SAVANNAH, Georgia: Outrage is spreading over a shooting of a black man that led to murder charges more than two months later against a white father and son, but “all that matters is what the facts tell us,” Georgia Bureau of Investigation Director Vic Reynolds said Friday.
And once the GBI was brought into the case, “we came up fairly quickly with the solid belief that there’s sufficient cause to charge them with felony murder and aggravated assault,” Reynolds said at a news conference.
The investigation continues now that Gregory and Travis McMichael have been booked into the Glynn County Jail in the Feb. 23 shooting of Ahmaud Arbery, and Reynolds said “every stone will be uncovered.”
But in response to a question about racial intent in the shooting, Reynolds said “there is no hate crime in Georgia. There isn’t. It is one of four or five states that doesn’t have one.”
The McMichaels told police they pursued Arbery, with another person recording them on video, after spotting him running in their neighborhood. The father and son said they thought he matched the appearance of a burglary suspect recorded on a surveillance camera.
Arbery’s mother, Wanda Cooper Jones, has said she thinks her son, a former football player, was just jogging in the Satilla Shores neighborhood before he was killed on a Sunday afternoon.
National outrage over the case swelled this week after the cellphone video was leaked and shared on social media.
Those close to Arbery celebrated the news but also expressed frustration at the long wait.
“This should have occurred the day it happened,” said Akeem Baker, one of Arbery’s close friends in Brunswick. “There’s no way without the video this would have occurred. I’m just glad the light’s shining very bright on this situation.”
Benjamin Crump, an attorney for the slain man’s father, Marcus Arbery, said it’s outrageous that arrests took so long.
“This is the first step to justice,” Crump said in a statement. “This murderous father and son duo took the law into their own hands. It’s a travesty of justice that they enjoyed their freedom for 74 days after taking the life of a young black man who was simply jogging.”
The GBI announced the arrests the day after it began its own investigation at the request of an outside prosecutor. The felony murder charges against Gregory McMichael, 64, and Travis McMichael, 34, mean that a victim was killed during the commission of an underlying felony, in this case aggravated assault. The charge doesn’t require intent to kill.
A GBI news release said the McMichaels “confronted Arbery with two firearms. During the encounter, Travis McMichael shot and killed Arbery.”
Reynolds and the outside prosecutor now handling the case, Tom Durden, said in response to reporters’ questions that they weren’t aware of any arraignment or bond hearings scheduled for the defendants. Reynolds also said he didn’t know whether the McMichaels had an attorney who could comment.
Gregory McMichael retired last year as an investigator for Glynn County District Attorney Jackie Johnson; the connection caused Johnson to recuse herself. Waycross D.A. George E. Barnhill then got the case before recusing himself under pressure from Arbery’s family because his son works in Johnson’s office.
Durden had said he wanted a grand jury to decide whether charges are warranted, but Georgia courts are still largely closed because of the coronavirus. Durden said Friday that he won’t bow to public pressure from one side or another.
Brunswick defense attorney Alan Tucker identified himself Thursday as the person who shared the video with the radio station. He did not say how he obtained it. In a statement, Tucker said he wasn’t representing anyone involved. He said he shared the video “because my community was being ripped apart by erroneous accusations and assumptions.”
The video shows a black man running at a jogging pace. The truck is stopped in the road ahead of him, with one of the white men standing in the pickup’s bed and the other beside the open driver’s side door.
The runner attempts to pass the pickup on the passenger side, moving just beyond the truck, briefly outside the camera’s view. A gunshot sounds, and the video shows the runner grappling with a man over what appears to be a shotgun or rifle. A second shot can be heard, and the runner can be seen punching the man. A third shot is fired at point-blank range. The runner staggers a few feet and falls face down.
The outcry over the killing reached the White House, where President Donald Trump offered condolences to Arbery’s family.
“I saw the tape and it’s very, very disturbing,” Trump said Friday on Fox News Channel.
“It’s a heartbreak. ... very rough, rough stuff,” Trump added. “Justice getting done is what solves that problem. It’s in the hands of the governor and I’m sure he’ll do the right thing.”
Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden called Arbery’s death a “murder.” During an online roundtable Thursday, Biden said the video shows Arbery “lynched before our very eyes.”
