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Turkey Communications Director Blasts Twitter for Removing 7,340 Accounts 

Turkey criticized Twitter on Friday for suspending more than 7,000 accounts the social media company said were promoting narratives favorable to Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and the AK Parti (AKP). The suspended 7,340 accounts were detected earlier this year “employing coordinated inauthentic activity,” Twitter said in a blog post uploaded on Friday. Republic of Turkey communications director Fahrettin Altun said the social media company was attempting to smear the government and trying to redesign Turkish politics. “This arbitrary act … has demonstrated yet again that Twitter is no mere social media company, but a propaganda machine with certain political and ideological inclinations,” Altun said in a written statement on Twitter.Statement regarding Twitter’s decision to suspend accounts in Turkey and the company’s allegations: pic.twitter.com/mi9abYDWEE
— Fahrettin Altun (@fahrettinaltun) June 12, 2020The communications director closed with a warning to Twitter. “We would like to remind this company of the eventual fate of a number of organizations, which attempted to take similar steps in the past,” Altun said. In its Friday blog post, Twitter revealed it had shared data from the account takedowns related to Turkey, as well as China and Russia, with the Australian Strategic Policy Institute  (ASPI) and Stanford Internet Observatory (SIO). In what the SIO dubbed “The Turkey Operation,”  it found batches of fabricated personalities, all created on the same day. The suspended accounts were used for AKP “cheerleading,” to increase domestic support for Turkish intervention in Syria and compromised other Twitter accounts linked to organizations critical of the government, the SIO found.Twitter’s handling of the “Turkey Operation” has come to light as it removed 23,750 accounts posting pro-Beijing narratives, and 1,152 accounts engaging in state-backed political propaganda within Russia. 

Criminal Complaint Accuses Former Argentine Officials of Spying on Journalists

The alleged surveillance of over 400 journalists by Argentina’s former government has been condemned by rights groups as a threat to press freedom and democracy.Files made public by the president’s office Sunday appear to show that during former President Mauricio Macri’s term, Argentina’s Federal Intelligence Agency (AFI) collected data on hundreds of local and international journalists, many of whom covered international summits held in Argentina.“It is extremely serious and worrying that the state is watching or spying on journalists,” Paula Cejas, director of the Latin America office for the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), told VOA via email. “This is a clear attack on freedom of expression and press, and a violation of people’s privacy.”The files were shared with a court last week, along with a criminal complaint that accused the former head of the intelligence agency of domestic espionage without a judicial order,The Associated Press reported.FILE – Argentine President Mauricio Macri speaks during a presidential candidates debate, in Santa Fe, Oct. 13, 2019.The complaint called for an investigation of Macri, former AFI director Gustavo Arribas, his deputy Silvina Majdalani and other agents, according to the IFJ and news reports.Macri’s chief of staff, Gustavo Gómez Repeto, did not respond to VOA’s request for comment.A former spokesperson for Macri told the AP he no longer worked for the former president, and a spokesperson for the party of former Security Minister Patricia Bullrich said she was not on duty and hung up, the AP reported.The complaint alleges that the AFI compiled profiles of businesspeople and academics, with over 400 journalists included, some of whom worked for Reuters and AP.Some of the profiles included “political preferences, social media posts, sympathy for feminist groups, or political and/or cultural content among others,” according to the complaint.Intelligence auditThe alleged surveillance came to light when President Alberto Fernández, who ousted Macri in elections in October, asked new intelligence chief Cristina Camaño to audit the intelligence agency.The prosecutor’s office said that Camaño found the files on hard drives in a safe in an intelligence agency office. The files included three dossiers: “2017,” “G20” and “Miscellaneous.”Argentina hosted the World Trade Organization’s annual summit in 2017 and the Group of 20 summit in 2018.Cejas, of the IFJ, told VOA that “everything indicates” the surveillance related to journalists who were accredited for the summits.Natalie Southwick, from the press freedom group the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), said it was unclear what the information was used for, and who within the government was involved.There are “more questions than answers,” she told VOA.“[Journalists] are trying to do their job, which is reporting on issues of public interest — in this case, a global event,” Southwick said. She added the idea that a journalist may be singled out for activities or movements “is potentially a really powerful tool of intimidation.”The Forum for Argentine Journalism (FOPEA), an organization that protects and promotes journalism in Argentina, said in a statement that it will request reports from the agencies involved.#FopeaLibertaddeExpresión
FOPEA manifiesta preocupación por los casos de presunto espionaje ilegal contra ciudadanos -entre ellos, numerosos periodistas- que se habrían cometido en 2018 y comunica que presentará un pedido de informes a las autoridades y organismos involucrados. pic.twitter.com/uhtLXL2t5C
— FOPEA (@FOPEA) June 6, 2020The alleged actions were “intolerable in a democracy and affect the constitutional safeguard of journalistic activity,” according to a translation of the organization’s June 6 statement.Targeting journalists in Argentina is not new, Cejas said. During the country’s dictatorship from 1976 to 1983, over 220 journalists and media workers disappeared, she said. This “does not diminish” the relevance of the surveillance, she added.Capabilities may still existSouthwick said that the country’s history of surveilling journalists means the government may have similar capabilities today, even decades after the dictatorship.“When you have this kind of surveillance apparatus and infrastructure that was created under previous governments, unless it’s actively dismantled, you still kind of have that capability,” Southwick said.Several Latin American countries are believed to have purchased or shown interest in spyware, according to a 2016 report by Chilean digital rights group Derechos Digitales.“In most countries, it’s not unreasonable to assume that [journalists’] movements or their social media posts or some of their activities are being watched,” Southwick said.Some information for this report came from The Associated Press.

