Rushes of President Donald Trump’s rally in Youngstown, Ohio.

Transcript:

Thank you, Melania, America loves our First Lady, thank you. I am thrilled to be back in the great state of Ohio right here with the incredible men and women of Youngstown. What an amazing few days it’s been. On Saturday i was in Virginia with thousands of brave men and women of the United States Military. Do we love the united states military? We commissioned the newest, largest, and most advanced aircraft carrier in the history of our nation, the USS Gerald R. Ford into the great American fleet. (Cheers). Then yesterday i was in West Virginia with almost 50,000 of our most impressive young Americans. They are young men who learned to cherish words like duty, honor, god, and country, the Boy Scouts. Then only a few hours ago the senate approved a vote to begin debating the repealing and replacing the Obamacare disaster. [ cheers and applause ] Finally. You think that’s easy? That’s not easy. We’re now one step closer to liberating our citizens from this Obamacare nightmare, and delivering great health care for the American people. We’re gonna do that too. And now tonight i’m back in the center of the American heartland, far away from the Washington swamp to spend time with thousands of true American patriots. [Chants of drain the swamp] We have spent the entire week celebrating with the hard working men and women who are helping us make America great again. I’m here this evening to cut through the fake news filter and to speak straight to the American people. fake news. fake, fake, fake news. [Chants of “drain the swamp” from arena]. Boy oh boy, people. Is there anyplace that’s more fun, more exciting and safer than a Trump rally?

Where the hell did he come from? this has been a difficult week for the media because I forced them to travel with us all around the country and spend time with tens of thousands of proud Americans who believe in defending our values, our culture, our borders, our civilization, and our great American way of life. [cheers from crowd], Everyone in this arena is united by their love, and you know that. Do we know that. Everyone. United by their love for this country and their loyalty to one another, their loyalty to its people. [Cheers] And we want people to come into our country who can love us and cherish us and be proud of America and the American flag. [cheers] We believe that schools should teach our children to have pride in our history and respect for that great American flag. We all believe in the rule of law, and we support the incredible men and women of law enforcement. Thank you. Thank you for being here. [cheers. We celebrate our military and believe the American armed forces are the greatest force for peace and justice in the history of the world, and by the way, they’re getting a lot greater fast. A lot greater. You saw our budget. we’re ordering billions and billions of dollars of new ships and new planes and equipment for our great soldiers.we are building it up. There’s rarely been a time where we needed the protection of our incredible military more than right now, right here, and that’s what we’re going to do. We believe in freedom, self-government, and individual rights. We cherish and defend — thank you, it looks like it’s in very good shape — our Second Amendment. congratulations. [cheers from crowd] Yes, our Second Amendment is very, very sound again. that would have been gonzo. It would have been gone, but i never had a doubt. We support the constitution of the United States and believe that judges should interpret the constitution as written and not make up new meaning for what they read. And finally, we believe that family and faith, not government and bureaucracy, are the foundation of our society. You’ve heard me say it before on the campaign trail and I’ll say it again tonight. In America we don’t worship government. We worship God. [cheers from crowd]. Tonight we’re going to set aside the cynics and the critics because we know exactly why they are so angry and so bitter. Day by day, week by week we are restoring our government’s allegiance to its people, to its citizens, to the people that we all love. We are keeping our promises to the people, and yes, we are putting finally, finally, finally we are putting America first. [Chants of USA from crowd]. After years and years of sending our jobs and our wealth to other countries, we are finally standing up for our workers and for our companies. [cheers from crowd] After spending billions of dollars defending other nations’ borders, we are finally defending our borders. [Cheers and chants of “build that wall” from the crowd]. Don’t even think about it, we will build the wall. Don’t even think about it. I watched the media as they say, well, he just had some fun during the campaign on the wall. That wasn’t fun, folks. We’re building that wall, and walls do work and we’re going to have great people come into our country, but we’re not gonna to put ourselves through the problems that we’ve had for so many years. [Cheers]. After decades of rebuilding foreign nations, we are finally going to rebuild our nation. [Crowd boos at something]. They’re pointing to a protester. Honestly, if you don’t point, nobody’s even going to know he’s here. Weak voice, weak voice, don’t worry. [Chants of “USA” from crowd. Boy,he’s a young one. he’s going back home to mommy. Oh is he in trouble. He’s in trouble. He’s in trouble. And i’ll bet his mommy voted for us, right? [Cheers] By the way, so this morning i’m watching Fox News [crowd cheers] And they had some people on, and these were democrats that voted for trump. And they had this on. And so far if anything, they’ve gotten even more committed. But they had a man on this morning — they had a man on this morning who was a Democrat his whole life. He voted as a democrat, but he voted for — I say us, I don’t say me. He voted for us in the last election 2016. [cheers] And they said to him, so if the election were held now again, what would you do? And he effectively said, man, would I vote for Trump again, even faster. So his name is Gino Defabio. where is Gino? Gino, get over here, Gino. Whoa. Gino Defabio! [Defabio comes onstage as crowd cheers].

Geno: Anybody who knows me, friends of mine, people who love me its worse for them, they know how its been since President Trump started running for the election. How much I supported this guy, how much I love this guy, this guy’s got something, he’s the real deal. Everybody else came and said “we’re gonna fight for you,” this is Youngstown, Mr. President, but this is also the Steel Valley. Every one of these people love you, Sir. And I don’t want to sound silly or anything, but i thought what would I say to the President if I ever got to meet him, which this is an honest to god over the top moment for me. I thought you know I’m just going to tell him something. And sir, like I said, thank you for Justice Gorsuch on the Supreme Court. Right? That started it all. And then I apologize, I said Mr. President, thank you for Melania. Could we have a more outstanding First Lady? I’m probably going to be in trouble with my wife, but God bless that woman. And then last thing I said and I don’t think he thought I was going to take this much time but anybody that knows me, this is gonna happen, I said thank you sir for keeping the promises you made. To these 12,000 people and to the country. In my recommendation sir, look what you could do in the bastion of the Democratic party. I don’t think there’s anyone except Cayahuga County who is more Democratic than us. Look who you could draw. I go back to Washington, I would tell the Republicans and the Democrats, “Look. I am going to go do my rallies. You got the agenda. Those people are voting for me and mine. Do what you want. Pass my agenda or we’re going out on the road.” Thank you sir. An absolute honor. Thank you sir.

Trump: Thank you, Gino. What a man. I watched him this morning, I said, we got to find this guy, he’s just a great person. Always a Democrat, now it’s gone. I’ll tell you what, I rode through your beautiful roads coming up from the airport, and I was looking at some of those big once incredible job-producing factories, and my wife, Melania, said what happened? I said, those jobs have left Ohio. They’re all coming back. They’re all coming back. [cheers from crowd].Don’t move. Don’t sell your house. Don’t sell your house. Remember, i got a lot of credit. This is hard to believe but the press gave me a lot of credit because a number of years ago I said this is the time to buy a house during one of my speeches. I said, go out and buy, and they did this big story, Trump predicted. Let me tell you folks in Ohio and in this area, don’t sell your house. Don’t sell your house. Do not sell it. We’re going to get those values up. We’re going to get those jobs coming back, and we’re going to fill up those factories or rip them down and build brand new ones. It’s going to happen. [Cheers from crowd] We’re gonna have it so that Americans can once again speak the magnificent words of Alexander Hamilton, “here the people govern.” Political correctness for me is easy. Sometimes they say he doesn’t act Presidential. And I say, hey look, great schools, smart guy, it’s so easy to act presidential but that’s not gonna to get it done. In fact, I said it’s much easier, by the way, to act presidential than what we’re doing here tonight, believe me. And I said — and I said with the exception of the late great Abraham Lincoln, i can be more presidential than any President that’s ever held this office. That I can tell you. It’s real easy. [Cheers] But sadly, we have to move a little faster than that. We will never be beholden to the lobbyists or the special interests. We will never be silenced by the media. I want to protect America, and i want to protect the citizens of america. Your hopes are my hopes. Your dreams are my dreams. I’ve had a great successful career. I’ve built a great, great business. This is the only thing that matters. This is the only thing that matters. There is nothing else. Your future is what I’m fighting for each and every day. Here is just a small sample of what we have accomplished in just our first six months in office. And I’ll say this and they always like to say,well, I don’t know. But I think that with few exceptions no president has done anywhere near what we’ve done in his first six months. Not even close. But they don’t let you know. They don’t want to write about it. That unemployment last month hit a 16-year low. Since my election, we’ve added much more than 1 million jobs. Think of that. And remember I came in and some people said, don’t say that. I’d say, “what do you have to lose?” I talked about the inner city, and I talked about the crime and the problems and the lack of education, and I talked to my African-American friends and I said, vote for me, what the hell do you have to lose? Do you remember that? The Hispanic, the African-American, the inner cities. So now it just came out, African-Americans and teenagers are enjoying their lowest unemployment since just after the turn of the millennium.[ cheers from crowd] That’s pretty good, right? we’ve eliminated burdenensome regulations at record speed and many, many more are coming off. And boy, have we put those coal miners and coal back on the map. You’ve seen that, haven’t you? And all other forms of energy. We’ve achieved a historic increase in defense spending to get our troops the support they so richly deserve. We have signed new legislation to hold federal workers accountable for the care they provide to our great, great veterans. Veterans Accountability Act, they’ve been trying to get that done for many, many, many years, even decades. And you understand why it was tough, but we got it done. In fact, our secretary is with us tonight, David Shulkin, and we have some just incredible people here tonight, some of whom you’ve already met. But the job they’re doing for the vets, having to do with choice, having to do with doctors, having to do with not having to wait online for days and days and days and getting sicker and sicker and sicker, where you could be taken care of immediately. Now you go out and you see a doctor. To protect American jobs and workers, I withdrew the united states from both the Trans-Pacific Partnership potential disaster and the job-killing Paris Climate Accord. Believe me. And if we don’t negotiate a great deal with Mexico and Canada, we will terminate NAFTA and we’ll start all over again. You remember when I was in Youngstown, I said we will either renegotiate NAFTA or we’ll terminate it. So let’s see what happens, but we’re right now negotiating with the heads of Mexico, a good man, the President, and the Prime Minister of Canada, a good man. Let’s see what happens. But we will no longer be the foolish people. We will no longer be the stupid people that get taken care of so badly by our politicians because they don’t know what they’re doing. [cheers from crowd] We will always work with our friends and partners, but we will never again sacrifice Ohio jobs or jobs from any state in our union to enrich other countries which has been what is happening to this country. [Chants of “USA”] And by the way, while we’re on it, the Iran deal which may be the single worst deal I’ve ever seen drawn by anybody, if that deal doesn’t conform to what it’s supposed to conform to, there’s going to be big, big problems for them. That I can tell you. You’re going to see that. Believe me. You would have thought when that deal was made by Secretary Kerry, maybe the worst negotiator i’ve ever seen, you would have thought that Iran would have said, thank you, United States. We can’t believe you gave us between $100 billion and $150 billion when they were ready to fail. We can’t believe you gave us $1.7 billion in cash. You know what that looks like? You would have thought they would have said, “thank you, United States, we really love you very much.” Instead, they’ve become emboldened. That won’t take place much longer. [cheers from crowd] The great president from the state of Ohio, William McKinley and you know William McKinley, does anybody know who the hell he is? Do you know who he is? William McKinley understood that when America protects our workers and our industries, we open up a higher and better destiny for our people. We don’t protect our people. We don’t protect. Trade comes in, goods come in. I was with Harley-Davidson, a great company from Wisconsin. Who has a Harley-Davidson? A lot of you. [Cheers from crowd] They came to the White House and they said to me, “yeah, it’s tough going outside of the United States. We’re doing great in the United States but when we sell a motorcycle to certain countries, we have as much as as a 100% tax to pay.” And I said, “tell me, when they sell back to us, meaning reciprocal, so when they sell back to us, what tax do we charge them?” The answer is zero. [Boos from crowd] Those days are going to be over very soon. [Cheers from crowd] unfortunately, like everything else, there are so many restrictions on doing what’s right for our country, there’s so much red tape, but don’t worry, we’re getting through it. The red tape, you would think we could just do it. Wouldn’t you think you could say, “hey, you charge us 100%, we’re going to charge you 100%?” Then either you’ll get the money or you’ll both drop it,right? We can’t do that. We’ve got to go back to Congress, who other than health care today, has been made some very bad deals, okay? So we’re going to start enriching our country. We’re going to start bringing back our jobs, and we will be fools no longer, folks. We’ll be fools no longer. Every single President on Mt. Rushmore — now here’s what i do. I’d ask whether or not you think I will some day be on Mt. Rushmore, but, but here’s the problem. If I did it joking, totally joking, having fun, the fake news media will say, “he believes he should be on Mt. Rushmore.” So I won’t say it, okay? I won’t say it. But every president — they’ll say it anyway tomorrow. “Trump thinks he should be on Mt. Rushmore.” Isn’t that terrible? What a group. What a dishonest group of people, I’ll tell you. [Cheers from crowd] And you know the funny thing is that you would think they’d want to see our country be great again. You would really think so. But they don’t. Some day they’ll explain it to me why. Every president on Mt. Rushmore believed in protecting American industry. We have to protect our industry. And now we are going to start, we are reclaiming our heritage as a manufacturing nation again. Bob Kraft, the owner of the New England patriots, I don’t know if you like New England but they have a hell of a team. [Boos from crowd] That’s okay. But he came to the Oval Office and he brought a sheet with him that just came out. Manufacturing enthusiasm in the United States is at an all-time high. Isn’t that great? To me that’s so great. because we’re going to bring back our jobs,bring back our wealth, and we are going to bring back our dreams, and we are going to bring back, once again our sovereignty as a nation. As a nation. [Chants of “USA” from crowd] Since I took office we have cut illegal immigration on our southern border by record numbers. 78%. [Chants of “build that wall” from crowd] Record, record numbers. And in fact, the ICE, folks i’ll tell you what, and the border patrol police, they are phenomenal people. They’re working with General Kelly. And just so you understand, we’ve already started fixing much of the good wall that’s already there. We’ve already started fixing it.but we are breaking records. And it was actually told to me the other day by somebody in Mexico that’s very high up, said it’s incredible because their southern border is getting very little traffic. Nobody is coming anymore because they know they can’t get through our southern border. So they don’t even come. [Cheers from crowd] Never again will America surrender the security of our people, the safety of our communities or the sovereignty of our nation. We are cracking down hard on the foreign criminal gangs that have brought illegal drugs, violence, horrible bloodshed to peaceful neighborhoods all across our country. We are throwing MS-13 the hell out of here so fast. You know, we’re actually — hard to believe that we’re talking about our great country. We are actually liberating towns and cities. We are liberating — people are screaming from their windows, thank you, thank you to the border patrol and to General Kelly’s great people that come in and grab the thugs and throw them the hell out. We are liberating our towns and we are liberating our cities. Can you believe we have to do that? [Chants of “build that wall wall” from crowd] Earlier in year and immigration and customs enforcement conducted the largest single raid of transnational gangs in the history of our country. We are dismantling and destroying the bloodthirsty criminal gangs, and well, I will just tell you in, we’re not doing it in a politicly correct fashion. We’re doing it rough. Our guys are rougher than their guys. I asked one of our great generals, “how tough are our people? How tough are they?” He said, “sir, you don’t want to know about it.” Then I saw one guy come out, a customs officer who is a monster. I said, “so general, you think i could take that guy in a fight?” He said, “Mr. President, sir i don’t even want to think about it.” I said “you’re right, actually.” We have tough people. Our people are tougher than their people. Our people are tougher and stronger and meaner and smarter than the gangs. One by one we are finding the illegal gang members, drug dealers, thieves, robbers, criminals and killers. And we are sending them the hell back home where they came from. And once they are gone, we will never let them back in. Believe me. The predators and criminal aliens who poison our communities with drugs and prey on innocent young people, these beautiful, beautiful,innocent young people will, will find no safe haven anywhere in our country. And you’ve seen the stories about some of these animals. They don’t want to use guns, because it’s too fast and it’s not painful enough. So they’ll take a young, beautiful girl, 16, 15, and others and they slice them and dice them with a knife because they want them to go through excruciating pain before they die. And these are the animals that we’ve been protecting for so long. Well, they’re not being protected any longer,folks. And that is why my administration is launching a nationwide crackdown on sanctuary cities. American cities should be sanctuaries for law-abiding Americans, for people that look up to the law, for people that respect the law, not for criminals and gang members that we want the hell out of our country. [Cheers from crowd] Sanctuary cities legislation has passed the house,along with Kate’s Law, named for Kate Steinle, who was brutally killed by a five-time deported illegal immigrant. We are asking the Senate to vote on sanctuary cities and Kate’s Law legislation. We’ve got to get it passed. The Trump administration has the backs of our ICE Officers, our border patrol agents. And yes, our great police officers. And we have their backs 100%. We are going to also protect them, like they protect us. This month in Chicago, there have been more than 2 homicide victims per day. What the hell is going on in Chicago? Better tell that Mayor to get tough, because it’s not working what they’re doing. We are going to get criminals off our streets. And we are going to make America safe again. We also strongly believe that our borders must always be closed to terrorism and extremism. We don’t want radical Islamic terrorists in our country. We’ve seen the total devastation in Europe. And the attack from New York to Boston to San Bernardino. Exactly one year ago next month I came right here to Youngstown to deliver a major address on how my administration would protect our country from terrorism and radical Islamic terrorism. We only want to admit those into our country who share our values, who love our people and who always will love our people. We don’t want people coming into our country who have bad intentions even before they start. [Cheers from crowd] We also believe that those seeking to immigrate into our country should be able to support themselves financially and should not be able to use welfare for themselves or the household for a period of at least five years. As we speak, we are working with two wonderful senators, Tom Cotton and David Purdue, to create a new immigration system for America. Instead of today’s low-skill system, just a terrible system where anybody comes in. People that have never worked, people that are criminals, anybody comes in. We want a merit-based system. One that protects workers our workers, our taxpayers, and one that protects our economy. We want it merit-based. We want people that work really hard in their country and that are going to come into our country and work really, really hard. We don’t want people that come into our country and immediately go on welfare and stay there for the rest of their lives. We’re not going to do it. We are working every single day to move the legislation that serves the interests of the American people. As we discussed earlier, at the very top of the list is health care reform. With Obamacare, the Washington obstructionists, meaning Democrats, made big promising to the Smerican people. And every single promise they made turned out to be a lie. I can have your doctor. You can have your plan. Do you remember? 28 times. You can have your doctor. You can have your plan. I know Democrats who heard that and they would have never have voted for it but they voted for it because they believed the lies of President Obama. For seven years every Republican running for office promised to repeal and replace in disastrous law. Now they must keep their promise. The Senate is working not only to repeal Obamacare but to deliver great health care for the American people. Any senator who votes against repeal and replace is telling America that they are fine with the Obamacare nightmare, and I predict they’ll have a lot of problems. In West Virginia, recent premiums have gone up 169% since Obamacare went into effect. In Alaska over 200%. And the deductibles have gone through the roof. You’ll never even get to use it. In Missouri, premiums have shot up 145% under Obamacare. In Pennsylvania the cost of Obamacare insurance has more than doubled, and the coverage has become horrific. It’s time for Democrats to stop resisting. That’s their term. Resist. Resist. They have to do, finally, what’s right for the American people. But probably we’ll do it ourselves. Because today we won 51 to 50 and didn’t get one Democrat vote. Think of that. [Cheers from crowd] My administration is working every single day to heed and honor the will of the voters. That includes working on one of the biggest tax cuts in American history. And actually if I get what I want it will be the single biggest tax cut in American history. We have the highest taxes anywhere in the world, and this will really bring them down to one of the lowest. And we really have no choice. We will have growth. We will have everything that we’ve dreamed of having. It’s time to let Americans keep more of their own money. It’s time to bring new companies to our shores and to create a new era of growth, prosperity and wealth. We want millions of Americans to be lifted from welfare to work and from dependence to independence. One of the ways we will put more americans to work is by rebuilding our nation’s crumbling infrastructure. That is why I have called on legislators to pass a bill that generates $1 trillion in new infrastructure investments. We’re going to fix our roads our bridges our tunnels our airports. We are going to fix all of the things that once made us great. And we are going to use American iron, American steel, American aluminum. We will buy American and will hire, finally, American. We want once again to have the best infrastructure. The best schools, the best jobs, the best factories. And we want products that proudly carry the label “made in the USA.” We want this country that we love so much, America, to be strong, proud and free. Which means America must also be united. Because when America is united, America is totally unstoppable. Although I’ll be totally honest with you even if it’s not united we’re unstoppable so don’t worry. We’re gonna to be unstoppable either way but it would be nice, wouldn’t it? Our small differences are nothing compared to our common history, common values and common future. Wes hare one heart, one home and one glorious destiny. Now it is up to us to preserve the birth right of freedom and justice, the birth right of prosperity that our ancestors won for us with their sweat, with their sweat, with their blood, with their work, with their muscle, with their brain. They won it for us and we’re gonna make it bigger and better and stronger than it ever was before. It’s time to look past the old divisions. They’re tired, really tired, politicians. And the stale debates of the past, and to finally come together as one nation under god. We have no choice. We cannot and never will back down. We will never, ever give up. We cannot fail. And if we remember what unites us, then I promise you we will not fail. We cannot fail. We will make America strong again. We will make America wealthy again. We will make America proud again. We will make America safe again. And we will make America great again. Thank you, god bless you, god bless the state of Ohio. Thank you everybody.

