President Donald Trump weighed in on race relations and policing on Thursday before a friendly audience in Dallas as he announced he was finalising an executive order that would address policing standards, in response to the national outcry following the death of George Floyd.
The executive order will "encourage police departments nationwide to meet the most current professional standards of force, and that means force, but force with compassion," said Mr Trump.
"We have to respect our police. We have to take care of our police," he added.
Notably, Dallas’ mayor and three top law enforcement officials, all of whom are black, weren't on hand for the roundtable discussion at the Dallas campus of Gateway Church.
Mr Trump has also drawn criticism from Black leaders for his decision to hold a campaign rally in Tulsa on Juneteenth, a holiday marking the end of slavery, in a city known for a horrific race massacre in 1921.
The June 19 Tulsa rally will be his first since the coronavirus emerged.
June 19 is known in the US as Juneteenth, an annual holiday commemorating the end of slavery in the United States and celebrated as African-Americans’ Independence Day.
Presumptive Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden held a separate roundtable discussion on Thursday in Philadelphia, where he said Mr Floyd's death was having a bigger impact than Martin Luther King's assasination.
“Even Dr. King’s assassination did not have the worldwide impact that George Floyd’s death did,” Mr Biden said.
Earlier in the day, America's top general has said he was wrong to appear with President Donald Trump in a photo op near the White House last week after the area was forcefully cleared of anti-racism protesters.
"I should not have been there. My presence in that moment and in that environment created a perception of military involvement in domestic politics," General Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said on Thursday.
Gen Milley and Secretary of Defense Mark Esper were both strongly criticised for participating in what was widely seen as a political show by Mr Trump, who walked with officials from the White House to pose in front of St. John's Episcopal Church, holding up a bible.
Minutes earlier, troops firing smoke bombs and pepper rounds had cleared the area of peaceful protesters demonstrating against the killing of George Floyd, whose brother called on Congress to address police brutality in an emotional plea to “stop the pain” on Wednesday.
Philonaise Floyd described the anguish of watching a viral video of his brother’s death at the hands of a white police officer during a hearing before the House in which he demanded lawmakers pass reforms to halt systemic racism in the force.
"I'm here to ask you to make it stop. Stop the pain," the younger Mr Floyd said.
Following the hearing he joined demonstrators in the streets of Washington, where calls for change led by the Black Lives Matter movement have been echoed by protesters worldwide since Mr Floyd’s death on May 25.
The five-hour-plus hearing came after congressional Democrats unveiled a package of reforms this week aimed at ending police brutality.
The legislation would ban chokeholds, make it easier to prosecute officers for abuse, require anti-racism training and bar fired personnel from working in police forces in other districts.
"There is systemic racism not just in our law enforcement but also in housing, education, and everything we do," Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden tweeted after the hearing.
Statues of historic figures associated with slavery have been pulled down in cities across the world. On Wednesday, a statue of Confederate President Jefferson Davis was toppled in Virginia and statues of explorer Christopher Columbus have been vandalised in Virginia, Boston and Miami.
Across the southern states, where the confederacy fought to keep black people as slaves during the American Civil War, monuments to the movement are being dismantled. Boston and Houston are the latest cities to announce racially-linked statues will come down.
Stock car series NASCAR has also banned the confederate flag. A statement from the organisation said the red-and-blue confederate banner, once a familiar sight at NASCAR events, has “no place” in the sport after its single black driver Bubba Wallace called for it to be banished.
As governments, businesses and organisations rush to address racial inequalities being pointed out by protesters, US TV network A&E has canceled a live documentary show on police officers in action, the latest media company to reassess their content amid widespread protests against law enforcement brutality on people of color.
The decision is a reversal from the network's plan to extend the show's contract a month ago.
Earlier in the week, Paramount Network canceled the reality TV show "Cops" that debuted in 1989 and was considered a pioneer of reality television as it followed real-life police on the job.
Such shows have come under criticism for glorifying law enforcement without any footage of police brutality.
Tearful appearance
Chancellor Rachel Reeves set markets on edge as she appeared visibly distraught in parliament on Wednesday.
Legislative setbacks for the government have blown a new hole in the budgetary calculations at a time when the deficit is stubbornly large and the economy is struggling to grow.
She appeared with Keir Starmer on Thursday and the pair embraced, but he had failed to give her his backing as she cried a day earlier.
A spokesman said her upset demeanour was due to a personal matter.
