James Bond film ‘No Time To Die’ pushed again, to 2021
The release of the James Bond film “No Time To Die” has been delayed again, this time to 2021, because of the effects of COVID-19 on the theatrical business.
MGM, Universal and Bond producers, Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli, said on Twitter Friday that the 25th installment in the franchise will now open globally on April 2, 2021.
“No Time To Die” was originally supposed to open in April 2020 but was pushed back to Nov. 12 in the U.K. and Nov. 20 in the U.S. It was one of the first Hollywood films to abandon its release before cinemas in the U.S. shut down in mid-March because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The film from director Cary Joji Fukunaga stars Daniel Craig as 007, Rami Malek, Lashana Lynch and Ana de Armas.
In a related move, Universal moved its “F9,” the ninth installment of the “Fast & Furious" franchise starring Vin Diesel to May 28. Its previous April 2 release date would have put it in direct competition with Bond.
Other major studios have made similar decisions over the past few weeks.
Cinemas remain closed in New York and Los Angeles, two of North America’s biggest markets.
Ticket sales for Warner Bros.’ “Tenet,” the first blockbuster to open in theaters worldwide after months of coronavirus-related closures, have not been as strong as hoped for in the U.S.
The Walt Disney Co. last week delayed the planned 2020 releases of a handful of major movies until 2021. They include Marvel’s “Black Widow” and Steven Spielberg’s “West Side Story.” Universal delayed “Candyman” to next year.
Some major releases are still planned for 2020. They include “Wonder Woman 1984,” which was pushed back to Christmas after multiple delays and Kenneth Branagh’s mystery “Death on the Nile.” It is now set for Dec. 18.
Europe's central bank moves toward introducing digital euro
FRANKFURT, Germany -- With consumers increasingly using cashless ways to buy things, the European Central Bank on Friday took a step closer to issuing a digital version of the euro currency shared by 19 countries, saying it had to be ready to launch digital money if a changing world requires it.
The central bank issued a comprehensive report outlining the reasons why it might need to take the step. The ECB also said it would hold public consultations on the idea with citizens, academics and bankers.
It said no decision has been made, and that any digital euro would complement cash, not replace it. The consultations will start Oct. 12.
“The euro belongs to Europeans and our mission is to be its guardian,” said Christine Lagarde, ECB President. “Europeans are increasingly turning to digital in the ways they spend, save and invest. Our role is to secure trust in money. This means making sure the euro is fit for the digital age. We should be prepared to issue a digital euro, should the need arise.”
A digital euro would be different from current cashless payment systems run by the private sector because it would be official central bank money - trustable, risk-free and likely less expensive to use. A central bank digital currency could also be used offline, for instance, to transfer small amounts between individuals using digital wallets on their smartphones and a Bluetooth connection.
The use of cash is dwindling in some countries, led by Sweden, where most bank branches no longer handle cash and shops, restaurants and museums accept only cards or mobile payments. Additionally, the pandemic has led to an increase in touchless, non-cash ways of paying in shops. Cash still has its adherents because it is convenient and private, and the ECB was at pains to make clear it was not proposing doing away with notes and coins.
The ECB is not alone in studying the issue. China’s central bank is already testing an official digital currency, while the central bank of Sweden says it has initiated a pilot project.
The U.S. Federal Reserve is taking a more long-term view. Lael Brainard, a member of the board of governors at the Fed, said in August that the Fed would need to ask how U.S. law would apply. She said no decision had been made “as we are taking the time and effort to understand the significant implications of digital currencies and CBDCs (central bank digital currencies) around the globe.”
A task force of experts from the ECB and the 19 national central banks of the eurozone noted that as demand increases for cashless payments, there should be a Europe-wide, risk-free digital system. They said the potential launch of global private digital currencies could raise regulatory concerns and pose risks for the stability of the financial system.
Facebook last year proposed launching Libra, a digital currency that would be backed by existing government-issued money. Libra would not be run by Facebook but by a nonprofit association based in Switzerland. Central banks and regulators have raised concerns about privacy, money laundering and consumer protection. The project suffered a setback when high-profile financial companies such as MasterCard and Visa left the project.
The technical basis could be so-called distributed ledger technology, a decentralized way of keeping track of payments, or the existing ECB payment infrastructure, TIPS. The private sector would then develop ways for the currency to be used in practice by consumers.
