Thursday,  June 18th, 2020

The Oriel College governing body votes to remove a 109-year-old statue of Cecil Rhodes from the college grounds amid anti-racism protests. Campaigners say the statue is a symbol of racism and British imperialism. (BBC)

Paulinho Paiakan, leader of the indigenous Kayapo tribe, dies after being hospitalized with COVID-19 in Redenção, Brazil. (France 24)

Norway and Ireland win seats in the United Nations Security Council, joining new members India and Mexico. Canada, which was considered a favorite, and had strongly campaigned for a seat for four years on the council, fails to get enough votes. Canadian Foreign Minister François-Philippe Champagne says he is proud of the campaign but declines to comment on the reasons for their loss. (AP)

Former Atlanta Police officer Garrett Rolfe is charged with murder and 10 other crimes in the death of Rayshard Brooks, who he shot twice in the back after he fled from an attempted DUI arrest after stealing his partner’s taser and firing it. His partner officer, Devin Brosnan, has been charged with aggravated assault and two other crimes in the case. (NPR)

 

The End

1429 – French forces under the leadership of Joan of Arc defeat the main English army under Sir John Fastolf at the Battle of Patay. This turns the tide of the Hundred Years’ War.

1684 – The charter of the Massachusetts Bay Colony is revoked via a scire facias writ issued by an English court.

1757 – Battle of Kolín between Prussian forces under Frederick the Great and an Austrian army under the command of Field Marshal Count Leopold Joseph von Daun in the Seven Years’ War.

1778 – American Revolutionary War: British troops abandon Philadelphia.

1812 – The United States declaration of war upon the United Kingdom is signed by President James Madison, beginning the War of 1812.

1815 – Napoleonic Wars: The Battle of Waterloo results in the defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte by the Duke of Wellington and Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher forcing him to abdicate the throne of France for the second and last time.

1858 – Charles Darwin receives a paper from Alfred Russel Wallace that includes nearly identical conclusions about evolution as Darwin’s own, prompting Darwin to publish his theory.

1873 – Susan B. Anthony is fined $100 for attempting to vote in the 1872 presidential election.

1940 – The “Finest Hour” speech is delivered by Winston Churchill.

 

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)

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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)

6 states report record highs in new coronavirus infections Arizona, Florida, Nevada, Oklahoma, Oregon, and Texas all reported on Tuesday record daily highs in the number of new coronavirus cases, with Arizona health officials reporting 2,392 new cases — nearly double the state’s previous record. All of the states except Nevada recorded all-time highs last week; Nevada’s previous high was reported on May 23. The numbers have been climbing as states have been reopening, and health officials attribute the spikes to businesses opening and people gathering for events on Memorial Day weekend. Hospitalizations are also surging or have reached record highs, and at the Tucson Medical Center in Arizona on Monday night, only one of the 20 beds set aside for COVID-19 patients was available. Source: Reuters

The total cases surpass eight million worldwide, as infections surge across the Americas and China grapples with fresh outbreaks. (RNZ)

U.S. President Donald Trump signs an executive order aimed at curtailing the use of police chokeholds, except in cases where “deadly force is allowed by law”. (CNBC)

Cheap, effective COVID-19 treatment has been found, researchers say Researchers say COVID-19 patients can be effectively treated with a cheap, widely available steroid called dexamethasone. On Tuesday, researchers in the U.K. announced they had found that the steroid treatment cuts the risk of death by a third for patients who are on ventilators, and by a fifth for patients receiving oxygen. There was no benefit to patients who did not require respiratory support, meaning the treatment should be focused on patients who are moderately to severely sick with COVID-19. Dexamethasone is already used to treat arthritis and asthma, among other conditions. Research suggests it could be used for patients in intensive care, while another drug, remdesivir, could also be used to reduce recovery time for less-severe patients. Source: BBC, Dr. Eric Feigl-Ding

 

Monday,  June 15th, 2020

Hundreds of French police are brought in as reinforcements to the city of Dijon, as over 150 Chechens from around France have gathered to avenge the alleged assault of a Chechen teenager by local drug dealers. During the violence, several people are reported injured and one person suffered gunshot wounds. (BBC)

The Fulton County medical examiner declares Rayshard Brooks’ death a homicide. Brooks was shot in the back by an Atlanta Police officer while fleeing from an attempted arrest for driving under the influence in which he stole an officer’s taser and fired it at him on June 12. (BBC)

Black Lives Matter activist Oluwatoyin Salau is found dead in Tallahassee, Florida, US, after going missing on June 6. Shortly before her disappearance, Salau tweeted that she had been sexually assaulted by a black man. Her death is currently being treated as a homicide. (CNN)

 

The End