Republican Gov. Brian Kemp told reporters before the charges were announced that he’s confident state investigators will “find the truth.”
“Earlier this week, I watched the video depicting Mr. Arbery’s last moments alive,” Kemp said. “I can tell you it’s absolutely horrific, and Georgians deserve answers.”
Georgia promises thorough probe into black man fatally shot while jogging
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Georgia promises thorough probe into black man fatally shot while jogging
- The investigation continues now that Gregory and Travis McMichael have been booked into the Glynn County Jail in the Feb. 23 shooting of Ahmaud Arbery, and Reynolds said “every stone will be uncovered”
- National outrage over the case swelled this week after the cellphone video of the shooting was leaked and shared on social media
India launches its first space docking mission
- The mission lifted off from the Satish Dhawan Space Center aboard the Indian Space Research Organization’s PSLV rocket
- The mission is seen as pivotal for future space endeavours, including satellite servicing and India’s planned space station
BENGALURU: India launched its first space docking mission on Monday, on an Indian-made rocket, in an attempt to become the fourth country to achieve the advanced technological feat.
The mission, called Space Docking Experiment (SpaDeX), lifted off from the Satish Dhawan Space Center in Andhra Pradesh state at 1630 GMT aboard the Indian Space Research Organization’s (ISRO) “workhorse” PSLV rocket. After around 15 minutes, the mission director called the launch successful after the spacecraft reached an altitude of around 470 km.
The mission is seen as pivotal for future space endeavours, including satellite servicing and the operation of the country’s planned space station.
In-space docking technology is crucial when multiple rocket launches are required to achieve shared mission objectives.
The Indian mission involves deploying two small spacecraft, each weighing about 220 kilograms, into a 470-km circular orbit. It will also demonstrate the transfer of electric power between the docked spacecraft, a capability vital for applications such as in-space robotics, composite spacecraft control and payload operations following undocking.
Each satellite carries advanced payloads, including an imaging system and a radiation-monitoring device designed to measure electron and proton radiation levels in space, providing critical data for future human spaceflight missions.
ISRO Chairman S. Somanath said the actual testing of the docking technology could take place in about a week’s time and indicated a nominal date of around Jan. 7.
“The rocket has placed the satellites in the right orbit,” he said. A successful demonstration would place India alongside the United States, Russia and China as the only countries to have developed and tested this capability. In a first for India, the rocket and the satellites were integrated and tested at a private company called Ananth Technologies, rather than at a government body.
“Display of this technology is not just about being able to join a rare group of countries who own it, it also opens up the market for ISRO to be the launch partner for various global missions that need docking facilities or assembly in space,” said astrophysicist Somak Raychaudhary of Ashoka University.
The fourth stage of the PSLV, which usually turns into space debris, has been converted into an active un-crewed space laboratory. The last stage of the rocket has been repurposed to become an orbital laboratory and will be used for various experiments.
“The PSLV Orbital Experiment Module (POEM) is a practical solution deployed by ISRO that allows Indian start-ups, academic institutions, and research organizations to test their space technologies without the need to launch entire satellites. By making this platform accessible, we are reducing entry barriers and enabling a wider range of entities to contribute to the space sector,” said Pawan Goenka, chairman of India’s space regulatory body.
Signs Christmas market attack suspect mentally ill: German minister
- Saudi Arabia said it had repeatedly warned Germany about, and demanded the extradition of, Abdulmohsen, who came to Germany in 2006
BERLIN: The German government, under fire for failing to prevent a deadly car-ramming attack on a Christmas market, argued on Monday that the tragedy would have been hard to prevent and said that the suspect appeared to be mentally disturbed.
Interior Minister Nancy Faeser along with security and intelligence chiefs faced questioning by a parliamentary committee about the attack that killed five people and wounded more than 200, and on whether there had been missed clues and security lapses.
Faeser said no motive had yet been established for the December 20 attack in the eastern city of Magdeburg, where a Saudi man was arrested, but that “there are striking signs of a pathological psyche.”
She added that lessons must be learnt on how to track potential attackers who don’t fit conventional threat categories and who “are psychologically disturbed and... driven by confused conspiracy theories.”
The minister argued that “such attackers do not fit any threat profile” — such as far-right extremist or Islamist — and warned that German security services will need “other indicators and action plans” to deal with them in future.
