| Egyptian belly dancer sentenced to prison for 'sexually suggestive' posts amid social media crackdown Posted: 28 Jun 2020 04:17 AM PDT  A high-profile Egyptian belly dancer has been sentenced to three years in prison and received a £15,000 fine for sharing photos and videos of herself on social media that were deemed to incite "debauchery" and "immorality" in a country with conservative social norms. Cairo's Misdemeanours Economic Court said on Saturday that Sama El-Masry had violated family principles and values with posts that the public prosecution described as sexually suggestive, and that she had managed the social media accounts with the aim of committing "immorality". Ms El-Masry, who has over three million Instagram followers, denied the accusations, saying the content was stolen and shared from her phone without consent. She was arrested in April as part of an investigation into "suggestive" social media posts during a wave of arrests of female Instagram and TikTok stars on charges of promoting debauchery and prostitution on social media. "There is a huge difference between freedom and debauchery," said John Talaat, a member of parliament who asked for legal action against Ms El-Masry and others. He told the Thomson Reuters Foundation that Ms El-Masry and the other social media influencers were destroying family values and traditions, activities that were banned by the law and the constitution. Mr Talaat said the other influencers were expected to face the same prison terms as Ms El-Masry as they had committed the same crime. The court also ordered the 42-year-old dancer to be put under police surveillance for three years, according to news site Egypt Today. Ms El-Masry said she would appeal the sentence. Since President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi came into power in 2014, hundreds of journalists, activists, lawyers and intellectuals have been arrested in the name of state security. Young TikTok stars have become the latest target of Egyptian state authorities. In May, a 17-year-old girl posted a TikTok video of herself crying, saying she had been gang-raped by a group of young men. The authorities swiftly arrested her and charged her with "promoting debauchery". Two years ago, Egypt brought in a cybercrime law giving the government power to censor the internet and conduct surveillance of communications.
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| For Biden VP, Black Democrats are torn between Harris and Warren Posted: 27 Jun 2020 11:55 AM PDT  The California senator represents the diversity and generational transition activists want, but polls suggest Black Democratic voters may prefer Warren.
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| The SR-72: Going Hypersonic (And Being Loaded With Missiles)? Posted: 27 Jun 2020 04:00 AM PDT  No manned aircraft in operational service has matched the remarkable long-distance Mach 3 cruises of the Blackbird.
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| Coronavirus: US has 'serious problem', says Fauci Posted: 27 Jun 2020 02:44 PM PDT  The infection is rampant in 16 states, some of which are now freezing their reopening plans.
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| These Hot Spots Gloated About Low Virus Cases. Now They’re Forced to Shut Down—Again. Posted: 27 Jun 2020 10:19 AM PDT  Their state and local leaders gloated over low coronavirus cases numbers, and heralded aggressive reopening plans. Supporters demanded the media apologize to them for saying reopening orders would put residents at risk for COVID-19.But now, a handful of lockdown-averse states that have seen explosive growth in coronavirus cases have begun ordering businesses to shut down again, closing beaches and bars, mandating masks, and implementing stay-at-home policies.Over the past several days, a number of states in the Sunbelt, including Florida, Texas, Arizona, and South Carolina, have seen an exponential rise in coronavirus cases.At least two governors who celebrated reopening orders just a few months ago have begun to reinstitute some mandatory business closures.The Texas Grim Reaper's Fight Against Masks and Health CareStill, some states that have seen an uptick in coronavirus cases have hesitated to mandate business closures again. Despite a raise in cases, neither California nor Arizona have implemented statewide closures but, in recent days, their governors have backed measures encouraging residents to wear masks. Ten states that have seen case numbers spike—Washington, Arkansas, Delaware, Idaho, Louisiana, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina and Oregon—have hit pause on their reopening plans."We all want to get back to doing all the things we love in Washington during the summer, and fully open our economy, but we aren't there yet," Gov. Jay Inslee said Saturday when announcing that eight counties eligible to reopen would no longer do so due to "significant rebounds in COVID-19 activity."Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak joined dozens of mayors around the country implementing mandatory mask orders in recent days while San Francisco Mayor London Breed said plans for hair salons, museums, tattoo parlors, nail salons and outdoor bars to reopen on Monday would be scrapped amid a rise in cases.But in Utah, Gov. Gary Herbert said he has no intention of another lockdown despite the state's epidemiologist warning that a "complete shutdown" would be imminent if the spike of coronavirus cases continued.Here are the states and counties forced to start locking down—again. FLORIDAAs the state prepares to host a number of high-profile sporting and political events, Florida has reported a spike in cases. While on Monday, the state reported under 3,000 new cases, by Saturday, there were an alarming 9,585 new coronavirus cases the previous day—a new one-day record.In April, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis had gloated: "When you look at some of the most draconian orders that have been issued in some of these states and compare Florida... Florida has done better."Just two weeks ago, he brushed off concerns about rising cases, saying it was mostly relegated to "low risk groups," and was partially the result of increased testing.But the state finally took some actions to limit the spread, announcing on Friday that it was "suspending on premises consumption of alcohol at bars statewide." Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez signed an order on Saturday closing the county's recently reopened beaches for the July 4 weekend, and banning large Independence Day celebrations and parades.Will Florida's COVID Gamble Drag Down DeSantis and the GOP?"I have been seeing too many businesses and people ignoring these lifesaving rules [on face coverings and social distancing]," Gimenez said in a statement. "If people are not going to be responsible and protect themselves and others from this pandemic, then the government is forced to step in and restore common sense to save lives." DeSantis still defended the state's reopening, pointing to the lower number of cases last month. "Remember: We did the opening at the beginning of May, had very steady, manageable cases. We've obviously seen that turn lately," he said in a press conference this week. "But we have a very quiet May, I think everyone has to acknowledge that." TEXASTexas had one of the shorter stay-at-home orders in the country, and balked at implementing statewide mask rules. But on Thursday, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott paused the state's reopening plans. A day later, he ordered the state's bars to close, limited restaurant capacity to 50 percent and banned river rafting."Every day, we make a plan. And every day, it changes," Kim Finch, the owner of Dallas bar Double Wide told the Dallas Morning News. "It's just unbelievable."Abbott said in a statement it was clear that the rise was driven by certain activities "including Texans congregating in bars" and the new executive order was essential to "our mission to swiftly contain this virus and protect public health."'If People Die, People Die': Texas COVID Hot Spots Keep Getting WorseIn an interview, the governor conceded that the reopening plan had been too aggressive, and may have accounted for a rise in cases. "If I could go back and redo anything, it probably would have been to slow down the opening of bars, now seeing in the aftermath of how quickly the coronavirus spread in the bar setting," he said in an interview this week. IMPERIAL COUNTY, CALIFORNIAOn Friday, California Gov. Gavin Newsom urged the southern border county to reinstate its stay-at-home order as the rate of positive test results hit a staggering 23 percent. If the county didn't come up with its own plan to shut down, Newsom said he would "intervene."Imperial County had only nine coronavirus cases in late March but by mid-June, it had skyrocketed to 4,389 cases among 180,000 residents—the highest per capita rate of any Californian county—and was overwhelming the local morgue and hospital system. Local health officials attributed the spike to large gatherings held over Mother's Day and Memorial Day, as well as the county's proximity to Mexicali, a city of 1 million people, many of whom cross the Mexican border to Imperial County daily for work, healthcare and family reasons. Imperial County is one of 15 counties on a watch list, compiled by California's health department, with more than 10 percent of people testing positive. "We are in the midst of the first wave of this pandemic," Newsom said. "We are not out of the first wave. This disease does not take a summer vacation."Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| Reporter Who Covered President Trump's Tulsa Rally Says He Tested Positive for COVID-19 Posted: 27 Jun 2020 08:01 AM PDT  Paul Monies told the AP that he covered the President's rally in Tulsa for around six hours
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| NC Lt. Gov. Forest threatens lawsuit over states coronavirus response Posted: 27 Jun 2020 06:40 AM PDT  Lt. Gov. Dan Forest speaks out against Gov. Roy Cooper's handling of COVID-19 pandemic.
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| 85 coronavirus cases have been linked to one Michigan bar, and patrons who recently visited are being asked to self-quarantine Posted: 27 Jun 2020 07:38 PM PDT  The restaurant said in a statement that it has closed temporarily and will eliminate lineups and install an air purifying system before reopening.
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| He was arrested because of a computer error. Now he wants to fix the system. Posted: 27 Jun 2020 02:00 AM PDT  When Detroit cops called Robert Williams, he thought it was a prank. But he had been misidentified by controversial facial recognition technology.
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| US must free migrant children from detention, court says Posted: 27 Jun 2020 01:24 AM PDT  A court in Los Angeles has ordered the release of more than 100 children held in United States family immigration detention because of the risk they could catch coronavirus in the facilities. Two of the country's three family detention centers have confirmed cases of the infection, district judge Dolly Gee said in her Friday ruling. The facilities risked spilling into a massive health crisis despite efforts by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency to lower the number of migrants in its custody, she added.