Rushes of President Donald Trump’s rally in Youngstown, Ohio.

Available in HD -

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RESTRICTION SUMMARY: AP CLIENTS ONLY

SHOTLIST:

POOL - AP CLIENTS ONLY

New York - 28 July 2017

1. Various of President Donald Trump arriving on stage for speech

2. SOUNDBITE (English) President Donald Trump:

"For many years they exploited America's week borders and lax immigration enforcement, to bring drugs and violence to cities and towns all across America. They are there right now because of weak political leadership, weak leadership, weak policing and in many cases because the police weren't allowed to do their job. I met police, that are great police, that aren't allowed to do their job because they have a pathetic mayor or a mayor that doesn't know what's going on, but..." (CHEERING)

++SEPARATED BY BLACK++

3. SOUNDBITE (English) President Donald Trump:

"They have transformed peaceful parks and beautiful, quiet neighborhoods into blood stained killing fields. They are animals, we cannot tolerate as a society the spilling of innocent, young, wonderful, vibrant people."

++SEPARATED BY BLACK++

4. SOUNDBITE (English) President Donald Trump:

"One by one we are liberating our American towns. Can you believe that I'm saying that? I'm talking about liberating our towns, it's like I see in a movie, they are liberating the town, like in the old Wild West. Right? We are liberating our towns, I never thought I would be standing up here talking about liberating the towns on Long Island, where I grew up, but that is what you are doing."

++SEPARATED BY BLACK++

5. SOUNDBITE (English) President Donald Trump:

"But I have a simple message today for every gang member and criminal alien, that are threatening, so violently our people, we will find you, we will arrest you, we will jail you and we will deport you." (CHEERING)

++SEPARATED BY BLACK++

6. SOUNDBITE (English) President Donald Trump:

"We need more resources from Congress and we are getting them. Congress is actually opening up and really doing a job. They should have approved health care last night, but you can't have everything. Boy oh boy, they have been working on that one for seven years, can you believe that? The swamp, but we will get it done. We are going to get it done. You know I said from the beginning, let Obamacare implode and then do it, I turned out to be right, let Obamacare implode." (CLAPPING)

++SEPARATED BY BLACK++

7. SOUNDBITE (English) President Donald Trump:

"And when you see these towns and when you see these thugs being thrown into the back of a paddy wagon, you just see them thrown in, rough, I said please don't be too nice, like when you guys put somebody in the care and you are protecting their head, you know, the way you put your hand over, like don't hit their head and they have just killed somebody, don't hit their head, I said you can take the hand away, okay." (LAUGHING and CHEERING)

8. Cutaway

STORYLINE:

President Trump is calling on Congress to dedicate more funding to illegal immigration and violent crime, but also reminding them of their failure on health care.

During a speech in Long Island, New York Friday, Trump said Congress should have approved legislation to repeal the Obama-era health law after working on it for seven years. But he says "you can't have everything."

Trump says he said from the beginning to "let Obamacare implode" and then repeal it.

He says "I turned out to be right."

Trump has made cracking down on MS-13, also called Mara Salvatrucha, a top priority of his administration.

The gang, which is believed to have originated in immigrant communities in Los Angeles in the 1980s and then entrenched itself in Central America when its leaders were deported, is infamous for its violent tactics, including torturing victims and hacking them with machetes.

The Trump administration blames the gang's recent resurgence in certain areas on illegal immigration and believes policies like building a wall along the southern border and cracking down on so-called "sanctuary cities" will eradicate the problem.

Critics see the focus misplaced and argue resources could be better spent on other enforcement efforts.

Trump also appeared to advocate rougher treatment of people in police custody.

He spoke dismissively of arresting officers who protect suspects' heads while putting them in police cars in a speech in front of law enforcement on Long Island.

He said: "You can take the hand off," drawing cheers from his audience.

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STORYLINE

John Lewis, a lion of the civil rights movement whose bloody beating by Alabama state troopers in 1965 helped galvanize opposition to racial segregation, and who went on to a long and celebrated career in Congress, died. He was 80.

Lewis’s announcement in late December 2019 that he had been diagnosed with advanced pancreatic cancer - “I have never faced a fight quite like the one I have now,” he said - inspired tributes from both sides of the aisle, and an unstated accord that the likely passing of this Atlanta Democrat would represent the end of an era.

Lewis was the youngest and last survivor of the Big Six civil rights activists, a group led by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. that had the greatest impact on the movement. He was best known for leading some 600 protesters in the Bloody Sunday march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma.

At age 25 - walking at the head of the march with his hands tucked in the pockets of his tan overcoat - Lewis was knocked to the ground and beaten by police. His skull was fractured, and nationally televised images of the brutality forced the country’s attention on racial oppression in the South.

Within days, King led more marches in the state, and President Lyndon Johnson soon was pressing Congress to pass the Voting Rights Act. The bill became law later that year, removing barriers that had barred Blacks from voting.

Lewis joined King and four other civil rights leaders in organizing the 1963 March on Washington. He spoke to the vast crowd just before King delivered his epochal “I Have a Dream” speech.

A 23-year-old firebrand, Lewis toned down his intended remarks at the insistence of others, dropping a reference to a “scorched earth” march through the South and scaling back criticisms of President John Kennedy. It was a potent speech nonetheless, in which he vowed: “By the forces of our demands, our determination and our numbers, we shall splinter the segregated South into a thousand pieces and put them together in an image of God and democracy.”

It was almost immediately, and forever, overshadowed by the words of King, the man who had inspired him to activism.

Lewis was born on Feb. 21, 1940, outside the town of Troy, in Pike County, Alabama. He grew up on his family’s farm and attended segregated public schools.

As a boy, he wanted to be a minister, and practiced his oratory on the family chickens. Denied a library card because of the color of his skin, he became an avid reader, and could cite obscure historical dates and details even in his later years. He was a teenager when he first heard King preaching on the radio. They met when Lewis was seeking support to become the first Black student at Alabama’s segregated Troy State University.

He ultimately attended the American Baptist Theological Seminary and Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee. He began organizing sit-in demonstrations at whites-only lunch counters and volunteering as a Freedom Rider, enduring beatings and arrests while traveling around the South to challenge segregation.

Lewis helped found the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and was named its chairman in 1963, making him one of the Big Six at a tender age. The others, in addition to King, were Whitney Young of the National Urban League; A. Philip Randolph of the Negro American Labor Council; James L. Farmer Jr., of the Congress of Racial Equality; and Roy Wilkins of the NAACP. All six met at the Roosevelt Hotel in New York to plan and announce the March on Washington.

The huge demonstration galvanized the movement, but success didn’t come quickly. After extensive training in nonviolent protest, Lewis and the Rev. Hosea Williams led demonstrators on a planned march of more than 50 miles from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama’s capital, on March 7, 1965. A phalanx of police blocked their exit from the Selma bridge.

Authorities shoved, then swung their truncheons, fired tear gas and charged on horseback, sending many to the hospital and horrifying much of the nation. King returned with thousands, completing the march to Montgomery before the end of the month.

Lewis turned to politics in 1981, when he was elected to the Atlanta City Council.

He won his seat in Congress in 1986 and spent much of his career in the minority. After Democrats won control of the House in 2006, Lewis became his party’s senior deputy whip, a behind-the-scenes leadership post in which he helped keep the party unified.

In an early setback for Barack Obama’s 2008 Democratic primary campaign, Lewis endorsed Hillary Rodham Clinton for the nomination. Lewis switched when it became clear Obama had overwhelming Black support. Obama later honored Lewis with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and they marched hand in hand in Selma on the 50th anniversary of the Bloody Sunday attack.

Lewis also worked for 15 years to gain approval for the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture. Humble and unfailingly friendly, Lewis was revered on Capitol Hill -- but as one of the most liberal members of Congress, he often lost policy battles, from his effort to stop the Iraq War to his defense of young immigrants.

He met bipartisan success in Congress in 2006 when he led efforts to renew the Voting Rights Act, but the Supreme Court later invalidated much of the law, and it became once again what it was in his youth, a work in progress. Later, when the presidency of Donald Trump challenged his civil rights legacy, Lewis made no effort to hide his pain.

Lewis refused to attend Trump’s inauguration, saying he didn’t consider him a “legitimate president” because Russians had conspired to get him elected. When Trump later complained about immigrants from “s---hole countries,” Lewis declared, “I think he is a racist ... we have to try to stand up and speak up and not try to sweep it under the rug.”

Lewis said he’d been arrested 40 times in the 1960s, five more as a congressman. At 78, he told a rally he’d do it again to help reunite immigrant families separated by the Trump administration.

“There cannot be any peace in America until these young children are returned to their parents and set all of our people free,” Lewis said in June, recalling the “good trouble” he got into protesting segregation as a young man.

“If we fail to do it, history will not be kind to us,” he shouted. “I will go to the border. I’ll get arrested again. If necessary, I’m prepared to go to jail.”

In a speech the day of the House impeachment vote of Trump, Lewis explained the importance of that vote.

“When you see something that is not right, not just, not fair, you have a moral obligation to say something, to do something. Our children and their children will ask us ‘what did you do? what did you say?” While the vote would be hard for some, he said: “We have a mission and a mandate to be on the right side of history.”

Lewis’ wife of four decades, Lillian Miles, died in 2012. They had one son, John Miles Lewis.

***

On July 27th lawmakers paid tribute to the late Rep. John Lewis, a long-time Georgia lawmaker and icon of the civil rights movement.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and others attended a private ceremony in the Rotunda before Lewis' body is moved to the steps on the Capitol's east side for a public viewing, an unusual sequence required because the COVID-19 pandemic has closed the Capitol to the public. Inside the Rotunda and outdoors, signs welcomed visitors with a reminder that masks would be required.

Some of the lawmakers in attendance at the private memorial wore face masks reading, "good trouble," a reference to a famous quote by the late Lewis. An audio recording of a speech by Lewis was also played during the ceremony that included him explaining the need for civil disobedience and "good trouble" to rectify social injustices.

***

President Donald Trump on August 14th paid a visit to his younger brother, Robert Trump, at the New York hospital where he has been hospitalized.

The president entered New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center in Manhattan wearing a face mask.

“I hope he’s okay,”Trump said shortly before arriving at the hospital. "He’s having a tough time.”

The hospital visit came ahead of Trump's scheduled weekend trip to his private golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey.

The White House did not immediately release details about why Robert Trump, who is 72, had been hospitalized, but officials said that he was seriously ill.

Robert Trump, one of the president's four siblings, recently filed a lawsuit on behalf of the Trump family seeking to stop publication of a tell-all book by the president’s niece Mary titled “Too Much and Never Enough."

Robert Trump had previously worked for his older brother as a top executive at the Trump Organization.

Once a regular bold face name in Manhattan's social pages, he has kept a lower profile in recent years.

He married his longtime girlfriend, Ann Marie Pallan, in March, according to the New York Post. He divorced his first wife, Blaine Trump, more than a decade ago.

In a 2016 interview with the New York Post, he described himself as a big supporter of his brother's run for the White House.

“I support Donald one thousand percent,” Robert Trump said.

***

Former White House adviser Steve Bannon was arrested on August 20th on charges that he and three others ripped off donors to an online fundraising scheme “We Build The Wall.”

The charges were contained in an indictment unsealed in Manhattan federal court.

Federal prosecutors alleged that Bannon and three others “orchestrated a scheme to defraud hundreds of thousands of donors” in connection with an online crowdfunding campaign that raised more than $25 million to build a wall along the southern border of the United States.

A phone at the office of Bannon's lawyer went unanswered Thursday morning. A spokeswoman for Bannon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

***

US President Donald Trump’s former chief strategist, Steve Bannon, was pulled from a luxury yacht and arrested on August 20th on allegations that he and three associates ripped off donors trying to fund a southern border wall.

He's the latest in a long list of Trump allies to be charged with a crime.

The organizers of the “We Build The Wall” group portrayed themselves as eager to help the president build a “big beautiful” barrier along the U.S.-Mexico border, as he had promised during the 2016 campaign.

They raised more than $25 million from thousands of donors and pledged that 100% of the money would be used for the project.

But according to the criminal charges unsealed Thursday, much of the money never made it to the wall.

Instead, it was used to line the pockets of group members, including Bannon, who served in Trump's White House and worked for his campaign.

He allegedly took over $1 million, using some to secretly pay co-defendant Brian Kolfage, the founder of the project, and to cover hundreds of thousands of dollars in personal expenses.

Hours after his arrest, Bannon pleaded not guilty during an appearance in a Manhattan federal court.

He is the latest addition to a startlingly long list of Trump associates who have been prosecuted, including his former campaign chair, Paul Manafort, whom Bannon replaced, his longtime lawyer, Michael Cohen, and his former national security adviser, Michael Flynn.

Trump has also made clear that he is willing to use his near-limitless pardon power to help political allies escape legal jeopardy, most recently commuting the sentence of longtime political adviser Roger Stone.

Bannon was taken into custody around 7 a.m. by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service on a 150-foot (45-meter) luxury yacht called Lady May, which was off the coast of Connecticut, authorities said.

The boat is owned by exiled Chinese billionaire Guo Wengui and currently for sale for nearly $28 million. According to Marine Traffic, a commercial tracking service, the vessel's transponder signal went dark on June 17, shortly after it departed a port in Connecticut en route to Miami, potentially indicating its beacon was inoperable or had been turned off.

At his hearing later on August 20th, Bannon appeared with his hands cuffed in front of him and a white mask covering most of his face.

He rocked back and forth on a chair in a holding cell where he appeared via video with his lawyers on the telephone.

The magistrate judge approved Bannon’s release on $5 million bail, secured by $1.75 million in assets.

Neither Bannon, nor his spokesperson or attorney responded to requests for comment on August 20th.

After the arrest, Trump quickly distanced himself from Bannon and the project.

***

A bronze statue representing US First Lady Melania Trump was on September 15th unveiled in her native Slovenia to replace a wooden one that was set on fire in July.

The new sculpture is a replica of the original one that was commissioned by US artist Brad Downey and placed near Trump's home town of Sevnica, in central Slovenia.

The original statue - carved by local folk artist Ales Zupevc - was torched by unknown arsonists on July 4th 2020.

It was carved in a linden tree and pained in light blue to resemble Trump's outfit at her husband's swearing in ceremony.

The sculpture bares no obvious resemblance to the US first lady.

A group of locals gathered at the site watching as the new statue was unveiled.

Zupevc climbed the wooden stand, smiling as he stood by the life-size sculpture.

A plaque reads that it is "dedicated to the eternal memory of a monument to Melania which stood at this location."

Born Melanija Knavs in nearby Novo Mesto in 1970, the new U.S. first lady grew up in Sevnica while Slovenia was part of the Communist-ruled former Yugoslavia.

A country of some 2 million people, Slovenia is an Alpine nation, known as nature-loving and environment-friendly.

***

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a diminutive yet towering women’s rights champion who became the court’s second female justice, died on September 18th at her home in Washington. She was 87.

Ginsburg died of complications from metastatic pancreatic cancer, the court said.

Her death just over six weeks before Election Day is likely to set off a heated battle over whether President Donald Trump should nominate, and the Republican-led Senate should confirm, her replacement, or if the seat should remain vacant until the outcome of his race against Democrat Joe Biden is known.

Chief Justice John Roberts mourned Ginsburg’s passing. “Our Nation has lost a jurist of historic stature. We at the Supreme Court have lost a cherished colleague. Today we mourn, but with confidence that future generations will remember Ruth Bader Ginsburg as we knew her - a tireless and resolute champion of justice,” Roberts said in a statement.

Ginsburg announced in July that she was undergoing chemotherapy treatment for lesions on her liver, the latest of her several battles with cancer.

Ginsburg spent her final years on the bench as the unquestioned leader of the court’s liberal wing and became something of a rock star to her admirers. Young women especially seemed to embrace the court’s Jewish grandmother, affectionately calling her the Notorious RBG, for her defense of the rights of women and minorities, and the strength and resilience she displayed in the face of personal loss and health crises.

Those health issues included five bouts with cancer beginning in 1999, falls that resulted in broken ribs, insertion of a stent to clear a blocked artery and assorted other hospitalizations after she turned 75.

She resisted calls by liberals to retire during Barack Obama’s presidency at a time when Democrats held the Senate and a replacement with similar views could have been confirmed. Instead, Trump will almost certainly try to push Ginsburg’s successor through the Republican-controlled Senate - and move the conservative court even more to the right.

Ginsburg antagonized Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign in a series of media interviews, including calling him a faker. She soon apologized.

Her appointment by President Bill Clinton in 1993 was the first by a Democrat in 26 years. She initially found a comfortable ideological home somewhere left of center on a conservative court dominated by Republican appointees. Her liberal voice grew stronger the longer she served.

Ginsburg was a mother of two, an opera lover and an intellectual who watched arguments behind oversized glasses for many years, though she ditched them for more fashionable frames in her later years. At argument sessions in the ornate courtroom, she was known for digging deep into case records and for being a stickler for following the rules.

She argued six key cases before the court in the 1970s when she was an architect of the women’s rights movement. She won five.

“Ruth Bader Ginsburg does not need a seat on the Supreme Court to earn her place in the American history books,” Clinton said at the time of her appointment. “She has already done that.”

On the court, where she was known as a facile writer, her most significant majority opinions were the 1996 ruling that ordered the Virginia Military Institute to accept women or give up its state funding, and the 2015 decision that upheld independent commissions some states use to draw congressional districts.

Besides civil rights, Ginsburg took an interest in capital punishment, voting repeatedly to limit its use. During her tenure, the court declared it unconstitutional for states to execute the intellectually disabled and killers younger than 18.

