Olivia de Havilland, the doe-eyed actress beloved to millions as the sainted Melanie Wilkes of “Gone With the Wind,” but also a two-time Oscar winner and an off-screen fighter who challenged and unchained Hollywood’s contract system, died Sunday at her home in Paris. She was 104.  Havilland, the sister of fellow Oscar winner Joan Fontaine, died peacefully of natural causes, said New York-based publicist Lisa Goldberg.De Havilland was among the last of the top screen performers from the studio era, and the last surviving lead from “Gone With the Wind,” an irony, she once noted, since the fragile, self-sacrificing Wilkes was the only major character to die in the film. The 1939 epic, based on Margaret Mitchell’s best-selling Civil War novel and winner of 10 Academy Awards, is often ranked as Hollywood’s box office champion (adjusting for inflation), although it is now widely condemned for its glorified portrait of slavery and antebellum life.The pinnacle of producer David O. Selznick’s career, the movie had a troubled off-screen story.  Three directors worked on the film, stars Vivien Leigh and Clark Gable were far more connected on screen than off and the fourth featured performer, Leslie Howard, was openly indifferent to the role of Ashley Wilkes, Melanie’s husband. But de Havilland remembered the movie as “one of the happiest experiences I’ve ever had in my life. It was doing something I wanted to do, playing a character I loved and liked.”During a career that spanned six decades, de Havilland also took on roles ranging from an unwed mother to a psychiatric inmate in “The Snake Pit,” a personal favorite. The dark-haired De Havilland projected both a gentle, glowing warmth and a sense of resilience and mischief that made her uncommonly appealing, leading critic James Agee to confess he was “vulnerable to Olivia de Havilland in every part of my being except the ulnar nerve.”She was Errol Flynn’s co-star in a series of dramas, Westerns and period pieces, most memorably as Maid Marian in “The Adventures of Robin Hood.” But De Havilland also was a prototype for an actress too beautiful for her own good, typecast in sweet and romantic roles while desiring greater challenges.  Her frustration finally led her to sue Warner Bros. in 1943 when the studio tried to keep her under contract after it had expired, claiming she owed six more months because she had been suspended for refusing roles. Her friend Bette Davis was among those who had failed to get out of her contract under similar conditions in the 1930s, but de Havilland prevailed, with the California Court of Appeals ruling that no studio could extend an agreement without the performer’s consent.  The decision is still unofficially called the “De Havilland law.”De Havilland went on to earn her own Academy Award in 1946 for her performance in “To Each His Own,” a melodrama about out-of-wedlock birth. A second Oscar came three years later for “The Heiress,” in which she portrayed a plain young homebody (as plain as it was possible to make de Havilland) opposite Montgomery Clift and Sir Ralph Richardson in an adaptation of Henry James’ “Washington Square.” In 2008, de Havilland received a National Medal of Arts and was awarded France’s Legion of Honor two years later.She was also famous, not always for the better, as the sister of Fontaine, with whom she had a troubled relationship. In a 2016 interview, de Havilland referred to her late sister as “Dragon Lady” and said her memories of Fontaine, who died in 2013, were “multi-faceted, varying from endearing to alienating.””On my part, it was always loving, but sometimes estranged and, in the later years, severed,” she said. “Dragon Lady, as I eventually decided to call her, was a brilliant, multi-talented person, but with an astigmatism in her perception of people and events which often caused her to react in an unfair and even injurious way.”De Havilland once observed that Melanie Wilkes’ happiness was sustained by a loving, secure family, a blessing that eluded the actress even in childhood.  She was born in Tokyo on July 1, 1916, the daughter of a British patent attorney. Her parents separated when she was 3, and her mother brought her and her younger sister Joan, to Saratoga, California. De Havilland’s own two marriages, to Marcus Goodrich and Pierre Galante, ended in divorce.Her acting ambitions dated back to stage performing at Mills College in Oakland, California. While preparing for a school production of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” she went to Hollywood to see Max Reinhardt’s rehearsals of the same comedy. She was asked by to read for Hermia’s understudy, stayed with the production through her summer vacation and was given the role in the fall.Warner Bros. wanted stage actors for their lavish 1935 production and chose de Havilland to co-star with Mickey Rooney, who played Puck.”II wanted to be a stage actress,” she recalled. “Life sort of made the decision for me.”She signed a five-year contract with the studio and went on to make “Captain Blood,” “Dodge City” and other films with Flynn, a hopeless womanizer even by Hollywood standards.”Oh, Errol had such magnetism! There was nobody who did what he did better than he did,” said de Havilland, whose bond with