The U.S. Justice Department announced Wednesday it will open a civil rights probe into the police shooting of a Black man in Kenosha, Wisconsin.Jacob Blake was shot in the back Sunday, leaving him partially paralyzed from the waist down along with serious injuries to several of his internal organs.The Justice Department issued a statement saying the probe will be handled by the FBI in cooperation with Wisconsin state law enforcement investigators and other state authorities.Earlier Wednesday, the Wisconsin Department of Justice released the first official account of the shooting that was caught on camera and led to four consecutive days of protests in Kenosha, located more than 60 kilometers south of Milwaukee on Lake Michigan.According to the report, Kenosha police had been called to a residence “after a female caller reported that her boyfriend was present and was not supposed to be on the premises.”The report says officers unsuccessfully used a Taser when trying to arrest the 29-year-old Blake in the home’s front yard, then trailed him as he walked to his vehicle and opened the driver’s door.The remains of the cars burned by protesters the previous night during a demonstration against the shooting of Jacob Blake are seen on a used cars lot in Kenosha, Wis., on Aug. 26, 2020.The Wisconsin DOJ said as Blake leaned into the car, Officer Rusten Sheskey,  a seven-year veteran of the Kenosha Police Department, grabbed Blake by his shirt and fired his service weapon seven times into his back.  None of the other officers on the scene fired their weapons.The report noted that Kenosha police do not have body cameras on their uniforms.Investigators said Wednesday they found a knife on the driver’s side floorboard in Blake’s car, but no other weapons. The report said Blake had told officers he had a knife in his possession, although it is unclear whether Sheskey knew of the knife when he shot Blake or if Blake threatened the officer with the knife.Attorneys for Blake say their client did not pose a threat to police and denied he was even in possession of a knife. They say he only wanted to get three of his young children who were in the vehicle “out of a volatile situation.”As the investigation into Blake’s shooting continues, authorities said a 17-year-old male was arrested in Illinois in connection with the shooting deaths of two people late Tuesday night during a third consecutive night of protests in Kenosha.Police arrested Kyle Rittenhouse at his home in Antioch, Illinois, about 24 kilometers from Kenosha. Rittenhouse, who is being held in Illinois, was also charged as a fugitive from justice, according to court records. His extradition hearing is scheduled for Friday.According to Wisconsin law, Rittenhouse would be charged as an adult.On Tuesday, cellphone video was released showing a person carrying what appears to be an assault rifle running down a major street and being chased by a group of people. The apparent gunman shot at several of his pursuers as they began to surround him after he fell to the ground.Kenosha County Sheriff David Beth told reporters Wednesday that what happened in the streets of Kenosha on Tuesday night is why people should not try to take the law into their own hands.Demonstrators protests the shooting of Jacob Blake on Aug. 26, 2020, in Kenosha, Wis.”I had a person call me and say, ‘Why don’t you deputize citizens who have guns to come out and patrol the city of Kenosha?’ …Oh, hell no. What happened last night…was probably the perfect reason why I wouldn’t,” Beth said.President Donald Trump tweeted Wednesday he would “be sending federal law enforcement and the National Guard to Kenosha, WI to restore LAW and ORDER!”White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany released a statement Wednesday that said, “President Trump condemns violence in all forms and believes we must protect all Americans from chaos and lawlessness.”Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers announced he was doubling the number of National Guard troops deployed to Kenosha to 500.U.S. Justice Department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec tweeted that FBI agents and U.S. Marshals were being deployed to the city in response to the unrest.In a video tweeted Wednesday, Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden said he talked to Blake’s parents and told them “justice must and will be done.””Once again, a Black man, Jacob Blake, was shot by the police. In front of his children. It makes me sick. Is this the country we want to be? Needless violence won’t heal us. We need to end the violence and peacefully come together to demand justice,” Biden said.Sen. Kamala Harris, the Democratic vice presidential candidate, also talked about the Wisconsin shootings during an online event Wednesday in Michigan, and said, “And what happened there is so tragic and still represents the two systems of justice in America. There are still two systems of justice in America.”The National Basketball Association’s Milwaukee Bucks boycotted their scheduled playoff game on Wednesday to protest Blake’s shooting, prompting four other teams to boycott their scheduled games. The boycott caused a ripple effect across other major professional sports, with the Women’s NBA, Major League Baseball and Major League Soccer also boycotting and postponing games.  
