Category Archives: US News

The fight to whitewash US history: ‘A drop of poison is all you need’

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At least 15 states are trying to ban schools from teaching critical race theory and the 1619 Project. The reactionary movement stretches back to the 1920s and the KKK

On 25 May 2020, a man died after a “medical incident during police interaction” in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The man was suspected of forgery and “believed to be in his 40s”. He “physically resisted officers” and, after being handcuffed, “appeared to be suffering medical distress”. He was taken to the hospital “where he died a short time later”.

It is not difficult to imagine a version of reality where this, the first police account of George Floyd’s brutal death beneath the knee of an implacable police officer, remained the official narrative of what took place in Minneapolis one year ago. That version of reality unfolds every day. Police lies are accepted and endorsed by the press; press accounts are accepted and believed by the public.

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Belarus hit with sanctions as world leaders react to ‘hijacked’ flight – video report

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European Union leaders have agreed to impose economic sanctions on Belarus. They have also called on their airlines to avoid the former Soviet republic's airspace, while authorising work to ban Belarusian airlines from European skies and airports. 'Belarus used its control over its airspace in order to perpetrate a state hijacking, therefore the safety and security of flights through Belarus airspace can no longer be trusted,' said the head of the bloc's executive, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen

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Biden staffers urge president to ‘hold Israel accountable’ and protect Palestinians – live

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With the Tokyo Olympics just weeks away, the US State Department has issued a “Level 4” warning against traveling to Japan, that’s now struggling through another surge in Covid cases.

A new wrinkle two months before Olympics. US State Department advises travelers not to visit Japan. https://t.co/Hrnfkwzayz

A Tokyo medical organization has joined calls to cancel Japan’s Olympic games this summer, citing a surge in #COVID19 cases in the country.

“Japan will bear the maximum responsibility” for deaths caused by the games, it said.

Just 3.5% of people in Japan have been vaccinated. pic.twitter.com/TGZBVRZXmy

The Trump Administration, which forced families to separate at the border, also made migrant parents leave without their children according to a new Department of Homeland Security Inspector General report.

The agency watchdog found that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) knowingly deported parents who had asked to be allowed to take their children back, the Associated Press reports.

That contradicted assertions by senior DHS officials that parents were choosing to leave their children in the U.S. to stay with family or for other reasons while they were deported in 2017 and 2018 as the administration sought to enforce a hard-line approach to immigration enforcement.

The findings, issued by Trump-appointed Inspector General Joseph Cuffari, provide new insight into a policy that became a significant political crisis for the previous administration and a continuing challenge for the current one, which is working to reunite children who remain separated even now.

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EU imposes new economic sanctions on Belarus over ‘hijacked’ flight

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EU’s 27 heads of state call for the immediate release of opposition blogger Roman Protasevich

EU leaders triggered new economic sanctions against Belarus and punitive measures against its national airline as a dissident taken from a “hijacked” Ryanair flight was paraded on the country’s television news apparently confessing to crimes against the state.

In a summit communique swiftly agreed in Brussels on Monday night, the EU’s 27 heads of state and government condemned the forced landing of flight FR4978 in Minsk and called for the immediate release of opposition blogger Roman Protasevich and his Russian girlfriend, Sofia Sapega.

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China rejects report of sick staff at Wuhan lab prior to Covid outbreak

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Spokesperson dismisses Wall Street Journal claims based on ‘previously undisclosed’ intelligence

China has vehemently denied a Wall Street Journal report citing US intelligence materials that said several members of staff at a key virus laboratory in Wuhan had fallen ill shortly before the first patient with Covid-like symptoms was recorded in the city on 8 December 2019.

Foreign ministry spokesperson, Zhao Lijian, said it was “completely untrue” that three researchers at the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) became sick in autumn 2019. The report, based on “previously undisclosed” US intelligence, said the said the lab workers staff had become sick “with symptoms consistent with both Covid-19 and common seasonal illness”.