Police arrested Saudi psychiatrist Taleb Al-Abdulmohsen after the assault that used a motor vehicle as a weapon, a method previously used in extremist attacks including in Berlin and in the French city of Nice in 2016.
Abdulmohsen, by contrast, has in the past voiced strongly anti-Islam views and sympathies with the far right in his social media posts, as well as anger at Germany for allowing in too many Muslim war refugees and other asylum-seekers.
Faeser said there were “tens of thousands of tweets” Abdulmohsen had sent over the years that were yet to be fully examined.
“That explains why not everything is on the table yet... who knew about which clues and what was passed on when must be carefully clarified,” she said.
Abdulmohsen, 50, is the only suspect in the attack in which a rented BMW sport utility vehicle plowed through the crowd of revellers at high speed, leaving a bloody trail of carnage.
According to media reports citing unnamed German security sources, he has in the past been treated for mental illness and tested positive for drug use on the night of his arrest.
Abdulmohsen has been remanded in custody on five counts of murder and 205 counts of attempted murder, prosecutors said, but so far not on terrorism-related charges.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who faces a general election in February, vowed to news portal T-online on Friday to “examine very carefully whether there were any failings on the part of the authorities” and whether any clues were missed in the run-up to the attack.
German media investigations of Abdulmohsen’s past and his social media postings have found expressions of anger and frustration, and threats of violence against German citizens and politicians.
Saudi Arabia said it had repeatedly warned Germany about, and demanded the extradition of, Abdulmohsen, who came to Germany in 2006 and was granted refugee status 10 years later.
Abdulmohsen also had a history of brushes with the law and court appearances in Germany, media have reported, including for threats of violence.
German police have said they had contacted Abdulmohsen in September 2023 and October 2024, and then repeatedly tried but failed to meet him again in December.
Ahead of February’s election, the Christmas market bloodshed has reignited heated debate about immigration and security, after deadly knife attacks this year blamed on extremists.
After Monday’s hearing, lawmaker Konstantin Kuhle of the liberal Free Democrats said “the federal and state authorities knew this perpetrator.”
But Kuhle said no authority had connected all the dots and that “we do not have a complete list of all contacts with the authorities as of today.”
Faeser said that having a fuller picture of all the data would have been good, but would likely “not have prevented” the attack.
Lawmaker Gottfried Curio of the far-right and anti-immigration Alternative for Germany party was most scathing in his criticism.
“Everything was foreseeable for everyone,” he charged. “We have hundreds of dangerous people in this country, we let them run around.
“What we need are deportations, instead we get naturalizations. What is needed now is a change in security policy in this country.”
Five years on, WHO urges China to share Covid origins data
- “We continue to call on China to share data and access so we can understand the origins of Covid-19. This is a moral and scientific imperative,” the WHO said
GENEVA: The World Health Organization on Monday implored China to share data and access to help understand how Covid-19 began, five years on from the start of the pandemic that upended the planet.
Covid-19 killed millions of people, shredded economies and crippled health systems.
“We continue to call on China to share data and access so we can understand the origins of Covid-19. This is a moral and scientific imperative,” the WHO said in a statement.
“Without transparency, sharing, and cooperation among countries, the world cannot adequately prevent and prepare for future epidemics and pandemics.”
The WHO recounted how on December 31, 2019, its country office in China picked up a media statement from the health authorities in Wuhan concerning cases of “viral pneumonia” in the city.
“In the weeks, months and years that unfolded after that, Covid-19 came to shape our lives and our world,” the UN health agency said.
“As we mark this milestone, let’s take a moment to honor the lives changed and lost, recognize those who are suffering from Covid-19 and Long Covid, express gratitude to the health workers who sacrificed so much to care for us, and commit to learning from Covid-19 to build a healthier tomorrow.”
Earlier this month, the WHO’s Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus addressed the issue of whether the world was better prepared for the next pandemic than it was for Covid-19.
“The answer is yes, and no,” he told a press conference.
“If the next pandemic arrived today, the world would still face some of the same weaknesses and vulnerabilities that gave Covid-19 a foothold five years ago.
“But the world has also learnt many of the painful lessons the pandemic taught us, and has taken significant steps to strengthen its defenses against future epidemics and pandemics.”
