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Officials in Norway say eight structures were swept into the sea by a landslide near the Norwegian Arctic town of Alta.A local resident, Jan Egil Bakkedal, captured the event on video Wednesday in the village of Kraakneset. He told the Associated Press he ran for his life when he realized what was happening. Among houses that were lost was his own.Police estimate the landslide was between 650 meters and 800 meters wide and up to 40 meters high. Officials did not know what caused the slide.Several minor landslides followed, and nearby houses were temporarily evacuated as a precaution.No injuries were reported. A dog that was washed into the sea was able to swim back to land. 
 
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British Prime Minister Prime Minister Boris Johnson Thursday opened the Global Vaccine Summit, a virtual gathering of more that 50 countries, to raise funds for the U.N.-backed public-private health alliance known as GAVI, with the goal of ensuring vaccines are available to all.The summit hopes to raise more than $7.5 billion for the development and equitable world-wide distribution of COVID-19 and other vaccines.In his remarks from London, Johnson pledged Britain will contribute just over $2 billion to the GAVI vaccine alliance over the next five years.  Along with creation of a COVID-19 vaccine, Johnson also called on nations to replenish funding for vaccines that already exist.In a recorded video message, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for global solidarity to ensure every person everywhere has access to any COVID-19 vaccine that is produced, and for the network that is used to share that vaccine be used to deliver a range of basic health services.Using data provided by governments around the world, Johns Hopkins University reports the COVID-19 pandemic has killed more than 386,000 worldwide and crippled economies. Restrictions imposed to prevent the virus from spreading have further hampered efforts to deliver regular vaccinations and other health services around the world.
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BRUSSELS/COPENHAGEN — As bars across Europe gradually reopen, up to a million free or pre-paid beers are waiting to lure back wary consumers. 
  
Beer makers from global giant Anheuser-Busch InBev to smaller craft brewers have set up schemes for consumers to buy drinks in advance to support shuttered bars with, in some cases, the reward of free beer when the doors reopen. 
  
AB InBev launched its first scheme “Cafe Courage” in Belgium and has since sold over 200,000 Stella Artois, Jupiler and other brands. It also started similar schemes in 20 other markets across Europe and from Brazil to Hong Kong, raising over $6 million for pubs, bars and restaurants. 
  
World number two Heineken put the number of drinks sold through its various voucher schemes at 270,000. 
  
Now the bars are opening, consumers have had their first chance to redeem coupons or vouchers. 
  
Danish friends Arendse Rohland and Thomas Hoffner Lovgren were among those to profit from free beers after bars re-opened there on May 18. 
  
Danish brewer Carlsberg offered lagers in a bar to consumers who bought bottles or cans from stores in its “Adopt a Keg” scheme. The idea was to lure drinkers back with free drinks and hope that they would then buy more. Hoffner Lovgren and Rohland both seemed willing to do so. 
  
“I rarely only drink one beer,” Roland said after collecting a free drink at Carl’s Ol & Spisehus in a Copenhagen suburb. 
  
Drinkers elsewhere are now in line. France became the latest country on Tuesday to allow bars and restaurants to operate after the Netherlands on Monday. Ireland and Belgium are expected to follow later this month, with Britain in July. 
  
Julian Marsili, Carlsberg global brand director, said its campaign would even continue into the summer. 
  
“Travel will not be massive, at least outside Denmark, so we are encouraging people who want to adopt kegs to explore Denmark further in bars in the tourist places,” he said. 
  
The schemes have helped, but not made up the shortfall. In Britain, the British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA) said pubs could have recorded their best April in a decade, selling 745 million pints in unseasonably warm and sunny weather. 
  
The issue is acute for brewers, with about a third of beer typically consumed in pubs, bars or cafes. In value terms, that can rise to 60-65%, according to Pierre-Olivier Bergeron, secretary general of the Brewers of Europe. 
  
Beer sales in stores have risen, but well below the rate of wine and spirits and not enough to make up for the loss of on-premise drinking, according to U.S. data from marketing research firm Nielsen.   
  Will they come?
  
Reopened bars and restaurants will clearly not operate as they did before the coronavirus closures, with limited time at the bar or table service, shorter hours and measures to minimize contact between staff and customers and to keep customers apart. 
  
Emma McClarkin, BBPA chief executive, said the social distancing gap made a big difference. Two meters, currently used in Britain, might only allow only a third of Britain’s 47,000 pubs to reopen while a one-meter rule, deemed safe by the World Health Organization, would allow 75% to operate, she said. 
  
Brewers have also been helping with some of the new hardware involved and learning from China, where restaurants and bars reopened from March. 
  
Jan Craps, chief executive of Budweiser Brewing Co APAC, said the AB InBev Asian subsidiary had sent “welcome kits” including hand sanitizer, gloves, masks and advice to 50,000 bars and restaurants across China and 1,000 plastic screens to help smaller venues separate groups of customers. 
  
Craps said the kits were being replicated in many other countries, such as the Americas where the brewer has its largest markets. 
  
A study for the brewer of British pub-goers found 93% were keen to revisit their local and over a third intend to visit within a week of reopening. A majority also wanted to keep 2 meters away from strangers. 
  
Business will not resume as before. Belgian cafe and restaurant owners expect on average 45% fewer customers as a result of social distancing measures and consumer wariness. 
  
“It’s not a back to normal situation… establishments now reopening will be reopening under pretty special conditions,” Bergeron said. 
 
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Images of a white police officer kneeling on the neck of African-American George Floyd, who then died, have sparked protests from Amsterdam to Nairobi, but they also expose deeper grievances among demonstrators over strained race relations in their own countries.
 
