Tag: Six In The Morning

Eric Garner ‘chokehold’ death: A grand jury blind to the evidence before it

Out of America: The decision not to bring charges after the death of a black man in police custody suggests a fatal flaw in the system

RUPERT CORNWELL Sunday 7 December 2014

At least Eric Garner has his epitaph. “I can’t breathe,” he gasped as he was forced to the ground and held by a New York police officer in the chokehold that caused his death. The phrase now serves not only as a chant by demonstrators in cities across the land. It will go down as history’s shorthand for the persecution of black suspects by law enforcement and the judicial system across the US that seems virtually routine.

Anyone – not just black people sick and tired of racist victimisation by police – who has watched the video of Garner, father of six and 43 years old, being wrestled to the ground as if he’d just committed a murder, will be astonished that a grand jury declined to bring any charges against the officer last week – even though the medical examiner at Garner’s autopsy ruled that the death was a homicide.

Iran nuclear talks: Doubts over deal as deadline looms

23 November 2014 Last updated at 05:00

BBC

Doubts are growing that Monday’s deadline for a deal on Iran’s controversial nuclear programme will be met at talks in Vienna in Austria.

Both the US and Germany said the sides were working to close “big gaps”, with some suggestions that the deadline could be extended.

Six world powers want Iran to curb its nuclear programme in return for the lifting of United Nations sanctions.

Iran rejects claims that it is seeking to build nuclear weapons.

It says its programme is purely peaceful for energy purposes.

Representatives of the so-called P5+1 group – Britain, China, France, Russia, the US plus Germany – are taking part in the negotiations with Iran in the Austrian capital.

 War with Isis: Islamic militants have army of 200,000, claims Kurdish leader

Exclusive: CIA has hugely underestimated the number of jihadis, who now rule an area the size of Britain

PATRICK COCKBURN  IRBIL  Sunday 16 November 2014

The Islamic State (Isis) has recruited an army hundreds of thousands strong, far larger than previous estimates by the CIA, according to a senior Kurdish leader. He said the ability of Isis to attack on many widely separated fronts in Iraq and Syria at the same time shows that the number of militant fighters is at least 200,000, seven or eight times bigger than foreign in intelligence estimates of up to 31,500 men.

Fuad Hussein, the chief of staff of the Kurdish President Massoud Barzani said in an exclusive interview with The Independent on Sunday that “I am talking about hundreds of thousands of fighters because they are able to mobilise Arab young men in the territory they have taken.”

 Germany marks anniversary of fall of Berlin Wall

9 November 2014 Last updated at 02:09

BBC

Celebrations are being held in Germany to mark the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Concerts and exhibitions are being staged in the city and Chancellor Angela Merkel will later attend a huge open-air party at the Brandenburg Gate.

White balloons marking a stretch of the wall will be released to symbolise its disappearance.

The Berlin Wall was built in 1961 to stop people fleeing from Communist East Germany to the West.

Its fall in 1989 became a powerful symbol of the end of the Cold War.

Virgin Galactic crash: SpaceShipTwo probe ‘may take year’

2 November 2014 Last updated at 08:38

BBC

The investigation into the Virgin Galactic spacecraft crash in California’s Mojave Desert could take about a year, the head of the US transport safety agency has said.

Christopher Hart said Virgin Galactic would be able conduct further test flights while the investigation took place.

SpaceShipTwo broke up in mid-air during a test flight on Friday.

One of the pilots was killed and the other injured.

Virgin chief Sir Richard Branson says he is “determined to find out what went wrong” and learn from the tragedy.

Ebola outbreak: US nurse criticises quarantine treatment

26 October 2014 Last updated at 00:31

BBC

A nurse quarantined on her return to the US from treating Ebola patients in Sierra Leone has criticised the way she was dealt with at Newark airport.

Kaci Hickox said the experience was frightening and could deter other health workers from travelling to West Africa to help tackle the Ebola virus.

Illinois has become the third state after New York and New Jersey to impose stricter quarantine rules.

Meanwhile the US ambassador to the United Nations is to visit West Africa.

Samantha Power will travel to Guinea on Sunday, continuing later to Liberia and Sierra Leone – the three worst-hit countries.

Catholic synod: Gay rights groups ‘disappointed’

19 October 2014 Last updated at 01:32

BBC

Catholic gay rights groups say they are disappointed after bishops rejected a call for wider acceptance of gay people, which had the Pope’s backing.

The draft report, which also urged more tolerance for divorcees who remarried, failed to win two-thirds backing at the bishops’ synod in Rome.

The final report says only that anti-gay discrimination is “to be avoided”.

Pope Francis has asked for the full draft document, including the rejected paragraphs, to be published.

The synod will meet again in a year’s time in an expanded form.

Cyclone Hudhud pounds India’s Andhra Pradesh and Orissa

 12 October 2014 Last updated at 08:07

BBC

Cyclone Hudhud is pounding the eastern Indian coast, causing extensive damage and prompting the evacuation of some 300,000 people.

The cyclone, classed “very severe” and bringing winds of up to 195km/h (120mph), is passing over the coast near the city of Visakhapatnam.

Hundreds of trees have been uprooted and power lines brought down in Andhra Pradesh and Orissa states.

Two people have so far been reported killed in Andhra Pradesh.

It is feared a storm surge of up to two metres could inundate low-lying areas and hundreds of relief centres have been opened in the two states. Disaster relief teams have also been sent.

Hong Kong protesters promise to keep up occupation

Demonstrators say they will stay put as Monday deadline approaches, but offer to open access lanes

Tania Branigan in Hong Kong

The Guardian, Sunday 5 October 2014 09.20 BST

Pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong have vowed to keep up their occupation as a Monday deadline fast approaches, but are seeking compromise by offering to open access lanes.

The Hong Kong chief executive, Leung Chun-ying, announced on Saturday that protests had to be removed by Monday morning so that life could return to normal. He said officials and police would take “all necessary actions” to restore order.

In a Sunday lunchtime statement, the government said it was ready to offer a dialogue on constitutional reform with the Hong Kong Federation of Students – but only if demonstrators cleared the roads and lifted the blockade around government facilities in the downtown Admiralty area.

Al-Qaeda-linked group warns US-led coalition

 Nusra Front vows retaliation over military operation in Syria as air raids target ISIL fighters besieging Kurdish town.

Last updated: 28 Sep 2014 07:10

A group to al-Qaeda has pledged retaliation over the ongoing air strikes in Syria, as the US-led coalition widens its assault on ISIL targets in Syria and British warplanes fly their first combat missions over neighbouring Iraq.

In its first reaction to the military operation aimed at destroying ISIL, or the Islamic State of Syria and the Levant, the Nusra Front, al-Qaeda’s Syrian branch, said the air strikes in Syria were a “war against Islam”, and threatened to attack the worldwide interests of participating Western and Arab countries.

A US attack on a Nusra base in Aleppo on the first day of the air campaign killed dozens of the group’s fighters.