Chauvin pleads guilty to federal charges in Floyd’s death

Former Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin has pleaded guilty to federal charges of violating George Floyd’s civil rights. (AP)
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Updated 15 December 2021
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Chauvin pleads guilty to federal charges in Floyd’s death

  • Chauvin’s plea Wednesday means he will not face a federal trial in January
  • He appeared in person Wednesday for the change of plea hearing and wore an orange short-sleeved prison shirt

ST. PAUL, Minnesota: Former Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin has pleaded guilty to federal charges of violating George Floyd’s civil rights.
Chauvin’s plea Wednesday means he will not face a federal trial in January, though he could end up spending more years behind bars when a judge sentences him at a later date.
Chauvin, who is white, was convicted this spring of state murder and manslaughter charges for pinning his knee against Floyd’s neck during a May 25, 2020, arrest as the Black man said he couldn’t breathe Chauvin was sentenced to 22 1/2 years in that case.
The federal charges included two counts alleging that Chauvin deprived Floyd of his rights by kneeling on his neck as he was handcuffed and not resisting, and then failing to provide medical care.
Chauvin appeared in person Wednesday for the change of plea hearing and wore an orange short-sleeved prison shirt.
Three other former officers — Thomas Lane, J. Kueng and Tou Thao — were indicted on federal charges alongside Chauvin earlier this year. They are still on course for trial early next year on those charges, with a state trial still to come.
Floyd’s arrest and death, which a bystander captured on cellphone video, sparked mass protests nationwide calling for an end to racial inequality and police mistreatment of Black people.
In Minnesota, defendants with good behavior serve two-thirds of their sentence in prison, and the remaining one-third on supervised release, also known as parole. Under that formula, he’s expected to serve 15 years in prison on the state charges, and 7 1/2 years on parole.
Under sentencing guidelines, Chauvin could get a federal penalty ranging from 27 years to more than 33 years in prison, with credit for taking responsibility, said Mark Osler, a professor at the University of St. Thomas School of Law. But the guidelines are not mandatory, and Osler estimated Chauvin would be sentenced toward the lower end of the range.
As part of the plea deal, Chauvin also pleaded guilty to violating the rights of a then-14-year-old boy during a 2017 arrest in which he held the boy by the throat, hit him in the head with a flashlight and held his knee on the boy’s neck and upper back while he was prone, handcuffed and not resisting.
Floyd’s arrest and death, which a bystander captured on cellphone video, sparked mass protests nationwide that called for an end to racial inequality and police mistreatment of Black people.
To bring federal charges in deaths involving police, prosecutors must believe an officer acted under the “color of law,” or government authority, and willfully deprived someone of their constitutional rights. That’s a high legal standard. An accident, bad judgment or simple negligence on the officer’s part isn’t enough to support federal charges. Prosecutors have to prove the officer knew what he was doing was wrong in that moment but did it anyway.
According to evidence in the state case against Chauvin, Kueng and Lane helped restrain the 46-year-old Floyd as he was on the ground — Kueng knelt on Floyd’s back and Lane held down Floyd’s legs. Thao held back bystanders and kept them from intervening during the 9 1/2-minute restraint.
All four former officers were charged broadly in federal court with depriving Floyd of his rights while acting under government authority, but the federal indictment broke down the counts even further. The first count against Chauvin alleges he violated Floyd’s right to be free from unreasonable seizure and unreasonable force by a police officer when he kept his knee on Floyd’s neck, even after Floyd was unresponsive.
The second count alleges Chauvin willfully deprived Floyd of liberty without due process, including the right to be free from “deliberate indifference to his serious medical needs.”
In the 2017 case involving the then-14-year-old boy, Chauvin is charged with depriving the boy, who was handcuffed and not resisting, of his right to be free of unreasonable force when he held him by the throat, hit him in the head with a flashlight and held his knee on the boy’s neck and upper back while he was in a prone position.
According to a police report from that 2017 encounter, Chauvin wrote that the teen resisted arrest and after the teen, whom he described as 6-foot-2 and about 240 pounds, was handcuffed, Chauvin “used body weight to pin” him to the floor. The boy was bleeding from the ear and needed two stitches.
That encounter was one of several mentioned in state court filings that prosecutors said showed Chauvin had used neck or head and upper body restraints seven times before dating back to 2014, including four times state prosecutors said he went too far and held the restraints “beyond the point when such force was needed under the circumstances.”
The other three former officers are still expected to go to trial on federal charges in January, and they face state trial on aiding and abetting counts in March.