Premier League players urged to take a knee in protest at George Floyd's death
(CNN) After Liverpool players took a knee during training in a show of solidarity following the global outrage over George Floyd's death, NBA star Lebron James tweeted #YNWA -- a reference to the Premier League club's 'You'll Never Walk Alone" anthem.
As pictures of the Liverpool players' gesture went viral on social media the head of Kick It Out, a leading UK organization that works to tackle discrimination in professional and grassroots football, urged every Premier League player to take a knee once the season restarts later this month.
Floyd, a 46-year-old unarmed black man, died in Minneapolis on May 25 after being arrested by a white police officer who forcibly pinned him to the ground for several minutes by kneeling on his neck. His death has sparked widespread protests across the world in recent days.
On Monday, Kick it Out chairman Sanjay Bhandari told The Guardian players must be free to protest when the current campaign resumes on June 17.
"I would like to encourage the players to protest if they want to but I would also like to encourage them to do it in a way that doesn't expose them to unnecessary sanction," Bhandari said.
"If they could do that by taking a knee, well if every player did that it would be quite a powerful message. I would be interested to hear what the authorities thought of that, whether it would constitute a breach of the rules. To me that is about demonstrating solidarity."
The English Football Association said in a statement that it "strongly condemns discrimination of any kind" and says that any protests on the pitch "would be reviewed on a case by case basis with a common sense approach and understanding of their context."
"The power of football can break down barriers across communities and we remain deeply committed to removing all forms of discrimination from across the game we all love," it added.
The Premier League did not immediately respond to CNN's request for comment.
While Liverpool's squad took a knee during training on Monday, Manchester United stars Paul Pogba and Marcus Rashford also posted messages of solidarity on social media.
Bhandari's comments came on the same day that the German Football Federation (DFB) announced it was investigating protests made by Jadon Sancho, Achraf Hakimi, Weston McKennie and Marcus Thuram during Bundesliga matches over the weekend, a decision for which the federation has drawn criticism.
Over the weekend, Borussia Dortmund's Sancho received a yellow card for lifting up his shirt to reveal the message "Justice for George Floyd" written underneath. Teammate Hakimi was not booked later in the game for making the same protest.
Schalke's Weston McKennie wore an armband with the slogan "Justice for George," while Marcus Thuram took a knee after scoring for Borussia Monchengladbach.
"I hope there will be a degree of leniency shown by the German authorities," Bhandari said. "I'm not sure how you can sanction Marcus Thuram. I don't think he's done anything wrong. He's just taken a knee. I wonder if that's the thing I would encourage if players want to protest.
"If you score a goal and take a knee could everyone do that? Not just the black players. The white players too -- everyone. I would urge all the authorities and all the clubs to show a degree of understanding. This is almost above politics. This is about right and wrong.
"This is someone who was killed on the streets by the police. This is about seeking justice for him and others like him. I don't see that as being political. That's human."
The DFB said the yellow card given to Sancho had nothing to do with his message of solidarity.
"Referee Daniel Siebert followed the laws of the game here, specifically Law 12 (Fouls and Misconduct), which states that a player will be booked for unsporting behaviour if they remove their shirt or cover their head with their shirt after celebrating a goal," said the DFB in a statement.
A spokesperson for FIFA, world football's governing body, says it "fully understands the depth of sentiment and concerns expressed by many footballers in light of the tragic circumstances of the George Floyd case" and has urged competition organizers to "use common sense" when considering possible sanctions for player protests.
"I think the players understand that if they take the shirt off they're going to get booked," Bhandari says. "Everything is contextual and in this context I think it would be very harsh for a punishment to go beyond that. I'm not sure how something like taking a knee could expose you.
"Every player should do it. It should be teams doing it. You saw the Erling Haaland celebration after the first game back where all the Borussia Dortmund players did the social-distancing celebration. They could all take a knee. Racism's not about black players or brown fans. It's about all of us.
"Racism corrodes society and we're all hurt by it. Everyone should want to demonstrate their solidarity and disgust."
Twitter is now in completely uncharted waters
(CNN Business) There is no turning back for Twitter now. The only way out is through.
When Twitter slapped a warning label on one of President Donald Trump's tweets Friday for "glorifying violence," it was almost certain that the move — a first for the platform — would escalate tensions with the White House.
But even Twitter may not have guessed that the official White House Twitter account would then choose to repost the same language hours later in an apparent attempt to further test Twitter's limits. Having already made its position clear, Twitter really only had one option: It added a warning label onto that tweet, too.
