First thing: Trump's current and former defense secretaries oppose his threats of force
Good morning.
The last two US secretaries of defense have both voiced stiff opposition to Donald Trump’s handling of the George Floyd protests. Mark Esper, the current Pentagon chief, said categorically on Tuesday that he did not support invoking the Insurrection Act to allow active duty troops to be deployed in American cities, as the president has threatened. And in an extraordinary broadside, published by the Atlantic, Esper’s predecessor James Mattis said he was “angry and appalled” by the behaviour of his former boss:
Donald Trump is the first president in my lifetime who does not try to unite the American people – does not even pretend to try. Instead he tries to divide us.
As the largely peaceful demonstrations continued across the country on Wednesday night, it emerged that more than 3,000 people had been arrested in Los Angeles county during the unrest – the vast majority for non-violent offences such as failure to disperse. Amid the protests, the NYPD has restored its historic reputation for brutality, while the New York Times is under fire – including from members of its own staff – after it published an op-ed by GOP Senator Tom Cotton, calling on Trump to “send in the troops”.
If this harsh response to protests occurred in another country, writes Michael H Fuchs, the US would rightly condemn it:
In the same week that America is trying to pressure China over its repression in Hong Kong and commemorating the anniversary of China’s violent crackdown against citizens in Tiananmen Square in 1989, the American government is threatening violence against peaceful protesters at home.
Could Joe Biden really be a ‘transformational’ president?
Barack Obama said on Wednesday that despite the division on display across the US, he remains “optimistic” about the future, and about the capacity of young people of colour to change the country for the better. During a Zoom event organised by the Obama Foundation, America’s first black president said young protesters had “communicated a sense of urgency that is as powerful and as transformative as anything that I’ve seen in recent years”.
Obama’s former vice-president, Joe Biden, now faces the challenge of convincing those protesters he has ambitions beyond just being “better than Trump”, reports Lauren Gambino. According to Akunna Cook, the former president of the Black Economic Alliance: “Biden has the latitude to be a transformational president.”
Minnesota charges all four officers over George Floyd’s death
The attorney general of Minnesota, Keith Ellison, said on Wednesday that he had increased the charge against Derek Chauvin – the Minneapolis police officer who knelt on George Floyd’s neck for almost nine minutes – from third- to second-degree murder. The other three officers involved in the incident that led to Floyd’s death now face charges of aiding and abetting murder.
Defund the police? Activists say one answer to police brutality is to cut law enforcement budgets and reinvest in services. And now some lawmakers say they agree, reports Sam Levin.
Floyd tested positive. George Floyd tested positive for Covid-19 in April, according to his autopsy report – though the virus was not a contributing factor in his death.
The WHO is restarting its hydroxychloroquine trials
Last month, the World Health Organization halted its global clinical trials of hydroxychloroquine, the antimalarial drug touted by Trump and others as a possible Covid-19 treatment, after a study published by the Lancet raised concerns about the risks of the drug. But scientists have since questioned that study, while a Guardian investigation found it was based on flawed data from the small and little-known US firm Surgisphere.
And so, on Wednesday, the WHO announced it would resume the trial after all. And yet, a separate study published this week in the New England Journal of Medicine suggests the drug is no more effective in protecting people exposed to the virus than a placebo.
More coronavirus updates:
Cases are on the rise in 20 US states including California over the past five days, raising fears that reopening will increase the rate of transmission.
Mexico and Brazil recorded their highest daily death tolls even as the Brazilian authorities push aggressively to reopen the country’s economy.
A small Spanish town was one of Europe’s worst hotspots. The outbreak in La Rioja led to suspicion and recrimination among a tiny, tight-knit community, as Giles Tremlett discovered.
In other news…
At least 20,000 tonnes of diesel have spilled into a river in the Russian Arctic. Vladimir Putin has declared a state of emergency over the incident near Norilsk, which is already notorious as Russia’s most polluted city.
Trump tried to register to vote with the wrong address. The president, who has railed repeatedly against vote by mail, attempted to register in Florida last year under his Washington DC address: 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Florida does not allow people to register to vote without an in-state address.
A jailed German paedophile is the prime suspect in the Madeleine McCann case, the most significant development to date in the high-profile disappearance of the three-year-old British girl in Portugal, 13 years ago.
The oldest and biggest known structure built by the Mayas – a colossal elevated platform, built between 1000 and 800BC – has been discovered in Mexico’s Tabasco state.
Great reads
The USA’s 2002 World Cup quarter-finals run: an oral history
It is 18 years this week since coach Bruce Arena started the USA men’s team on a World Cup campaign that would change how the country – and the rest of the world – saw America’s footballers. Eoin O’Callaghan hears the story from those who were there.
The whirlwind romances of lockdown
Back in March, couples in England were advised to either stay apart in order to curb the spread of the coronavirus – or to move in together. It was a dilemma facing those in new relationships around the world. Sirin Kale spoke to some of the pairs who took the plunge.
Opinion: the brands defending black lives used to silence us
Candice Frederick was at first heartened to see it wasn’t just black people demanding justice for the death of George Floyd – until she noticed organisations such as the NFL jumping on the Black Lives Matter bandwagon – the same platforms that previously silenced voices like Colin Kaepernick’s.
Black lives didn’t matter to them then, so their shallow presentations of coalition don’t matter to protesters now.
Last Thing: how to have the perfect picnic
It’s the summer of physical distancing, which means the best place to see family and friends is outdoors. Tony Naylor finds out from the experts how to perfect the picnic experience, with wet wipes, build-your-own sandwiches and a “feisty kimchi”.
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