USA

WASHINGTON, May 29 (Xinhua) -- The White House has been under lockdown as protests reached the U.S. capital on Friday, the fourth day of nationwide demonstrations over the death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man, in Minneapolis police custody.

Online video showed hundreds of protesters gathered in Lafayette Park just outside the White House, chanting "No justice, no peace." One protester sprayed the Freedman's Bank Building while some other protesters clashed with Secret Service personnel, witnesses said.

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. health officials removed some coronavirus reopening tips for religious organizations only hours after posting them late last week, deleting guidance that discouraged choir gatherings and the use of shared communion cups.

A federal health official on Friday said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention posted a version of the guidance on May 22 that had not been cleared by White House officials. It was replaced the next day, said the official, who was not authorized to discuss the matter and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

CHICAGO (AP) — President Donald Trump’s tweeted warning Friday amid unrest in Minneapolis that “when the looting starts, the shooting starts” echoes the language of a Miami police chief in 1967 who made clear his distaste for civil rights activists and his belief that violent protests should be met with deadly force.

The language has also been attributed to segregationist presidential candidate George Wallace in a 1968 campaign speech in Pittsburgh.

Trump said he was unaware of the origins of the language.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Joe Biden lamented the “open wound” of the nation’s systemic racism on Friday as he responded to the police killing of a black man in Minnesota. He drew an implicit contrast with President Donald Trump, who has suggested authorities could respond with violence to the protests that followed George Floyd’s death.

“The original sin of this country still stains our nation today,” Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, said in remarks broadcast from his home in Wilmington, Delaware. “It’s time for us to take a hard look at uncomfortable truths.”

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — A senior Trump administration official misused his office for private gain by capitalizing on his government connections to help get his son-in-law hired at the Environmental Protection Agency, investigators said in a report obtained by The Associated Press.

The Interior Department’s Inspector General found that Assistant Interior Secretary Douglas Domenech reached out to a senior EPA official in person and later by email in 2017 to advocate for the son-in-law when he was seeking a job at the agency.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump announced Friday that he would withdraw funding from the World Health Organization, end Hong Kong’s special trade status and suspend visas of Chinese graduate students suspected of conducting research on behalf of their government, escalating tensions with China that have surged during the coronavirus pandemic.

Trump has been expressing anger at the World Health Organization for weeks over what he has portrayed as an inadequate response to the initial outbreak of the coronavirus in China’s Wuhan province late last year.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Transcripts of phone calls that played a pivotal role in the Russia investigation were declassified and released Friday, showing that Michael Flynn, as an adviser to then-President-elect Donald Trump, urged Russia’s ambassador to be “even-keeled” in response to punitive Obama administration measures, and assured him “we can have a better conversation” about relations between the two countries after Trump became president.

NEW YORK (AP) — Following the arrest of a CNN crew on live television by police on Friday, an apologetic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz promised that journalists would not be interfered with in reporting on violent protests following the death of George Floyd.

CNN correspondent Omar Jimenez and two colleagues were released within an hour after network chief executive Jeff Zucker called Walz to demand answers about why they were led away and held in a police van.

“We have got to ensure that there is a safe spot for journalism to tell this story,” Walz said.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Looking to defuse anger after gunfire wounded at least seven people at a protest in Louisville, the mother of a black woman killed by police urged protesters Friday to continue demanding justice but do so “without hurting each other.”

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear read the statement from Breonna Taylor’s mother hours after gunshots erupted during protests late Thursday outside City Hall. One person was in critical condition, Louisville Metro Police said Friday.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Grim employment and spending numbers darkened the prospects for a speedy recovery in the U.S. as the economic devastation from the coronavirus pandemic continues to spread, even as states moved to reopen more sectors.

President Donald Trump meanwhile announced that the United States will end its support for the World Health Organization, charging it didn’t respond adequately to the pandemic because of China’s “total control” over the U.N. agency.