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| Private Baptist university says student 'no longer enrolled' after racist TikTok post Posted: 27 Jun 2020 05:28 PM PDT  The school's president, Eric Bruntmyer, called the video, "Deeply disappointing and an unacceptable social media post."
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| Priti Patel says Labour MPs who accused her of 'gaslighting black people' were being racist Posted: 28 Jun 2020 10:22 AM PDT  Priti Patel has said Labour MPs who accused her of attempting to "gaslight" black people in her response to Black Lives Matter protests were "racist" in their views of her. Ms Patel clashed with a group of black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) Labour MPs after they accused the Tory politician of using her Indian heritage to cast doubt on black communities' experience of racism in the UK. The Cabinet minister had previously told the 33 MPs who wrote to her that she would "not be silenced" by those suggesting she had used her own experiences of prejudice to "gaslight" the "very real racism" faced by black people. Gaslighting refers to the act of psychologically manipulating someone to doubt their own experiences. In fresh comments about the row, Ms Patel accused the opposition cohort of being "racist" in their perceptions of the views ethnic minority women should espouse. Ms Patel, asked on Sky News' Sophy Ridge On Sunday programme whether her rivals had an issue with her, said she thought they did. "I think clearly in the case of those Labour MPs, they simply do primarily because they clearly take the stance or the position that I don't conform to their preconceived idea or stereotypical view of what an ethnic minority woman should stand for and represent," she said. "In my view, that in itself is racist. "It is very disappointing and I have made it quite clear I'm not going to dignify that letter any further." Shadow minister Naz Shah and other Labour MPs, including Diane Abbott, Tan Dhesi and Rosena Allin-Khan, were among those to question Ms Patel's attitude towards the Black Lives Matter protests. They said: "We write to you as black, Asian and ethnic minority Labour MPs to highlight our dismay at the way you used your heritage and experiences of racism to gaslight the very real racism faced by black people and communities across the UK. "Being a person of colour does not automatically make you an authority on all forms of racism."
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| U.S. sanctions, coronavirus make for Iran's toughest year, Rouhani says Posted: 28 Jun 2020 02:51 AM PDT  Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Sunday that his country is experiencing its toughest year because of U.S. sanctions coupled with the COVID-19 pandemic. The coronavirus crisis has exacerbated economic problems that worsened after U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew in 2018 from Iran's nuclear deal with major powers and reimposed sanctions. On Monday, Iran's rial currency fell to its lowest ever level against the U.S. dollar.
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| Satellite images show buildup on disputed India-China border Posted: 27 Jun 2020 05:17 AM PDT  Construction activity appeared underway on both the Indian and Chinese sides of a contested border high in the Karakoram mountains a week after a deadly clash in the area left 20 Indian soldiers dead, satellite images showed. The images released this week by Maxar, a Colorado-based satellite imagery company, show new construction activity along the Galwan River Valley, even as Chinese and Indian diplomats said military commanders had agreed to disengage from a standoff there. China has said that India first changed the status quo last August when it split the state of Jammu and Kashmir into two federal territories — the territory of Jammu and Kashmir and the territory of Ladakh, parts of which are contested by China.
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| Air Force Takes Control of Joint DC Base Posted: 28 Jun 2020 06:58 AM PDT  After a decade of overseeing Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling in the National Capital Region, the U.S. Navy is handing over primary authority for the base to the Air Force.
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| After yearlong fight, Missouri's lone abortion clinic gets its license renewed Posted: 27 Jun 2020 09:03 AM PDT  That means the state's lone clinic is set to continue operating through at least 2021.
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| Tough choices for Hamas over Israeli annexation plans Posted: 28 Jun 2020 07:25 AM PDT  Hamas has warned that Israeli annexation in the occupied West Bank would be a "declaration of war", but the Islamist group must weigh the cost of a new fight, analysts say. Recent weeks have seen almost daily protests in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip against US President Donald Trump's Middle East peace plan. The proposals envisage Israel annexing its West Bank settlements and the Jordan Valley, Palestinian territory occupied since 1967 and located around 50 kilometres (31 miles) from the enclave of Gaza.
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| Army speaks out on Vanessa Guillen, missing Fort Hood soldier Posted: 27 Jun 2020 01:43 PM PDT  "We fully understand the frustration felt by the family, friends and fellow Soldiers of Vanessa," the Army said. "We are doing everything in our power to get her back."
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| FBI investigating apparent noose found in black firefighter's locker Posted: 27 Jun 2020 02:09 PM PDT  "I am disgusted, angry, and embarrassed by this cowardly act," said the city's mayor.
