Wednesday, June 17th, 2020
According to John Hopkins University, the death toll from COVID-19 in the United States has surpassed that of the casualties during the First World War. (CTV News)
Atlanta officer who killed Rayshard Brooks charged with murder Garrett Rolfe, the former Atlanta police officer who shot and killed Rayshard Brooks in a Wendy’s parking lot Friday evening, has been charged with felony murder and 10 other offenses, Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard Jr. said Wednesday. Brooks, a 27-year-old man black man, was asleep in his car when Rolfe and another officer, Devin Brosnan, had him take a sobriety test. A scuffle ensued, and police said Brooks grabbed one of the officer’s nonlethal tasers before running away when Rolfe shot him twice in the back. Prosecutors also said Brooks “never presented himself as a threat” and that Rolfe kicked him after the shooting, an action Howard said suggests Rolfe wasn’t fearful of Brooks. Brosnan, meanwhile, has been charged on three counts. Source: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
GOP senators unveil police reform bill Republican senators, led by Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), unveiled the party’s police reform bill Wednesday in response to nationwide protests against police brutality. The package incentivizes the restriction of tactics like chokeholds by withholding federal grants to localities that don’t comply with the policies. While this doesn’t outlaw chokeholds, Scott said it’s a de facto ban. No-knock warrants also aren’t banned in the bill, though Scott said it could be considered after collecting data on the issue. The bill requires states and local governments to collect relevant data annually, and tasks the Justice Department with developing training on alternative de-escalation methods for officers. The policy does not end qualified immunity for officers, which the White House reportedly considers a non-starter. Democrats have already expressed concerns the bill doesn’t go far enough. Source: The Washington Post
Tuesday, June 16th, 2020
Beijing closes all schools, locks down several residential estates and imposes a partial travel ban, urging residents not to leave the city, after 27 more COVID-19 cases are confirmed in the city, bringing the total to 106 new cases in the last five days. The new outbreak is linked to the Xinfadi Market. (The Nations)
Brazil’s Ministry of Health reports a record 34,918 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 1,282 more deaths in the last 24 hours. Despite the record daily rise, Chief of Staff of the Presidency Walter Souza Braga Netto says the virus is now under control. (Reuters)
Russian investigators accuse Valery Mitko, President of Arctic Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg and one of the country’s leading Arctic researchers, “of treason” after alleging that he gave a document containing state secrets to Chinese intelligence in early 2018 at China’s Dalian Maritime University, where he was a visiting professor. Mitko and his lawyer Ivan Pavlov deny any wrongdoing and say that all the materials were openly available. (CNN)
The End