The investigation was launched in April 2021 after a white former police officer, Derek Chauvin, was convicted of murdering George Floyd, a Black man, by kneeling on Floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes after he had been handcuffed.

The city has agreed to negotiate an agreement with the Justice Department on reforming the police department known as a consent decree, which will be overseen by a federal judge, the DOJ said.

US Attorney General Merrick Garland announced the findings at a press conference outside the federal courthouse in Minneapolis alongside Mayor Jacob Frey and Police Chief Brian O’Hara.

The killing of Floyd in May 2020, captured in a bystander’s cellphone video, sparked protests across the US decrying police brutality and racism in the criminal justice system. In Minneapolis, protesters damaged property, including a police precinct house that was set ablaze.

Many people in Minneapolis complained that Chauvin’s excessive use of force against Floyd was not exceptional, and that the city’s police officers had long abused the rights of Black residents.

The Justice Department’s investigation was launched to see if the city government or the police department had a “pattern or practice” of using excessive force or discriminatory policing. – Rappler.com

Biparjoy, which means “calamity” in Bengali, hit the state of Gujarat with speeds of up to 125 km per hour (78 mph), blowing roofs off houses and uprooting trees and electricity poles.

Yet the only deaths recorded were those of two shepherds who died while trying to prevent their cattle from being swept away hours before the cyclone made landfall.

In 1998, a major storm in Gujarat killed about 4,000 people, according to local media, while in 2021, close to 100 people died in an ‘extremely severe cyclone’ named Tauktae.

“Early identification of areas that were likely to be impacted by the cyclone and timely evacuation of people living within 10 km of the coasts are the biggest reasons” for low casualties, said Kamal Dayani, a senior Gujarat official.

“Our focus from the beginning was on preventing loss of lives, not just human lives but even animals.”

More than 100,000 people were evacuated from eight coastal districts and moved to shelters in school auditoriums and other government buildings a day before the cyclone struck.

Authorities also suspended fishing, shut schools and closed beaches. Many offshore oil installations and major ports suspended operations days earlier.

In addition, 30 teams of national and state disaster responders were deployed.

“We overprepared,” said Atul Karwal, chief of the National Disaster Response Force.

The storm hitting the sparsely populated parts of the desert district of Kutch also helped, Dayani said.

While the death toll was low, more than 5,100 electricity poles were toppled disrupting power supply to over 4,600 villages.

“We will study what we have done right and also identify the areas we can do better in the future,” Dayani said. – Rappler.com

In a meeting at Beijing’s Diaoyutai state guest house, where China’s leaders have traditionally received senior foreign visitors, Xi said he was very happy to see the Microsoft MSFT.O co-founder and philanthropist after three years, and that Gates was the first American friend he had met this year.

“I often say the foundation of US-China relations lies with its people. I place my hopes on the American people,” a video published by state broadcaster CCTV showed Xi as saying.

“With the current global situation, we can carry out various activities beneficial to our two countries and people, activities that benefit humanity as a whole,” he said.

Gates, who arrived in Beijing on Wednesday, June 14, said he was “honored” to have the chance to meet. “We’ve always had great conversations and we’ll have lot of important topics to discuss today…. It’s very exciting to be back.”

In a post on his personal blog, Gates said he and Xi had discussed global health and development challenges such as health inequity and climate change.

Xi stopped traveling abroad for nearly three years as China shut its borders during the coronavirus pandemic and his international meetings since the reopening have mostly been with other state leaders.

A number of CEOs have visited China since it reopened early this year, but most have met with government ministers.

Gates stepped down from Microsoft’s board in 2020 to focus on philanthropy in the fields of global health, education and climate change.

The last reported meeting between Xi and Gates was in 2015, when they met on the sidelines of the Boao forum in Hainan province. In early 2020, Xi wrote to Gates thanking him and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for pledging assistance to China, including $5 million for its fight against COVID-19.

