May, 2021 | últimas notícias

Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo discusses President Biden’s role in the unrest in the Middle East.

Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is planning a trip to Israel this week, a visit that could coincide with the Biden administration’s efforts to solidify a cease-fire agreement between the key US ally and Hamas militants.

Pompeo is slated to travel to Israel in a private capacity to celebrate the retirement of Yossi Cohen, the head of Israeli intelligence agency Mossad, a source close to the former secretary of state confirmed. The former Trump administration official may also meet with nongovernmental officials if the trip takes place.

The planned trip has yet to be finalized due to COVID-19 restrictions in Israel, the source added. Politico was first to report on Pompeo’s planned trip. Pompeo became a Fox News contributor in April.

Current Secretary of State Antony Blinken is scheduled to travel to the Middle East this week to meet with several regional leaders, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi. Pompeo notified Blinken of his plans to travel to Israel.

STATE DEPARTMENT ADMITS POSSIBILITY PALESTINIAN AID WILL FUND HAMAS ARSENAL

Israeli officials approved a cease-fire agreement last week amid mounting pressure from President Biden and top officials in his administration.

Pompeo was an outspoken defender of Netanyahu’s handling of the conflict with Hamas, asserting during an appearance on Fox News last week that Israel was “simply trying to defend themselves.”

“Israel has every right to do all that it needs to not only defend itself against the current rocket attacks but to make sure that that kind of attack can never happen again,” Pompeo said. “They need to complete that mission. It’s absolutely essential for the security of Israel that they do so.”

Pompeo has argued the Biden administration’s decision to engage in discussions on a potential US return to the Iranian nuclear deal contributed to the conflict in the region. He warned that money diverted to Iran as part of a renewed agreement could be used to fund Hamas.

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In Sept. 2020, Pompeo drew scrutiny after he delivered a speech at the Republican National Convention during a diplomatic trip to Israel. Critics argued the speech constituted a violation of the Hatch Act, which prohibits government employees from engaging in political activity.

Pompeo later said the State Department had reviewed the situation and determined it was “lawful.”

Source Article from https://www.foxnews.com/politics/pompeo-israel-trip-biden-admin-cease-fire

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Detained Belarusian dissident appears in video as fury mounts over ‘hijacking’ of Ryanair flight – CNN

Source Article from https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/24/europe/belarus-ryanair-flight-roman-protasevich-hijacking-intl/index.html

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Suspicious package sent to Rand Paul’s home – POLITICO

Marx, a singer and songwriter who was popular in the 1980s and 1990s, tweeted Sunday, “I’ll say it again: If I ever meet Rand Paul’s neighbor I’m going to hug him and buy him as many drinks as he can consume.”

Paul suffered broken ribs after his neighbor, Rene Boucher, assaulted him in 2017. Boucher pled guilty to assaulting a member of Congress.

Marx did not respond to initial requests for comment.

A spokesperson for the U.S. Capitol Police also did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Fox News reported later Monday that the outside of the envelope had a picture of a bandaged Paul with a gun pointed at his head and this quote: “I’ll finish what your neighbor started you motherf——“

Source Article from https://www.politico.com/news/2021/05/24/suspicious-package-rand-paul-490640

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U.S. should dig deeper into theory that Covid originated in a Wuhan lab, ex-Clinton official says – CNBC

The U.S. should be playing a larger role in getting to the bottom of the theory that Covid-19 first leaked from a virology lab in Wuhan, China, Atlantic Council senior fellow Jamie Metzl told CNBC on Monday.

“Right now, the World Health Assembly is meeting, and the United States should be doing everything possible with our allies to demand a comprehensive investigation into Covid origins with full access to all the records, samples, and personnel in China and beyond,” Metzl, a former national security official in the Clinton administration, said on “The News with Shepard Smith.”

“If China wants to thumb its nose at the rest of the world, in spite of more than 3 million people dead, let them make that statement,” he said.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Monday that determining the origins of Covid-19 is up to an international investigation led by the World Health Organization, and that the U.S. cannot lead a probe on its own.

Metzl organized last year a group of scientists and academics to call for a deeper investigation into Covid’s origins. He told host Shepard Smith that it’s “critically important” to find answers about the pandemic’s origins because if we don’t, it puts everyone “unnecessarily at risk.”

The White House did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.

A previously undisclosed U.S. intelligence report found that researchers at the Wuhan Institute of Virology sought hospital care after falling ill “with symptoms consistent with both Covid-19 and common seasonal illness,” The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday, quoting from the report.