In addition, she questioned the quality of lawyers for poor accused murderers. In the most divisive of cases, including the Bush v. Gore decision in 2000, she was often at odds with the court’s more conservative members - initially Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist and Justices Sandra Day O’Connor, Antonin Scalia, Anthony M. Kennedy and Clarence Thomas.

The division remained the same after John Roberts replaced Rehnquist as chief justice, Samuel Alito took O’Connor’s seat, and, under Trump, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh joined the court, in seats that had been held by Scalia and Kennedy, respectively.

Ginsburg would say later that the 5-4 decision that settled the 2000 presidential election for Republican George W. Bush was a “breathtaking episode” at the court.

She was perhaps personally closest on the court to Scalia, her ideological opposite. Ginsburg once explained that she took Scalia’s sometimes biting dissents as a challenge to be met. “How am I going to answer this in a way that’s a real putdown?” she said.

When Scalia died in 2016, also an election year, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell refused to act on Obama's nomination of Judge Merrick Garland to fill the opening. The seat remained vacant until after Trump's surprising presidential victory. McConnell has said he would move to confirm a Trump nominee if there were a vacancy this year.

Reached by phone late Friday, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, declined to disclose any plans. He said a statement would be forthcoming.

Ginsburg authored powerful dissents of her own in cases involving abortion, voting rights and pay discrimination against women. She said some were aimed at swaying the opinions of her fellow judges while others were “an appeal to the intelligence of another day” in the hopes that they would provide guidance to future courts.

“Hope springs eternal,” she said in 2007, “and when I am writing a dissent, I’m always hoping for that fifth or sixth vote - even though I’m disappointed more often than not.”

She wrote memorably in 2013 that the court’s decision to cut out a key part of the federal law that had ensured the voting rights of Black people, Hispanics and other minorities was “like throwing away your umbrella in a rainstorm because you are not getting wet.”

Change on the court hit Ginsburg especially hard. She dissented forcefully from the court’s decision in 2007 to uphold a nationwide ban on an abortion procedure that opponents call partial-birth abortion. The court, with O’Connor still on it, had struck down a similar state ban seven years earlier. The “alarming” ruling, Ginsburg said, “cannot be understood as anything other than an effort to chip away at a right declared again and again by this court - and with increasing comprehension of its centrality to women’s lives.”

In 1999, Ginsburg had surgery for colon cancer and received radiation and chemotherapy. She had surgery again in 2009 after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and in December 2018 for cancerous growths on her left lung. Following the last surgery, she missed court sessions for the first time in more than 25 years on the bench.

Ginsburg also was treated with radiation for a tumor on her pancreas in August 2019. She maintained an active schedule even during the three weeks of radiation. When she revealed a recurrence of her cancer in July 2020, Ginsburg said she remained “fully able” to continue as a justice.

Joan Ruth Bader was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1933, the second daughter in a middle-class family. Her older sister, who gave her the lifelong nickname “Kiki,” died at age 6, so Ginsburg grew up in Brooklyn’s Flatbush section as an only child. Her dream, she has said, was to be an opera singer.

Ginsburg graduated at the top of her Columbia University law school class in 1959 but could not find a law firm willing to hire her. She had “three strikes against her” - for being Jewish, female and a mother, as she put it in 2007.

She had married her husband, Martin, in 1954, the year she graduated from Cornell University. She attended Harvard University’s law school but transferred to Columbia when her husband took a law job there. Martin Ginsburg went on to become a prominent tax attorney and law professor. Martin Ginsburg died in 2010. She is survived by two children, Jane and James, and several grandchildren.

Ginsburg once said that she had not entered the law as an equal-rights champion. “I thought I could do a lawyer’s job better than any other,” she wrote. “I have no talent in the arts, but I do write fairly well and analyze problems clearly.”

***

People are continuing to pay their respects outside the US Supreme Court as they reflect on the legacy of the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and come to terms with the approaching power struggle to fill her vacant seat.

Scores of flowers, pictures, candles, and small American flags were left near the Washington DC courthouse, along with and handwritten condolence messages and quotes from Ginsburg, who died Friday of metastatic pancreatic cancer at age 87 after 27 years on the court.

Angel Smith, a furloughed worker, came up from Richmond, Virginia just to celebrate Ginsburg at the growing memorial.

She said it was disheartening to see some people already move on to discussing her passing as an opportunity to replace her.

"I just hope that the next person is somebody who could be on that same level as her," Smith said. "Her final wishes were appropriate, and I think they should be respected. And after I put down my flowers and my sign and my candle, I came off to the side and I said a prayer for this country. I asked that they honor her wishes and that they wait."

President Donald Trump metSeotember 21st with Judge Amy Coney Barrett at the White House as the conservative jurist emerged as a favorite to replace the Ginsburg on the Supreme Court, the start of a monumental Senate confirmation fight over objections from Democrats it’s too close to the November election.

Trump said he expects to announce his pick by week’s end, before the burial of Ginsburg, the court's liberal icon, at Arlington National Cemetery.

***

President Donald Trump's has said he would nominate a conservative woman to replace Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died on September 18th at the age of 87.

Trump, who will announce his nominee on September 19th, says he's confident his choice will be confirmed, but some disagreement is forming on whether the pick should focus on cementing the conservative majority on the court, or assist in Trump's reelections efforts.

Mark Sherman, a Supreme Court Reporter for the Associated Press, said five women are rounding out Trump's Supreme Court pick shortlist: Amy Coney Barrett, Barbara Lagoa, Joan Larsen, Allison Rushing, and Kate Todd.

"They have in common that they're all well-regarded conservatives. Four of them are federal judges, and the fifth is a lawyer in the White House," Sherman said.

Barrett, 48, is widely considered to be the front-runner. She was previously considered as a finalist for Trump's second nomination to the high court, which eventually went to Justice Brett Kavanaugh. A devout Catholic mother of seven, she is a favorite of religious conservatives and considered a strong opponent of abortion.

"She has a long history in conservative circles. She was a clerk at one point to Justice Scalia when he was on the Supreme Court," Sherman said. "We do know from her record that she has raised questions about abortion rights and also suggested that there are many more abortion restrictions that she would find allowable under the law than, say, Justice Ginsburg did."

Lagoa, 52, is a Cuban American judge from Florida who was nominated by Trump to serve on the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in 2019. Her name was on the White House's list of potential high court contenders released earlier this month.

Raised in the heavily Latino Miami suburb of Hialeah, Lagoa is the daughter of Cuban exiles who fled the communist regime of Fidel Castro. She speaks fluent Spanish and has a solidly conservative judicial record.

"Picking Lagoa could perhaps help him win more of the Cuban vote, which is an important constituent part of the Hispanic vote in Florida," Sherman said. "And if the vote in Florida is close... any little edge could be decisive."

Larsen, 51, was a little-known University of Michigan legal scholar until 2015, when then- Gov. Rick Snyder, a Republican, tapped her to fill a vacant seat on the Michigan Supreme Court.

After Trump won the presidency and the Michigan electoral college in 2016, he quickly sought to elevate Larsen to the federal bench, tapping her in May 2017 to fill a vacant seat on the Cincinnati-based 6th Circuit Court of Appeals.

Rushing, 38, was confirmed just 18 months ago to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond. If elevated to the Supreme Court, she would be the youngest justice confirmed since the early 1800s.

She is a native of Hendersonville, North Carolina. Her potential selection is being championed within the White House by chief of staff Mark Meadows, who also hails from the mountains of the Tarheel State.

Todd, 45, is the only lawyer on Trump's potential shortlist for the Supreme Court who has never served as a judge.

A deputy White House counsel, her close connection to the Trump administration could give an opening to Democrats to attack her independence and relative lack of experience. However, her lack of a judicial record also leaves little paper trail for opponents to sort through for material to attack.

"The president has said he will make a nomination public on September 19th," Sherman said. "And there is the at least the possibility that Republicans, with their majority in the Senate and no procedural hurdles, really could perhaps confirm a new justice before the election. Remains to be seen if they will, but that's certainly a possibility."

***

Democratic Presidential Nominee Joe Biden and his wife Dr. Jill Biden were in Washington on September 25th to pay their respects to the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

They were invited to attend the special ceremony at the Capitol to commemorate Ginsburg lying in state.

Biden said he met Ginsburg for the first time when he was chairman of the committee that oversaw her confirmation hearing.

Services were brief, with the rabbi’s reflections and prayer, before guests lined up to pass by the casket and pay their respects.

Members of the House and Senate who were not invited to the ceremony because of space limitations imposed by the coronavirus pandemic will be able to pay their respects before a motorcade carrying Ginsburg’s casket departs the Capitol in the early afternoon.

The honor of lying in state has been accorded fewer than three dozen times, mostly to presidents, vice presidents, and members of Congress.

Rep. John Lewis, the civil rights icon, was the most recent person to lie in state following his death in July. Henry Clay, the Kentucky lawmaker who served as Speaker of the House and also was a senator, was the first in 1852.

Rosa Parks - a private citizen, not a government official - is the only woman who has lain in honor, a separate commemoration, at the Capitol.

Ginsburg had lain in repose for two days at the Supreme Court, where thousands of people paid their respects outside, including President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump on September 24th. Spectators booed and chanted “vote him out” as the president, who wore a mask, stood silently near Ginsburg’s casket at the top of the court’s front steps.

Trump plans to announce his nomination September 19th of a woman to take Ginsburg’s place on the high court, where she served for 27 years and was the leader of the liberal justices.

Ginsburg, the second woman to serve on the Supreme Court, will be buried next week in Arlington National Cemetery beside her husband, Martin, who died in 2010.

02:03:17

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John Lewis, lion of US civil rights , dies at 80

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Selma, Alabama - 7 March 2015

1. John Lewis and President Barack Obama walk across Edmund Pettus Bridge on 50th anniversary of march

2. SOUNDBITE (English) Rep. John Lewis, (D) Georgia:

"We were beaten, tear-gassed, some of us was left bloody right here on this bridge. "

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Congressional leaders pay respects to Rep. Lewis

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Washington - 27 July 2020

3. Various of casket of late Rep. John Lewis being brought into US Capitol Rotunda

4. Lawmakers rise to give standing ovation in honor of Lewis after recording of his speech is played

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Trump visits brother, Robert, at New York hospital

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New York - 14 August 2020

5. U.S. President Donald Trump's motorcade arrives at New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center in Manhattan

6. Wide exterior of hospital

00:37:11

Ex-WH adviser Steve Bannon arrested in fraud scam

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Washington DC - 16 January 2018

7. Steve Bannon arrives on Capitol Hill to testify

Rome - 26 March 2019

8. Close of Political Strategist Steve Bannon posing for photographers at Foreign Press Association in Rome

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Bannon pleads not guilty in border wall scheme

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New York - 20 August 2020

9. Steve Bannon, US President Donald Trump’s former chief strategist, leaves a Manhattan federal court and walks through media scrum to a waiting SUV which drives off

00:50:19

Melania Trump bronze statue unveiled in Slovenia

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Sevnica - 15 September 2020

10. Local folk artist Ales Zupevc unveils bronze statue representing US First Lady Melania Trump UPSOUND Music

11. Close of statue

01:02:10

US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg dies

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ARCHIVE: Washington - 1 June 2017

12. Various views, U.S. Supreme Court photo opportunity, including Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg

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ARCHIVE: Chicago - 9 September 2019

13. SOUNDBITE (English) Ruth Bader Ginsburg, US Supreme Court Justice:

"I don't know what it will take, but we really should get back to the way it was when people were examining the qualifications of someone to be a judge rather trying to guess how they would vote."

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Memorial for Ginsburg outside US Supreme Court

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Washington, DC - 21 September 2020

14. Flowers and tributes outside US Supreme Court

15. Closeup of a picture of Ginsburg next to flowers

01:43:16

Trump's top contenders to take RBG's court seat

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Washington - 12 May 2020

16. Wide of United States Supreme Court building

17. Close-up engraving reads "Equal Justice Under Law"

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Bidens pay their respects to Ginsburg

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Washington DC - 25 September 2020

18. Various of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's casket to lay in state

19. Presidential Nomine Joe Biden and his wife Dr. Jill Biden paying their respects

On March 5th 2018 the British media reported that the Zizi restaurant in Salisbury had been closed as a precaution in connection with an incident in which 66-year-old former Russian spy Sergei Skripal was left critically ill by exposure to an unknown substance.

The media is quoting Wiltshire Police.

Skripal, 66, who was convicted in Russia on charges of spying for Britain and sentenced in 2006 to 13 years in prison.

He was freed in 2010 as part of a US-Russian spy swap.

The discovery of the two people led to a dramatic decontamination effort.

Crews in billowing yellow moon suits worked into the night spraying down the street, and the Salisbury hospital's emergency room was closed.

***

There was a heavy police presence on March 6th near a shopping mall in a town in southern England where a former Russian spy was found after ,it is said, he suffered exposure to an "unknown substance".

The Kremlin said Russia has not been approached to help in an investigation over how and why the former spy was found critically ill on a bench near Maltings Shopping Centre in Salisbury.

A woman was also found unconscious on March 4th in Salisbury, about 90 miles (145 kilometres) west of London.

Dimitry Peskov, President Vladimir Putin's spokesman, said March 6th that there has been no request for help but that "Moscow is always ready to cooperate."

***

On March 7th ambulances and emergency vehicles rushed to central Salisbury in England amid jitters following the collapse of a former Russian spy and his daughter there.

An eyewitness says emergency services escorted two women on March 7th from a building near a restaurant that had been cordoned off by police searching for clues as to what prompted Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia to fall ill on March 4th.

Police and ambulance services declined to comment and it was not immediately clear if the incident had anything to do with the ongoing investigation.

Meanwhile British counter-terror police cordoned off a new site in the case of the former Russian spy and his daughter.

London's Metropolitan Police secured Solstice Park, a business park in Amesbury near Stonehenge, the prehistoric monument and world heritage site.

Amesbury is about nine miles (14 kilometres) from Salisbury, where Skripal and his daughter Yulia were found collapsed on a bench on March 4th.

Lloyd Ridley, who works nearby as a mechanic, told the Associated Press on Wednesday that some 40 firemen stood outside as the area was cordoned off, adding there were four people "dressed up in hazmats going inside and retrieving stuff in these boxes and putting them outside in the cornered area."

British counterterrorism specialists have taken control of the case from local police trying to unravel the mystery of what happened to the pair.

The matter has not been declared a terrorist incident.

Police are also asking members of the public to come forward if they had visited a Salisbury pizza restaurant or pub where the couple were last seen on March 4th.

***

Britain's armed forces arrived in Salisbury on March 9th to help police investigate the nerve-agent poisoning of a former spy.

Counterterrorism detectives asked for military help to remove vehicles and objects from a number of scenes related to March 4th's attack.

In a statement on the deployment, the defence secretary said the armed forces had the "right people with the right skills" to assist in the investigation.

More than 100 personnel from the Royal Marines, the RAF and chemical teams are said to have been sent to Salisbury.

***

A large-scale investigation continued on March 11th in Salisbury as forensics experts wearing protective gear searched for clues after a Russian ex-spy and his daughter were poisoned with a nerve agent.

Authorities said earlier that small traces of contamination have been found in a restaurant and a pub in the English city of Salisbury.

Hospital officials in Salisbury also said there is no evidence of a wider risk beyond the three people hospitalized since the March 4th attack on Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia.

Ex-spy Skripal and his daughter Yulia reportedly ate at a Zizzi restaurant before falling critically ill.

A British police detective is also hospitalized in serious condition.

Among the sites they are searching are the Zizzi restaurant, which is closed to the public, and the gravesites where Skripal's wife and son are buried.

Skripal's house has also been extensively searched for clues and traces of the nerve agent.

Authorities haven't revealed how or where the Skripals were exposed to the nerve agent. It's not known if it happened in a restaurant, a pub, Skripal's house or elsewhere.

Home Secretary Amber Rudd said on March 10th it is still "too early" to determine who is to blame for the attack.

Senior government officials have vowed to respond robustly if the Russian government is found to be responsible.

Rudd said more than 250 counterterrorism officers are on the scene evaluating more than 240 pieces of evidence and interviewing about 200 witnesses.

They are backed by roughly 180 military personnel providing logistical support, including the removal of ambulances feared to possibly be contaminated by the nerve agent.

***

Russia will only cooperate with Britain on the investigation into March 4th's poisoning of an ex-Russian spy and his daughter if it receives samples of the nerve agent that is believed to have been used, Russia's foreign minister said March 13th.

Sergey Lavrov spoke in response to the British government's demand for an explanation of the use of a military-grade nerve agent produced in Russia in the attack in the English city of Salisbury.

Lavrov told reporters on March 13th Moscow's requests to see samples of the nerve agent have been turned down, which he called a violation of the Chemical Weapons Convention, which outlaws the production of chemical weapons. He insisted that Russia is "not to blame" for the poisoning.

He said Moscow is willing to cooperate with the probe but suggested that London would be "better off" complying with its international obligations "before putting forward ultimatums."

British Prime Minister Theresa May said Russia's involvement is "highly likely" and delivered a March 13th deadline for a Russian response.

Officials said March 13thPrime Minister Theresa May is reviewing a range of economic and diplomatic measures in retaliation for the assault with a military-grade nerve agent.

The poisoning left 66-year-old Sergei Skripal and his 33-year-old daughter Yulia in critical condition.

***

British Home Secretary Amber Rudd chaired a meeting of the Government's Cobra emergencies committee on March 13th to discuss the response to the recent poisoning of a former Russian spy and his daughter.

Rudd reiterated Prime Minister Theresa May's deadline of midnight on March 13th for Moscow to explain how the Russian-made nerve agent Novichok came to be used on British soil.

Rudd said that until that response she would not be commenting on what action the UK would be taking against Russia.

Authorities say the pair were poisoned with a military-grade nerve agent and that Russia is "highly likely" to be behind it.

May is demanding an explanation.

***

British counterterrorism police on March 13th took charge of the investigation into the death in London of a Russian businessman because he was connected to a prominent Kremlin foe.

The death of Nikolai Glushkov, confirmed by his lawyer in Russia, came a week after former spy Sergei Skripal was left critically ill from nerve agent poisoning in the city of Salisbury.

Police said there was no evidence to suggest a link to the March 4th poisoning of Skripal and his daughter Yulia.

Attorney Andrei Borovkov told Russian media outlets that Glushkov had died, but said he was unaware of the time and circumstances. Reports in British and Russian media said Glushkov, who was in his late 60s, was found dead at his home in southwest London.

London's Metropolitan Police force said it was investigating the unexplained death of a man found at a house in the New Malden area late March 12th. It didn't release his name, saying formal identification had yet to take place.

Police said counterterrorism detectives are leading the investigation "as a precaution because of associations that the man is believed to have had."

Glushkov was an associate of Boris Berezovsky, a Russian oligarch and Kremlin critic who died in London in 2013. An inquest failed to determine whether he had killed himself or died from foul play.

Glushkov told The Guardian newspaper in 2013 he didn't believe Berezovsky's death was suicide. "I'm definite Boris was killed," he said.

Glushkov was arrested in 1999 and put on trial for embezzling 7 million US dollars from Aeroflot.

In 2004, he was sentenced to three years and three months in prison, but released because of time served before and during his trial.

Russian media reported that Glushkov was granted political asylum in Britain in 2010.

***

On March 15th President Donald Trump pointed the finger at Russia in the poisoning of a former Russian spy in Great Britain, saying he had spoken with British Prime Minister Theresa May.