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George Floyd: Minneapolis holds rallies in build-up to anniversary of police killing

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Program starts with march led by the Rev Al Sharpton and Benjamin Crump to mark the anniversary of black man’s murder

Members of George Floyd’s family, and others who lost loved ones to police encounters, have joined crowds in Minneapolis for a march that was one of several events planned nationwide to mark the one-year anniversary of Floyd’s death.

Hundreds of people gathered on Sunday for the rally in front of the courthouse in downtown Minneapolis where a month ago former policeman Derek Chauvin was found guilty of murdering the black man by kneeling on his neck.

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Blast at Iranian complex housing drone factory injures nine

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Iran has provided no information about cause of explosion in Isfahan that injured at least nine workers

A complex that houses a factory that makes Iranian drones has suffered a major explosion days after Israel had claimed that Iran was providing drones to Hamas in Gaza.

The blast at the weekend injured at least nine workers at the petrochemical factory in Isfahan. The Iran Aircraft Manufacturing Industrial Company (Hesa), which produces a variety of aircraft and drones for Iranian and pro-Iranian forces, is located in the complex owned by Sepahan Nargostar Chemical Industries.

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Blinken pledges US will deal with ‘grave humanitarian situation in Gaza’

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US secretary of state also reaffirms Biden administration supports a two-state solution

The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, has pledged the Biden administration will deal with “the grave humanitarian situation in Gaza” and will seek “equal measures of security” for Israelis and Palestinians as a ceasefire after 11 days of conflict held throughout the weekend.

More than 240 people in Gaza, including at least 66 children, and a dozen in Israel were killed during the violence, marking the first major diplomatic crisis for the Biden administration.

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Washington toughens stance to fight atrocities in Ethiopia

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Joe Biden’s administration increases pressure on government of prime minister Abiy Ahmed to end human rights abuses

Senior Ethiopian officials may face restrictions on their travel to the US, as Washington increases pressure on the government of prime minister Abiy Ahmed amid growing global concern about atrocities and famine caused by conflict in the northern region of Tigray.

Though visa restrictions are likely to target only a small number of individuals, the move signals President Joe Biden’s administration is shifting to a more direct strategy to force Ahmed to end continuing human rights abuses in Tigray and allow free flow of much-needed humanitarian aid.

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Bob Dylan at 80 – a little Minnesota town celebrates its famous son

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Hibbing, the birthplace of the musician, is paying tribute with a year of special events

Bob Dylan’s debut 1962 single began: “I got mixed-up confusion; man, it’s a-killin’ me”. It hasn’t yet – he turns 80 on Monday, and the pre-eminent custodian of American roots music, with its storytelling and protest traditions, is set to be celebrated by a public avalanche of events, programmes and tributes.

The occasion will be marked in his birthplace of Hibbing, Minnesota – where, inspired by the sounds of country and blues music drifting up from the south on AM radio, he wrote in his high-school yearbook that his ambition was to join Little Richard. St Louis county, in which Hibbing sits, has issued a proclamation declaring a “Year of Dylan Celebration”.

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When rich people divorce: what does the future hold for Bill and Melinda Gates?

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The pair’s split has been the subject of fevered press scrutiny – and claims of Bill’s links to Jeffrey Epstein has fed the frenzy

The announcement that Bill and Melinda Gates were to divorce was amicable enough, suggesting a smooth split between the famous couple who turned a billion-dollar software fortune into a driving force for global philanthropy.

Related: Bill Gates ‘left Microsoft board amid inquiry into relationship with employee’

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‘I allowed myself to feel guilty for a very long time’: the teenage cashier who took George Floyd’s $20 bill

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A year ago, Christopher Martin took an allegedly counterfeit bill. The police were called, and shortly after, Floyd would be dead

Christopher Martin lived above a bricked grocery store in south Minneapolis, with a maroon awning and bold red signage that reads Cup Foods. So when a cashier’s position came up last year, he took it without thinking.

He quickly learned the regulars’ orders by heart, their specific tobacco preferences, their favored snacks. The job was more than just a paycheck. “A family, community base,” he remembered. “A lot of jokes and laughs.”