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| Vice President Pence set to address thousands of worshippers in Dallas amid Texas coronavirus spike Posted: 26 Jun 2020 08:42 PM PDT  Insight from Fox News contributor Robert Jeffress, pastor of First Baptist Church in Dallas, and Fox News medical contributor Dr. Marc Siegel.
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| The H-20 Stealth Bomber: China's Biggest Threat to the U.S.? Posted: 27 Jun 2020 08:30 AM PDT  The bomber, which has yet to be revealed, is expected to enter service in the mid-2020s.
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| GOP Senator Urges Trump to Publicly Wear Mask: ‘Would Be a Sign of Strength’ Posted: 28 Jun 2020 09:29 AM PDT  Retiring Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) implored President Donald Trump to publicly wear a mask on Sunday in order to cool the politicization of mask-wearing, appealing to the president's vanity in the process.With coronavirus cases and hospitalizations surging across the nation and states pulling back on reopening their economies, Alexander was asked by CNN's Manu Raju on Sunday morning about the president's resistance to symbolically embrace a basic safety protocol."You, I see you wearing your red-and-black plaid mask throughout the capitol, your staff does as well," Raju noted on CNN's Inside Politics. "The president, however, he refuses to wear one. The vice president continues to say this is an issue states should decide. Should the White House do more and the president do more to urge Americans to wear masks?"Alexander, who is leaving office at the end of the year, said he wished Trump "would wear a mask when it is appropriate," adding that "millions of Americans admire him" and would therefore follow his lead. Recent polls show that while the vast majority of Americans say they've been wearing masks in public spaces, more Democrats than Republicans have worn face coverings amid the pandemic.The Tennessee lawmaker went on to point out that the administration's public health experts have all said social distancing, mask-wearing, and hand washing can help contain the disease before reiterating that Trump publicly wearing a mask would "get rid of this political debate.""The stakes are much too high for that," he added. "So I understand why he does it. Most of the time he's with people who have been tested, he's been tested, so they're not infecting others. But there are times when he could wear a mask, the vice president could wear a mask, it would signal to the country to do so."The conservative senator ended his plea to Trump by playing to the president's well-known obsession with appearing strong and tough."People admire him and will follow his lead," Alexander concluded. "So I think it would be a sign of strength if he would from time to time wear a mask and remind everyone that it is a good way to help with this disease."Vice President Mike Pence said on Sunday that while the administration believes "people should wear masks wherever social distancing is not possible," the decision should be left up to the states and localities. At the same time, he defended his and Trump's lack of public mask-wearing, noting that he's worn a mask "several times" and Trump has done so at least once.With COVID-19 cases exploding in Arizona and Texas, masks have continued to be a hot-button political topic in the Republican-led states. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has pleaded with Texans to wear masks in public but has declined to issue a statewide mandate; in fact, he banned localities from imposing penalties for not wearing one, though he has recently allowed them to require mask use at businesses. In Arizona, meanwhile, a councilman came under fire when he protested against a local requirement to wear masks by quoting George Floyd's "I can't breathe" plea.Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| Pakistan army says Indian spy drone shot down in Kashmir Posted: 28 Jun 2020 10:06 AM PDT |
| France pulls plug on country's oldest nuclear plant Posted: 27 Jun 2020 11:19 PM PDT  France's oldest nuclear power plant will shut down on Tuesday after four decades in operation, to the delight of environmental activists who have long warned of contamination risks, but stoking worry for the local economy. Despite a pledge by then-president Francois Hollande just months after the Fukushima disaster to close Fessenheim -- on the Rhine river near France's eastern border with Germany and Switzerland -- it was not until 2018 that his successor Emmanuel Macron gave the final green light. Run by state-owned energy company EDF, one of Fessenheim's two reactors was disconnected in February.
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| Hong Kongers march in silent protest against national security laws Posted: 28 Jun 2020 01:25 AM PDT  The proposed national security laws were discussed by the National People's Congress Standing Committee on Sunday in Beijing at a three-day meeting.
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| Mexico launches raids after assassination attempt of police chief Posted: 27 Jun 2020 11:43 AM PDT  Three people were killed in Friday's extremely violent ambush but Mexico's police chief survived.
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| Coronavirus updates: New US cases hit single-day record; as heat rises in places like Florida and Mexico, so do infections Posted: 27 Jun 2020 05:24 AM PDT  The U.S. hit a single-day record. Texas, Florida closing bars amid surge in cases. The Trump administration is considering new approach to testing.