More from Neighbourhood Watch:
South and West: From a Notebook
Joan Didion
Fourth Estate
German intelligence warnings
- 2002: "Hezbollah supporters feared becoming a target of security services because of the effects of [9/11] ... discussions on Hezbollah policy moved from mosques into smaller circles in private homes." Supporters in Germany: 800
- 2013: "Financial and logistical support from Germany for Hezbollah in Lebanon supports the armed struggle against Israel ... Hezbollah supporters in Germany hold back from actions that would gain publicity." Supporters in Germany: 950
- 2023: "It must be reckoned with that Hezbollah will continue to plan terrorist actions outside the Middle East against Israel or Israeli interests." Supporters in Germany: 1,250
Source: Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
Padmaavat
Director: Sanjay Leela Bhansali
Starring: Ranveer Singh, Deepika Padukone, Shahid Kapoor, Jim Sarbh
3.5/5
ESSENTIALS
The flights
Emirates flies from Dubai to Phnom Penh via Yangon from Dh2,700 return including taxes. Cambodia Bayon Airlines and Cambodia Angkor Air offer return flights from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap from Dh250 return including taxes. The flight takes about 45 minutes.
The hotels
Rooms at the Raffles Le Royal in Phnom Penh cost from $225 (Dh826) per night including taxes. Rooms at the Grand Hotel d'Angkor cost from $261 (Dh960) per night including taxes.
The tours
A cyclo architecture tour of Phnom Penh costs from $20 (Dh75) per person for about three hours, with Khmer Architecture Tours. Tailor-made tours of all of Cambodia, or sites like Angkor alone, can be arranged by About Asia Travel. Emirates Holidays also offers packages.
Milestones on the road to union
1970
October 26: Bahrain withdraws from a proposal to create a federation of nine with the seven Trucial States and Qatar.
December: Ahmed Al Suwaidi visits New York to discuss potential UN membership.
1971
March 1: Alex Douglas Hume, Conservative foreign secretary confirms that Britain will leave the Gulf and “strongly supports” the creation of a Union of Arab Emirates.
July 12: Historic meeting at which Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid make a binding agreement to create what will become the UAE.
July 18: It is announced that the UAE will be formed from six emirates, with a proposed constitution signed. RAK is not yet part of the agreement.
August 6: The fifth anniversary of Sheikh Zayed becoming Ruler of Abu Dhabi, with official celebrations deferred until later in the year.
August 15: Bahrain becomes independent.
September 3: Qatar becomes independent.
November 23-25: Meeting with Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid and senior British officials to fix December 2 as date of creation of the UAE.
November 29: At 5.30pm Iranian forces seize the Greater and Lesser Tunbs by force.
November 30: Despite a power sharing agreement, Tehran takes full control of Abu Musa.
November 31: UK officials visit all six participating Emirates to formally end the Trucial States treaties
December 2: 11am, Dubai. New Supreme Council formally elects Sheikh Zayed as President. Treaty of Friendship signed with the UK. 11.30am. Flag raising ceremony at Union House and Al Manhal Palace in Abu Dhabi witnessed by Sheikh Khalifa, then Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi.
December 6: Arab League formally admits the UAE. The first British Ambassador presents his credentials to Sheikh Zayed.
December 9: UAE joins the United Nations.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
UAE squad to face Ireland
Ahmed Raza (captain), Chirag Suri (vice-captain), Rohan Mustafa, Mohammed Usman, Mohammed Boota, Zahoor Khan, Junaid Siddique, Waheed Ahmad, Zawar Farid, CP Rizwaan, Aryan Lakra, Karthik Meiyappan, Alishan Sharafu, Basil Hameed, Kashif Daud, Adithya Shetty, Vriitya Aravind
The specs: 2019 BMW X4
Price, base / as tested: Dh276,675 / Dh346,800
Engine: 3.0-litre turbocharged in-line six-cylinder
Transmission: Eight-speed automatic
Power: 354hp @ 5,500rpm
Torque: 500Nm @ 1,550rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 9.0L / 100km
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
The Travel Diaries of Albert Einstein The Far East, Palestine, and Spain, 1922 – 1923
Editor Ze’ev Rosenkranz
Princeton
WHAT IS A BLACK HOLE?
1. Black holes are objects whose gravity is so strong not even light can escape their pull
2. They can be created when massive stars collapse under their own weight
3. Large black holes can also be formed when smaller ones collide and merge
4. The biggest black holes lurk at the centre of many galaxies, including our own
5. Astronomers believe that when the universe was very young, black holes affected how galaxies formed