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The U.S. National Hurricane Center says Hurricane Laura has officially made landfall in the southeastern state of Louisiana after a long journey through the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico.Forecasters say Laura touched down early Thursday morning in the coastal town of Cameron, Louisiana, located about 86 kilometers south of Lake Charles.  The NHC says the storm is carrying  maximum sustained winds of 240 kph, making it a Category 4 storm on the five-level scale that measures a hurricane’s potential destructiveness.The NHC says parts of Louisiana are already experiencing extreme winds, catastrophic storm surges and flash floods as Hurricane Laura rapidly closes in on Lake Charles and the neighboring city of Port Arthur, Texas, at a speed of 24 kph.Hurricane warnings have been issued along a 446-kilometer stretch between San Luis Pass, Texas, to Intracoastal City, Louisiana.Officials say heavy rain and fierce winds are expected, but the biggest danger is from the expected 7-meter-high storm surge, which the NHC has described as “unsurvivable,” leaving entire towns underwater and causing floods and power outages farther inland, with conditions that could last for days.Forecasters say Hurricane Laura will move inland across southwestern Louisiana Thursday morning, then continue northward across the state throughout the day.Laura is also predicted to soak parts of the South with massive rainfall as it moves inland and weakens.But forecasters say it could strengthen back to a tropical storm as it moves into the warm Atlantic by early next week and threaten the northeast.Laura killed 24 people in the Dominican Republic and Haiti when it struck there as a tropical storm earlier this week.   
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Rights group researchers warns that health system struggling to provide care for older COVID-19 patients will be flooded with new patients suffering respiratory illnesses due to the smoke
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Forecasters at the U.S. National Hurricane Center say Hurricane Laura is expected to make landfall on the U.S. Gulf Coast early Thursday morning as an extremely dangerous and catastrophic storm that forecasters expect will trigger an “unsurvivable” storm surge along the region.   As of late Wednesday night, Laura was spotted about 120 kilometers south of Lake Charles, Louisiana carrying maximum sustained winds of 240 kilometers an hour, making it a Category 4 storm on the five-level scale that measures a hurricane’s potential destructiveness.     The U.S. National Hurricane Center says the storm is rapidly closing in on Lake Charles and the neighboring city of Port Arthur, Texas at a speed of 24 kilometers an hour.     Hurricane warnings are out along a 446-kilometer stretch between San Luis Pass, Texas, to Intracoastal City, Louisiana.  Officials say heavy rain and fierce winds are expected, but the biggest danger is from the expected 7-meter-high storm surge, which could leave entire towns underwater and bring floods and power outages farther inland, and conditions could last for days.  More than 500,000 coastal residents of Texas and Louisiana have been ordered to evacuate. Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards has deployed the National Guard to pick up families who are unable to leave on their own.Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards talks about the coronavirus pandemic and the tropical weather headed toward Louisiana, on Aug. 24, 2020, in Baton Rouge, La.“Heed the advice of your local authorities. If they tell you to go, go! Your life depends on it today,” said Joel Cline, tropical program coordinator at the National Weather Service. “It’s a serious day, and you need to listen to them.”  President Donald Trump is also urging people to evacuate and says federal help is standing by.  “Hurricane Laura is a very dangerous and rapidly intensifying hurricane. My Administration remains fully engaged with state & local emergency managers to continue preparing and assisting the great people of Texas, Louisiana, and Arkansas. Listen to local officials. We are with you,” he tweeted Wednesday.  Laura is predicted to soak parts of the South with massive rainfall as it moves inland and weakens.      But forecasters say it could strengthen back to a tropical storm as it moves into the warm Atlantic by early next week and threaten the northeast.  Laura killed 24 people in the Dominican Republic and Haiti when it struck there as a tropical storm earlier this week.  
