Five stories to know for May 25: DOJ appeal court on Barr, Blinken in Middle East, Belarus sanctions, Wuhan lab, and Tokyo Olympics

1. The U.S. Justice Department is appealing a court decision faulting former U.S. Attorney General William Barr's handling of the 2019 special counsel report on then-President Donald Trump.

2. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken pledged Washington would rally support to rebuild Gaza as part of efforts to bolster a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel.

3. Western powers prepared to pile sanctions on Belarus and cut off its aviation links, furious after it scrambled a warplane to intercept a Ryanair aircraft and arrest a dissident journalist, an act one official denounced as ‘state piracy’.

4. U.S. intelligence agencies are examining reports that researchers at a Chinese virology laboratory were seriously ill in 2019 a month before the first cases of COVID-19 were reported, according to U.S. government sources who cautioned that there is still no proof the disease originated at the lab.

5. Top Japanese officials said they did not expect a U.S. advisory against travel to Japan due to coronavirus concerns to affect the Tokyo Olympics - less than two months away - and that U.S. support for the Games was unchanged.

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#WilliamBarr
#Trump
#Democrats
#Republicans
#ceasefire
#AntonyBlinken
#Gaza
#Israel
#Netanyahu
#Hamas
#Airstrikes
#Rockets
#Belarus
#Ryanair
#EU
#Sanctions
#EuropeanUnion
#COVID19
#coronavirus
#Wuhan
#Wuhanlab
#Japan
#Tokyo
#Olympics
#News
#Reuters

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