In December 2021, spooked by the devastation caused by Covid, countries decided to start drafting an accord on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response.
The WHO’s 194 member states negotiating the treaty have agreed on most of what it should include, but are stuck on the practicalities.
A key fault-line lies between Western nations with major pharmaceutical industry sectors and poorer countries wary of being sidelined when the next pandemic strikes.
While the outstanding issues are few, they include the heart of the agreement: the obligation to quickly share emerging pathogens, and then the pandemic-fighting benefits derived from them such as vaccines.
The deadline for the negotiations is May 2025.
Fugitive Afghans convicted of people smuggling held in UK: police
- Prosecutors in Belgium said the gang organized migrants’ journeys from Afghanistan through Iran, Turkiye and the Balkans to Europe, mainly France and Belgium
- Gang also subjected male migrant minors to serious sexual assaults including rape which they would video to blackmail the victims
LONDON: Three Afghan men convicted in Belgium over their involvement in a major people smuggling ring have been arrested in the UK, investigators said on Monday.
A court in the Belgian city of Antwerp last month convicted the trio, who were tried in their absence, and 20 other members of the gang to a total of 170 years in jail with sentences ranging from two to 18 years.
Ziarmal Khan, 24, Zeeshan Banghis 20, and Saifur Rahman Ahmedzai, 23 were arrested between December 6 and Monday in London and surrounding areas, the National Crime Agency (NCA) said.
Prosecutors in Belgium said the gang organized migrants’ journeys from Afghanistan through Iran, Turkiye and the Balkans to Europe, mainly France and Belgium.
Many would then be put on small boats for the perilous sea crossing of the Channel between northern France and England’s south coast.
The gang also subjected male migrant minors to serious sexual assaults including rape which they would video to blackmail the victims.
The three men were among 11 defendants who were tried in their absence following a joint investigation by the NCA and Belgian police.
Ahmedzai was sentenced to 10 years while Khan and Banghis each received three years. All three were fined 3,000 euros ($3,100).
NCA deputy director Craig Turner said they were part of a network “profiting from the dangerous situations they put vulnerable people into as they were transported, and committing the most heinous sexual offenses against them.”
The three men are now due to be returned to Belgium to serve their sentences with extradition proceedings already commenced, the NCA added.
Britain’s Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said the government was committed to tackling people smuggling gangs.
“In recent weeks we’ve agreed landmark new deals with Iraq and Germany, pledging mutual support and cooperation to tackle this shared challenge,” she said.
Migration was a major issue at the UK’s July general election that brought British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and his Labour Party to power.
Over 37,100 people have made the Channel crossing in 2024, with the death toll for the year standing at 76.
UAE announces its successful mediation of prisoner exchange between Russia and Ukraine
- UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs thanked Russian and Ukranian officials for their cooperation and responsiveness
ABU DHABI: The UAE on Monday announced the success of its latest mediation effort between the Russia and Ukraine, resulting in the exchange of 300 prisoners — 150 from each side.
The exchange brought the total number of prisoners exchanged through UAE-mediated negotiations to 2,484.
The UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs thanked Russian and Ukranian officials for their cooperation and responsiveness in facilitating the exchange, Emirates News Agency, known as WAM, reported.
The ministry said that the success of the mediation underscores the UAE’s position as a trusted intermediary and its commitment to fostering diplomatic solutions to the conflict, WAM added.
“With the completion of this latest prisoner exchange, the number of Emirati-mediated exchanges since the start of 2024 has reached 10,” the ministry said, highlighting the trust placed in the UAE by both countries.
It is not the first instance of the UAE playing a role in international mediations. In December 2022, the UAE mediated a prisoner exchange between the US and Russia.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky thanked the UAE and other partners for facilitating the swap.
“The return of our people from Russian captivity is always very good news for each of us. And today is one of such days, our team managed to bring 189 Ukrainians home,” Zelenskiy said on the Telegram messaging app.
The Russian Defence Ministry reported earlier on Monday the prisoner swap, saying each side had freed 150 prisoners of war. There was no immediate explanation of the discrepancy in the numbers reported.
Zelensky added that the returning Ukrainians included soldiers, sergeants and officers from different frontline areas, and also two civilians who had been captured in the southern port of Mariupol, which was taken by Russia in 2022.
