CORONAVIRUS | CHINA'S DELAY IN RELEASING INFORMATION FRUSTRATES WHO

Throughout January, the World Health Organization publicly praised China for

what it called a speedy response to the new coronavirus and thanked the

Chinese government for sharing the genetic map of the virus "immediately."

But in fact, Chinese officials sat on releasing the genetic map, or genome,

of the deadly virus for over a week after multiple government labs had fully

decoded it, not sharing details key to designing tests, drugs and vaccines.

Strict controls on information and competition within the Chinese public

health system were largely to blame, has found from internal documents,

emails and dozens of interviews.

Although WHO continued to publicly commend China, the recordings obtained by

the AP show they were concerned China was not sharing enough information to

assess the risk posed by the new virus, costing the world valuable time.

"We're currently at the stage where yes, they're giving it to us 15 minutes

before it appears on CCTV," said WHO's top official in China, Dr. Gauden

Galea, referring to the state-owned China Central Television, in one

meeting.

The story behind the early response to the pandemic comes at a time when the

U.N. health agency is under siege. U.S. President Trump cut ties with WHO on

Friday, after blasting the agency for allegedly colluding with China to hide

the extent of the epidemic. Chinese President Xi Jinping said China has

always provided information to WHO and the world "in a most timely fashion."

AFTER FACEBOOK STAFF WALKOUT, ZUCKERBERG DEFENDS NO ACTION ON TRUMP POSTS

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg isn't budging over his refusal to take action

on inflammatory posts by President Donald Trump that spread misinformation

about voting by mail and, many said, encouraged violence against protesters.

His critics, however, are multiplying. Some employees have publicly quit

over the issue and civil-rights leaders who met with him Monday night

denounced Zuckerberg's explanation for choosing to leave Trump's posts alone

as "incomprehensible."

A day after dozens of Facebook employees staged a virtual walkout over the

issue, the Facebook chief met Tuesday with employees for a Q&A session held

via online video. During that session, which had been moved forward from

later in the week, Zuckerberg reportedly doubled down on his stance to leave

Trump's posts alone - although he did suggest that the company was

considering changes to its existing policies around "state use of force,"

which Trump's Minneapolis post fell under.

Facebook rival Twitter flagged and demoted a Trump tweet in which he

referenced protests over police violence in Minneapolis using the phrase

"when the looting starts the shooting starts." But Facebook let an identical

message stand on its service. Zuckerberg explained his reasoning in a

Facebook post Friday, a position he has since reiterated several times.

"I know many people are upset that we've left the President's posts up, but

our position is that we should enable as much expression as possible unless

it will cause imminent risk of specific harms or dangers spelled out in

clear policies," Zuckerberg wrote.

The resignations, which multiple engineers tweeted and posted on LinkedIn

and Facebook, also began Tuesday.

TRUMP ANGERS AMERICAN RELIGIOUS LEADERS WITH BIBLE PHOTO OP

American religious leaders on Tuesday castigated Donald Trump for posing in

front of a church holding a Bible after peaceful protesters were violently

cleared from the surrounding area.

"It was traumatic and deeply offensive, in the sense that something sacred

was being misused for a political gesture," Washington's Episcopal Bishop

Mariann Budde said on public radio station NPR.

The Republican billionaire, whose supporters include many evangelical

Christians, used "the symbolic power of our sacred text, holding it in his

hand as if it was a vindication of his positions and his authority," she

said.

The historic St John's Episcopal church is across the street from Lafayette

Park, which faces the White House and has been the epicenter of the protests

in Washington since Friday.

The church was defaced with graffiti and damaged in a fire during a

demonstration on Sunday night.

On Monday protesters were demonstrating there peacefully when law

enforcement including military police used tear gas to disperse them --

clearing a path for the president to walk from the White House to the church

for the photographs.

The protest was televised, and the backlash as the images spread was swift

and furious.

Other Episcopalian leaders denounced Trump's visit to the church as

"disgraceful and morally repugnant."

"Simply by holding aloft an unopened Bible he presumed to claim Christian

endorsement and imply that of The Episcopal Church," bishops from New

England said in a statement.

On Tuesday the president and his wife followed up with a visit to the St

John Paul II National Shrine in the capital's northeast, immediately

infuriating the country's Catholic leadership as well.

"I find it baffling and reprehensible that any Catholic facility would allow

itself to be so egregiously misused and manipulated in a fashion that

violates our religious principles," Washington's Archbishop Wilton Gregory

said in a statement.

The pontiff, who died in 2005, "certainly would not condone the use of tear

gas and other deterrents to silence, scatter or intimidate them for a photo

opportunity in front of a place of worship and peace," he added.