Putin Appears at Russia Day Celebration

In his first public appearance since May 9, Russian President Vladimir Putin Friday expressed confidence that “an absolute majority” of Russian citizens support constitutional reforms that include allowing him to stay in office until 2036.Putin, speaking at a Russia Day Celebration at Moscow’s Victory Park on Poklonnaya Hill, offered holiday greetings to Russian citizens and their compatriots abroad.In his comments, Putin spoke of the common “historical code and moral foundations,” culture and traditions that all Russians share, such as respect for the working man, parents and family.  He said “There have been frequent requests to include these fundamental, core principals into the Russian constitution. I’m sure that the absolute majority of our citizens share and support such a position.”Russians go to the polls July 1 to vote on a series of constitutional reforms, including a change that would allow Putin to run for two more six-year terms, after his current term expires in 2024.Other ballot measures include deepening presidential powers over parliament, establishing the ruble as Russia’s official currency and defining marriage as between a man and a woman, effectively banning gay marriage.Observers speculate the gay marriage ban was added to the ballot to drive voter turnout.  Russia Day began in 1992 to mark Russia’s declaration of sovereignty from the Soviet Union, paving the way to the country’s independence.

Twitter Removes China-linked Accounts Spreading False News

Twitter has removed a vast network of accounts that it says is linked to the Chinese government and were pushing false information favorable to the country’s communist rulers. Beijing denied involvement Friday and said the company should instead take down accounts smearing China.
The U.S. social media company suspended 23,750 accounts that were posting pro-Beijing narratives, and another 150,000 accounts dedicated to retweeting and amplifying those messages.
 
The network was engaged “in a range of coordinated and manipulated activities” in predominantly Chinese languages, including praise for China’s response to the coronavirus pandemic and “deceptive narratives” about Hong Kong pro-democracy protests, the company said.  
The accounts also tweeted about two other topics: Taiwan and Guo Wengui, an exiled billionaire waging a campaign from New York against China’s president and party leader Xi Jinping and his administration. Most had little to no followers and failed to get much attention. The accounts were suspended under Twitter’s manipulation policies, which ban artificial amplification and suppression of information.  
Twitter and other social media services like Facebook and YouTube are blocked in China.
 
“While the Chinese Communist Party won’t allow the Chinese people to use Twitter, our analysis shows it is happy to use it to sow propaganda and disinformation internationally,” said Fergus Hanson, director of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute’s International Cyber Policy Centre, which worked with the company on the takedown.  China denied involvement.  
“It holds no water at all to equate China’s response to the epidemic with disinformation,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said at a daily news briefing on Friday.  
“If Twitter wants to make a difference, it should shut down those accounts that have been organized and coordinated to attack and discredit China,” she added.
Twitter also removed more than 1,000 accounts linked to a Russian media website engaging in state-backed political propaganda in Russian, and a network of 7,340 fake or compromised accounts used for “cheerleading” the ruling party in Turkey.

French Police Stage Banned Demo to Demand Government Support

French police defied a ban on mass gatherings to protest what they see as a lack of government support, marching shoulder to shoulder on Friday on the Champs-Elysees to show their anger against new limits on arrest tactics and criticism of racism in their ranks.
France this week announced a ban on chokeholds is part of government efforts to stem police brutality and racism in the wake of global protests over George Floyd’s death in the U.S. But police have especially taken issue with any implication of systemic racism among French police.
Interior Minister Christophe Castaner said earlier this week any “strong suspicion” of racism would be punished, in response to investigations into racist comments on closed Facebook and WhatsApp groups for police.
Friday’s protest was small but highly visible, with honking, flags and blue smoke blowing under rainy skies. As officers marched close together, with hardly a mask in sight, Paris police issued a bulletin confirming that anti-police protests planned this weekend were banned because of the coronavirus pandemic.  
Friday’s group walked unimpeded to the interior ministry, which is next to the presidential palace and has been barricaded against demonstrators since the 2018 yellow-vest protests that frequently ended in violent clashes. Uniformed guards appeared startled at the arrival of the protest but did not intervene. After a minute of silence for dead police officers, they sang the French national anthem, spoke briefly and dispersed.
“French police are the most controlled in the world, so when there are certain lapses by a tiny minority, don’t stigmatize all police,” said Fabien Vanhemelryck of the Alliance union. He accused politicians of responding hastily to a crisis in the United States “that has nothing to do with us.”Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
download this video to view it offline.Download File360p | 11 MB480p | 15 MB540p | 22 MB720p | 51 MB1080p | 91 MB Embed” />Copy Download AudioPolice unions met Thursday and Friday with Castaner to discuss changes to police tactics after the minister announced Monday that police would no longer be taught to seize suspects by the neck or push on their necks. Castaner stopped short of banning another technique — pressing on a prone suspect’s chest — that also has been blamed for leading to asphyxiation and possible death.
Such immobilization techniques have come under growing criticism since Floyd’s death. But French police say the new restrictions go too far.  
“He doesn’t even know what he’s talking about,” said Jean-Paul Megret, another police union leader. “Sometimes you can’t just ask people to follow you to be arrested. Every day, you’re dealing with people who are completely insane.”
Unions floated the idea this week of widening the use of stun-guns, which are only available to a handful of specialized officers.  
France has seen several anti-police protests sparked by Floyd’s death, and another is planned Saturday. Friday’s protest began on the Champs-Elysees avenue, which was repeatedly the scene of violence between police and the “yellow vest” protesters last year.  
Last week, the Paris prosecutor’s office opened a preliminary investigation into racist insults and instigating racial hatred based on comments allegedly written in a private police Facebook group.
Website Streetpress published a string of offensive messages that it said were published within the group, though acknowledged that it is unclear whether the authors were officers or people pretending to be police. Some of the reported comments mocked young men of color who have died fleeing police.
Separately, six police officers in the Normandy city of Rouen are under internal investigation over racist comments in a private WhatsApp group. Both incidents have prompted public concerns about extreme views among French police.

Italy Resumes all Professional Sport Competitions

Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte announced Thursday night that all professional sport competition in the country will resume starting Friday — but without fans attending, to prevent the risk of spreading the coronavirus.Conte also announced that amateur contact games may restart beginning on June 25 as Italy emerges from the COVID-19 outbreak and regional authorities confirm that the rate of infection continues to decline.Some entertainment activities will resume, and others will remain suspended.”Shows with public in concert halls and movie theaters will also resume, as well as those in other spaces, including those outdoors, but with some precautions,” Conte said. “All those activities that take place in ballrooms, discos and similar clubs, may them be indoors or outdoors, will remain suspended.”Italy is also limiting arrivals for tourism from most of Europe but allowing people to enter Italy from Asia or North or South America for work or other essential reasons for a short period of time.Conte urged Italians to download a new contact tracing app, known as the Immuni app, which will become available all over the country for the first time next week. Immuni uses Bluetooth technology to notify users they have come into close, prolonged contact with an app user who has tested positive.Technological Innovation and Digitalization Minister Paola Pisano said Thursday that 2 million people have downloaded the Immuni app so far.  