the dashing actor remained, she would insist, improbably platonic. As she once explained, “We were lovers together so often on the screen that people could not accept that nothing had happened between us.”She did date Howard Hughes and James Stewart and had an intense affair in the early ’40s with John Huston. Their relationship led to conflict with Davis, her co-star for the Huston-directed “In This Our Life”; Davis would complain that de Havilland, a supporting actress in the film, was getting greater and more flattering time on camera.De Havilland allegedly never got along with Fontaine, a feud magnified by the 1941 Oscar race that placed her against her sister for best actress honors. Fontaine was nominated for the Hitchcock thriller “Suspicion” while de Havilland was cited for “Hold Back the Dawn, a drama co-written by Billy Wilder and starring de Havilland as a school teacher wooed by the unscrupulous Charles Boyer.Asked by a gossip columnist if they ever fought, de Havilland responded, “Of course, we fight. What two sisters don’t battle?” Like a good Warner Bros soap opera, their relationship was a juicy narrative of supposed slights and snubs, from de Havilland reportedly refusing to congratulate Fontaine for winning the Oscar to Fontaine making a cutting crack about de Havilland’s poor choice of agents and husbands.Though she once filmed as many as three pictures a year, her career slowed in middle age. She made several movies for television, including “Roots” and “Charles and Diana,” in which she portrayed the Queen Mother. She also co-starred with Davis in the macabre camp classic “Hush … Hush, Sweet Charlotte” and was menaced by a young James Caan in the 1964 chiller “Lady in a Cage,” condemning her tormenter as “one of the many bits of offal produced by the welfare state.”  In 2009, she narrated a documentary about Alzheimer’s, “I Remember Better When I Paint.” Catherine Zeta-Jones played de Havilland in the 2017 FX miniseries about Davis and Joan Crawford, but de Havilland objected to being portrayed as a gossip and sued FX. The case was dismissed.Despite her chronic stage fright, she did summer stock in Westport, Connecticut, and Easthampton, New York. Moviemaking, she said, produced a different kind of anxiety: “The first day of making a film I feel, `Why did I ever get mixed up in this profession? I have no talent; this time they’ll find out.'” 
…

With more than four million confirmed cases of COVID-19 across the country, many U.S. states are pausing reopening efforts, leaving those who remain unemployed unsure about their futures. Senate Republicans plan to introduce another coronavirus relief bill this week. VOA’s Esha Sarai has more.
…

The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees is warning that unlawful and arbitrary incarceration of refugees and asylum seekers is putting them and the general public at heightened risk of COVID-19. The U.N. refugee agency is calling for their urgent and immediate release.Some countries are reportedly using the coronavirus pandemic as an excuse to lock up refugees and asylum seekers for longer periods of time.  The U.N. agency says refugees are fleeing war and persecution. It says they are not criminals and should not be detained without due legal process.   The agency says refugees and asylum seekers often are forced to live in overcrowded and unsanitary conditions.  It says social distancing in these settings is impossible and access to medical care and clean water is limited.    UNHCR spokesman Charlie Yaxley tells VOA the risk of a catastrophic outbreak of COVID-19 in one of these detention centers is great and could jeopardize public health. “Should somebody become infected with the virus, it could potentially spread quickly amongst the other detainees, but also amongst those who work and guard the centers themselves and therefore potentially risking further spreading even outside the centers,” he said.  The UNHCR says unlawful detention of refugees is not restricted to countries in conflict, such as Libya.  It says it also is widely used as an administrative procedure in all regions — in Europe, Africa, Asia and the Americas.     Yaxley says the detention of refugees should be a measure of last resort, adding that children should never be held in immigration detention.  He says this can never be considered to be in the child’s best interest.     The UNHCR, he says, is calling for the immediate release of all children from detention as well as for refugees and asylum seekers being arbitrarily or unlawfully detained.   “We believe that releasing asylum seekers from detention is in the public health interest, not only of the United States, but for all countries… The detention of adults should only take place in exceptional circumstances and the detention of children, irrespective of their immigration status, should never happen at all,” he said.    The UNHCR urges governments to expand and implement community-based alternatives to detention, including other options for newly arriving refugees and asylum seekers.     It says detention center conditions should be improved while alternatives are being prepared.  It adds the UNHCR should continue to have access to asylum seekers and refugees held in these locations.  