PM TRUDEAU FOCUSES ON RACE RELATIONS IN CANADA, AVOIDS NAMING TRUMP IN

RESPONSE TO US PROTESTS

Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has refused to directly address the

announcements and actions of US President Donald Trump with regard to

violence following the killing of African-American George Floyd by a police

officer in Minneapolis. Trudeau paused for as long as 21 seconds when asked

for his reaction, and avoided naming Trump in his response and instead

focused upon race relations in Canada.

Following the lengthy silence during his daily media briefing on the

Covid-19 pandemic, Trudeau said that everyone was watching with "horror and

consternation at what is going on in the United States." He went on to add

that this was a time to "pull people together" and to "listen and learn",

when injustices continue despite progress over years and decades."

Trudeau was asked again about Trump, but he would not name the American

President in his response. He also said there was the need to look at

Canadian institutions and "ensure that those barriers that may be invisible

to many of us but are far too present for black Canadians and racialized

Canadians, are addressed."

This matter came up again as Trudeau addressed the House of Commons, the

lower chamber of Canada's Parliament. "I'm not here today to describe a

reality I do not know or speak to a pain I have not felt. I want you to know

that our government is listening," he said.

However, he acknowledged the presence of systematic discrimination against

minorities in Canada and need to address that challenge that not everyone

saw.

Canada has also witnessed protests in cities like Toronto and Montreal after

the eruption in the United States.

UK TO CHANGE IMMIGRATION RULES IF CHINA IMPOSES SECURITY LAW ON HONG KONG:

BORIS JOHNSON

The United Kingdom is prepared to change its immigration rules if China

imposes a national security law on Hong Kong, British Prime Minister Boris

Johnson said on Wednesday in an op-ed for the South China Morning Post.

"Since the handover in 1997, the key has been the precious concept of 'one

country, two systems', enshrined in Hong Kong's Basic Law and underpinned by

the Joint Declaration signed by Britain and China", Johnson wrote.

The British prime minister added that China's decision to impose a national

security law on Hong Kong will "curtail its freedoms and dramatically erode

its autonomy".

He described China's step as being in conflict with the obligations under

the Joint Declaration.

"If China imposes its national security law, the British government will

change our immigration rules," Johnson said.

Under the change, holders of British National Overseas passports from Hong

Kong would be allowed to enter the UK for a renewable period of 12 months

and given further immigration rights, he added, "including the right to

work, which could place them on a route to citizenship".

About 350,000 of the territory's people currently hold such passports and

another 2.5 million would be eligible to apply for them, Johnson said.

On Tuesday, Britain warned Beijing to step back from the brink over the

national security law in Hong Kong, saying it risked destroying one of the

jewels of Asia's economy while ruining the reputation of China.

DONALD TRUMP DOES NOT HAVE THE POWER TO CHANGE G7 FORMAT: EU

The EU's chief diplomat on Tuesday warned President Donald Trump he did not

have the power to change the format of G7 summit, after the US leader said

he wanted to invite several other countries, including Russia.

Moscow was expelled from the club of the world's leading industrial nations

in 2014 after annexing Crimea from Ukraine, but Trump says the current

membership is "outdated".

Trump said on Saturday he would delay the summit scheduled for this month

and invite other countries, including Russia, to join the meeting.

But EU foreign affairs high representative Josep Borrell said that Russia

had not changed course since 2014 and so should not be re-admitted.

"The prerogative of the G7 chair, in this case the United States, is to

issue guest invitations -- guest invitations reflect the host's priorities,"

Borrell said.

"But changing membership, changing the format on a permanent basis, is not a

prerogative of the G7 chair."

Meanwhile, The UK and Canada have opposed Russia's return to the G7,

deepening a rift over US President Donald Trump's wish for Moscow to rejoin

the group of the world's wealthiest nations.

THOUSANDS MARCH IN HOUSTON TO PAY TRIBUTE TO GEORGE FLOYD

Tens of thousands of people marched peacefully through the streets of

downtown Houston, wearing masks and chanting 'Black Lives Matter', to pay

tribute to 46-year-old African-American George Floyd, whose death in police

custody in Minneapolis triggered violent protests across the United States.

The protests across the country led to the death of at least five persons,

arrest of over 4,000 people and damage to property worth billions of

dollars.

Chanting "hands up, don't shoot" and "no justice, no peace", the crowd,

estimated to be over 60,000, along with 16 members of Floyd's family, some

of whom flew down to Houston, marched about a mile from Discovery Green Park

to City Hall under the scorching sun.

Organised by rappers Trae Tha Truth and Bun B, the march had as its

participants several city leaders and officials, including Mayor Sylvester

Turner, Congresswomen Sheila Jackson Lee, Lizzie Fletcher and Sylvia Garcia,

and Congressman Al Green.

