CHINA EXONERATES SELF IN WHITE PAPER

A beleaguered China on Sunday exonerated itself from the global allegations

of delay in reporting the Covid outbreak, saying the virus was first noticed

in Wuhan on December 27 as a viral pneumonia and human-to-human transmission

was discovered on January 19, after which it took swift actions to curb it.

A White Paper, released by the Chinese government, gave a lengthy

explanation to refute the allegations of cover up and delay by Beijing on

reporting the outbreak last year in Wuhan.

US President Donald Trump and leaders of several countries have accused

China of not being transparent in reporting the deadly disease, leading to

huge human casualties and economic crisis across the world.

According to Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Centre, Covid has infected

over 68,00,000 people and killed nearly 4,00,000 across the world. The US is

the worst-affected country with over 1.9 million cases and more than

1,09,000 deaths, while the total number of cases in China stand at 84,177.

The contagion has also battered the world economy with the IMF saying the

global economy, which was in a sluggish recovery even before the outbreak,

is now bound to suffer a "severe recession" in 2020. World Bank has also

called for countries to step up efforts to fight the disease and improve the

economy. According to the White Paper, after the Covid-19 was identified by

a hospital in Wuhan on December 27, the local government called experts to

look into the cases through an analysis of the patients' condition and

clinical outcome, the findings of epidemiological investigations and

preliminary laboratory testing results. "The conclusion was that they were

cases of viral pneumonia," it said.

Researchers from a high-level expert team, formed by the NHC, confirmed that

the virus was transmissible among humans for the first time on January 19,

hours before they notified the public, and less than a month before the

experts were alerted by the newly-discovered disease, it said.

GEORGE FLOYD'S DEATH: MINNEAPOLIS CITY COUNCIL PLEDGES TO DISMANTLE POLICE

DEPARTMENT

The police department in the US city of Minneapolis will be dismantled and

rebuilt, city councilors said late Sunday, after the death in custody of

George Floyd sparked nationwide protests about racism in law enforcement.

"We committed to dismantling policing as we know it in the city of

Minneapolis and to rebuild with our community a new model of public safety

that actually keeps our community safe," Council President Lisa Bender told

CNN.

Council Member Alondra Cano tweeted that the decision came through "a

veto-proof majority of the MPLS City Council," which agreed that the police

department "is not reformable and that we're going to end the current

policing system."

It was the latest case of white law enforcement authorities being blamed for

the death of an unarmed black person.

Floyd's death has sparked two weeks of mostly peaceful demonstrations across

the country against racism in US law enforcement. Some marchers have called

for the police to be defunded.

Last year, a black former Minneapolis police officer was sentenced to 12

years and six months in prison for the fatal shooting of an unarmed white

Australian woman trying to report a crime.

Bender told CNN she was looking to shift police funding toward

community-based strategies, and that the city council would discuss how to

replace the current police department.

"The idea of having no police department is certainly not in the short

term," she added.

NEW ZEALAND DECLARED CORONAVIRUS-FREE; TO LIFT ALL RESTRICTIONS

New Zealand has no active cases of COVID-19 in the country for the first

time since February 28, the country's Health Ministry said in a statement on

Monday.

The last person who was being monitored for coronavirus has now been

released from isolation as he's been symptom-free and is regarded as

recovered, Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield said in a

statement.

New Zealand's Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on Monday that all

coronavirus measures in the country will be lifted from Tuesday, barring

border closure restrictions, as the virus had been eliminated from the

country.

The country would move to national alert level 1 from midnight on Monday,

Ardern said in a news conference.

She said public and private events can go on without restrictions, retail

and hospitality sectors can operate normally, and all public transport can

resume.

U.S. OFFICIALS URGE GEORGE FLOYD PROTESTERS TO GET CORONAVIRUS TESTS

With New York City poised to reopen after a more than two-month coronavirus

shutdown, officials on Sunday (June 7) lifted a curfew that was in place

amid protests of police brutality and racial injustice. But they also urged

that demonstrators be tested for COVID-19.

"Get a test. Get a test," New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo told people who have

been participating in rallies and marches in memory of George Floyd.

"I would act as if you were exposed, and I would tell people you are

interacting with, assume I am positive for the virus," Mr. Cuomo added.

The call is similar to those made in Seattle, San Francisco and Atlanta

following massive demonstrations, with free testing for protesters.

New York has been the epicenter of the U.S. outbreak, with black communities

hit especially hard.

The Rev. Brandon Watts of Epiphany Church in Brooklyn, was mindful of the

pandemic while organizing a "Pray & Protest" march with several other

churches. He mandated that protesters wear masks, and he came with boxes of

them. He also asked the group to try to maintain social distancing but

acknowledged "it's kind of hard in a protest."