During a meeting with Ireland's prime minister in the Oval Office, Trump said it's something "that should never, ever happen."

March 15th, the U.S. joined the Britain, France and Germany in a joint statement blaming Moscow for the poisoning of an ex-Russian spy who was living in England.

The list of Russians now under sanction includes the 13 indicted in February by U.S. special counsel Robert Mueller as part of his Russia-related investigation into alleged election interference.

Altogether, 19 Russians were cited. Also sanctioned were five Russian companies, including the Internet Research Agency, which is accused of orchestrating a mass online disinformation campaign to affect the presidential election result.

The Treasury Department announced the sanctions amid withering criticism of Trump and his administration for failing to use its congressionally mandated authority to punish Russia. Trump himself has been skeptical of the election accusations.

The sanctions are the first use of the new powers that Congress passed last year to punish Moscow for meddling in an election that Republican Donald Trump won over Democrat Hillary Clinton.

The accusations and accompanying sanctions are some of the strongest actions to date by the administration to punish Russia for hacking and other efforts to sow discord in the American democracy.

The Trump administration is also accusing Russia on March 15th of a concerted, ongoing operation to hack and spy on the U.S. energy grid and other critical infrastructure, and separately imposed sanctions on Russian officials for alleged high-tech interference in the 2016 American presidential election.

U.S. national security officials said the FBI, the Homeland Security Department and American intelligence agencies determined that Russian intelligence and others were behind the attacks on the energy sector.

The officials said the Russians deliberately chose U.S. energy industry targets, obtaining access to computer systems and then conducting "network reconnaissance" of industrial control systems that run American factories and the electricity grid.

The U.S. government has helped energy businesses kick out the Russians from all systems currently known to have been penetrated, according to the officials.

The officials, who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive national security information, left open the possibility of discovering more breaches, and said the federal government was issuing an alert to the energy industry to raise awareness about the threat and improve preparation.

***

British Prime Minister Theresa May said on March 19th that Russia had the "capability", motive and intent" to poison a Russian ex-spy and his daughter and that the attack was "part of a pattern of behaviour by Russia across Europe".

Britain has accused Russia of using a military-grade nerve agent to poison former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter, who have been in critical condition for two weeks.

Britain has announced the expulsion of 23 Russian diplomats, and Russia has responded in kind.

Asked to comment on weekend newspaper reports about the possible exhumation of Russians who died in the UK in suspicious circumstances, May said that would be a matter for the police.

She said the focus of the investigation at this stage was on the Skripals' case.

May added that officials from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons were expected to arrive in the UK on March 19th and would discuss with police taking samples of the nerve agent in order to conduct an independent verification.

British police have contacted other Russian exiles in the last few days to discuss their safety in light of the recent attacks.

The Kremlin says Britain will eventually have to offer proof to back up its claim of Russia's involvement in the poisoning or apologise.

00:00:00

UK restaurant closed after former Russian spy exposed to unknown substance

4142885

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Salisbury - 5 March 2018

++NIGHT SHOTS++

1. Various of restaurant exteriors

00:07:14

Police cordon off area where former Russian spy was taken ill

4142914

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Salisbury - 6 March 2018

2. Bench believed to be where Skripal was found unconscious, police cordon

3. Media near Maltings Shopping Centre

4. Police outside Skripal's home in Salisbury

00:21:04

Latest from scene of "poisoning"; graves of Skripal relatives

4143219

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Salisbury - 7 March 2018

5. Tent covering bench where former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Julia were taken ill

6. Gravestone of the wife of Sergei Skripal, flowers

00:28:24

Troops at hospital in Salisbury where poison victims treated

4143568

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Salisbury - 9 March 2018

7. Troops standing next to support vehicles in car park of Salisbury District Hospital

00:32:24

Military remove potentially-contaminated vehicles in Salisbury

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ASSOCIATED PRESS

Salisbury - 11 March 2018

8. Police car being lifted onto truck

9. Police cars and forensic officials

10. Trucks leaving

00:44:24

Lavrov: Russia is 'not to blame' for poisoning of ex-spy

4144005

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Moscow - 13 March 2018

11. SOUNDBITE (Russian) Sergei Lavrov, Russian Foreign Minister:

"Russia is not guilty, Russia is ready to cooperate in the framework of the Chemical Weapons Convention only if the United Kingdom takes the pains to fulfill their legal obligations according to the same document."

01:01:20

UK emergencies committee meets to discuss Salisbury nerve agent case

4144037

UK POOL

London - 13 March 2018

12. British Prime Minister Theresa May leaving Number 10 Downing Street to attend Cobra meeting (a cross-departmental crisis committee that is formed to respond to national emergencies) meeting

01:06:12

Detectives busy at house of dead Russian businessman

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ASSOCIATED PRESS

London - 13 March 2018

New Malden, London - 13 March 2018

13. Various of house belonging to Russian businessman Nikolai Glushkov with police tents outside

01:14:21

Trump points to Russia in poisoning of former spy in UK

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ASSOCIATED PRESS

Washington DC - 15 March 2018

14. SOUNDBITE: (English) Donald Trump, U.S. President

" It looks like the Russians were behind it, something that should never, ever happen, and we're taking it very seriously, as I think are many others. "

01:24:24

May: The Russian state is responsible for nerve agent attack

4144999

UK POOL

Birmingham - 19 March 2018

15. SOUNDBITE (English) Theresa May, British Prime Minister:

"I set out clearly in the House of Commons last week why it is that we believe the Russian state is culpable for the incident that took place, for the acts that took place, for the use of this nerve agent on the streets of Salisbury.

It was a few days before the one-year anniversary of President Donald Trump's inauguration and a Lebanese-American businessman was on his way to Mar-a-Lago.

George Nader, an international fixer whose long history included intrepid back-channel mediation between Israel and Arab countries - and a 15-year-old pedophilia conviction in Europe that has not been previously reported - was transiting through Dulles International Airport outside Washington.

It was hardly his first far-flung journey to see top aides of the world's most powerful leader, as Nader had met the U.S. president's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and chief strategist Steve Bannon in the days before they stormed the White House.

But he encountered an altogether different scene awaiting him at the airport.

There, special counsel Robert Mueller's investigators stopped Nader, people familiar with the case said. His electronics were seized and he was then allowed to go to his lawyer. Nader later agreed to cooperate with Mueller's investigation, said the people with knowledge of the case as it pertains to Nader. They weren't authorized to speak publicly on the case and demanded anonymity.

Mueller, whose team has spent the last 10 months investigating possible Trump-related wrongdoing connected to Russia, is interested in high-level get-togethers Nader participated in after the presidential election, according to three people familiar with the case.

The first took place in Trump Tower in New York in December 2016 and brought together Nader, Kushner, Bannon - whom Trump fired last August - and Mohammed bin Zayed, the crown prince of Abu Dhabi and de facto leader of the United Arab Emirates. The second occurred a month later in the Indian Ocean archipelago of Seychelles and involved Nader, bin Zayed, former Blackwater boss Erik Prince and Kirill Dmitriev, a Russian banker close to President Vladimir Putin.

For Nader, it was the latest brush with the law in an eventful, globe-trotting career.

Many of Nader's former contacts and onetime friends have noted in recent weeks how they lost touch with him in the early 2000s.

On Wednesday, an official in the Czech Republic told The Associated Press that Nader is a convicted pedophile and served time in a Prague prison around that time.

Nader was convicted by Prague's Municipal Court of 10 cases of sexually abusing minors and sentenced to a one-year prison term in May 2003, said Marketa Puci, the court spokeswoman. She said the crimes occurred between 1999 and 2002.

Nader's legal problems in Prague appear unrelated to his role in Mueller's probe in the United States. But they contribute to the portrait of a man who has led a shadowy existence as a go-between across numerous Middle East capitals and who gave testimony to Mueller's Washington grand jury earlier this month.

Nader had worked in recent times as an adviser to bin Zayed, one of the most powerful men in the Middle East, according to people who know Nader. The questioning of Nader in the Mueller probe suggests possible interest in UAE relations with Trump's transition team or his administration.

Puci, the court spokeswoman, said Nader was convicted of "moral corruption of minors, sexual abuse and impairing morals," after abusing underage boys.

In one case, Nader requested oral sex from a 14-year-old in a room at the Hilton Hotel in Prague, Puci said. After the boy refused, Nader masturbated in front of the boy and paid him 2,000 koruna - worth about $100 today, she said.

The verdict cites other examples of Nader providing money, jewelry, cellphones, clothes and accommodation for sexual services. The AP was able to see a copy of the verdict, which gives Nader's birthdate as May 15, 1959. Nader was separately accused in Washington, D.C., of child pornography infractions in 1985, but those charges were later dropped. A criminal docket sheet obtained by the AP shows the same birthdate for Nader.

Two people with knowledge of the case say it involved the same Nader now cooperating with Mueller.

Puci said it wasn't clear how much of the one-year sentence Nader served in the Czech Republic. He was ordered expelled following his time served.

Kathy Ruemmler, who previously served as White House counsel to President Barack Obama, is among the lawyers representing Nader. She declined to answer questions about her client.

But Sandeep Savla, another lawyer for Nader, said: "This is nothing more than an orchestrated, disgusting scheme by those who are trying to intimidate Mr. Nader into silence. It won't work. Mr. Nader will continue to answer truthfully questions put to him by the special counsel."

Nader's connections with Trump confidants include Elliott Broidy, a top Republican fundraiser who co-hosted a Tuesday night event attended by the president in Beverly Hills, California.

Earlier this month, several media organizations, including the AP, obtained emails belonging to Broidy, a California-based venture capitalist and the Republican National Committee's deputy finance chairman. They show Broidy emailing Nader with a summary of Broidy's talks with Kushner and Trump in the White House in October 2017, touching on matters including the UAE's bitter dispute with fellow Persian Gulf country Qatar.

Broidy accused Qatar of hacking his emails. The Qataris denied the charge.

"Your government's actions against U.S. citizens will jeopardize your nation's relationship with the United States," Broidy wrote in a public letter to Qatar's U.S. ambassador.

In response, the Qatari government called Broidy's "baseless accusations" a "diversionary tactic."

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Prague - 14 March 2018

1. Portion of court verdict and sentence with George Nader's name on it and stating he is a citizen of the United States

2. Various, Prague Municipal Court Spokesperson, Marketa Puci, holding court verdict and sentence

3. SOUNDBITE (Czech) Marketa Puci, Prague Municipal Court Spokesperson:

"I'm holding a verdict by which an American citizen, George Nader, together with Czech offenders was in 2003 convicted, for crimes that I will now read to you. The court sentenced him to one year in prison and to an indefinite deportation."

4. Shot of first page of court verdict and sentence reading, "judgment on behalf of the Republic"

5. SOUNDBITE (Czech) Marketa Puci, Prague Municipal Court Spokesperson:

"According to the then valid law, Mr. Nader was convicted of moral corruption of minors, sexual abuse and impairing morals."

6. Shot of first page of court verdict and sentence reading, "judgment on behalf of the Republic"

7. SOUNDBITE (Czech) Marketa Puci, Prague Municipal Court Spokesperson:

"At that time was (the victim) was 14-years-old. He (Nader) requested oral sex and after the boy refused, he with the boy's consent, pulled out his private parts and masturbated in front of him and for that mister Nader paid the boy 2000 Koruna. And there have been 10 similar cases like this."

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Washington, D.C. - 15 May 2017

8. Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan with President Donald Trump in Oval Office

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Washington - 13 June 2013

8. Various, then-FBI Director Robert Mueller being sworn in

9. STILL Image Mueller in committee hearing

POOL

New York - 17 August 2016

10. Various views, then candidate Donald Trump meeting with advisers in Trump Tower, including Stephen Bannon and Paul Manafort

POOL

New York - 15 December 2016

11. Wide, Trump Tower lobby

ASSOCIATED PRESS

New York - 11 November 2016

12. STILL Image, Stephen Bannon leaving Trump Tower

ASSOCIATED PRESS

New York - 9 December 2016

13. STILL Images, Steve Bannon speaking on cellphone outside Trump Tower

ASSOCIATED PRESS

New York - 14 November 2016

14. Mid, Jared Kushner arrives in lobby of Trump Tower

POOL

New York - 6 December 2016

15. US President-elect Donald Trump walks out of elevator at Trump Tower

16. SOUNDBITE (English) Donald J. Trump, President-elect: ++SHOT CONTINUES FROM PREVIOUS++

"Good morning, how are you? Everything fine? We have got some great people coming in today. You'll see them."

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Dulles, Virginia - 6 October 2014

17. Wide, zoom Dulles airport

FOR CLEAN VERSION SEE STORY NUMBER: apus140027

Chicago's mayor says she doesn't want federal forces intervening in her city's protests against racial injustice.

Lori Lightfoot, a Democrat, says she has great concerns with what has been happening in Portland, Oregon, where federal officers wearing no insignia have been firing tear gas and detaining people during ongoing demonstrations.

Top leaders in the U.S. House said Sunday they were "alarmed" by the Trump administration's tactics against protesters in Portland and other cities, including Washington, D.C.

They've called on federal inspectors general to investigate.

Lightfoot said at a community event in Chicago Monday that the White House should do more to fight violence in the city by helping to stem the flow of illegal guns.

POOL

Chicago - 20 July 2020

1. Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot in mask before start of community event

2. SOUNDBITE (English) Mayor Lori Lightfoot, (D) Chicago:

"We don't need federal agents without any insignia taking people off the streets and holding them, I think, unlawfully. That's not what we need."

++WHITE FLASH++

3. SOUNDBITE (English) Mayor Lori Lightfoot, (D) Chicago:

"If the president is truly sincere about wanting to help, there are a number of things that the federal government is uniquely qualified to do that we could use his help with. And they all revolve around the fact that we have way too many illegal guns on our streets."

++WHITE FLASH++

4. SOUNDBITE (English) Mayor Lori Lightfoot, (D) Chicago:

"He could fully fund the ATF (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms) here in Chicago. He could fully fund additional prosecutors to focus on gun violence cases. He could empower the ATF to actually do what they're saying they're supposed to do, which is go after illegal gun sales, go after federally licensed gun dealers that aren't doing their job, are selling to people that they know are straw purchasers that have no intent whatsoever to possess those guns and turn them over in a parking lot to the real person who's going to take those guns."

++EDITS ENDS ON SOUNDBITE++

Chicago's mayor says she doesn't want federal forces intervening in her city's protests against racial injustice.

Lori Lightfoot, a Democrat, says she has great concerns with what has been happening in Portland, Oregon, where federal officers wearing no insignia have been firing tear gas and detaining people during ongoing demonstrations.

Top leaders in the U.S. House said Sunday they were "alarmed" by the Trump administration's tactics against protesters in Portland and other cities, including Washington, D.C.

They've called on federal inspectors general to investigate.

Lightfoot said at a community event in Chicago Monday that the White House should do more to fight violence in the city by helping to stem the flow of illegal guns.

POOL

Chicago - 20 July 2020

1. Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot in mask before start of community event

2. SOUNDBITE (English) Mayor Lori Lightfoot, (D) Chicago:

"I have great concerns about that, particularly given the track record in the city of Portland. I spent a lot of time yesterday talking with the mayor of Portland to get a sense of what's happened there. We don't need federal agents without any insignia taking people off the streets and holding them, I think, unlawfully. That's not what we need."

++BLACK FRAMES++

3. SOUNDBITE (English) Mayor Lori Lightfoot, (D) Chicago:

"If the president is truly sincere about wanting to help. there are a number of things that the federal government is uniquely qualified to do that we could use his help with, and they all revolve around the fact that we have way too many illegal guns on our streets."

++BLACK FRAMES++

4. SOUNDBITE (English) Mayor Lori Lightfoot, (D) Chicago:

"He could fully fund the ATF (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms) here in Chicago. He could fully fund additional prosecutors to focus on gun violence cases. He could empower the ATF to actually do what they're saying they're supposed to do, which is go after illegal gun sales, go after federally licensed gun dealers that aren't doing their job, are selling to people that they know are straw purchasers that have no intent whatsoever to possess those guns and turn them over in a parking lot to the real person who's going to take those guns. These are some easy, simple things that the president could do. He could make sure that we close the gun show loophole. We could pass universal background checks. He could make sure that people that aren't allowed to fly don't get guns"

5. Mayor Lightfoot and others walking away following community event.

Chicago's mayor says she doesn't want federal forces intervening in her city's protests against racial injustice.

Lori Lightfoot, a Democrat, says she has great concerns with what has been happening in Portland, Oregon, where federal officers wearing no insignia have been firing tear gas and detaining people during ongoing demonstrations.

Top leaders in the U.S. House said Sunday they were "alarmed" by the Trump administration's tactics against protesters in Portland and other cities, including Washington, D.C.

They've called on federal inspectors general to investigate.

Lightfoot said at a community event in Chicago Monday that the White House should do more to fight violence in the city by helping to stem the flow of illegal guns.

POOL

Chicago - 20 July 2020

1. Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot in mask before start of community event

2. SOUNDBITE (English) Mayor Lori Lightfoot, (D) Chicago:

"I have great concerns about that, particularly given the track record in the city of Portland. I spent a lot of time yesterday talking with the mayor of Portland to get a sense of what's happened there. We don't need federal agents without any insignia taking people off the streets and holding them, I think, unlawfully. That's not what we need."

++BLACK FRAMES++

3. SOUNDBITE (English) Mayor Lori Lightfoot, (D) Chicago:

"If the president is truly sincere about wanting to help. there are a number of things that the federal government is uniquely qualified to do that we could use his help with, and they all revolve around the fact that we have way too many illegal guns on our streets."

++BLACK FRAMES++

4. SOUNDBITE (English) Mayor Lori Lightfoot, (D) Chicago:

"He could fully fund the ATF (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms) here in Chicago. He could fully fund additional prosecutors to focus on gun violence cases. He could empower the ATF to actually do what they're saying they're supposed to do, which is go after illegal gun sales, go after federally licensed gun dealers that aren't doing their job, are selling to people that they know are straw purchasers that have no intent whatsoever to possess those guns and turn them over in a parking lot to the real person who's going to take those guns. These are some easy, simple things that the president could do. He could make sure that we close the gun show loophole. We could pass universal background checks. He could make sure that people that aren't allowed to fly don't get guns"

5. Mayor Lightfoot and others walking away following community event.

STORY

On April 9th 2018 about 600 remaining participants in the migrant caravan that drew US President Donald Trump's ire made a last stop in Mexico City to give thanks to the Virgin of Guadalupe.

The migrants travelled by bus to the Basilica of Guadalupe, which is dedicated to Mexico's patroness.

The largely Honduran migrants gave thanks on April 9th to the Virgin for having made it this far.

The caravan started about two weeks ago near Mexico's southern border.

Though it once numbered as many 1,500 migrants, the caravan itself was never intended to reach the US border.

The largely symbolic caravan was meant to draw attention to the dangers faced by migrants.

The group planned a couple of days' more activity in Mexico City, visiting international and human rights organisations.

***

With the deployment of 1,000 additional Texas National Guard soldiers to the US-Mexico border, quiet border towns have new guests along the Rio Grande.

Freddy Guerra, the assistant city manager of Roma, Texas, welcomes the additional manpower for border security, but says the uniformed personnel are really more "for perception," than functional service.

He adds that they're not in the way of anything the city or its approximately 10,000 residents, but hopes nothing disrupts the harmonious trading relationship Roma has with their neighbors to the south.

A half-dozen national guard soldiers bivouacked their Humvee and tent underneath one of Roma's historic bluffs overlooking the river. Across the river is Miguel Aleman, a small city in Tamulipas State, Mexico.