Bangladeshi politicians urge calm after sectarian clash

Updated 7 sec ago
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Bangladeshi politicians urge calm after sectarian clash

  • Religious relations have been turbulent in the Muslim-majority nation of 170 million people
DHAKA: Bangladesh’s leading political parties have called for calm following widespread unrest in the country triggered by the killing of a lawyer during clashes between Hindu protesters and security forces.
Public prosecutor Saiful Islam Alif died Tuesday as angry supporters of outspoken Hindu monk Chinmoy Krishna Das Brahmachari — arrested for allegedly disrespecting the Bangladeshi flag during a rally — battled with police when he was denied bail.
Religious relations have been turbulent in the Muslim-majority nation of 170 million people since a student-led revolution in August toppled autocratic ex-premier minister Sheikh Hasina, who then fled to neighboring India.
The Bangladeshi National Party (BNP) and Jamaat-e-Islami — Hasina’s two main opponents during her 15-year tenure — have urged restraint.
BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir was quoted Friday by the daily Prathom Alo as having said that a “defeated fascist group” was behind the latest flare-up, a reference to Hasina’s Awami League.
“This incident is completely unwarranted,” he told the newspaper.
“We strongly condemn it and urge everyone to approach the situation calmly.”
Shafiqur Rahman of Jemaat blamed the ongoing unrest on a “vested group plotting to destabilize the country.”
Street protests have nonetheless been called to demand a ban on the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), a transnational Hindu religious group also known as the Hare Krishna movement that Das reportedly belonged to.
Hefazat-e-Islam, a collective of Islamic seminaries, held a rally Friday to demand the group’s prohibition, alleging it was a front to return Hasina to power on behalf of India, her ousted government’s biggest benefactor.
“There is a meticulously designed plan to instigate communal riots in Bangladesh and ISKCON is here to implement it on behalf of India and Sheikh Hasina,” Mamunul Haque of Hefazat-e-Islam told supporters during the rally.
Hasina demanded Das’s “immediate release” from custody earlier this week and called his arrest “illegal,” BBC reported.
The ex-premier also condemned the killing of the lawyer, calling it a “blatant violation of human rights.”
India has described Das’s arrest and denial of bail as “unfortunate.”
But ISKCON denies any connections to Das.
“We expelled Chinmoy long before the case was filed against him for breaching ISKCON’s discipline,” the group’s Bangladesh president Satya Ranjan Barai said on Friday.
“He was relieved of his duties, but he defied the order and continued his activities.”
Bangladesh’s top court on Thursday dismissed a petition calling for a ban on ISKCON.
“Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Christians... believe in coexistence, and this harmony will not be broken,” the court ruled.

Amazon workers in India join Black Friday strike action for better wages and working conditions

Updated 30 min 23 sec ago
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Amazon workers in India join Black Friday strike action for better wages and working conditions

  • Walkout on Black Friday was repeated at Amazon warehouses in other countries as workers call for higher wages, better working conditions and union rights
  • Nitesh Das, a union leader, said the workers took to the streets because they want the government to take up their cause

NEW DELHI: Amazon staff in India have joined strike action calling for better wages and working conditions as the company prepares for one of the busiest shopping periods of the year .
About 200 warehouse workers and delivery drivers rallied in the capital, New Delhi, under a “Make Amazon Pay” banner. Some donned masks of Amazon chief Jeff Bezos and joined hands against the Seattle-based company’s practices.
The walkout on Black Friday, which starts one of the biggest shopping weekends of the year, was repeated at Amazon warehouses in other countries as workers called for higher wages, better working conditions, and union rights.
There was no immediate statement by Amazon India.
“Our basic salary is 10,000 rupees ($120), which should be at least 25,000 rupees ($295),” said Manish Kumar, 25, a warehouse worker who joined the New Delhi protest. “And the environment there is to work under pressure,” he added.
Nitesh Das, a union leader, said the workers took to the streets because they want the government to take up their cause.
A statement from the Amazon India Workers Union said similar protests are planned in other parts of India as well as in other countries, including the United States, Germany, Japan, and Brazil. The demonstrations will call on Amazon to pay its workers fairly, respect their right to join unions, and commit to environmental sustainability, it said.
The union said it would submit a memorandum highlighting its demands to India’s Labor Minister Mansukh Mandaviya.
The gig economy has become huge in India due to its fast economic growth, but workers face low wages and difficult working conditions.
India’s National Human Rights Commission sent a notice to Amazon in June 2023 after local media reports that workers were being made to work without breaks during the peak hot summer season. Amazon India denied the charge.


