Parents say they could not accept official explanation that officer Kim Potter mistook her handgun for a TaserThe parents of Daunte Wright, a 20-year-old Black man shot dead by a white Minnesota police officer that superiors say mistook her handgun for a Taser, said on Tuesday they “could not accept” their son’s killing was a mistake.Related: Minnesota officer who killed Daunte Wright resigns along with police chief Continue reading...

Defence attempts to show George Floyd had history of failing to cooperate but he comes across as frightened in video

US president proposed a summit between the two leaders amid growing concern over Russian military buildup on Ukraine borderIn a phone call with Vladimir Putin, Joe Biden has called on Russia to de-escalate tensions with Ukraine and proposed a summit between the two leaders amid growing concern over a Russian military buildup on Ukraine’s border.The president emphasized the United States’s unwavering commitment to Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and expressed concern about Russia’s military buildup, the White House said. Continue reading...

Singapore-headquartered firm offers one-stop shopstyle service, including ride hailing, banking and food deliverySouth-east Asian “super app” Grab, which offers services from ride hailing and food delivery to online banking, is to float in the US in a record deal with a so-called Spac investment company that values the loss-making business at almost $40bn (£29bn).Singapore-headquartered Grab, which intends to list on Nasdaq in the US, has struck a $39.6bn merger deal with US-based Altimeter Growth Corp. It is by far the biggest deal to date involving a special purpose acquisition company (Spac) – also known as a “blank cheque” shell company that raises money first and seeks businesses to buy later – which has become the latest trend in global finance over the last year. Continue reading...

The no-nonsense duke might have hated ‘All This’, but that hasn’t stopped an entire nation from pontificating about himDay five of the period of national mourning for Prince Philip, and the consensus is that “of course, he would have absolutely hated All This!” This judgment is generally made as someone trowels on a bit more of This. Particular pride is taken by those who are producing the sort of anecdote to which the late Duke of Edinburgh would surely have remarked “get on with it” or “is there much more of this?” One MP’s tribute began: “You mentioned in your opening remarks the duke’s interest in ties.” Prince Philip’s tailor offered a detailed account of how his waist measurement had only expanded around three inches over several decades.But ordinary things such as barbecuing are held to become absolutely extraordinary when royals do them. In his wonderful Princess Margaret book, Craig Brown quotes one royal biographer typical of their genre. “The Queen and Prince Philip drove themselves to the polo ground. Philip drove a station wagon, the Queen her favourite Rover. Sometimes, instead of changing into polo gear at the castle, Prince Philip was seen changing, quite uncomfortably, in his automobile, sitting sideways, pulling his breeches on. “Then” – Then?! Then what? This had better be fricking incredible. “Then he would stand up and fasten the belt … ” We’ll leave it there for space reasons. The point is: can you imagine this passage of almost mesmeric dullness appearing in a biography of anyone else famous on the entire planet, except for a member of the royal family? Continue reading...

If we want to avoid repeating history, we must hold Republicans such as John Boehner, George W Bush and Cindy McCain to accountDonald Trump made out like a bandit when he took office. According to a recent review of his financial disclosures, he pulled in $1.6bn from outside sources during his presidency. He wasn’t the only one to have profited, however. Trump’s political career has been terrible for the world, but it has been terrific for some of the world’s worst people. Many of the Republicans who helped produce the populist forces that got Trump elected have been raking in money while rehabilitating their images by opportunistically denouncing him. And, to a large extent, liberals are not just letting these people rewrite history; they are rewarding them for it.Let’s start with John Boehner, the House speaker from 2011 to 2015. He is peddling a memoir about his political years which criticises the former president and complains that the Republican party has been taken over by “whack jobs”. Funnily enough, however, he avoids taking any responsibility for cultivating the extremism he condemns. Boehner was fine pandering to the rightwing Tea Party when it suited him. In 2011, for example, he refused to denounce the racist “birther” conspiracy theory about Barack Obama’s citizenship. “It’s not my job to tell the American people what to think,” he said. He seems happy to do that now that he has a book to sell. Continue reading...

Dallas Bryant, the brother of the 20-year-old Black man who was shot dead by police in the suburbs of Minneapolis on Sunday, says he could never understand Wright's fear of being pulled over by police because he is white.He also questioned the validity of the explanation by police that the officer who shot Daunte accidentally shot him because she confused her Taser electrical weapon for her gun.Police clashed with protesters for a second night. Law enforcement agencies used teargas and other methods to disperse hundreds of people who had gathered outside police headquarters

The entire country has just seen the lengths corporations will go to prevent workers from unionizingNearly a week after Amazon workers in Bessemer, Alabama, cast their ballots to determine whether or not to form a union, a final tally shows workers lost their campaign by a more than two-to-one margin. The results are being contested by the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU), which claims Amazon coerced and intimidated workers with their belligerent anti-union campaign. Even if the results are thrown out and another election is held, the outcome is likely to remain unchanged.Related: Amazon rejects claims it intimidated Alabama workers during union vote Continue reading...

