| Minneapolis police chief ends negotiations with police union in a bid for reform Posted: 10 Jun 2020 10:15 AM PDT  The move comes amid heightened awareness of the role police unions sometimes play in stifling reform efforts that aim to combat police brutality.
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| Police officer who put middle fingers up at protesters stripped of his powers Posted: 09 Jun 2020 02:27 PM PDT  A Chicago police officer who raised his middle fingers to demonstrators during George Floyd protests last week, has been assigned to desk duty.During the protests last Thursday, an officer was photographed raising the middle fingers of both of his hands at protesters, as police drove away from the demonstrations.
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| Iran says will execute spy who helped US target general Posted: 09 Jun 2020 02:45 AM PDT  Tehran said Tuesday it will execute an Iranian for spying for the United States and Israel after his conviction was upheld for helping the US to locate a top Iranian general killed in a drone strike. Mahmoud Mousavi Majd was convicted of spying on Iran's armed forces, "especially the Quds Force and on the whereabouts and movements of martyr General Qasem Soleimani", judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Esmaili said in a news conference. Majd had been found guilty of receiving large sums of money from both the US Central Intelligence Agency and Israel's Mossad, Esmaili said.
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| Dr. Birx Says George Floyd Protests Have Resulted in the Destruction of 70 Covid-19 Testing Sites Posted: 10 Jun 2020 08:14 AM PDT  Dr. Deborah Birx, President Trump's coronavirus response coordinator, warned the nation's governors on a conference call that 70 coronavirus testing sites had been destroyed amid widespread protests in the wake of the death of George Floyd.During the Monday call, a recording of which was obtained by the Daily Beast, Birx said governors should "scramble now to make sure there is testing available in urban areas." Vice President Mike Pence, the head of the White House coronavirus task force, said that spikes in cases stemming from the unrest are "an issue our team is following and there is a concern."Birx's comments mirror those of Dr. Anthony Fauci, who has raised concerns that the protests could lead to a spike in cases. "It's a perfect set up for further spread of the virus in the sense of creating these blips which might turn into some surges," Fauci admitted on local D.C. radio station WTOP last week.Members of the Washington, D.C., National Guard have already tested positive for coronavirus since being deployed on May 31 to help deal with mass demonstrations and rioting in the nation's capitol.Data shows that Texas, California, Oregon, North and South Carolina, Mississippi, Utah, Arkansas, and Arizona have all seen sharp increases in coronavirus hospitalizations since Memorial Day weekend, as states have begun to open up following months of lockdowns."There is active community spread in California, North Carolina, Utah, and Arizona," Birx said on the call, adding that her team had seen evidence of community spread in "metro Hispanic neighborhoods."
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| He trained the San Jose police about racial bias. An officer shot him with a rubber bullet during a protest. Posted: 09 Jun 2020 04:29 PM PDT  Derek Sanderlin reportedly needed emergency groin surgery for a rupture caused by a rubber bullet and was told he might never be able to have kids.
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| Flooding kills at least seven in central China Posted: 09 Jun 2020 02:12 AM PDT |
| Is international travel allowed yet? See when the Bahamas, Mexico, UK plan to reopen borders Posted: 10 Jun 2020 06:25 AM PDT  Spain has announced that it will reopen its borders to foreign tourists in July and Mexico will start reopening in June. See when others will follow.
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| Why the Air Force's New 6th-Generation Stealth Fighters Will Be Better Than the F-35? Posted: 09 Jun 2020 12:09 PM PDT  A lot of upgrades are coming.
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| Freed Taliban prisoners eye return to the battlefield Posted: 10 Jun 2020 10:02 AM PDT  Afghan authorities are opening prison doors for thousands of Taliban inmates in a high-risk gambit to ensure the insurgent group begins peace talks with Kabul. "If the Americans do not pull out, we will continue our jihad, because they have killed many Afghans in their operations," said Mohamed Daud, who was freed from Bagram jail north of Kabul last month. "We do not want foreign forces in our country anymore," he told AFP, dressed in a traditional shalwar kameez, before taking a taxi back to his village with a cash handout from authorities worth $65.