With violent clashes between protesters and authorities raging in the United States, anti-police-brutality activists gathered by the thousands in support of the Black Lives Matter movement in various European and African cities.
 Peaceful protesters highlighted allegations of abuse of black prisoners by their jailers, social and economic inequality, and institutional racism lingering from the colonial pasts of the Netherlands, Britain and France.
 
“If you want to believe that we in the Netherlands do not have a problem with race, you should go ahead and go home,” Jennifer Tosch, founder of Black Heritage Amsterdam Tours, told a crowd in Amsterdam, from where the Dutch West India Company operated ships estimated to have traded 500,000 slaves in the 1600s and 1700s.
 
Tosch and others drew a comparison between Floyd’s death and the treatment of slaves centuries ago. “We have seen this image before as white persecutors and enslavers held down the enslaved and branded them with an iron.”
 People take part in a Black Lives Matter protest in Amsterdam, Netherlands, Monday, June 1, 2020, to protest against the recent killing of George Floyd, a black man who died in police custody in Minneapolis, U.S.A., after being restrained by police…In London, a protester held a placard reading “The UK isn’t innocent,” while in Berlin around 2,000 people protested outside the U.S. embassy and two Bundesliga soccer players wore “Justice for George Floyd” shirts on Monday.
 
A similar message came from Dominique Sopo, president of French NGO SOS Racisme, which organized a small protest outside the U.S. embassy in Paris on Monday.
 
“This issue of police racism is also, albeit with a lower level of violence, an issue that concerns France,” he said.
 
Police in northern Paris fired tear gas on Tuesday to disperse demonstrators protesting over the 2016 death of a young black Frenchman in police custody – an incident that has drawn parallels with Floyd’s killing.
 
Adama Traore’s family have blamed excessive force used during his arrest, when the 24-year-old was pinned down by three gendarmes. Successive pathology reports have reached conflicting conclusions over whether his death two hours later resulted from asphyxiation or other factors including pre-existing conditions.
 
Amid a coronavirus lockdown, French activists also say there have been a number of police brutality cases in low-income neighborhoods where many originate from Africa.
 Turkish police officers, in riot gear, and wearing face masks for protections against the spread of the coronavirus, scuffle with protesters during a demonstration in Istanbul, Tuesday, June 2, 2020, against the recent killing of George Floyd in…Clashes in Turkey
 
In Istanbul, more than 50 people clashed with police officers minutes after beginning a protest over Floyd and what they called police brutality in Turkey.
 
At least five people were detained after scuffles with officers holding shields, after which other protesters gave speeches denouncing lethal police force and bans on demonstrations in Turkey during the pandemic.
 
In Nairobi, protesters at the American embassy held signs reading “Black Lives Matter” and “Stop Extrajudicial Killings”.
 
“The system that allows police brutality to happen in Kenya is based on class. In America, it’s race and class.”
 What Is Black Lives Matter?Origins of the movement opposing police violence against black AmericansProtests are planned in coming days in Gambia, Britain, Spain and Portugal.
 
In Spain, protesters will mark the death of Floyd and “all sisters and brothers who have died at the hands of institutional racism on our streets,” the African and Afro-descendant Community CNAAE said.
 
Portugal’s gathering will address “the myth that Portugal is not a racist country.”
 
But not all in Europe side with the protesters.
 
Spain’s far-right Vox party and the Netherlands’ anti-Islam Freedom Party called those protesting Floyd’s death “terrorists” and backed U.S. President Donald Trump.
 
“Our support for Trump and the Americans who are seeing their Nation attacked by street terrorists backed by progressive millionaires,” Vox wrote in a Tweet.
 
In the Netherlands, the Freedom Party’s Geert Wilders tweeted: “White House under attack. This is no protest but anarchy by #AntifaTerrorists.”
 