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All three NBA playoff games scheduled for Wednesday have been postponed, with players around the league choosing to boycott in their strongest statement yet against racial injustice.Called off: Games between Milwaukee and Orlando, Houston and Oklahoma City, and the Los Angeles Lakers and Portland. The NBA said all three games would be rescheduled, yet did not say when.The dramatic series of moves began when the Bucks — the NBA’s team from Wisconsin, a state rocked in recent days by the shooting by police officers of Jacob Blake, a Black man — didn’t take the floor for their playoff game against the Magic. The teams were set to begin Game 5 of their series shortly after 4 p.m., with the Bucks needing a win to advance to the second round.Players had been discussing boycotting games in the bubble after the shooting of Blake by police in Kenosha, Wisconsin. More discussions among players on teams still in the bubble were scheduled Wednesday, presumably on how — or whether — to go forward, but even before that the Bucks apparently decided they would act.”Some things are bigger than basketball,” Bucks senior vice president Alex Lasry tweeted. “The stand taken today by the players and [the organization] shows that we’re fed up. Enough is enough. Change needs to happen. I’m incredibly proud of our guys and we stand 100% behind our players ready to assist and bring about real change.”Thursday scheduleThree other playoff games are scheduled Thursday. It was unclear whether they would be affected.Several NBA players, including the Lakers’ LeBron James, tweeted out messages demanding change, and the Boston Celtics’ official Twitter account did the same.”We weren’t given advance notice about the decision but we are happy to stand in solidarity with Milwaukee, Jacob, and the entire NBA community,” Orlando guard Michael Carter-Williams said. “Change is coming.”Magic players and referees were on the basketball court for the game but Milwaukee never took the floor. Eventually everyone else left and the arena staff soon took the balls, towels and tags that go on player chairs back inside.National Basketball Players Association President Chris Paul of the Oklahoma City Thunder and guard Russell Westbrook of the Houston Rockets were seen emerging from a conversation, not long before it became known that their teams also decided to not play their scheduled game Wednesday.”Today we stand united with the NBA Office, the National Basketball Players Association, the Milwaukee Bucks and the rest of the league condemning bigotry, racial injustice and the unwarranted use of violence by police against people of color,” the Magic and its ownership group, the DeVos family, said in a statement.A reporter sits beside an empty court after a postponed NBA basketball playoff game between the Milwaukee Bucks and the Orlando Magic, Aug. 26, 2020, in Lake Buena Vista, Fla.Demanding societal change and ending racial injustice has been a major part of the NBA’s restart at Walt Disney World. The phrase “Black Lives Matter” is painted on the arena courts, players are wearing messages urging change on their jerseys and coaches are donning pins demanding racial justice as well.Many players wrestled for weeks about whether it was even right to play, fearing that a return to games would take attention off the deaths of, among others, Breonna Taylor and George Floyd in recent months.Taylor, a 26-year-old Black woman, was fatally shot when police officers burst into her Louisville, Kentucky, apartment using a no-knock warrant during a narcotics investigation in March. The warrant was in connection with a suspect who did not live there and no drugs were found. Then on May 25, Floyd died after a white Minneapolis police officer pressed a knee into the Black man’s neck for nearly eight minutes — all captured on a cellphone video.Bucks guard George Hill said after Blake’s shooting that he felt players shouldn’t have come to Disney.Coach’s emotional speech”We’re the ones getting killed,” Los Angeles Clippers coach Doc Rivers, who is Black, said in an emotional postgame speech Tuesday night. “We’re the ones getting shot. We’re the ones that were denied to live in certain communities. We’ve been hung. We’ve been shot. And all you do is keep hearing about fear. It’s