Lakewood Church Pastor Joel Osteen led a prayer with Floyd's family members,

with the crowd later getting down on one knee and observing silence for 30

seconds in the memory of the Houston man.

Congressman Green said he is angry because not only do "we want an arrest,

we want a conviction."

It is time to declare a war on racism in the United States, he said, adding

that U.S. President Donald Trump should have been impeached for his racism.

CORONAVIRUS | WUHAN TESTS NEARLY 10 MILLION PEOPLE, FINDS ONLY 300

INFECTIONS

China tested almost 10 million people for COVID-19 in just over two weeks in

Wuhan, the city where the pandemic began, officials said on Tuesday,

reporting only a few hundred positive cases.

Chinese authorities claim to have largely brought the virus under control

but Wuhan officials - wary of a second wave - launched the programme after

new infections emerged for the first time since the city re-opened in April

following more than two months in lockdown.

More than 9.8 million people were tested in the city of 11 million people

between May 14 and June 1, officials said at a press conference.

Officials added that the 300 positive results were among asymptomatic

patients.

"These numbers show that Wuhan is now the safest city," said Feng Zijian,

deputy director of China's national Center for Disease Control and

Prevention.

China does not include asymptomatic cases in its tally of confirmed

infections.

No asymptomatic people were found to have infected others, said Lu Zuxun, a

public health expert from Wuhan's Huazhong University of Science and

Technology.

The city found a handful of asymptomatic cases on most days of the testing

campaign, which was initially described as a 10-day "decisive battle," but

reported zero asymptomatic cases for the first time on Monday.

PUTIN SIGNS RUSSIA'S NUCLEAR DETERRENT POLICY

President Vladimir Putin, on Tuesday, endorsed Russia's nuclear deterrent

policy which allows him to use atomic weapons in response to a conventional

strike targeting the nation's critical government and military

infrastructure.

By including a non-nuclear attack as a possible trigger for Russian nuclear

retaliation, the document appears to send a warning signal to the US.

The newly expanded wording reflects Russian concerns about the development

of prospective weapons that could give Washington the capability to knock

out key military assets and government facilities without resorting to

atomic weapons.

In line with Russian military doctrine, the new document reaffirms that the

country could use nuclear weapons in response to a nuclear attack or

aggression involving conventional weapons that "threatens the very existence

of the state".

But the policy document now also offers a detailed description of situations

that could trigger the use of nuclear weapons. They include the use of

nuclear weapons or other weapons of mass destruction against Russia or its

allies and an enemy attack with conventional weapons that threaten the

country's existence.

In addition to that, the document now states that Russia could use its

nuclear arsenals if it gets "reliable information" about the launch of

ballistic missiles targeting its territory or its allies and also in the

case of "enemy impact on critically important government or military

facilities of the Russian Federation, the incapacitation of which could

result in the failure of retaliatory action of nuclear forces".

In a call with members of his Security Council over the weekend, Putin

warned that the New START treaty is bound to expire, but "the negotiations

on that crucial issue, important not just for us but for the entire world,

have failed to start".

6,500 PAK TERRORISTS AMONG FOREIGN FIGHTERS IN AFGHANISTAN; LET, JEM PLAY

KEY ROLE:?UN REPORT

There are some 6,500 Pakistani nationals among foreign terrorists operating

in Afghanistan and the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) play

a key role in bringing foreign fighters into the war-torn country, according

to a UN report.

The report, from the UN Security Council's analytical support and sanctions

monitoring team and issued late last month, indicated Pakistani terrorists

formed a significant part of foreign fighters that pose a serious threat to

Afghanistan's security because of their activities and permanent presence in

the country.

The report said the Afghan Taliban's role as a credible counter-terrorism

partner for the world community in the aftermath of the February agreement

with the US will need careful monitoring because of the "number of foreign

terrorist fighters in search of a purpose and livelihood in Afghanistan,

including up to 6,500 Pakistanis".

The UN report said Afghan officials highlighted Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan

(TTP), JeM and LeT among the foreign groups posing a security threat. All

three groups have a presence in the eastern Afghan provinces of Kunar,

Nangarhar and Nuristan, "where they operate under the umbrella of the Afghan

Taliban", the report said.

Afghan interlocutors said JeM and LeT "facilitate the trafficking of

terrorist fighters into Afghanistan, who act as advisers, trainers and

specialists in improvised explosive devices".

The report added: "Both groups are responsible for carrying out targeted

assassinations against government officials and others. Lashkar-e-Tayyiba

and Jaish-i-Mohammed were stated to have approximately 800 and 200 armed

fighters, respectively, co-located with Taliban forces in Mohmand Darah, Dur

Baba and Sherzad Districts of Nangarhar Province."

In Kunar province, LeT "retains a further 220 fighters" and JeM "has a

further 30, all of whom are dispersed within Taliban forces", according to

the report.