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| Sweden says 34 year mystery of Palme assassination is solved Posted: 10 Jun 2020 07:02 AM PDT 
Closing a chapter on Sweden's most notorious unsolved crime: the assassination of Prime Minister Olof Palme. [Head of investigation, Hans Melander, spoke via a translator on Wednesday:] "Well we can say that this is one of the biggest police investigations in the world. It is often compared to the assassination of JFK and also with the Lockerbie bombing and if we look to Sweden then of course it is by far Sweden's biggest criminal investigation ever.'' Palme, the leader of Sweden's Social Democrats, was shot dead in central Stockholm in 1986 after a visit to the cinema. A Swedish prosecutor closed the case on Wednesday (June 10). Krister Petersson, who has led an investigation into the case since 2017, said the killer was Stig Engstrom, a suspect long known to Swedes as "Skandia man" after the company where he worked, with offices near the scene of the shooting. Engstrom, known to have been at the scene, was repeatedly questioned in early investigations but dismissed as a serious suspect at the time. He died in the year 2000. Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven said on Wednesday (June 10) that he hoped the findings could begin healing the wounds left by the national trauma of the assassination 34 years ago. Lofven said that while a conviction and more definitive evidence would have been desirable, the current investigation had gone further than previous inquiries. Palme's son, Marten, told public service radio he also believed Engstrom was the killer, but said, quote, "unfortunately there is no real conclusive evidence." Conspiracy theories around the assassination blamed a range of forces, from the CIA and Kurdish separatists to the South African security services.
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| Homicides in Los Angeles Increase 250 Percent from Previous Week Posted: 10 Jun 2020 05:56 AM PDT  The Los Angeles Police Department announced that murders increased by 250 percent last week in the wake of national unrest following the death of George Floyd, and just as Los Angeles officials announced plans to slash the city's police budget by up to $150 million.The LAPD announced that, compared to the previous week, "homicides went up 250% and victims shot went up 56%" from May 31 to June 6. The department also said that the city had seen four separate shootings — one resulting in a homicide — over the last 24 hours.> The week of 5/31 to 6/6, homicides went up 250% and victims shot went up 56% compared to the previous week. > > The past 24 hrs has seen 4 shootings, one of those resulting in a homicide. Detectives are following leads to ID & arrest the suspects—but we're also asking for your help pic.twitter.com/UXwZD7pPze> > -- LAPD HQ (@LAPDHQ) June 9, 2020Last week, Mayor Eric Garcetti said that the city would "identify $250 million in cuts so we can invest in jobs, in health, in education and in healing," for women and minority communities, and the black community in particular. L.A. Police Commission President Eileen Decker then revealed that $100 million to $150 million would come in reductions to the police budget.Garcetti said there would be cuts "to every department, including the Police Department, because we all have to be part of this solution together. We all have to step up and say, 'What can we sacrifice?'" The stance marks a major shift from Garcetti's position of just a few weeks ago, when he proposed significantly increasing the LAPD budget during the 2020-21 fiscal year from $1.189 billion to $1.86 billion.The city's police union, the Los Angeles Police Protective League, responded to the announcement by warning the cuts would not make the city safer."What you need to do is ask the citizens of Los Angeles, Do they feel comfortable with cutting $150 million from the police budget?' I would say, No.' Can you imagine if that money was cut and the same situation happened in a year or two? I think it would be 10 times worse," Detective Jamie McBride, a member of union's board of directors, said in response to the news.
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| Malaysian prosecutors drop corruption charges against Najib ally Posted: 09 Jun 2020 03:47 AM PDT  Malaysian government prosecutors withdrew corruption charges on Tuesday against an ally of former premier Najib Razak, whose party returned to power in a new coalition three months ago after having lost the last election amid massive graft scandals. The Kuala Lumpur High Court acquitted Musa Aman, a senior figure in Najib's United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) and former chief minister of Sabah state in Malaysian Borneo, after the prosecution dropped all 46 charges of alleged bribery in timber concession deals and money laundering. The opposition Pakatan Harapan coalition described the decision as "confusing and disappointing".