Even amid such racial division, Linda Nooitmeer, who heads the National Institute for the Study of Dutch Slavery and its Legacy, drew hope from Monday’s protest in Amsterdam. 
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Authorities say Chile, which has one of the highest totals for coronavirus cases in Latin America, confirmed 87 deaths from the virus in one day Wednesday, the largest single-day spike since the outbreak began more than two months ago.A surge in coronavirus cases in Chile has overwhelmed the country’s healthcare system.The increase in cases and deaths prompted authorities to extend a quarantine in Santiago for a fourth week.So far, Chile has confirmed more than 113,000 COVID-19 cases and more than 1,200 deaths.Chile, Brazil, Colombia, Peru, Mexico, Haiti, Argentina and Bolivia comprise the Latin American countries with the largest caseloads.Dr. Michael Ryan, WHO’s executive director, told reporters earlier this week, Central and South America have become the intense zones of transmission for the coronavirus.Ryan said he does not believe the region has reached its peak in transmission and that he could not predict when the peak will occur.He is calling for support and international solidarity for countries in the region.
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Former Ecuadorian President Abdalá Bucaram is under arrest in connection with a corruption investigation linked to the coronavirus pandemic.Police arrested Bucaram on Wednesday after locating an unlicensed gun during a raid on his home in Guayaquil, the coastal city where some of the first coronavirus cases were confirmed in Latin America.Police said they also found thousands of coronavirus test kits and face masks as part of their criminal probe.Authorities said the raid was part of their investigation into suspected embezzlement at a large public hospital.The police carried out more than two dozen raids in Guayaquil and the city of Quito, but there were no immediate reports of additional arrests. 
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Sweden’s chief epidemiologist Wednesday defended his country’s controversial “soft” COVID-19 strategy, in which Sweden never totally shut down, but admitted the country could have done some things better.Unlike its European neighbors and much of the rest of the world, Sweden relied on its citizens’ sense of civic duty.  Authorities advised people to practice social distancing, but schools, bars and restaurants have been kept open the entire time. Only gatherings of more than 50 people have been banned.The strategy resulted in one of the highest per capita COVID-19 death rates in the world.At a news briefing, Swedish Public Health Agency epidemiologist Anders Tegnell acknowledged that there would always be “aspects where we could have handled this situation even better than we do today, now, as we learn more and more things.”But he said Swedish authorities still thought theirs was the right strategy. Tegnell said it has worked very well in terms of containing the spread of the disease to a level that the Swedish health care system could handle. It has made it possible to keep schools open, which he said was very important for their society.He acknowledged the “unfortunate” death toll, which he said was mainly in long-term care facilities.  In a Swedish radio interview earlier in the day, Tegnell admitted the death toll had made him reconsider his approach to the pandemic.According to the national health agency, the nation of 10.2 million people has seen 4,542 deaths linked to COVID-19, far more than its neighboring Nordic countries and one of the world’s highest per capita death rates.Denmark has had 580 coronavirus deaths, Finland 320 and Norway 237, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.
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Sweden’s chief epidemiologist on Wednesday defended his country’s controversial coronavirus strategy, which avoided a lockdown but resulted in one of the highest per capita COVID-19 death rates in the world.
Anders Tegnell of the Public Health Agency denied that “the Swedish strategy was wrong and should be changed. That’s not the case.”  
“We still believe that our strategy is good, but there is always room for improvement. … You can always get better at this job,” Tegnell told a news conference in Stockholm.  
Sweden has stood out among European nations and the world for the way it has handled the pandemic, not shutting down the country or the economy like other nations but relying on citizens’ sense of civic duty. Swedish authorities have advised people to practice social distancing, but schools, bars and restaurants have been kept open the entire time. Only gatherings of more than 50 people have been banned.
Tegnell’s statement to reporters came after more contrite comments earlier in the day to Swedish radio in which he said “I think there is potential for improvement in what we have done in Sweden, quite clearly.”  
Asked if the country’s high death toll has made him reconsider his unique approach to the pandemic, Tegnell told Swedish radio “yes, absolutely.”
According to the national health agency, Sweden, a nation of 10.2 million people, has seen 4,542 deaths linked to COVID-19, which is far more than its Nordic neighbors and one of the highest per capita death rates in the world. Denmark has had 580 coronavirus deaths, Finland has seen 320 and Norway has had 237, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.
“If we were to encounter the same disease again, knowing precisely what we know about it today, I think we would settle on doing something in between what Sweden did and what the rest of the world has done,” Tegnell, considered the architect of the unique Swedish pandemic approach, told SR.
Still, authorities in Sweden, including Tegnell, have been criticized — and some have apologized — for failing to protect the country’s elderly and nursing home residents.  
But Tegnell said Wednesday it was still unclear what the country should have done differently. He also said other nations are unable to tell exactly what measures affected the outcomes of their outbreaks because they threw everything at the crisis at once.
“Maybe we know that now, when you start easing the measures, we could get some kind of lesson about what else, besides what we did, you could do without a total shutdown,” Tegnell said in the radio interview.
At the news conference, Tegnell made it clear that his previous statement “was an admission that we always can become better. I’m sure my colleagues all over the world would say the same thing. There are always aspects which we could have handled this situation even better than we do today, now, as we learn more and more things,” he told The Associated Press.
“Sometimes I feel like a personal punchbag, but that’s OK. I can live with that,” Tegnell added.  
Sweden’s COVID-19 infection rate of 43.2 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants is lower than Spain’s (58.1) and Italy’s (55.4), but is higher than reported rates in the United States (32.1) and Brazil (14.3), according to Johns Hopkins University.  
Last week, the country’s former state epidemiologist, Annika Linde, said in retrospect she believes an early lockdown could have saved lives in Sweden. Political pressure has also forced the Swedish government to speed up an investigation into the handling of the pandemic.
Ordinary Swedes are not sure what to think.
“I’m not walking around thinking that we have a real disaster here in Sweden,” Jan Arpi, a 58-year-old sales executive, told The Associated Press. “I think we have it more or less under control, but we have to be even more careful now after we learned how the virus is spread, especially among elderly people.”  
Tegnell’s pandemic tactics made Sweden a bit of a local pariah in the Nordics and didn’t spare the Swedish economy.  
Sweden’s economy, which relies heavily on exports, is expected to shrink 7% in 2020 and the finance minister says the Scandinavian country is headed for “a very deep economic crisis.”  
More than 76,000 people have been made redundant since the outbreak began and unemployment, which now stands at 7.9%, is expected to climb higher.
On the travel front, neighboring Norway and Denmark said they were dropping mutual border controls but would keep Sweden out of a Nordic “travel bubble.”  
The Danes said they will reopen the border next month to residents of Germany, Norway and Iceland as the country eased its coronavirus lockdown. But Denmark, which has a bridge that goes directly into Sweden, has postponed a decision reopening to Swedish visitors until after the summer. 
