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A federal jury in Louisiana on Wednesday acquitted a white state trooper charged with violating the civil rights of a Black motorist despite body-camera footage that showed the officer pummeling the man 18 times with a flashlight. The case of Jacob Brown was the first to emerge from a series of FBI investigations into troopers’ beatings of Black men during traffic stops in Louisiana and underscored the challenges prosecutors face convicting law enforcement officials accused of using excessive force. After a three-day trial in Monroe, jurors found Mr Brown not guilty of depriving Aaron Bowman of his civil rights during a 2019 beating that left Mr Bowman with a broken jaw, broken ribs and a gash to his head. Mr Brown, who defended the blows to investigators as “ pain compliance,” would have faced up to a decade in federal prison if convicted. Mr Brown’s defence attorney, Scott Wolleson, told The Associated Press he was grateful for the verdict. "The men and women of the jury recognized the risks law enforcement officers like Jacob Brown face on our behalf every day,” he said. Mr Bowman’s attorney, Ron Haley, said the acquittal “shows it’s incredibly hard to prove a civil rights violation in federal court.” He added that the attack had “fundamentally changed” Mr Bowman’s life. “He was low-hanging fruit for Jacob Brown,” Mr Haley said. “Because he’s looked at as just a drug user, he was treated like he wasn’t human.” The acquittal comes as federal prosecutors are still scrutinizing other Louisiana state troopers caught on body-camera video punching, stunning and dragging another Black motorist, Ronald Greene, before he died in their custody on a rural roadside. That federal probe is also examining whether police brass obstructed justice to protect the troopers who beat Greene following a high-speed chase. Body-camera footage of both the Bowman and Greene beatings, which took place less than three weeks and 20 miles apart, remained under wraps before the AP obtained and published the videos in 2021. The cases were among a dozen highlighted in an AP investigation that revealed a pattern of troopers and their bosses ignoring or concealing evidence of beatings, deflecting blame and impeding efforts to root out misconduct. State police didn’t investigate the MrBowman attack until 536 days after it occurred and only did so weeks after Mr Bowman brought a civil lawsuit. It ultimately determined Mr Brown “engaged in excessive and unjustifiable actions," failed to report the use of force to his supervisors and “intentionally mislabeled” his body-camera video. The AP found Mr Brown, who patrolled in northern Louisiana, was involved in 23 use-of-force incidents between 2015 and his 2021 resignation — 19 of which targeted Black people. Mr Brown still faces state charges in the violent arrest of yet another Black motorist, a case in which he boasted in a group chat with other troopers that “it warms my heart knowing we could educate that young man.” In the wake of the AP's reporting, the US Justice Department last year opened a sweeping civil rights investigation into the state police that remains ongoing. On the night that Mr Bowman was pulled over for “improper lane usage,” Mr Brown came upon the scene after deputies had forcibly removed Mr Bowman from his vehicle and taken him to the ground in the driveaway of his Monroe home. Video and police records show he beat Mr Bowman 18 times with a flashlight in 24 seconds. “I’m not resisting! I’m not resisting!” Mr Bowman can be heard screaming between blows. Mr Brown is the son of Bob Brown, a longtime trooper who oversaw statewide criminal investigations and, before retiring, was the agency’s chief of staff. The elder Mr Brown rose to the agency's second in command despite being reprimanded years earlier for calling Black colleagues the n-word and hanging a Confederate flag in his office.

A 17-year-old who police believe fatally stabbed a man dancing outside a gas station in Brooklyn has reportedly turned himself in to authorities. The teenager is now in police custody, according to CNN. Police believe the teen stabbed O'Shae Sibley, a man who was dancing and posing to a Beyonce song at a gas station with his friends on the day of the attack. A large group of men reportedly approached Mr Sibley and his friends and began hurling homophobic slurs at them. The slurs and harassment eventually caused a confrontation, according to an NYPD spokesperson. Otis Pena, a witness, told police one of the men stabbed his friend, Mr Sibley, in the torso. He died in the hospital. Police are investigating whether or not the fatal stabbing was a hate crime.

Former President Donald Trump is set to visit South Carolina on Saturday, wrapping up a week that has been defined by his historic third indictment.