***

Packed into five old school buses, hundreds of Central American migrants arrived at the U.S. border April 29th for a rally, to be followed by a planned mass attempt to apply for asylum in a direct challenge to the Trump administration.

The migrants, many traveling with children, left a downtown Tijuana shelter where they had been staying.

The arrival at San Diego's San Ysidro border crossing, the nation's busiest, marked the end of a monthlong journey by foot, freight train and bus for the migrants, many of whom said they feared for their lives in their violence-wracked home countries.

But the travelers faced an uncertain future as they prepared to turn themselves in and ask for asylum. U.S. immigration lawyers warned them they face possible separation from their children and detention for many months.

President Donald Trump and members of his Cabinet have been tracking the caravan of migrants, calling it a threat to the U.S. since it started March 25th in the Mexican city of Tapachula, near the Guatemala border.

***

Following the arrival of a caravan of Central American asylum seekers at the U.S.-Mexico border, Vice President Mike Pence made a trip to a U.S. Border Patrol station in California, stressing the administration's commitment to border security.

"We have to close the dangerous loopholes," said Pence," and our entire system that essentially entice people or entice people that would take advantage of vulnerable families, to encourage them to make the long and often dangerous trip up to our border."

About 200 asylum seekers were not being allowed to turn themselves in to U.S. border inspectors for a second straight day on April 30th.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection said a San Diego border crossing facility has reached capacity and that it will resume processing when it has more space and resources.

***

While railing against California for its so-called sanctuary immigration policies, President Donald Trump referred to some people who cross the border illegally as "animals."

Trump's remark at meeting with local leaders was in response to a complaint about gang members.

"We have people coming into the country, or trying to come in -- and we're stopping a lot of them," Trump said during the immigration roundtable after a sheriff commented about gangs. "You wouldn't believe how bad these people are. These aren't people. These are animals."

Trump was joined at the May 16th White House meeting by mayors, sheriffs and other local leaders from California who oppose the state's immigration policies and who applauded his administration's hard-line efforts.

***

Nearly 2,000 children were separated from their families over a six-week period in April and May after Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the new "zero-tolerance" policy that refers all cases of illegal entry for criminal prosecution.

Prior procedure had limited prosecution for many family entrants, in part because regulations prohibit detaining children with their parents since the children are not charged with a crime and the parents are.

Texas Congressman and Democrat, Filemon Vela, who represents a district encompassing Brownsville, Texas invited fellow congressional Democrats to visit facilities where immigrant children were separated from their parents.

This happens after a parent has been charged with unlawful entry into the US and is subject to deportation proceedings.

Some of the US representatives who visited child holding facilities operated by the Department of Health and Human Services, said they held and played with infants and toddlers.

Rep. Joaquin Castro and Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, both Texas Democrats, said they held one baby boy who was no more than eight months old and had been in the facility for almost two months.

Castro urged President Donald Trump to change his policy.

***

As criticism sharpens of the Trump administration's "zero tolerance policy" toward immigration and separation of families, migrants from central America still arrive in a familiar rhythm in McAllen.

Migrants who are detained for unlawfully crossing into the United States, are processed into the federal system in the Texas town.

Prior to the Trump administration they were released and given a court notice to appear.

Now, the federal authorities are detaining parents with children, charging them in immigration courts and subsequently separating the children into facilities run by the Department of Health and Human Services.

***

US President Donald Trump on June 19th hugged an American flag positioned on the stage, following a speech in which he said he would detain family units together, instead of separating the children.

***

Three-year-old Genesis Gonzalez Lopez giggled excitedly as she played with her father at a sunny Utah park, zipping down a slide again and again into his arms.

The happy scene this week in Provo, south of Salt Lake City, was a far cry from what the pair experienced on Thanksgiving, when U.S. immigration authorities took Romulo Gonzalez Rodriguez into custody at the U.S.-Mexico border and whisked away the frightened girl, with no explanation of where she'd end up.

Gonzalez had fled Guatemala with the then-2-year-old after kidnappers held him captive, ripped out his right eye and forced his family to pay a $13,500 ransom for his life. He traveled by bus and train to a San Diego port of entry to seek asylum in the United States and was separated from his daughter for seven days.

"It's painful to be running away and come to where you think they're going to rescue you, and they take the measure of separating children," the father told The Associated Press in Spanish on Tuesday. "You fall again into fear and the same anguish that you're leaving behind."

Gonzalez's experience offers a window into the distress and uncertainty parents endure when they are separated from their children at the border, even though it happened before President Donald Trump's administration in April adopted a "zero tolerance" policy in which all unlawful border crossings were referred for prosecution.

The policy led to a spike in family separations in recent weeks, provoking a national uproar and pressure from Trump's allies. In a dramatic reversal, the president on Wednesday signed an executive order ending the practice, keeping families together while they're in custody, expediting their cases and asking the Department of Defense to help house families.

In Gonzalez's case, it's unclear why he and his daughter were separated since he surrendered at the border and is not being prosecuted for illegal entry.

It has been longstanding practice for Homeland Security to separate adults and minors at the border when it's unable to confirm they're related or if it believes a child is at risk. But Gonzalez has no record criminal record, his attorney Mari Alvarado Tsosie said.

Gonzalez has a brother in Provo who sought Alvarado's advice after Gonzalez was held for ransom in his home country. Gonzalez followed her instructions, arriving at the San Ysidro Port of Entry with his daughter Nov. 23 and handing U.S. immigration authorities a Guatemalan police report about his kidnapping.

Authorities shepherded his young daughter into another room while Gonzalez answered questions. He thought they would be reunited when he was done, but he was instead taken to a detention center without his daughter, Alvarado said. When he asked where she was, they wouldn't tell him, he said.

Gonzalez said he then spent seven days at a cold facility where the lights never turned off, wondering if his daughter was safe and if he would ever see her again. In Guatemala, his kidnappers had threated to dismember the child, and he suspected corrupt authorities were involved. His mind raced with worries U.S. law enforcement was corrupt too.

"It's tremendous anguish because you don't get any answers from authorities," Gonzalez said at his attorney's office in Provo, his daughter sitting on his lap. "They don't give you information, and you don't know the laws. ... You're wondering: Where is she? What is she doing? Such a small child."

Parents who surrender at U.S. ports of entry have occasionally been separated from their children with no formal explanation since long before the Trump administration's zero tolerance policy, said Dan Kowalski, editor of Bender's Immigration Bulletin, a national journal focused on immigration cases and law. He believes it's because of a lack of training, leadership and standard operating procedures that allows border agents to make up rules as they go.

If they suspected Gonzalez was abusing the child or trafficking her, they would have sent the case to prosecutors, Kowalski said.

A spokesman with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement had no immediate comment on the case.

After learning of Gonzalez's situation, Alvarado began calling every ICE facility in Southern California looking for him and the child. It took her three days to find Gonzalez at San Diego's Otay Mesa Detention Center and another four days to reunite him with his daughter.

To this day, Alvarado doesn't know where Genesis was held, though she believes the girl was somewhere in San Diego. All the girl has said is that she ate a lot of cereal.

The father and daughter are staying with Gonzalez's brother while they await word on the asylum request. A hearing is set for Oct. 22 at a Salt Lake City immigration court.

Gonzalez's wife and two step-children are in hiding in Guatemala and waiting until he can send enough money for them to make the journey north.

Genesis is too young to say what happened to her while they were apart or express how it affected her. But her father said she was sickly when they reunited, and seems nervous and clingier now. She starts therapy later this month.

On June 19th, Genesis looked like a typical, sweet toddler, hugging her father tightly and giving him kisses while he spoke.

Gonzalez is happy to be safe for now but said he's living in limbo not knowing if he'll be forced to return to the Guatemalan beach town that he once loved, where he now fears he'll be killed if he returns. He wears a glass eye following his attack.

Between that ordeal and the separation from Genesis, Gonzalez said he suffered significant trauma of his own that he has yet to deal with.

"It's a situation I don't wish upon any father or human being," he said. "It affects you a lot psychologically, emotionally. There are moments when I remember it all, and I start to cry for no reason."

***

A mother and child separated at the US border were reunited on June 22nd, just hours after the Justice Department agreed to release the boy.

Beata Mariana de Jesus Mejia-Mejia filed for political asylum after crossing the border with her seven-year old son, Darwin, following a trek from Guatemala.

The Justice Department agreed to release the boy after she sued the US government in order to be reunited with him following their separation.

The happy reunion took place at Baltimore-Washington international airport, from where the pair were expected to travel to Texas, where they will live while the mother's asylum claim is being decided.

01:57:12

SHOWS

'Caravan of migrants' reaches final stop in Mexico City

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Mexico City - 9 April 2018

1. Caravan of buses carrying migrants arriving

2. Migrants organizing their belongings

00:08:00

US National Guard troops arriving at Mexico Border

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ASSOCIATED PRESS

Roma, Texas - 11 April 2018

3. Wide, the international bridge from the bluff

4. Texas National Guard soldiers observing the reporter recording them

00:16:00

Caravan of asylum seekers head to US-Mexico border rally

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ASSOCIATED PRESS

Tijuana - 29 April 2018

5. Wide migrants' rally next to border fence

6. Various migrants sitting on top of the fence with signs

00:23:23

As migrants try to cross, Pence visits US-Mexico border

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POOL

Imperial - 30 April 2018

7. SOUNDBITE (English) Mike Pence, US Vice President:

" But the simple reality is that this caravan, and caravans that have come before- are a result of individuals who are attempting to exploit the suffering of people in Central America to try and advance their agenda."

00:37:22

Trump: Some deported gang members are 'animals'

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ASSOCIATED PRESS

Washington - 16 May 2018

8. SOUNDBITE (English) Donald Trump, US President:

"We have people coming into the country, or trying to come in - and we're stopping a lot of them - but we're taking people out of the country. You wouldn't believe how bad these people are. These aren't people. These are animals"

00:50:24

Texas Democrats speak of their visit to immigration facility, urge change in policy

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ASSOCIATED PRESS

Brownsville, Texas - 18 June 2018

9. Various exteriors and surrounds of Southwest Key Casa El Presidente, a facility that holds infants and young children separated from parents who have been charged with unlawful entry into the US, after being detained by US Border Patrol

10. Facility gate opens, pickup truck driving out

01:01:12

Migrants Arrive at Texas Processing Facility

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McAllen, Texas - June 19, 2018

11. Various, migrants exiting bus, entering facility

12. Migrants being processed

01:15:18

Trump hugs flag after immigration speech

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Washington, DC - 19 June 2018

13. U.S. President Donald Trump celebrates the end of a speech, hugs an American flag

01:21:05

Guatemalan man recounts separation from toddler on US border

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Provo, Utah - June 19, 2018

14. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Romulo Gonzalez Rodriguez, asylum applicant:

" It's tremendous anguish because you don't get any answers from authorities in that moment. They set you apart and you don't know anything. They don't give you information and you don't know the laws, you don't know anything. It's a tremendous anguish. You're wondering: Where is she? What is she doing? What is happening with her? Such a small child."

01:46:04

Mother and son reunited after separation at US border

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ASSOCIATED PRESS

Baltimore-Washington Internation Thurgood Marshall Airport - 22 June 2018

15. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Beata Mariana de Jesus Mejia-Mejia, Reunited with son

(Question: What message do you send to the other mothers that are in the same situation you were few minutes ago?)

"They can fight the same way I did it. They have to fight to get out from there, to fight for their children. One has to win the battle."

STORYLINE

BLACK LIVES MATTER MURAL PAINTED OUTSIDE NY COURTS

Teams of painters and artists gathered for a second day on July 2nd 2020 to paint a "Black Lives Matter" mural in the middle of a street that passes federal buildings in lower Manhattan.

The mural sits adjacent to the Thurgood Marshall federal courthouse, named after the first Black U.S. Supreme Court justice.

Endorsed by city leaders, three up-and-coming Black artists from New York were chosen to stylize the letters of each of the three words.

"I think the mural is a very strong and powerful contrast and combats the oppression of some of these buildings and some of the things that have happened in these buildings, historically," said Sophia Dawson, a Black visual artist who was commissioned to paint the "lives" portion of the mural

***

Large yellow letters spelling the words 'Black Lives Matter' have found a brand-new home, and this time on 5th Avenue.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, First Lady Chirlane McCray and Rev. Al Sharpton were joined by members of the community on July 10th to paint the mural across the street from Trump Tower.

Similar to the one painted outside the White House, the mural sends a clear message.

The mayor has said its his administration's way of honoring the black men and women who helped build New York.

***

For a second day a Black Lives Matter mural on 5th Avenue was on display in front of the namesake Manhattan tower of President Donald Trump.

The section of street remained closed to vehicle traffic as people took photos of the mural.

NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio announced the plan to paint Black Lives Matter in front of Trump Tower in June after earlier announcing that the slogan would be painted on streets at several locations. Trump responded via Twitter that the mural would denigrate "this luxury Avenue."

***

An artist has erected a statue of a Black Lives Matter protester atop the plinth in the English city of Bristol once occupied by the toppled statue of a slave trader.

Marc Quinn created the likeness of Jen Reid, a protester photographed standing on the plinth after demonstrators pulled down the statue of Edward Colston and dumped it in Bristol's harbour on June 7th.

The statue, titled "A Surge of Power (Jen Reid)" was erected before dawn on July 15th without approval from city officials.

Colston was a 17th-century trader who made a fortune transporting enslaved Africans across the Atlantic to the Americas. His money funded schools and charities in Bristol, 120 miles (195 kilometers) southwest of London.

The toppling of his statue is part of a worldwide reckoning with racism and slavery sparked by the death of a Black American man, George Floyd, at the hands of police in Minneapolis, in May.

Quinn, one of Britain's best-known sculptors, said Reid had "created the sculpture when she stood on the plinth and raised her arm in the air. Now we're crystallizing it."

Reid told The Guardian newspaper that the new statue was "incredible" and would help "continue the conversation."

City authorities fished the Colston statue out of the harbor and say it will be placed in a museum, along with placards from the Black Lives Matter demonstration.

***

At least some of the Confederate monuments that have been recently removed from places of prominence in Richmond, Virginia, are being stored on the grounds of a waste water treatment plant, photographs show.

Photos taken by The Associated Press and Richmond Times-Dispatch show a collection of statues and other large objects under tarps at the facility just outside the city's downtown.

On July 1st, Mayor Levar Stoney ordered the immediate removal of all Confederate statues on city property in Richmond, a onetime capital of the Confederacy.

Stoney invoked his emergency powers, citing ongoing civil unrest and concerns that protesters would get hurt if they tried to pull down the statues themselves.

The only Confederate statue that remains on Richmond's prominent Monument Avenue is a memorial to Gen. Robert E. Lee located on state property.

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam has ordered its removal, but it has been at least temporarily blocked by a lawsuit.

The monument removal decisions were made after the death of George Floyd in police custody in Minneapolis.

Floyd's death sparked global protests against racism and police brutality and led to a re-examination of statues and monuments of historical figures around the world.

The statues' fate is not currently clear.

A new state law that took effect July 1st allows local governments to remove statues on public property.

It contains a provision that says the local governing body must offer the monument "for relocation and placement to any museum, historical society, government, or military battlefield" but also says the local government "shall have sole authority to determine the final disposition."

The city council has scheduled a public hearing on the future of the monuments August 3rd, according to the Times-Dispatch.

***

Federal officers' actions at protests in Oregon's largest city, hailed by President Donald Trump but done without local consent, are raising the prospect of a constitutional crisis - one that could escalate as weeks of demonstrations find renewed focus in clashes with camouflaged, unidentified agents outside Portland's U.S. courthouse.

Demonstrators crowded in front of the U.S. federal courthouse and the city's Justice Center late Monday night, before authorities cleared them out as the loud sound and light of flash bang grenades filled the sky.

Trump says he plans to send federal agents to other cities, too.

Constitutional law experts said federal officers' actions in the progressive city are a "red flag" in what could become a test case of states' rights as the Trump administration expands federal policing.

The protests have roiled Portland for 52 nights. Many rallies have attracted thousands and been largely peaceful. But smaller groups of up to several hundred people have focused on federal property and local law enforcement buildings, at times setting fires to police precincts, smashing windows and clashing violently with local police.

Portland police used tear gas on multiple occasions until a federal court order banned its officers from doing so without declaring a riot. Now, concern is growing that the tear gas is being used against demonstrators by federal officers instead.

Anger at the federal presence escalated on July 11, when a protester was hospitalized with critical injuries after a U.S. Marshals Service officer struck him in the head with a less-lethal round. Video shows the man, identified as Donavan LaBella, standing across the street from the officers holding a speaker over his head when he was hit.

***

With controversy growing over the Trump administration's decision to send federal law enforcement agents to Portland to deal with the city's unrest, a spokesman at the Pentagon said that no U.S. military troops have been deployed to the city.

However, Jonathan Hoffman says the Defense Secretary Mark Esper has concerns about federal agents wearing uniforms resembling military combat uniforms while they are carrying out law enforcement duties.

"The secretary has,has expressed a concern of this within the administration that we want a system where people can tell the difference," he said.

Hoffman says the Pentagon's concern dates back to protests that took place in the nation's capital at the start of June.

Federal forces were deployed to Portland in early July, and tensions have grown since then: first, on July 11th, when a protester was hospitalized with critical injuries after a U.S. Marshals Service officer struck him in the head with a round of what’s known as less-lethal ammunition.

Then, anger flared again over the weekend after video surfaced of a federal agent hitting a U.S. Navy veteran repeatedly with a baton while another agent sprays him in the face with pepper spray.

Crowds had recently numbered fewer than 100 people but swelled to more than 1,000 over the weekend - and they are once again attracting a broader base in a city that's increasingly unified and outraged.

In a separate matter, Hoffman expressed confidence that the National Defense Authorization bill will soon be signed into law, despite the president being at odds with lawmakers on Capitol Hill over renaming military bases named after Confederate military leaders.

"We're confident that there will be an agreement and that the NDA will be signed and implemented on time so that we can have a budget for our forces," he said.

***

A Minnesota judge on July 21st lifted a gag order in the criminal case against four former officers charged in death of George Floyd, but said he would take a news media coalition's request to make body camera footage more widely available under advisement.

Hennepin County District Court Judge Peter Cahill also ruled on July 21st that he would not hold Attorney General Keith Ellison in contempt of court.

Cahill said in a statement Ellison made when he announced that additional attorneys would be assisting in the prosecution was innocuous and did not violate the gag order.

Even though the gag order was vacated, Cahill said he still expects all attorneys in the case to follow the rules on disclosure of information.

Floyd, a Black man who was handcuffed, died May 25th after Derek Chauvin, a white police officer, pressed his knee against Floyd's neck for nearly eight minutes as Floyd said he couldn't breathe.

Chauvin is charged with second-degree murder, third-degree murder and manslaughter.

Three other officers who were at the scene, Tou Thao, Thomas Lane and J. Kueng, are charged with aiding and abetting both second-degree murder and manslaughter.

All four officers were fired.

Police body camera videos were filed with the court this month by Lane's attorney, Earl Gray, as part of a request to have Lane's case dismissed.

Gray said he wanted the videos to be made public - prompting Cahill to issue an order barring attorneys and parties from discussing the case.

Defense attorneys for all four of the former officers asked that the gag order be lifted. The Associated Press is among news organizations that objected to the gag order.

Cahill made the videos available for in-person, by-appointment viewing only.

Media attorney Leita Walker objected to that format, saying it violated the common law, rules of public access to records and the First Amendment, and was essentially equivalent to keeping the videos under seal.

