By Humeyra Pamuk BEIJING U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with China's top diplomat Wang Yi on

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The Department of Justice has released a scathing report into the Minneapolis Police Department (MPD), outlining systemic abuses after a year-long investigation that began after the May 2020 murder of George Floyd. The Justice Department has found that MPD routinely uses excessive force, including unjust deadly force, the department revealed during a press conference on Friday. Attorney General Merrick Garland appeared with city officials in Minneapolis to speak about the blistering 89-page report. He said that the “patterns and practices we observed made what happened to George Floyd possible”. Mr Garland added that he spoke to the family of Mr Floyd earlier on Friday, noting that he told that his death has had a “irrevocable” on the city and the country, according to The New York Times. “His loss is still felt deeply by those who loved and knew him, and many who did not,” Mr Garland said. The attorney general ordered the probe in April 2021, nearly a year after the death of Mr Floyd. The report states that MPD uses tastes and firearms without properly assessing threats. The report notes that in one such incident in 2017, an officer was “spooked” by a woman reporting a sexual assault. DoJ also found that the MPD disregards the safety of those they take into custody, and that they failed to step in to prevent the unreasonable use of force, such as in the murder of Mr Floyd by then-MPD officer Derek Chauvin when several fellow officers stood by and didn’t intervene. The report also states that the practice of stop and search, that the use of force disproportionately affected Black and Native American residents, and that MPD wasn’t held accountable for racist activity until public protests ensued. MPD had been accused of using excessive force well before the murder of Mr Floyd. DoJ called the findings “deeply disturbing” and said that they “erode the community’s trust” in policing. The report found that it was “reasonable” to believe that officers are guilty of a “practice of conduct that deprives people of their rights under the Constitution and federal law”. The Department of Justice also accused MPD of violating the First Amendment rights of protesters and reporters at demonstrations. The city of Minneapolis has agreed to negotiate to possibly come to an agreement to be enforced by the courts that would put in place major changes to the city’s police. Similar consent decrees have been put in place in cities such as Chicago and Baltimore, in addition to several others. The report found that from January 2016 until August of last year, there were 19 police shootings in which “a significant portion of them were unconstitutional uses of deadly force”. Police at times discharged their firearms “without first determining whether there was an immediate threat of harm to the officers or others”. An investigation conducted by the state of Minnesota finished in 2022 found similarly outlined systemic abuse. The report states that Chauvin had been found to previously have used excessive force. DoJ found that several other officers “stood by” in multiple other cases involving Chauvin. DoJ also accused the city of not adhering to the Americans with Disabilities Act as they discriminate against those with behavioural health disabilities. The report states that “many behavioral health-related calls for service do not require a police response, but M.P.D. responds to the majority of those calls, and that response is often harmful and ineffective”. The federal probe found that officers in the Minneapolis force often failed to properly consider the health complaints of those they placed under arrest. “We found numerous incidents in which officers responded to a person’s statement that they could not breathe with a version of, ‘You can breathe; you’re talking right now,’” the document stated. More follows...

The news comes after the hip hop mogul faced three sexual assault lawsuits in recent weeks.

