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PORTLAND, Ore. A fatal shooting during a night of political conflict in Portland, Ore., has yet again escalated tensions in the city and further inflamed the issues of crime, protest and race that President Trump is trying to make a focus of presidential politics.

A man affiliated with a right-wing group was shot and killed on Saturday as a large group of supporters of President Trump traveled in a caravan through downtown Portland, Ore., which has seen nightly protests for three consecutive months.

The pro-Trump rally drew hundreds of trucks full of supporters into the city. At times, Trump supporters and counterprotesters clashed on the streets, with people shooting paintball guns from the beds of pickup trucks and protesters throwing objects back at them.

Coming on the heels of the fatal shooting of two protesters and the wounding of a third in Kenosha, Wis., Tuesday night, the incident was an ominous sign amid an escalation of weaponry and of rhetoric as protests of police violence and presidential politics merge.

Chad F. Wolf, the acting secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, on Sunday left open the potential to surge federal law enforcement to quell unrest in Portland.

During an interview on ABCs This Week, Mr. Wolf said all options continue to be on the table to deploy more federal agents to Portland despite the strong opposition of local leaders who say such tactical teams have only heightened tension in the protests.

Mayor Ted Wheeler said the shooting left his heart heavy, and he denounced violence. But he pointed to the combative and unyielding rhetoric of President Trump as a generator of the nations escalating polarization and violence. In a news conference, he called on the president to work with him and others to help de-escalate tensions.

We need to reset. The president needs to reset. I need to reset. This community needs to reset. And America needs to reset, the mayor said. Its going to take his leadership in the White House. And its going to take my leadership here in City Hall.

But President Trump appeared to respond live on Twitter to the mayors remarks, mocking Mr. Wheeler and calling him wacky and a dummy.

He would like to blame me and the Federal Government for going in, but he hasnt seen anything yet, Mr. Trump wrote.

A video that purports to be of the Saturday night shooting in Portland, taken from the far side of the street, showed a small group of people in the road outside what appears to be a parking garage. Gunfire erupts, and a man collapses in the street.

The man who was shot and killed was wearing a hat with the insignia of Patriot Prayer, a far-right group based in the Portland area that has clashed with protesters in the past. Joey Gibson, the head of the group, said Sunday he could not share many details but could confirm the man was a good friend and supporter of Patriot Prayer.

The Portland Police Bureau said that officers heard reports of gunfire shortly before 9 p.m. and found a victim with a gunshot wound to the chest. It was determined that the victim had died. They did not release any information about a possible gunman.

This violence is completely unacceptable, and we are working diligently to find and apprehend the individual or individuals responsible, Chief Chuck Lovell said early Sunday.

Mr. Trump reiterated his call that the National Guard should be brought in to Portland, saying people want law and order.

They want Safety & Security, and do NOT want to Defund our Police! Mr. Trump tweeted on Sunday.

At the scene Saturday night, police officers blocked off the road and medics attended to a person who appeared to have a chest wound.

The shooting capped a volatile week in the United States that began when the police in Kenosha, Wis., repeatedly shot a Black man, Jacob Blake, prompting new protests against racism and police brutality that included the cancellation of professional sports games.

During the unrest after the shooting of Mr. Blake, Kyle Rittenhouse, a 17-year-old Illinois resident, was charged in connection with the fatal shootings of two protesters.

Portland has seen nightly demonstrations since the killing of George Floyd in police custody in Minneapolis in May, some of which have included crowds smashing windows, lighting fires and throwing fireworks at law enforcement. In recent days, right-wing demonstrations have also sprung up in the city, and Mr. Trump has repeatedly highlighted the unrest in Portland as evidence of the need for a tougher law-and-order response to the chaotic protests over police violence and racial injustice that have swept through many American cities.

Two weeks ago, one right-wing demonstrator fired two gunshots from his vehicle, the authorities have said, although it doesnt appear anyone was struck by the bullets. The next weekend, opposing groups openly fought in the streets and video showed one right-wing demonstrator brandishing a gun.