The back-to-back incidents capped off a rocky week in which Twitter's decision to place warning labels on two Trump tweets set off a presidential firestorm that culminated in an executive order that seeks to punish the entire social media industry. Twitter now finds itself in an unprecedented position. For years it was Trump's favored platform; now Twitter is locked in a war with the president simply for choosing to enforce its policies. Seemingly every tweet on the platform — those from general users and those from Twitter employees — are being scrutinized anew. Republicans are coming after it. Rivals are throwing it under the bus or staying silent. Fact-checking organizations are calling for greater transparency.
And there is no end in sight.
Even as Twitter scrambled to address Trump's warning to Minneapolis protesters on Friday that "when the looting starts, the shooting starts," Republican Sen. Ted Cruz was getting ready to call on Attorney General William Barr for a criminal investigation of Twitter. The allegation: Twitter has violated US sanctions by giving Iranian officials a platform for speech.
It's a reflection of the dizzying number of ways that Twitter has opened itself up to attacks, virtually overnight, because it dared to add "context" to Trump's claims. Suddenly, Twitter — a platform with far fewer users and far less money than rivals like Facebook and Google — faces the threat of government action, an hourly onslaught of attacks from the President and death threats directed at one employee singled out by Trump and his allies.
Twitter declined to comment for this story beyond referring CNN Business to a blog post on its policies.
An era of inaction comes to an end
When Trump threatened to nuke North Korea, Twitter took no action despite pressure from users. When he attacked four Democratic congresswomen by telling them to "go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came," Twitter allowed the tweets to stand. When he revived a decades-old conspiracy theory against TV host Joe Scarborough, Twitter said it was "deeply sorry" for the pain the tweets caused — but did nothing.
The company has long sought to walk a tightrope between angering too many users on the left, and too many users on the right. The result was a kind of inaction that primarily benefited Trump. Now, after years of upsetting the people out of power, Twitter has finally resolved to upset the people in power for a change.
"I would not be surprised if the voices in the company that may have been trying to steer towards moderation and trying to find a middle ground have sort of stepped away from that," said Adam Sharp, the former head of news, government and elections at Twitter.
Nu Wexler, a former spokesman for Twitter, Google and Facebook at various points in his career, said Trump provided Twitter this week with an ideal opportunity to begin enforcing its policies with his tweets about mail-in ballots and "looting" leading to "shooting."
"If you had to pick a test case to litigate in the court of public opinion, fact-checking a demonstrably false claim about voting and a very specific violent threat are the ones you would pick," he said.
Still, if the back-and-forth between Twitter and the White House this week is any indication, it may just be the first of many tests to come.
Can't stop, won't stop
Twitter can't stop now; if it does, it would have created a public firestorm and invited a war with Trump for nothing. But the conflict also puts Twitter in a difficult position. The more the company tries to clarify and correct the record with its warning labels, the more it serves Trump's political interests by playing into his preferred narrative of an antagonistic, partisan media.
Enforcing the rules on Trump doesn't just create dangers for Twitter whenever it acts on his tweets. It also inherently creates an inverse risk: tweets that go un-checked could be interpreted by some users as implicitly accurate or true. And it exposes the company to unending allegations of hypocrisy and partisanship.
Trump and his allies are all too willing to spotlight any perceived inconsistencies. "This Tweet violated the Twitter Rules about glorifying violence," read a tweet from the White House account on Friday that cited a post by the Supreme Leader of Iran, Ali Khamenei, on Palestine. "However, @Twitter has determined that it will allow terrorists, dictators, and foreign propagandists to abuse its platform."
Baybars Örsek, the director of the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN) at the Poynter Institute, said the issue is symptomatic of a deeper problem facing Twitter: Despite its efforts, the company hasn't communicated clearly enough about how its enforcement works. The IFCN's members, which include PolitiFact, the Associated Press and dozens of others, are the independent partners behind Facebook's third-party fact-checking operation. Örsek said neither IFCN nor its members have heard from Twitter.
"Twitter needs to make it a big, transparent process how they decide what to fact check," said Örsek. "It's not easy if you have it done as an internal team. People will be asking questions about how are they choosing to do this duty."
Twitter has been reluctant to reveal too much about its exact workflows when it comes to reviewing speech. The company has published numerous blog posts explaining its general approach to public figures and misinformation. But when pressed for specifics on the fact-checking of Trump's tweets or its decision-making surrounding Trump's baseless allegations against Scarborough, CEO Jack Dorsey has preferred to reply with vague platitudes.