Terrified families fleeing in fear of ethnic cleansing after the collapse of Nagorno-Karabakh are running out of water and fuel during the desperate two-day odyssey to neighbouring Armenia. More than 90,000 Karabakh Armenians – around three-quarters of the total population – have now left their homes in the breakaway enclave, which is internationally recognised as being part of Azerbaijan. The United Nations fears the stunning fall of the enclave could mean there will eventually be no Armenians left in Nagorno-Karabakh, prompting concerns of ethnic cleansing. It is the largest exodus of people in the South Caucasus since the collapse of the Soviet Union. The breakaway region - also known by Armenians as Artsakh - had enjoyed de facto independence for three decades before Azerbaijan launched a lightning military operation earlier this month. It forced separatist forces to lay down their weapons and fto agree to formally dissolve the breakaway government. Fearing reprisals, as Baku’s forces moved into the main cities and arrested Armenian officials, hungry and scared families packed what few belongings they could into cars and trucks and left their homes for good. Valeri, 17, fled the village of Kichan, 70 km north of the Armenian border with his family and neighbours. In total, they squeezed 35 people into a Ford Transit and made the four-day journey to safety, sitting on top of each other and sleeping in shifts. “We couldn’t take anything with us because the shelling was too intense as we escaped,” he told The Independent. They had to hide in a large waste water pipe to escape artillery fire, he said. In the chaos, families were separated and the mobile coverage in the mountainous regions means they are still trying to reconnect. His family has been forced to move six times since the early 1990s and, like so many Armenians, find themselves homeless again. “I don’t think it’s possible to go back to Kichan, even if we could go back everything will be wrecked or stolen,” he said. Others described a 40km hairpin road to Armenia at a near standstill, with some vehicles breaking down for a lack of fuel. In the lead-up to Azerbaijan’s operation, Baku had imposed a 10-month blockade on the enclave leading to chronic shortages of food and petrol supplies. “All you can see is a sea of cars stretching to the horizon, people are cooking by the side of the road,” said Gev Iskajyan, 31, executive director of the Armenian National Committee of Artsakh, as he arrived exhausted in the Armenian capital Yerevan. He fled the region’s main city Stepanakert, or Khankendi as it is known in Azerbaijan, fearing he could be arrested if he stayed. “Resources are so scarce there, people are running out of water and fuel on the road along the way out. If anything happens to children and the elderly, no one can get to them. Ambulances can’t move,” he told The Independent. He said most families believed they would not ever be able to return home and that this was the end of Armenian presence. “It weighs heavy. Nagorno-Karabakh isn’t just a place, it is a culture, it has its own dialect,” he said. “You look at the people in the back of trucks, they have to fit their entire life in a single box, they can’t bring everything, they can’t go back, it breaks your heart. “It is centuries of history lost.” Nagorno-Karabakh isn’t just a place, it is a culture, it has its own dialect Gev Iskajyan, an Armenian advocate who fled to Yerevan The centuries-old conflict that has raged through the disputed enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh remains the longest-running in post-Soviet Eurasia. The 4,400 square kilometre territory is officially part of Azerbaijan but after a bloody war following the dissolution of the USSR in the 1990s, the region’s Armenian-majority population enjoyed state-like autonomy and status. That changed in 2020 when Azerbaijan, backed by Turkey, launched a military offensive and took back swathes of territory in a six-week conflict that killed thousands of soldiers and civilians. Russia, which supports Armenia, brokered a tense cessation of hostilities. But that was broken earlier this month when Baku launched a 24-hour blitz which proved too much for Armenian separatist forces, who are outgunned and outnumbered. They agreed to lay down their weapons and dissolve the entire enclave. Residents still left in Nagorno-Karabakh told The Independent that Azerbaijani forces and police entered the main city. “People are intensively fleeing after the forces entered, and took over the governmental buildings,” said one man who asked not to be named over concerns for his safety. Baku has also detained prominent Armenians as they attempted to flee, prompting fears more arrests may follow. Among them was Ruben Vardanyan, a billionaire investment banker, who served as the head of Karabakh’s separatist government between November 2022 and February this year. On Friday, Russian state media reported that the Azerbaijani military had also detained former separatist commander Levon Mnatsakanyan as he also tried to escape. He led the army of the self-proclaimed Republic of Artsakh from 2015 to 2018. The UN, meanwhile, said they were readying themselves for as many as 120,000 refugees to flood into Armenia, a third of them children. “The major concern for us is that many of them have been separated from their family,” said Regina De Dominicis, regional director of the UN’s child agency. “This is a situation where they’ve lived under nine months of blockade,” added Kavita Belani, UNHCR representative in Armenia. “When they come in, they’re full of anxiety, they’re scared, they’re frightened and they want answers.” Read More More than 70% of Nagorno-Karabakh's population flees as separatist government says it will dissolve The fall of an enclave in Azerbaijan stuns the Armenian diaspora, extinguishing a dream AP PHOTOS: Tens of thousands of Armenians flee in mass exodus from breakaway region of Azerbaijan More than 70% of Nagorno-Karabakh's population flees as separatist government says it will dissolve The fall of an enclave in Azerbaijan stuns the Armenian diaspora, extinguishing a dream Why this week's mass exodus from embattled Nagorno-Karabakh reflects decades of animosity

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You might detest his politics, but can cracking jokes at the expense of an 81-year-old having a very public health episode ever be a good look? In July Republican Senator Mitch McConnell appeared to freeze mid-sentence during a press conference, before being led away by his team, social media was quickly inundated with reaction. McConnell stopped speaking for 19 seconds before being escorted away by concerned colleagues, appearing to sway slightly and lose focus. An aide explained that McConnell had “felt lightheaded and stepped away for a moment”. They continued: “He came back to handle Q&A, which as everyone observed was sharp.” Sadly this happened again to McConnell on Wednesday when he was speaking at a press event in Covington, Kentucky and froze for around 30 seconds when he was asked about his intention to run for re-election in 2026. He was then assisted by an aide and answered two more questions before leaving without addressing the incident. "Leader McConnell felt momentarily lightheaded and paused during his press conference today," McConnell's spokesperson said after the incident. The memes following both incidents were relentless, with people calling on him to retire. Again, much like the reaction to the Titan submersible tragedy and the riots in France earlier this summer, it shows the often cruel, reactionary nature of social media, with people quick to chip in on major incidents in the name of a few easy likes. Calling for younger leaders to represent Americans is perfectly valid, but outright mocking and joking about what appeared to be a serious health concern shows the internet at its least empathetic. Yes, it’s a buzzkill sentiment, and McConnell’s brand of politics has been completely oppositional to many over the years, but that shouldn’t excuse piling on an elderly public figure suffering an episode in the most public of spaces, should it? Some did express similar thoughts online, with one writing: “Oh also about this McConnell business. Y’all need to keep it cute with your insults! Not about McConnell (**** him) but because several people are making ableist and ageist jokes. You can talk about him without elderly and disabled people catching strays.” Another said: “All the people in the comments joking about this - i dont find it funny at all. I’m no Mitch McConnell girlie in the slightest but he’s had some serious health issues… Lets not joke about people’s health and scary situations like this.” It’s not the first time health concerns have been raised about McConnell. In March, the 81-year-old suffered a fall at a Washington DC hotel and was hospitalised due to concussion and a minor rib fracture. After undergoing rehab, he returned to Congress in April. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.