Category: Foreign

Agency Reporter

 

The wife of Derek Chauvin, the dismissed police officer who knelt on Floyd’s neck during his arrest, has filed for divorce, her lawyer said.

Kellie Chauvin said on Friday night she would split from her husband, who’s been charged with murdering the 46-year-old black dad in Minneapolis.

Chauvin’s legal team at Sekula Law Offices said the former Mrs. Minnesota is “devastated” by Floyd’s death and that her “utmost sympathy” is with his family.

“This evening, I spoke with Kellie Chauvin and her family. She is devastated by Mr. Floyd’s death and her utmost sympathy lies with his family, with his loved ones and with everyone who is grieving this tragedy,” reads the statement from Sekula Law Offices.

“While Ms. Chauvin has no children from her current marriage, she respectfully requests that her children, her elder parents, and her extended family be given safety and privacy during this difficult time.”

Read Also: FBI to probe death of black man in Minnesota after arrest

Kellie’s divorce announcement came hours after police arrested Derek Chauvin in Minneapolis and charged him with third-degree murder in Floyd’s death.

The 44-year-old was taken into custody four days after disturbing arrest footage showed him kneeling on the black man’s neck as he pleaded for his life.

Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman said Chauvin could face more charges.

The criminal complaint filed against Chauvin cited that preliminary findings from a Tuesday autopsy conducted by the Hennepin County Medical Examiner saw ‘no physical findings that support a diagnosis of traumatic asphyxiation or strangulation’.

‘Mr. Floyd had underlying health conditions including coronary artery disease and hypertensive heart disease,’ said the complaint from the Hennepin County Attorney.

‘The combined effects of Mr. Floyd being restrained by police, his underlying health conditions and any potential intoxicants in his system likely contributed to his death.’

The full medical examiner’s report is pending.

Agency Reporter

President Donald Trump has placed the army on notice for possible deployment to check the raging violence trailing last Wednesday killing of a black man by policemen in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

The protests have already spread to Los Angeles, San Francisco, Denver, Atlanta, Chicago, New York City, Boston and Dallas, among others.

The White House itself was not spared.

It was forced to go into temporary lockdown on Saturday as demonstrators stormed the seat of power to get their message across to the President over the killing of George Floyd and the ill treatments meted out to blacks.

The protesters battled with Secret Service agents and burned American flags outside the executive residence.

Trump said the protesters would have faced dogs and weapons had they breached the fence.

Read Also: The man George Floyd

He later went on Tweeter to declare that “crossing state lines to incite violence is a FEDERAL CRIME! Liberal Governors and Mayors must get MUCH tougher or the Federal Government will step in and do what has to be done, and that includes using the unlimited power of our Military and many arrests. Thank you!”

One Federal Protective Service officer was shot dead in one of the protests in Oakland, California, on Friday.

Another officer was injured.

A 19-year-old protester was similarly shot dead in Detroit on Friday night, while soldiers in North Carolina and in New York were ordered to be ready to move in within four hours and troops in Colorado and Kansas within 24 hours.

The move to put the Army on a short-term notice comes after President Donald Trump asked Defense Secretary Mark Esper for military options in tackling the escalating civil unrest spreading across America, according to sources.

The National Guard was activated in Georgia late Friday night with as many as 500 troops deployed to Atlanta and a state of emergency issued after rioters destroyed the CNN HQ and looted a luxury shopping mall.

The family of George Floyd have hired a pathologist after official autopsy showed that he died of  “police restraint combined with heart disease and potential intoxicants in his system” as against the initial suspicion that he succumbed to  asphyxiation or strangulation by officer

The family said it “does not trust anything” from the local police department.

Agency Reporter

Government employees went back to work in Iran on Saturday and President Hassan Rouhani said mosques would resume daily prayers across the country, even though some areas are seeing high levels of coronavirus infections, Reuters reports.

Rouhani also said on state television that shopping malls would be able to stay open beyond the 6 p.m. closing time imposed as part of the lockdown, a further step in the government’s plans to steadily ease the curbs.

“Doors to mosques across the country will open to the public for daily prayers,” Rouhani said, adding that worshippers should observe social distancing and other health protocols. He did not say when mosques would reopen.

Authorities are taking tougher measures to ensure health regulations are observed, such as barring people from buses and metro trains if they do not wear face masks, Iranian media reported.

READ ALSO: Iran records 56 coronavirus deaths in 24 hours

Alireza Zali, head of the government-led Coronavirus Taskforce of Tehran, told state TV the situation in the capital was “still not favorable,” adding that the gradual easing of curbs should be accompanied by a “more serious observance” of the rules.

The worst-affected country in the Middle East, Iran has reported 148,950 infections and 7,734 deaths from COVID-19, according to the latest health ministry data.

A ministry spokesman said on Saturday that the southwestern province of Khuzestan was still classified as “red” due to the higher number of infections and deaths, while seven other provinces were at risk.

The health ministry has divided the country into white, yellow and red areas based on the number of cases and fatalities.

Meanwhile, the semi-official Tasnim news agency said Omid Noorafkan, 23, a professional footballer who plays for the Iranian club Sepahan, had tested positive for the virus. It did not give further details about his condition.

(www.newsnow.co.uk)

Our Reporter

George Floyd lived in St Louis Park, a suburb of Minneapolis, and moved to the state of Minnesota from Houston, Texas, where he lived most of his life, about six years ago.