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| Nicola Sturgeon urged by adviser to consider English visitor quarantine for 'zero-Covid Scotland' Posted: 28 Jun 2020 06:07 AM PDT  Nicola Sturgeon should examine introducing quarantine for English visitors to Scotland if the number of coronavirus cases south of the Border rises, one of her most trusted advisers has said. Prof Devi Sridhar, who has played a key role in helping Ms Sturgeon formulate her Covid-19 strategy, said Scotland was trying to eliminate the virus but England's strategy was to "reopen as soon as possible" despite having up to 6,000 new daily cases. She predicted Scotland could eliminate coronavirus by the end of the summer if the decline in new cases continues. There were no more deaths reported in Scotland on Sunday, for the third day running.
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| Trump visits private golf course as US battles rapid surge in coronavirus cases Posted: 27 Jun 2020 09:18 AM PDT  US president heads to Virginia a day after saying he'd stay in Washington DC to 'make sure law and order is enforced' amid ongoing anti-racism protests * Coronavirus in the US – follow live updatesDonald Trump visited one of his own private golf courses in Virginia on Saturday as America continued to see fallout from a rapid surge in coronavirus cases. The trip came a day after the US president said he would stay in Washington DC to "make sure law and order is enforced" amid ongoing anti-racism protests.The president has been frequently criticized for the scale of his golfing habit while in office. CNN – which tallies his golfing activities – said the visit to the Trump National course in Loudon county, just outside Washington DC, was the 271st of his presidency – putting him at an average of golfing once every 4.6 days since he's been in office. His predecessor, Barack Obama, golfed 333 rounds over the two terms of his presidency, according to NBC.The visit comes as the number of confirmed new coronavirus cases per day in the US hit an all-time high of 40,000, according to figures released by Johns Hopkins on Friday. Many states are now seeing spikes in the virus with Texas, Florida and Arizona especially badly hit after they reopened their economies – a policy they are now pausing or reversing.Trump has been roundly criticized for a failure to lead during the coronavirus that has seen America become by far the worst hit country in the world. Critics in particular point to his failure to wear a mask, holding campaign rallies in coronavirus hot spots and touting baseless conspiracy theories about cures, such as using bleach.On Friday night Trump tweeted that he was cancelling a weekend trip to his Bedminster, New Jersey golf course because of the protests which have rocked the capital, including taking down statues of confederate figures."I was going to go to Bedminster, New Jersey, this weekend, but wanted to stay in Washington, D.C. to make sure LAW & ORDER is enforced. The arsonists, anarchists, looters, and agitators have been largely stopped," he tweeted.Trump's latest visit to the golf course put him in the way of some opposition. According to a White House pool media report: "A small group of protesters at the entrance to the club held signs that included, 'Trump Makes Me Sick' and 'Dump Trump'. A woman walking a small white dog nearby also gave the motorcade a middle finger salute."It is not yet known if Trump actually played a round of golf. But a photographer captured the president wearing a white polo shirt and a red cap, which is among his common golfing attire.
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| Bangladesh's northern regions brace for monsoon floods Posted: 28 Jun 2020 02:50 AM PDT |
| Saudi Arabia says it forces three Iranian boats out of its waters Posted: 27 Jun 2020 11:46 AM PDT |
| Canadian detainee's wife 'disappointed' Trudeau rules out swap with China Posted: 28 Jun 2020 05:04 PM PDT  The wife of one of two Canadians imprisoned in China said Sunday she is "disappointed" by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's refusal to consider a swap for a detained Huawei executive facing extradition to the United States. Trudeau firmly rejected appeals that he intervene in the extradition proceedings against Meng Wanzhou, Huawei's chief financial officer, in order to win the release of Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor.
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| Sen. Ernst proposes bill to end lawless zones Posted: 27 Jun 2020 06:34 AM PDT  Iowa Republican Sen. Joni Ernst explains bill to combat autonomous zones.
