- U.S.Yahoo News
Trump tells NYC to activate National Guard: 'The lowlifes and losers are ripping you apart!'
After vowing Monday to deploy military force to restore order in states that fail to “dominate” unlawful demonstrations, President Trump on Tuesday all but ordered New York City to request help from the National Guard. “NYC, CALL UP THE NATIONAL GUARD,” Trump tweeted. Parts of New York City, including midtown Manhattan, were rocked by disorder Monday night, despite an 11 p.m. curfew.
- WorldThe Independent
Powerful video from 1986 resurfaces showing Biden’s passionate speech against apartheid
A powerful video of then-Senator Joe Biden speaking about apartheid South Africa has resurfaced. The clip, taken from C-Span coverage of a Senate committee in 1986, shows Mr Biden passionately speaking out in support of the majority black population of South Africa, and against the oppressive apartheid regime. Challenging Reagan administration secretary of state George Schultz on government policy towards South Africa, Senator Biden says he is disturbed by the rationale behind it, arguing that it amounts to doing nothing.
- U.S.Associated Press
Autopsy report shows Floyd had tested positive for COVID-19
A full autopsy of George Floyd, the handcuffed black man who died after being restrained by Minneapolis police, was released Wednesday and provides several clinical details, including that Floyd had previously tested positive for COVID-19. Bystander video showing Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin pressing his knee on Floyd's neck, ignoring Floyd's “I can't breathe” cries until he eventually stopped moving, has sparked nationwide protests, some violent. The report by Chief Medical Examiner Andrew Baker spelled out clinical details, including that Floyd had tested positive for COVID-19 on April 3 but appeared asymptomatic.
- U.S.INSIDER
Voices captured on an NYC police scanner can be heard saying protesters should be shot and run over
REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz A New York police scanner broadcast voices advocating violence against protesters. Audio clips of the communication have circulated on social media. In one clip, someone says: "Shoot those motherf---ers," referring to the protesters.
- WorldBusiness Insider
China's state media says US can now 'enjoy' protests after criticizing China's handling of unrest in Hong Kong
China has been furious at the US government for criticizing its handling of protests in Hong Kong and for backing pro-democracy demonstrators. Over the weekend, state-run media made the most of the current protests in America, sparked by the police-related death of George Floyd. "US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi once called the violent protests in Hong Kong 'a beautiful sight to behold,'" he wrote.
- U.S.USA TODAY
In aftermath of George Floyd's death, San Diego police will 'immediately' end use of carotid restraint
At least three major police departments have banned similar neck holds or chokeholds amid increasing attention on policing maneuvers that cut off oxygen to people under arrest or restraint. Minneapolis officer Derek Chauvin used a similarly controversial knee-to-neck restraint, pressing his knee into Floyd's neck for nearly nine minutes, which resulted in his death. In San Diego, Police Chief David Nisleit and local elected officials announced Monday that officers would immediately stop using the carotid restraint as a use-of-force procedure amid nationwide protests against police brutality.
- WorldThe Daily Beast
Police Identify German Man as Main Suspect in Madeleine McCann Disappearance
Police in the U.K. have asked the public for help in tracking the movements of a 43-year-old German man identified as the main suspect in the mysterious disappearance of Madeleine McCann. Madeleine vanished from a hotel apartment in Praia da Luz on Portugal's Algarve coast in May 2007, while on holiday with her parents and twin siblings. It is the first time British police have identified a key suspect, and senior police officers described the breakthrough to the U.K.'s Telegraph as “significant.”
- WorldReuters
Putin declines British invitation to take part in coronavirus summit: Kremlin
Russian President Vladimir Putin does not plan to take part in an online summit on a possible coronavirus vaccine being organised by the British government this week, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday. Putin received an invitation to take part in the summit from British Prime Minister Boris Johnson last week, the Kremlin had said. Scheduled to take place on June 4, the Global Vaccine Summit 2020 is designed to mobilise resources needed to ensure universal availability of the vaccine against the novel coronavirus.
- U.S.CBS News
Bar owner won't face charges in fatal shooting of Omaha protester
During protests in Omaha, Nebraska over the weekend, a black activist was shot and killed by a white bar owner after a fight broke out. The county attorney said the shooter will not face charges because he was "defending himself." James Scurlock, 22, was killed by Jacob Gardner, the owner of the Hive Bar and Gatsby Bar in Omaha's Old Market neighborhood around midnight Saturday in the midst of protests against police brutality and George Floyd's death.