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Britain this week eased its lockdown rules, with some pupils returning to school and many families allowed to meet for the first time since March, when measures were implemented to curb the spread of the coronavirus. Britain was one of the slowest countries to lock down and is now one of the worst-hit, with almost 50,000 COVID-19 deaths. Some scientists are now warning that relaxing lockdown rules could trigger a second wave of the pandemic. Henry Ridgwell reports from London.Camera: Henry Ridgwell    Produced by: Jon Spier 
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Brazil announced Tuesday that it has recorded another one-day record of coronavirus deaths. The Health Ministry said it had confirmed another 1,262 COVID-19 deaths, bringing the total death toll to 31,199, with the number of total confirmed cases now at 555,383, second only to the United States, which has more than 1.8 million total cases. Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro, wearing a face mask amid the new coronavirus pandemic, stands amid supporters taking pictures with cell phones as he leaves his official residence of Alvorada palace in Brasilia, May 25, 2020.Despite the escalating spread of the virus and the growing death toll, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro continues to dismiss the severity of the outbreak as nothing more than “a little flu.”  He told supporters outside the presidential palace in Brasilia that he regrets each of the deaths, “but that’s everyone’s destiny.” According to Johns Hopkins University, the total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases now stands at 6,395,327 around the world, with 380,580 deaths.  More than 106,000 confirmed deaths have been recorded in the United States. JapanElsewhere Tuesday, Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike issued a warning for a possible resurgence of the coronavirus in the city.   Tuesday’s warning came after 34 new cases were reported, the highest total in a month, and just days after the city lifted its state of emergency.  Only a handful of new cases were reported at the end of May.  A public screen shows Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe speaking at a press conference, May 25, 2020, in Tokyo.Koike said she is not ready yet to reimpose an official citywide alert, but said if the number rises to at least 50 new cases a day, she will again order businesses to shut down.  The governor said she suspects the new infections were brought on by the return of Japanese nightlife, including in karaoke bars.   Health experts around the world have been warning of a spike in new cases if governments and businesses reopen too soon.   South Africa
South African officials say the number of cases there has doubled every two weeks and now stands at more than 35,000.  Some businesses in Bolivia, Mexico, and Venezuela started reopening this week even after the WHO declared Latin America and the Caribbean the world’s coronavirus epicenter.  FILE – Medical workers look over paperwork at the entrance to the COVID-19 triage area at the Mexico General Hospital, in Mexico City, May 12, 2020.“Clearly the situation in many South American countries is far from stable. There is a rapid increase in cases and those systems are coming under increasing pressure,” WHO Emergencies Director Dr. Mike Ryan said Tuesday.   The experts also warn of a possible resurgence in the United States, where thousands have been protesting in the streets against racial violence, ignoring the social distancing warnings and urgings to wear masks.   Britain
A new British report Tuesday say minorities in Britain have died of COVID-19 at rates higher than whites.  The Public Health England report says ethnic Bangladeshis are at risk of death at a rate twice as high as white Britons. Britons of other Asian backgrounds, including Chinese, Indian, and Pakistani, and black Caribbean ethnicities have a 10% to 50% greater chance of dying from COVID-19.   The report just stated the findings and did not give any recommendations on how to reduce these alarming numbers.   
British Health Secretary Matt Hancock said it cannot be disputed that blacks and other minorities are at greater risk of death, but also expressed some dismay at the lack of guidance at this time.  “This is a particularly timely publication because right across the world people are angry about racial injustice. I totally understand the urgency, the importance and the sensitivity of getting this right,” Hancock said, referring to the uproar over the death of African American George Floyd in the United States while in police custody in Minneapolis. “I get that. Black lives matter,” he said.  
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Police in Istanbul have dispersed a small group of demonstrators who gathered in the Turkish city to denounce police violence and to stand in solidarity with protesters in the United States. At least 29 demonstrators were detained, Turkey’s state-run agency reported.
Anadolu Agency said riot police broke up the demonstration in Istanbul’s Kadikoy district late Tuesday after the group of about 50 activists ignored calls to disperse.  
Some of the anti-police violence activists were seen carrying a poster of George Floyd, who died after a white Minneapolis police officer pressed his knee against Floyd’s neck while the handcuffed black man called out that he couldn’t breathe.
Floyd’s death on May 25 sparked protests that spread across the U.S. and beyond.
Turkish authorities frequently impose bans on public demonstrations or gatherings on security grounds. Human rights groups often accuse police of using disproportionate force to break up demonstrations.
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Three days after George Floyd died with a Minneapolis police officer choking off his air, another black man writhed on the tarmac of a street in Paris as a police officer pressed a knee to his neck during an arrest. Immobilization techniques where officers apply pressure with their knees on prone suspects are used in policing around the world and have long drawn criticism. One reason why Floyd’s death is sparking anger and touching nerves globally is that such techniques have been blamed for asphyxiations and other deaths in police custody beyond American shores, often involving non-white suspects. “We cannot say that the American situation is foreign to us,” said French lawmaker Francois Ruffin, who has pushed for a ban on the police use of face-down holds that are implicated in multiple deaths in France, a parliamentary effort put on hold by the coronavirus pandemic. The muscular arrest on May 28 in Paris of a black man who was momentarily immobilized face-up with an officer’s knee and upper shin pressing down on his jaw, neck and upper chest is among those that have drawn angry comparisons with the killing of Floyd on May 25 in Minneapolis. The Paris arrest was filmed by bystanders and widely shared and viewed online. Police said the man was driving under the influence of drugs and alcohol and without a license and that he resisted arrest and insulted officers. His case was turned over to prosecutors. In Hong Kong, where police behavior is a hot-button issue after months of anti-government protests, the city’s force says it is investigating the death of a man who was immobilized face-down during his arrest in May by officers who were filmed kneeling on his shoulder, back and neck.A man walks past extra barricades that have been erected near the Legislative Council in Hong Kong on May 26, 2020.Police rules and procedures on chokeholds and restraints vary internationally. In Belgium, police instructor Stany Durieux says he reprimands trainees, docking them points, “every time I see a knee applied to the spinal column.” “It is also forbidden to lean on a suspect completely, as this can crush his rib cage and suffocate him,” he said. Condemned by police and experts in the United States, Floyd’s death also drew criticism from officers abroad who disassociated themselves from the behavior of Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin. He was charged with third-degree murder after he was filmed pushing down with his knee on Floyd’s neck until Floyd stopped crying out that he couldn’t breathe and eventually stopped moving. In