Residents of Centreville, a majority-Black town, say their calls for help have been met with silence or half-measures from officials

State has lost almost as much acreage to fires in four months as it did throughout last yearWisconsin is on track to see its worst fire season in more than five years, officials say, after hundreds of unseasonal blazes prompted the governor to declare a state of emergency.In just the first four months of the year, Wisconsin has lost nearly as much acreage to wildfires as it did in all of 2020. Since January, 365 wildfires have flared across the midwestern state, burning more than 1,500 acres, and 162 of those fires have ignited since the start of April alone. Continue reading...

Police say officer intended to fire Taser at 20-year-old Daunte Wright, rather than handgun. Plus, WHO says the coronavirus pandemic is still growing exponentiallyGood morning.Police who shot and killed a 20-year-old black man on Sunday afternoon during a traffic stop in a Minneapolis suburb did so accidentally, law enforcement said last night. Continue reading...

Labor groups point to progress in a wide range of industries as evidence that workers across America are ready to unionizeThe coronavirus has spurred worker organizing efforts around the United States, as the spread of the virus created a sense of urgency in improving working conditions, safety protections and job security.Related: Amazon rejects claims it intimidated Alabama workers during union vote Continue reading...

The 10-year-old has been trained to play completely ambidextrously. His father and coach believes the balance in his game will pay dividends as he gets olderTen-year-old Teodor Davidov took the internet by storm a couple of weeks ago when a clip of him showcasing his ambidextrous tennis playing style circulated across social media.Related: Lleyton Hewitt’s son Cruz, 12, wins Australian junior tennis clay-court title Continue reading...

Having names carelessly handled – even taken away from us – has an effect on identity. It is time to reclaim themWhen the actor Thandiwe Newton announced last week that she’d be reverting to the original spelling of her name, I felt some recognition. The journey her name has taken over three decades will strike a chord with many African and other non-western diasporas who have encountered the difficulty Anglophone countries have with accommodating foreign names.While shooting Flirting (Newton’s first feature film) in 1991, the director decided to give her character her own name, Thandiwe. But in the film’s credits, Newton the actor was listed by her anglicised “nickname”, Thandie, to avoid confusion – this was done without consulting her. From then on she was known professionally as Thandie Newton. Continue reading...

Eisenhower’s drinking partner and the man who helped make the Masters what it is today surely deserves more recognition

Police and medical experts have eroded key defence arguments over George Floyd’s deathDerek Chauvin’s trial opened last month with his lawyer telling the jury there was much more to George Floyd’s death than the now notorious video that prompted global protests for racial justice and landed the former police officer with a murder charge.Eric Nelson laid out the pillars of his defence of Chauvin, the former Minneapolis officer filmed kneeling on Floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes, in his opening statement. He said there was an untold story of drug intoxication, a failing heart, a hostile mob, and a police officer doing the best he was trained to do. Continue reading...

Brooklyn Center police chief describes fatal shooting of Black man, 20, as result of ‘accidental discharge’ from handgunPolice in a Minneapolis suburb said an officer accidentally shot and killed a 20-year-old Black man on Sunday afternoon during a traffic stop, releasing graphic body-camera footage they say shows the officer intended to use a Taser not a handgun during the death of unarmed Daunte Wright.Related: ‘They didn’t have to kill him’: anger and outrage as locals mourn Daunte Wright Continue reading...

Officer wounded after confrontation in Knoxville high school bathroomA student at a Tennessee high school has been shot and killed by police after opening fire on officers responding to reports of a gunman on campus, authorities said on Monday.David B Rausch, the director of the Tennessee bureau of investigation, said at a news conference that police found the student in a bathroom at Austin-East magnet high school in Knoxville, a city about 180 miles (290km) east of Nashville. They ordered him out, but he wouldn’t comply, and that is when he reportedly opened fire, Rausch said. Police fired back. Continue reading...