The World Health Organization has repeatedly said the virus most likely jumped from bats to humans through another animal. It has described the theory that the virus leaked from a lab as “extremely unlikely,” but has not ruled it out. Metzl said he thinks the theory is a “likely hypothesis.”

“Why would you have a bat coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan and not in southern China, where the horseshoe bats are located? And what we know that they do have in Wuhan, is China’s only level 4 virology institute, with the world’s largest collection of bat coronaviruses, that was doing aggressive research designed to make those pathogens more dangerous,” Metzl said.

Source Article from https://www.cnbc.com/2021/05/24/us-should-dig-deeper-into-theory-that-covid-originated-in-a-wuhan-lab-ex-clinton-official-says.html

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Detained Belarusian dissident appears in video as fury mounts over ‘hijacking’ of Ryanair flight – CNN

Source Article from https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/24/europe/belarus-ryanair-flight-roman-protasevich-hijacking-intl/index.html

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Mike Pompeo says he’s ‘convinced’ COVID-19 began as lab leak in China – New York Post

Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said he is “convinced” that the coronavirus pandemic originated in a Chinese lab — and is accusing the Communist government of covering up the leak.

“There are many things the United States government could do to impose real cost on the Chinese Communist Party until they come clean about what they know and what they did,” Pompeo told Fox News.

“We know for sure they covered up this virus. I am confident that we will find that the evidence that we have seen to date is consistent with a lab leak and I’m convinced that’s what we’ll see. If I am wrong, I hope the Chinese Communist Party will come forward and make a fool of me.”

Pompeo, now a Fox News contributor, made the pointed comments following a report in the Wall Street Journal that three workers at the Wuhan Institute of Virology were hospitalized in November 2019 with symptoms consistent with both COVID-19 and seasonal illness.

Pompeo said he discussed the possibility that the pandemic — which has killed more than 3.4 million worldwide as of Monday — started as a lab accident early on with then-CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield in early January 2020.

Authorities in Beijing have said the first confirmed case of COVID-19 was identified on Dec. 8, 2019.

Wuhan Institute of Virology in Wuhan, which WHO investigated as the potential source of the COVID-19 outbreak.

AFP via Getty Images

The first case of the virus in the US was reported in Washington state on January 20, 2020.

“And the Chinese Communist Party had gone completely dark,” Pompeo said.

“They wouldn’t take our phone calls, they wouldn’t answer our questions. We sent inquires, we couldn’t get a straight answer … The Chinese Communist party clearly knew they had a problem, they didn’t want the world to know it and I’m convinced they still know they have a problem and don’t want us to know it.”

Citing current and former US officials, the Wall Street Journal reported Sunday that intelligence gathered by an “international partner” expanded on a State Department document confirming that the three Wuhan lab workers first became sick in November 2019.

“We need to know what happened here,” Pompeo told Fox News.

Former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the Wuhan lab needs to be more closely examined.

AP

“The Chinese Communist Party knows what happened here. They know who patient-zero was, they know precisely when this began … We need to get to the bottom of this because this could happen again.”

Pompeo’s charge also comes just days after a group of top scientists around the globe pushed back on the World Health Organization’s conclusion that it’s “extremely unlikely” the deadly virus leaked from a Wuhan lab.

In a letter published in the journal Science, the researchers called for a “proper investigation” into the “viable” claim.

“Theories of accidental release from a lab and zoonotic spillover both remain viable,” read the letter, published May 13.

“Knowing how COVID-19 emerged is critical for informing global strategies to mitigate the risk of future outbreaks.”

In March, a joint study conducted by the WHO and Chinese officials on the origins of the pandemic instead concluded humans likely became infected through an animal that got the virus from bats.

The director of the Wuhan National Biosafety Lab, which is part of the Wuhan Institute of Virology, is denying the Wall Street Journal’s report, according to CNN.

“I’ve read it, it’s a complete lie,” director Yuan Zhiming reportedly told state-run tabloid Global Times.

“Those claims are groundless. The lab has not been aware of this situation, and I don’t even know where such information came from.”

A spokesman for China’s Foreign Ministry, meanwhile, accused US officials of “hyping up” the lab leak theory.

Source Article from https://nypost.com/2021/05/24/mike-pompeo-convinced-covid-19-began-as-lab-leak-in-china/

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Man charged after mass shooting at N.J. party was clutching handgun, complaint says – NJ.com

The man charged with firearms violations in the Saturday night shooting that killed two and wounded 12 was arrested in a neighboring town, laying beside a tree with a gun in his hand, the criminal complaint against him alleges.