Xi also discussed the global rise of artificial intelligence(AI) with Bill Gates and said he welcomed US firms including Microsoft bringing their AI tech to China, two sources familiar with the talks said.

One of the sources said they also discussed Microsoft’s business development in China.

Not pursuing hegemony

The mood of the foreign business community towards China has turned more cautious as Sino-US tensions intensify and Xi increases China’s focus on national security.

Gates’ visit comes ahead of a long-delayed trip to China by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken aimed at stabilizing relations between the world’s two largest economies and strategic rivals.

Blinken had a tense call with China’s foreign minister Qin Gang on Wednesday, during which Qin urged the United States to stop meddling in its affairs and harming its security.

During his meeting with Gates, Xi said China would not follow the old path of a “strong country seeking hegemony” but would work with other countries to achieve common development, according to the People’s Daily newspaper. China often accuses the United States of pursuing hegemony.

Apart from meeting Xi, Gates gave a speech at the Global Health Drug Discovery Institute about the need to use technology to solve global health challenges during his visit.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Beijing municipal government, which founded the institute with Tsinghua University, also pledged to each provide $50 million to bolster the institute’s drug discovery capacity. – Rappler.com

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Thursday, June 15, that countries must start phasing out oil, coal and gas – not just emissions – and demanded that fossil fuel companies “cease and desist” measures that aim to hobble progress on the issue.

Some Western governments and climate-afflicted island nations agree, but the oil-producing United Arab Emirates, host of COP28, says the talks should focus on phasing out emissions. Nevertheless, the UAE’s incoming COP28 president said last week the phasedown of the fuels themselves was inevitable.

The United Nations climate change body said the Bonn talks closed on Thursday with progress on the issues of financing measures to mitigate climate change; the question of liability for the loss and damage it has caused; and funding for measures to adapt to its effects. But it did not specify what had been decided.

The meeting is seen as a mid-way check-in to prepare decisions for adoption at COP28, which begins on November 30.

The landmark 2015 Paris climate agreement set a 1.5ºC increase in the global surface temperature as a limit for averting the most catastrophic effects of global warming in the industrial era – a threshold already close to being crossed.

The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) said delegates in Bonn had laid the groundwork for more ambitious action.

“From what I have seen and heard, there are bridges that can be built to realize the common ground we know exists,” UNFCCC Executive Secretary Simon Stiell said late on Thursday.

But activists accused the US, Britain and the European Union of trying to divert discussions away from their legal accountability for climate change.

And they said rich industrialized countries were pushing developing countries to commit to measures such as expanding renewable sources of power without taking into account their inability to pay for them.

The UNFCCC said climate finance was among the topics heavily discussed in Bonn.

Environmentalists did, however, welcome new UNFCCC requirements for participants in the UN process to disclose their affiliation, a step aimed at curbing the influence of fossil fuel industry lobbyists. – Rappler.com

The proposal was made in a June 14 letter to Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) counterparts from Thailand’s Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai, which was seen by Reuters on Friday, June 16, and confirmed by three sources with knowledge of the planned meeting.

In a summit last month, ASEAN leaders called for an immediate end to the violence in Myanmar, which began after the military deposed the elected civilian government of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi in a 2021 coup.

Frustration has mounted among some members of the 10-country bloc over how to handle Myanmar and its bloody political turmoil and Thailand’s latest move will raise fresh questions about the group’s unity.

Two sources with knowledge of Sunday’s meeting told Reuters that Myanmar’s junta-appointed foreign minister had been invited. Myanmar’s military spokesman did not respond to phone calls on Friday night.

ASEAN chair Indonesia has declined to attend the proposed meeting, according to three sources. Indonesia’s Foreign Ministry told Reuters it “hasn’t heard” about the invitation.

The foreign ministry in Thailand declined to comment. Thailand is expected to have a new government by August following an election last month that saw the ruling pro-military coalition trounced by progressive and populist parties.

Myanmar’s ruling generals for nearly two years have been barred by ASEAN from its high-level meetings over its failure to honor a 2021 agreement, known as the “5-point consensus,” which included calls for a cessation of hostilities, dialogue between all parties and the granting of full humanitarian access.