Six children among 12 killed in Sri Lanka, storm heads to India

Updated 29 November 2024
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Six children among 12 killed in Sri Lanka, storm heads to India

  • More than 335,000 people in Sri Lanka have been forced to flee after their homes were flooded
  • The government said it deployed over 2,700 military personnel to help in relief operations

COLOMBO: Sri Lankan rescuers on Thursday recovered the drowned corpses of six children, taking the number killed in torrential rains to 12, as a powerful but slow-moving storm headed toward India.
More than 335,000 people in Sri Lanka have been forced to flee after their homes were flooded, Colombo’s Disaster Management Center (DMC) said.
It said two men driving a tractor and trailer which had been transporting the six children in the eastern Amara district when it was swept away in floods, were still missing. Searches continue for them.
Indian weather officials said there was a “possibility” that the deep depression over the southwest Bay of Bengal could develop into a cyclonic storm.
Cyclones — the equivalent of hurricanes in the North Atlantic or typhoons in the northwestern Pacific — are a regular and deadly menace in the region.
Having skirted the coast of Sri Lanka, it was now moving north toward India’s southern Tamil Nadu state.
The India Meteorological Department said it was expected to hit Tamil Nadu and Puducherry city’s coastline on Saturday morning as a “deep depression” with winds “gusting up to 70 kph (43 mph).”
Sri Lanka’s DMC said some 335,155 people were seeking temporary shelter in public buildings after their homes were swamped.
Nearly 100 homes had been completely destroyed while another 1,700 had been badly damaged due to rains as well as mudslides.
The government said it deployed over 2,700 military personnel to help in relief operations.
Deadly rain-related floods and landslides are common across South Asia, but experts say climate change is increasing their frequency and severity.


Russian defense minister visits North Korea for talks with military and political leaders

Updated 29 November 2024
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Russian defense minister visits North Korea for talks with military and political leaders

  • Andrei Belousov noted after his arrival that military cooperation between the countries is expanding
  • North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in recent months has prioritized relations with Russia

SEOUL: Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov arrived in North Korea on Friday for talks with North Korean military and political leaders as the countries deepen their cooperation over Russia’s war in Ukraine.
In announcing the visit, Russia’s Defense Ministry didn’t say whom Belousov would meet or the purpose of the talks. North Korean state media didn’t immediately confirm the visit.
Belousov, a former economist, replaced Sergei Shoigu as defense minister in May after Russian President Vladimir Putin started a fifth term in power.
Photos released by the Defense Ministry showed Belousov walking alongside North Korean Defense Minister No Kwang Chol on a red carpet at a Pyongyang airport. North Korean military officials were seen clapping under a banner that read, “Complete support and solidarity with the fighting Russian army and people.”
Belousov noted after his arrival that military cooperation between the countries is expanding. He applauded a strategic partnership agreement signed by Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un following their June meeting in Pyongyang, which he said is aimed at reducing tensions by maintaining a “balance of power” in the region and lowering the risk of war, including with nuclear weapons.
The June meeting demonstrated the “highest level of mutual trust” between the leaders, Belousov said, and “also the mutual desire of our countries to further expand mutually beneficial cooperation in a complex international environment.”
North Korean Defense Minister No also praised the expanding cooperation between the countries’ militaries and reiterated North Korea’s support for Russia’s war in Ukraine, describing it as a “just struggle to protect the country’s sovereign rights and security interests.”
The visit comes days after South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol met with a Ukrainian delegation led by Defense Minister Rustem Umerov in the South Korean capital, Seoul, and called for the two countries to formulate countermeasures in response to North Korea’s dispatch of thousands of troops to Russia to help its fight against Ukraine.
Kim in recent months has prioritized relations with Russia as he tries to break out of isolation and strengthen his international footing, embracing the idea of a “new Cold War.”
The United States and its allies have said North Korea has sent more than 10,000 soldiers to Russia in recent weeks and that some of those troops were engaging in combat.
North Korea has also been accused of supplying artillery systems, missiles and other military equipment to Russia that may help Putin further extend an almost three-year war. There are also concerns in Seoul that North Korea, in exchange for its troops and arms supplies, could receive Russian technology transfers that could improve its nuclear weapons and missile programs.
“The Russian defense minister doesn’t visit North Korea just to celebrate bilateral ties,” said Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul. “This visit indicates Putin and Kim’s military cooperation in violation of international law is about to increase further.”
Yoon’s national security adviser, Shin Wonsik, said in a TV interview last week that Seoul believes that Russia has provided air defense missile systems to North Korea in exchange for sending its troops.
Shin said Russia also appears to have given economic assistance to North Korea and various military technologies, including those needed for the North’s efforts to build a reliable space-based surveillance system, which Kim has stressed is crucial for enhancing the threat of nuclear-capable missiles targeting South Korea. Shin didn’t say whether Russia has already transferred sensitive nuclear weapons and ballistic missile technologies to North Korea.
Yoon’s office hasn’t said whether the two governments discussed the possibility of South Korea supplying weapons to Ukraine in his talks with Umerov.
Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, South Korea has joined US-led sanctions against Moscow and provided humanitarian and financial support to Kyiv. But it has avoided directly supplying arms, citing a longstanding policy of not giving lethal weapons to countries actively engaged in conflicts.
Yoon has said his government will take phased countermeasures, linking the level of its response to the degree of Russian-North Korean cooperation.
It wasn’t immediately clear whether Belousov will meet with Kim, the North Korean leader. Last year, Kim hosted a Russian delegation led by then-Defense Minister Shoigu and gave him a personal tour of a North Korean arms exhibition, in what outside critics likened to a sales pitch.
That event came weeks before Kim traveled to Russia for talks with Putin which sped up military cooperation between the countries. During another meeting in Pyongyang in June this year, Kim and Putin signed a pact stipulating mutual military assistance if either country is attacked, in what was considered the two countries’ biggest defense deal since the end of the Cold War.
The Russian report about Belousov’s visit came as South Korea scrambled fighter jets to repel six Russian and five Chinese warplanes that temporarily entered the country’s air defense identification zone around its eastern and southern seas, according to the South’s Joint Chiefs of Staff. It said the Russian and Chinese planes did not breach South Korea’s territorial airspace.
South Korea’s Defense Ministry said it held telephone calls with Chinese and Russian defense attaches based in Seoul to protest the flights and urge the countries to prevent recurrences.