Patriot Prayer, a local group that says it promotes Christianity and smaller government, has repeatedly clashed with activists in Portland. The group has at times operated alongside militia groups, and the Southern Poverty Law Center has reported that some Patriot Prayer events have drawn white supremacists. Last year, Mr. Gibson, the groups leader, was charged along with others with rioting after a brawl in the city.

The Trump supporters gathered earlier Saturday in the suburbs and plotted a route for the several hundred vehicles involved in the event that would have kept them on the highways outside the city center. But some of the ralliers headed directly downtown, where counterprotesters confronted a number of the vehicles. Some of the conflicts led to fistfights. In one encounter, someone drove over a bike, drawing the police to the scene.

While protests in Portland have persisted, their numbers have changed over time. The nightly events began with mass demonstrations after Mr. Floyds death, then shrank to smaller numbers of people who repeatedly clashed with the police. In July, when the federal government sent camouflaged agents into the city, the protest numbers grew drastically once again.

In more recent days, the protest crowd has typically numbered just a few hundred people. On Friday, after a peaceful demonstration in front of Mayor Ted Wheelers residence, a crowd went out to a police association building, where some of the protesters set fire to the front of the building before the police dispersed the crowd.

The police have made dozens of arrests in recent days as they have chased protesters through the streets, at times knocking them to the ground. The police said they made 10 arrests Saturday night, although it was not immediately clear how many were participants in the pro-Trump rally and how many were countering the event.

Chief Lovell said on Sunday that one challenge with the continuing conflict is that there are sometimes not enough officers to keep various groups separated enough to avoid conflict.

We cant be everywhere at once, Chief Lovell said.

Chief Lovell said the citys officers need additional resources and he is working with the Oregon State Police. He said it may get to the point where the city needs support from the National Guard.

Mr. Trump retweeted a video showing his supporters shooting paintballs and using pepper spray on crowds in Portland before the fatal shooting. He seemed to condone it, saying the big backlash going on in Portland cannot be unexpected.

The people of Portland wont put up with no safety any longer, Mr. Trump wrote.

Mr. Trump has repeatedly focused on the unrest in Portland, including during the Republican National Convention last week, challenging the citys leaders to end the chaos. Mr. Trump said in a tweet on Friday that the federal government would go into the city if the mayor was unable to maintain control.

Mr. Wheeler in a letter on Friday asked Mr. Trump to stay away, saying the earlier federal presence had made things worse. Your offer to repeat that disaster is a cynical attempt to stoke fear and distract us from the real work of our city, he wrote.

Read more:
One Person Dead in Portland After Clashes Between Trump Supporters and Protesters - The New York Times

Like many countries around the world, China has a massive problem with food waste. In 2015, the country tossed enough to feed at least 30 to 50 million people -- the populations of Australia and New Zealand combined, or the state of Texas -- for an entire year, according to Chinese state media

Chinese President Xi Jinping announced the campaign to tackle what he called the "shocking and distressing" problem of food waste on August 11, state-run news agency Xinhua said. His message came as the Covid-19 outbreak disrupted global food supply chains.

But his directive lacked specifics, leaving it up to zealous officials and citizens across the nation to engineer sometimes drastic methods to tackle the issue.

More strict measures are to come. China's top legislative body has announced it will look into passing laws against food waste, while major streaming platforms have threatened food bloggers with potential bans for overeating online.

Food is a sensitive topic in China, where a famine that saw 45 million people starve to death during the 1950s and 60s remains within living memory for many. Being able to eat what they want, when they want is seen by many as a sign of China's new wealth, and the world second-largest economy has a culture that has communal eating at its heart.

Experts warned that monitoring meal times could be seen as one intrusion too far into citizens' increasingly surveilled personal lives.

"Three meals a day is something very personal to the ordinary people," said Wu Qiang, a political analyst in Beijing and former political science professor at Tsinghua University. "Even the most politically apathetic person can feel their daily life habits challenged and threatened (by this campaign)."