The government of Thailand – whose current prime minister, Prayuth Chan-ocha, himself first came to power in an army coup – has previously sought to bring Myanmar’s military officials back into informal talks with ASEAN counterparts – at times putting it at odds with efforts by Indonesia.

A source in Jakarta said Indonesia’s rejection of the invitation included the fact that Thailand’s initiative contradicted the recent ASEAN agreement at the May summit.

Foreign Minister Don’s letter said the proposed meeting would be “part of the initial steps” of the peace process and cited the summit where “a member nation” made an unequivocal statement that ASEAN should fully reengage with Myanmar at the leadership level.

“A number of members supported the call and some were willing to consider, there was no explicit dissenting voice,” Don said in the letter.

“Should this informal ministerial engagement make substantial positive progress, we would like to suggest that a carpe diem back-to-back meeting of leaders be convened thereafter.”

Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director of Human Rights Watch, said the Thai foreign minister had shown “arrogance” by inviting his junta counterpart who other regional neighbors have shunned.

“No wonder ASEAN’s efforts have been stymied at every step to resolve the Myanmar crisis,” he said.

Thailand’s progressive Move Forward Party, which won most seats in the May election, has signaled that if it is able to form a government, it intends to follow a different policy on Myanmar from the current pro-military coalition that was soundly defeated at the polls.

Indonesia last month cited progress in its own behind-the-scenes efforts to engage multiple parties in Myanmar’s conflict in a bid to advance a peace process agreed by ASEAN leaders and Myanmar’s military in April 2021.

Myanmar has been roiled by violence since the February 1, 2021 coup, with the military battling on multiple fronts to try to crush an armed pro-democracy resistance movement formed in response to the crackdown.

Human rights and some United Nations experts have accused the military of committing widespread atrocities. The junta says it is fighting terrorists who aim to destroy the country. – Rappler.com

Francis, 86, left Rome’s Gemelli hospital in a wheelchair, waving to reporters and well-wishers at the main entrance as he was taken to a waiting car.

“The Pope is well. He is in better shape than before,” Sergio Alfieri, the chief surgeon who operated on Francis on June 7, told reporters outside the hospital after the pontiff left.

Alfieri said the Pope was well enough to travel. Francis has trips planned for Portugal at the start of August and Mongolia at the end of that month.

His engagements have been cancelled until June 18.

The Pope traditionally takes all of July off, with the Sunday blessings being his only public appearances, so he will have next month to rest before the August trips. – Rappler.com

Japan, the only Group of Seven (G7) nation that does not have legal protection for same-sex unions, had originally pledged to pass the law before hosting a G7 summit last month.

However, wrangling over the bill meant it was only submitted to parliament for consideration on May 18, the day before the summit began.

The initial draft stipulated that discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity should “not be tolerated” but was changed to “there should be no unfair discrimination,” which critics say may tacitly encourage some forms of discrimination.

Despite the bill being watered down, some members of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party still broke ranks with party directives, boycotting or walking out of Tuesday’s vote in the lower house and the final vote in the upper house.

“There have been crimes committed by impersonators in women’s restrooms,” former upper house president Akiko Santo told reporters after boycotting the vote in that chamber. “It would be a very serious problem if this bill passed and the trend became that it was normal to accept anything.”

Japan has come under pressure from other G7 nations, especially the United States, to allow same-sex marriage.

Business leaders say they fear Japan will not be able to remain internationally competitive without greater diversity, including representation for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people – especially as Tokyo seeks to promote itself as a global financial center.

“As a financial institution, in order to achieve sustainable growth, it is essential to create an environment in which people with diverse backgrounds and values can play an active role,” Masahiko Kato, chairperson of the Japan Bankers association and president of Mizuho Bank, told a press conference this week.

Japan’s public broadly supports same-sex marriage, according to opinion polls, while local governments in most of the country allow same-sex partnership agreements that fall short of the rights guaranteed by marriage.