Local and state authorities announced the arrest of Kevin K. Dawkins, 36, at a Monday morning press conference led by Gov. Phil Murphy. They declined to elaborate on how he’s allegedly involved in the 11:30 p.m. Saturday shooting at a house on East Commerce Street in Fairfield that sent partygoers scattering as they fled gunfire.

New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal said the shooting, at a birthday party, was a “targeted attack,” and officials expect more arrests.

Kevin Dawkins in a Cumberland County jail photo.

The complaint says police in Bridgeton, a neighboring town and the county seat of Cumberland County, received an anonymous call after the shooting reporting a person with a gun in a wooded area behind the Maplewood Gardens apartments.

Officers arrived at the apartments, on Maple Drive, and found Dawkins, “laying down beside a tree with the handgun clutched in his right hand,” the complaint says. Officers ordered Dawkins to drop the weapon, and he did, the document says.

Records show Dawkins’ arrest, by Officer Dominic Pizzo, occurred at about 1:30 a.m. Sunday. The gun is a .40-caliber Glock 23 model that was loaded with 22 bullets.

Dawkins lives in the 800 block of East Commerce Street, which along with the Maple Street apartments, are each just under three miles from the shooting scene.

Bridgeton Police Chief Michael Gaimari said in a statement that Pizzo and the officers had assisted the New Jersey State Police at the shooting scene just before the arrest, and all information pertaining to Dawkins’ arrest was handed over to that agency.

“This was an excellent job by Officer Pizzo and other officers who assisted in apprehending this suspect without injury to themselves or the suspect as it could have gone south quickly,” Gaimari said.

Dawkins was initially held on four firearms charges, including unlawfully possessing a firearm, possessing it for an unlawful purpose and possessing a firearm as a convicted felon. Later Monday, records show Bridgeton police added two more charges against Dawkins relating to having a gun as a felon convicted of a serious crime.

He appeared in Superior Court of Cumberland County during a virtual appearance Monday afternoon. He will appear again Thursday for a detention hearing, where the Cumberland County Prosecutor’s Office will argue he be detained pending trial, Prosecutor Jennifer Webb-McRae said.

Webb-McRae declined to elaborate on Dawkins Monday evening, citing an ongoing investigation.

Asia Hester, 25, and Kevin Elliott, 30, died in the shooting and several victims remain hospitalized Monday.

Police investigate an overnight shooting that killed two and wounded 12 in Fairfield Township, Sunday, May 23, 2021. Tim Hawk | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

Staff Reporter Matt Gray contributed to this report.

Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com.

Kevin Shea may be reached at kshea@njadvancemedia.com.

Source Article from https://www.nj.com/cumberland/2021/05/man-charged-after-nj-party-shooting-was-clutching-handgun-when-arrested-complaint-says.html

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In 25 States, More Than Half Of Adults Are Fully Vaccinated – NPR

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In 25 states, the District of Columbia and Guam, more than half of adults are now fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to the latest CDC data.

New England leads the U.S. in vaccination rates among adults. Maine, Connecticut and Vermont have the highest vaccination rates among adults, with more than 62% of residents age 18 and over fully vaccinated. Massachusetts and Rhode Island are close behind.

The other states and jurisdictions with more than 50% of adults fully vaccinated, in order of highest to lowest vaccination rates, are New Jersey, New Mexico, Hawaii, Maryland, Minnesota, New York, Washington, South Dakota, Colorado, Iowa, Wisconsin, Virginia, Nebraska, District of Columbia, Guam, Oregon, California, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Michigan, New Hampshire and Alaska.

The states with the lowest rates of fully vaccinated adults are in the South. In Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas, Tennessee, Louisiana and Georgia, fewer than 40% of adults are fully vaccinated.

In West Virginia, which was lauded for early success in getting vaccines into people’s arms, the pace has slowed. As of Sunday, 41.3% of adults in the state were fully vaccinated.

The latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows a recent bump in the doses administered per day.

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On May 13, the CDC announced it was loosening its public health guidance for fully vaccinated Americans, giving those individuals two weeks past their final dose the thumbs-up to take off their masks in most places, indoors and out. Public health experts say the move was a gamble by the CDC to inspire more people to get vaccinated.

Some states have gotten creative to get more people vaccinated.

The same day the CDC updated its mask guidance, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine announced weekly drawings of $1 million, open to state residents who’ve received at least one dose of a vaccine. The “Vax-a-Million” idea apparently worked: The state saw a 28% increase in people getting the vaccine the weekend after the drawing was announced.

