🦸♀️🦸♀️🦸♀️ NewsHero| Demonstrators protest security law in Hong Kong; Fla. voting law ruled unconstitutional; anti-bullying advocates speak up after wrestler's death; WHO warns of 'second peak'
May 25, 2020 - Issue 105
Welcome to today’s free edition of NewsHero for May 25, 2020. Today is Memorial Day in the U.S., a time to honor and remember those who sacrificed their lives for America’s freedoms.
Going forward, Monday editions will be available to all readers—free of charge, while the remainder of the week’s newsletters will be available to subscribers only.
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“Mealworms can actually digest styrofoam. Waxworms can eat polyethylene. One day, on a vast scale, natural organisms may be able to process our unnatural plastic back into its natural components,” says Beautiful News. (source: Stanford University)
NewsHero Notes
Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch - 🦸♀️🦸♀️🦸♀️
Amnesty International is challenging a travel ban that the Israeli government imposed on its campaigner for Israel and Palestine, Laith Abu Zeyad, reports Human Rights Watch. The hearing is scheduled for May 31 in a Jerusalem court.
Those opposed to dropping Flynn case - 🦸♀️🦸♀️🦸♀️
Nearly 1,200 former federal prosecutors, ex-DOJ officials, and legal experts have signed a legal brief opposing U.S. Attorney General Barr’s plan to drop the criminal case against former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, reports Salon.
Medical volunteers help a man to move away as police fire teargas during a protest against Beijing's national security legislation in Causeway Bay in Hong Kong, Sunday, May 24, 2020. Hong Kong police fired volleys of tear gas in a popular shopping district as hundreds took to the streets Sunday to march against China's proposed tough national security legislation for the city. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu)
Afternoon Brief
Pro-democracy supporters - 🦸♀️🦸♀️🦸♀️
Pro-democracy supporters in Hong Kong took to the streets Sunday to march against China’s move to impose national security legislation on the city. Hong Kong police fired tear gas and a water cannon at the protesters.
Crowds of demonstrators dressed in black chanted slogans such as “Stand with Hong Kong,” “Liberate Hong Kong” and “Revolution of our times.”
Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen said that Taiwan “stands with the people of Hong Kong” as she pledged “necessary assistance” to those who need help, reports CNBC.
White House national security adviser Robert O'Brien said that the U.S. government would likely force economic sanctions on Hong Kong and China if Beijing goes ahead with its proposed national security law, reports Axios.
Judge Robert Hinkle - 🦸♀️🦸♀️🦸♀️
A federal judge ruled Sunday that a Florida law requiring felons to pay legal fees as part of their sentences before regaining the vote is unconstitutional for those unable to pay, or unable to find out how much they owe.
The ruling, issued by U.S. District Court Judge Robert Hinkle in Tallahassee, involves a state law to implement a measure approved by voters to automatically restore the right to vote for many felons who have completed their sentence. The Republican-led Legislature stipulated that fines and legal fees must be paid as part of the sentence, in addition to serving any prison time.
The judge called the Florida rules a “pay to vote” system that are unconstitutional when applied to felons “who are otherwise eligible to vote but are genuinely unable to pay the required amount.”
Anti-bullying advocates - 🦸♀️🦸♀️🦸♀️
Former women’s wrestling champion Natalya is calling for an understanding of the impact cyber bullying can have on WWE stars, after 22-year-old Hana Kimura, a Japanese pro-wrestler who appeared on a popular reality show, died, according to Yahoo Sports.
Kimura became the target of intense bullying on social media over her role on the “Terrace House” show on Netflix, which involves three men and three women temporarily living together at a shared house in Tokyo.
Her death has triggered a wave of messages on social media against anonymous bullying and hateful messages.
“I get bullied online every day. I’ve found ways to combat it & ignore it, but it still hurts from time to time,” Natalya wrote on Twitter. “It’s OK to have an opinion, but being malicious & reckless with your words is not OK. We have a responsibility to use our platforms constructively. Not destructively.”
Yukio Hatoyama, Japan’s former prime minister, also tweeted about Kimura’s death, saying Japan should consider penalties for those who target individuals for severe online harassment, reports The Guardian.
WHO Says Easing Virus Restrictions Too Soon Could Cause An ‘Immediate Second Peak’
Powerful NYT report addresses US COVID-19 deaths nearing 100,000
Dr. Osman Osmanov, center, drinks a coffee as he has breakfast before his shift at an intensive care unit of the Filatov City Clinical Hospital in Moscow, Russia. (AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin)
NewsHero is continuing to offer a compilation of stories and resources that best represent the current state of the coronavirus pandemic, centered on those individuals, institutions, and organizations stepping up to end this crisis as quickly and effectively as possible. The public, too, has a duty. This includes staying responsibly informed and taking the situation seriously, while remaining as cool-headed and as isolated as possible. These are strange and difficult times, but we will endure.
A powerful front page of Sunday’s print New York Times addressed the nearly 100,000 deaths from COVID-19 in the United States. The Times also assembled a sobering and moving online version of the report. You can find it here.
Countries where coronavirus infections are declining could still face an “immediate second peak” if they let up too soon on measures to halt the outbreak, the World Health Organization said today. The world is still in the middle of the first wave of the coronavirus outbreak, WHO emergencies head Dr. Mike Ryan told an online briefing, noting that while cases are declining in many countries they are still increasing in Central and South America, South Asia and Africa, Reuters reports.
Reinforcing its stance that individual states—not the federal government—should be responsible for carrying out diagnostic tests to help curb COVID-19, the Trump administration said in a report to Congress that it is pledging to buy 100 million swabs by the end of 2020 and distribute them to states, The Washington Post reports.