Tourists, Jamaicans Returning to Island after Tuesday Face Mandatory Coronavirus Testing

Thousands of tourists are due to begin arriving in Jamaica on Tuesday as the country gradually moves to reopen amid the coronavirus outbreak.The minister of health and wellness, Dr. Christopher Tufton, announced that after Tuesday, all tourists and Jamaicans will be tested for the coronavirus so they can better understand and manage the risk profile of people, especially visitors.The government initially said tourists will only submit to voluntary testing.Jamaican Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett said dozens of flights carrying 5,000 to 6,000 visitors are expected to arrive in Jamaica beginning Tuesday through the end of the month.Bartlett also said the government has launched a resilient zone that aims to help authorities manage the movement of tourists traveling between the most popular destinations, from Negril through Port Antonio on the north end of the island.Jamaican officials are still urging everyone on the island to practice social distancing and wear masks to reduce the risk of infection.So far, Jamaica has confirmed more than 600 coronavirus cases and at least 10 deaths.

In France, Minorities see George Floyd’s Death Mirrored at Home

Like many countries, France is witnessing a public awakening on the issue of police violence and racial profiling, sparked by the death of George Floyd in the United States. In northern Paris, one group of judicial experts and activists is working with minority youngsters, teaching them their rights and how to interact with the police and the communities they live in. Lisa Bryant in Paris has the story.
Camera: Lisa Bryant, Agencies

Turkey Sentences US Consulate Employee to More Than 8 Years

A Turkish court on Thursday convicted a local U.S. Consulate employee in Istanbul of aiding an armed terror organization and sentenced him to eight years and nine months in prison, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported.Metin Topuz, a translator and assistant for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency, has been jailed since 2017, accused of links to U.S.-based Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen. The Turkish government blames Gulen for the 2016 coup attempt and considers his network to be a terrorist organization.Topuz’s arrest and subsequent prosecution caused tensions between Ankara and Washington, and U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo issued a statement criticizing the conviction.The accusations were based on his contacts with police officers believed to be members of Gulen’s network of followers. Topuz has maintained his innocence throughout his trial and is expected to appeal the verdict.In his statement, Pompeo said: “U.S. officials observed every hearing in the trial of Mr. Topuz in Istanbul, and we have seen no credible evidence to support this decision. As a result, this conviction undermines confidence in Turkey’s institutions and the critical trust at the foundation of Turkish-American relations.”Pompeo added that the U.S. officials “reiterate our call on the Turkish government to resolve his case in a just manner.”In his concluding words in his own defense before the verdict, Topuz told the court that he had been in contact with Turkish police, paramilitary police and customs officials as part of his job with the DEA and had no way of knowing that these officials were involved in criminal acts.”As part of my duty with the DEA, under the instructions and observation of my superiors, I had thousands of contacts with 309 law enforcement officials to prevent crime,” the state-run Anadolu Agency quoted Topuz as saying.”I committed no crime and had no relations with (Gulen’s network),” he said.The U.S. Embassy said: “For nearly three decades, Mr. Topuz performed outstanding work appreciated and lauded by officials and citizens of both countries. Under our direction, he promoted law enforcement cooperation between Turkey and the U.S., contributing to the safety of people in both nations.”Gulen, who has been in self-imposed exile in the U.S. since 1999, denies involvement in the coup attempt, which killed about 250 people and injured around 2,000 others. 

Apple Removes Podcast Apps in China

A popular podcasting platform, Pocket Casts, has been removed from Apple’s app store in China at Beijing’s request, according to the company’s Twitter thread. Pocket Casts confirmed Wednesday on Twitter that the request was made by the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), Beijing’s top internet watchdog agency that controls which apps can be accessed on iOS and other platforms in the country. “We were contacted by the CAC through Apple around 2 days before the app was removed from the store,” it said.Pocket Casts has been removed from the Chinese App store by Apple, at the request of the Cyberspace Administration of China. We believe podcasting is and should remain an open medium, free of government censorship. As such we won’t be censoring podcast content at their request.
— Pocket Casts (@pocketcasts) June 11, 2020Before Pocket Casts was removed, another podcast player for iPhone, Castro, said on June 4 that its app was also removed from the Chinese app store by Apple. Castro said about 10% of its user base is in China. Asked why its app was taken down, Castro said in a Twitter comment on June 6 that they think it might have been the company’s support of the protests in Hong Kong, but “we were not given specifics.”We think it might have been our support of the protests in the Discover tab. We were not given specifics.
— Castro Podcasts (@CastroPodcasts) June 7, 2020Pocket Casts, originally developed by an Austrian company, was acquired by a group of American public radio companies in 2018. It is currently ranked 82nd most popular in the podcast news app section on Apple’s U.S website, where the Twitter app is number one. The app was not searchable within Apple’s Chinese app store at the time of writing. Apple could not be immediately reached for comment. This is not the first time that Apple has removed an app from the app store following a request by the Chinese government. According to a Transparency Report released on Apple’s website, for the first six months of 2019, the company received 56 requests from the Chinese government seeking removal of a third-party application offered on the app store related to alleged or suspected legal violations. In comparison, it received only two requests from Vietnam and five from Russia. Apple, by its own account, took down 194 apps in mainland China, none in Vietnam and 16 in Russia. The podcast removal comes amid fresh criticism from U.S.-based Chinese activists who said that Zoom, a U.S. video communication company, censors video talks on Hong Kong protests and China’s Tiananmen Square crackdown.The video-chat app briefly blocked an account of a Chinese human rights leader and then later restored the account on Wednesday. According to The New York Times, Zoom said in a statement on Wednesday that it had been following local laws when it suspended the account. “It is not in Zoom’s power to change the laws of governments opposed to free speech,” Zoom said.