Records of all courts are presumed to be open for public inspection with limited exceptions.

Prosecutors said a court may impose restrictions if that access will interfere with the fair and impartial administration of justice, and that reasonable alternatives aren't adequate.

***

A huge crowd gathered in Portland, Oregon on July 22nd, as demonstrations continue against police brutality and the deployment of federal officers there.

People screamed and sharply questioned Mayor Ted Wheeler, as he tried to address the crowd.

The Democratic mayor has opposed federal agents’ presence in Oregon's largest city, but he has faced harsh criticism from many sides and his presence wasn't welcomed by most, who yelled and swore at him.

Holding just a microphone attached to a speaker with a cord, Wheeler called it a “listening session” and opened up for questions after a few minutes - but it was unclear if anyone could hear over the angry crowd. About 20 feet (6.1 meters) away, Black Lives Matter speakers rallied a crowd of up to 1,000 people.

Some Portland residents, including City Council members, have accused Wheeler of not reining in local police, who have used tear gas multiple times before federal agents arrived early this month in response to nearly two months of nightly protests since George Floyd was killed. Others, including business leaders, have condemned Wheeler for not bringing the situation under control before the agents showed up.

***

Federal agents appeared to deploy tear gas in an attempt to disperse protesters in Portland, Oregon, on July 24th amid ongoing nightly demonstrations in the city.

Thousands of demonstrators had crowded around the U.S. courthouse building and began to move away as clouds of gas rose from the area and flash grenades could be heard.

Protests in Portland over police brutality and racism have seen a resurgence since President Donald Trump deployed militarized federal agents to the city earlier in July.

Federal agents have used tear gas, less-lethal ammunition and other force against protesters who have been targeting the U.S. courthouse with fires and other vandalism during two months of nightly demonstrations.

U.S. authorities say they must act to protect federal property and officers, while local leaders say their presence has made the situation more volatile and urge the agents to leave.

***

Virginia has removed from its iconic state capitol the busts and a statue honoring Confederate generals and officials.

That includes a bronze statue of Gen. Robert E. Lee positioned in the same spot where he stood to assume command of the state's armed forces in the Civil War nearly 160 years ago.

They are the latest Confederate symbols to be removed or retired in the weeks since the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police sparked a nationwide protest movement.

Virginia House Speaker Eileen Filler-Corn, a Democrat, quietly ordered the Lee statue and busts of generals J.E.B. Stuart, Stonewall Jackson, Confederate President Jefferson Davis, and others removed from the historic Old House Chamber.

A moving crew worked through the night on July 23rd - carefully removing the monuments and their plaques and loading them into a truck and taking them to an undisclosed location.

The stealth approach avoids the possibility of protests or a lawsuit to keep the monuments in place, but may prompt criticism that the monuments were moved without public discussion.

Designed by Thomas Jefferson, the Virginia State Capitol is the first state capitol to open after the American Revolution and was used as the Confederacy's Capitol during much of the Civil War.

Filler-Corn's move to remove the Confederate generals comes a few weeks after Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam ordered the removal of a different Lee monument - a 21-foot (6-meter) bronze equestrian sculpture on Richmond's historic Monument Avenue.

A lawsuit has delayed that statue's removal, but other Confederate monuments on the street - once one of the most prominent collection of tributes to the Confederacy in the nation - have already come down.

And earlier in the week, the U.S. House approved a bill to remove statues of Gen. Robert E. Lee and other Confederate leaders from the U.S. Capitol.

The bill's prospects in the Senate are uncertain.

In Virginia, the Old House Chamber was where lawmakers first met when the Capitol opened in 1788 and was used as the House's meeting place for more than 100 years before the Capitol building was expanded.

It is not currently used for official purposes when the legislature meets.

The chamber's history is long and varied - then-Chief Justice of the Supreme Court John Marshall presided over a trial there that saw former Vice President Aaron Burr acquitted of treason - but much of the iconography in the room is devoted to Confederates.

Virginia delegates voted in the chamber to secede from the Union in April 1861.

A few days later, Lee entered the room to take formal command of the state's military.

Like many Confederate monuments, most of those recently removed from Virginia's Capitol were erected decades after the Civil War.

They were commissioned and built during the Jim Crow era, when states imposed new segregation laws, and during the "Lost Cause" movement, when historians and others tried to depict the South's rebellion as a fight to defend states' rights, not slavery.

The Lee statue was approved in 1928 with the help of then-Gov. Harry Byrd, who would later go on to lead the state's Massive Resistance to racially integrated schools.

It's $25,000 price tag (about $370,000 currently) was paid for by the state, donations and an in-kind donation from the sculptor.

Busts of Davis and Alexander Stephens, the vice president of the Confederacy, were donated to Virginia in the 1950s by Mississippi and Georgia.

***

Tear gas was fired in Portland, Oregon early on July 27th, minutes after protesters shot fireworks at the US federal courthouse.

The protest on July 26th started peacefully, but intensified early Monday.

Some demonstrators crowded around the fence surrounding the federal courthouse in downtown Portland and shot off fireworks.

US agents deployed tear gas and flash bangs, forcing some of the protesters to retreat.

The agents warned protesters to stay off federal property.

***

A US flag was set on fire and police were deployed in the early hours of August 1st, as protests in Portland Oregon continued.

Another fire was set outside the courthouse in central Portland, which has become a focal point for anti-racism protests over the last few months.

More than a thousand people remained in downtown Portland early Saturday peacefully protesting, about three days after the announcement that the presence of US agents there would be reduced - a deal that Oregon officials hope will continue to ease tensions as the city tries to move on from months of chaotic nightly protests.

There were no reports of violence or clashes between protesters and federal agents or police.

***

Tourists are flocking to Nashville to see a new mural of Dolly Parton that celebrates her position on Black Lives Matter.

Mural artist Kim Radford offered up the mural of the country superstar to local businesses and connected with a local music club called The 5 Spot, which was made famous for being one of the spots where the TV show "Nashville" was filmed.

But as she was painting the mural last week, Billboard ran an article with Parton in which she said she supported the Black Lives Matter movement, saying "Of course Black lives matter. Do we think our little white asses are the only ones that matter?"

So Radford quickly added the quote to the top of the mural and soon enough, pictures started spreading.

"I looked at her quote in particular and it was so sassy and a sensitive comment about something's that got a lot of, you know, friction in the air right now," said Radford. "And she just treated it just like Dolly does: lovingly. And it was just perfect."

Now less than a week old, the mural has become a hotspot for tourists visiting Music City to get a selfie. Radford herself got stopped by fans in front of the mural to pose for pictures.

"I've had her fans reach out from as far as Dubai, I believe that was the farthest," said Radford. "A lot of, a lot of women. And I have to say, 95 percent super positive."

***

Wisconsin's governor has summoned the National Guard to head off another round of violent protests after the police shooting of a Black man under murky circumstances turned Kenosha into the nation's latest flashpoint city in a summer of racial unrest.

Democratic Gov. Tony Evers says 125 members of the National Guard will be in Kenosha on August 24th with responsibility for "guarding infrastructure and making sure our firefighters and others involved are protected."

The move came after protesters set cars on fire, smashed windows and clashed with officers in riot gear on August 23rd, hours after the wounding of 29-year-old Jacob Blake, who was hospitalized in serious condition.

He was shot, apparently in the back, as he leaned into his SUV while his three children sat in the vehicle.

***

Anger over the shooting of a Black man by police in a southeastern Wisconsin city spilled into the streets of Kenosha for a second night on August 24th, with police once again firing tear gas at hundreds of protesters who defied a curfew, threw bottles and shot fireworks at law enforcement officials guarding the courthouse.

Kenosha became the nation's latest flash point in a summer of racial unrest after cell phone footage of police shooting Jacob Blake on August 23rd around 5 p.m. CDT (2200GMT) in broad daylight circulated on social media. In a widely seen cell phone video made by an onlooker, Blake was shot, apparently in the back, as he leaned into his SUV while his three children sat in the vehicle.

Protesters on August 24th chanted, “No justice, no peace” as they confronted a line of law enforcement officers who wore protective gear and stood shoulder-to-shoulder in front of the courthouse entrance.

Police first fired the tear gas about 30 minutes after the 8 p.m. curfew took effect and protesters refused to disperse. But hundreds of people stuck around, lighting fires and screaming at police.

Tensions flared anew earlier on August 24th after a news conference with Kenosha Mayor John Antarmian, originally to be held in a park, was moved inside the city’s public safety building. Hundreds of protesters rushed to the building and a door was snapped off its hinges before police in riot gear pepper-sprayed the crowd, which included a photographer from The Associated Press.

***

Police fired tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse protesters during a third night of unrest in Kenosha, Wisconsin, on August 25th following the police shooting of a Black man whose attorney said he had been left paralyzed.

A group of protesters walked toward a fence which was put in place on August 25th around the Kenosha County Courthouse and started shaking it.

Police behind the fence advanced as some demonstrators threw water bottles and fireworks over the barrier.

Armored vehicles then rolled in and tear gas was fired into the crowd.

When police ordered protesters to disperse, the crowd responded by chanting “Black lives matter.”

Police then fired rubber bullets.

Jacob Blake, the man shot by police responding to a domestic disturbance on Sunday, is paralyzed, and it will “take a miracle” for him to walk again, his family's attorney said Tuesday, while calling for the officer who opened fire to be arrested and others involved to lose their jobs.

The shooting of Blake on August 23rd - apparently in the back while three of his children looked on - was captured on cellphone video and ignited new protests over racial injustice in several cities, some of which have devolved into unrest.

***

Roughly a thousand people gathered on August 29th in Kenosha for a march and rally against police violence, about a week after an officer shot Jacob Blake in the back and left the 29-year-old Black man paralyzed.

Demonstrators marched through the streets chanting, and listened to speeches given by members of Blake's family.

Kenosha Police Officer Rusten Sheskey and two other officers were responding to a domestic abuse call on August 23rd when Sheskey shot Blake seven times in the back.

Blake is paralyzed from the shooting, his family said, and is recovering in a Milwaukee hospital.

The shooting, which was captured on cellphone video, sparked new protests against racial injustice and police brutality, just three months after the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police touched off a wider reckoning on race.

Protesters have marched on Kenosha’s streets every night since Blake's shooting, with some protests devolving into unrest with damage to buildings and vehicles.

On August 25th, two people were killed by an armed civilian.

The commander of the National Guard said Friday that more than 1,000 Guard members had been deployed to help keep the peace, and more were on the way.

***

A man who was fatally shot after supporters of President Donald Trump clashed with left-wing protesters on the streets of Portland, Oregon, was a supporter of the right-wing group Patriot Prayer, its founder said August 30th.

Joey Gibson, head of the group based in Washington state, told The Associated Press the man who was shot to death on August 29th was a "good friend," although he did not identify him.

On August 30th, President Donald Trump and Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler blamed each other for the violence.

Trump called Wheeler a "fool" on Twitter while Wheeler blamed Trump for creating such a toxic environment.

"It's you who have created the hate and the division," the Democratic mayor said of Trump. "Your campaign of fear is as anti-democratic as anything you've done to create hate and vitriol in our beautiful country," he added.

Trump had earlier issued a flurry of tweets and retweets, including several blaming Wheeler for the death and one in which the president appeared to be encouraging his supporters to move into Portland.

"GREAT PATRIOTS!" Trump wrote as he shared video of his supporters driving into Portland to confront the protesters.

Police issued a plea for any information related to the killing, including videos, photos or eyewitness accounts. The shooting happened about 15 minutes after a caravan of about 600 vehicles that were part of a pro-Trump rally left downtown.

It wasn't clear if the shooting was related to the clashes between Trump supporters and counterprotesters in Portland, which has become a flashpoint in the national Black Lives Matter protests since George Floyd was killed in May and an increasing centerpiece in Trump's law-and-order re-election campaign theme.

Police have not released any information about the case but said they were aware of videos on social media that showed the shooting.

Police Chief Chuck Lovell asked for anyone with information to come forward.

"A human being lost their life last night, and it's critical that everyone refrain from conjecture and allow us to gather the evidence and statements needed to hold the person who did this responsible for this heinous act," he said.

***

Protesters greeted President Trump as he arrived in Kenosha, Wisconsin, on September 1st, more than a week after the shooting by police of Jacob Blake, which has touched off days of unrest.

Protesters lined a street as Trump's motorcade passed by, along with supporters of the President shouting "USA, USA"

Some demonstrators carried anti-Trump signs and shouted "justice for Jacob Blake."

On the eve of his visit, Trump defended a teenage supporter accused of fatally shooting two men at a demonstration in Kenosha the previous week and accused Democrat Joe Biden of siding with "anarchists" and "rioters" in the unrest.

***

Police have used tear gas to disperse a demonstration against police brutality in Rochester on September 4th.

More than a hundred people gathered to demand justice for Daniel Prude.

Prude, a Black man who was 41, died in March seven days after officers encountered him running naked through the street, handcuffed him, then tried to stop him from spitting by putting a mesh bag called a spit hood, or a spit sock, over his head.

Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren announced the suspension of seven officers at a news conference Thursday amid outrage that city officials had kept quiet about Prude's death for months.

Prude's death and the actions of the police officers have intensified the debate over whether police should be responding to calls about people suffering mental health crises.

A union leader on September 4th defended the officers involved in the encounter, saying they were strictly following department training and protocols, including using the mesh hood to stop Prude from spitting.

03:47:05

Black Lives Matter mural painted outside NY courts

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New York, 2 July 2020

1. Painters working on street mural

2. Thurgood Marshall federal courthouse

3. Walk shot of Sophia Dawson

00:14:10

'Black Lives Matter' mural painted at Trump Tower

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ASSOCIATED PRESS

New York - 9 July 2020

4. Various of Bill de Blasio, First Lady Chirlane McCray and Rev. Al Sharpton painting Black Lives Matter mural on the street outside Trump Tower alongside other community members

00:20.22

Overhead view of BLM mural at Trump Tower

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New York - 10 July 2020

5. Wide of Black Lives Matter mural on 5th Avenue in front of Trump Tower

00:26:00

Sculpture of BLM protester replaces Colston statue

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Bristol - 15 July 2020

6. Black Lives Matter protester Jen Reid standing in front of the statue in her likeness

7. Statue of Jen Reid

00:34:00

Confederate statues stored at waste water plant

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Richmond, Virginia - 14 July 2020

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8. Confederate statues covered and on the ground

00:38:03

Protesters in Portland chant against police

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++WARNING: AUDIO CONTAINS GRAPHIC LANGUAGE++

Portland - 20 July 2020

++VIDEO QUALITY AS INCOMING++

++NIGHT SHOTS++

9. Protesters chanting

10. Wide of protesters sitting by fire

00:46:03

Pentagon says no U.S. troops deployed in Portland

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Arlington, Virginia - 21 July 2020

11. SOUNDBITE (English) Jonathan Hoffman, Pentagon Spokesman:

" But I can say that unequivocally there are no Department of Defense assets that have been deployed to or are pending deployment to or are looking to deploy to to Portland at this time."

00:57:12

Officers charged in Floyd's death appear in court

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Minneapolis - 21 July 2020

12. Various of former Minneapolis police officer Tou Thao arriving at courthouse

13. Former Minneapolis police officer Thomas Lane, arriving at courthouse

14. Former Minneapolis police officer J. Alexander Kueng. arriving at courthouse

01:12:09

Huge crowd protests in Portland, Oregon

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Portland, Oregon - 22 July 2020

15. Big crowd of demonstrators

16. Wolfgang Taylor holds up shield that he uses to defend fellow demonstrators

17. Demonstrators with signs

01:20:08

Tear gas fired at Portland demonstrators

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Portland, Oregon - 24 July 2020

++NIGHT SHOTS++

18. Wide of demonstrators, zoom in to rising smoke, UPSOUND explosions

01:26:03

VA removes Confederate statues from state Capitol

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Richmond, Virginia - 23 July 2020

19. Various of workers inside state capitol removing confederate statue and busts

01:37:17

Agents deploy tear gas, flash bangs in Portland

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++CLIENTS: EDIT MAY CONTAIN EXPLETIVES++

Portland, Oregon - 27 July 2020

20. AUDIO of bangs, tear gas appears, protesters begin to retreat from federal courthouse

21. View of tear gas from distance

01:46:16

Portland protesters burn US flags, police arrive

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Portland, Oregon - 1 August 2020

22. American flag burning ++NOTE: AUDIBLE PROFANITY++

23. Protesters walking by armed police ++NOTE: OFFENSIVE GESTURES++

02:00:16

Tourists flock to see mural honoring Dolly Parton’s Black Lives Matter quote

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Nashville, Tenn.- 20 August 2020

24. Wide of Kim Radford posing for pictures in front of her Dolly Parton mural

25. Wide of Kim Radford taking a fan's picture in front of her Dolly Parton mural

02:07:13

Protesters gather at Wis. courthouse

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++CLIENTS PLEASE NOTE: USE OF EXPLETIVES++

Kenosha, Wisconsin - 24 August 2020

26. Burned out vehicles near courhouse

27. People with signs on courthouse steps

28. Officers in riot gear emerge from door and stand in front of crowd

02:19:02

Police and protesters clash in Wisconsin

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Kenosha, Wisconsin - 24 August 2020

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29. Crowd of protesters outside building

30. National Guard truck

31. Zoom, big cloud of gas

32. Officers with Sheriff's Dept. shields

33. Burning vehicles

02:39:15

WI police fire tear gas, rubber bullets to disperse demo

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Kenosha, Wisconsin - 25 August 2020

++NIGHT SHOTS++

34. Protesters chanting outside courthouse building

35. Officer appears from hatch of armored vehicle, points weapon

36. Tear gas in street

37. Officers walking in line behind fence

02:54:11

Blake relatives join protest march in Kenosha

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ASSOCIATED PRESS

Kenosha - 29 August 2020

38. Protesters marching and chanting 'Say his name:Jacob Blake'

39. Jacob Blake's sister Letetra Widman reciting a poem

40. Jacob Blake's uncle Justin Blake addressing crowd

03:06:15

Portland mayor blames Trump for protester killed

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Portland - 30 August 2020

41. SOUNDBITE (English) Mayor Ted Wheeler, (D) Portland:

"Mr. President, why this is the first time in decades that America has seen this level of violence - it's you who have created the hate and the division."

03:21:01

Trump jeered and cheered upon Kenosha arrival

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Kenosha, Wisconsin - 1 September 2020

42. Crowd of demonstrators awaiting President Trump's motorcade UPSOUND (English) "Say his name. Jacob Blake."

43. People shouting as motorcade passes by UPSOUND (English) "USA, USA, USA USA"

44. Man speaking into bullhorn UPSOUND (English) The system is outrageous. They're puttin' our kids in cages. Trump Pence out now."

03:34:22

Police use tear gas against Rochester protesters

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Rochester - 4 September 2020

++NIGHT SHOTS++

45. Various of protesters demanding justice for Daniel Prude UPSOUND (English) policeman off screen:

"The Rochester police department has declared this an unlawful assembly. You are hereby ordered to disperse. Please leave the area immediately by travelling eastbound on Cork Street."

46. Tear gas being dispersed

47. Woman affected by tear gas having water put on her face

STORYLINE

Dozens demonstrated on July 4th in Sao Paulo against the Brazilian president's coronavirus response and on racial police violence.

Members of different groups including health workers, teachers, lawyers, students and others, carried pictures of victims of COVID-19 and of people allegedly killed by the police.