Attendees also were offered free coronavirus tests at one church.

"COVID-19 hit the inner city harder than anybody else," Mr. Watts said. "And

so we have to be very careful. We're the only ones in a pandemic within a

pandemic."

TRUMP DRIFTS FROM CONSTITUTION, FORMER MILITARY CHIEF WARNS

Colin Powell, who served as America's top military officer and top diplomat

under Republican presidents, said Sunday he will vote for Democrat Joe

Biden, accusing Donald Trump of drifting from the US constitution.

In a scathing indictment of Trump on CNN, Powell denounced the US president

as a danger to democracy whose lies and insults have diminished America in

the eyes of the world.

"We have a constitution. We have to follow that constitution. And the

president's drifted away from it," Powell said.

A former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Powell was the latest in a

series of retired top military officers to publicly criticize Trump's

handling of the mass anti-racism protests that have swept the United States

since the police killing of George Floyd, an unarmed black man, in

Minneapolis.

"We are in a turning point," Powell said, blasting Republican senators for

not standing up to Trump.

"He lies about things. And he gets away with it because people will not hold

him accountable," he said.

Powell, who served as secretary of state under George Bush, also rebuked

Trump for offending "just about everyone in the world."

"We're down on NATO. We're cutting more troops out of Germany. We have done

away with our contributions to the World Health Organization. We're not

happy with the United Nations.

"And just about everywhere you go you'll find some kind of disdain for

American foreign policy that is not in our interests," he said.

Powell, a moderate who has distanced himself from the Republican party in

recent years and did not vote for Trump in 2016, said he would cast his

ballot for Biden in November.

"Every American citizen has to sit down, think it through, and make a

decision on their own," he said. "Use your common sense, say is this good

for my country before you say this is good for me."

PAK OKAYS $7.2 BN RAIL LINE UPGRADE PROJECT UNDER CPEC

Pakistan has approved the strategic $7.2 billion railway line upgrade

project between Peshawar and Karachi under the CPEC, paving the way for the

final negotiations with China for the finance, a media report said on

Sunday.

The approval of the project to upgrade the 1,872-km railway track from

Peshawar to Karachi is a big milestone for the second phase of the China

Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), said Lieutenant General (retired) Asim

Saleem Bajwa, chairman of the CPEC Authority.

The Central Development Working Party (CDWP) on Saturday approved the

Pakistan Railways' Mainline-I (ML-1) Project, The Express Tribune reported.

The approval by the key government body has set the stage for the final

negotiations with China for financing the project and talks with the

International Monetary Fund (IMF) to address its concern over a big loan

from Beijing.

NORTH KOREA'S KIM JONG UN STRESSES SELF-SUFFICIENT ECONOMY AT PARTY MEETING:

REPORT

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un attended a meeting of the politburo of the

country's ruling Workers Party, where economic projects including the

chemical industry were discussed, state news agency KCNA said on Monday.

The two-day meeting comes at a time of economic uncertainty amid the global

COVID-19 pandemic that is putting additional pressure on the North's

economy, already battered by international sanctions aimed at stopping its

nuclear program.

The meeting discussed "crucial issues arising in further developing the

self-sufficient economy of the country and improving the standard of

people's living," KCNA said.

The 13th political bureau meeting repeatedly stressed that the chemical

industry is "a major thrust front of the national economy," it said.

"He stressed the need to give top priority to increasing the capacity for

producing fertilizer," KCNA said, citing Kim.

The meeting also emphasized construction of residential houses as a way to

better North Korean's standard of living.

"Pointing out in detail the issues that have to be urgently settled to

ensure living conditions of citizens in the city, the Supreme Leader

stressed to take strong state measures for ensuring the living conditions of

people including the construction of dwelling houses," KCNA reported.

SRI LANKA HOLDS MOCK POLL TO TEST COVID-19 GUIDELINES FOR PARLIAMENTARY

ELECTION

Sri Lanka's election commission has held a mock poll in the southern Galle

district to test the COVID-19 health guidelines and its preparedness for the

parliamentary polls likely to be held between late July and mid August.

The parliamentary polls were initially to be held on April 25, but had to be

postponed due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic which prompted the

authorities to announce a nationwide lockdown from March 20.

Later, the election commission shifted the date to June 20. It was again

deemed not suitable in view of the raging COVID-19 pandemic, which has

claimed 11 lives and infected over 1,900 people in the island nation. A

majority of the patients have been cured and discharged from hospitals.

Some 200 voters from the Ambalangoda polling division in Galle district were

chosen to 'vote' at the mock poll, according to an official.

"We wanted to learn from the exercise so that the lessons can be applied at

the real election when it happens," senior election commission official

Saman C Ratnayake told reporters at the Buddhist temple hall which was used

for the mock poll.