British Decision to Oust Huawei Is Settled, Analyst Says

A British political insider says there is no longer any doubt that the London government will abandon plans to incorporate technology from Chinese tech giant Huawei in the rollout of its 5G telecommunications network.The government will make an official announcement in the coming weeks of its plans to “sunset” Huawei’s involvement in the network, said Nile Gardiner, a onetime aide to former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and now the chair of a center named for Thatcher at the Washington-based Heritage Foundation.Word of the decision has already been leaked to British media outlets quoting Downing Street sources, “which is usually how it works,” Gardiner said in an interview.For months, the British government has been under pressure from the United States to pull out of its deal with Huawei, but Gardiner said domestic considerations are at least equally responsible for the decision.He attributes the reversal in part to strong opposition among senior members of the governing Conservative Party, as well as widespread public disillusionment with Beijing resulting from the coronavirus pandemic.“There has been a very significant rebellion against Prime Minister [Boris] Johnson’s earlier decision” to allow Huawei a 35% stake in Britain’s telecommunications market, Gardiner told VOA.Vote to amend soughtDuring a parliamentary debate on the issue in March, former Conservative Party leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith questioned Johnson’s decision and called for a vote to amend the government’s Telecommunications Infrastructure Bill.Duncan Smith accused the Chinese government of spending 20 years underbidding other tech firms until Huawei could emerge as the dominant player in the telecom market. He said going ahead with the deal would make Britain “nationally dependent on Huawei,” which has been classified by British authorities as a “high-risk vendor.”Gardiner said the revolt within party ranks has gained sufficient support that the Johnson government must amend its proposed 5G legislation or risk a parliamentary defeat when the issue next comes to a vote this summer.FILE – Mobile network phone masts are visible in front of St Paul’s Cathedral in London, Jan. 28, 2020. A political insider says Britain will abandon plans to incorporate Huawei in the rollout of the nation’s 5G telecommunications network.While Duncan Smith and other lawmakers have warned against Beijing’s increasing involvement in British society for years, the turnaround in British public opinion has been shaped by China’s handling of the coronavirus, including early efforts to suppress reporting on the contagion.This “has significantly hardened the view of the British government and the British people,” Gardiner said, adding that recent moves to extend China’s security control over Hong Kong have been “extremely unhelpful” to Beijing’s cause.Analysts also speculate that Johnson’s personal battle with COVID-19, which brought him close to death in April, contributed to his new, tougher view of China. “A healthy growth is his backbone,” said Fraser Howie, a Scottish-born expert on Britain’s relations with the Asia Pacific region and co-author of Red Capitalism.Huawei campaignHuawei, meanwhile, has not given up on the British market. The company launched a high-profile ad campaign this week in the form of a “Dear Britain” letter published in major media outlets, touting its two-decade-long investment history in the country and reiterating its “commitment to helping bring fast reliable mobile and full fiber broadband networks to every part [of] the country.”The ad campaign follows announcements in April and May that a prominent member of British industry had joined the company’s board, and that it had entered a “new five-year collaboration” agreement with Imperial College London, “aimed at growing the U.K.’s data science and innovation ecosystem.”Washington, too, is keeping up the pressure. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo issued a statement Wednesday denouncing “the Chinese Communist Party’s coercive bullying tactics,” citing reports that Beijing has issued threats toward Britain’s landmark banking institution, the HSBC.“The United States stands with our allies and partners” and “stands ready to assist our friends in the U.K. with any needs they have, from building secure and reliable nuclear power plants to developing trusted 5G solutions that protect their citizens’ privacy,” Pompeo said.“Free nations deal in true friendship and desire mutual prosperity, not political and corporate kowtows.”

Microsoft Joins Amazon, IBM in Pausing Face Scans for Police

Microsoft has become the third big tech company this week to say it won’t sell its facial recognition software to police, following similar moves by Amazon and IBM.Microsoft’s president and chief counsel, Brad Smith, announced the decision and called on Congress to regulate the technology during a Washington Post video event on Thursday.”We’ve decided we will not sell facial recognition technology to police departments in the United States until we have a national law in place, grounded in human rights, that will govern this technology,” Smith said.The trio of tech giants is stepping back from law-enforcement use of systems that have faced criticism for incorrectly identifying people with darker skin. Ongoing protests following the death of George Floyd have focused attention on racial injustice in the U.S. and how police use technology to track people.Amazon Bans Police Use of its Face Recognition for a Year Civil rights groups and Amazon’s own employees have pushed the company to stop selling its technology, called Rekognition, to government agencies, saying that it could be used to invade people’s privacy and target minoritiesBut while all three companies are known for their work in developing artificial intelligence, including face recognition software, none is a major player in selling such technology to police. Smith said Thursday that Microsoft currently doesn’t sell its face recognition software to any U.S. police departments. He didn’t say if that includes federal law enforcement agencies or police forces outside the U.S.Several other companies that are less well known dominate the market for government facial recognition contracts in the U.S., including Tokyo-based NEC and the European companies Idemia and Gemalto.Microsoft, Amazon and IBM are calling on Congress to set national rules over how police use facial recognition — something that’s now being considered as part of a police reform package sparked by the protests following Floyd’s death.”If all of the responsible companies in the country cede this market to those that are not prepared to take a stand, we won’t necessarily serve the national interest or the lives of the black and African American people of this nation well,” Smith said. “We need Congress to act, not just tech companies alone.”Microsoft has spent two years warning of the potential dangers of face-scanning technology being abused to enable oppressive mass surveillance, but the company has opposed outright bans on government use of the technology passed in San Francisco and other cities. That’s led to criticism from groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union, which says Microsoft is lobbying for weak regulations that could end up legitimizing and expanding police use of facial recognition.”Congress and legislatures nationwide must swiftly stop law enforcement use of face recognition, and companies like Microsoft should work with the civil rights community — not against it — to make that happen,” said Matt Cagle, an attorney with the ACLU of Northern California, in a statement Thursday. 