…

Britain’s Prince Harry took offence at what he thought was Prince William’s “snobbishness” when he advised his brother to “take as much time as you need to get to know this girl” when he was dating Meghan Markle, a new book says.Harry and his wife, Meghan, have distanced themselves from the book called “Finding Freedom,” saying they were not interviewed for the biography being serialized by The Times and The Sunday Times newspapers and made no contributions to it.The book documents, citing sources, a time when Harry and Meghan were dating and William wanted to make sure the American actress had the right intentions, The Sunday Times said.”Don’t feel you need to rush this,” William told Harry, according to sources cited by the book. “Take as much time as you need to get to know this girl.”The Sunday Times said Harry heard a tone of snobbishness in the last two words, “this girl”, and that Harry no longer felt he needed looking after.The couple and their son, Archie, now live in Los Angeles after they stepped down from their royal roles in March to forge new careers. In January they announced plans to lead a more independent life and to finance it themselves. Harry and Meghan married in May 2018 in a wedding heralded at the time as infusing a blast of Hollywood glamour and modernity into the British monarchy and which made them one of the world’s biggest celebrity couples. 
…

Europe’s airlines, hoteliers and tour operators fear abrupt changes to coronavirus travel rules by governments are killing their chances to salvage something of a wrecked vacation season.The British government’s sudden decision Saturday to add Spain to its list of “at-risk” countries, forcing tens of thousands of Britons already holidaying in Spain to quarantine for 14 days on their return and upending plans for tens of thousands of others scheduling vacations, has dealt a massive blow to hopes that the travel industry might be able to recoup some of its massive losses from the pandemic.Britain and its European neighbors only recently lifted bans on overseas travel for leisure in a bid to return to some semblance of normality. They had come under fierce lobbying by the continent’s desperate airlines and travel firms to do so.“This is going to cause absolute chaos for travel firms as they are at peak season now,” said travel consultant Paul Charles.“The timings could not be worse. With departures this weekend, there are about to be 2 million Brits in Spain. It is the last thing travel companies want to see because of the sheer volume of holidaymakers affected. And it will be a huge blow to people there, who will now have to quarantine, or those about to fly on holiday,” he added.Britain isn’t alone in opting for caution. Saturday also saw Ireland omit Britain from a list of “safe” countries, telling its citizens it should be avoided for all but essential travel. France has issued a warning about travel to Spain. The French government has not closed the border with Spain, but a French official told VOA that Paris is considering the possibility.Norway, too, is advising against travel to Spain.The sudden moves are likely to deter travelers generally from risking trips to other countries because of the chance of new restrictions being imposed with little warning.A couple kisses as they sit by the sea in Barcelona, Spain, Saturday, July 25, 2020.That point was underscored by Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, who tweeted, “This reinforces the point that these matters are subject to change at short notice and so my advice is to be cautious about non-essential foreign travel.”Almost 40 countries worldwide have reported record single-day increases in coronavirus infections during the past week, and fears of an imminent second wave of the pandemic in Europe are also mounting.The British government’s Spain decision came without warning, catching out the country’s own transport minister, Grant Shapps, who’s vacationing in Spain with his family. British officials say they had no option but to add Spain to the red list following a significant coronavirus spike in the Mediterranean country. Spain recorded an additional 2,255 new cases Friday, following 2,615 on Thursday.Spanish authorities say they have identified 281 active outbreaks with a third of them triggered by social or family gatherings. Nightclubs have also been identified as hot spots. Spanish officials are warning of a possible second wave of infections, with the northeast region of Catalonia the worst affected. Catalonia has closed nightlife down for two weeks.However, major towns away from the northeast are also seeing surges in confirmed cases. The Murcia region sealed off 30,000 people in the town of Totana on Thursday, barring anyone from entering or leaving after 55 people tested positive following a nightclub visit. Restrictions have also been tightened in Zaragoza and Pamplona.“We have important outbreaks. It could be a second wave. We’ll have to see what happens in the next few weeks,” said Maria José Sierra, Spain’s deputy emergency health director.