Six In The Morning Sunday 23 August 2020

Belarusians fear crackdown on planned day of protest

President has vowed to ‘solve’ demonstrations and told army to prepare for foreign invasion

Shaun Walker in Minsk

Sun 23 Aug 2020 11.03 BST

Belarusians are preparing for a second Sunday of massed rallies against Alexander Lukashenko, after the country’s authoritarian president told his military to be on full combat alert to deal with supposed external threats.

Last Sunday saw the biggest demonstration in the country’s recent history, over Lukashenko’s rigged election win and subsequent police violence against protesters. The protest has continued throughout the week, with the riot police largely absent, but Lukashenko has promised to “solve” the issue of protests within a few days, leaving some wary of a new crackdown.

Rachel Maddow 'chilled' by Mary Trump's prediction of 2020 election outcome

Political experts fear street-level violence if Mr Trump refuses to leave office

Graig Graziosi

MSNBC host Rachel Maddow admitted during an interview that she was afraid of Donald Trump attempting to stay in power should he lose the 2020 US election.

Ms Maddow made the admission during an appearance on "The Tonight Show."

During the segment, she and host Jimmy Fallon discussed the book Mr Trump's niece, Mary Trump, wrote, titled "Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World's Most Dangerous Man."

Interview with Anthony Fauci on COVID-19"Helpless Means You Can't Do Anything. There's a Lot We Can Do."

In an interview with DER SPIEGEL, Dr. Anthony Fauci, Donald Trump's pandemic adviser, discusses the anger of his opponents, his relationship with the president, mistakes made in the effort to contain the spread of COVID-19 and his cautious optimism that a vaccine will be available soon.

Interview Conducted By Rafaela von Bredow und Veronika Hackenbroch

DER SPIEGEL: Dr. Fauci, you once said of yourself that you had "a reputation of speaking the truth at all times and not sugarcoating things." Can we hope to get a few samples of previously unspoken truths from you today? 

UN, rights groups accuse Greece of using pandemic to ‘step up’ migration restrictions

While numerous NGOs and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) have accused Greece of using the Covid-19 epidemic as pretext to “abandon” hundreds of migrants at sea since March, Athens denies the charge and denounces “misinformation”.

After revelations in the New York Times and accusations by NGOs that Greece has abandoned the migrants at sea, the Greek section of the UNHCR said on Friday it had “reports and testimonies that people were left adrift” in the Aegean Sea without being rescued by the Greek coastguard.

China's Communist Party is a threat to the world, says former elite insider

By CNN Staff

Updated 0007 GMT (0807 HKT) August 23, 2020

Cai Xia is no stranger to defying expectations. During her years at the Chinese Communist Party's top training center and think tank, the outspoken professor had surprised many with her liberal ideas and support for democratic reform.

More recently, she caused a stir with a spate of scathing denunciations of China's ruling elite and the country's leader Xi Jinping -- a rare rebuke from a longtime insider that led to her expulsion from the Party earlier this week.

Abe faces hurdles to ambitions despite latest milestone

• BY ERIC JOHNSTON

• STAFF WRITER

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe marked his 2,798th consecutive day in office Sunday, tying him with his great-uncle, Eisaku Sato, as the prime minister with the longest continuous term in office.

But with criticism mounting over his handling of the coronavirus crisis, and questions growing about his health and the post-Abe era, the prime minister faces tough questions about what he might still be able to accomplish before stepping down in September 2021.

Abe, who was prime minister from 2006 to 2007, returned to power in 2012. He now has the same number of consecutive days in the top position as Sato, who served as prime minister between 1964 and 1972.