Experts Warn about Possible Health System Collapse in Nicaragua

Nicaraguan cases of COVID-19 continued to increase dramatically over the past three weeks. Doctors and specialists in the country warn that with winter, which is about to start in the Central American country will bring a bigger burden to the already weak health system. Donaldo Hernandez put together this report adapted and voiced by VOA’s Cristina Smit.Camera: Donaldo Hernández 

Britain Faces Grim Coronavirus Forecast

The British government is facing strong criticism for its response to the coronavirus pandemic, as latest forecasts suggest the economy could be the worst-hit globally. Britain has the world’s second-highest death toll from the virus and is emerging from its lockdown later than most of Europe. Henry Ridgwell reports from London.

After Missteps, Turkey Tames Coronavirus

Turkey has turned into a surprising coronavirus success story, despite fears that its outbreak — at one time one of the fastest growing in the world — would spin out of control and leave the country overwhelmed.Even though its official death toll of 4,729 is disputed by some doctors, who say the real tally is likely higher because authorities include only those who test positive for the virus, the country appears to have averted the bigger disaster some epidemiologists predicted. This has happened despite early missteps and equivocations that allowed a surge in cases, particularly along the Black Sea, which could have been prevented, say analysts.“It’s a fairly small club of countries that have been quite effective in reducing the viral spread,” said Jeremy Rossman, a virologist at Britain’s University of Kent.  
He told the BBC that Turkey is among the countries that responded quickly enough with testing and tracing to slow the transmission of the coronavirus without following the example of some European neighbors that opted for total lockdowns. The confirmed case tally is just over 170,000.President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced Tuesday the lifting of stay-at-home orders for people over 65, as well as for children, part of a further easing of restrictions imposed to curb the spread of the new coronavirus.FILE – Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, left, wearing a face mask to protect against the new coronavirus, and Basri Bagci, the new member of Turkey’s Constitutional Court, greet each other during a ceremony, in Ankara, June 9, 2020.Turkey lifted restrictions on intercity travel and allowed restaurants, cafes, parks and sports facilities to reopen on June 1 after a big reduction in new cases. However, case numbers are still rising in southeast Turkey.The government has been lauding its anti-coronavirus strategy — amplified by a pro-Erdogan press. Last month, Fahrettin Altun, the president’s spokesman, tweeted: “Turkey under Recep Tayyip Erdogan invested billions in health care infrastructure, let top scientists devise a strategy and treated all COVID-19 patients for free. The result? Our recovery rate is almost 75 percent. The pandemic has been contained. #MissionAccomplished.”
 
The coronavirus came later to Turkey than it did to many of its neighbors. “As the virus raged on in China, many in Turkey wrongly believed that the country would not be affected by the spread of the virus,” said Kemal Kirişci, an analyst for the Brookings Institution, a Washington research group.Time was lost
 
“As late as mid-March,” Kirişci said,” the Turkish president even predicted economic gains for Turkey emerging from the crisis. Precious time was lost until the WHO [World Health Organization] officially declared a pandemic, coincidentally on the same day that Turkey’s first case was reported, and the country’s vulnerability was finally recognized. Two weeks later, the severity of the situation had still not completely dawned on the president.”Analysts say that at the start, the president had two overriding priorities: to placate his conservative religious base, which led him not to impose an effective quarantine on returning pilgrims from Mecca nor to ban communal gatherings at mosques; and to keep an already badly ailing economy running.FILE – Relatives of Munevver Kaya, who died of COVID-19, wearing face masks for protection against the coronavirus, offer their prayers during a funeral at a special section of Baklaci cemetery in Istanbul dedicated to COVID victims, May 11, 2020.The failure to shutter borders quickly and to quarantine returning pilgrims earned the government a public rebuke from the Turkish Medical Association, which said the early response to the coronavirus was “inadequate.”Contradictions, say analysts, marked early steps in trying to curb the pandemic. In mid-March, the government ordered people to stay at home but also announced tax cuts on flights and hotels to encourage business. Eventually as infection numbers surged, stricter isolation measures were introduced, with cities placed under weekend curfew orders. New cases then started to plateau at around a thousand a day. Senior experts at the WHO have praised Turkey’s subsequent performance.
 
Its official death toll is 10 times lower than Britain’s — partly thanks, say Erdogan supporters, to the massive investment in the health care system the past few years and the building of new hospitals. The infrastructure has not come close in the pandemic to being overstretched.Science-based response
 
Much of the credit, though, for averting a disaster is being laid at the door of Erdogan’s health minister, Fahrettin Koca, who, far from the start, urged a science-based response. Highly proactive mayors in Istanbul and Ankara, both opponents of Erdogan, also have been praised.
 
But the pandemic response, however effective it has been after early missteps, has prompted political alarm. Doctors in Turkey’s southeast and eastern regions, who have disputed the official toll, have found themselves reprimanded and placed under investigation, and reporters and ordinary social media users have been charged with disseminating “fake news” for questioning the rate of infections.“The Turkish authorities’ criminally investigating medical chamber officials is not only an outrageous attack on free speech but impedes the fight against the deadly COVID-19 pandemic and obstructs their legitimate work,” said Hugh Williamson of the NGO Human Rights Watch. “The investigations should immediately be dropped, and all conditions imposed on the doctors, including travel bans, lifted.”FILE – Turkish police officers, wearing face masks to protect against the coronavirus, arrest a demonstrator during May Day protests against the government lockdown, in Istanbul, May 1, 2020.Rights campaigners say the government has used the pandemic to muzzle and lock up even more Erdogan opponents. On Tuesday, as the Turkish president announced further easing of coronavirus restrictions, hundreds of people were detained on the ground they are adherents of the faith-based Gülen movement, led by cleric Fethullah Gülen, who Erdogan claims was behind a 2016 coup attempt against him. Gulen, a former ally of the Turkish president, who lives in self-imposed exile in the United States, denies any involvement.Since 2016, more than 80,000 people have been detained,  many of them civil servants or members of security forces. Western governments and rights campaigners accuse the government of using the coup attempt as a pretext to silence Erdogan’s opposition in the country.