Source Article from https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2021/05/24/999799691/in-25-states-more-than-half-of-adults-are-fully-vaccinated

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Florida governor signs bill barring social media companies from blocking political candidates – The Washington Post

DeSantis first announced his support for the bill shortly after the tech companies’ suspended Trump, but the legislation, had it been effect, would not have affected the tech companies since Trump at the time was not an active candidate for office. The law creates fines of $250,000 per day for banning candidates for statewide office, and $25,000 for candidates for local office.

Source Article from https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/05/24/florida-gov-social-media-230/

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Arizona and Georgia audits move forward as Republicans continue to push election fraud lies – CNN

By Eric Bradner, CNN

Updated 5:43 PM ET, Mon May 24, 2021

Source Article from https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/24/politics/arizona-georgia-election-audits/index.html

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New York City Schools Will Fully Reopen With No Remote Option This Fall – NPR

New York City public schools will stop offering remote learning options in the coming school year, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Monday.

Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

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New York City public schools will stop offering remote learning options in the coming school year, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Monday.

Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio is promising a full reopening of the nation’s largest public school system in September. That means in person, five days a week, with no remote option for students to attend school exclusively online. The mayor made the announcement Monday on MSNBC’s Morning Joe.

“You can’t have a full recovery without full-strength schools,” de Blasio said in the segment.

Almost 70% of the nation’s students attend schools that are currently offering full-time, in-person learning, according to the organization Burbio. De Blasio’s announcement comes a week after New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy announced there would be no remote option for that state’s public school students come September.

But questions remain about how New York City will be able to accommodate 100% of its public school students in person. Some administrators worry there won’t be enough space to fit all students in classrooms under current social distancing requirements. At a City Council hearing last week, officials testified that all but 10% of the city’s public schools could fit their students into classrooms 3 or more feet apart.

At a press conference Monday, the mayor said he believes schools could make 3-feet social distancing work, but that he expects the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to relax the requirements more by August.

Meanwhile, many New York City parents have expressed reluctance around in-person schooling. Data from the U.S. Education Department shows students of color are less likely than white students to be learning in person, as of March. Communities of color in the U.S. have been disproportionately affected by the pandemic. In New York, Asian and Black families in particular have been more likely to keep their children home, according to demographic data released by the city. Parents there have cited virus safety concerns, a lack of trust in the school system and fear of discrimination in or on the way to school as reasons for keeping their children home.

Some parents have said they won’t feel comfortable until their children are vaccinated, while others have said they prefer remote learning, because it works better for their children academically or socially.

Michael Mulgrew, president of the United Federation of Teachers, the city’s largest teachers union, wrote last week in the New York Daily News that the city must maintain a remote learning option for a limited number of families next school year. On Monday, Mulgrew said, “We still have concerns about the safety of a small number of students with extreme medical challenges. For that small group of students, a remote option may still be necessary.”

But some education leaders have argued that offering a remote option would keep more students out of classrooms.

De Blasio said parents will be welcomed back to schools starting in June to ask questions and get answers from educators as well as to see how schools are keeping students and staff safe.

And remote learning isn’t completely going away in New York City. Earlier this month, officials said public school students will learn remotely on Election Day, instead of having the usual day off from school, and class will no longer be suspended on “snow days.”

The first day of school in New York City is Sept. 13.

NPR’s Nicole Cohen contributed to this report.

Source Article from https://www.npr.org/2021/05/24/999825807/new-york-city-schools-will-fully-reopen-with-no-remote-option-this-fall

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Airlines are avoiding Belarus after ‘state-sponsored hijacking’ of Ryanair flight – CNN

By Hanna Ziady, CNN Business

Updated 1:45 PM ET, Mon May 24, 2021

Source Article from https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/24/business/airlines-belarus-air-space/index.html

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Impeachment Witness Gordon Sondland Is Suing Mike Pompeo And U.S. For $1.8 Million – NPR

Former Ambassador Gordon Sondland alleges that former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo reneged on an agreement to pay his legal fees.

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Former Ambassador Gordon Sondland alleges that former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo reneged on an agreement to pay his legal fees.

Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP

Former Ambassador Gordon Sondland, who testified in former President Donald Trump’s first impeachment proceeding that there was a quid pro quo between the White House and the government of Ukraine, is suing former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and the U.S. government for $1.8 million.

The suit alleges that Pompeo reneged on “a legally binding promise, both individually and on behalf of the Government,” to reimburse Sondland for his legal fees relating to the 2019 impeachment investigation.

Sondland says the State Department “bucked normal convention and denied him the services of any government counsel” to prepare for the impeachment inquiry, in which he testified under oath for over 17 hours in October and November 2019, according to the suit, “the last seven broadcasted on live national television and elsewhere around the world.”