Israel, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said “there is no tactic or protocol that calls to put pressure on the neck or airway.” In Germany, officers are allowed to briefly exert pressure on the side of a suspect’s head but not on the neck, says Germany‘s GdP police union. In the U.K., the College of Policing says prone suspects should be placed on their side or in a sitting, kneeling or standing position “as soon as practicable.” Guidance on the website of London’s police force discourages the use of neck restraints, saying “any form of pressure to the neck area can be highly dangerous.” Even within countries, procedures can vary. The thick Patrol Guide, hundreds of pages long, for the New York Police Department says in bold capitals that officers “SHALL NOT” use chokeholds and should “avoid actions which may result in chest compression, such as sitting, kneeling, or standing on a subject’s chest or back, thereby reducing the subject’s ability to breathe.” But the so-called “sleeper hold,” where pressure is applied to the neck with an arm, blocking blood flow, was allowed for police in San Diego before Floyd’s death triggered a shift. Police Chief David Nisleit said he would this week order an end to the tactic. Gendarmes in France are discouraged from pressing down on the chests and vital organs of prone suspects and are no longer taught to apply pressure to the neck, said Col. Laurent De La Follye de Joux, head of training for the force. “You don’t need to be a doctor to understand that it is dangerous,” he said. But instructions for the National Police, the other main law and order force in France, appear to give its officers more leeway. Issued in 2015, they say pressure on a prone suspect’s chest “should be as short as possible.” Christophe Rouget, a police union official who briefed lawmakers for their deliberations in March about the proposal to ban suffocating techniques, said if officers don’t draw pistols or use stun-guns then immobilizing people face-down is the safest option, stopping suspects from kicking out at arresting officers. “We don’t have 5,000 options,” he said. “These techniques are used by all the police in the world because they represent the least amount of danger. The only thing is that they have to be well used. In the United States, we saw that it wasn’t well used, with pressure applied in the wrong place and for too long.” He added that the “real problem” in France is that officers don’t get enough follow-up training after being taught restraints in police school. “You need to repeat them often to do them well,” he said. 
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French police fired tear gas early on Wednesday to disperse protesters marking the 2016 death of a black man in a police operation that some have likened to the death of George Floyd in the United States. Reuters reporters saw police use tear gas after some of the protesters started fires and set up barricades around the Avenue de Clichy in northern Paris, which was littered with rubbish and broken glass. Thousands of people assembled earlier for a demonstration in memory of Adama Traore, a 24-year-old black Frenchman who died in a 2016 police operation. The protesters were defying a police ban imposed because of the risk of disorder and the danger of spreading the novel coronavirus. The demonstration had drawn attention on social media of people supporting the “Black Lives Matter” movement and those backing U.S. protests in response to the May 25 killing in Minneapolis of Floyd, a 46-year-old African American who died after a white policeman pinned his neck under a knee for nearly nine minutes. Traore’s family blamed excessive force during his arrest, when he was pinned down by three gendarmes. Successive pathology reports have reached conflicting conclusions over whether his death two hours later resulted from asphyxiation or other factors including pre-existing conditions. 
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French citizens are among the first to be able to download the government-sponsored StopCovid app as the government begins coronavirus contact tracing through cell phones.The release of the public health StopCovid app Tuesday coincides with phase three of the government’s re-opening plan, during which restaurants, high schools and universities once again welcome students and patrons.The coronavirus has claimed nearly 29,000 French lives. Using a Bluetooth signal from cell phones, the app collects the presence of nearby anonymous users. If an individual tests positive, the app notifies those they were in close contact with for a minimum of 15 minutes so they can take the proper health protocols.Other EU nations are developing similar apps in the hopes that they will mitigate COVID-19 flare-ups as the bloc’s economies begin to re-open.The Euronews television channel reported in May that the continent was in disagreement over best practices for a pan-European app, with Switzerland and Spain exiting the initiative due to privacy concerns and Germany seeking assistance from tech giants Apple and Google.France and Britain reportedly rejected external backing, preferring to develop their own tech infrastructure.The French system differs from software jointly developed by Apple and Google in that it stores user information on a centralized, government-run server, rather than storing the data directly on mobile phones.The French government denies claims from critics that the app mimics a surveillance state.“The problem with a centralized protocol is that you have to be confident and to trust your state but we’re in a democratic state, we have checks and balances,” Cédric O, France’s junior minister for the digital economy, told the AP.An article in Le Monde newspaper published May 29 stated that officials preferred not to leave the security of citizen’s data to private firms, necessitating the need for a centralized, government-run system.The government says the app does not utilize location tracking and deletes user data after 14 days, the amount of time it takes the virus to exhibit symptoms.The project’s website listed transparency, regard for public health, and the respect and protection of an individual’s privacy as a top priority.Although use of the app overwhelming passed the upper body of parliament last week, some lawmakers expressed apprehension, citing additional security concerns and fears that the app would not be effective if the population does not use it. 
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The World Health Organization (WHO) said Tuesday that COVID-19 is on a slow but steady decline in most of western Europe but remains on the rise in Russia and parts of eastern Europe. Speaking to reporters via video conference from WHO headquarters in Geneva, spokeswoman Dr. Margaret Harris said the number of new cases in the west remains “significant,” and the decline is slow.   New cases in Russia, she said, along with other areas of eastern Europe, are still on the rise. She said the latest figures show Russia to have 414,878 cases of infection with 4,855 deaths. Harris was asked about a recent study in the city of Wuhan, China – where the virus is believed to have emerged in December – in which Chinese authorities were said to have tested nearly 10 million people and found only 300, mainly asymptomatic cases of COVID-19.   She said much more research is needed globally to put this data into context. Harris said a study of that size “gives you a little piece of the puzzle, gives you a little bit of information. But it may be related to a setting, there’s much more work that needs to be done around the world.” Harris said a WHO-led international mission to China and Wuhan earlier this year suggested that while asymptomatic transmission might play a part in spreading the disease, it did not appear to be the main “driver” of the outbreak. As of Tuesday, the WHO reports more than 6 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 worldwide, including 373,548 deaths.  By region, the WHO says the Americas are the epicenter of the pandemic, with more than 2.8 million cases, followed by Europe (2.2 million), the Eastern Mediterranean (536,148), Southeast Asia (272,512), the Western Pacific (184,305) and Africa (108,121). 
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U.S. Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell, a close political ally of President Donald Trump, has resigned after little more than two years in the job, an embassy spokesman said on Tuesday.
 
