June 16, 2020
By David Sirota
Conservatives claim to love law enforcement - but they cut cops who protect us from powerful and dangerous criminals @davidsirota
After two weeks of police violence and protests, Republican politicians have been pretending to have a fainting spell over the phrase “defund the police.” “There won’t be defunding,” said a pearl-clutching Donald Trump, as Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell and...
June 16, 2020
NEW YORK (AP) — Three New York City police officers received treatment after drinking Shake Shack milkshakes that may have been contaminated with a disinfectant.
The officers had been assigned to work at a protest Monday evening in Manhattan when they stopped at the restaurant for a meal, The New York Patrolman’s Benevolent Association said in a statement. The officers determined “a toxic substance, believed to be bleach,” was added to their...
June 15, 2020
Event planned at space that holds 19,000, sparking concerns over public health amid coronavirus pandemic and race relations amid national protests
The Tulsa World newspaper has backed the city’s top public health official in asking Donald Trump not to stage a controversial rally there on Saturday. The paper expressed concern both in terms of public health because of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and race relations in light of...
June 15, 2020
Ford Foundation President Darren Walker has been in constant talks with nonprofits across the country worried about their futures as the coronavirus pandemic rips through their finances. So now he's turning to Wall Street to raise $1 billion to help.
The 84-year-old organization is set sell $1 billion of taxable bonds this month and use the proceeds to provide grants to nonprofits struggling to recuperate from the virus-related shutdowns that...
June 11, 2020
The country is now on the verge of leaving the battlefield before the war is over
It is an odd moment to surrender to coronavirus. Right and left, conservative and liberal — all parts of the US spectrum embraced the language of war. The metaphor was clearly too glib.
Downgrading the fight now would be like George Washington taking a vacation after crossing the Delaware. Mission accomplished only works when there is a vaccine, which is at least...
June 11, 2020
Technology giant Amazon has banned the police from using its controversial facial recognition software for a year.
It comes after civil rights advocates raised concerns about potential racial bias in surveillance technology.
This week IBM also said it would stop offering its facial recognition software for "mass surveillance or racial profiling".
The decisions follow growing pressure on firms to respond to the death in police custody of George...
May 31, 2020
Rumors, myths and misinformation about the novel coronavirus have spread as quickly as the virus itself. AFP Factcheck has been debunking disinformation as it emerges along with new cases across the world.
Here is a list of our 485 fact-checks in English so far, starting with the most recent:
See: https://factcheck.afp.com
Essential Source in this era, see: https://factcheck.afp.com
May 31, 2020
HONG KONG/BEIJING (Reuters) - China’s state media and the government of Hong Kong lashed out on Sunday at U.S. President Donald Trump’s vow to end Hong Kong’s special status if Beijing imposes new national security laws on the city, which is bracing for fresh protests.
Trump on Friday pledged to “take action to revoke Hong Kong’s preferential treatment as a separate customs and travel territory”, and to...
August 21, 2019
United States Steel Corporation has laid off dozens at a facility in Michigan and outlined plans to temporarily remove up to 200 workers in the coming weeks, according to a state filing.
In a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notice filed with the State of Michigan this month, the steel giant said the layoffs were the result of idled operations and other adjustments at the Great Lakes Works facility.
"These additional adjustments in operations at...
August 21, 2019
PARIS (Reuters) - Brexit Britain’s overtures to U.S. President Donald Trump risk further complicating the search for common ground this weekend at a Group of Seven summit already clouded by transatlantic rifts over trade, Iran and climate change.
The summit host, President Emmanuel Macron of France, has set the bar low for Biarritz to avoid a repeat of the fiasco last year when Trump threw Canada’s G7 summit into disarray by leaving early,...
Value is the only commonality in an increasingly complex, challenging and interdependent world.