Food and wealth

When the government withdrew food vouchers in 1993, it was a powerful symbol that the days of food shortages were over, with people free to eat as they chose. As China's economy opened up to the world, the country's new wealth was conveyed on dining tables through luxury items such as shark's fin and bird's nest soup. "Eating and drinking to one's heart's content is the symbol that people are living a good life," said Wu.

Multi-course banquets are routinely used to celebrate birthdays and weddings, as well as holidays such as the Chinese New Year, with dish quantity and elaborate ingredients signifying wealth. Alfred Wu Muluan, associate professor at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore, explained that ordering an abundance of dishes is a often "question of face" -- the more a person orders, he said, the more status and respect they will have.

When China's huge population of 1.4 billion people is considered, that's better than some Western nations. Per capita, China wastes about 72.4 pounds of food a year, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit's 2018 Food Sustainability Index. Australia tosses out 168 pounds of food every year per capita, while the United States is ranked lowest on the index at 209 pounds of food annually.

"How can restaurants restrict customers from ordering more food? Restaurant owners all want to have good business."Mr Wang, Wuhan resident and former restauranteur

"Beijing city generates 18,000 tonnes of domestic garbage per day, in which a huge amount of unconsumed foods including bread, sandwiches, fast food, large pieces of fish and meat, and unopened bags of rice can be easily found," the report said.

But asking restaurants to serve less food in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, which closed restaurants for much of the first half of this year, is controversial.

Wang, a Wuhan resident whose restaurant shut down due to the lockdown during the Covid-19 outbreak, said China's food industry was still struggling to recover from the epidemic, and now faced pressure to serve less food.

"How can restaurants restrict customers from ordering more food?" he said. "Restaurant owners all want to have good business," he said. Wang asked to keep his first name private for fear of an official backlash for speaking out.

Growing surveillance

Some Chinese citizens have been frustrated by what they see as yet another political limitation on their everyday lives.

Until the new campaign, eating was "one of the few things people can freely do under China's authoritarian system," said Wu, the political analyst.

Those caught on camera with food waste more than three times will be named and shamed, with footage of their "crimes" to be played on television screens across the canteens.

Some local governments have expanded their surveillance of food waste to entire cities, with Shanghai encouraging citizens to report each other if they saw someone eating too much or wasting food. The punishments for this offense were not specified in the announcement.

"Why should I be reported for things I bought with my own money?" one social media commentator said about the new regulations on food consumption, comparing it to the political supervision during Mao's era.

"Even the most politically apathetic person can feel their daily life habits challenged and threatened (by this campaign)"Wu Qiang, Beijing political analyst

"Lang, I support you. It is your right to upload videos of yourself eating. Personally I don't agree with eating so much at a time ... but it's your right. You didn't break the law and shouldn't be subjected to the crackdown," a fan said in the comment section.

Agricultural crisis

Xi's anti-food waste campaign comes as China's agriculture sector is reeling from a series of natural disasters.

China has mostly contained the virus, but the pandemic continues to disrupt global supply chains, and Beijing's ongoing trade war with Washington has jeopardized imports of soy beans and other food products.

Grain stores in China are "exceeding demand," according to the Communist Party mouthpiece People's Daily, which quoted one expert saying the priority is now "destocking" excess supplies.

'People will forget'

While measures to tackle food waste in China are long overdue, some have questioned whether the government's broad call to simply waste less will achieve this.

Ma Jun, director of environmental advocacy group the Institute for Public and Environmental Affairs, said the government's policy push could be better targeted, adding it would be more appropriate for Beijing to enforce specific rules on waste restrictions at government agencies and public institutions, for example, than to restrict how much individual consumers can order at restaurants.

"For the general public, it is better to raise their awareness (on food waste) and change social customs through advocacy ... rather than compulsory measures," he said.

Willy Lam, from the Center of China Studies at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, said in addition to the challenges presented by the vagueness of Xi's policy, this was a particularly bad time to implement the campaign, right after the social hardships imposed by the coronavirus lockdowns, when millions of Chinese were unable to leave their homes for months.

All many people want to do now, Lam said, was go to restaurants, eat and enjoy themselves. "So this frugality goal might be difficult to achieve," he said.