- U.S.USA TODAY Opinion
I helped create the worst photo-op ever. Thanks to Trump, now it's only second worst.
President Donald Trump walked out of the White House gates and into history this week. There, after an egregious abuse of power, and with his penchant for awkward poses, Trump created the worst presidential visual of all time. During the racial justice protests, as in normal times, there is an understandable focus on what Trump is saying — and failing to say.
- U.S.USA TODAY
Gov. Cuomo apologizes to NYPD brass after critical 'do your job' comments, chief says
ALBANY, N.Y. – New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo apologized privately to top New York City Police administrators Tuesday after earlier in the day ripping their response to rioters as a "disgrace." NYPD Chief Terence Monahan told NBC's "Today" show Wednesday that Cuomo's office called him, and the governor called commissioner Dermot Shea to apologize and clarify his remarks. Last night, his office called and apologized to me, and I know he called the commissioner directly to apologize,” Monahan said.
WorldAFPIranian scientist freed from US custody returns to Iran
Iranian scientist Cyrus Asgari returned to Iran Wednesday after being released by the United States, the Islamic Republic's arch enemy, where he had spent nearly three years in detention after being charged with espionage. Asgari, 59, who has been cleared by US judicial authorities, fell into the arms of his relatives on his arrival at Tehran's international airport, images broadcast by several Iranian media showed. He was wearing a face mask but appeared to be in good health despite having caught the coronavirus while in US custody according to the Iranian foreign ministry.
- U.S.INSIDER
'My face exploded': Police firing rubber bullets have wounded and permanently disabled protesters and journalists
Social media is filled with images of wounded protesters and journalists who have been struck by rubber bullets and tear gas canisters in the eyes and face. Some have even lost their sight. Experts policing, however, tell Insider that rubber bullets are considered "less lethal" weapons — and many police departments have considered them a "legitimate tool" for decades.
- WorldBusiness Insider
The architect of Sweden's no-lockdown plan suggested the strategy was a mistake based on what we now know about the coronavirus
JONATHAN NACKSTRAND/AFP via Getty Images The scientist behind Sweden's no-lockdown coronavirus strategy has suggested for the first time that the approach may have been a mistake. Anders Tegnell told Swedish radio if the country had more knowledge about the coronavirus earlier in its outbreak, its reponse would likely have been "somewhere in between what Sweden did and what the rest of the world has done." Sweden has repeatedly defended its plan while saying it was constantly monitoring to see if it needed to change its strategy.
- WorldAssociated Press
EU, China postpone September summit due to pandemic
The European Union and China have agreed to postpone a summit planned for this fall because of the coronavirus pandemic, German officials said Wednesday. Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke by phone with Chinese President Xi Jinping and later with European Council President Charles Michel to discuss the Sept. 14 meeting, due to be held in the German city of Leipzig and seen as a key moment in EU relations with China. The European Union has tried to position itself as a mediator between China and the United States.
- WorldThe Guardian
Missing Mexican congresswoman's body found a month after abduction
The body of a missing Mexican congresswoman has been found in a shallow grave more than a month after she was abducted by armed men while raising awareness about the coronavirus pandemic. Anel Bueno, a 38-year-old lawmaker from the western state of Colima, was snatched on 29 April in Ixtlahuacán, a town on a stretch of Mexico's Pacific coast that the drug trade has made one of the country's most murderous regions. Mexico's President Andrés Manuel López Obrador told reporters on Wednesday a suspect had been detained over the killing of Bueno, who was a member of his party, Morena.
- WorldReuters
South Korea seeks arrest of Samsung heir in succession probe
South Korean prosecutors have requested an arrest warrant against Samsung Group heir Jay Y. Lee, they said on Thursday, in the investigation of a controversial 2015 merger and alleged accounting fraud in a suspected bid to aid his succession plans. The move spells fresh trouble for Lee, who, if arrested, faces a return to jail just a little over two years after being released from detention in February 2018. Lee already faces trial on a charge of bribery aimed at winning support to succeed ailing group patriarch Lee Kun-hee, and which involved former President Park Geun-hye, and spent a year in detention until the bribery case was suspended in 2018.