amazing why we keep loving this country and this country does not love us back. And it’s just, it’s really so sad.”The Celtics and Toronto Raptors met Tuesday to discuss boycotting Game 1 of their Eastern Conference semifinal series, which had been scheduled for Thursday. Members of the National Basketball Players Association were also part of those meetings, and Miami forward Andre Iguodala — a union officer — said around 2:15 p.m. that he did not believe a boycott plan had been finalized.Less than two hours later, the Bucks wouldn’t take the floor.”When you talk about boycotting a game, everyone’s antenna goes up,” Iguodala said. “It’s sad you have to make threats like that — I wouldn’t say threats — but you have to be willing to sacrifice corporate money for people to realize there’s a big problem out there.”The postponed NBA games came on the fourth anniversary of Colin Kaepernick’s very first protest of “The Star-Spangled Banner” before an NFL preseason game. Kaepernick sat through the anthem for his first protest, which he said was to protest racial inequality and police mistreatment of minorities. Then he famously kneeled during the anthem going forward.
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U.S. Vice President Mike Pence will speak to the Republican National Convention Wednesday night from Maryland’s Fort McHenry, site of the 1814 battle that inspired what is now the U.S. national anthem.The National Park Service announced Monday that the site would be closed Tuesday and Wednesday for a “first amendment event.” The choice is in character for Pence, who quoted Abraham Lincoln in a video released Tuesday, and who has previously leaned on themes of American patriotism and the legacy of the nation’s early days.America is the Land of OPPORTUNITY! #RNC2020 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/KIMDm5SKlF
— Mike Pence (@Mike_Pence) In this May 25, 2020, file photo President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump depart after participating in a Memorial Day ceremony at Fort McHenry National Monument and Historic Shrine in Baltimore.Key’s song gained popularity as a patriotic ditty, especially during and after the American Civil War in the 1860s. It wasn’t until March 3, 1931, that Congress made The Star-Spangled Banner the U.S. national anthem in a resolution signed into law by President Herbert Hoover.The lyrics hide a complicated history with race. While a line in the first stanza of Key’s poem professes admiration for the “land of the free,” a line in the third stanza alludes to “pollution” left by the “foul footsteps” of slaves who fought for the British.Himself a slaveholder from a Maryland plantation family, Key argued cases against the abolitionist movement during his eight-year stint as U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia. He co-founded the American Colonization Society to send free Black people “back” to Africa, a movement that eventually resulted in the founding of Liberia.Played and sung at nearly every major U.S. sporting event, many professional athletes have refused to stand for the anthem, as is customary, in protest of police brutality and racial injustice. The anthem protests have been a common target for Republican critics.Pence himself, one of the Republican National Convention’s Wednesday headliners, is expected to give a robust defense of President Donald Trump with Fort McHenry in the background. His wife, Karen Pence, and White House counselor Kellyanne Conway will also speak Wednesday.Preparations for Pence’s speech hit a snag Tuesday when a forklift damaged a brick walkway at the site. The damage sparked criticism that the National Park Service had pushed through the special use event permit too quickly.This is what they were afraid of: The Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks has been warning the NPS cutting corners at Ft McHenry for RNC event could lead to damage…and concerns mounting now that it has. Photos of damaged brick walkway inside the fort. pic.twitter.com/QEZqiMtLnE
— Kate Amara (@kateamaraWBAL) August 25, 2020The Maryland Republican Party, as the permit holder, is liable for damages and the associated costs.It was unclear how many people were set to attend the speech, but the city of Baltimore limits outdoor gatherings to 25 people due to the coronavirus pandemic. Protests, both in car caravans and on foot, are expected. 
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Nobel Prize-winning author and Belarusian opposition activist Svetlana Alexievich refused to answer questions Wednesday after Belarusian investigators summoned her for questioning over allegations of criminal activities committed by a newly formed opposition group with which she is associated.
 