“Ambassador Grenell resigned from his post and the State Department on June 1,” said the spokesman.
 
Robin Quinville, deputy chief of mission at the embassy, will take over as Charge d’Affaires until a new ambassador is confirmed but the spokesman said any questions on Grenell’s successor should be directed to the White House.
 
In his two years as ambassador, Grenell has not been shy to voice criticism of German policies on NATO and its involvement in the NordStream 2 gas pipeline from Russia.
 
Germany’s dpa news agency reported last month that Grenell would step down soon after the U.S. Senate confirmed Representative John Ratcliffe, also a political ally of Trump, as the permanent director of national intelligence (DNI).
 
In February, Trump had named 53-year old Grenell as acting DNI.
  
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World outrage at George Floyd’s death in the U.S. was growing Tuesday as the European Union’s top diplomat said the bloc was “shocked and appalled” by it and thousands marched in Australia’s largest city.
In France, protests were planned for the evening in Paris and across the country after calls from the family of a French black man who died shortly after he was arrested by police in 2016. A protest was also planned in The Hague, Netherlands.
Floyd died last week after he was pinned to the pavement by a white police officer in Minneapolis who put his knee on the handcuffed black man’s neck until he stopped breathing. His death set off protests that spread across America.  
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell’s remarks in Brussels were the strongest so far to come out of the 27-nation bloc, saying Floyd’s death was a result of an abuse of power.
Borrell told reporters that “like the people of the United States, we are shocked and appalled by the death of George Floyd.” He underlined that Europeans “support the right to peaceful protest, and also we condemn violence and racism of any kind, and for sure, we call for a de-escalation of tensions.”
Protesters around the world have expressed solidarity with Americans demonstrating against Floyd’s death.
Thousands marched through downtown Sydney on Tuesday. The protesters in Australia’s largest city chanted, “I can’t breathe” — some of the final words of both Floyd and David Dungay, a 26-year-old Aboriginal man who died in a Sydney prison in 2015 while being restrained by five guards.
The demonstrators carried placards reading, “Black Lives Matter,” “Aboriginal Lives Matter,” “White Silence is Violence” and, referring to those protesting in cities across the U.S., “We See You, We Hear Your, We Stand With You.” Other placards read, “We’re here because they aren’t,” with depictions of Floyd and Dungay.
The protesters, who appeared to number around 3,000, marched from Hyde Park to the New South Wales state Parliament, with plans to continue to the U.S. Consulate.
“It’s just gut-wrenching the climate of what’s happening in America, and it’s also happening here in Australia, though it’s subtle. Racism is real for me,” said one of the protesters, Aoatua Lee.
Around 2,000 demonstrators had gathered in Australia’s west coast city of Perth on Monday night to peacefully protest Floyd’s death, and rallies are planned for other Australian cities this week.
An indigenous Australian lawmaker called on governments to use Floyd’s death as an opportunity to reduce deaths of indigenous people in custody.  
Linda Burney, the opposition spokeswoman on indigenous Australians, said Tuesday that more than 430 indigenous people had died in Australian police custody since 1991.
“I think we should be using it as an opportunity,” Burney told Australian Broadcasting Corp., referring to Floyd’s death. “Whether we like it or not, it doesn’t take much for racism to come out of the underbelly of this country.”
“It seems to me that there are lots of things that state and territory governments could do, and the federal government could do to lower the number of Aboriginal people in custody,” she added.
While indigenous adults make up only 2% of the Australian population, they account for 27% of the prison population.
Opposition leader Anthony Albanese backed Burney’s call. “There are far too many indigenous Australians who are incarcerated today. As a percentage of the population, this is a tragedy and it’s one that must be addressed as an absolute national priority,” Albanese told reporters.
Meanwhile, more African leaders are speaking up over the killing of Floyd.
“It cannot be right that, in the 21st century, the United States, this great bastion of democracy, continues to grapple with the problem of systemic racism,” Ghana’s president, Nana Akufo-Addo, said in a statement, adding that black people the world over are shocked and distraught.
Kenyan opposition leader and former Prime Pinister Raila Odinga offered a prayer for the U.S., “that there be justice and freedom for all human beings who call America their country.”
Like some in Africa who have spoken out, Odinga also noted troubles at home, saying the judging of people by character instead of skin color “is a dream we in Africa, too, owe our citizens.”
And South Africa’s finance minister, Tito Mboweni, recalled leading a small protest outside the U.S. Embassy several years ago over the apparent systemic killings of blacks. Mboweni said the U.S. ambassador at the time, Patrick Gaspard, “invited me to his office and said: ‘What you see is nothing, it is much worse.'”
In Europe on Monday, thousands spilled across streets in Amsterdam to denounce police brutality, and those demonstrating in Paris urged the French government to take police violence more seriously and held up signs like “Racism is suffocating us.”
Some government leaders have seen the U.S. unrest as a chance to highlight what they see as American hypocrisy on protest movements at home versus abroad.  
Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam questioned the foreign criticism over an imminent national security law being imposed in the semi-autonomous Chinese territory.
“They take their own country’s national security very seriously, but for the security of our country, especially the situation in Hong Kong, they are looking at it through tinted glasses,” Lam said Tuesday.
