US Senate Republicans say they are working on their own legislation relating to police reform and social injustice following the death in custody of African American George Floyd last month. This comes a day after the Democrats unveiled an expansive reform package aimed at cracking down on police brutality and …
Read More »Palestinians offer ‘counter-proposal’ to Trump’s West Bank annexation plan
The plan offered up to the United States, Russia, the United Nations and the European Union includes a “sovereign Palestinian state, independent, and demilitarised” with “minor modifications of borders where necessary”. Palestinians have submitted a response to the controversial US Mideast plan, which sees parts of the occupied West Bank …
Read More »Magnitude 5.7 quake strikes southern Iran
A magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck Fars province in southern Iran on Tuesday, the official IRNA news agency reported. There was no immediate information about possible casualties or damage from the quake, which hit near the town of Beyram.
Read More »Samsung: Court rejects Lee Jae-yong arrest warrant request
A court has denied an arrest warrant request for Samsung heir Lee Jae-yong, after he was accused of accounting fraud and stock manipulation. The ruling provides at least temporary relief for the de facto head of the South Korean conglomerate. But Mr Lee isn’t completely in the clear yet as …
Read More »Iran will execute informant convicted of spying on Soleimani for CIA: judiciary
An Iranian man who provided information to the U.S. and Israeli intelligence services on the whereabouts of Iran’s slain Revolutionary Guards commander Qassem Soleimani has been sentenced to death, Iran’s judiciary said on Tuesday. On Jan. 3, a U.S. drone strike in Iraq killed Soleimani, leader of the Revolutionary Guards’ …
Read More »UK records around 64,000 excess deaths during pandemic, official
About 64,000 more people than usual have died in the United Kingdom during this year’s coronavirus pandemic, an expert from the Office for National Statistics said on Tuesday. Epidemiologists say excess mortality – deaths from all causes that exceed the five-year average for the time of year – is the …
Read More »France bans police use of chokehold arrests amid ongoing George Floyd protests
French police will abandon the chokehold method of arresting suspects, Interior Minister Christophe Castaner promised as George Floyd protests in the US inspired renewed outrage over police conduct in France. “It will no longer be taught in police and gendarmerie schools,” Castaner said on Monday, adding that the chokehold “has …
Read More »US officially fell into recession in February amid coronavirus pandemic
The National Bureau of Economic Research said in a report that the United States officially fell into a recession in February when the country began to feel the effects of the measures imposed to fight the novel coronavirus outbreak, reported Sputnik news agency. “The (Business Cycle Dating) committee has determined …
Read More »African Parliament Condemns George Floyd’s Death
The Pan-African Parliament (PAP) says it is shocked by the death of George Floyd at the hands of police officers in Minneapolis, United States. Acting President of PAP, Bouras Djamel, in a statement on Monday, said the organization’s thoughts and prayers are with his family and loved ones, African Americans …
Read More »Houston bids farewell to George Floyd in hometown funeral
Mourners packed a Houston church to pay tribute to George Floyd at his hometown funeral on Tuesday, the culmination of a long farewell to the 46-year-old African American whose death in custody ignited global protests against police brutality and racism. Politicians, civil rights activists and celebrities joined the family to …
Read More »North Korea cuts all official communication lines with South
North Korea is severing all official communication links with the South, it announced Tuesday in a move analysts said was aimed at manufacturing a crisis on the divided peninsula. Since last week the North has issued a series of vitriolic denunciations of the South over activists sending anti-Pyongyang leaflets over …
Read More »Ex-Minneapolis cop Derek Chauvin bail set at up to $1.25 million for George Floyd murder charges
Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer charged with murdering George Floyd during an arrest, had his bail set at up to $1.25 million Monday. Floyd, who was black, died May 25 after Chauvin knelt on his neck to restrain him for nearly nine minutes while he was being detained …
Read More »Man convicted for setting fire to phone mast in Merseyside
Following attacks on scores of 5G phone masts across the UK, it seems the British judiciary has finally decided to crack down. In the first case of its kind a suspect has been convicted for setting fire to the equipment box of a phone mast in the north-western English town …
Read More »U.K. Protesters Pull down Statue of Slave Trader and Throw It into the Bristol Harbour
For someone who died nearly three centuries ago, Edward Colston has become a symbol for the Black Lives Matter movement in Britain. The toppling of his statue in Bristol, a city in the southwest of England, on Sunday by anti-racism protesters was greeted with joyous scenes, recognition of the fact …
Read More »Armenian Prime Minister Recovers from COVID-19
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian says he and his family have recovered from the coronavirus. Pashinian said on Facebook that he and his family members tested negative Monday for a second time in as many days. Pashinian announced that he was infected a week ago, adding that he probably contracted …
Read More »Virginia police investigating white officer who tasered unarmed black man unprovoked
A police department in Virginia is investigating an incident where one of its own officers tasered an unarmed man, then restrained him with a knee on his back while he repeatedly said “I can’t breathe”. The officer concerned, Tyler Timberlake, was recorded by another officer’s body camera. He has been …
Read More »Indian forces kill five pro-independence fighters in Kashmir shootout
Indian forces have killed at least five pro-independence fighters in gunfire in Indian-controlled Kashmir, sparking protests by local residents in the restive disputed valley. The latest bout of violence started after the Indian forces cordoned off Reban village in the southern Kashmir valley early Sunday on suspicions that several fighters …
Read More »Japan refuses to join US, others in condemning China’s Hong Kong law
Japan has reportedly decided not to join the United States, the United Kingdom and some other countries in “condemning” China over a recently-passed law to safeguard national security in Hong Kong, the semi-autonomous Chinese territory. According to a report by Japan’s Kyodo news agency on Sunday, Tokyo refused to be …
Read More »One Shot as armed man drives into Seattle Floyd protest (Video, Pictures)
One person was shot after a man armed with a gun drove into a crowd of George Floyd protestors in the north-west city of Seattle on Sunday night, emergency services said. Footage broadcast by local television station Q13Fox showed the man carrying a pistol getting out of a car near …
Read More »Kosovo ready for dialogue with Serbia: President
Kosovo’s President Hashim Thaci said on Monday that the government is ready for dialogue with Serbia, and the process should not be delayed. Thaci’s remarks came during a press conference in Pristina, the capital of Kosovo. He said Kosovo should move quickly in that direction such that it could join …
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