The fatal police shooting of a 20-year-old Black man in a Minneapolis suburb appeared to be an ‘accidental discharge’ by an officer who drew her gun instead of her Taser during a struggle, the city’s police chief said. ‘This appears to me, from what I viewed and the officers’ reaction and distress immediately after, that this was an accidental discharge that resulted in the tragic death of Mr Wright,’ the Brooklyn Center police chief, Tim Gannon, told reporters. Police in the Minneapolis suburb attempted to arrest Daunte Wright following a traffic stop due to an expired vehicle registration. Video footage presented at a news briefing showed a struggle between Wright and officers. Wright then got back into the car and an officer could be heard yelling ‘Taser, Taser, Taser’

Delivery service will eventually expand to other locations as part of partnership between pizza company and startup NuroDomino’s Pizza and Nuro, a Silicon Valley startup, said on Monday they will launch a robotic pizza delivery service in Houston this week as they seek to satisfy increasing online orders during the pandemic. Continue reading...

Philonise Floyd tells jury how his brother was ‘a leader’ while cardiologist says George Floyd’s death was ‘absolutely preventable’

Officials agree with Mexico, Honduras and Guatemala to step up security to try to prevent increased migration at southern borderThe Biden administration has struck an agreement with Mexico, Guatemala and Honduras to temporarily increase border security in an effort to stop migrants from reaching the US border.The agreement comes as the US saw a record number of unaccompanied children attempting to cross the border in March, and the largest number of Border Patrol encounters overall with migrants on the southern border – just under 170,000 – since March 2001. Continue reading...

Protesters in the Minneapolis suburb of Brooklyn Center pay their respects to the unarmed Black man, 20, shot dead by policeAmid the drizzle and grey sky on Monday, Bethany Hemrich came to pay her respects near the site where 20-year-old Daunte Wright was shot dead less than 24 hours before.Related: Daunte Wright killing: Biden calls for ‘peace and calm’ as Minneapolis sets curfew – live Continue reading...

President’s proposed hike would raise corporate tax rate from 21% to 28% to pay for his $2.3tn infrastructure planThe bosses of America’s largest companies overwhelmingly believe Joe Biden’s proposed increase in the country’s corporate tax rate would have a negative impact on their businesses, according to a survey released on Monday.The influential business lobbying group Business Roundtable, whose members include Amazon’s Jeff Bezos and Apple’s Tim Cook, released a survey of 178 CEOs on their thoughts on an increase in corporate tax. The survey specifically questioned the CEOs on the president’s proposed corporate tax hike, which would raise the corporate tax rate from 21% to 28%, to pay for his $2.3tn infrastructure plan. Continue reading...

Emancipation, based on the life of an enslaved man named Peter, will no longer film in the stateA major Apple Studios film telling the story of a man who escapes slavery that is set to be directed by Antoine Fuqua and star Will Smith will no longer film in Georgia as a result of a controversial voting bill that passed in the state last month.Emancipation is based on the life of an enslaved man named Peter who escapes from a plantation and joins the Union army. The film is the first production to leave the state as a result of its new law. The film and TV industries are huge revenue generators for Georgia, pulling in billions of dollars. Continue reading...

Rochelle Walensky says state should ‘really close things down, to go back to basics’ as governor pleads for more vaccine doses

Wright was shot and killed by police after he was pulled over for a traffic violation in Brooklyn Center, near MinneapolisDaunte Wright, a 20-year-old Black man, was shot and killed by police in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, on Sunday. Protests broke out in the suburb of Minneapolis, where one of the most-watched police trials in recent memory is playing out.Police on Monday said the shooting appeared to be an “accidental discharge” and the officer had intended to use a Taser, but mistakenly drew a handgun. Continue reading...

Teenager Anthony Neuer has got himself into the history books with an incredible 7-10 split, the first of it's kind caught on television for 30 years. The 18-year-old becomes the fourth player ever to achieve the feat during PBA Tour TV broadcast. Much to the astonishment of the commentators who spoke breathlessly saying 'Oh man, give me some oxygen and water ... I believe the Ginger Assassin can drop the 7-10'. However, it wasn't enough to send him to victory as he lost to Jakob Butturff, 257-203 Continue reading...

