News Headlines - 02 May 2020
▽Kim Jong-un appears in public, North Korean state media report - BBC News
Kim Jong-un has appeared in public for the first time in 20 days, North Korean state media says.
KCNA news agency reports that the North Korean leader cut the ribbon at the opening of a fertiliser factory... The reported appearance - his first since an event on state media on 12 April - comes amid global speculation over his health.
▽Japan’s 50 Richest 2020: Despite Pandemic, Their Total Wealth Dropped By Only 5%
Despite a $1 trillion stimulus package announced by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in early April to combat the economic fallout from the coronavirus, Japan is bracing for a downturn. With the declaration of a national emergency-and the delay in hosting the Olympic Games until next year-businesses are certain to take a hit.
That said, the country’s 50 richest have-so far-been relatively unscathed, with their combined wealth down only 5% to $168 billion since we last measured their fortunes in March 2019.
Michigan Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib criticized the for-profit corporate interests she says are behind the racial and wealth disparities that are being exposed in the U.S. health care system by the coronavirus pandemic... Tlaib accused fellow members of Congress and the Trump administration of "turning their backs" on low and middle-class Americans while lining the pockets of corporations. She cited a recent closure in hospitals during the coronavirus pandemic as evidence the country needs universal health care because "it's not profitable to take care of sick people."
▽New Information Emerges Around Biden Sexual Assault Allegation : NPR
New information has emerged in recent days about a sexual assault allegation against the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, Joe Biden, made by Tara Reade, a former staff assistant in Biden's Senate office. For the first time, someone has gone on the record to say that Reade detailed the allegation to her decades ago in the same way Reade is describing it now... A former neighbor of Reade's named Lynda LaCasse told NPR on Wednesday about a conversation the two had approximately 25 years ago regarding the alleged assault.
▽Saudi Arabia to end flogging as a form of punishment | The Guardian
Saudi Arabia is ending flogging as a form of punishment, according to a document from the kingdom’s top court.
The decision by the general commission for the supreme court, taken sometime this month, will mean the punishment will be replaced by prison sentences, fines or a mixture of both... Flogging has been applied to punish a variety of crimes in Saudi Arabia. Without a codified system of law to go with the texts making up sharia, or Islamic law, individual judges have the latitude to interpret religious texts and come up with their own sentences.