Alexievich is a member of the opposition Coordination Council, the target of a criminal case accusing it of illegally trying to seize control of the government from President Alexander Lukashenko.
 
Alexievich told reporters in Minsk that she exercised her right as a witness not to testify against herself.
 
“They try to scare us, but we are not guilty of anything,” she said. “We want to live in a free country, we want to [be] free.”
 Senior US Diplomat Aims to Bridge Differences with Moscow Over Oppposition Leader Poisoning, BelarusPost-election crisis in Belarus and poisoning of Russian opposition leader top Deputy Secretary of State Stephen Biegun’s agenda  Opposition activists formed the council last week to negotiate a transition of power after Lukashenko won a sixth term in office in an August 9 election that the activists and other critics maintain was rigged.
 
Lukashenko has rejected offers to negotiate with the council, whose dozens of members represent a broad array of Belarusian society.
 
The authoritarian leader has accused the activists, who have been protesting for more than two weeks, of being under the control of Western nations and allegedly trying to create a parallel government.
 
As she arrived for questioning, Alexievich urged Russia to help convince Lukashenko to negotiate with the opposition.
 
“Maybe the world can help us so that Lukashenko will negotiate with somebody,” she said. “Now he talks only with Putin. Maybe it is possible to get Putin and the world involved in the conversation [so] Lukashenko will talk and understand.”Demonstrators carry a huge historical flag of Belarus as thousands gather for a protest challenging official presidential election results, at Independence Square in Minsk, Belarus, Aug. 23, 2020.Of all the former Soviet republics, Belarus is Russia’s closest ally. Many political observers believe Lukashenko’s future will largely be determined by Russia, which must decide whether to continue to support him as his authority is increasingly questioned by the opposition.
 
Prosecutors launched the criminal probe on charges of undermining national security. The council denies the charges, saying its goal is to negotiate a peaceful transition of power in the wake of the August 9 election.
 
The protests were triggered by a brutal government crackdown shortly after the election, which has resulted in the detention of nearly 7,000 people. Three people were killed, and hundreds of others were hurt when police aggressively dispersed peaceful protestors with rubber bullets, clubs and stun grenades.
 
Two other opposition supporters were found hanged in forests. Police said they committed suicide, but the opposition contests the claim.
 
Two council leaders were jailed on Tuesday, after police began detaining protestors who were homeward bound after peaceful demonstrations. 
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The body of a missing soldier is believed to have been found about 30 miles from Fort Hood, the Army base in Texas where he was stationed, police said Tuesday.Identification found with the body in Temple, Texas, indicates the man may be missing Fort Hood soldier Sgt. Elder Fernandes, according to a statement from local police. Forensic confirmation is pending.Fernandes is the third soldier from Fort Hood to go missing in the past year, and two have been found dead this summer.Temple police received a medical call at 5:36 p.m. saying a male had been seen near some railroad tracks, according to the statement. When officers arrived, they determined the man was dead.Foul play is not suspected, police said, but the investigation is ongoing. An autopsy has been ordered.”Our thoughts and prayers are with the Fernandes family during this challenging time,” Temple Police Chief Shawn Reynolds said. Natalie Khawam, who is representing the Fernandes family, said Army police told family members about the discovery late Tuesday night. She said the body was found hanging in a tree.Fernandes’ backpack was with him, Khawam said, and police found the 23-year-old man’s driver’s license inside. Reports of sexual abuseFernandes was reported missing by Killeen and U.S. Army police on Aug. 19 after he was last seen on Aug. 17, when officials said a superior dropped him off at his house. Fort Hood said in a statement over the weekend that Fernandes had transferred units after reporting sexual abuse, an Army official said in a statement.Fort Hood officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday. The Army and the Fernandes family, from Massachusetts, had asked the public for help in finding the missing soldier.FILE – People look at a mural of slain Army Spc. Vanessa Guillen painted on a wall on the south side of Fort Worth, Texas, July 11, 2020.”I am saddened that another soldier who served the country has been destroyed by sexual assault and sexual harassment and this toxic culture in the military that exists,” said Khawam, who is also representing the family of Vanessa Guillen, another Fort Hood soldier who went missing and who was found dead.The Army said a fellow soldier killed her.U.S. Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy said in a visit to Fort Hood earlier this month that the Central Texas base had some of the highest numbers of sexual assault, harassment and murder. He ordered an independent probe of Fort Hood in July, after authorities said Guillen was slain.  
 
