USA

WASHINGTON (AP) — Ten long weeks after a massive coronavirus outbreak sidelined one of the Navy’s signature warships, the U.S.S. Theodore Roosevelt has returned to sea and is conducting military operations in the Pacific region.

Lining the flight deck in their dress white uniforms, sailors wearing white face masks stood a virus-safe 10-feet apart in a final, formal thank you as the ship sailed out of port in Guam Thursday and headed into the Philippine Sea.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Maine’s Democratic governor is urging President Donald Trump to watch his tone during a visit to the state Friday to showcase a company that makes specialized swabs for coronavirus testing.

And the sheriff in the state’s most rural county is urging those expected to protest Trump’s visit — and those who support him — to behave themselves as demonstrations continue around the country over the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A Senate impasse over a widely backed bill to designate lynching as a federal hate crime boiled over on Thursday in an emotional debate cast against a backdrop of widespread protests over police treatment of African Americans.

Raw feelings were evident as Sen. Rand Paul — who is single-handedly holding up the bill despite letting it pass last year — sought changes to the legislation as a condition of allowing it to pass.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The American Civil Liberties Union sued the Trump administration Thursday, alleging officials violated the civil rights of protesters who were forcefully removed from a park near the White House by police using chemical agents before President Donald Trump walked to a nearby church to take a photo.

The lawsuit, filed in federal court on Washington, comes as Attorney General William Barr defended the decision to forcefully remove the peaceful protesters, saying it was necessary to protect officers and federal property.

BRUNSWICK, Ga. (AP) — A state investigator testified Thursday that a white man was heard saying a racist slur as he stood over Ahmaud Arbery’s body, moments after fatally shooting the black man with a pump-action shotgun.

The inflammatory revelation came amid a week of angry nationwide protests over law enforcement biases against black victims that erupted after the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

WASHINGTON (AP) — America’s workers likely suffered another devastating blow in May, with millions more jobs lost to the viral pandemic and an unemployment rate near or even above 20% for the first time since the Great Depression.

ATLANTA (AP) — The tenor of the protests set off by the death of George Floyd at the hands of police has taken a turn from the explosive anger that has fueled the setting of fires, breaking of windows and other violence to a quiet, yet more forceful, grassroots call for more to be done to address racial injustice.

UNITED NATIONS, June 04 (APP): UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, has expressed alarm at the clampdown on freedom of expression in India and 11 other countries in the Asia-Pacific region during the coronavirus crisis.

In a statement issued in Geneva on Wednesday, she said that any action the authorities take to stop the spread of false information must adhere to the principles of legality, necessity, proportionality, adding that “in these times of great uncertainty”, citizens had a right to voice their concerns.

Washington, Jun 4 (PTI) Unknown miscreants have vandalised the statue of Mahatma Gandhi outside the Indian embassy in the US with graffiti and spray painting, prompting the mission to register a complaint with the local law enforcement agencies.

Vandalism of the statue of the apostle of peace happened during the week of nationwide protests against the custodial killing of African-American George Floyd in Minneapolis on May 25.

The incident is reported to have taken place on the intervening night of June 2 and 3, officials said.

4 June 2020; AFP: US President Donald Trump appears as the first result of suggested accounts when users type "racist" into Twitter's people search, it emerged Wednesday.

The result, reported by the British news outlet The Independent and verified by AFP, highlights the intense discord around the president.

Trump has more than 80 million followers, although there is much dispute about how many of them are genuine, active human Twitter users.