"The truth is, the implementation won't be very strict," said Wu, of the National University of Singapore.

Changing how nearly 1.4 billion people eat is a tall order.

CNN's Steven Jiang contributed to this article.

Read more from the original source:
In authoritarian China, eating freely is a cherished activity. Now a food waste campaign wants to control meals, too - CNN

by: Nexstar Media Wire and The Associated Press

Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), testifies during a House Subcommittee hearing on the Coronavirus crisis, Friday, July 31, 2020 on Capitol Hill in Washington. (Kevin Dietsch/Pool via AP)

WASHINGTON The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention did not backpedal on the number of deaths caused by COVID-19, reducing the figure from nearly 154,000 to just over 9,000, as social media posts claimed.

The term Only 6% trended widely on Twitter over the weekend as supporters of the QAnon conspiracy theory promoted tweets that falsely suggested the CDC had updated its records to show that only 6% of U.S. deaths tied to COVID-19 were legitimate. President Donald Trump was among those who tweeted the information, which was later taken down by Twitter for violating platform rules.

The posts, which received hundreds of thousands of shares online, were based on a regularly updated CDC data table showing underlying conditions for those who died of COVID-19. The conditions included high blood pressure, diabetes and obesity, as well as problems that are caused by COVID-19 itself, such as respiratory failure and pneumonia.

TheCDC data tableis based on an analysis of death certificates that mention COVID-19 as a cause. For 6% of the deaths, COVID-19 was the only cause mentioned, the CDC notes.

The other 94% list COVID-19 and other conditions together. Among those deaths, there were, on average, 2.6 additional conditions or causes per death, the public health agency said.

As of Aug. 26, the CDC said, there were 161,332 deaths where COVID-19 was listed on the death certificate. Social media users over the weekend posted an older screenshot of the data that showed 153,504 deaths. The posts used the 6% figure to claim the U.S. death toll was much lower 9,210.

CDC just backpedaled (quietly) and adjusted the U.S. COVID deaths from 153,504 to 9,210. Admitting that their numbers are so (expletive) that they are off by a whopping 94%, said a post being shared on Facebook Monday.

But such claims misrepresent the data. A death isnt excluded from the COVID-19 tally just because the person was obese or had diabetes or dementia. Someone with heart problems can still be killed by COVID-19, and the death certificate could mention both as contributing.

Experts say its not surprising that so few people who died from COVID-19 had no underlying conditions listed on their death certificates. It is rare for people not to have multiple medical issues at death.

The underlying cause of death is the condition that began the chain of events that ultimately led to the persons death, Dr. Robert Anderson, who oversees the CDCs death statistics work, said in a statement. In 92% of all deaths that mention COVID-19, COVID-19 is listed as the underlying cause of death.

Also, while death certificates are supposed to list any causes or conditions that contributed, past research has shown that the documents arent perfect. Doctors might not know or specify all the reasons behind a particular death.

More important, the CDC figures show what medical professionals have been saying since the outset of the pandemic that the virus tends to have a more severe impact on people with underlying conditions.

For example, people died with diabetes not because of it, said Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious-diseases expert at Vanderbilt University.

If it hadnt been for the COVID virus infection, these people would be living today, he said. So yes, although they have contributing underlying chronic health factors, its still the COVID virus that killed them.

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No, the CDC has not reduced the death count related to COVID-19 - WETM - MyTwinTiers.com

GENEVA (REUTERS, AFP) - Countries with significant active spread of coronavirus must prevent amplifying events, as opening up without the virus being under control would be a recipe for disaster, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Monday (Aug 31).

WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus recognised that many people are getting tired of restrictions and want to return to normality eight months into the pandemic.

The WHO fully supported efforts to reopen economies and societies, he told a news conference, adding: We want to see children returning to school and people returning to workplaces, but we want to see it done safely.

No country can just pretend the pandemic is over, he said.The reality is this virus spreads easily. Opening up without control is a recipe for disaster.

Explosive outbreaks have been linked to gatherings of people at stadiums, nightclubs, places of worship and other crowds, where the respiratory virus can spread easily among clusters of people, Dr Tedros said.