It had to be Twitter
If this week proves anything, it's that any action Twitter might have taken against Trump's tweets was likely to provoke an extreme reaction. But Twitter is one of the few remaining major tech platforms Trump has not targeted with the levers of government, giving it wider latitude than some others to push back.
Facebook and Google are under active antitrust investigations, which, although by law must be conducted dispassionately and without a view to politics, have been interpreted as inextricably linked to Trump's frequent outbursts about political bias.
Twitter doesn't have an antitrust problem because there are far larger and more powerful tech companies. So its exposure to regulatory retaliation is comparatively less, and its flexibility to challenge Trump somewhat greater, said Wexler. And for all his bluster, Trump has long depended on Twitter to communicate with millions.
T
witter now has to hope that Trump's threats — and the executive order he signed this week calling for rethinking legal protections the industry was built on — end up being as toothless as some expect.
At least on that point, Twitter is probably in good company.
George Floyd death: Lawyer calls it 'premeditated murder'
A lawyer for the family of George Floyd, whose death sparked unrest across the US, has accused a police officer of "premeditated murder".
Minneapolis policeman Derek Chauvin has been charged with third-degree murder, but lawyer Benjamin Crump told CBS news it was a case of first-degree murder.
"We think that he had intent... almost nine minutes he kept his knee in a man's neck that was begging and pleading for breath," he said.
Several US cities have imposed curfews.
The Floyd case has reignited US anger over police killings of black Americans. It follows the high-profile cases of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Eric Garner in New York and others that have driven the Black Lives Matter movement.
"The fact that officer Chauvin kept his knee on his neck for almost three minutes after he was unconscious. We don't understand how that was not first degree murder. We don't understand how all these officers haven't been arrested," lawyer Crump said.
Three other officers present at the time have also since been sacked.
For many the outrage over George Floyd's death also reflects years of frustration over socioeconomic inequality and segregation, not least in Minneapolis itself.
In video footage, Mr Chauvin, 44, can be seen kneeling on Mr Floyd's neck for several minutes on Monday. Mr Floyd, 46, repeatedly says that he is unable to breathe.
There have been five nights of arson and looting in Minneapolis and the adjacent city of St Paul. Minnesota's Governor Tim Walz said on Saturday he was deploying the full Minnesota National Guard for the first time since World War Two.
Governor Walz said racism in his state had created the conditions for Mr Floyd's death.
The National Guard - the US reserve military force for domestic emergencies - said on Sunday that 5,000 of its personnel had been activated in 15 states and Washington DC. It added that "state and local law enforcement agencies remain responsible for security".
In the CBS interview, lawyer Benjamin Crump also said "we now have the audio from the police bodycam and we hear where one officer says 'he doesn't have a pulse, maybe we should turn him on his side', but yet officer Chauvin says 'no, we're going to keep him in this position'. That's intent.
"Also, the fact that officer Chauvin kept his knee on his neck for almost three minutes after he was unconscious."
The lawyer also said Mr Chauvin and Mr Floyd already knew each other before Mr Floyd's death in custody.
He said the Floyd family was "notified by the owner of a club that Derek Chauvin was an off-duty police officer where George Floyd was a security guard, and so they had to overlap".
What's the latest on the protests?
Thousands took part in an anti-racism protest march in central London on Sunday, defying social distancing rules imposed because of coronavirus. They gathered in Trafalgar Square, then the crowd moved on to the US embassy.
Huge demonstrations have taken place in at least 30 cities across the US. They were largely peaceful on Saturday, but violence flared later in the day.
One of the cities worst affected by unrest is Los Angeles. California Governor Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency in the city and activated the National Guard.
The entire city is under a 20:00 to 05:30 curfew. Numerous shops have been looted, including on the famous retail avenues, Melrose and Fairfax, while overhead footage showed fires burning. Earlier police fired rubber bullets and hit protesters with batons. Hundreds of arrests have been made.
In New York City, police arrested about 350 people overnight and dozens of police suffered light injuries.
In Salt Lake City, a man aimed a bow and arrow at protesters and was attacked by the crowd, Reuters reported.
President Donald Trump's national security adviser told CNN "I don't think there's systemic racism" in the police.
Robert O'Brien said "there are some racist police, I think they're the minority, I think they're the few bad apples and we need to root them out".
On Saturday evening, President Trump said Mr Floyd's death had "filled Americans with horror, anger and grief".