Zoom Temporarily Suspends Account After Hosting Tiananmen Square Anniversary Event 

Videoconferencing company Zoom temporarily shut down the account of a U.S.-based activist group days after it held an event commemorating the 31st anniversary of China’s Tiananmen Square protests. Humanitarian China, an organization focused on providing relief for political prisoners and activists, held the Zoom conference on May 31. A week later June 7, the account used for the conference displayed a message that it had been shut down.  The meeting was streamed by 4,000 people and joined by more than 250 participants worldwide, including organizers of the Hong Kong Candlelight Vigil, writers and scholars, former student leaders of the Tiananmen Square protests and the Tiananmen Mothers.  The Tiananmen Square student-led protest has long been a sensitive topic in China’s political history.  30 Years After Tiananmen, Remembering a Pivotal Night

        On June 4, 1989, the Chinese Communist Party ordered tanks and soldiers to fire at its own people gathered at Tiananmen Square, which is located in the heart of Beijing. Three decades later, the shots fired still reverberate today.The bravery of a lone man confronting a row of Chinese tanks became a symbol of the night of resistance between the people of China and the hard-liners of the Communist Party that ordered the army action. His identity remains unknown. 

On June 4, 1989, in what critics and activists call a “massacre,” the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) ordered tanks and soldiers to fire at pro-democracy protesters. Humanitarian China is currently led by human rights activist Zhou Fengsuo, who was a student during the protests in 1989. The organization said it is “outraged” Zoom shut its account and that “it seems possible Zoom acted on pressure from the CCP.” Humanitarian China also mentioned that former Tiananmen Square protester Dong Shengkun, previously imprisoned by the Chinese government for 17 years, was detained for five days to prevent him from attending the conference live.  Zoom has since reactivated the account and released a statement explaining the shutdown. “When a meeting is held across different countries, the participants within those countries are required to comply with their respective local laws,” the company said in an emailed statement.  “We aim to limit the actions we take to those necessary to comply with local laws and continuously review and improve our process on these matters.”        

US ‘Deeply Concerned’ About Turkish Drilling in Mediterranean

The United States is urging Turkey to stop drilling in contested waters of the Mediterranean Sea out of concern the move will hurt diplomatic relations with Greece. Tension is rising among the NATO neighbors and others in the region trying to control energy-rich zones.  The warning from U.S. Under Secretary of State Matthew Palmer marks Washington’s strongest diplomatic intervention yet in a long-running energy feud between Greece and Turkey.“The United States remains deeply concerned by drilling activities in waters off Cyprus,” said Palmer. “The actions raise tensions in the region and we again urge Turkish authorities to halt all drilling operations off Cyprus.”Palmer’s warning, at an international conference in Greece, follows threats by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to proceed with the drilling, including plans to send a new exploratory vessel well within Greece’s territorial waters, off the coast of the Greek islands.No specific location has been revealed but Turkey has been threatening to drill since Erdogan signed a maritime agreement with Libya, allowing Ankara to explore for natural gas and oil and exploit hundreds of kilometers of Mediterranean seabed from its southeast coast to northern Libya.With Greek islands in between, Turkey maintains that the deal also gives it the right to survey Greek waters. Geoffrey Pyatt, the U.S. ambassador to Greece, says that reading is wrong.“It is unhelpful and provocative in any term but most importantly it can take no rights away from Greece,” said Pyatt.Tensions, though, continue to escalate between Greece and Turkey.In recent days, the leaders of the two countries have challenged each other’s sovereign rights, saying they are prepared to go to war to defend themselves.Palmer is advising both sides to pull back from any semblance of confrontation.“As an ally, the U.S. is concerned that the increasing tensions between Greece and Turkey could result in an incident or accident that leads to unintended consequences,” said Palmer. “In the past we have seen incidents in the regions escalate quickly. We urge Greece and Turkey to ensure that the channels of communication remain open between these two NATO allies.”Greece and Turkey have had no diplomatic contact on the issue so far.

EU to File Antitrust Complaint Against Amazon Over Treatment of Third Party Sellers: WSJ

The European Union is planning on filing formal antitrust charges against Amazon.com Inc over its treatment of third-party sellers, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter.The EU has been building its case and circulating a draft of the charge sheet for a couple of months and could officially file the charges as early as next week or the week after, the report added. 
Amazon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
 

US Officially Tops 2 Million Total Coronavirus Cases

The United States has officially gone over the 2 million mark in total cases of novel coronavirus infections.According to figures published Thursday on the website of Johns Hopkins University’s coronavirus resource center, the U.S. now has 2,000,464 confirmed cases of COVID-19, with 112,924 deaths, maintaining its position as the leading country with the total number of cases and deaths.As many as 21 states have recorded their highest number of COVID-19 cases this week, with many concentrated across the western and southwestern states of Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and Utah. The increases come amid a loosening of coronavirus restrictions in recent weeks, including the annual Memorial Day holiday that signals the start of the traditional summer vacation season.The newest surge of infections has prompted local health officials in California to cancel the popular annual Coachella music and arts festival and the Stagecoach country music festival scheduled for October. Both outdoor festivals were originally scheduled to be held in April, but were postponed as the outbreak began spreading.Experts also fear the ongoing nationwide protests sparked by the death of an African-American man in Minneapolis while in police custody will lead to another spike in coronavirus infections. Protesters have been captured on video walking shoulder-to-shoulder, although many of them were wearing masks.However, officials at the popular Disneyland theme park in Anaheim, California, announced Wednesday they plan to begin a phased reopening of Disneyland and its sister theme park, Disney California Adventure, on July 17, the 65th anniversary of Disneyland’s opening. The entertainment giant also announced a phased reopening of its Orlando, Florida, theme parks, anchored by Walt Disney World, in mid-July.The World Health Organization has determined that Latin America is the world’s new hot spot for the coronavirus pandemic, with the latest figures raising the total number of cases in the region to well over 1 million, with over 70,000 deaths. With 772,416 confirmed cases, Brazil is the most-affected country in the region, and ranks only behind the United States on the overall global list of confirmed cases.Following Brazil is Peru with more than 207,000 overall cases. Chile is in third place with 148,456 cases and Mexico is close behind with 129,184.As of late Wednesday, there are a total of 7,360,239 confirmed COVID-19 cases worldwide, with 416,201 deaths.