Singapore hangs 4th person in 3 weeks

Updated 29 November 2024
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Singapore hangs 4th person in 3 weeks

  • The United Nations and rights groups say capital punishment has no proven deterrent effect
  • Masoud Rahimi Mehrzad, a Singaporean citizen born in the city-state to a Singaporean mother and an Iranian father, was convicted in 2013 for drug trafficking

Singapore: Singapore hanged a 35-year-old Singaporean-Iranian man for drug trafficking on Friday, its fourth in less than a month, despite appeals from Tehran to "reconsider" his execution.
The United Nations and rights groups say capital punishment has no proven deterrent effect and have called for it to be abolished, but Singaporean officials insist it has helped make the country one of Asia's safest.
Masoud Rahimi Mehrzad, a Singaporean citizen born in the city-state to a Singaporean mother and an Iranian father, was convicted in 2013 for drug trafficking.
Appeals against his conviction and sentence, as well as petitions for clemency from the president, had been dismissed. After he was informed of his impending hanging, Masoud filed an 11th-hour appeal to stay his execution, which was dismissed by the Court of Appeal on Thursday.
Calling him "an Iranian citizen", Iran's foreign minister Abbas Araghchi also appealed to his Singaporean counterpart Vivian Balakrishnan on Thursday to halt the execution.
"Araghchi expressed Iran's respect for Singapore's legal framework but appealed to Singaporean authorities to reconsider the execution of Masoud Rahimi, emphasizing humanitarian considerations," Iran's foreign ministry said on X.
However, Singapore's Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) announced "the capital sentence of death imposed on Masoud Rahimi bin Mehrzad... was carried out on 29 November 2024".
"Masoud... was convicted of having in his possession for the purpose of trafficking, not less than 31.14 grams (1.1 ounces) of diamorphine, or pure heroin," CNB said.
Under the country's tough drug laws, the death penalty applies for any amount above a 15-gram threshold for heroin.
It added that "capital punishment is imposed only for the most serious crimes, such as the trafficking of significant quantities of drugs which cause very serious harm".
His execution was the fourth in three weeks in Singapore.
Rosman Abdullah, 55, was hanged on November 22 and two men -- a 39-year-old Malaysian and a 53-year-old Singaporean -- were hanged on November 15 all for drug offences.
So far this year, there have been nine executions by the Singaporean government -- eight for drug trafficking and one for murder.
According to an AFP tally, Singapore has hanged 25 people since it resumed carrying out the death penalty in March 2022 after a two-year halt during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The UN this month reiterated its call on Singapore to review its position on capital punishment.