One of two police officers accused of pepper-spraying and pointing their guns at a Black US army officer during a traffic stop has been fired, a Virginia town announced late on Sunday, hours after the governor called for an independent investigation.In the December 2020 encounter, two officers are accused of drawing their guns, pointing them at army second lieutenant Caron Nazario and using a slang term to suggest he was facing execution.Nazario, who is Black and Latino, was also pepper-sprayed and knocked to the ground by the officers, Joe Gutierrez and Daniel Crocker, according to the lawsuit he filed earlier this month against them. The two sides in the case dispute what happened but Crocker wrote in a report that he believed Nazario was “eluding police” and he considered it a “high-risk traffic stop”. Attorney Jonathan Arthur said Nazario was trying to stop in a well-lit area

The prime minister’s bluster is meeting head-on with the complex reality of Northern Irish politicsApologies make cynical history, but Boris Johnson has a big one to make, and fast. He must apologise to Northern Ireland’s unionists that he did not mean it last year when he pledged “no border” down the Irish Sea. As the Good Friday agreement negotiator, Jonathan Powell, wrote on Sunday, this was a lie. Johnson had just told the Irish government that the Good Friday deal held and there would be no border on the island of Ireland. Given Britain’s intention to leave the EU’s customs union, the two statements were incompatible, and Johnson knew it. Every truck on the Belfast ferry knows it, too.The current Belfast riots have invoked the usual platitudes. The Irish taoiseach, Micheál Martin, has called for calm. Joe Biden has offered concern. Everyone is outraged that children are being encouraged to attack the police. Even Prince Philip’s death has been cited as a call for restraint. Deprivation, local political grievances, poor relationships with the police – these are all factors behind the disturbances. But every act of violence also carries the same word: exasperation. Will someone answer the question? Johnson lied, and what is Britain going to do about it? Continue reading...

British far-right activist’s team also approached Republican senator Ted Cruz’s office about securing a visaThe anti-immigration activist Tommy Robinson asked wealthy American backers to help him claim asylum in the US, the Guardian has learned, while his team approached the Republican senator Ted Cruz’s office about securing a visa.Court documents released in the US show the English Defence League founder discussed moving his family to Texas in 2019, where he would earn money by speaking at venues “including evangelical churches”. Continue reading...

The Masters champion appears to have little in common with Asian Americans. But his win comes at a time when any Asian success story is welcome in the USAnd with that, Hideki Matsuyama is the first male Japanese player ever to win a golf major.Quite interesting timing, particularly as anti-Asian hate crimes in the US have risen 150% over the past year, spurred on by conspiracy theories – spread by those in power – about the origins of Covid-19. The hashtag ‘Stop Asian Hate’ surged more than 5,000% just this past month, according to Google Trends. Continue reading...

​Residents in South Baltimore are fighting to 'starve' their nearby Bresco incinerator due to health concerns over the amount of pollution it creates. Of the 72 remaining facilities in the US, the vast majority are located in predominantly low-income or minority communities, raising concerns about compounding pollutants in already overburdened neighbourhoods Continue reading...

Innovation by companies such as Amazon, Alibaba and Tencent presents big challengesIn 2009, in the midst of the global financial crisis, Paul Volcker, the former Federal Reserve chair, famously observed that the only socially productive financial innovation of the preceding 20 years was the automated teller machine. One wonders what Volcker would make of the tsunami of digitally enabled financial innovations today, from mobile payment platforms to internet banking and peer-to-peer lending.Volcker might be reassured: like the humble ATM, many of these innovations have tangible benefits in terms of lowering transactions costs. But as a critic of big financial firms, Volcker presumably also would worry about the entry of some very large technology companies into the sector. Their names are as familiar as their services are ubiquitous: Amazon in the US, the messaging company Kakao in Korea, the online auction and commerce platform Mercado Libre in Latin America, and the Chinese technology companies Alibaba and Tencent. Continue reading...

Police shot and killed a man in Brooklyn Center, close to Minneapolis where the trial over the death of George Floyd continues. Plus, Facebook failed to crack down on world leaders deceiving and harassing citizens

Dr James Crow is a specialist in statistics and other subtle ways of keeping black voters downGeorgia has a long history of racial inequity at the ballot box. Voters wait an average of just six minutes in line after 7pm in precincts where 90% of residents are white. But when 90% of voters are Black? The wait soars to 51 minutes.Between 2012 and 2018, Georgia shuttered 8% of all precincts statewide, and moved 40% of them. According to a study by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the combination of fewer precincts and longer commutes could have kept as many as 85,000 people from casting a ballot in 2018. This disproportionately burdened Black voters, who were 20% less likely to make it to the polls as a result. Continue reading...

Cambridge-based company claims to be first to use AI to detect cybersecurity threats on a large scaleThe cybersecurity firm Darktrace has announced plans to float on the London Stock Exchange, in a move that will reportedly value the Cambridge-based company at £3bn.It is the first big company to have chosen the City for its initial public offering (IPO) since Deliveroo’s disappointing stock market debut last month. Continue reading...