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CDC studying reports of heart inflammation in young Covid vaccine recipients

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Health agency says the rates of myocarditis are not higher than expected and no causal link has been found to mRNA jabs

Some teenagers and young adults who received Covid-19 vaccines have experienced heart inflammation, a US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advisory group said, recommending further study of the rare condition.

In a statement dated 17 May, the CDC’s advisory committee on immunisation practices said it had looked into reports that a few young vaccine recipients, predominantly male adolescents and young adults, developed myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart muscle.

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Rick Santorum axed by CNN over racist remarks on Native Americans

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  • Ex-Republican senator’s April comments prompted outrage
  • Santorum said he misspoke but did not apologize for remarks

CNN has dropped former Republican US senator Rick Santorum as a senior political commentator after racist remarks he made about Native Americans at an event in April.

News of Santorum’s termination was first reported by HuffPost. A CNN spokesperson confirmed to the Guardian that the network has parted ways with Santorum. No further comment on the firing was provided, though an anonymous CNN executive told HuffPost that “leadership wasn’t particularly satisfied with that appearance. None of the anchors wanted to book him.”

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Ronald Greene punched and dragged by police before his death, video shows

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  • Greene, 49, died after confrontation with officers in 2019
  • Louisiana police initially refused to release bodycam footage

Two years after Ronald Greene, a 49-year-old Black man, died after a confrontation with white police officers in May 2019, the Louisiana police department released footage of the incident.

Louisiana state police had refused to publicly release footage from the incident, which they claimed culminated in Greene dying from crashing into a tree and injuring his head.

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Jeffrey Epstein prison guards spared jail time in deal with US prosecutors

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Pair accused of sleeping and browsing the internet instead of monitoring Epstein on night he died admitted falsifying records

The two Bureau of Prisons workers tasked with guarding Jeffrey Epstein the night he killed himself in a New York jail have admitted they falsified records, but they will skirt any time behind bars under a deal with federal prosecutors, authorities said Friday.

Related: Trump Hotel raised prices to deter QAnon conspiracists, police files show

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One year on, how George Floyd’s murder has changed the world

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The killing of Floyd by a white officer reflected a common history of violence against Black people that united protesters in a renewed global movement

George Floyd’s murder felt like everything was the same and nothing was the same, said Miski Noor, an activist in Minneapolis, where Floyd was killed by a white police officer a year ago on 25 May.

“How many times have we seen Black death go viral?” asked Noor, the co-founder of Black Visions, which advocates for abolition, an approach to public safety that does not involve the police.

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US journalist Barrett Brown arrested in the UK on incitement offences

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He had been in Britain since November and intended to claim asylum on the basis that he had been persecuted in the US for his journalism

The American journalist Barrett Brown has been arrested and detained in the UK for allegedly overstaying his visa and for alleged public order and incitement offences relating to his role in holding a protest banner which said: “Kill Cops.”

Police arrested Brown on Monday at a canal boat moored in east London, where he had been living for several months with a British woman. He was interviewed and released on bail the following day, but immediately detained by immigration authorities.

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Biden sends special envoy to South Korea to press North on nuclear arms

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US president and South Korean counterpart Moon Jae-in remain ‘deeply concerrned’ over relations with Pyongyang

US president Joe Biden said he and his South Korean counterpart Moon Jae-in remain “deeply concerned” about the situation with North Korea, and announced he will deploy a new special envoy to the region.

After talks in Washington on Friday, Biden told a joint news conference with Moon that he was dispatching former US ambassador to Seoul, Sung Kim, to help refocus efforts on pressing Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear weapons program.

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Trump bills Secret Service $40,000 at Mar-a-Lago since leaving office

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Records obtained by Washington Post show agency paid $396.15 every night since 20 January until at least 30 April

Donald Trump has billed the Secret Service more than $40,000 for a room for his own security detail, which has been guarding him at his Mar-a-Lago resort since he left office in January.

Related: Trump family members got ‘inappropriately close’ to Secret Service agents, book claims

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