Mexico City to Launch Aggressive Coronavirus-Testing Campaign

Mexico City is launching a massive COVID-19 testing program as it aims to begin reopening the capital city’s economy.Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum announced Wednesday that officials intend to conduct 100,000 tests a month by July, with the help of an aggressive information campaign.Mexico City’s approach is counter to that of President Andres Manuel López Obrador’s administration, which dismissed mass testing as a waste of money.Mexico federal Assistant Health Secretary Hugo López-Gatell praised Mexico City’s effort, but he made no mention of expanding federal coronavirus testing.The mayor’s plan also promises to get more data on tracking potential infections.Mexico City has the vast majority of COVID-19 cases in the country, with more than 32,000 infections and more than 3,200 deaths.So far, Mexico is reporting more than 129,000 COVID-19 cases and more than 15,000 deaths. 

France Will Roll Back Special Government Powers on July 10  

France is prepared to lift the special government powers granted to cope with the coronavirus pandemic on July 10 but will continue to restrict gatherings and freedom of movement for the next four months, the prime minister’s office said.In March, as the coronavirus outbreak spread across the globe, France implemented “state of health emergency” legislation, extending the government’s power to restrict civil liberties without parliamentary approval.Since France lifted its nationwide lockdown on May 11, hospital and mortality data have been on a steady downward trend, raising officials’ confidence to roll back the emergency legislation.  “In view of the positive evolution of the health situation at this stage, the government wishes to put an end to the state of health emergency, which must remain an exceptional case,” Prime Minister Edouard Philippe’s office said. Despite the end of the emergency power, France’s Council of Ministers was presented with a new bill on Wednesday that would allow the government to restrict freedom of movement, make face masks compulsory on public transport, close businesses and ban large gatherings for another four months. The bill will be voted on by the National Assembly on June 17. While France’s advisory Scientific Council has confirmed that there will be no return to a nationwide lockdown, the bill would allow for local measures in the event of an outbreak such as lockdowns, travel bans or school closures.France’s coronavirus death toll has reached 29,296, the fifth highest in the world and third highest in Europe, after the United Kingdom and Italy. On Tuesday, the number of people in intensive care fell below 1,000 for the first time since March 19.

Amazon Bans Police Use of its Face Recognition for a Year

Amazon on Wednesday banned police use of its face-recognition technology for a year, making it the latest tech giant to step back from law-enforcement use of systems that have faced criticism for incorrectly identifying people with darker skin.   The Seattle-based company did not say why it took action now. Ongoing protests following the death of George Floyd have focused attention on racial injustice in the U.S. and how police use technology to track people. Floyd died May 25 after a white Minneapolis police officer pressed his knee into the handcuffed black man’s neck for several minutes even after Floyd stopped moving and pleading for air.  Law enforcement agencies use facial recognition to identify suspects, but critics say it can be misused. A number of U.S. cities have banned its use by police and other government agencies, led by San Francisco last year. On Tuesday, IBM said it would get out of the facial recognition business, noting concerns about how the technology can be used for mass surveillance and racial profiling. Civil rights groups and Amazon’s own employees have pushed the company to stop selling its technology, called Rekognition, to government agencies, saying that it could be used to invade people’s privacy and target minorities.   In a blog post Wednesday, Amazon said that it hoped Congress would put in place stronger regulations for facial recognition. “Amazon’s decision is an important symbolic step, but this doesn’t really change the face recognition landscape in the United States since it’s not a major player,” said Clare Garvie, a researcher at Georgetown University’s Center on Privacy and Technology. Her public records research found only two U.S. two agencies using or testing Rekognition. The Washington County Sheriff’s Office in Oregon has been the most public about using it. The Orlando police department tested it, but chose not to implement it, she said.   Studies led by MIT researcher Joy Buolamwini found racial and gender disparities in facial recognition software. Those findings spurred Microsoft and IBM to improve their systems, but irked Amazon, which last year publicly attacked her research methods. A group of artificial intelligence scholars, including a winner of computer science’s top prize, last year launched a spirited defense of her work and called on Amazon to stop selling its facial recognition software to police. A study last year by a U.S. agency affirmed the concerns about the technology’s flaws. The National Institute of Standards and Technology tested leading facial recognition systems — though not Amazon’s, which didn’t submit its algorithms — and found that they often performed unevenly based on a person’s race, gender or age.   Buolamwini on Wednesday called Amazon’s announcement a “welcomed though unexpected announcement.”  “Microsoft also needs to take a stand,” she wrote in an emailed statement. “More importantly our lawmakers need to step up” to rein in harmful deployments of the technologies.   Microsoft has been vocal about the need to regulate facial recognition to prevent human rights abuses but hasn’t said it wouldn’t sell it to law enforcement. The company didn’t respond to a request for comment Wednesday. Amazon began attracting attention from the American Civil Liberties Union and privacy advocates after it introduced Rekognition in 2016 and began pitching it to law enforcement. But experts like Garvie say many U.S. agencies rely on facial recognition technology built by companies that are not as well known, such as Tokyo-based NEC, Chicago-based Motorola Solutions or the European companies Idemia, Gemalto and Cognitec. Amazon isn’t abandoning facial recognition altogether. The company said organizations, such as those that use Rekognition to help find missing children, will still have access to the technology.   This week’s announcements by Amazon and IBM follow a push by Democratic lawmakers to pass a sweeping police reform package in Congress that could include restrictions on the use of facial recognition, especially in police body cameras. Though not commonly used in the U.S., the possibility of cameras that could monitor crowds and identify people in real time have attracted bipartisan concern.   The tech industry has fought against outright bans of facial recognition, but some companies have called for federal laws that could set guidelines for responsible use of the technology.   “It is becoming clear that the absence of consistent national rules will delay getting this valuable technology into the hands of law enforcement, slowing down investigations and making communities less safe,” said Daniel Castro, vice president of the industry-backed Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, which has advocated for facial recognition providers.   Ángel Díaz, an attorney at New York University’s Brennan Center for Justice, said he welcomed Amazon’s moratorium but it “should have come sooner given numerous studies showing that the technology is racially biased.” “We agree that Congress needs to act, but local communities should also be empowered to voice their concerns and decide if and how they want this technology deployed at all,” he said. 