U.S.Yahoo News VideoD.C. police officer to protesters: 'If I didn't think change was possible, I would just give up'
Hours into the mandatory curfew in Washington, D.C., several police officers were recorded engaging in peaceful dialogue with protesters. While remaining in opposition to the extended protests over George Floyd's death, one officer appeared to commiserate with protesters' desire to seek change.
- U.S.The Independent
George Floyd protests: All four former police officers face new charges as demonstrations continue nationwide
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison has announced new charges against all four former officers involved in the death of George Floyd. The attorney general announced charges against Thomas Lane, Tou Thao and J Alexander Kueng, the three officers seen alongside Derek Chauvin, an officer who kneeled on Mr Floyd's neck for over eight minutes before his death, according to charging documents. Active-duty troops were meanwhile sent home from the nation's capitol on Wednesday after Defence Secretary Mark Esper said the Insurrection Act should be used "only in the most urgent and dire of situations".
- U.S.The Daily Beast
NYPD Says Looters Are Stashing Bricks. Brooklyn Locals Say Otherwise
On Wednesday morning, New York Police Department Commissioner Dermot F. Shea tweeted a low-resolution video of an unidentified officer picking up blue plastic crates on a city street corner. The crates, which appeared to be filled with chunks of masonry, had apparently been left next to a garbage can near Avenue X and West 3rd Street in Gravesend, a neighborhood by the water on Brooklyn's south end that's been largely untouched by the protests elsewhere in the borough and the city. "This is what our cops are up against: Organized looters, strategically placing caches of bricks & rocks at locations throughout NYC," Shea wrote.
- PoliticsUSA TODAY
Pompeo aide tried to 'bully' ex-State Department watchdog and stop probe in Saudi arms deal, Dems say
WASHINGTON – A top adviser to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's tried to derail an investigation into a controversial $8 billion in weapons sales to Saudi Arabia, the agency's ousted federal watchdog told lawmakers on Wednesday. During closed-door testimony, Steve Linick, who was removed as the State Department's inspector general last month, told lawmakers that Brian Bulatao – one of Pompeo's closest aides – tried to "bully" the IG on several occasions, according to Democrats who are leading an investigation into Linick's removal. "Mr.
- U.S.INSIDER
Seattle protesters are using umbrellas to block pepper spray and tear gas, mirroring tactics used by the Hong Kong pro-democracy demonstrations
REUTERS/Lindsey Wasson Seattle protesters are using umbrellas to shield themselves from substances like tear gas as they take part in the anti police-brutality protests that are sweeping the country. CNN reported that dozens of people opened umbrellas in front of a police barrier to protect themselves on Tuesday. Umbrellas may also be becoming a wider symbol of the protests in the city, after footage circulated of a police taking an umbrella off a woman before firing gas into a crowd on Monday.
- U.S.Business Insider
An 'ANTIFA' Twitter account that called for looting 'white hoods' was actually run by white nationalist group Identity Evropa
A fake antifa Twitter account that called for violence was actually run by a white nationalist group, according to a Twitter spokesperson. The account, "@ANTIFA_US," pretended to align with the Black Lives Matter movement and ongoing nationwide protests, and called for protesters to "move into residential areas... the white hoods.... and we take what's ours." Twitter banned the account Monday for breaking its rules against platform manipulation, spam, and inciting violence.
- PoliticsAssociated Press
Army: Esper reverses plan to send active-duty troops home
In an abrupt reversal, Defense Secretary Mark Esper on Wednesday overturned an earlier Pentagon decision to send a couple hundred active-duty soldiers home from the Washington, D.C., region, amid growing tensions with the White House over the military response to the protests. Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy told The Associated Press that he was told about the reversal after Esper attended a meeting at the White House, and after other internal Pentagon discussions. It is unclear if Esper met with President Donald Trump.
- U.S.The Guardian
Looting and violence continues in New York City despite unprecedented curfew
An unprecedented curfew in New York City on Monday night did little to prevent destruction, as people smashed their way into shops including Macy's flagship store, grabbed merchandise and fled. Police said more than 200 were arrested and several officers were injured, following another day of peaceful protests throughout the city over the death of George Floyd, an African American man who died on 25 May after a white Minneapolis police officer pressed a knee on his neck for nearly nine minutes. “Some people are out tonight not to protest but to destroy property and hurt others and those people are being arrested,” Mayor Bill de Blasio tweeted.
