For five days, Americans have risen up against the killingof George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, by a white police officer in the city of Minneapolis while he was in custody. The tragedy was filmed by passersby and shared online for the world to see. In the video, Floyd can be seen pleading for his life as one policeman continues to choke him with his knee while others hold him down.
The brutality seen in the footage has shocked the world and, understandably, driven thousands to the streets across the US to demand justice, equality and fair treatment of minorities by law enforcement officials.
Floyd’s death has revealed deep fractures within American society, putting the spotlight on instances of police brutality against marginalised communities.
Yet it is only the latest in a series of widely reported killings of black persons in custody. Time and again, excessive force has been used against marginalised communities, sparking protests, and eventually riots, in a never-ending cycle of violence. In 2014, the fatal shooting by a white officer of 18-year-old Michael Brown, another black man, sparked protests in the city of Ferguson and served as a catalyst for the "Black Lives Matter" movement. That same year in New York, Eric Garner, yet another black person, was choked to death in police custody for selling cigarettes illegally. The officer who killed him was dismissed from the force, but not indicted. And this February, Ahmaud Arbery, an unarmed jogger, was lynched by white men. His death was also filmed and widely shared online.
In Ferguson, just as in Minneapolis, there have been reports of looting and violence by some demonstrators, while the police has, in turn, responded with force to protesters. Violence cannot be condoned, whether it is perpetrated by protesters, who are angry at the state’s inability to protect its most vulnerable people, or by police officers using excessive force on unarmed civilians. This cycle must be broken once and for all.
An investigation is under way into Arbery’s death, and the officer who killed Floyd has been arrested and charged with third-degree murder. For America to heal its wounds, justice must be served in a fair manner, and this arrest is a positive first step.
Floyd's death has revealed deep fractures within American society
The year 2020 has brought about trials and tribulations all over the world, and particularly in the US. This is an election year, a time when politicians often entrench themselves in divisive rhetoric instead of bringing people together – a tactic President Donald Trump has already employed in light of recent events. Then, there is the coronavirus pandemic. The US has recorded nearly one-third of all Covid-19 cases and more than 105,000 deaths. That people were compelled to take to the streets instead of staying safely indoors speaks to the gravity of the situation.
All people regardless of race and social status must receive fair treatment when apprehended by police forces. No one should die for $20 in counterfeit money, or for selling cigarettes.
UN Panel of Experts found regime secretly sold a fifth of the country's gold reserves.
The panel’s 2017 report followed a trail to West Africa where large sums of cash and gold were hidden by Abdullah Al Senussi, Qaddafi’s former intelligence chief, in 2011.
Cases filled with cash that was said to amount to $560m in 100 dollar notes, that was kept by a group of Libyans in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
A second stash was said to have been held in Accra, Ghana, inside boxes at the local offices of an international human rights organisation based in France.
6pm: Al Wasl Plaza – Handicap (TB) Dh95,000 (T) 1,200m; Winner: Jadwal, Dane O’Neill, Doug Watson
Unresolved crisis
Russia and Ukraine have been locked in a bitter conflict since 2014, when Ukraine’s Kremlin-friendly president was ousted, Moscow annexed Crimea and then backed a separatist insurgency in the east.
Fighting between the Russia-backed rebels and Ukrainian forces has killed more than 14,000 people. In 2015, France and Germany helped broker a peace deal, known as the Minsk agreements, that ended large-scale hostilities but failed to bring a political settlement of the conflict.
The Kremlin has repeatedly accused Kiev of sabotaging the deal, and Ukrainian officials in recent weeks said that implementing it in full would hurt Ukraine.
Look north
BBC business reporters, like a new raft of government officials, are being removed from the national and international hub of London and surely the quality of their work must suffer.
SANCTIONED
Kirill Shamalov, Russia's youngest billionaire and previously married to Putin's daughter Katarina
Petr Fradkov, head of recently sanctioned Promsvyazbank and son of former head of Russian Foreign Intelligence, the FSB.
Denis Bortnikov, Deputy President of Russia's largest bank VTB. He is the son of Alexander Bortnikov, head of the FSB which was responsible for the poisoning of political activist Alexey Navalny in August 2020 with banned chemical agent novichok.
Yury Slyusar, director of United Aircraft Corporation, a major aircraft manufacturer for the Russian military.
Elena Aleksandrovna Georgieva, chair of the board of Novikombank, a state-owned defence conglomerate.