Avoid these amplifying events so that the other economic sectors can actually open up and the economy can go back into life, he noted. I think we can live without going to the stadium.

The WHO chief alsourged governmentsto engage with people demonstrating against Covid-19 restrictions and listen to their concerns, but stressed protesters needed to understand the virus was dangerous.

Asked about recent demonstrations in a number of countries against coronavirus restrictions, Dr Tedros said it was important to listen to what people are asking, what people are saying.

We should engage in an honest dialogue, he told reporters, stressing though that demonstrators have a responsibility to ensure protests are safe.

The virus is real. It is dangerous. It moves fast and it kills, he said, insisting we have to do everything to protect ourselves and to protect others.

German police on Saturday halted a Berlin march by tens of thousands of people opposed to coronavirus restrictions in the biggest of several European protests against face mask rules and other anti-virus curbs.

Several hundred of the Berlin protesters then broke through barriers and a police cordon to storm Germanys Parliament, in a move German Chancellor Angela Merkel condemned as shameful.

Speaking about the broader protests, WHO emergencies chief Michael Ryan pointed out that epidemics and emergencies create strong emotions, and acceptance of measures is always very, very tough".

It is really important that governments dont overreact to people protesting against measures, he told the virtual briefing.

The real important thing to do is to enter into a dialogue with groups.

While acknowledging the importance of allowing different viewpoints to be heard, Dr Tedros took issue with the opinions voiced by some that high death rates were not really a concern if it is mainly the elderly who are dying.

Accepting someone to die because of age is moral bankruptcy at its highest, and we shouldnt allow our society to behave this way, he said.

Every life whether it is young or old is precious. And we have to do everything to save it.

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Opening up without control of Covid-19 is recipe for disaster: WHO - The Straits Times

SISTERON (REUTERS) - Australian Caleb Ewan timed his effort to perfection to win the third stage of the Tour de France in a bunch sprint at the end of a 198km hilly ride through the Alpine foothills on Monday (Aug 31).

Sam Bennett looked in control but the Irishman had probably underestimated the headwind and settled for second place as he watched Lotto-Soudal fastman Ewan whizz around him to snatch his fourth stage win on the Tour.Italian Giacomo Nizzolo took third place.

France's Julian Alaphilippe retained the overall leader's yellow jersey.

In the last kilometre I was a little bit too far forward so I dropped back a bit into the wheels then that gave me a bit of time just to rest the legs a little bit, Ewan explained.

In the end it worked perfectly. Coming from behind is a bit of a risk but I found my way through the barrier and I came with a lot of speed.

Ewan was proud to win again on the biggest stage, a year after taking three stage victories on his first participation in the Tour.

Im so happy to get another win and then prove last year was no fluke. Hope to come back more years and keep winning. We have to take every sprinters opportunity we can this year because they are quite rare this year.

Tuesdays fourth stage is a 160.5km effort from Sisteron to Orcieres-Merlette for the first summit finish of the race, with Briton Adam Yates, who trails Alaphilippe by four seconds overall, eyeing the yellow jersey.

An all-French breakaway featuring Anthony Perez, polka dot jersey holder Benoit Cosnefroy and Jerome Cousin was kept on a tight leash by the bunch as rain began to fall with 150kmleft.

Cousin, who won a Paris-Nice stage in Sisteron in 2018, tried his luck solo with Perez and Cosnefroy being swallowed up by the pack despite the leisurely pace.

Perez later abandoned with a rib fracture and a possible collapsed lung after crashing into his teams car, his Cofidis outfit said.

Cofidis said the 29-year-old had been taken to hospital for further checks.

Cousin was reined in with 16kmleft by the peloton controlled by Alaphilippes Deceuninck-Quick Step as the sprinters teams started to gear up for the bunch sprint.

In-form Wout van Aert, one of top favourite Primoz Roglics teammates, crashed some 6kmfrom the line but the Milan-Sanremo champion finished the stage.

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Cycling: Ewan outsmarts Bennett to win Tour stage three as Alaphilippe retains lead - The Straits Times