He also denounced the actions of "looters and anarchists", accusing them of dishonouring the memory of Mr Floyd. What was needed, he said, was "healing not hatred, justice not chaos". "I will not allow angry mobs to dominate - won't happen," he added.
Storm develops near Bermuda
A tropical system developing near Bermuda in the Atlantic Ocean could set the record as the earliest, third-named storm to take shape ahead of the official hurricane season.
The NOAA's National Hurricane Center predicted that the tropical system has a 60 per cent chance of becoming a tropical cyclone.
Forecasters have begun monitoring a developing system, named Invest 92L by the National Hurricane Center, found 450 miles southeast of Bermuda this week.
As of Saturday morning, Accuweather reports that the system showed some signs of strengthening, indicated by more pronounced cloud swirls, but was struggling to fully form due to wind shear.
If the system strengthens into a named storm, it would be the earliest third named storm recorded and go by the name 'Cristobal.'
The name was previously used for Hurricane Cristobal in August 2014, which was a Category one storm that passed over Puerto Rico and Iceland.
Usually, the third-named storm develops much later in the hurricane season and typically occurs in August.
'August 13 is the average date of the third named storm,' according to AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Kristina Pydynowski.
If 92L amasses enough strength, it could transform into a tropical or subtropical storm in the next 24 to 36 hours.
The National Hurricane Center issued a Special Tropical Weather on Saturday morning due to 92L. They estimate that the system has a 60 per cent chance of becoming a tropical cyclone within the next 48 hours
.
This year's hurricane season, which is set annually between June and November, has already been preceded by two unexpected tropical storms in May.
Tropical Storm Arthur developed on May 16 and narrowly missed North Carolina's Outer Banks as it moved up the Atlantic Ocean.
Tropical Storm Bertha made landfall on May 27 and flooded parts of South Carolina. It also brought three days of torrential rain and flash flood warnings to South Florida.
While it's not unheard of for preseason tropical storms to develop, there has never been three named storms before before June 1 in the Atlantic Basin.
'The earliest number-three tropical storm on record is Colin, which formed on June 5, 2016,' said AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Joe Lundberg.
Accuweather suggests that prior to the satellite era, there were probably several tropical storms that went undetected.
'In 1951, a tropical storm formed in January, then a hurricane followed in May and another tropical system, a depression also formed that same May,' said Senior Meteorologist Alex Sosnowski.
There have only been five years where at least two storms in the Atlantic Ocean have been named during May or earlier, including 2016, 2012, 1951, 1908 and 1887.
Weather officials have already warned that the 2020 hurricane season could be an especially active one.
The National Hurricane Service has revealed they are interested in collecting additional data about 92L and investigating the system area.
To strengthen, tropical systems must develop over water temperatures of 80 degrees Fahrenheit or higher. On Friday, 92L was floating over waters that peaked at 77 degrees.
Forecasters have also warned of another hotspot for tropical activities surfacing in the Atlantic Ocean, but it will likely take much longer to form
.
A low pressure area could form next week near the Gulf of Mexico or northwestern Caribbean Sea, but such a development is more common the second week of June.
George Floyd death: Widespread unrest as curfews defied across US
Curfews have been ordered in cities across the US to try to stem unrest sparked by the death of a black man in police custody.
But they have been defied in many areas, with shops looted, cars burned and buildings attacked. Riot police have used tear gas and rubber bullets.
President Donald Trump urged "healing" over the death of George Floyd but said he could not allow mobs to dominate.
A white ex-policeman is charged with murdering Mr Floyd, 46, in Minneapolis.
Derek Chauvin, 44, is due to appear in court on Monday.
In video footage, Mr Chauvin can be seen kneeling on Mr Floyd's neck for several minutes on Monday. Mr Floyd repeatedly says that he is unable to breathe.
Three other officers present at the time have also since been sacked.
The Floyd case has reignited US anger over police killings of black Americans. It follows the high-profile cases of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Eric Garner in New York and others that have driven the Black Lives Matter movement.
But for many it also reflects years of frustration over socioeconomic inequality and segregation, not least in Minneapolis itself.
What's the latest on the protests?
Huge demonstrations have taken place in at least 30 cities across the US. They were largely peaceful on Saturday, but violence flared later in the day.
One of the cities worst affected by unrest is Los Angeles. California Governor Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency in the city and activated the National Guard - the reserve military force that can be called on to intervene in domestic emergencies.