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| Falwell apologizes for tweet that included racist photo Posted: 08 Jun 2020 01:53 PM PDT  Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr. apologized Monday for a tweet that included a racist photo that appeared on Gov. Ralph Northam's medical school yearbook page decades ago. "After listening to African American LU leaders and alumni over the past week and hearing their concerns, I understand that by tweeting an image to remind all of the governor's racist past I actually refreshed the trauma that image had caused and offended some by using the image to make a political point," he tweeted Monday. Falwell, a stalwart backer of President Donald Trump and the son of the late evangelist the Rev. Jerry Falwell, said he had deleted the tweet and apologized "for any hurt my effort caused, especially within the African American community."
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| 14 Beautiful Examples of When Historic and Modern Architecture Come Together Posted: 10 Jun 2020 07:59 AM PDT |
| Chicago sees deadliest day in decades amid protests and curfew Posted: 09 Jun 2020 03:16 PM PDT  As protests against George Floyd's death raged on 31 May, 18 people were killed in just one day,
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| The U.S. Air Force’s Shiny, New Sea Power Presence Posted: 09 Jun 2020 09:28 AM PDT  It will take more than a lone bomber mission from afar—no matter how impressive—to rattle Moscow's complacency.
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| Second Etihad plane from UAE lands in Israel Posted: 09 Jun 2020 05:13 PM PDT  UAE carrier Etihad Airways sent its second flight to Israel in less than a month Tuesday, carrying medical aid to help the Palestinians tackle the coronavirus pandemic, witnesses and officials said. Jordan and Egypt aside, Arab countries have no official diplomatic ties with Israel, but Gulf Arab nations have had ever more publicly warm ties with Israel of late, partly over shared rivalry with Iran. In mid-May, the United Arab Emirates flew its first publicly announced flight to Israel, also an Etihad flight carrying coronavirus aid for the Palestinians.
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| U.S. Response to COVID-19 is Worse than China’s. 100 Times Worse. Posted: 10 Jun 2020 04:00 AM PDT  The numbers make clear that the U.S. spectacularly failed to effectively fight COVID-19 when compared to most other countries in the world.
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| George Floyd protests: Minneapolis police force drops talks with union headed by Trump loyalist Posted: 10 Jun 2020 08:56 AM PDT  Minneapolis Police Department chief Medaria Arradondo announced the department would immediately withdraw from the police union contract negotiations as one of a series of agency reforms following the death of George Floyd.This first step of many, Mr Arradondo said, was in an effort to provide "transparency and more flexibility for true reform" for how the department polices citizens.
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| Gianno Caldwell slams Chicago mayor amid homicide spree: This is not a mayor who is for the people Posted: 10 Jun 2020 05:34 AM PDT  Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot is an elitist who is leaving the residents unsafe, Fox News contributor Gianno Caldwell says after Chicago marks its deadliest day in 60 years.
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| This Urban Home in India Maximizes Its Tiny Footprint Posted: 10 Jun 2020 10:28 AM PDT |
| Trump administration sued over coronavirus-related border restrictions Posted: 10 Jun 2020 07:31 AM PDT  The Trump administration on Wednesday faced its first legal challenge to a policy that has nearly halted the U.S. asylum system as well as admissions of migrants at the U.S. border with Mexico. A 16-year-old Honduran boy awaiting deportation from the United States under a Trump administration order issued in March that curtailed immigration due to the novel coronavirus pandemic sued the U.S. government in federal court in Washington, D.C., late on Tuesday. A March 20 order by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention allows agents to deport migrants apprehended at the border - including asylum seekers and unaccompanied children - without standard legal processes, arguing there is a risk they could spread the coronavirus in the United States.
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| Portland, Ore., police chief resigns after 6 months amid George Floyd protests Posted: 09 Jun 2020 12:14 PM PDT  Jami Resch stepped down as chief of the Police Bureau in Portland, Oregon, on Monday and announced Chuck Lovell would take her place amid protests in the city.