Eva Mendes has revealed that she doesn’t let her and Ryan Gosling’s daughters use the internet. The actor, 49, took to Instagram on 3 August to share one of the rules that she has for her and Gosling’s daughters - Esmeralda, eight, and Amada, seven. Mendes shared a video of herself shaking her head no and wagging her finger, as she pointed out that’s how she responds to her children when they ask to use the internet. “When my kids ask me if they’re old enough to go on the internet, social media or anything requiring wifi,” she wrote in the caption. When a fan in the comments asked when she will allow her children use the internet, Mendes candidly confessed that she’s still figuring that out. She also specified that she’s been doing research on how social media can impact children as they continue to get older. “I honestly don’t know. I have to see where it goes,” the Hitch star responded. “For now, I’m observing them and keeping up with research about how social media can impact a child’s brain.” She responded to another fan who praised her parenting decision, with Mendes noting that while she’s “just sharing what [she] feels now”, she thinks it’ll be harder to keep her children away from the internet as they get older. Mendes clarified that her children are still given screentime, adding: “I let my kids use the iPad to make movies and watch films I’ve downloaded, but I don’t have internet access on the iPad.” The actress was also hit with some criticism for her parenting rule, with one Instagram user writing: “We are in the internet century so eventually everyone will need or want to access the internet sorry.” While it appears the comment has since been deleted, Mendes responded to the remark by explaining why she doesn’t feel like the internet is a safe space for her children. “In my house, children do not have access to the internet,” she responded to the remark, as reported by E! News. “It’s too dangerous. Just like drinking or voting or getting a driver’s license (etc..) isn’t allowed for children, the internet falls under that category for me. Especially social media.” While Mendes and Gosling - who’ve been together since 2011 - are notoriously private about their family life, the couple have shared a few details about raising children together. During an interview with Byrdie in July 2022, Mendes explained that she and her partner want to make sure that their children feel confident in themselves throughout everything they do in life. “Hopefully Ryan and I are doing the work by just loving them, completely loving them, and doing most of that work for them so that they grow up feeling like they’re enough,” she said. “That’s the one thing that’s really important to me. Because once they feel like they’re enough, no matter what they do, no matter what they end up doing, that will feed into every area of your life. Especially into how attractive you feel, or any of that stuff.” In a cover story interview with GQ in June, Gosling also shared some candid thoughts about fatherhood. He revealed that prior to his relationship with Mendes, he didn’t think much about becoming a father. However, that all changed when Mendes told him she was pregnant. “Eva said she was pregnant,” he recalled. “I would never want to go back, you know? I’m glad I didn’t have control over my destiny in that way, because it was so much better than I ever had dreamed for myself.” Elsewhere in the interview, the Barbie star clarified previous comments he made about the moment Mendes learned she was pregnant. While he maintained that he “wasn’t thinking about kids” before they met, Gosling said: “After I met Eva, I realised that I just didn’t want to have kids without her.” Read More Eva Mendes shows off dress made out of sponges as she jokes it’ll be her Oscars outfit Ryan Gosling’s daughters hilariously prove ‘nobody plays with Ken’ Ryan Gosling’s subtle tribute to Eva Mendes at the Barbie premiere Eva Mendes reveals she doesn’t let her daughters use the internet What is Stiff Person Syndrome? Nearly half of US adults are interested in taking weight loss prescription drugs

Greece’s investment-grade status was restored by Scope Ratings, evidence of its progress in repairing public finances 13 years