The entire city is under a 20:00 to 05:30 curfew. Numerous shops have been looted, including on the famous retail avenues, Melrose and Fairfax, while overhead footage showed fires burning. Earlier police fired rubber bullets and hit protesters with batons. Hundreds of arrests have been made.
Mayor Eric Garcetti said this was "the heaviest moment I've experienced" since the riots in 1992 that were sparked by the acquittal of police over the beating of Rodney King.
In New York, some 20 police cars were burned and dozens of arrests made. Video also showed a police car driving into a crowd of protesters. Mayor Bill de Blasio said the situation was not started by the officers, but Congress Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said his comments were unacceptable and he should not be making excuses for the officers.
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot imposed a 21:00 to 06:00 curfew until further notice, saying she was "disgusted" by the violence.
"I've seen protesters hurl projectiles at our police department... bottles of water, urine and Lord knows what else," she said.
Although in most places curfews were observed by the majority, also in most places there was evidence of defiance.
In Atlanta, protesters remained on the streets after the curfew began, damaging property and vehicles. Dozens of arrests were made.
Minneapolis, where George Floyd died, has seen less violence overnight. Some 700 National Guard officers are aiding police and they acted quickly to enforce the curfew imposed there. The Star Tribune said the action had so far headed off the unrest of the previous night.
For the second day running, a large crowd of protesters taunted National Guard officers outside the White House in Washington, DC.
Indianapolis was one of the cities that had seen peaceful protests during the day turn violent later. At least one shooting death has occurred, but police said no officers had discharged weapons.
In under-curfew Philadelphia, 13 police officers were hurt and at least 35 arrests made as stores were looted, police cars torched and buildings defaced.
Overnight curfews have also been declared in Miami, Portland and Louisville, among other cities.
San Francisco is the latest to impose a curfew, announced by Mayor London Breed for 20:00 local time on Sunday, after looting and violence.
But amid the violence there were also moments of solidarity. In Flint, Michigan, Sheriff Chris Swanson took off the riot helmets of his men, laid down batons and asked protesters what they wanted. After hugs and high fives, they chanted "walk with us" and the sheriff did.
What has the president said?
On Saturday evening, Mr Trump said that Mr Floyd's death had "filled Americans with horror, anger and grief".
"I stand before you as a friend and ally to every American seeking peace," he said in a televised address from Cape Canaveral in Florida, following the launch into orbit of two Nasa astronauts by billionaire Elon Musk's SpaceX company.
The president denounced the actions of "looters and anarchists", accusing them of dishonouring the memory of Mr Floyd. What was needed, he said, was "healing not hatred, justice not chaos".
"I will not allow angry mobs to dominate - won't happen," he added.
Mr Trump has blamed the mayor of Minneapolis - a Democrat - for failing to control the protests, which are the worst since the president took office.
The president's Democratic Party rival, Joe Biden, has accused him of giving oxygen to bigotry and said those responsible for Mr Floyd's death must be held accountable.
But he also condemned rioting, saying: "Protesting such brutality is right and necessary. But burning down communities and needless destruction is not."
Many mayors and local officials have been trying to separate the genuine protests over Mr Floyd's death from the violent unrest, often blaming "outsiders" for the looting and arson. There have been many reports of residents trying to stop acts of violence.
What happened to George Floyd?
On Monday night, police received a phone call from a neighbourhood grocery store alleging that George Floyd had paid with a counterfeit $20 note.
Officers were attempting to put him in a police vehicle when he dropped to the ground, telling them he was claustrophobic.
According to police, he physically resisted officers and was handcuffed. Video of the incident does not show how the confrontation started.
With Mr Chauvin's knee on his neck, Mr Floyd can be heard saying "please, I can't breathe" and "don't kill me".
According to a preliminary autopsy by the county medical examiner, the police officer had his knee on Mr Floyd's neck for eight minutes and 46 seconds - almost three minutes of which was after Mr Floyd became non-responsive.
Nearly two minutes before Mr Chauvin removed his knee the other officers checked Mr Floyd's right wrist for a pulse and were unable to find one. He was taken to hospital and pronounced dead around an hour later.
The preliminary autopsy, included in the criminal complaint against Mr Chauvin, did not find evidence of "traumatic asphyxia or strangulation".
The medical examiner noted Mr Floyd had underlying heart conditions and the combination of these, "potential intoxicants in his system" and being restrained by the officers "likely contributed to his death".
Mr Chauvin was charged on Friday with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter over his role in Mr Floyd's death.
Mr Floyd's family said they wanted a more serious, first-degree murder charge as well as the arrest of the three other officers involved.