Sondland, who served as Trump’s ambassador to the European Union, was fired the following February, according to the suit, “simply for telling the truth,” and he alleges that the government has withheld reimbursement of his attorney’s fees in a “willful breach” of the October 2019 agreement to pay them.

Pompeo did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

According to the suit, an attorney with the State Department’s Office of the Legal Adviser said that Sondland would be reimbursed only $86,040.

Sondland is a Portland, Ore., hotel owner who contributed $1 million to Trump’s inaugural committee. He testified that there was an agreement that the Trump administration would release U.S. military aid for Ukraine’s newly elected government if it investigated then-candidate Joe Biden’s alleged ties with Ukraine.

“Was there a quid pro quo? With regard to the requested White House call and White House meeting, the answer is yes,” Sondland said during his testimony.

According to the suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., Sondland was advised on Feb. 20, 2020, that “while the Administration appreciated his testimony, the Administration wanted to purge everyone remotely connected to the Impeachment trial. Accordingly, the Counselor to the Department of State asked for Ambassador Sondland’s resignation.”

When Sondland refused to resign, he was fired later that day.

Source Article from https://www.npr.org/2021/05/24/999778153/impeachment-witness-gordon-sondland-is-suing-mike-pompeo-and-u-s-for-1-8-million

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Gottlieb says there’s growing circumstantial evidence that Covid may have originated in a lab – CNBC

Evidence that Covid-19 originally leaked from a Wuhan, China, virology lab is growing, Dr. Scott Gottlieb told CNBC on Monday, pointing to reports that three researchers from the lab sought hospital care with a Covid-like illness in November 2019.

“People a year ago who said this probably came from nature, it’s really unlikely it came from a lab, maybe a year ago that kind of a statement made a lot of sense because that was the more likely scenario,” Gottlieb, a former head of the Food and Drug Administration, said on “Squawk Box.” “But we haven’t found the true source of this virus.”

Scientists still haven’t discovered definitive proof that the virus came from an animal, he said. With other coronaviruses, SARS and MERS, researchers were able to identify the animal those diseases emerged from at this point in those outbreaks.

“It’s not for lack of trying, there has been an exhaustive search,” Gottlieb said.

A previously undisclosed U.S. intelligence report found that researchers at the Wuhan Institute of Virology sought hospital care after falling ill “with symptoms consistent with both Covid-19 and common seasonal illness,” The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday, quoting from the report.

Gottlieb said the growing number of reports provide an increasing amount of circumstantial evidence supporting the theory that the virus could have escaped from a lab.

“The question for a lot of people is going to be when are too many coincidences too much, when does it seem that there’s too many things suggesting that this could have come out of a lab,” he said.

Gottlieb said it’s unlikely we’ll ever know for sure. Unless there is a whistleblower or regime change in China, he said any evidence supporting the lab leak hypothesis won’t likely surface.

The World Health Organization has repeatedly said the virus most likely came from an animal host.

But last week, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky acknowledged that it could have originated in a lab as “one possibility.”

Most coronaviruses, however, “generally come from an animal origin,” Walensky said in Senate testimony after saying she had not seen enough data to give her opinion on how the current pandemic originated.

Global health officials will meet soon to further investigate the origins of the virus.

Source Article from https://www.cnbc.com/2021/05/24/gottlieb-says-theres-growing-circumstantial-evidence-that-covid-may-have-originated-in-a-lab.html

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Murder suspect in custody after week-long manhunt in S.C. – WBTV

Tyler Terry, 26, has been on the run since last Monday, May 17. He was taken into custody Monday, May 24, on day 7 of an intense manhunt. Deputies say Terry was homeless and had been living in the woods, explaining how he was able to avoid capture for so long.

Source Article from https://www.wbtv.com/2021/05/24/murder-suspect-custody-after-days-long-manhunt-sc/

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De Blasio: All NYC schools will be 100% in-person in September, masks still required – Fox News

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New York City’s massive public school system will be in-person only when students return in September for the next academic year, bringing an end to remote learning, Mayor Bill De Blasio announced Monday, although students will still be expected to wear masks.

The development comes as more than 60% of the Big Apple’s nearly 1 million public school students remain out of classrooms as they are learning from home full-time, according to Chalkbeat New York. The current school year in New York City is set to end June 25.

“Every single child will be back in the classroom. I have talked to so many parents who have been wanting to hear this confirmed and I am confirming it, once and for all. We are going to have plenty of protections in place,” De Blasio said during a press conference.