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| Don't blame Sharia for Islamic extremism -- blame colonialism Posted: 28 Jun 2020 02:21 PM PDT  Warning that Islamic extremists want to impose fundamentalist religious rule in American communities, right-wing lawmakers in dozens of U.S. states have tried banning Sharia, an Arabic term often understood to mean Islamic law. These political debates – which cite terrorism and political violence in the Middle East to argue that Islam is incompatible with modern society – reinforce stereotypes that the Muslim world is uncivilized. They also reflect ignorance of Sharia, which is not a strict legal code. Sharia means "path" or "way": It is a broad set of values and ethical principles drawn from the Quran – Islam's holy book – and the life of the Prophet Muhammad. As such, different people and governments may interpret Sharia differently. Still, this is not the first time that the world has tried to figure out where Sharia fits into the global order. In the 1950s and 1960s, when Great Britain, France and other European powers relinquished their colonies in the Middle East, Africa and Asia, leaders of newly sovereign Muslim-majority countries faced a decision of enormous consequence: Should they build their governments on Islamic religious values or embrace the European laws inherited from colonial rule? The big debateInvariably, my historical research shows, political leaders of these young countries chose to keep their colonial justice systems rather than impose religious law. Newly independent Sudan, Nigeria, Pakistan and Somalia, among other places, all confined the application of Sharia to marital and inheritance disputes within Muslim families, just as their colonial administrators had done. The remainder of their legal systems would continue to be based on European law. To understand why they chose this course, I researched the decision-making process in Sudan, the first sub-Saharan African country to gain independence from the British, in 1956.In the national archives and libraries of the Sudanese capital Khartoum, and in interviews with Sudanese lawyers and officials, I discovered that leading judges, politicians and intellectuals actually pushed for Sudan to become a democratic Islamic state. They envisioned a progressive legal system consistent with Islamic faith principles, one where all citizens – irrespective of religion, race or ethnicity – could practice their religious beliefs freely and openly."The People are equal like the teeth of a comb," wrote Sudan's soon-to-be Supreme Court Justice Hassan Muddathir in 1956, quoting the Prophet Muhammad, in an official memorandum I found archived in Khartoum's Sudan Library. "An Arab is no better than a Persian, and the White is no better than the Black." Sudan's post-colonial leadership, however, rejected those calls. They chose to keep the English common law tradition as the law of the land. Why keep the laws of the oppressor?My research identifies three reasons why early Sudan sidelined Sharia: politics, pragmatism and demography.Rivalries between political parties in post-colonial Sudan led to parliamentary stalemate, which made it difficult to pass meaningful legislation. So Sudan simply maintained the colonial laws already on the books. There were practical reasons for maintaining English common law, too. Sudanese judges had been trained by British colonial officials. So they continued to apply English common law principles to the disputes they heard in their courtrooms. Sudan's founding fathers faced urgent challenges, such as creating the economy, establishing foreign trade and ending civil war. They felt it was simply not sensible to overhaul the rather smooth-running governance system in Khartoum.The continued use of colonial law after independence also reflected Sudan's ethnic, linguistic and religious diversity.Then, as now, Sudanese citizens spoke many languages and belonged to dozens of ethnic groups. At the time of Sudan's independence, people practicing Sunni and Sufi traditions of Islam lived largely in northern Sudan. Christianity was an important faith in southern Sudan. Sudan's diversity of faith communities meant that maintaining a foreign legal system – English common law – was less controversial than choosing whose version of Sharia to adopt. Why extremists triumphedMy research uncovers how today's instability across the Middle East and North Africa is, in part, a consequence of these post-colonial decisions to reject Sharia. In maintaining colonial legal systems, Sudan and other Muslim-majority countries that followed a similar path appeased Western world powers, which were pushing their former colonies toward secularism. But they avoided resolving tough questions about religious identity and the law. That created a disconnect between the people and their governments.In the long run, that disconnect helped fuel unrest among some citizens of deep faith, leading to sectarian calls to unite religion and the state once and for all. In Iran, Saudi Arabia and parts of Somalia and Nigeria, these interpretations triumphed, imposing extremist versions of Sharia over millions of people.In other words, Muslim-majority countries stunted the democratic potential of Sharia by rejecting it as a mainstream legal concept in the 1950s and 1960s, leaving Sharia in the hands of extremists.But there is no inherent tension between Sharia, human rights and the rule of law. Like any use of religion in politics, Sharia's application depends on who is using it – and why.Leaders of places like Saudi Arabia and Brunei have chosen to restrict women's freedom and minority rights. But many scholars of Islam and grassroots organizations interpret Sharia as a flexible, rights-oriented and equality-minded ethical order. Religion and the law worldwideReligion is woven into the legal fabric of many post-colonial nations, with varying consequences for democracy and stability.After its 1948 founding, Israel debated the role of Jewish law in Israeli society. Ultimately, Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion and his allies opted for a mixed legal system that combined Jewish law with English common law. In Latin America, the Catholicism imposed by Spanish conquistadors underpins laws restricting abortion, divorce and gay rights.And throughout the 19th century, judges in the U.S. regularly invoked the legal maxim that "Christianity is part of the common law." Legislators still routinely invoke their Christian faith when supporting or opposing a given law. Political extremism and human rights abuses that occur in those places are rarely understood as inherent flaws of these religions. When it comes to Muslim-majority countries, however, Sharia takes the blame for regressive laws – not the people who pass those policies in the name of religion.Fundamentalism and violence, in other words, are a post-colonial problem – not a religious inevitability. For the Muslim world, finding a system of government that reflects Islamic values while promoting democracy will not be easy after more than 50 years of failed secular rule. But building peace may demand it.This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts.Read more: * What Sharia means: 5 questions answered * How Islamic law can take on ISIS * Trump's travel ban is just one of many US policies that legalize discrimination against MuslimsMark Fathi Massoud has received fellowships from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the American Council of Learned Societies, the Andrew Mellon Foundation, Fulbright-Hays, and the University of California. Any views expressed here are the author's responsibility.
