Canton, OH police release video of unarmed traffic suspect’s death during arrest. “On April 18 at roughly 8:27 p.m., Canton police arrived to AMVETS on Sherrick Road after multiple 911 calls following a car accident that took out a telephone pole. ….The driver of the vehicle, later identified as 53-year-old Frank E. Tyson, went into the AMVETS location after the crash for unknown reasons. When police arrived, they moved to apprehend Tyson and a struggle ensued. ‘They’re trying to kill me,’ Tyson said. ‘They’re trying to kill me.’ It took multiple officers to detain Tyson. ….I can’t breathe,’ Tyson said. ‘I can’t breathe, you’re on my neck.’ At one point in the video, an officer can be seen kneeling on Tyson for close to 30 seconds, but then moves away after Tyson is placed in cuffs. Shortly after, Tyson becomes unresponsive, lying face down on the carpet.” https://fox8.com/news/canton-police-release-bodycam-footage-from-in-custody-death/
Four dead, plus unborn child, in crash during pursuit of Pennsylvania shoplifting suspects. “Driver Isaiah Miller, 20, and passengers Ikeam Rogers, 20, and Kalyn Billups, 21, were pronounced dead at the scene. Tyjana Motley, 17, was pregnant and was rushed to Crozer-Chester Medical Center, where medical personnel delivered her baby by emergency C-section, but neither survived. ….Three other passengers were hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries, one of them a 16-year-old girl, Pennsylvania State Police in Delaware County said. ….Over just five minutes, the Taurus rocketed along for seven miles as it blasted past the speed limit, veered into oncoming traffic lanes and zig-zagged into the right-hand shoulder to pass vehicles in its way. At one point, it was clocked going 110 mph, according to local NBC affiliate WCAU. It was during one such attempt to pass [on] the shoulder that the car went out of control, cops said. It scooted across all traffic lanes, slammed into a concrete bridge abutment along the opposite shoulder and then burst into flames as a fire started in the engine block. The crash ejected three people from the car, police told The Philadelphia Inquirer.” https://www.nydailynews.com/2024/04/25/delaware-county-pa-crash-police-chase-pregnant-teen-dead/
Number of bodies found in Gaza mass grave rises to 392. “The Gaza Civil Defense acknowledged that around 100 bodies were buried in graves at the Nasser hospital before the IDF operation there. ….Amnesty International has also called for an investigation into the mass graves at Nasser hospital and another hospital in Gaza, the Al-Shifa medical complex, saying there was an ‘urgent need to grant access to independent human rights investigators.’ ‘Mass grave sites are potential crime scenes offering vital and time-sensitive forensic evidence; they must be protected until professional forensic experts with the necessary skills and resources can safely carry out adequate exhumations and accurate identification of remains,’ it added.” https://edition.cnn.com/2024/04/25/middleeast/gaza-400-bodies-mass-grave-hospital-intl/index.html U.S. asking Israel to investigate mass grave allegations. “While National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan on Wednesday called reports of mass grave atrocities ‘deeply disturbing’ and said that ‘we want answers’ from Israel, he did not call for an independent investigation. When the reporter pressed [State Department Principal Deputy Spokesperson Vedant] Patel on the legitimacy of asking Israel to investigate itself, Patel said, ‘we believe that through a thorough investigation we can get some additional answers.’ Thursday’s exchange followed a similar back-and-forth on Tuesday between Patel and Said Arikat, a journalist for the Jerusalem-based Palestinian news outlet al-Quds who asked about the mass graves. At least 392 bodies—including numerous women and children—have been found in mass graves outside Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, where Palestinian Civil Defense and other workers have been exhuming victims for nearly a week. Officials believe there are as many as 700 bodies in three separate mass graves.” https://www.commondreams.org/news/nasser-hospital-buried-alive-mass-graves
‘Transitional council’ takes over in Haiti. “Haiti’s prime minister, Ariel Henry, has formally resigned and a new provisional government has been sworn in during a secret ceremony at the presidential palace, nearly two months after a criminal insurrection plunged the capital into chaos. The nine-person ‘transitional council’ was officially established on Thursday during an event at the national palace in Port-au-Prince. As its members took their oaths, Henry, who is in the US having been locked out of Haiti by the gang uprising, announced in a letter that he was stepping down. ….Thursday’s early morning ceremony was cloaked in secrecy and was not publicly announced because of the threat of violence. ….Political activists greeted the creation of the council optimistically. Its first task will be to choose a new prime minister before paving the way for elections.” https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/apr/25/new-haiti-government-sworn-in-during-secret-ceremony
Burkina Faso bans news organizations for army massacre reports. “Burkina Faso suspended the BBC and Voice of America radio stations for their coverage of a report by Human Rights Watch on a mass killing of civilians carried out by the country’s armed forces. Burkina Faso’s communication spokesperson, Tonssira Myrian Corine Sanou, said late that Thursday that both radio stations would be suspended for two weeks, and warned other media networks to avoid reporting on the story. According to the report published by Human Rights Watch on Thursday, the army killed some 223 civilians, including 56 children, in villages accused of cooperating with [Islamist] militants. The report was widely covered by the international media , including the Associated Press. ‘VOA stands by its reporting about Burkina Faso and intends to continue to fully and fairly cover activities in the country,’ the network said in a news article reporting on its suspension. The BBC did not respond to a request for comment.” https://thehill.com/homenews/ap/ap-international/ap-burkina-faso-suspends-bbc-and-voice-of-america-after-covering-report-on-mass-killings/