“Some 70% of the nation allows same-sex partnerships, and surveys have found more than 70% of people are in favor of same-sex marriage,” the activist group Marriage for All Japan said in a tweet after the bill passed.

“Even business leaders are on our side. Now, parliament and the government must move.”

Kishida in February sacked an aide who had sparked outrage by saying people would flee Japan if same-sex marriage was allowed and that he did not want to live next to LGBTQ+ couples.

The premier, however, has remained noncommittal on same-sex marriage, saying circumstances in each nation are different and discussion had to proceed “carefully”.

In five court cases on same-sex marriage over the last two years, four courts ruled either that not allowing it was unconstitutional or nearly so. One said not allowing it was in line with the constitution. – Rappler.com

Blinken will hold meetings in China on June 18-19 and may meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping, sources said. He will be the highest-ranking US government official to visit China since Biden took office in January 2021.

In a pre-trip briefing on Wednesday, June 14, US officials said they have no expectation the trip will yield a breakthrough in how the US and China deal with each other. That followed a tense evening phone call with Blinken on Tuesday during which Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang told the US to stop meddling in China’s affairs.

The visit, which could set the stage for a flurry of other diplomatic engagements including a meeting between Xi and US President Joe Biden later in the year, would show that the two rivals have not given up on diplomacy.

“Both sides want to show the rest of the world that they are managing the relationship responsibly,” said Andrew Small, a senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund’s Asia program.

“For China, the most important audience is the global south. For the US, it’s partners and allies. So even going through the motions has some utility for both Washington and Beijing.”

Bilateral ties have deteriorated across the board, raising concerns that their rivalry could veer into conflict over Taiwan, which China claims as its own. The two are also at odds over issues ranging from trade and microchips to human rights.

Particularly worrisome for China’s neighbors has been its reluctance to allow regular military-to-military talks between Beijing and Washington, despite repeated US attempts. US officials said on Wednesday that setting up crisis communication channels to reduce risk was a top priority.

“Anything that would lead to greater cooperation, greater dialogue and a lessening of tensions between Beijing and Washington is to be welcomed,” United Nations spokesperson Stephane Dujarric told reporters on Wednesday.

While Blinken’s main goal will be “candid, direct, and constructive” discussions, the US officials said, breakthroughs are not likely on any major issues, including the flow of fentanyl precursors and Americans detained in China.

Eyeing Biden-Xi meeting

A meeting on the sidelines of a G20 summit last November in Bali briefly eased fears of a new Cold War, but following the dispute over an alleged Chinese spy balloon in February, high-level communication between the countries has been rare.

Beijing, frustrated by what it sees as the Biden administration’s weaponization of economic policies, has sought to expand ties with countries in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. Xi has recently received several European leaders including French President Emanuel Macron and made a diplomatic push to court others, including US ally Saudi Arabia.

US officials expect Blinken’s visit will pave the way for more bilateral meetings in the coming months, including possible trips by US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo.

“Beijing agreed to the visit because it seems to be the one thing that is blocking many other things, such as working-level dialogues and the visits by other cabinet members,” said Yun Sun, director of the China Program at the Stimson Center think tank in Washington.

Those meetings could lead to one between the countries’ leaders when they attend a September G20 meeting in India and the November Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in San Francisco.

“Xi does want to come to San Francisco,” said Sun. “[Aside from] APEC, he also wants a bilateral with Biden. That means the groundwork must be paved starting from now.” – Rappler.com

For Americans growing up between the 1950s and the 1980s, religion was a predictable presence on television: There were weekly Sunday morning shows and religious programming that issued end-time warnings, sought monetary contributions, or staged faith healings. But none of those covered news.

Pat Robertson, who died on June 8, changed this. Today, there are entire networks devoted to religious broadcasting, which include Christian television that reaches millions of Americans, often with a conservative perspective on current events.