A report from MIT’s Technology Review details a new study done by Carnegie Mellon University’s Center for Informed Democracy and Social Cybersecurity which found that nearly half of Twitter accounts discussing the coronavirus may be misinformation bots.
Critics are speaking out over some states potentially making public misleading statistics or concealing information relating to the pandemic amid increasingly relaxed social distancing rules. “Accurate, complete and timely information is the best way to understand, respond to and limit the impact of the virus on both health and the economy,” Dr. Tom Frieden, who ran the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention under former President Barack Obama, told NBC News.
Dr. Osman Osmanov, center, and Dr. Konstantin Glebov, center left, perform tracheal intubation of a coronavirus patient on artificial lung respiration at an intensive care unit of the Filatov City Clinical Hospital in Moscow, Russia. (AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin)
The Associated Press profiled Dr. Osman Osmanov, who works battling the coronavirus at Moscow’s Filatov Hospital. “Frankly speaking, I just want to be in silence for a couple of days. I would like to go somewhere in the mountains where there is no cell phone signal, so I can sit quietly and have some air,” the 40-year-old intensive care physician told The Associated Press at the end of yet another long shift at the epicenter of Russia’s coronavirus outbreak. “The current situation doesn’t allow” for rest, he said. “So we’re just hoping that soon it will all end, we will win and it will all be fine.”
Ohio Republican Gov. Mike DeWine addressed the controversial debate on wearing masks Sunday, telling the public that doing so is important to protect the health of others and the issue shouldn’t be politicized, says CNBC. “This is not about whether you’re liberal or conservative, left or right, Republican or Democrat,” DeWine told NBC. “It’s been very clear what the studies have shown, you wear the mask not to protect yourself so much as to protect others,” he said.
Planned Parenthood was awarded around $80 million in subsidized Small Business Administration loans, and Republican lawmakers are now calling for an investigation into the loans, The Washington Post reports. “The Small Business Administration, a federal agency distributing $669 billion in subsidized loan funding to address the economic crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic, sent letters to dozens of Planned Parenthood affiliates last week ordering them to give back the money,” the Post says.
Belgium’s railways are testing smart cameras with sensors to ensure its workers wear masks and maintain their distance to stop the spread of the coronavirus. Starting next week, so-called intelligent cameras will be installed in five strategic points in the offices of Belgian rail infrastructure operator Infrabel, where technicians would normally come together, such as the cafeteria. “We must ensure that our staff complies with the various social distancing guidelines. This is why we are setting up a number of devices based on artificial intelligence,” Benoit Gilson, Infrabel’s strategy director, told Reuters today.
Committee to Protect Journalists is calling on Myanmar authorities to immediately release jailed news editor Zaw Ye Htet. “Journalists should never be jailed for their news reporting, particularly during a global health emergency,” said Shawn Crispin, CPJ’s senior Southeast Asia representative. “Zaw Ye Htet should be freed immediately, and authorities should stop using legal threats to stifle news reporting.”
Extra! Extra!
Sometimes those “What would you do?” scenarios we ask each other for fun have merit. We caught a story the Associated Press ran with the headline: Virginia family out for ride finds nearly $1 million in road
Ooh, now what? Well, if you’re like us, the first thing you think of is that great old movie Too Late For Tears (1949), where a similar situation occurs but with less-than-rosy results.
Turns out though, David and Emily Schantz, the Virginia couple who literally drove over nearly a million dollars, are far more trustworthy than the leading pair in a seedy film noir.
The couple notified the authorities and a search for the rightful owner was underway. We’ll admit it’s nice to see reality offer honesty and kindness, with the double-crossing and thievery left to the big screen.
Sources:
Plastic-eating worms could tackle trash - Beautiful News
DOJ alumni sign legal brief opposing Bill Barr's scheme to drop criminal case against Michael Flynn - Salon
Amnesty International Staffer Challenges Israel’s Travel Ban - Human Rights Watch
Taiwan's Tsai pledges support for people of Hong Kong after China proposes national security law - CNBC
O'Brien: U.S. likely to impose sanctions if China moves ahead with Hong Kong law - Axios
Dozens of Chinese companies added to U.S. blacklist in latest Beijing rebuke - Reuters
Hong Kong police fire tear gas, water cannon at protesters - AP News
Florida Law Restricting Felon Voting Is Unconstitutional, Judge Rules - The New York Times
Federal Judge Rules Florida Law Restricting Voting Rights For Felons Unconstitutional - NPR
Judge rules against Florida on felons paying fines to vote - AP News
Federal judge rules Florida felons can't be barred from voting because they owe court fines - CNN
WWE: Hana Kimura's death prompts legends to call for change - Yahoo Sport
Hana Kimura: grief as Japanese wrestler and reality show member dies aged 22 - The Guardian
Japanese pro-wrestler in popular reality show dies at 22 - AP News
Remembering the Nearly 100,000 Lives Lost to Coronavirus in America - The New York Times
WHO warns of 'second peak' in areas where COVID-19 declining - Reuters
Administration leaves testing responsibility to states in report to Congress - The Washington Post
Nearly half of Twitter accounts pushing to reopen America may be bots - Technology Review
'I'm looking for the truth': States face criticism for COVID-19 data cover-ups - NBC News
Ohio's Republican governor calls for public to wear masks: 'This is not about whether you're left or right' - CNBC
Stimulus turns political as SBA tries to claw back funding from Planned Parenthood - The Washington Post
White House goal on testing nursing homes unmet - AP News
Belgian rail tests sensors to keep workers apart during COVID-19 - Reuters
After weeks of COVID-19 cases, Russian doctor craves quiet - AP News
Myanmar news editor sentenced to 2 years in jail over COVID-19 report - CPJ
Virginia family out for ride finds nearly $1 million in road - AP News