USA

WASHINGTON (AP) — Police fired pepper spray at demonstrators near the White House and the D.C. National Guard was called in as pockets of violence and vandalism erupted during a second straight night of protests over the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis and President Donald Trump’s response to it.

Hundreds of people converged on the White House and marched along the National Mall, chanting “Black Lives Matter,” “I can’t breathe” and “No justice, no peace.”

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — A rocket ship built by Elon Musk’s SpaceX company thundered away from Earth with two Americans on Saturday, ushering in a new era in commercial space travel and putting the United States back in the business of launching astronauts into orbit from home soil for the first time in nearly a decade.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The massive protests sweeping across U.S. cities following the police killing of a black man in Minnesota have sent shudders through the health community and elevated fears that the huge crowds will lead to a new surge in cases of the coronavirus.

Some leaders appealing for calm in places where crowds smashed storefronts and destroyed police cars in recent nights have been handing out masks and warning demonstrators they were putting themselves at risk.

(AP) --- Imagine, for a moment, that you are a black man or woman living in America in 2020. How could you not believe that racism kills?

If you are black, you need not imagine anything. You know it very well.

You don’t need to see the video of George Floyd, a police officer’s knee on his neck as he struggled for his dying breaths, to know that black people are three times more likely to be killed by police than are white people.

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Tense protests over the death of George Floyd and other police killings of black people grew Saturday from New York to Tulsa to Los Angeles, with police cars set ablaze and reports of injuries mounting on all sides as the country convulsed through another night of unrest after months of coronavirus lockdowns.

UNITED NATIONS, May 29. /TASS/: The majority of states members of the UN Security Council (UNSC) did not support an attempt by the United States and the United Kingdom to discuss the Hong Kong national security bill, First Deputy Permanent Representative of Russia to the UN Dmitry Polyansky said.

UNITED NATIONS, May 30 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The United States and Britain on Friday urged China at the UN Security Council to reverse course over its new security law in Hong Kong, defying Beijing’s outrage over having the controversy discussed at the world body.

The UN meeting came as President Donald Trump prepared to take further action in an escalating row with China, which on Thursday proceeded with a controversial measure that many Hong Kongers see as ending much of their freedom.

WASHINGTON, May 30 (NNN-AGENCIES) — US President Donald Trump ordered a probe into the actions of Chinese companies listed on American financial markets as tensions flared anew between the world’s two biggest economies.

ADDIS ABABA, May 30 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Moussa Faki Mahamat, the chairman of the African Union (AU) Commission, has condemned the killing of a unarmed black man in the US city of Minneapolis, calling it “murder”.

George Floyd, 46, died in police custody on Monday. A white police officer was filmed kneeling on his neck, despite him saying that he could not breathe.

His death has led to a series of demonstrations across the country, including in Minneapolis where there is a large Somali community.

UNITED NATIONS, May 30 (NNN-XINHUA) – Zhang Jun, China’s permanent representative to the United Nations, urged the United States and the United Kingdom (UK), to immediately stop interfering in Hong Kong affairs, immediately stop practices of hegemony and power politics, and mind their own business, rather than provoking tensions and making troubles everywhere.

Zhang refuted the fallacy on Hong Kong made by the United States, Britain, and some other countries, saying, China opposes and completely rejects the baseless remarks made by the U.S. and Britain.