As a scholar of religion and politics in America, I believe it is important to understand the impact of the medium, and how it came to have such influence.

The growth of Christian media

American Christians have historically used new media to spread the gospel. In the 19th century, evangelicals used pamphlets and advertising techniques. The early 20th century produced a religious radio subculture that is still thriving in programs like the ones offered by Focus on the Family or Moody Radio.

By the early 1950s, preachers like Robert Schuller and Billy Graham had energetically taken to television. Such programming thrived during the Cold War, and in 1966, Robertson’s The 700 Club debuted.

The 700 Club was distinct from other programs in its willingness to blend theological themes with political commentary and explicit engagement with news. In the 1970s, this approach became more widespread because of two related political trends.

Pat Robertson’s lasting influence on American politics: 3 essential reads

First, Protestant organizations, mostly fundamentalist ones like the Moral Majority, took to popularizing Christian conservatism. These organizations rallied national support to influence politicians to oppose abortion rights and the Equal Rights Amendment, among other causes.

Second, around the same time, beginning with Ronald Reagan’s presidency, conservative politicians started to harness evangelicals as a voting bloc. As a result, many of these politicians began paying closer attention to Robertson for indications of this bloc’s concerns.

The televangelists

These political changes were reflected in the rapid growth of Christian shows on cable television.

In addition to Robertson’s long-standing talk show, the end-times prophecy show Jack Van Impe Presents and others began to normalize the idea of addressing what was happening in the news from a Biblical perspective. Such shows claimed they were providing viewers with “real” explanations that media and liberal politicians covered up. These shows also presented conservative talking points as facts.

During this period, American “televangelists” experienced several withering scandals. Evangelist Jimmy Swaggart, for example, was discovered with a prostitute, and televangelist Jim Bakker was convicted of fraud.

In the long term, however, these scandals did little to diminish the influence of such preachers. Robertson’s story demonstrates this.

To the surprise of many, Robertson entered the Republican presidential primary in 1988. Though he dropped out of the race somewhat early, his candidacy might have helped prove that far-right evangelicalism was now anything but marginal. Following this, Robertson co-founded, along with Ralph Reed, the Christian Coalition, which worked to advance politically many of the key issues circulated in Christian media, such as concerns about abortion, anxiety around religious pluralism, and contesting the secularization of public institutions.

Influence of Christian media

Religious broadcasting grew hugely in the 1990s and 2000s. Christian media increasingly commented on current events. And, critically, it began to have an influence on the wider culture.

For example, from the mid-1990s, popular films and novels like Left Behind suggested that viewers with the “wrong” religious or political beliefs would suffer damnation. Such films and literature attracted tens of millions of viewers and readers.

Furthermore, the kinds of issues and arguments long advanced in Christian media – such as concerns about the content of popular entertainment, or resistance to changing family dynamics – regularly exploded into widespread public concern, and conservative critics began to influence political policy.

The 700 Club and the Christian Broadcasting Network regularly devoted airtime to critiques of educational policy, which in time gained ground in the Republican Party. Robertson was also instrumental in popularizing Christian schools, like his Regent University, rooted in the idea that public institutions were not trustworthy.

Why this matters

The power of these programs is more than simply the stories covered or guests interviewed – it is their social impact on religious beliefs.

At times, Christian news can present ideas that are often highly emotional and conspiratorial as facts. For example, on election night in 2016, Robertson floated the idea that Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger conspired with Martin Luther King Jr. to orchestrate “black genocide.”

This way of viewing the world moved closer to the center of conservative politics since the 1980s, a period of time when the Christian right acquired more influence in American politics.

The themes central to Christian television were more consistently those of the Republican Party. Consider how in some corners of the media in the 1980s, Reagan began to be depicted as though he was God’s agent on Earth. In the 1990s, the growth of multinational corporations and trade deals was decried as part of a demonic “new world order.” And today, when Islamophobia is on the rise, some Christian television channels often depict and celebrate former president Donald Trump as a “fighter in chief” who defends Christians despite his personal faults.

