing platform floating in the Atlantic.
High above the Earth, the Crew Dragon jettisoned moments later from the second-stage rocket, sending the capsule on its way to the space station.
The exhilarating spectacle of the rocket soaring flawlessly into the heavens came as a welcome triumph for a nation gripped by racially-charged civil unrest as well as ongoing fear and economic upheaval from the coronavirus pandemic.
‘Beautiful sight’
The Falcon 9 took off from the same launch pad used by NASA’s final space shuttle flight, piloted by Hurley, in 2011. Since then, NASA astronauts have had to hitch rides into orbit aboard Russia’s Soyuz spacecraft.
“It’s incredible, the power, the technology,” said U.S. President Donald Trump, who was at Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral in Florida for the launch. “That was a beautiful sight to see.”
The mission’s first launch try on Wednesday was called off with less than 17 minutes remaining on the countdown clock. Weather again threatened Saturday’s launch, but cleared in time to begin the mission.
Spaceflight milestones
NASA chief Jim Bridenstine has said resuming launches of American astronauts on American-made rockets from U.S. soil is the space agency’s top priority.
“I’m breathing a sigh of relief, but I will also tell you I’m not gonna celebrate until Bob and Doug are home safely,” Mr. Bridenstine said.
For Mr. Musk, the launch represents another milestone for the reusable rockets his company pioneered to make spaceflight less costly and more frequent. And it marks the first time commercially developed space vehicles — owned and operated by a private entity rather than NASA — have carried Americans into orbit.
The last time NASA launched astronauts into space aboard a brand new vehicle was 40 years ago at the start of the space shuttle program.
Behind the scenes
Mr. Musk, the South African-born high-tech entrepreneur who made his fortune in Silicon Valley, is also CEO of electric carmaker and battery manufacturer Tesla Inc. He founded Hawthorne, California-based SpaceX, formally known as Space Exploration Technologies, in 2002.
Mr. Hurley, 53, and Mr. Behnken, 49, NASA employees under contract to fly with SpaceX, are expected to remain at the space station for several weeks, assisting a short-handed crew aboard the orbital laboratory.
Boeing Co, producing its own launch system in competition with SpaceX, is expected to fly its CST-100 Starliner vehicle with astronauts aboard for the first time next year. NASA has awarded nearly $8 billion to SpaceX and Boeing combined for development of their rival rockets.
Mr. Trump called the launch the beginning, saying that eventually there would be flights to Mars. He was joined at the viewing by Vice President Mike Pence, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, Florida congressman Matt Gaetz and Senator Rick Scott.
Earlier on Saturday, the crew bid goodbye to their families. Prior to getting into a specially-designed Tesla for the ride to the launch site, Mr. Behnken told his young son, “Be good for mom. Make her life easy.”
During the drive, Mr. Behnken and Mr. Hurley passed former astronaut Garrett Reisman holding a side saying “Take me with you.”
More than 100 vaccines for the virus are being developed globally, and in China, a total of five vaccines are being developed and tested on humans.
More than 2000 people have received the vaccine in the first two phases of the trial. (Bloomberg)
A Covid-19 vaccine under development in China could be in the market by the end of the year, a government body affiliated to the country’s cabinet, the State Council, has announced.
The vaccine is being jointly developed by the Wuhan Biological Products Research Institute and Beijing Biological Products Research Institute and have completed two phases of clinical or human trials, the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC) announced in a social media post on its WeChat account.
Both entities are affiliated with government-owned pharmaceutical group Sinopharm.
More than 2000 people have received the vaccine in the first two phases of the trial
“It is reported that the clinical trial is divided into three phases, the completion of phase I-III clinical till come into the market, it is expected to be the end of this year or early next year at the earliest,” the announcement said.
The announcement added that data from the two first two phases of clinical trials show that the candidate vaccine’s safety and efficacy were better than other vaccines under development.
More than 100 vaccines for the virus are being developed globally, and in China, a total of five vaccines are being developed and tested on humans.
Meanwhile, Wuhan is set to complete the ambitious task of conducting nucleic acid tests (NAT) on all its residents to check for asymptomatic patients.
Between May 15 and 25, Wuhan medics tested more than 6.5 million residents, a state media report said, adding at least 218 among them were found to be asymptomatic.
The mass testing is part of China’s efforts to fortify against a potential “second wave” after a cluster of cases emerged in a residential community earlier this month
To carry out the tests in time, health workers collected and mixed 10 to 20 samples and carried out a single test on them; If the collected sample was positive, each individual was tested again to identify which person was positive.
US President Donald Trump has announced that he is terminating the country’s relationship with the World Health Organization (WHO).
The president has accused the WHO of failing to hold Beijing to account over the coronavirus pandemic.
“China has total control over the World Health Organization,” the president said while announcing measures aimed at punishing Beijing.
Washington will redirect funds to other bodies, he said.
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The US is the global health agency’s largest single contributor, providing more than $400m (£324m; €360m) in 2019.
Mr Trump, who is campaigning for re-election this year and has been criticised for his own handling of the pandemic, has blamed China for trying to cover up the coronavirus outbreak.
More than 102,000 people in the US have lost their lives to Covid-19 – by far the biggest death toll in the world.
What did Trump say?
“We will be today terminating our relationship with the World Health Organization and directing those funds” to other global public health charities, Mr Trump said in the White House Rose Garden.
“The world is now suffering as a result of the malfeasance of the Chinese government,” he said.
He added that China had “instigated a global pandemic that has cost over 100,000 American lives”.
The president accused China of pressurising the WHO to “mislead the world” about the virus.
What’s the background to this?
Mr Trump’s criticism of the WHO’s handling of the pandemic began last month when he threatened to permanently withdraw US funding, suggesting the UN health agency had “failed in its basic duty” in its response.
“It is clear the repeated missteps by you and your organisation in responding to the pandemic have been extremely costly for the world,” he wrote in a letter to WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on 18 May.
He later labelled the WHO a “puppet of China”.
Mr Trump has repeatedly criticised China’s early handling of the outbreak
China has accused the US of being responsible for the spread of the virus on its own soil, attributing the outbreak to American “politicians who lie”.
Earlier this month, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said Mr Trump was trying to mislead the public, smear China and “shift the blame for [the US’s] own incompetent response”.
WHO member states have since agreed to set up an independent inquiry into the global response to the pandemic.