Brazil Begins Reopening After 2-Month Coronavirus Shutdown

Retail shops reopened Wednesday after a two-month pandemic shutdown in Brazil’s biggest city, leading to crowded buses and subways from early in the day — and with many people ignoring social distancing rules. 
 
Sao Paulo Mayor Bruno Covas authorized the restart of commerce between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. as long as shops required customers to use masks and limit the number allowed inside. Stores in malls were to remain closed until Thursday. 
 
Brazil is among the Latin American countries hit hardest by the coronavirus pandemic, with about 38,000 deaths. Sao Paulo state is approaching 10,000 COVID-19 deaths, about half of which took place in the metropolis of 12 million residents. 
 
On Wednesday, the state reported a record 24-hour death toll increase of 340 people, surpassing a record set the previous day.  
 
Sao Paulo city has seen a slight decrease in its intensive care unit bed occupancy rate, to around 70%. But many health specialists advised against the reopening, saying contagion is still growing in the city, though at a slower rate. 
 

London May Remove Statues as Floyd’s Death Sparks Change 

London’s mayor announced Tuesday that more statues of imperialist figures could be removed from Britain’s streets after protesters knocked down the monument to a slave trader, as the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis continued to spark protests — and drive change — around the world. On the day Floyd was buried in his hometown of Houston, Texas, London Mayor Sadiq Khan said he was setting up a commission to ensure the British capital’s monuments reflected its diversity. It will review statues, murals, street art, street names and other memorials and consider which legacies should be celebrated, the mayor’s office said. “It is an uncomfortable truth that our nation and city owes a large part of its wealth to its role in the slave trade and while this is reflected in our public realm, the contribution of many of our communities to life in our capital has been willfully ignored,” Khan said. Even before the new commission got underway, officials in east London removed a statue of 18th-century merchant and slave owner Robert Milligan from its place in the city’s docklands.  Joe Biggs, mayor of London’s Tower Hamlets borough, said that following the toppling of a statue of slave trader Edward Colston by demonstrators in the city of Bristol on Sunday, “we’ve acted quickly to both ensure public safety and respond to the concerns of our residents, which I share.” It was the latest sign that international protests of racial injustice and police violence that Floyd’s May 25 death spurred are already creating change. A white police officer who pressed a knee on Floyd’s neck for more than eight minutes has been charged with murder. Statues, as long-lasting symbols of a society’s values, have become a focus of protest around the world. On Sunday, protesters in Bristol hauled down a statue of Colston, a 17th-century slave trader and philanthropist, and dumped in the city’s harbor. That act revived calls for Oxford University to remove a statue of Cecil Rhodes, a Victorian imperialist in southern Africa who made a fortune from mines and endowed Oxford University’s Rhodes scholarships. Several hundred supporters of the Rhodes Must Fall group gathered near the statue at the university’s College on Tuesday, chanting “Take it down” before holding a silent sit-down vigil in the street to memorialize Floyd. Protesters call for the removal of the statue of 19th century imperialist, politician Cecil Rhodes from the Oriel college in Oxford, England, June 9, 2020.Oxford city officials urged the college to apply for permission to remove the statue so that it could be placed in a museum. Another large statue of Rhodes that had stood since 1934 was removed from South Africa’s University of Cape Town in April 2015, after a student-led campaign that also urged the university to increase its numbers of black lecturers and to make the curriculum less Eurocentric. In 2003, the Rhodes Scholarships started a new program in South Africa, the Mandela Rhodes Scholarships in partnership with the Nelson Mandela Foundation. The Rhodes Scholarships continue to operate in South Africa and around the world. In Antwerp, authorities used a crane on Tuesday to remove a statue of Belgium’s former King Leopold II that had been splattered with red paint by protesters, taking it away for repairs. It was unclear whether it would be re-erected. Leopold took control of Congo in 1885 and enslaved much of its people to collect rubber, reigning over a brutal regime under which some 10 million Congolese died. In Edinburgh, Scotland, there are calls to tear down a statue of Henry Dundas, an 18th-century politician who delayed Britain’s abolition of slavery by 15 years. The leader of Edinburgh City Council, Adam McVey, said he would “have absolutely no sense of loss if the Dundas statue was removed and replaced with something else or left as a plinth.”  British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has acknowledged that it was “a cold reality” that people of color in Britain experienced discrimination, but said those who attacked police or desecrated public monuments should face “the full force of the law.” Some historical figures have complex legacies. At weekend protests in London, demonstrators scrawled “was a racist” on a statue of Winston Churchill. Britain’s wartime prime minister is revered as the man who led the country to victory against Nazi Germany. But he was also a staunch defender of the British Empire and expressed racist views. Khan suggested Churchill’s statue should stay up. “Nobody’s perfect, whether it’s Churchill, whether it’s Gandhi, whether it’s Malcolm X,” he told the BBC, adding that schools should teach children about historical figures “warts and all.” “But there are some statues that are quite clear-cut,” Khan said. “Slavers are quite clear-cut in my view, plantation owners are quite clear-cut.” Protests continued Tuesday in cities around the world. In Britain, where more than 200 demonstrations have been held so far, people gathered in London’s Parliament Square for a vigil timed to coincide with Floyd’s funeral. France has seen nationwide protests calling for greater law enforcement accountability, and more demonstrations were being held Tuesday evening. Floyd’s death has resonated especially strongly in France’s banlieues, or suburbs, where poverty and minority populations are concentrated. Protesters marching in solidarity with U.S. demonstrations over Floyd’s death have also called for justice for Adama Traore, a young man of Malian origin whose death in French police custody in 2016 is still under investigation. Thousands of people gathered in Paris once again Tuesday evening to denounce police violence in the United States and in France. Participants knelt and observed silence in George Floyd’s memory. “It’s unacceptable that young people, when they’re in contact with the police, see their life expectancy melt like snow in the sun,” a 42-year-old artist who goes by the professional name Fhemann said. French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe has met police and citizens’ groups. He said Tuesday that the code of police ethics would be reviewed. The French government has also announced that the chokehold would no longer be taught in police training.