His family and close friends called him “Big Floyd” on account of his 6ft 6in frame.

He had worked as a security guard at a restaurant and live music club that was shut due to the coronavirus outbreak.

He had two daughters, aged six and 22, from a previous relationship and a granddaughter he never met before his death.

In the video, he is heard calling out for his mother, who died about a year ago.

His siblings and his fiancée, Courteney Ross, have called for the four officers involved in his arrest to be charged with murder.

Ms Ross, his fiancée, told CBS News: “He stood up for people, he was there for people when they were down, he loved people that were thrown away”.

Our Reporter

President Donald Trump on Friday severed the United States’ relationship with the World Health Organization (WHO) because, as he said, China had “total control” over the organization.

Beijing, Trump also claimed, pressured the body to “mislead the world” about the COVID-19 pandemic.

Trump also said the U.S. would be revoking Hong Kong’s special trade and customs treatment and would be suspending the entry of Chinese citizens who were identified as “potential security risks.”

Read Also: Trump to issue executive order on social media — reports

The president did not detail what those “potential security risks” were or how they would be determined, and reporters did not have the opportunity to ask for clarification given that Trump left the podium abruptly after his statement.

Thereafter, he left the scheduled press conference without answering any questions.

Trump’s announcement – and subsequent departure from the White House’s Rose Garden – comes two days after the U.S. surpassed 100,000 COVID-19 deaths and a day after he tweeted about “shooting” protesters in Minneapolis, writing, “When the looting starts, the shooting starts.”

 

Donald Trump has severed ties with the World Health Organisation and confirmed he will fully withdraw all US funding.

The President has been openly critical of the international body for weeks over what he believes was an inadequate response to the outbreak of coronavirus in the Chinese province of Wuhan last year.

Speaking during a White House address on Friday, he claimed that Chinese officials had “ignored” reporting obligations to WHO and pressured the organisation to to mislead the public about COVID-19.

The virus has caused the deaths of more than 100,000 people in the US.

“We have detailed the reforms that it must make and engaged with them directly, but they have refused to act,” President Trump said.

“Because they have failed to make the requested and greatly needed reforms, we will be today terminating the relationship.”

The US is the largest source of financial support for WHO, which is expected to be severely damaged by the withdrawal of funding.

Instead, Trump says the money will be redirected towards “other worldwide and deserving urgent global public health needs”.

He noted America contributes about $450 million (£360 million) to the WHO, while China provides about $40 million (£32 million).

The President first proposed withdrawing funding from WHO in April – a move the Democrats deemed illegal without the approval of Congress. Others said that it would severely affect vaccine development efforts led by the organisation.

READ ALSO: Merkel rejects Trump’s invitation for G7 summit in Washington

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called the announcement “an act of extraordinary senselessness”.

Dr Stephen Griffin, associate professor in the School of Medicine, University of Leeds, said there was “no logic” in severing links during the middle of a global pandemic.

He added: “There is no logic to the move by President Trump to sever links with the WHO.

“Pandemics are, by definition, a global crisis. To not face Covid-19 with a united front seems futile.

“Given the scale of the outbreak in the US, this action appears nothing short of an attempt to refocus attention away from how this has been handled.”

Dr Gail Carson, director of network development at the International Severe Acute Respiratory and Emerging Infection Consortium, said that during a pandemic was not the time to make health political.

Dr Carson, a consultant in infectious diseases at the University of Oxford, added: “If there was a time not to make health political it is now, when the world is in the throes of a pandemic.

“Now is the time for solidarity and to stand together to end the pandemic as soon as we can and to save lives.

“Is this US government decision going to do good to all?

“WHO stands for the health of all of us and should not be ‘punished’ by any country in the middle of a pandemic because of an opinion, certainly not before any action review process has taken place.

“Now is not the time to weaken the world’s leading health agency, who has shown strong leadership with strong technical messages throughout this pandemic.”

(www.newsnow.co.uk)

“When the looting starts, the shooting starts,” Trump tweeted.

 

TWITTER on Friday flagged a tweet from President Donald Trump for allegedly violating its rules about “glorifying violence”.

Tweeter was displeased with Trump’s   “when the looting starts, the shooting starts” in regards to the ongoing unrest in Minneapolis following the death of George Floyd.

“These THUGS are dishonoring the memory of George Floyd, and I won’t let that happen. Just spoke to Governor Tim Walz and told him that the Military is with him all the way. Any difficulty and we will assume control but, when the looting starts, the shooting starts. Thank you!” Trump tweeted shortly before 1 a.m. Friday.

“This Tweet violated the Twitter Rules about glorifying violence. However, Twitter has determined that it may be in the public’s interest for the Tweet to remain accessible,” the social media company said.

Without addressing the Twitter guidelines that got his tweet flagged, Trump responded swiftly to Twitter saying the social media giant only targets Republicans.

“Twitter is doing nothing about all of the lies & propaganda being put out by China or the Radical Left Democrat Party,” Trump tweeted. “They have targeted Republicans, Conservatives & the President of the United States. Section 230 should be revoked by Congress. Until then, it will be regulated.”

This is the second time this week Twitter has taken action against Trump’s tweets.

It previously flagged two of Trump’s tweets about mail-in voting in California, saying Trump’s tweets were misleading about elections.