Keeping distance and wearing masks, the group remained at Paulista Avenue, demanding the end of what they called "the government of death" lead by Jair Bolsonaro.

"I am outraged with the government of Bolsonaro and the way he has been dealing with the health problem, the pandemic" said Ari Meneghini, a 61 year-old professional working in advertisement who attended the demonstration.

Meneghini also criticized what he called a "genocide policy" by president against people living in the favelas, especially the Black people victim of police violence, and against Indigenous people.

Bolsonaro's downplaying of the coronavirus outbreak and his rejection of local restrictions to curb spreading the virus became part of a heated, politicized debate.

He has drawn criticism from the beginning of the outbreak, initially for referring to the virus that causes COVID-19 disease as a "fantasy" and a "little flu".

While authorities, including former health ministry instructed people to avoid gatherings, president Bolsonaro condemned the restrictive measures applied by governors and mayors to avoid the spread of the virus, attended rallies with dozens of his supporters.

In these rallies, some of Bolsonaro supporters have asked for a military intervention and criticized the Supreme Court and the Congress.

For weeks Brazilians have been going to the streets to protest against Bolsonaro's administration, at the same time his followers have gathered outside the presidential palace in Brasilia almost every Sunday, to show their support to the president.

***

At the Eternal Life coffin manufacturer in Lima, Peru, business is booming since the COVID-19 pandemic hit the Andean nation last March.

Sales went up from 50 coffins per week to over 250, so the company needed to hire more people.

Meanwhile, business was terrible for Gianmarco Vargas and his wife Milagros Goto.

They were forced to close their company due to strict measures imposed by the government, which declared a state of emergency and a nationwide quarantine.

During the lockdown, the government put its foot down hard and made clear it wouldn't allow any clowning around. Literally.

And as it turns out, Vargas himself is a professional clown known as Fosforin, Little Match Head in English, while his wife works as an entertainer at children's parties.

Their work was put on hold indefinitely and their savings ran out in just a few days.

Luckily for them, Eternal Life was hiring.

Now they both work making coffins.

Vargas in the carpentry area and his wife Milagros sews the cloth for the interiors.

They used to be surrounded by joy and the happy voices of children, but are now surrounded by the sadness that so many COVID-19 deaths per day can bring.

Vargas tells his clients that for now he is working in a funeral parlour making coffins and he says they cannot understand how a happy person can work at something that is so sad.

But he explains that he desperately needs the work. He has a family to feed.

And while he misses painting faces and playing games with children, he understands his job right now is to help families secure a coffin for their relative so they can have a place to rest in peace.

In Peru, during the month of July, national holidays are celebrated and there is no school. It is the best month to work as a clown, but due to COVID-19, this year there will be no circuses and no private parties.

Vargas says they already want to return and cheer children.

"I tell the children that all this (pandemic) is going to pass, it is going to pass and I am going to once again be at children's homes. We are going to laugh. We are going to play. I am going to do magic tricks," says Vargas.

Peru has reported more than 300,000 cases of COVID-19 and over 10,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University.

***

Protesters threw flares and fireworks outside Serbia's National Assembly, illuminating the night's sky, after the president on July 7th announced that a lockdown will be reintroduced due to rising coronavirus numbers.

The Balkan country reported its highest single-day death toll from COVID-19 on July 7th.

Police fired tear gas at thousands of people, some chanting “Resignation! Resignation!" gathered in front of the downtown parliament building in Belgrade.

Some managed to enter the building by force, but were pushed back by riot police.

Earlier, President Aleksandar Vucic called the virus situation in the Serbian capital of Belgrade “alarming” and “critical” as the city's hospitals neared their capacity limits.

Vucic said the government would reimpose a curfew as of July 10th. He said it will "probably" last from 6 p.m. (1600 GMT) on Friday till 5 a.m. (0300 GMT) on Monday.

He also said the groups of no more than five people will be allowed together.

The country’s Health Ministry said on July 7th that 13 people had died in 24 hours in Serbia and 299 new COVID-19 cases were confirmed.

That brought the total to 16,719 confirmed cases and 330 virus-related deaths since the start of the pandemic in Serbia, which went from having one of Europe’s strictest lockdowns to a near-complete reopening at the beginning of May.

***

A new wave of homeless people are struggling to withstand the Argentinean winter cold after being pushed to the streets by an economic crisis worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown.

With temperatures reaching freezing point, the city of Buenos Aires is distributing blankets, clothing, hot food, and offering homeless people to be taken to a shelter.

Given the increased hardship under a coronavirus lockdown that has lasted over 100 days, more people are finding themselves on the street, and the city has added 1,280 beds to their 43 shelters, adding to a total capacity of over 3,000.

But not all people want to go to the shelter and stay behind braving the cold.

Leandro Benítez, 28, who worked as a food runner at one of the city's most expensive hotels until he was fired at the start of the pandemic, was forced to live on the streets after being unable to pay for rent.

Now he sleeps on the sidewalk with his three-year-old daughter, hoping to find a new job.

"(We are) surviving, going to the soup kitchen, receiving donations from neighbours, getting ahead like that," Benítez said.

For Sabrina Surlys, a veteran supervisor for the Buenos Aires Present program for the homeless, the situation during the pandemic has become more drastic.

"Many of these people are people who have worked all their lives and feel even embarrassed to ask for help," she said.

With the economy in shambles after the lockdown and over 35.5% of the population in poverty, people in Argentina are struggling to put food on their tables, and many are falling further into hardship.

Since the mandatory lockdown that started on March 20, an additional three million Argentines have asked for food assistance, totalling 11 million, according to government figures.

***

Protesters gathered in front of Serbia's Parliament building on July 10th for a fourth day.

It came after two nights of violent protests and clashes with police, and then last night's peaceful demonstrations that were held in Belgrade and several other Serbian towns.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said July 10th he's not worried about losing political power amid large protests against his handling of the coronavirus crisis and hard-line rule, but instead expressed his fear about the spread of the virus among the demonstrators.

***

In the parking lot of a shopping centre in the Colombian town of Mosquera, a drive-in movie theatre has been set up for people to enjoy a cinema experience during the coronavirus pandemic.

A total of 95 vehicles with four occupants are able to enter the drive-in and no minors are allowed, due to strict quarantine rules in place in the town of more than 80,000 inhabitants, located 10 kilometres west of Bogotá.

One of the project organizers, Diana Castillo, said the theatre will hold viewings twice daily.

"To come to the drive-in is more than just see a movie. It's an entire experience. People know they can experience this in total confidence because we have all the biosecurity protocols in place," said Castillo.

Customers can only get out of their vehicles if they need to go to the bathroom, so they can request the drive-in's attendants if they wish to buy anything such as snacks.

***

Ultra-Orthodox protesters confronted Israeli police July 13th in a Jerusalem neighborhood that's under renewed lockdown because of a new surge in coronavirus cases.

About 400 people protested in Jerusalem's Romema neighborhood. Some clashed with police, and a large pile of trash was set on fire.

Israeli police reported at least one arrest.

As Israel grapples with a spike in coronavirus cases, it has begun to impose restrictions on selected towns and neighborhoods with high infection rates.

Many of these areas are ultra-Orthodox and residents there say they are being unfairly singled out.

***

Long lines form every morning in one of the Bolivian cities hardest hit by the pandemic as desperate people wait to buy small bottles of chlorine dioxide, a toxic bleaching agent that has been falsely touted as a cure for the coronavirus.

The rush in the city of Cochabamba to buy a disinfectant known to cause harm to those who ingest it comes even after the Bolivian Health Ministry warned of its dangers.

According the Health Ministry, at least five people had been poisoned after taking chlorine dioxide in La Paz, the capital.

However, Bolivia's opposition-controlled congress is promoting the use of chlorine dioxide.

In the previous week, the Senate approved a bill authorizing the emergency "manufacture, marketing, supply and use of chlorine dioxide solution for the prevention and treatment of coronavirus."

The bill would require the approval of interim President Jeanine Áñez, who is in quarantine after testing positive for the new coronavirus.

She has sparred with opposition lawmakers loyal to Evo Morales, the former leader who was forced to resign last year after an election marred by irregularities.

Many fearful residents in Cochabamba, where opposition support is strong, are giving chlorine dioxide a try.

Cochabamba has reported about 440 deaths from COVID-19, or one-quarter of the total number of reported deaths in Bolivia. The real toll is believed to be higher.

"I know people and family members who have taken it and have been treated with it and they are recovering," said Andrés Poma, a 34-year-old teacher who is sceptical that beleaguered health services can help him if he gets sick.

Federico Anza, who sells chlorine dioxide at his Cochabamba store, said thousands of people had bought it, consuming it in drops.

My wife and I took it and nothing happened to us," he said.

He said his clients had not fallen ill after taking the agent, though provincial health authorities reported 10 cases of poisoning from chlorine dioxide in the past week.

The governor of Cochabamba state, Esther Soria, said she supports a plan for a state law authorizing the use of chlorine dioxide and traditional medicine to treat COVID-19.

Cochabamba's mayor, José María Leyes, said he favours the free distribution of the bleaching agent to treat patients.

In April, a federal judge in South Florida ordered a Colombia-based group, the Genesis II Church of Health and Healing, to stop selling a related product, Miracle Mineral Solution, in the U.S.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has previously issued public warnings that MMS can cause nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea and severe dehydration.

In April, U.S. President Donald Trump mused about whether disinfectants could be injected or ingested to fight COVID-19, prompting intense blowback from doctors and other health officials.

***

Britain's Prince William paid a visit to a facility for homeless people in Cambridgeshire, east England on July 16th.

The Duke of Cambridge sat down with a group of former rough sleepers to hear how agencies in Peterborough helped during lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Prince was asked by one of the rough sleepers if he had lost weight during lockdown, provoking giggles from the rest of the group, including the Duke, who jested "maybe around the jowls."

The visit is part of Prince William's campaign to raise awareness around homelessness in the UK.

***

THIS YEAR'S NEW TREND TAKES TO THE CATWALK: FACE MASKS

Models wearing a colourful range of face masks walked a runway on July 24th in South Korea’s capital, where health authorities are scrambling to stem a rise in coronavirus infections as people increasingly venture out in public.

Lim Yeon-hee, the chief organizer of the Seoul fashion show, says she hoped to create a cheerful vibe after the nation went through months of gruelling anti-virus campaigns.

“The entire world is in a very difficult situation due to COVID-19,” says Lim, wearing a glittering pink mask matching the style of her out-sized fedora.

“In addition to an economic slump, activities in culture, arts and sports have also been reduced. ... We should all work together to overcome the crisis.”

Similar mask-themed fashion shows have been held in major cities such as Paris and Shanghai.

South Korea’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 41 newly confirmed cases of COVID-19 earlier July 24th, bringing the national caseload to 13,979, including 298 deaths.

The country has been reporting 20 to 60 new cases per day since easing social distancing measures in early May. Most of the infections have come from the densely populated Seoul metropolitan area, where about half of South Korea’s 51 million people live.

***

When the novel coronavirus closed Guatemala's schools in mid-March, teacher Gerardo Ixcoy invested his savings in a secondhand, adult tricycle.

But this is not just transportation.

It's also a mobile classroom, with plastic sheets to protect against virus transmission, a whiteboard and a small solar panel that powers an audio player he uses for some lessons.

The classroom-on-a-trike was born of necessity.

Illiteracy in the area is about 42%.

And in the entire department or province, only about 13% of homes have internet.

"I wanted to help them because they lacked technological tools, such as computers, printers, internet", Ixcoy said.

So each day, the 27-year-old teacher pedals among the cornfields of Santa Cruz del Quiché to give individual instruction to his sixth-grade students.

Ixcoy is known universally as "Lalito 10", a childhood nickname that stuck.

For the kids, the sound of the bicycle's bell announces the classes that break up the monotony of weeks in quarantine.

Ixcoy tries to visit each of his students twice a week. Each time, he deploys a mop to measure the distance between him and his students.

Eleven-year-old Oscar Rojas, wearing a face mask, recently met Ixcoy in the doorway of his home.

The pandemic has really altered Oscar's routine, "because now I'm not receiving normal classes", he said.

"Teacher Lalito only comes for a little while to teach me, but I learn a lot."

Ixcoy recalls his students laughing when they first saw him pedalling into town, but he said the children soon realised he was there to help them.

"I believe they are my engine, the fuel to keep on pedalling to help them learn", he said.

"In the same way they have taught me a lot: they are teaching me how to teach."

***

The biggest test yet of an experimental COVID-19 vaccine got underway on July 27th with the first of some 30,000 Americans rolling up their sleeves to receive shots created by the U.S. government as part of the all-out global race to stop the outbreak.

Final-stage testing of the vaccine, developed by the National Institutes of Health and Moderna Inc., began with volunteers at numerous sites around the U.S. given either a real dose or a dummy without being told which.

"I'm doing it because again, I'm a retired healthcare worker and I understand the challenges COVID-19 has caused our community, state and the whole country," said study participant Karen Juser, a retired nurse.

Juser received an injection in Binghamton, New York.

It will be months before results trickle in, and there is no guarantee the vaccine will ultimately work against the scourge that has killed about 650,000 people around the world, including almost 150,000 in the U.S.

As if to underline how high the stakes are, there were more setbacks in efforts to contain the coronavirus.

In Washington, DC, the Trump administration disclosed that national security adviser Robert O'Brien has the virus - the highest-ranking U.S. official to test positive so far. The White House said he has mild symptoms and "has been self-isolating and working from a secure location off site."

Scientists set speed records getting a made-from-scratch vaccine into such massive testing just months after the coronavirus emerged. But they stressed that the public shouldn't fear that anyone is cutting corners.

"This is a significant milestone," NIH Director Francis Collins said after the very first test injection was given, at 6:45 a.m. in Savannah, Georgia. Iit comes at a remarkably rapid pace compared to the usual pace for vaccine preparation. It is possible to do this because of an all hands on deck effort that has been essentially 24/7 since last January when the SARS - COV2 virus called me to virus first emerged as a worldwide threat."

After volunteers get two doses a month apart, scientists will closely track which group experiences more infections as they go about their daily routines, especially in areas where the virus is spreading unchecked.

The answer probably won't come until November or December, cautioned Dr. Anthony Fauci, NIH's infectious-diseases chief.

Among many questions the study may answer: How much protection does just one dose offer compared with the two scientists think are needed? If it works, will it protect against severe disease or block infection entirely?

Don't expect a vaccine as strong as the measles vaccine, which prevents about 97% of measles infections, Fauci said, adding he would be happy with a COVID-19 vaccine that's 60% effective.

Several other vaccines made by China and by Britain's Oxford University began smaller final-stage tests in Brazil and other hard-hit countries earlier this month. But the U.S. requires its own tests of any vaccine that might be used in the country.

Every month through the fall, the government-funded COVID-19 Prevention Network will roll out a new study of a leading candidate, each with 30,000 volunteers.

The final U.S. study of the Oxford shot is set to begin in August, followed by a candidate from Johnson & Johnson in September and one from Novavax in October. Pfizer Inc. plans its own 30,000-person study this summer.

That's a stunning number of people needed to roll up their sleeves for science. In recent weeks, more than 150,000 Americans filled out an online registry signaling interest, Collins said. But many more are needed.

NIH is working to make sure that the study isn't just filled with healthy, younger volunteers but includes populations hit hardest by COVID-19, including older adults, those in poor health and African-Americans and Latinos.

"Well, this is called warp speed, and this has moved at a pace it's unprecedented that nothing is being done here to compromise the safety of this particular trial or others like it, nor will be compromised on an ultimate conclusion about whether the vaccine is effective." Collins said.

___

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

***

A church in the Mexican city of Cuernavaca is offering Catholic faithful the chance to attend Mass from the safety of their cars amid the coronavirus pandemic.

For the past two Sundays, the Cuernavaca Diocese has celebrated Mass at a drive-in cinema.

Safety measures such as temperature checks are in place on arrival for attendees, while the congregation can even listen to the service through their car radios if they feel safer not lowering their windows.

When major public events were canceled across Mexico due to virus restriction measures, Mass and other religious services were no exception.

C hurches are now able to reopen their doors, but many people still feel more comfortable attending services where it is easier to maintain distance.

Faithful can attend the drive-in Mass either by contacting the Diocese to receive a registration code or arrive early to see if spaces are available.

On Saturday, Mexico reported yet another new daily high for confirmed cases - 9,556, which raised Mexico's total cases so far to almost 425,000.

The country also posted 784 more confirmed COVID-19 deaths, raising its accumulated total to 47,472.

***

WORLD'S MOST EXPENSIVE CORONAVIRUS FACE MASK WITH A PRICE TAG OF $1.5 MILLION

An Israeli Jewelry company is working on what they say is the world's most expensive coronavirus face mask with a price tag of $1.5 million.

Once completed, Yvel's 18-karat white gold mask encrusted with 3,600 white and black diamonds can be fitted with the top-rated N99 filters, Jerusalem-area designer and owner Isaac Levy said.

Levy said the item was commissioned by a Chinese businessman living in the US on condition that it would be completed by the end of 2020, and that it would be the priciest in the world.

"Money maybe doesn't buy everything, but if it can buy a very expensive COVID-19 mask and the guy wants to wear it and walk around and get the attention, he should be happy with that," Levy said.

The glitzed-up face mask may not be a practical piece of protective equipment to wear, however. It is expected to weigh 270 grams - over half a pound.

"It is the most expensive mask in the world," said Levy "If there will be another company that will create such a mask and will challenge us, I am sure that we're going to find another customer to buy a more expensive mask."

***

Live performers across the country are getting creative as traditional music and live theater venues remain closed during the pandemic.

In San Francisco, home to a vibrant drag show scene, one bar has decided to bring their performers right to their audience's doorstep.

Oasis night club launched its "Meals on Heels" service a few weeks ago.

For a fee, plus tips, drag queens such as Amoura Teese and Kochina Rude will deliver food and cocktails right to your door, followed by a curbside, socially distant sidewalk lip sync performance for you and your neighbors.

On a recent evening, Rude delivered dinner to Kelsie Costa and her family in the city's Marina District and then lip synched the drag show classic "Finally" by CeCe Peniston.

"There's not a lot to do these days with shelter in place and COVID and all that," said Costa. "So gotta spice it up somehow. It's really fun."

Oasis owner D'Arcy Drollinger said it's a way to reconnect with their fans and bring a little joy to those who haven't had much to smile about recently.

"You have the choice, you can either give up, go home and call it a night, or you can put some duct tape on, find a song you don't know that well and go out there and sell the number. That's how I've been looking at this whole thing, is we've got to sell the number. The show must go on," said Drollinger.

It also gives drag performers a chance to make some much needed money and continue their passion.

"Drag is such a beating heart of the city," Rude said. "So it's not only good for us, but it's good for the people around us in our community. I'm inspired by it and I'm honored to be a part of it."

Meals on Heels started as a one-time event, but it's become so popular, Drollinger said they'll continue the service indefinitely until the club is permitted to reopen.

***

Riot police clashed with protesters gathering September 24th at the gates of Madrid's Assembly building, after new coronavirus measures left the Spanish capital's various neighbourhoods with different restrictions.

Health authorities are asking residents to brace for tough weeks as the Spain's cumulative caseload surpassed 700,000.

And controversial restrictions on free movement from the hardest-hit areas of the capital to neighbourhoods emerging with increasingly higher rates of contagion might be extended.

Madrilenians are being asked to justify trips out of 37 neighbourhoods.

More than 850,000 residents have been confined this week to their neighbourhoods unless they have vital business.

The extended region around Madrid, comprising a population of 6.6 million, is struggling to control outbreaks that have hit harder working-class areas with high-density.