Melissa Jean reads “The Gruffalo” to her son’s pre-K class at Phyl’s Academy in the Brooklyn borough of New York on March 24. New York City schools will be all in person this fall with no remote options, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Monday, May 24. (AP)

REPUBLICAN SENATORS INVESTIGATING ‘CLOSE COORDINATION’ BETWEEN BIDEN ADMINISTRATION, TEACHERS UNIONS ON SCHOOL REOPENINGS

“This has been such a tough year – what parents have been through, what kids have been through,” he also said. “It’s time for everyone to come back. It’s time for us all to be together. It’s time to do things the way they were meant to be done, all the kids in the classroom together.”

However, in a letter New York City Schools Chancellor Meisha Porter sent to families Monday, she said: “Masks will continue to be a requirement in all of our school buildings.”

“In our commitment to keep health and safety a top priority, we plan to adhere to the many health and safety measures we had in place this past school year,” she wrote.

Porter says students, teachers and staff will continue to complete daily health screenings at home before heading into classrooms and that “on-site COVID-19 testing will continue in school buildings as recommended by the latest health guidance.”

“We will meet whatever the CDC social distancing requirements are in September, and we expect that the city’s continuously improving health metrics may allow for more flexibility by the fall,” she added.

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Officials confirmed to Chalkbeat New York that with De Blasio’s announcement, coronavirus-related remote teaching options will no longer be offered to educators in the fall.

“You can’t have a full recovery without full-strength schools, everyone back sitting in those classrooms, kids learning again,” De Blasio said Monday.

Source Article from https://www.foxnews.com/us/de-blasio-new-york-city-schools-in-person-only-september

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Biden to miss police reform bill deadline, meet with George Floyd’s family on death anniversary – Fox News

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Police reform could happen if Dems sort out this one issue: Sen. Kennedy

Louisiana Senator John Kennedy discusses potential police reform from President Biden as crime spikes around the U.S.

President Biden is expected to host the family of George Floyd at the White House on Tuesday – though Congress is poised to miss Biden’s deadline of getting the federal police reform bill with Floyd’s namesake passed by the one-year anniversary of Floyd’s killing by a Minneapolis officer.

The George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, originally introduced last June, passed the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives in March by a 220-212 vote. Though championed by civil rights groups, the wide-sweeping bill has so far stalled in the 50-50 split Senate, as Democrats and Republicans have continued negotiations on various points of contention, including no-knock warrants and chokeholds.

Biden, during his first address to a joint session of Congress on April 29, took the recent conviction of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin on murder and manslaughter charges in Floyd’s death as a green light to call on Congress to pass police reform in Floyd’s name by May 25.

“My fellow Americans, we have to come together to rebuild trust between law enforcement and the people they serve, to root out systemic racism in our criminal justice system, and to enact police reform in George Floyd’s name that passed the House already,” Biden said during his address.

BIDEN PLANS TO MEET WITH GEORGE FLOYD’S FAMILY ON ANNIVERSARY OF HIS MURDER

“I know Republicans have their own ideas and are engaged in the very productive discussions with Democrats in the Senate,” he added. “We need to work together to find a consensus. But let’s get it done next month, by the first anniversary of George Floyd’s death.”

White House press secretary Jen Psaki recognized Friday that it would be unlikely that Congress pass the federal police reform by Tuesday deadline but stressed that “the negotiators, by all accounts, are continuing to make progress.”

“They’re continuing to have good discussions, and that is a positive sign,” she said. “We are not going to slow our — slow our efforts to get this done, but we can also be transparent about the fact that it’s going to take a little bit more time — that sometimes that happens and that’s okay.

Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., who’s leading the GOP negotiations on the legislation, has said another issue under discussion is Section 1033, which involves government equipment from the military for local police. The bill also seeks to set limits on qualified immunity shielding police from civil lawsuits, creates a framework to prevent racial profiling and establishes a national registry on allegations of police misconduct.

Last July, Democrats in the Senate rejected a similar GOP-backed police reform bill introduced by Scott, arguing the proposed legislation did not go far enough to address racial inequality.

The George Floyd Memorial Foundation, a nonprofit founded by Floyd’s sister, Bridgett Floyd, is asking people to contact their federal representatives Monday as part of a “day of action” to urge them to pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act by the first anniversary of his death.

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The foundation is hosting several events in Minneapolis this week, including two panels with the families and other activists Monday followed by a community festival and candlelight vigil Tuesday.