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Activists in Brazil fed up with police crimes against blacks rallied in solidarity Monday night, with protesters in the United States, demonstrating against the death of a black man by a white police officer who knelt on his neck during his arrest on suspicion of committing a forgery.  Police in Brazil used tear gas and rubber bullets to break up the anti-racism protest in the southern Brazilian city of Curitiba that ended in violence. Blacks and people of multi-ethnic backgrounds make up a small portion of the million plus residents of Curitiba. The otherwise peaceful demonstration was winding down when scores of protesters  began shouting slogans against racism and Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and vandalizing buildings near the governor’s palace. There were no immediate reports of police making arrests.   On Sunday, police used tear gas to break up a protest in Rio de Janeiro called “Black Lives Matter.” 
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A day after the 2020 hurricane season began, the National Hurricane Center warns if Tropical Depression 3 in the Gulf of Mexico strengthens it could become the next named storm, Cristobal.  A tropical storm warning has been posted for the Mexican coast, with forecasters saying the weather system could move through the Gulf of Mexico over the next few days.   The storm is a remnant of Tropical Storm Amanda, which is blamed for killing at least 17 people in El Salvador and Guatemala, where heavy rains caused flooding and landslides. El Salvador President Nayib Bukele decreed a State of National Emergency for 15 days and Civil Protection issued a red alert for the entire country after the storm displaced several thousand people and destroyed hundreds of homes.  El Salvador Interior Minister Mario Durán said the storm exposed how vulnerable the country is, citing what he called a lack of investment in infrastructure. 
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Latin America is the new epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic, the World Health Organization declared Monday, as the region’s daily death rate now exceeds that in either the United States or Europe. The WHO said Monday there are nearly 938,000 COVID-19 related cases throughout Latin America and the Caribbean and almost 50,000 deaths a day. Brazil, Chile and Ecuador lead Central and South America with the most cases. In the United States, COVID-19 has killed about 26,000 nursing home residents, the government reports, accounting for nearly one-fourth of all U.S. deaths from the disease. About 450 nursing home staffers have also died of COVID-19. “This data, and anecdotal reports across the country, clearly show that nursing homes have been devastated by the virus,” CDC Director Robert Redfield and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services chief Seema Verma said in a letter to state governors. COVID-19 is especially devastating to the elderly, many of whom already have other health issues. Some experts say the number of COVID cases in nursing homes could be undercounted because some of the deaths may be attributed to other causes.A health worker holds a glove outside the San Jose public hospital emergencies entrance, amid the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Santiago, Chile, May 28, 2020.Federal officials are recommending one-time tests for all nursing home residents and staff and weekly follow-up tests. Verma also says nursing facilities must take “extreme caution” before deciding whether to reopen their doors to visitors. She also says her office is increasing penalties on nursing homes that fail to take the proper precautions against infections. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, authorities reported a new outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus on the same day they announced the country has 3,200 COVID-19 cases. The DRC health ministry said it found six cases in a region along the Congo River on the border with the Republic of Congo. This comes just as the DRC was planning to declare the end of an earlier Ebola outbreak in North Kivu, in the eastern DRC.  The Ebola and COVID-19 outbreaks in the DRC come on top of what experts say is the world’s largest measles outbreak.  Meanwhile, more world tourist sites started to welcome visitors again Monday. They include the Florida Keys, the Coliseum in Rome, Greek hotels, beaches in Turkey, and museums in the Netherlands. But all visitors are still urged to take appropriate precautions.  
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Protests have erupted in cities around the world in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter demonstrations in the United States. The protests follow the death in Minnesota of George Floyd, a 46-year old black man, last week in police custody.  In central London, demonstrations turned violent Sunday as police tried to clear a road junction outside Parliament. Police made 23 arrests. Protesters accused the police of triggering the violence, an accusation that authorities denied. “We came out here peacefully to protest the injustice in the U.K.,” one demonstrator told reporters. “It’s now a global issue with the murder of George Floyd, everything that’s going on in the world.’Hundreds of people also gathered in central London’s Trafalgar Square chanting, “George Floyd, Say His Name.” Demonstrators also chanted, “I Can’t Breathe” as they marched on the U.S. Embassy — the words spoken by Floyd as Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin kneeled on his neck for more than eight minutes as Floyd lay handcuffed and prone on the ground after he was arrested on suspicion of using a counterfeit bank note. He was pronounced dead later that day. Chauvin was arrested Friday and charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter.Demonstrators stop a bus as they block the street in Sloane Square in London on May 31, 2020 after marching on the US embassy to protest the death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man who died after a police officer knelt on his neck for nearly…Smaller protests broke out in the south London suburbs, home to many ethnic minority communities. “Can you imagine, we are in a whole world pandemic, and people are still brutalizing innocent people,” said a protest organizer named Aba. “When they stop, when police stop brutalizing innocent black people, then we’ll stop.”   