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| Philippine journalist Ressa scared but strong ahead of verdict Posted: 09 Jun 2020 11:21 PM PDT  High-profile Philippine journalist Maria Ressa says the libel charge that could see her jailed next week is a government ploy to intimidate all critical voices, but she refuses to be silenced and still holds out hope of winning. "I've been the cautionary tale: be quiet or you're next... that's part of the reason why I have been targeted," said Ressa, 56, the co-founder of news site Rappler and a former CNN journalist. "It's a chilling effect... not just to me and to Rappler, but to journalists and to anyone who asks critical questions."
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| D-Day by the Numbers: Here's All the Data You Could Want About That Famous Invasion Posted: 09 Jun 2020 02:00 PM PDT  The data shows how huge the operation was.
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| India and China: How Nepal's new map is stirring old rivalries Posted: 10 Jun 2020 08:01 AM PDT  Nepal is redrawing its official map, fuelling simmering border tensions between India and China.
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| One Year After the Hong Kong Protests Began, Frustrated Hardliners Call for Independence Posted: 09 Jun 2020 02:22 AM PDT  Desperation forces some to call for a break from China
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| U.N. chief regrets North Korea decision to cut hotlines with South Posted: 10 Jun 2020 11:44 AM PDT  U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres regrets that North Korea has severed hotlines with South Korea, warning that such channels "are necessary to avoid misunderstandings or miscalculations," a U.N. spokesman said on Wednesday. Pyongyang's decision, announced by the KCNA state news agency on Tuesday, marks a new setback to stalled efforts to persuade North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons. U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric noted that June was a symbolic month representing the second anniversary of the first meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and the 20th anniversary of the first meeting between the leaders of the two Koreas.
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| No masks, no water: New York protesters held in ‘abysmal’ conditions, experts say Posted: 10 Jun 2020 12:00 AM PDT  More than 2,000 people have been arrested in the city and the police treatment of those detained is emboldening people * George Floyd killing – latest US updates * See all our George Floyd coverageProtesters in New York have been unnecessarily arrested and detained for as long as 48 hours in "abysmal" conditions without access to masks, food and water, according to legal experts.Since the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis just over two weeks ago, tens of thousands of people have taken to the streets of New York City in protest over police brutality. More than 2,000 people had been arrested in the city as of Thursday – around a fifth of the total of over 10,000 arrested nationally – on charges such as resisting arrest, disorderly conduct and violating the now cancelled city-wide curfew. New York Police Department (NYPD) declined a request for updated arrest figures, saying they will be available "in the near future". Lawyers say the NYPD is also denying many of those arrested their right to a phone call, leaving their friends and families fearful for their lives. Details of arrests are not publicly available, but anecdotally, lawyers said protesters are facing charges for disorderly conduct, obstructing governmental administration and for violating the curfew, which was considered a Class B misdemeanour, carrying a maximum sentence of up to three months imprisonment.Despite the coronavirus pandemic, they said most police officers do not wear masks and in some cases confiscate those of protesters who are being "packed" into cells with no regard for social distancing.Corey Stoughton, head of the special litigation unit at the Legal Aid Society, said: "We have heard from our clients who have been arrested that the conditions in the holding cells that they are held in, in many cases for 10-20 hours, are abysmal. Especially following some of the larger demonstrations and mass arrests, that there are extremely crowded conditions, that the cells are dirty and unsanitary and unsafe."Police officers, she added, "rarely" wear masks. "So really an arrest is a decision by the police department to put protesters into a situation that is dangerous for their health and safety."Most protesters that are arrested are taken to a police station and held before being released on a summons ordering them to appear in court at a later date. The protesters the Guardian spoke to had received summonses for September. If they face higher charges, they are arraigned, which means they are detained until they have seen a judge – who either sets bail or releases them.Rigodis Appling, a staff attorney at the Legal Aid Society, where she is a founding member of the Black Attorneys of Legal Aid caucus, said some protesters were held for 48 hours. Ordinarily this would be illegal under New York