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The pandemic has not only affected the livelihoods of people around the globe, but it has also taken a toll on many household pets. In Malaysia there has been a significant increase in the number of abandoned pets as families face financial pressures after losing their jobs. Dave Grunebaum reports from Puchong, Malaysia.PRODUCER: Rod James
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The father of slain three-year-old Mucaad Ibrahim, the youngest victim in the New Zealand mosque shootings, told the white supremacist who gunned down his son that “true justice” awaited him in the next life and it would be more severe than prison.
“You have killed my son and to me it is as if you have killed the whole of New Zealand,” Aden Ibrahim Diriye said in a statement read by a family member during a sentencing hearing for Brenton Tarrant on Wednesday.
“Know that true justice is waiting for you in the next life and that will be far more severe. I will never forgive you for what you have done.”
Gunman Brenton Tarrant, a 29-year-old Australian, is scheduled to be sentenced this week after pleading guilty to 51 murders, 40 attempted murders and one charge of committing a terrorist act during the 2019 shooting rampage in the city of Christchurch which he livestreamed on Facebook.
A murder conviction carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison. The judge can impose a life term without parole, a sentence that has never been used in New Zealand.
Survivors and families of victims have addressed the court this week and many have urged the judge to sentence Tarrant to the most severe sentence.
Diriye, a refugee from Somalia who moved to New Zealand 25 years ago, told the court his son had been robbed of a future.
“He used to engage and play with the police; at home he would run around the house pretending to be a cop and wear police uniform. We thought one day he might become a police officer,” he said in his statement.Survivors, Families Defiant  
While most of Tarrant’s victims were at Al Noor mosque, including Mucaad Ibrahim, he killed seven people at the Linwood mosque.
The casualty list would likely have been higher if it weren’t for Abdul Aziz Wahabzadah, who was commended for his courage on Wednesday by High Court Judge Cameron Mander after confronting Tarrant at the Linwood mosque.
After shots rang out in the mosque, Aziz engaged Tarrant outside, throwing a bank card machine at him and drawing fire when the gunman returned to his car, loaded with high-powered weapons, ammunition and incendiary devices.
“I didn’t want him to go inside the mosque because we had 80-100 people praying at that time,” Aziz said on Wednesday.
Aziz took cover, and weaved through parked cars, to stop Tarrant getting a clear shot. Tarrant’s plan frustrated, he left quickly in his car and was detained en route to a third mosque.
Ahad Nabi, who lost his 71-year-old father in the attack, stared at Tarrant before delivering a passionate statement, demanding that Tarrant should “never walk free” for his cowardly actions on March 15, 2019.
“You are weak, a sheep with a wolf’s jacket on for only 10 minutes of your whole life,” said Nabi, referring to the shooting rampage.
“This world was created with color, a peasant like you will never change the human race.”
Sara Qasem, daughter of victim Abdelfattah Qasem, said she would miss smelling her father’s garden sauce cooking and wanted to hear his stories about the “olive trees in Palestine.”
“You made a choice here – a conscious, stupid, irresponsible, cold-blooded, selfish, disgusting, heinous, evil choice,” Qasem said, looking at Tarrant, seated and surrounded by guards.
Tarrant, who is representing himself, will not speak ahead of his sentencing, court officials said on Wednesday. He has directed a lawyer assisting the court to make a brief statement on his behalf. The judge has previously said sentencing would not occur before Thursday.
Prosecutors have told the court that Tarrant wanted to instill fear in those he described as invaders and that he carefully planned the attacks to cause maximum carnage.
Live reporting from the courtroom was banned, and other restrictions were put in place on what the media could report.
The hearings were adjourned until Thursday morning.
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