 Hello and welcome to the International Daily Roundup by People's Dispatch where we bring you some of the major news developments from across the world, our headlines. Killed in a gas leak in India, Trump vetoed Iran's war power resolution. In our infocus section, we look at the bruises, Mustafa al-Kadimi is confirmed as Iran's prime minister and Facebook blocks dozens of pages belonging to Palestinian activists. We begin with our daily COVID-19 update. The total number of cases is around 3.77 million with over 264,000 deaths. China responded harshly to continued U.S. attempts to blame it for the pandemic. The latest U.S. provocation was by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo who had earlier said that the virus had originated in the lab. This time he alleged that China was holding back information. Meanwhile, President Donald Trump also compared the pandemic to Pearl Harbor in September 11 which were attacks on the U.S. China took a strong position against this and said that it was against politicizing the pandemic. It pointed out that the enemy the U.S. faced was the disease and not China. Incidentally, Chinese authorities had informed the U.S. and WHO officials about the disease by the end of December itself. Meanwhile, the rise in the number of cases continues across the world. In India, where the strict lockdown is being eased, the number of cases continues to increase even as experts say testing rates are low. In Russia, meanwhile, high testing rates may be the reason for the large number of cases with over 11,000 reported today alone. German officials, meanwhile, have expressed concerns over the second wave of infections. In what could be one of the biggest industrial disasters in recent years, at least 10 people died in over 200 were hospitalized including a large number of children after a major gas leak from a private sector chemical plant in the city of Vishakhapatnam in the state of Andhra Pradesh in India. The dead included a minor. The tragedy occurred after a styrene vapor leak from the polymer plant. 20 odd workers were present at the plant which was preparing to reopen after the 40-day lockdown. The leak impacted villages in about a 5-kilometer radius. Revolucent as a Bhopal gas tragedy in 1984 that killed thousands of people, residents of a village close to this plant where the leak took place today reported burning sensation in the eyes and difficulty in breathing. The plant was owned by LG Polymers India Private Limited. Media reports said that ambulances, fire engines and policemen soon reached the spot. There are around 5 hamlets in the vicinity of the chemical plant. The Communist Party of India Marxist said that his accident is a clear case of criminal negligence by the management of the company. The party asked a proper investigation of all precautionary measures and to check if they were taken after the close plant was restarted. In our next story, US President Donald Trump vetoed the Iran War Powers Resolution passed by the US Congress. Trump called the resolution insulting and characterized it as an electoral ploy by the opposition Democratic Party to win the presidential election by dividing the Republican Party. The US Senate, where Trump's Republican Party holds a majority, is expected to hold a vote to override the veto. Overriding the presidential veto will require a two-thirds majority in both the houses. A War Powers Resolution is passed in order to restrain the President's powers to deploy forces without the explicit permission of the Congress. According to the Constitution, only the Congress has the right to declare war on another country. The Iran War Powers Resolution was introduced earlier this year in January in response to the Baghdad Airport bombings conducted by the Trump administration. These bombings caused the assassination of military officials of Iran and Iraq. Among those killed was Qasim Soleimani, who headed Iran's Quds Force and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, deputy chairman of the Iraq's Popular Mobilization Force. The attack was widely criticized both with it and outside the US as an act of war without any provocation. The resolution was tabled in both houses of the US Congress within days of the attack and passed by mid-March with the support of several Republicans. In our infocus section, we look at video footage that recently emerged of the circumstances surrounding the murder of Ahmad Arbari, a black man in the state of Georgia in the US on February 23rd. Arbari was jogging down the road when two men who were reportedly associated with law enforcement chased him and gunned him down. This is the latest in a series of murders committed with absolute impunity. We bring you this report from Breakthrough News. This is about two months ago, an unarmed man shot in Georgia and it's finally just hitting the mainstream press as a video was released of this shooting. Interestingly enough, about three days before the anniversary of the killing of Trayvon Martin in a very similar situation. We see it here. Yeah, this is the video that is happening here. We're not going to show the whole thing, but you can see the individual in the white who is jogging as Ahmed Arbari, who ultimately ends up dead here. The truck that you can sort of see coming in and out of the video is, you see some armed individuals here. There's a little bit of altercation and then it goes. Basically, you just go to see him essentially get shot. It's not 100% clear exactly what happened here if he was shot with a shotgun or with a pistol, but there's a number of things exchanged. The basic reality of the story seems to be that he was jogging. These two individuals who are connected to law enforcement were allegedly thought that he was a match to description of some suspect of someone who allegedly had been breaking into homes. They were chasing him down trying to do some sort of citizens arrest. Obviously, he was trying to evade them. They stopped and then ultimately there was this altercation and he was killed. It certainly seems very similar to Trayvon Martin or, you know, if you even think we're thinking about and talking about crises right now, what we saw in Algiers right after Hurricane Katrina, where there are these racist vigilante actions that take place. Oftentimes in these small towns in the south, the original case here when this happened, they decided to just let it go. They said there was no probable cause to arrest these two individuals. Now they're allegedly going to go before a grand jury and this video has emerged, which maybe will change the overall context of the situation. But, you know, yet again we're seeing what we've seen, certainly what we saw with George Zimmerman and Stand Your Ground. What we're seeing yet again, time and time again, that individual, some connected with law enforcement. Law enforcement, there was a similar case in Florida that very few people heard about a guy named DJ Broadis who was killed in a way that his family connected to law enforcement. So sometimes that, you know, adds in the cover up. But regardless of all that issue, and I know that's a relevant issue that a lot of people are talking about with this story, just the ability of vigilante racist violence to even take place in this country. It's as American as have Popeye quite frankly, this is the reality for black people in America that at any