“Protecting public health is our absolute priority and we have taken this decision to limit any potential spread to the UK,” Britain’s Department of Transport said in a statement. “We’ve always been clear that we would act immediately to remove a country [from quarantine exemptions list] where necessary,” it added.People gather outdoors at dusk on a viewpoint in Barcelona, Spain, July 25, 2020.Airlines and travel businesses are reacting, though, with anger. British Airways said the change “cannot fail to have an impact on an already troubled aviation industry.”EasyJet, one of Europe’s biggest airlines, said, “We are disappointed that the Government has decided to impose a quarantine requirement for those traveling from the whole of Spain since the increased occurrence of Coronavirus is regional rather than nationwide.”Moreover, Britain’s Airport Operators Association said it would “further damage what is already a fragile restart of the aviation sector which continues to face the biggest challenge in its history.”British airline bosses and their counterparts say that the abruptness of the decision will chill vacation travel as a whole across the continent, with holidaymakers fearful of rule changes being announced while they are vacationing.“This level of uncertainty and confusion is damaging for business,” said Andrew Flintham, managing director of TUI, Britain’s biggest tour operator. TUI announced it will cancel all reservations for Spain, saying it “won’t take customers on holiday” if they were required to quarantine on their return.Lois Stothard, from South Yorkshire, told the BBC she had booked a vacation in the Spanish town of Seville and was due to fly Sunday with her boyfriend but would now have to cancel.“I’m a key worker — I’m a teacher — and my boyfriend has work commitments, so we cannot quarantine for 14 days when we return. We can’t get any money back and to change, the company want double what I’ve already paid in fees. I’m very disappointed and upset as we’re packed and ready to go,” she said.Some travel experts say the decision to add Spain to the red list should have been made sooner and well before the weekend.“Why on earth was this decision not taken 48 hours ago, when it was clear there was a problem with Spain, and before tens of thousands of UK holidaymakers flew out on Friday as the summer holidays started?” asked Rory Boland, editor of the travel magazine Which?Anxiety is mounting across Europe that it could soon be back in the eye of the coronavirus storm. Officials say young people have been lowering their guard after lockdowns were lifted.“We have canceled out much of the progress accomplished during the first weeks of exit from lockdown,” the French health ministry said.Alarmed French officials say some of the young people testing positive for the virus have been failing to self-isolate.There are also worries in the Italian region of Lazio, which includes Rome.  Regional officials warned last week that there could be a second lockdown after coronavirus cases began to rise again. Authorities warned that restrictions to curb the spread of the virus may be reintroduced if infections continue to climb. There were 17 new cases confirmed last Sunday, with 10 among people returning to the country from overseas.Lazio’s health commissioner, Alessio D’Amato, urged people to wear masks in public spaces as instructed.“I appeal for the use of masks, otherwise, we’ll have to close down again. We can’t turn back and waste all the efforts done until now,” he said.       
…

Protesters have taken to the streets of several U.S. cities to bring attention to racial injustice.Protests in Portland, Oregon, have been going in for two months, since the May 25 death of George Floyd while in police custody in Minneapolis, Minnesota.The Trump administration has sent federal officers to Portland, adding additional fuel to the protests. The demonstrators now are also protesting the federal presence in the city.In Seattle, police using flash bangs and tear gas arrested 45 people Saturday after demonstrations in support or the protests in Portland turned violent. Police said more than 20 police officers were injured.Saturday night, in Austin, Texas, a man was killed when someone shot into a Black Lives Matter march.Media accounts say the man may have approached a vehicle with a rifle before he was fired upon.“All I know is that someone dying while protesting is horrible,” Mayor Steve Adler of Austin said in a statement. Adler said he is “heartbroken and stunned.”In Louisville, Kentucky, a group of armed protesters called for justice of Breonna Taylor, a Black woman who died in Louisville when police entered her home without warning on a “no knock” warrant and shot her. Taylor’s boyfriend had fired at the officers first, thinking they were intruders.One police officer has been fired because of the Taylor incident, but charges have not been brought against the other officers.The leader of the NFAC group, an armed Black militia involved in the protests, says he wants the police investigation into the Taylor killing to be more transparent.Police say three NFAC members were injured Saturday when one of the militia’s weapons accidentally discharged.  
…