state's 24-hour arrest-to-arraignment rule but it was suspended as a result of the crisis and upheld by a Manhattan supreme court judge."The people I saw had been sitting in the Tombs [the nickname for where people are detained underneath the courthouse in Manhattan] for 48 hours … in New York, typically you're supposed to see a judge within 24 hours," said Appling. She said of those who were arraigned, were "majority, almost all, black and Latino" and that many were "over-charged" with higher crimes. She has also seen multiple essential workers who were not necessarily a part of the protests in arraignments. Describing the conditions in the Tombs, she said: "Filthy would be an understatement." While she said it is always like that, Covid-19 makes it "even scarier" for her clients. Porsha-Shaf'on Venable, a supervising attorney public defender in New York and an attorney for Good Call, a hotline offering 24-hour free legal support to people who have been arrested in the city and their friends and family, said police treatment of protesters is tantamount to an "act of terror".She added: "People are scared … And if there was any confidence, if there was any modicum of confidence in the NYPD before, they have successfully diminished that. It is gone. And you can hear it in every mother's voice that calls the hotline."Good Call has been flooded with close to 2,000 calls since the protests started and expanded its team of lawyers, who Venable said are working "around the clock".On Thursday night, when protesters in the Bronx were zip-tied, she said they were taken to another borough, Queens."Some of them were ultimately released, but it was still during curfew time with no way to get back home and with real fear of being arrested again for violating the curfew."Many of the arrests are unnecessary, said Jared Trujillo, defence attorney and president of the association of Legal Aid Attorneys. "Ultimately someone who's just out there protesting there is no reason that police officers can't issue an appearance ticket – if they have to arrest them at all."Rather than scaring off protesters, police treatment of those arrested is in some ways "emboldening" people to demonstrate, he said.The Manhattan district attorney, Cyrus Vance, announced on Friday that he will not prosecute protesters for low-level offenses.However, Trujillo said there was no guarantee. "Something to note about the Manhattan DA is oftentimes they say they're not going to prosecute certain things and they do it anyway."Student Kellen Gold, 22, was arrested for violating the curfew on Wednesday night at a march in Manhattan. Gold, who uses they/them pronouns, said they were charged by police on bikes so they ran and kneeled before being "thrown to the ground and then cuffed" and taken to a police station in Brooklyn."I've been arrested a bunch of times [for activism] … this is the first arrest where I've been violently handled," said Gold, who was released at around 1.15am and given a court date in September.Almost all of the officers were not wearing masks, said Gold, and protesters were required to share water cups.Johnathan, 35, a videographer from Brooklyn who did not want to give his last name, said he was arrested for trespassing at the Barclays Centre on 29 May after walking up the sloping grass-covered roof of the train station to get a better vantage point to film.At One Police Plaza, NYPD's headquarters in Manhattan, he claims it was "chaos". He said he was not given a phone call and officers were not wearing masks or social distancing. In a holding area of about 50 people, he said he was the only one wearing a mask.He said he has been summoned to appear in September but that officers told him they will not charge him with trespassing. "I don't know what's in store," he added.The experience has changed him, he said, and he believes the police should be defunded. He added: "If they're messing that up, what else are they messing up? … The fire that has now been lit under me is to hold the police accountable."The NYPD, which Mayor Bill de Blasio announced on Sunday would have its $6bn budget cut following pressure from protesters, said it "supports and respects the rights of protesters to express their views" and that they are given "numerous warnings to disperse" if officers decide to clear the street. It said if directions are ignored, "a person may be subject to an arrest or summons."Sergeant Mary Frances O'Donnell, a spokeswoman for the deputy commissioner, public information, said: "While the majority of the protests have been peaceful, our officers have encountered agitators with different agendas who have used the guise of the protests to commit criminal acts and violence. "Since May 25, our officers have been shot at, stabbed, assaulted with rocks, bricks and other debris, have been struck by vehicles and have even had molotov cocktails thrown inside their vehicle. This behaviour is unacceptable and will not be tolerated."
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| Minnesota state troopers admit deflating tires during protests Posted: 09 Jun 2020 01:23 PM PDT  Social media videos emerged that appear to show law enforcement officers slashing tires as protesters gathered in Minneapolis.