Pope calls for peace negotiations to end world’s military conflicts. “Pope Francis pleaded for peace worldwide amid ongoing wars in Ukraine and Gaza, telling CBS News on Wednesday that ‘a negotiated peace is better than a war without end’. ‘Please. Countries at war, all of them, stop the war. Look to negotiate. Look for peace,’ the pope, speaking through a translator, told CBS Evening News anchor and managing editor Norah O’Donnell during an hour-long interview at the guest house where he lives in Rome.” https://www.cbsnews.com/news/pope-francis-norah-odonnell-interview/
FCC restores ‘net neutrality’ rules. “In 2017, under then-President Donald Trump, the FCC repealed those rules. The measure passed Thursday on a 3-2 vote split along party lines, with Democratic commissioners in favor and Republicans opposed. Net neutrality effectively requires providers of internet service to treat all traffic equally…. The rules, for instance, ban practices that throttle or block certain sites or apps, or that reserve higher speeds for the services or customers willing to pay more for them.” https://apnews.com/article/net-neutrality-fcc-broadband-regulation-cc8421bc4f11a3e0f6ffc22c358fbfd0
Tasers, teargas and rubber bullets reportedly used against Emory University Gaza protesters. “Following the set-up of the encampments, multiple Emory and Atlanta police officers, as well as Georgia state patrol officers, arrived on campus, with videos showing the officers forcefully arresting people. One video appeared to show multiple officers holding down a restrained person as they tased them. ….The university’s student-run newspaper, Emory Wheel, reported that officers deployed gas into the crowd. The Atlanta Community Press Collective, a local independent outlet, also reported use of teargas on the crowds, in addition to stun guns and rubber bullets being deployed against the protesters. ….’Students of color were significantly targeted throughout the process. There were Black students that were being tased, there were Black students that were being teargassed.'” https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/apr/25/emory-university-protest-arrests
33 climate activists arrested at Citigroup’s headquarters after blocking entrances. “Hundreds of climate activists gathered at the global headquarters of Citigroup in New York on Wednesday to demand the banking giant stop financing fossil fuel companies. The protests come on the heels of a first-of-its-kind Earth Day hearing where environmental activists from around the world gathered in New York this week to condemn what they call Citigroup’s environmental racism. ….’Citibank has poured over $332 billion into fossil fuels since the Paris Agreements were signed in 2015.’ ….’Citigroup is the largest — the second-largest financial institution that is backing liquefied natural gas projects along the Louisiana and Texas Gulf Coast. And so we are here demanding that Citibank stops its financing of these projects.'” https://www.democracynow.org/2024/4/24/citigroup_climate Number of arrests rises to 53. “Twenty more demonstrators were arrested Thursday, the second day of Earth Week protests targeting Citigroup’s Manhattan headquarters in what organizers called ‘the beginning of a wave of direct actions to take place over the summer targeting big banks for creating climate chaos that is killing our communities and our planet.’ Protest organizers—who include Climate Defenders, New York Communities for Change, Planet over Profit, and Stop the Money Pipeline—said 53 activists were arrested over two days of demonstrations, which included blocking the entrance to Citigroup’s headquarters, to ‘demand that the bank stop funding fossil fuels.'” https://www.commondreams.org/news/citibank-climate-protest-2667882434
Columbia protesters file civil rights complaint over speech repression. “‘The violent repression we’re facing as peaceful anti-war protesters is appalling. Palestinian students at Columbia deserve justice and accountability, not only for Israel’s decades-long oppression and violence against our people, but for the racism and discrimination we’ve experienced here on Columbia’s campus.’ ….’We urge federal civil rights officials to do what Columbia has disgracefully failed to,’ said [Palestine Legal staff attorney Sabiya] Ahamed. ‘Ensure the rights of Palestinian and allied students are protected at a moment when their voices are most essential.'” https://www.commondreams.org/news/columbia-students-civil-case
Speaker at Princeton University protest targeted by police. “…former New York Times Middle East bureau chief [Chris Hedges] was speaking to a protest at Princeton University on Thursday when campus police came to lead him away. ….’These universities are frightened, not ultimately by the students, but by the clear moral issues these students raise that expose the moral bankruptcy and complicity in mass murder by all of our leading institutions. What these institutions and those who run them have failed to realize is that there is nothing they can do now. They have been exposed for who and what they are.'” https://consortiumnews.com/2024/04/25/princeton-police-stop-hedges-speech-on-gaza/
Why X is refusing to fully comply with Australian government’s video takedown order. “The dispute involves video of the stabbing of Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel at Good Shepherd Church in Wakely. ….The order, threatening daily fines of $782,500 ($510,178 U.S.) for non-compliance, isn’t limited to the country. ‘An Australian judge on Monday ruled that social media platform X must block every user in the world from accessing video of a bishop being stabbed in a Sydney church, extending the prohibition beyond users in Australia,” noted the AP. ‘Our concern is that if ANY country is allowed to censor content for ALL countries, which is what the Australian ‘eSafety Commissar’ is demanding, then what is to stop any country from controlling the entire Internet?’ responded X owner Elon Musk. ‘We have already censored the content in question for Australia, pending legal appeal, and it is stored only on servers in the USA.'” https://reason.com/2024/04/26/australia-tries-to-censor-the-world/
Progressive News Service 