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| Headteachers may refuse to fine parents who keep children at home in September Posted: 28 Jun 2020 12:11 PM PDT  Headteachers have threatened to undermine the Government's plan to reopen schools in September by refusing to punish parents who keep their children at home. Teaching unions said many would use a loophole in the law to avoid levying fines on parents failing to send their children to classes. Some headteachers, however, urged the Government to tighten the rules to ensure that parents without a valid excuse are fined for the non-attendance of their children. It comes amid widespread fears that continuing school closures risk harming the life chances of a generation of children. This week, Gavin Williamson, the Education Secretary, is expected to announce that attendance will be compulsory when primary and secondary schools fully reopen in September. That means parents who refuse to send their children to lessons because of coronavirus fears will face fines of £60, rising to £120. If they refuse to pay and are then prosecuted, the maximum penalty rises to £2,500 and three months in prison.
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| Letters to the Editor: Trump's cynical play against flag burning is about one thing — inflaming voters Posted: 28 Jun 2020 03:00 AM PDT  The president doesn't care about whether it is illegal to burn the American flag. What he does care about is making his voters angry.
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| Critics question `less lethal' force used during protests Posted: 27 Jun 2020 06:37 AM PDT  When a participant at a rally in Austin to protest police brutality threw a rock at a line of officers in the Texas capital, officers responded by firing beanbag rounds — ammunition that law enforcement deems "less lethal" than bullets. A beanbag cracked 20-year-old Justin Howell's skull and, according to his family, damaged his brain. Adding to the pain, police admit the Texas State University student wasn't the intended target.
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| Photos show how one of the world's largest slums defied the odds and contained its coronavirus outbreak Posted: 28 Jun 2020 01:14 AM PDT  The Dharavi slum in Mumbai, India, managed to contain its COVID-19 outbreak through meticulous mass testing and strict containment.
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| China sees uptick in new COVID-19 cases, including 17 in Beijing Posted: 26 Jun 2020 06:07 PM PDT  The National Health Commission reported 21 new confirmed infections in mainland China on Friday, up from 13 a day earlier and the highest since Monday. In Beijing, 17 new confirmed cases were reported, up from 11 a day earlier and the most since June 20. Since June 11 when Beijing reported its first case in the current outbreak, stemming from a sprawling wholesale food centre in the southwest of the capital, 297 people in the city of more than 20 million have contracted the virus.
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| Removing John Calhoun’s Name Is Easier Than Erasing His Racist Legacy Posted: 28 Jun 2020 02:13 AM PDT  By Christian K. Anderson, The ConversationWhen I toured the South Carolina Governor's Mansion in 2019, I noticed the multi-volume papers of John C. Calhoun on display. It struck me as remarkable that Calhoun's ideas would be featured so prominently given his vigorous defense of slavery and his role in laying the groundwork for the Civil War.But the reality is Calhoun's legacy until now has been quite prominent in American society—and not just in the South.His statue stands between the two chambers of the House and Senate in the South Carolina Statehouse. However, a separate statue in Charleston has been removed from the town square following nationwide protests sparked by the killing of George Floyd during an encounter with police. The statue had stood for 124 years just a block from Mother Emanuel Church, site of the horrific shooting massacre in 2015 of nine Black worshipers by an avowed white supremacist. The church is also located on Calhoun Street.Despite his historic prominence, Calhoun's days as a revered icon in the public sphere are gradually coming to an end. CALHOUN IS ALL AROUND USNumerous cities and counties, streets and roads, schools and other public places are named for Calhoun, a slaveholder who served as secretary of state, secretary of war, a U.S. senator, and two terms as vice president.For instance, the Calhoun State Office Building sits in the capitol complex in Columbia, South Carolina's state capital city.There are counties named for him in his home state, as well as Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia and elsewhere in the South. There is even a Calhoun County in Michigan named for him.Major streets in Columbia and Charleston, still bear his name.Despite his prominence elsewhere, Calhoun is about to become less prominent on the landscape of American higher education.The board of trustees at Clemson University, a public university, announced on June 12 that its Honors College would no longer be named after Calhoun.South Carolina's "Heritage Act" prevents renaming of buildings without legislative approval, but the honors college is an organizational unit, not a building.This is a particularly