moment you could be killed by some sort of racist vigilante who will get off like George Zimmerman, and then make hundreds of thousands of dollars selling the gun and appearing on right wing TV and all these other terrible situations capitalizing. I mean, if you want to know how bad George Zimmerman was, he got beat up in a restaurant last year by a guy with a Confederate flag tattoo. If you're too racist for the guy with the Confederate flag tattoo, I mean, Jesus Christ. I mean, what are we doing right now? But I think this is, you know, one, I think it's important for people to remember the history of this, that literally this was like every day black America for many people who were still alive. Just that if you want some violence, you know, when Emmett Till was murdered, when they had the trial, excuse me, Medgar Evers. When Medgar Evers was murdered, and they had the trial, the former governor of the state walked into the courtroom and shook the hand of Byron D. Lebec with the killer, who of course, thankfully was held responsible years later in the 1990s. So it gives you a sense of that level of impunity. But even still today, with all the changes that have happened in our society, you know, all the things that have happened since the struggle against racism, the ability to have this kind of racist, vigilante violence, and the level of excuses. Like we thought he looked like somebody who could have done something weeks before. So we chased him down in a truck and shot him. Like just think about that thought process that doesn't make any sense at all as a logical order of operations. It only makes sense at all if you feel absolutely no impunity to chasing someone down with a gun and potentially killing them because you have absolutely no doubt in your mind that any young black person could potentially be this violent, dangerous criminal. And you have absolutely no doubt in your mind that you're going to get the benefit of the doubt even if you do kill them. Right. Look, the 911 call that the killers put in literally said, quote, there's a black man running down our road. I guess that's enough in this country to be shot and killed. I guess it's a it's illegal. It's warranted for a quote unquote citizens arrest just to be black and walking in in a neighborhood. Right. And you know the killers, they, like we said, it's a father and son the father used to work for local law enforcement. You know, that is why the initial prosecutor had to recuse himself because of the because of that conflict of interest. Right. And I mean, even the concept of the citizens arrest law is complete nonsense. I mean, this is just the same basis for, you know, Jim Crow, where literally again being black in a majority white neighborhood and in a neighborhood where you know you don't belong. That is enough probable cause for you to be run down and killed. Oh, and to happen to look like someone who who might have been perform doing a crime on a couple days prior to this. Right. And I mean, it's really I'm reading an article by the New York Times about this and the mother of Ahmed was saying, you know, we wish that we could take a stand and do something in protest. And it's incredibly, you know, harrowing in a time like this of social distancing, where we cannot get together in big crowds and unite and make the kind of noise that we want to, you know, allow the Black Lives Matter movement and still people still families of victims of police violence still always hitting the streets to demand justice. And, you know, we can do that in the traditional sense of fortunately. And this is really why it's so important for those in the movement those who want to demand justice and stand in solidarity with the family in the situation. We really need to be thinking of creative ways and figuring out how to make our voices heard. And you know, people online, talking about this sharing this video sharing the article, like we mentioned this happened back at two months ago. And we I've been hearing about this on social media. So I mean, hopefully, these folks can get justice in whatever way they can. And unfortunately, the way that this injustice system is set up, of course, to favor these white vigilante murderers, you know, we haven't we saw again, a very similar case with Trayvon Martin, you know, and his killer still out here running free. So all we can do here is just spread the word on this issue and really use it to point out just the absolute disgusting racist nature of the justice system here in the states and the just the audacity of things like the citizen citizenship arrest law, which just gives any white person feeling empowered enough to be able to do what they want and kill black people with no recourse. Please do watch, follow and subscribe to Breakthrough News, a US-based media organization which is covering issues from a working class and people's movement perspective. In our next story, Mustafal Khadimi, an ex-journalist and intelligence chief, was confirmed as Iraqi Prime Minister by the parliament on May 6th, ending six months of political uncertainty. The parliament also approved most of his cabinet colleagues. The post to the prime minister was vacant since the resignation of Adel Abdul Mehdi in November last year. Mehdi had resigned after he failed to win the confidence of the common Iraqis who came onto the streets demanding jobs and the end of their economic miseries in October. The protesters blamed the ruling elite in Iraq for the widespread corruption and demanded an overhaul in the country's political system. Mehdi has been serving as caretaker prime minister since then. Two other politicians, Taufi Kallavi and Adnal Al-Zurfi were nominated by President Barham Saleh to replace him but were forced to withdraw their candidates due to their failure to win the approval of parliament. Khadimi has said that he will prioritize tackling the coronavirus pandemic in the country and also seek justice for protesters who were killed. More than 500 protesters were killed by security forces over the past few months. And finally, Facebook has blocked dozens of pages belonging to Palestinian activists. The blocking of the pages took place on Monday and Tuesday and continues. According to Facebook, it has already reviewed the decision and hence there is no grievance redressal available for those whose pages have been blocked or deleted. Speaking to Middle East Eye, one of the activists, Imad Jibreen, who lives in the occupied West Bank, claimed that Facebook did not provide any specific reason for deleting his page. According to him, Facebook usually cites specific violations before deleting or blocking a page. Facebook has a history of deleting pages dedicated to the struggle for Palestine in the past two. Last year in October, it had deleted the page belonging to the well-known news site Palestinian in Palestine Information Center. It deleted an alternative page created by the center in February this year again. According to the Middle East Eye, Facebook is prone to act on complaints filed by the Israeli government. It has deleted 95% accounts or posts supported by the Israeli government in the past, recent past. That's all we have in this episode of the International Daily Roundup. To know more about these stories visit our website peoplesdispatch.org and follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Thanks for watching.