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| President Trump, Senate Republicans to put forward proposals for possible police reform Posted: 09 Jun 2020 03:16 PM PDT  Sources say the reforms would be a combination of executive and legislative action; chief White House correspondent John Roberts reports.
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| Project 955A: This New Russian Submarine Is Ready to Rumble Posted: 10 Jun 2020 06:25 AM PDT  The Knyaz Vladimir—named for Prince Vladimir the Great of Novgorod and ruler of the Kievan Rus from the late tenth and early eleventh centuries—is the first of the advanced iteration of the Borei-class Project 955A.
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| Dozens killed in attack in northern Nigeria Posted: 10 Jun 2020 10:02 AM PDT  At least 59 people are reported to have been killed in the raid by jihadist militants on Tuesday.
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| Hurricane season off to historically fast start: What does that mean for the rest of the year? Posted: 08 Jun 2020 12:34 PM PDT  With Tropical Storm Cristobal's landfall along the Gulf Coast on Sunday, the 2020 hurricane season is off to a historically fast start.
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| Minneapolis police chief takes on union, promises reform Posted: 10 Jun 2020 08:16 AM PDT  The Minneapolis Police Department will withdraw from police union contract negotiations, Chief Medaria Arradondo said Wednesday, as he announced initial steps in what he said would be transformational reforms to the agency in the wake of George Floyd's death. Faced with calls from activists and a majority of City Council members to dismantle or defund the department, Arradondo also said he would use a new system to identify problem officers and intervene if there are early warning signs of trouble. "We will have a police department that our communities view as legitimate, trusting and working with their best interests at heart," he told reporters during a news conference more than two weeks after Floyd died after a white officer pressed his knee into the handcuffed black man's neck even after he stopped moving and pleading for air.
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| Trump's troop cut in Germany blindsided senior U.S. officials, sources say Posted: 08 Jun 2020 08:22 PM PDT  President Donald Trump's decision to cut U.S. troop levels in Germany blindsided a number of senior national security officials, according to five sources familiar with the matter, and the Pentagon had yet to receive a formal order to carry it out, Reuters has learned. Trump decided to remove 9,500 troops from Germany, one of America's strongest allies, reducing the number there to 25,000 from 34,500, a senior U.S. official said on Friday.
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| Alabama police admit officer punched black shopkeeper who reported robbery after ‘mistaking him for suspect’ Posted: 09 Jun 2020 04:47 AM PDT  An Alabama police department has admitted one of its white officers punched a black shopkeeper after he called 911 to report a robbery because he mistook him for a suspect, according to multiple reports.Both AL.com and the Associated Press reported that Decatur police admitted the mix-up on Monday.
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| Biden seeks running mate who's "ready to be president on day one" Posted: 10 Jun 2020 05:24 AM PDT  The presumptive Democratic nominee said he wants someone who's comfortable raising any disagreements with him.
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| Australia rejects China's racism warning to students Posted: 09 Jun 2020 06:01 PM PDT  Australian officials and leading universities on Wednesday rejected China's claims students should be "cautious" in choosing to study Down Under because of concerns over racist incidents during the coronavirus pandemic. China's ministry of education warned students on Tuesday there had been "multiple discriminatory incidents against Asians in Australia" during the pandemic, ramping up diplomatic tensions between the two countries. The advisory was the latest in an escalating dispute between Beijing and Canberra that was deepened by Australia's call for an independent inquiry into the origin and handling of the coronavirus in central China last year.
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| NYC Without Police? Chirlane McCray Says It Would Be 'Nirvana.' Bill de Blasio Doesn’t See It Happening for Generations Posted: 09 Jun 2020 10:35 AM PDT  'But that doesn't mean you can't change policing,' Bill de Blasio said during a TIME100 Talks discussion
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| China Carries Out Large-Scale Drills in Latest Showdown With India Posted: 10 Jun 2020 05:30 AM PDT  The latest saber-rattling in the region was meant to demonstrate China's capability to quickly reinforce its border defenses.
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