A Colombian judge on Friday night ordered President Gustavo Petro’s son freed from detention while he is investigated on allegations of illicit enrichment and money laundering. Nicolás Petro was arrested early Saturday, and this week was charged with the two crimes. He agreed to cooperate in the probe, and prosecutors said he acknowledged Thursday that his father’s 2022 election campaign received money of dubious origin. Mario Andrés Burgos, the prosecutor in charge of the case, said Nicolás Petro assured that he would deliver audios and documents to corroborate that part of the money given to him ended up financing his father’s candidacy. The Attorney General’s Office presented evidence that it said shows the younger Petro received money illicitly. But the judge said prosecutors did not substantiate the need to keep the president's son in detention or under house arrest. He was ordered released under the condition that he not leave Colombia or participate in political activities. Nicolás Petro is a legislator for the northern coastal region of Atlántico, but has said he will resign the seat. Burgos has said the younger Petro revealed that unjustified increases detected in his assets came from two individuals being questioned by Colombian authorities. The money went partly into the son's own accounts and partly into the campaign that made his father Colombia's first elected leftist president, the prosecutor said. On Tuesday, when he was charged, prosecutors said the younger Petro took thousands of dollars from drug traffickers and used it to buy luxurious homes and expensive cars. Nicolás Petro, 36, pleaded innocent to the charges, but agreed to cooperate with authorities. The case has come at a time when Colombia’s president is losing popularity and has been exposed to attacks by opposition parties, which have become increasingly reluctant to cooperate with his legislative agenda. The president has said he would not interfere with the investigation, and wrote a message on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, in which he said he hoped his son would “reflect on his mistakes.” Read More Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide

The US Food and Drug Administration approved Astellas Pharma Inc.’s Izervay for the treatment of age-related macular degeneration,

A cyberattack on Thursday knocked computer systems offline at hospitals in Connecticut and Pennsylvania, forcing them to send ambulances to other hospitals, hospital spokespeople told CNN.

Donald Trump was equal turns defiant and self-pitying in his first major public event since being indicted earlier this week on charges he conspired to overturn the 2020 election and deprive voters of their civil rights in the process, claiming the charges against him were illegitimate but would help his campaign. “It’s not going to make any impact. Every time they file an indictment, we go way up in the polls,” Mr Trump said Friday at the Alabama Republican Party’s 2023 summer meeting in Montgomery. “We need one more indictment and this election is closed out, nobody has even a chance,” he added. At the same time, Mr Trump hammered the special counsel overseeing the case, accusing “deranged Jack Smith” of pursuing “an outrageous criminalisation of political speech.” “It’s not fair and it’s probably not legal what they’re doing,” Mr Trump argued. “They want to interfere in my campaign.” Prosecutors allege that Mr Trump and a group of co-conspirators knew they had lost the 2020 election, but tried to manipulate the process and be declared the winners anyway, infringing on US voter rights in the process. “The only civil rights that have been violated in this manner are my civil rights,” Mr Trump said at the event. Even though Donald Trump faces increasing legal jeopardy – two federal indictments, plus another major case from the Manhattan district attorney and a looming potential indictment in Georgia over election meddling – his campaign for the White House looks relatively unimpacted even as Mr Trump could be the first former president to be imprisoned. According to a New York Times poll on Thursday, Donald Trump and Joe Biden are at a dead heat when it comes to support from registered voters, each maintaining 43 per cent. Within the Republican field, Mr Trump has a comfortable lead over his opponents, even as rivals like Mike Pence have seized on the recent indictment to criticise the former president. A recent poll found that Donald Trump is still comfortably leading the pack of GOP hopefuls ahead of 2024, with 54 per cent support compared to his nearest rival, Florida governor Ron DeSantis, who only had 17 per cent. Read More Moment Trump’s own lawyer ‘admits’ to indictment charge live on TV Ron DeSantis says Trump’s claims of stolen 2020 election weren’t ‘true’ Trump strikes threatening tone after arraignment: ‘ IF YOU GO AFTER ME, I’M COMING AFTER YOU!’ Texas man who threatened poll workers and Arizona officials is sentenced to 3 1/2 years Trump strikes threatening tone: ‘ IF YOU GO AFTER ME, I’M COMING AFTER YOU!’ Giuliani must clarify his ‘puzzling’ court filing in Georgia defamation case

The verdict is clear: Vietnamese people love coffee, but they don’t really seem to like Starbucks.

Ukrainian troops have advanced, at most, about 10 miles in two key areas. Is the counter-offensive working?

The Supreme Court on Friday denied a request from the city of Tulsa, Oklahoma, to freeze a lower court opinion that could prevent Tulsa from enforcing municipal laws -- such as speeding tickets -- against Native Americans.