USA

Washington, Jun 2 (PTI) There is no place for hate and racism in the society, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has said, asserting that empathy and shared understanding are a start, but more needs to be done.

Nadella's remarks come in the wake of the custodial death of George Floyd, a 46-year-old African-American man who was pinned to the ground in Minneapolis on May 25 by a white police officer who kneeled on his neck as he gasped for breath.

NEW YORK, June 02 (APP): At least 200 serious attacks on individual journalists have taken place during six years of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s rule resulting in the killing of 40 of them, according to a recent study cited in a Washington Post article, which portrays India as “one of the world’s deadliest places to practice journalism.”

“And,” the Post’s Global Opinions writer, Jason Rezaian, warned that “it’s only getting worse”.

The coronavirus pandemic, he said, had provided a “new pretext for Modi to infringe on journalists and their work.”

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Eight states and the District of Columbia hold primary elections on Tuesday, the biggest test yet of officials’ readiness to manage a surge of mail ballots and the safety risks of in-person voting during the coronavirus outbreak.

The largest day of balloting since the pandemic began will serve as a dry run for the Nov. 3 general election, offering a glimpse of the challenges ahead on a national scale if that vote is conducted under a lingering threat from COVID-19.

CHICAGO, June 2 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Two people have been killed during unrest in the Chicago suburb of Cicero as protests continued over the death of George Floyd, says a town official.

Spokesman Ray Hanania said 60 people were arrested but did not provide additional information about those killed or the circumstances of their deaths.

The Illinois State Police and Cook County Sheriff’s Office were called in to help local police as businesses were broken into and items stolen.

The Cicero Police Department has urged residents to stay at home.

NEW YORK, June 2 (NNN-AGENCIES) — New York was placed under a night curfew, officials said, after looters raided stores in central Manhattan, targeting some of the city’s top retailers.

Upmarket fashion store Michael Kors on Fifth Avenue was among the luxury outlets hit, along with Nike, Lego and electronics shops across Midtown, before the 11 pm to 5 am curfew came into effect.

Groups of young people moved from block to block around the district, usually bustling with tourists but deserted due to the coronavirus, with entire streets blocked by police.

MINNEAPOLIS (Minnesota, US), June 2 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The death of George Floyd, an African-American man who died in police custody, has been declared a homicide following an official post-mortem.

He suffered a cardiac arrest while being restrained by Minneapolis police officers on May 25, the report found.

It listed Floyd’s cause of death as “cardiopulmonary arrest complicating law enforcement subdual, restraint, and neck compression”.

The examination also recorded evidence of heart disease and recent drug use.

WASHINGTON, June 1 (Xinhua) -- The extraordinarily high unemployment rate in the United States is in large part due to the poor management of the COVID-19 pandemic by the federal government, a senior U.S. economist said on Monday.

"It was late to acknowledge the threat posed by the virus, and then ultimately ceded the bulk of the crisis management to state governments, which led to a patchwork response that was slow to get going," Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody's Analytics, said in an analysis.

HOUSTON, June 1 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Texas Governor Greg Abbott, along with all four United States attorneys in Texas, announced Monday that individuals coming to Texas from other states to engage in violence will be subject to federal prosecution.

According to a release from the governor's office, anyone who is arrested and charged with such offenses will be transferred to federal custody.

The United States attorneys in Texas will be working with local prosecutors and law enforcement officials to aggressively identify crimes that violate federal law, said the statement.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Joe Biden’s search for a running mate could be reshaped by the police killing of George Floyd and the unrest it has ignited across the country, raising questions about contenders with law-and-order backgrounds and intensifying pressure on the presumptive Democratic nominee to select a black woman.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Nearly 26,000 nursing home residents have died from COVID-19, the government reported Monday, as federal officials demanded states carry out more inspections and vowed higher fines for facilities with poor infection control.

The partial numbers released by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are certain to go higher, as only about 80% of nursing homes have reported. Also, the federal data does not include assisted living facilities, which some states count in their coronavirus totals.