Executive director Jacari Harris said the group has received donations from the Minneapolis Foundation, Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation and athletic shoe and apparel retailer Finish Line, among others. Despite large grants from corporations and other organizations, Harris said the average donation to the nonprofit was $47. Harris said the group has also funded an initiative in Fayetteville, N.C., where Floyd was born, to help reduce homelessness, a scholarship program for law school students and an internship program at Texas A&M University, where Floyd went to school.

Fox News’ Thomas Barrabi and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source Article from https://www.foxnews.com/politics/biden-george-floyd-family-death-anniversary-police-reform-bill-deadline

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Marjorie Taylor Greene, Robert Reich trade barbs on Twitter | TheHill – The Hill

Professor and pundit Robert Reich sparred with Rep. Marjorie Taylor GreeneMarjorie Taylor Greene GOP efforts to downplay danger of Capitol riot increase The Memo: What now for anti-Trump Republicans? Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene says she’s meeting with Trump ‘soon’ in Florida MORE (R-Ga.) on Twitter on Sunday, accusing her of promoting hate after she called him a communist.

“Can we all agree that Marjorie Taylor Green must be expelled from Congress?” Reich, former President Clinton’s secretary of Labor and a veteran political operative who served in the administrations of Jimmy CarterJimmy Carter If Biden-Harris falters, who would be the strongest Democrat for 2024? Biden is taking us back to the ’70s — the worst of them Retired GOP representative: I won’t miss the circus, but I might miss some of the clowns MORE and Gerald Ford, said in an initial tweet.

Greene responded: “Don’t know you, but when I saw Berkley in your bio, I got it. Just put the hammer and sickle with it.”

After pointing out her last name is spelled with an “e” on the end, Greene told Reich: “Being a communists professor, you’ve never done the real hard work that builds the economy, you just teach ideas that will destroy it.”

Reich shot back at Greene, saying, “All you do is promote hate.”

“Hate is destroying our country. (Oh, and Berkeley is spelled with an “e” after the k.),” he said.

All you do is promote hate. Hate is destroying our country. (Oh, and Berkeley is spelled with an “e” after the k.)

— Robert Reich (@RBReich) May 23, 2021

Greene has been the source of controversy several times since being elected to the House last year. Most recently, her comments comparing mandatory mask requirements on the House floor to Jews being forced to wear gold stars during the Holocaust sparked fierce backlash.

Earlier this year she reportedly attempted to begin an “America First Caucus” that would focus on “Anglo-Saxon” political values. That plan has since been scrapped.

Greene has also floated unfounded conspiracy theories about election fraud and space lasers as a cause for wildfires on the West Coast.

Earlier this month, she sparred with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) after Greene aggressively confronted her outside the House chamber. Some lawmakers have said they do not feel safe around Greene or her office.

Source Article from https://thehill.com/homenews/house/555014-marjorie-taylor-greene-robert-reich-trade-barbs-on-twitter

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EU leaders discuss repercussions for Belarus after Ryanair ‘hijack’ – CNBC

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RY4C-IE

LONDON — Outraged European leaders are gathering in Brussels Monday to discuss how to punish Belarusian authorities, after the forced landing of a Ryanair flight and subsequent arrest of a journalist on board.

A fighter jet escorted the Ryanair flight, which was in Belarusian airspace, to land it the capital of Minsk. The authorities cited a security threat but then proceeded to detain dissident journalist Roman Protasevich.

Ryanair has since called it “an act of aviation piracy” and Belarus has been widely condemned by the West. The plane had been traveling from Greece to Lithuania — two EU members — on Sunday.

The EU summit on Monday was meant to be a meeting about climate action, but instead it is now expected to be dominated by the incident in Belarus. “This is yet another blatant attempt by the Belarusian authorities to silence all opposition voices,” the 27 EU member states said in a statement on Monday morning.

Nigel Gould-Davies, a former U.K. ambassador to Belarus, told CNBC’s Street Signs on Monday that it was “absolutely imperative that the EU, and I hope with American support as well, will take a much stronger and concerted stance now.”

What can be done?

On the EU’s table is the possibility of stepping up sanctions against Belarus.

The EU put forward sanctions against the regime and, in particular, against President Alexander Lukashenko in 2020 for the violent repression and intimidation of peaceful demonstrators, opposition members and journalists. This came in the aftermath of a presidential election that took place in August, which the EU did not recognize as free and fair.

Gitanas Nauseda, the president of Lithuania, suggested that the airspace over Belarus should be recognized as unsafe and Belarussian aircraft should not be accepted at European airports.

