Newsletter Archive

New criminal charges were filed Wednesday in the killing of George Floyd. Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison charged Derek Chauvin, the white police officer who held his knee on Floyd’s neck, with second-degree murder, a stiffer charge than the third-degree-murder charge he previously faced. In addition, Ellison charged three other former officers who were at the scene.

The pace of applications for U.S. unemployment compensation eased again last week, the Labor Department reported Thursday, as many American employers slowly reopen their businesses after the coronavirus pandemic forced their closure. 

U.S. President Donald Trump “has sole authority to invoke the Insurrection Act” and “if needed, he will use it,” White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany told reporters Wednesday afternoon. 

The United States marked the anniversary of China’s deadly 1989 crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Tiananmen Square by reiterating the call for “a full, public accounting of those killed or missing.”

Amid the mobs, fires and looting, journalists have themselves become news when confronted by police or protesters while doing their jobs to inform the public. A VOA journalist was one of those caught in the crossfire.