These attitudes were reflected in many of the contemporary news programs themselves.

For example, Robert Jeffress of Dallas’ First Baptist Church called Islam a “false religion” that is “inspired by Satan himself.” Such claims have been widespread since September 11, 2001, alongside assertions – made by Robertson and Jerry Falwell two days after that event – that the attacks had occurred because America expanded gay rights, legalized abortion, and removed prayer from schools.

Such comments reached millions of people without facts ever being addressed.

Further, Christian Broadcasting Network news regularly featured stories about Christians persecuted globally, such as in Turkey.

While such persecution clearly does occur in places across the world, CBN and other outlets often framed these stories alongside claims that American Christians were censored or otherwise embattled by liberalism or secularism. These latter claims helped produce an overall sense that Christians were beleaguered in America.

Amplifying one view?

The growing regularity of such examples has significant implications for American politics.

First, assertions that religious liberty is being violated around the world are put out endlessly in what I call “the resonance chamber of American public life,” in which repetition, aided by social media, helps claims to achieve legitimacy. Second, stories on the Christian news channels are constantly tailored to the idea that viewers are being persecuted.

By presenting itself as authoritative, trustworthy journalism, Christian news reassures viewers that they do not need to consult mainstream media in order to be informed. More dangerously, I argue, it authorizes a particular, often conspiratorial way of viewing the world. It denounces neutrality or accountability to multiple constituencies as burdensome or even hostile to Christian faith. – Rappler.com

Jason C. Bivins is a professor in the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies at North Carolina State University. He is the author of Religion of Fear: The Politics of Horror in Conservative Evangelicalism and The Fracture of Good Order: Christian Antiliberalism and the Challenge to American Politics.

The amendments to the EU Commission’s proposed landmark law aimed at protecting citizens from the dangers of the technology could set up a clash with EU countries opposed to a total ban on AI use in biometric surveillance.

The rapid adoption of Microsoft-backed OpenAI’s ChatGPT and other bots has led top AI scientists and company executives including Tesla’s Elon Musk and OpenAI’s Sam Altman to raise the potential risks posed to society.

“While Big Tech companies are sounding the alarm over their own creations, Europe has gone ahead and proposed a concrete response to the risks AI is starting to pose,” said Brando Benifei, co-rapporteur of the bill.

Among other changes, European Union lawmakers want any company using generative tools to disclose copyrighted material used to train its systems and for companies working on “high-risk application” to do a fundamental rights impact assessment and evaluate environmental impact.

Systems like ChatGPT would have to disclose that the content was AI-generated, help distinguish so-called deep-fake images from real ones and ensure safeguards against illegal content.

Microsoft and IBM welcomed the latest move by EU lawmakers but looked forward to further refinement of the proposed legislation.

“We believe that AI requires legislative guardrails, alignment efforts at an international level, and meaningful voluntary actions by companies that develop and deploy AI,” a Microsoft spokesperson said.

The lawmakers will now have to thrash out details with EU countries before the draft rules become legislation.

‘AI is intrinsically good’

While most big tech companies acknowledge the risks posed by AI, others like Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, have dismissed warnings about the potential dangers.

“AI is intrinsically good, because the effect of AI is to make people smarter,” Meta’s chief AI scientist Yann LeCun said at a conference in Paris on Wednesday.

In the current draft EU law, AI systems that could be used to influence voters and the outcome of elections and systems used by social media platforms with over 45 million users were added to the high-risk list.

Meta and Twitter will fall under that classification.

“AI raises a lot of questions – socially, ethically, economically. But now is not the time to hit any ‘pause button’. On the contrary, it is about acting fast and taking responsibility,” EU industry chief Thierry Breton said.

He said he would travel to the United States next week to meet Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and OpenAI’s Altman to discuss the draft AI Act.

The Commission announced the draft rules two years ago, aiming to setting a global standard for a technology key to almost every industry and business as the EU seeks to catch up to AI leaders the United States and China. – Rappler.com