Protests have also taken place outside health centres in those areas to demand more resources for primary care medical personnel, who are grappling to test and follow up those suspected of having the virus.

More than 10,600 new infections on September 24th pushed the confirmed tally to 704,209 cases.

The 84 new deaths bring the confirmed toll to 31,118.

***

Over 50,000 flags of Spain have been erected overnight in a Madrid park to pay tribute to victims of COVID-19.

The grassy slopes of the capital's Rome Park were a sea of red and yellow on September 27th after the flags were planted in rows, visible from the city's main circular road.

Volunteers from an association of coronavirus-affected victims are thought to have worked overnight in secrecy to plant the small Spanish flags.

A white ribbon was also laid out by the association, which has been highly critical of the government's handling of the coronavirus outbreak.

One local resident said it was a moving tribute to those who has lost their lives in the pandemic.

Spain has so far been able to prevent a second wave of the virus that has claimed over 31,000 lives in the country.

Spain’s health minister reiterated his plea this weekend for Madrid’s regional authorities to apply more stringent restrictions on mobility in Europe’s worst coronavirus hotspot.

On September 25th, Madrid increased the number of neighborhoods under restrictions that prohibit unnecessary movement outside the area, reduce occupancy in shops and restaurants and close parks.

Those measures apply to around 1 million people of the 3.3 million who live in the capital.

04:22:00

00:00:00

Protest in Brazil against Bolsonaro virus response

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ASSOCIATED PRESS

Sao Paulo - 4 July 2020

1. Demonstrator holding a picture of a man who died victim of the new coronavirus, reading "Jorge Campos. COVID-19" and shouting (Portuguese) "Out (Brazilian president) Bolsonaro, out paramilitary"

2. Various of people wearing masks and carrying pictures of people who died because of COVID-19 and pictures of others who died due to the police violence and shouting (Portuguese) "Out Bolsonaro, out paramilitary"

00:12:15

Clown in Peru turns to building coffins amid virus

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ARCHIVE: Lima - 25 May 2019

3. Various of clowns celebrating at a parade in Peru

Lima - 5 July 2020

4. Various of Gianmarco Vargas working in coffin factory

00:24:15

Protesters light flares, try to storm parliament

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Belgrade - 7 July 2020

++QUALITY AS INCOMING++

++NIGHT SHOTS++

5. Various of flares, fireworks and tear gas, as protesters confront riot police outside Serbian House of the National Assembly

00:36:23

Argentinean homeless caught between cold, virus risk

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Buenos Aires - 7 July 2020

++NIGHT SHOTS++

6. Buenos Aires city government workers pile up blankets to be distributed to homeless people

7. Leandro Benítez receives a pack with a blanket, gloves, hat, socks, and a cleaning kit

8. Sabrina Surlys, supervisor for 'Buenos Aires Present' program, distributes hot meals for homeless people

00:48:23

Thousands keep up protest outside Serbia assembly

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Belgrade - 10 July 2020

9. Various of protesters in front of the parliament building

00:56:20

Drive-in cinema offers virus escape in Colombia

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Mosquera, Colombia - 11 July 2020

10. Car in parking lot converted to drive-in cinema, getting instructions from drive-in personnel

11. Drive-in screen and cars

++NIGHT SHOTS++

12. Vehicles at drive-in with screen in background

01:07:02

Ultra-Orthodox Jews and police clash over lockdown

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Jerusalem - 13 July 2020

13. Walking shot of protesters, burning trash, and police at scene blocking road

01:19:20

Fake and toxic virus cure on sale in Bolivia

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Cochabamba - 16 July 2020

14. People waiting in a long queue at Cochabamba main square

15. Vendor wearing personal protective equipment, selling products

16. Andrés Poma showing two white bottles of chlorine dioxide

17. Lab technicians preparing Chlorine Dioxide

01:35:03

Prince William talks to homeless about COVID-19

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POOL

Peterborough, UK - 16 July 2020

18. Britain's Prince William arriving

19. Various of William talking to partners and staff of the Light Project Peterborough

01:49:08

This year's new trend takes to the catwalk : face masks

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ASSOCIATED PRESS

MUTED AS MUSIC ON CATWALKS NOT CLEARED FOR USE

Seoul - 24 July 2020

20. Various of model wearing fashion mask on stage

02:01:13

Guatemala teacher pedals mobile school to children

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ASSOCIATED PRESS

Santa Cruz Del Quiche - 16 July 2020

21. Teacher Gerardo Ixcoy pedalling on his tricycle mobile learning structure

22. Various of Gerardo Ixcoy teaching fractions from his tricycle

23. Gerardo Ixcoy teaching fractions to 11-year-old student Oscar Rojas

02:16:11

Leading US vaccine candidate enters final testing

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ASSOCIATED PRESS

Binghamton, New York - 27 July 2020

24. Various of participant Karen Juser getting vaccine

25. Wide of study participant Wade Bardo getting a shot

02:27:18

Mexican church offers drive-in Mass services

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ASSOCIATED PRESS

Cuernavaca - 2 August 2020

26. Various of cars parked at a drive-in cinema where Mass is being celebrated

27. Father Tomas Torres Nájera, Vicar of the Diocese of Cuernavaca addressing the congregation

28. Mass attendees in their car singing

02:44:12

World's most expensive coronavirus face mask with a price tag of $1.5 million

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Motza, near Jerusalem - 9 August 2020

29. Various of diamonds encrusted on mask's gold plate

30. Face mask model and parts of 18-karat gold plates encrusted with diamonds

SOUNDBITE (English) Isaac Levy, designer and owner of YVEL: "We're working right now on the most expensive COVID mask, COVID- 19 mask in the world, it's made out of 18 karat white Gold, set with 3600 stones, black and white diamonds for the price of $1.5million USD.

03:11:02

'Meals on Heels' mixes drag, food during virus

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ASSOCIATED PRESS

San Francisco - 28 August 2020

31. Oasis night club exterior

32. SOUNDBITE (English) D'Arcy Drollinger, Owner, Oasis:

"How about we'll get a drag queen to deliver food and signature Oasis cocktails? "

33. Drag performer Kochina Rude delivers food to Kelsie Costa and family

03:25:08

Scuffles at Madrid protest against virus management

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ASSOCIATED PRESS

Madrid - 24 September 2020

34. Various of riot police clashing with protesters, detaining people

03:51:13

Thousands of Spain flags pay tribute to virus victims

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ASSOCIATED PRESS

Madrid - 27 September 2020

35. Pan of thousands of small flags of Spain planted in grounds of city park

36. Sign reading (Spanish) "Justice for the Victims of Coronavirus."

37. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Honorio Hernandez, Madrid resident and retiree:

"I think it is a beautiful homage to the victims, a lot better than the homage that was given by the Prime Minister. I have been to the Arlington National cemetery and this reminds me of that. These people at the very least deserve this, if not much more."

38. Woman walks up hill amongst flags

Attorney General William Barr clashed with the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee over the federal response to unrest in U.S. cities, with Rep. Jerrold Nadler asking whether the deployment of federal agents is tied to President Donald Trump's re-election campaign, and Barr rebuffing Nadler's questions.

"Have you discussed the president's reelection campaign with the president or with any White House official or any surrogate of the president?" Nadler asked.

"I'm not going to get into my discussions with the president," Barr responded.

"But I've made it clear that I would like to pick the cities based on law enforcement need and based on neutral criteria," he said.  

The hearing marks Barr’s first appearance before the House Judiciary Committee, bringing him face-to-face with a panel that voted last year to hold him in contempt and is holding hearings on what Democrats allege is politicization of the Justice Department under his watch.

It comes during a tumultuous stretch in which Barr has taken actions cheered by President Donald Trump but condemned by Democrats and other critics.

Nadler also excoriated Barr and the Justice Department for turning a blind eye to necessary reforms to police departments, for dismissing Black Lives Matter protests and for flooding streets with federal agents to stop protesters.

Republicans hit back hard in defense of Barr and Trump's administration.

POOL

Washington, DC - 28 July 2020

+++CAMERA SWITCHED AT SOURCE+++

1. Mid of Attorney General William Barr

2. Wide of House Judiciary Committee hearing

3. SOUNDBITE (English) Rep. Jerrold Nadler, (D) New York, Judiciary Committee Chair:

"Have you discussed the president's reelection campaign with the president or with any White House official or any surrogate of the president?

(Barr: Well, I'm not going to get into my discussions with the president.)  

Well, have you discussed that topic with him yes, or no? (Barr: Not in relation to this program.)

I didn't ask that. I asked if you'd discussed that..."

4. SOUNDBITE: (English) William Barr, Attorney General:

"I'm a member of the cabinet and there's an election going on, obviously the topic comes up.

(Nadler: So, the answer is yes.)

The topic comes up in cabinet meetings and other things. It shouldn't be a surprise that the topic of the election comes up.

(Nadler: I didn't say I was surprised. I just asked if you'd done that.)"

5. Wide of committee hearing

6. SOUNDBITE (English) Rep. Jerrold Nadler, (D) New York, Judiciary Committee Chair:

"Have you ever discussed the current or future deployment of federal law enforcement?"

7. SOUNDBITE: (English) William Barr, Attorney General:

"As I say I'm not going to get into my discussions with the president, but I've made it clear that I would like to pick the cities based on law enforcement need and based on neutral criteria.

(Nadler: But you can't tell me whether you discussed.)

No, I'm not going to discuss what I discuss with the president."

8. SOUNDBITE (English) Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D) New York, Judiciary Committee Chair:

"Can you commit today that the department will not use federal law enforcement as a prop in the president's reelection campaign?

(Barr: We are not using federal law enforcment.)

I just want to close with this thought. You really can't hide behind legal fictions this time, Mr. Barr. It's all out in the open where the people can see what you are doing for themselves. The president wants footage for his campaign ads and you appear to be serving it up to him as ordered. In most of these cities, the protest had begun to wind down before you marched in and confronted the protesters. And the protesters aren't mobs. They are mothers and veterans, mayors. In this moment, real leadership would entail de-escalation, collaboration and looking for ways to peacefully resolve our differences. Instead, you used pepper spray and truncheons of American citizens. You did it here in Washington. You did it Lafayette Square. You expanded to Portland. And now you are projecting fear and violence nationwide in pursuit of obvious political objectives. Shame on you, Mr. Barr.

(Barr: Can I just say Mr...)

Shame on you. My time is expired."

9. Wide of committee hearing

10. SOUNDBITE (English) William Barr, Attorney General:

"I just reject the idea that the department is flooded anywhere and attempted to suppress demonstrators. We make a clear distinction between demonstrators...

(Nadler: The facts speak for themselves.)

I'm answering. The fact of the matter is, if you take Portland, the courthouse is under attack."

11. Wide of committee hearing

Attorney General William Barr clashed with the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee over the federal response to unrest in U.S. cities, with Rep. Jerrold Nadler asking whether the deployment of federal agents is tied to President Donald Trump's re-election campaign, and Barr rebuffing Nadler's questions.

"Have you discussed the president's reelection campaign with the president or with any White House official or any surrogate of the president?" Nadler asked.

"I'm not going to get into my discussions with the president," Barr responded.

"But I've made it clear that I would like to pick the cities based on law enforcement need and based on neutral criteria," he said.  

The hearing marks Barr’s first appearance before the House Judiciary Committee, bringing him face-to-face with a panel that voted last year to hold him in contempt and is holding hearings on what Democrats allege is politicization of the Justice Department under his watch.

It comes during a tumultuous stretch in which Barr has taken actions cheered by President Donald Trump but condemned by Democrats and other critics.

Nadler also excoriated Barr and the Justice Department for turning a blind eye to necessary reforms to police departments, for dismissing Black Lives Matter protests and for flooding streets with federal agents to stop protesters.

Republicans hit back hard in defense of Barr and Trump's administration.

POOL

Washington, DC - 28 July 2020

+++CAMERA SWITCHED AT SOURCE+++

1. Mid of Attorney General William Barr

2. Wide of House Judiciary Committee hearing

3. SOUNDBITE (English) Rep. Jerrold Nadler, (D) New York, Judiciary Committee Chair:

"Have you discussed the president's reelection campaign with the president or with any White House official or any surrogate of the president?

(Barr: Well, I'm not going to get into my discussions with the president.)  

Well, have you discussed that topic with him yes, or no? (Barr: Not in relation to this program.)

I didn't ask that. I asked if you'd discussed that..."

4. SOUNDBITE: (English) William Barr, Attorney General:

"I'm a member of the cabinet and there's an election going on, obviously the topic comes up.

(Nadler: So, the answer is yes.)

The topic comes up in cabinet meetings and other things. It shouldn't be a surprise that the topic of the election comes up.

(Nadler: I didn't say I was surprised. I just asked if you'd done that.)"

5. Wide of committee hearing

6. SOUNDBITE (English) Rep. Jerrold Nadler, (D) New York, Judiciary Committee Chair:

"Have you ever discussed the current or future deployment of federal law enforcement?"

7. SOUNDBITE: (English) William Barr, Attorney General:

"As I say I'm not going to get into my discussions with the president, but I've made it clear that I would like to pick the cities based on law enforcement need and based on neutral criteria.

(Nadler: But you can't tell me whether you discussed.)

No, I'm not going to discuss what I discuss with the president."

8. SOUNDBITE (English) Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D) New York, Judiciary Committee Chair:

"Can you commit today that the department will not use federal law enforcement as a prop in the president's reelection campaign?

(Barr: We are not using federal law enforcment.)

I just want to close with this thought. You really can't hide behind legal fictions this time, Mr. Barr. It's all out in the open where the people can see what you are doing for themselves. The president wants footage for his campaign ads and you appear to be serving it up to him as ordered. In most of these cities, the protest had begun to wind down before you marched in and confronted the protesters. And the protesters aren't mobs. They are mothers and veterans, mayors. In this moment, real leadership would entail de-escalation, collaboration and looking for ways to peacefully resolve our differences. Instead, you used pepper spray and truncheons of American citizens. You did it here in Washington. You did it Lafayette Square. You expanded to Portland. And now you are projecting fear and violence nationwide in pursuit of obvious political objectives. Shame on you, Mr. Barr.

(Barr: Can I just say Mr...)

Shame on you. My time is expired."

9. Wide of committee hearing

10. SOUNDBITE (English) William Barr, Attorney General:

"I just reject the idea that the department is flooded anywhere and attempted to suppress demonstrators. We make a clear distinction between demonstrators...

(Nadler: The facts speak for themselves.)

I'm answering. The fact of the matter is, if you take Portland, the courthouse is under attack."

11. Wide of committee hearing

Vice President Mike Pence told Philadelphia police officers that President Donald Trump "backed the Blue" and that presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden would cut funding for police if he was elected in November.

Speaking at a lodge of the Fraternal Order of Police, Pence took aim at the Minneapolis city council for defunding the police department, as well as New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio for cuts to law enforcement.

"I want you to hear this directly from me. Under this president, and this administration, we're not going to defund the police. Not now, not ever," he said.

Pence touted the executive order that Trump signed last month to create a database to track police officers with multiple instances of misconduct.

"Nobody hates bad cops more than good cops," Pence said.

Trump's executive order also uses federal grants to encourage departments to meet certain higher certification standards on use of force.

Pence decried the killing of George Floyd while in police custody, saying "justice will be done."

But he also condemned the violence that came in the aftermath of the killing.

"We will join with you to stand against the rioters, and the looters and the anarchists who would pull down our statues and try and destroy our communities," he said.

He also touted Trump's record on the economy before the economic freefall that occured at the onset of the coronavirus pandemic.

"We saw seven million jobs created and we saw the lowest unemployment ever recorded for African-Americans and Hispanic Americans," he said.

POOL

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania  - 9 July 2020

++BLACK FRAMES BETWEEN SOUNDBITES++

1. Wide of Vice President Mike Pence on stage

2. SOUNDBITE (English) Mike Pence, U.S. Vice President:

"But we live in a time when the radical left is presenting the American people with one false choice after another. Like lately we've been hearing people say that we've got to choose between funding our police and funding our communities. The urging of the radical left. You've seen it. Some cities around the country are already starting to make that wrong choice. Minneapolis, it was just reported, has begun dismantling their police department. New York City's Mayor de Blasio has actually cut the NYPD's budget by about a billion dollars. And I heard that just yesterday, Joe Biden said that well-armed police, in his words, become the enemy. And he said that he would, quote, absolutely cut funding for law enforcement. So I want you to hear this directly from me, under this president and this administration, we're not going to defund the police. Not now, not ever."

+++BLACK FRAMES+++

3. SOUNDBITE (English) Mike Pence, U.S. Vice President

" We've backed the Blue, I'm proud to report, by funding nearly 4,000 new police officer positions through the COPS program. And as the deputy attorney general just said, we've backed the blue by prosecuting violent crimes more than ever before, resulting in a historic decrease in crime to show for it. You've done the work on the thin blue line, and we're putting them away."

+++BLACK FRAMES+++

4. SOUNDBITE (English) Mike Pence, U.S. Vice President

"Nobody hates bad cops more than good cops. And that's why this president is also backed the blue, by signing an executive order that immediately provides law enforcement across the country with the resources that you need to improve training and accountability, and to prevent bad cops from moving from one department to another."

+++BLACK FRAMES+++

5.  SOUNDBITE (English) Mike Pence, U.S. Vice President:

"There's no excuse for what happened to George Floyd. Justice will be served. But there's also no excuse for the rioting and looting and protests that turned violent that followed. I actually heard we've seen in recent days support for a convicted cop killers here in the Philadelphia area. Well, burning churches is not protest, tearing down statues is not free speech. And we're going to continue to stand with the freedom of speech and the freedom to peaceably assembly of every American. But we will join with you to stand against the rioters, and the looters and the anarchists who would pull down our statues and try and destroy our communities."

+++BLACK FRAMES+++

6. SOUNDBITE (English) Mike Pence, U.S. Vice President:

"This administration has been committed to safe and thriving communities for all Americans. Including our minority communities and our African-American communities, and our record proves it. Prior to the onset of this pandemic, your president cut taxes, rolled back regulations, unleashed American energy, fought for free and fair trade. We saw seven million jobs created and we saw the lowest unemployment ever recorded for African-Americans and Hispanic Americans."

7. Wide of Pence on stage after remarks

Vice President Mike Pence told Philadelphia police officers that President Donald Trump "backed the Blue" and that presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden would cut funding for police if he was elected in November.

Speaking at a lodge of the Fraternal Order of Police, Pence took aim at the Minneapolis city council for defunding the police department, as well as New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio for cuts to law enforcement.

"I want you to hear this directly from me. Under this president, and this administration, we're not going to defund the police. Not now, not ever," he said.

Pence touted the executive order that Trump signed last month to create a database to track police officers with multiple instances of misconduct.

"Nobody hates bad cops more than good cops," Pence said.

Trump's executive order also uses federal grants to encourage departments to meet certain higher certification standards on use of force.

Pence decried the killing of George Floyd while in police custody, saying "justice will be done."

But he also condemned the violence that came in the aftermath of the killing.

"We will join with you to stand against the rioters, and the looters and the anarchists who would pull down our statues and try and destroy our communities," he said.

He also touted Trump's record on the economy before the economic freefall that occured at the onset of the coronavirus pandemic.

"We saw seven million jobs created and we saw the lowest unemployment ever recorded for African-Americans and Hispanic Americans," he said.

POOL

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania  - 9 July 2020

++BLACK FRAMES BETWEEN SOUNDBITES++

1. Wide of Vice President Mike Pence on stage