Hennepin County Prosecutor Mike Freeman said he "anticipates charges" for the other officers but would not offer more details.
Zuckerberg finally explains why Facebook is doing nothing about Trump's posts
(CNN Business) Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg explained Friday night why his company would take no action on posts in which President Trump threatened "looting" in Minneapolis would lead to "shooting." That explanation came roughly 16 hours after Twitter did take action and despite Zuckerberg's having previously told Congress that posts inciting violence would not be tolerated on Facebook.
"I know many people are upset that we've left the President's posts up," Zuckerberg wrote in a Facebook post.
Trump's posts on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter read, "These THUGS are dishonoring the memory of George Floyd, and I won't let that happen. Just spoke to Governor Tim Walz and told him that the Military is with him all the way. Any difficulty and we will assume control but, when the looting starts, the shooting starts. Thank you!"
Within two-and-a-half hours of the post, Twitter had placed a warning label on it saying it glorified violence.
Facebook, by contrast, remained silent on the matter for 18 hours until Zuckerberg's post appeared.
Justifying leaving the posts on Facebook and Instagram, Zuckerberg wrote, "We looked very closely at the post that discussed the protests in Minnesota to evaluate whether it violated our policies. Although the post had a troubling historical reference, we decided to leave it up because the National Guard references meant we read it as a warning about state action, and we think people need to know if the government is planning to deploy force. Our policy around incitement of violence allows discussion around state use of force, although I think today's situation raises important questions about what potential limits of that discussion should be."
Testifying before Congress in October, Zuckerberg said, "If anyone, including a politician, is saying things that can cause, that is calling for violence or could risk imminent physical harm ... we will take that content down." He was answering questions from Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez when he made the claim.
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In his post Friday, Zuckerberg criticized Twitter for its handling of Trump's posts.
"Unlike Twitter, we do not have a policy of putting a warning in front of posts that may incite violence because we believe that if a post incites violence, it should be removed regardless of whether it is newsworthy, even if it comes from a politician," he wrote.
Earlier in the week Zuckerberg had criticized Twitter for fact-checking Trump's false claims about mail-in ballots in California. Zuckerberg made those comments on Fox News.
Even so, Zuckerberg said in his post that he did not agree with the President's post.
"I've been struggling with how to respond to the President's tweets and posts all day. Personally, I have a visceral negative reaction to this kind of divisive and inflammatory rhetoric," he wrote, adding, "But I'm responsible for reacting not just in my personal capacity but as the leader of an institution committed to free expression."
Ending his post, Zuckerberg concluded, "People can agree or disagree on where we should draw the line, but I hope they understand our overall philosophy is that it is better to have this discussion out in the open, especially when the stakes are so high. I disagree strongly with how the President spoke about this, but I believe people should be able to see this for themselves, because ultimately accountability for those in positions of power can only happen when their speech is scrutinized out in the open."
Coronavirus: India to loosen lockdown despite record cases
India has announced plans to further ease a strict national lockdown even as the country reported a record daily rise in new coronavirus cases.
From 8 June, restaurants, hotels, shopping centres and places of worship will be allowed to re-open in many areas in the first stage of a three-phase plan.
Weeks later, probably in July, schools and colleges will resume teaching.
But areas with high numbers of Covid-19 cases will remain under tight lockdown.
The plan comes after India registered a new record single-day rise in confirmed infections, with nearly 8,000 cases reported on Saturday.
In total India has recorded some 174,500 cases and nearly 5,000 deaths. The nation of 1.3 billion has been hit less hard by the coronavirus than many other countries.
It went into a strict lockdown more than two months ago when the confirmed caseload was in the hundreds. Official data suggests the decision prevented the loss of between 37,000 and 78,000 lives.
However the cost to the economy has been high and pictures of millions of informal workers leaving cities for their rural villages after losing their jobs - some of them on foot - shocked the country.
Health officials say that they are able to further lift the lockdown in many places because most cases have been restricted to urban areas in a handful of states.
More than 80% of the active cases are in five states - Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh - and more than 60% of the cases are in five cities, including Mumbai, Delhi and Ahmedabad, according to official data.