significant development given that Clemson University sits on what was once Calhoun's plantation, which his daughter and her husband, Thomas Clemson, inherited.While public memorials of Calhoun appear to be on the decline, what I find more significant—and more troublesome—is the way that Calhoun's ideology has been ingrained in the American culture and psyche, thanks in large part to the way his ideas were embraced in U.S. institutions of higher learning long after his death.I make this observation as a historian and author of a chapter for the forthcoming book Persistence Through Peril: Episodes of College Life and Academic Endurance in the Civil War South.Calhoun, who was born in 1782 and died a decade before the Civil War began, in 1850, was not only a slaveholder and an ardent defender of slavery, but a chief architect of the political system that allowed slavery to persist.More enduring than the effects of his political career—which included the annexation of Texas to expand the number of slaveholding states—are the repercussions of his political ideology.As a political theorist, Calhoun is best known for two ideas: "concurrent majority" and "nullification." A concurrent majority is the notion that a minority of the electorate—namely, one with money and property—can veto a political majority.This idea is related to his belief in nullification theory, which is the idea that a state can void federal laws. Nullification made the idea of South Carolina seceding from the nation—and the creation of the Confederacy—a political possibility and then a reality.Calhoun laid out his arguments for these ideas in his treatise "A Disquisition on Government."While some Americans defended slavery as a "necessary evil" Calhoun viewed slavery as "a positive good."He held paternalistic views of Black people as well as other non-whites, declaring: "We make a great mistake when we suppose that all people are capable of self-government." THE CALHOUN CURRICULUMCalhoun's political doctrines were taught explicitly in college classrooms for decades after his death. There are still remnants in the curriculum.His own views on nullification theory, states' rights and secession were formed when he studied at Yale University where the college's president, Timothy Dwight, introduced to him the idea that New England could leave the young nation and become a separate country. Yale named a residential college in his honor in 1931. It renamed it in 2017 after the intense pressure from students and alumni that followed the Charleston massacre at the Mother Emanuel Church.In the chapter that I am writing for Persistence through Peril, I am explaining how Calhoun's ideologies permeated Southern institutions of higher education. His views were taught at the Military Academy of South Carolina, before, during and after the Civil War. When those cadets studied the U.S. Constitution, their professors and texts emphasized Calhoun's interpretation of it.John Peyre Thomas, a Citadel graduate and Confederate Army colonel who served as professor, superintendent and later trustee at The Citadel, heaped praise upon Calhoun, having served as editor for The Carolina Tribute to Calhoun in 1857.In a speech given at Clemson University on June 22, 1897, Thomas declared, "It is conceded that Calhoun's standard in the science of government is so lofty as in some respects to be unattainable in our day and generation." THE ROAD AHEADDecades of teaching a particular doctrine do not fade easily or quickly. The United States is now witnessing another racial awakening with protests for social justice. Symbols of racism and white supremacy are being removed from higher education.On June 17, the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill Board of Trustees reversed its 16-year moratorium on renaming buildings, put in place after the statue known as "Silent Sam" was torn down in 2018.The University System of Georgia, which includes the University of Georgia, also moved in June 2020 to review the names of its buildings. This would include the University of Georgia's Grady School of Journalism, which is named after Henry Grady, an avowed white supremacist.After Calhoun's death in 1850, his colleague in the Senate, Thomas Hart Benton of Missouri, remarked about him: "He is not dead. There may be no vitality in his body, but there is in his doctrines." He was prophetic in his words.Calhoun's ideologies fueled the Civil War, gave comfort to those who believed in the "Lost Cause" (that is, to show the Civil War in the best light possible from the Confederate point of view) and perpetuated the teaching of racist and white supremacist attitudes.Because the ideas he espoused have flourished, I believe that dismantling his legacy will take much more than just removing statues of his likeness or renaming buildings, streets and other public places named in his honor.Christian K. Anderson is an associate professor at the University of South CarolinaRead more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| Mayor slammed for broadcasting names, addresses of 'defund the police' supporters Posted: 27 Jun 2020 01:15 PM PDT  The mayor of St. Louis was accused by some of trying to intimidate critics. One alderwoman said, It is "not cool to doxx my constituents who support DefundThePolice."
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