Alexander Stubb, the former prime minister of Finland, told CNBC Monday that “there is no hope for cooperation before regime change. The EU should use all instruments in its toolbox, starting with sanctions across the board.”

What future for EU foreign policy?

The incident comes at a time when the EU has struggled to reach a consensus over key foreign policy matters. Last week, for example, the 27 EU nations failed to agree on a common statement on the recent conflict between Israelis and Palestinians after Hungary declined to sign it off.

Earlier this month, EU ministers also didn’t not agree on a common statement on China, also after Hungary blocked a consensus.

“The Ryanair hijack is the ultimate test case for the credibility of the EU foreign policy on both the world and EU stage,” Alberto Alemanno, a professor of EU law at H.E.C. business school, told CNBC.

“Either the EU will succeed in unanimously speak(ing) and act(ing) against Lukashenko’s (Belarus), and Russia — should its involvement be confirmed — or this accident could mark the end of the Union’s much-sought strategic autonomy,” he added.

Franak Viacorka is senior advisor to Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, Belarus’ opposition leader who is also currently in exile, this time in Lithuania.

He told CNBC’s Dan Murphy Monday that Protasevich was one of many disrupters challenging Lukashenko’s regime.

He said it was crucial that Belarus was now on the agenda at the EU summit, and said he expected ministers and leaders in the region to support Belarusian citizens. He added that Belarus could prove to be a success story if Washington and Brussels acted together.

“Right now there are 3,000 criminal cases open against young people, journalists, teachers, doctors … but Roman was one of the most vocal, and I think journalists are the main target for the regime right now,” he said.

Source Article from https://www.cnbc.com/2021/05/24/belarus-eu-leaders-discuss-sanctions-after-incident-with-ryanair-flight.html

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N.Y.C. to Eliminate Remote Learning For Fall – The New York Times

Nonwhite families, whose health has suffered disproportionately from the virus, have been most likely to keep their children learning from home over the past year.

During the mayor’s news conference, the city’s schools chancellor, Meisha Porter, said there would be “no Covid-related accommodations,” signaling that teachers and school staff will no longer be granted medical waivers to work from home.

The city’s school system is currently planning for masks to be required in school buildings, Ms. Porter said. Schools would also follow the C.D.C.’s social-distancing protocol, which currently recommends elementary school students remain at least 3 feet apart in classrooms. Both those policies could change by the fall.

New York, like districts across the country, has struggled to make remote learning successful. Online classes have been frustrating for many students, and even disastrous for some, including children with disabilities.

By one estimate, three million students across the United States, roughly the school-age population of Florida, stopped going to classes, virtual or in person, after the pandemic began. A disproportionate number of those disengaged students are low-income Black, Latino and Native American children who have struggled to keep up in classrooms that are partly or fully remote.

Mr. de Blasio, who has been criticized for not doing more to improve the quality of online education, has said that remote learning is inherently inferior.

It has also been extraordinarily complex for the city to run two parallel school systems, one in person and one online, with many students switching between the two every few days. So many students and teachers operating from home made it nearly impossible for some schools to offer normal schedules.

For the past few months, Mr. de Blasio said he expected the city to keep some kind of remote learning option for the fall. But he and his aides changed their minds in recent weeks, officials said, as virus rates plummeted throughout the city and as children 12 and older became eligible for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. Pfizer and BioNTech plan in September to submit requests for authorization of the vaccine in children ages 2 to 11.

Source Article from https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/24/education/nyc-will-eliminate-remote-learning-for-the-fall-in-a-major-step-toward-reopening.html

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Blinken Dispatched to Middle East Amid Israel-Gaza Truce – The Wall Street Journal

President Biden is sending Secretary of State Antony Blinken to the Middle East in an effort to safeguard the cease-fire between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas following 11 days of intense fighting.

“He will continue our administration’s efforts to rebuild ties to, and support for, the Palestinian people and leaders, after years of neglect,” Mr. Biden said in a statement, while reaffirming the U.S.’s commitment to Israel’s security. “And he will engage other key partners in the region.”

Mr. Blinken is set to leave Monday and return Thursday, visiting Jerusalem; Ramallah in the West Bank; Cairo; and Amman, Jordan, the State Department said. He planned to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and other officials involved in talks.

The U.S., together with its allies Egypt, Qatar and several European nations, worked to persuade both Israel and leaders of Hamas to end their military campaigns. Washington doesn’t have direct contact with Hamas, which governs Gaza and is designated by the U.S. as a terrorist organization.

Source Article from https://www.wsj.com/articles/two-israelis-stabbed-in-jerusalem-amid-heightened-tensions-11621862705

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What can be done?

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