As part of the three-phase plan:
- Shopping centres, places of worship, hotels, restaurants and other hospitality services will open from 8 June (guidelines will be released to ensure social distancing)
- School and colleges may open later - possibly in July - after consultations with states
- International travel, metro services, cinemas, sporting events and gyms will be allowed to restart in an undated third phase but this will depend on "the situation"
- A night curfew will remain in place but shorten by two hours - from 21:00-05:00 instead of 19:00-07:00
These measures will not apply to designated "containment zones" where the virus is believed to be transmitting at a higher rate. Such zones are at the district or neighbourhood level.
The city of Mumbai, India's financial capital. in Maharashtra state, has one of the highest numbers of containment zones, reports suggest. Hospitals there are struggling to cope with an influx of virus patients.
The reported infection rate - the number of infections for every 100 tests - in Maharashtra is three times the national average.
People will be restricted from moving between containment zones and non-containment zones but there will be no restriction on general inter-state travel, the government says.
While some countries clap for doctors, health workers in Russia face open hostility
Moscow (CNN) Frontline medical workers in the US, the UK and elsewhere may face major risks in their efforts to battle the coronavirus pandemic, but they've also seen an outpouring of public appreciation. In Russia, health workers say they face fear, mistrust -- and even open hostility.
Tatyana Revva, an intensive care specialist in the central district hospital of the city of Kalach-on-Don in southern Russia, shared a video in late March about equipment shortages with the Doctors Alliance, an advocacy group aligned with Russia's political opposition. After the video went viral, she said, she was summoned by local police about it.
"I was called to the police and gave a statement with a lawyer, but another statement against me was sent to the prosecutor's office," Revva told CNN via Skype after finishing a night shift.
Revva said law-enforcement investigators subsequently checked the availability of PPE and ventilators at her hospital.
"But the check was carried out a month after I flagged the problems," she said. "You can imagine how much had been purchased in a month after the buzz the video made."
Revva says she has not been fined by the police but now fears professional retaliation. Police have not responded to CNN's request for comment. The hospital administration could not immediately be reached for comment, but the hospital's chief doctor, Oleg Kumeiko, said in a March 29 statement on YouTube that the information posted online about PPE shortages was "absolutely untrue."
Rumors and conspiracy theories abound in Russia about Covid-19: that the virus was invented by doctors to control society; that medical workers are hiding the true extent of the casualties from the public; or that medical personnel are falsely attributing deaths to Covid-19 to receive more money from the government.
Disinformation and conspiracy theories are prevalent on Russian TV and online, and media experts say they are corroding public trust in the medical profession.
Alexandra Arkhipova, a social anthropologist in Moscow, said the mistrust of the medical profession reflects broader mistrust of the state. While some Russians see doctors as heroes, Arkhipova said, many in Russian society see them as "traitors or villains" participating in plans to control people.
"[Russian] people don't believe in state medicine, they only believe in doctors they know personally," Arkhipova told CNN, referring to Russia's public healthcare system.
The desperation of Russian doctors facing public disdain, and the overwhelming pressure on them at work, has emerged as grim theme in Russia's pandemic after a series of mysterious deaths: One frontline ambulance doctor, Alexander Shulepov, sustained severe head injuries after falling out of a window — two other doctors died in similar circumstances.
But it is the coronavirus that is killing Russian doctors in large numbers. Just over a hundred medical personnel have died so far, according to official figures. But health care workers, skeptical of government figures, have compiled their own unofficial tally of colleagues who died fighting the pandemic: more than 300.
Even official reports in state media admit that thousands of medical workers are now infected.
Stella Korchinskaya, an x-ray specialist at Reutov Central City Clinical Hospital in the Moscow region, said she was told by hospital officials they were just treating patients with pneumonia and was given practically no means of protection at her hospital. She says she has now tested positive for the coronavirus herself.
"When the epidemic started, we had practically no means of protection, we did not have respirators, we did not have basic PPE," Korchinskaya told CNN from her bed. "We had to protect ourselves how we could. I bought respirators via the Internet, I bought glasses in a hardware store, before they closed them during lockdown, with my own money."
In an interview posted to the hospital's Instagram account, director, Garik Khachatryan denied there were shortages of PPE.
Korchinskaya appealed to the Doctors Alliance for additional equipment, which responded by sending several boxes of PPE. This, she said, didn't go down well with the hospital administrators.
"They secretly recorded me on video while the deputy head doctor started asking where that PPE was. At that moment, the PPE was being sneaked into the hospital, but I told them it was at my home so they wouldn't find it. We gave it out later that night. Then I got sick, so they didn't have time to discipline me," Korchinskaya said.
But you know the plight of doctors is bad when falling sick with coronavirus feels like a lucky escape.