The U.S. protests resonate with minority communities in Britain, said lawyer and activist Shola Mos-Shogbamimu. “Police brutality exists in the United Kingdom. Racial profiling exists in the United Kingdom, and it’s existed for the longest time,” Mos-Shogbamimu told VOA in an interview Monday. “And it means for a lot of black people, particularly young black men, that they are targeted simply because of the color of their skin. What you are seeing right now is we’re getting more mobile phone (video) evidence. And social media platforms have become the wireless platform to communicate this information worldwide, in real time, instantly.” British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said Sunday that the government wants to see a de-escalation of tensions in the United States and for people in the U.S. to “come together.”Some critics, including many British lawmakers, argue the demonstrators were putting lives at risk by not adhering to social distancing guidelines amid the coronavirus pandemic. “Racism did not stop when (the) coronavirus hit the planet,” Mos-Shogbamimu said.People protest in Berlin, Germany, May 31, 2020 after the violent death of the African-American George Floyd by a white policeman in the USA against racism and police violence, among other things with a sign “Who do call when police murders”.Hundreds of protesters also gathered in Berlin over the weekend. Remnants of Germany’s Berlin Wall were daubed with graffiti mourning the death of Floyd and demanding justice. Several thousand people marched in New Zealand’s largest city, Auckland, and in the capital, Wellington, and other areas Monday to show solidarity with U.S. demonstrators.  Some 4,000 New Zealand protesters demonstrate against the killing of Minneapolis man George Floyd in a Black Lives Matter protest in Auckland, June 1, 2020. 
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The U.N. refugee agency warns some 1.5 million Venezuelan refugees and migrants face extreme risks and hardships during the winter season in the southern region of South America. The UNHCR reports six countries of asylum — Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay — are overstretched and unable to help the Venezuelans.
Life has not been easy for the hundreds of thousands of refugees and migrants who have fled political oppression and economic misery in Venezuela. But the U.N. refugee agency fears their plight will increase during the harsh, bitterly cold winter season. Added to this mix of inclement weather is COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. UNHCR spokeswoman Shabia Mantoo notes Latin America now is the new epicenter of the pandemic. She says the health and economic consequences will have a profound impact on displaced Venezuelans in the region. “In addition to health risks, COVID-related lockdowns and confinement measures have already resulted in severe hardship for Venezuelans in those countries,” she said. “Many have now lost their livelihoods and are faced with poverty, destitution, eviction, widespread hunger and food insecurity as well as increased protection risks.”   Mantoo says this humanitarian crisis will deepen as temperatures drop. She says the Venezuelans, most of whom are living in rented accommodations, often lack fuel to heat their homes. Mantoo also says they need blankets, warm clothing and medicine.She says many who fall ill with respiratory diseases, such as influenza, in the six countries of asylum will not be able to get the treatment they need. “As national capacities are stretched to breaking point, access to public health services and timely medical care is also a challenge, especially for those in irregular situations,” she said. “Shelter, food, and hygiene kits, as well as cash assistance are already critically needed for many vulnerable Venezuelans who are living in precarious conditions and who are at risk of becoming homeless or living on the streets in exile.”  The UNHCR is stepping up its response to this crisis. Together with partners, the agency is providing emergency shelters, rental subsidies and other material relief. It also is providing essential health care and cash assistance to refugees and migrants who are particularly vulnerable.     
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Protests have erupted in cities across the world in solidarity with the ‘Black Lives Matter’ demonstrations in the United States. The protests follow the death in police custody of George Floyd, a 46-year old black man, in Minneapolis last week. As Henry Ridgwell reports from London, many protestors outside the U.S. say they see racial injustice in their own countries.
Camera: Henry Ridgwell   Producer: Marcus Harton
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Russian President Vladimir Putin has set July 1 as the date for the national vote on constitutional amendments that among other things would allow him to remain in power until 2036.Putin announced the decision at a meeting with co-chairs of the working group on the preparation of the bill on June 1.Ella Pamfilova, the chairwoman of the Central Election Committee, said she supports the idea, adding that the voting will start seven days prior the official date in order to avoid large crowds.Pamfilova also said that in two or three regions an electronic voting system will be used, though she did not say which regions.The bill of constitutional amendments was approved by lawmakers and approved by the Constitutional Court in March.It was expected to be put to a national referendum on April 22, but due to the coronavirus outbreak, the national vote was postponed.Putin’s critics have said that he initiated the amendments to secure power for another 12 years after his current term ends in 2024 by resetting his previous presidential term count back to zero.The move has sparked protests in Russian cities and towns.Putin’s current term, his second consecutive six-year term, began in 2018. The existing constitution prohibits presidents from serving more than two consecutive terms, but the amendments would enable him to seek a fifth overall presidential term in 2024, and conceivably a sixth in 2030.Final approval of the changes will come if more than half of the country’s voters support them in the nationwide vote.Putin, a 67-year old former KGB officer, has ruled Russia as president or prime minister for more than 20 years. 
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