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The German government Wednesday said it has received official confirmation from the U.S. of plans to reduce the number of American forces in Germany. German government spokeswoman Ulrike Demmer told reporters in Berlin the government had been informed the U.S. is considering reducing its forces in Germany but said there is no final decision. There has been no U.S. confirmation. Last week, The Wall Street Journal newspaper first reported that U.S. President Donald Trump wanted to pull some 9,500 of about 34,500 U.S. troops from Germany. Earlier this week, Germany’s defense minister, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, suggested that plan could weaken not only the NATO alliance but the U.S. itself. A White House official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss internal matters, confirmed to The Associated Press that there were plans to move troops, saying some could go to Poland while others could go elsewhere. Poland had expressed interest in having some of the troops stationed there.  But some former U.S. military officials have strongly criticized the idea. Retired U.S. Army European commander general Ben Hodges called the move “a colossal mistake” in media interviews and on his Twitter feed this week. He said troops are not in Germany to defend Germans, but to help stabilize NATO. He said Poland would be better served with a stable NATO than U.S. troops stationed there. Hodges told the New York Times the move does not “seem attached to any kind of strategy.” The White House official told AP the decision is part of the president’s and Department of Defense’s effort to review combatant commands around the globe.  
 
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After getting off to a strong start Wednesday, European markets are falling as investors wait to hear what steps the U.S. Federal Reserve will take to ensure a post-pandemic recovery.  London’s FTSE index is down 0.5%, the CAC-40 in Paris is 0.8% lower, and the DAX index in Frankfurt is down one percent.   Asian markets were mixed Wednesday, with Tokyo’s Nikkei index gaining 0.1%.  Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was essentially unchanged, while Shanghai’s composite index was down 0.4%.  In Sydney, the S&P/ASX was trading flat, the Sensex in Mumbai gained 0.8%, Taiwan’s TSEC was 0.7% higher, and the KOSPI in Seoul was up 0.3%. In oil trading, U.S crude is selling at $37.90 per barrel, down 2.6%, while Brent crude is going for $40.27 per barrel, down 2.2%. The Dow Jones and the S&P 500 are trending down in futures trading, while the NASDAQ is trending higher hours before the opening bell on Wall Street.   
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Pope Francis called George Floyd by name, twice, and offered support to an American bishop who knelt in prayer during a Black Lives Matter protest.
Cardinals black and white have spoken out about Floyd’s death, and the Vatican’s communications juggernaut has shifted into overdrive to draw attention to the cause he now represents.
Under normal circumstances, Floyd’s killing at the hands of a white police officer and the global protests denouncing racism and police brutality might have drawn a muted diplomatic response from the Holy See. But in a U.S. election year, the intensity and consistency of the Vatican’s reaction suggests that, from the pope on down, it is seeking to encourage anti-racism protesters while making a clear statement about where American Catholics should stand ahead of President Donald Trump’s bid for a second term in November.
Francis “wants to send a very clear message to these conservative Catholics here who are pro-Trumpers that, ‘Listen, this is just as much of an issue as abortion is,'” said Anthea Butler, a presidential visiting fellow at Yale Divinity School.
Butler, who is African American, said the Vatican is telling Catholics “to pay attention to the racism that is happening and the racism that is in your own church in America.”
The Vatican has long spoken out about racial injustice, and popes dating to Paul VI have voiced support for the civil rights movement and Martin Luther King Jr.’s message of nonviolent protest. History’s first pope from the global south is no different. He quoted King at length during his historic speech to the U.S. Congress in 2015 and met with King’s daughter, as his predecessor had done.
But the degree to which Francis and the Vatican have seized on Floyd’s killing is unusual and suggests a coordinated messaging strategy aimed at a national church that Francis has long criticized for its political and ideological partisanship, said Alberto Melloni, a church historian and secretary of the John XXIII Foundation for Religious Studies in Bologna, Italy.
“It’s not like seven people had the same type of reaction” by chance, Melloni said.  
Last week, Francis denounced the “sin of racism” and twice identified Floyd as the victim of a “tragic” killing. In a message read in Italian and English during his general audience, Francis expressed concerns about violence during the protests, saying it was self-destructive.
He also said, “We cannot close our eyes to any form of racism or exclusion, while pretending to defend the sacredness of every human life.”
It was a clear effort to call out some conservative Catholics for whom the abortion issue is paramount, while other “life” issues dear to Francis — racism, immigration, the death penalty and poverty — play second fiddle at the ballot box.
Francis has firmly upheld the church’s opposition to abortion. And polls show a plurality of American Catholics support significant restrictions on legal abortion.
But Francis has also lamented that the U.S. church is “obsessed” with abortion, contraception and gay marriage to the detriment of its other teachings. Trump is staking his outreach to Catholic voters largely on his anti-abortion platform.
Francis spoke out June 3 after Trump posed in front of an Episcopal church near the White House, Bible in hand, after law enforcement aggressively forced protesters away from a nearby park.  
A day later, Trump visited the St. John Paul II shrine, a visit denounced by the highest-ranking African American prelate in the U.S., Archbishop Wilton Gregory of Washington, D.C., whom Francis appointed to the politically important position last year. Gregory said he found it “baffling and reprehensible that any Catholic facility would allow itself to be so egregiously misused and manipulated.”
In that vein, the pope’s phone call to Texas Bishop Mark Seitz of El Paso last week appeared quietly significant. Seitz has taken a leading role in demanding fair treatment for migrants attempting to cross the southern U.S. border, a cause Francis has championed in ways that have fueled tensions with Trump.
Francis called Seitz unexpectedly after he was photographed kneeling in prayer at a Black Lives Matter protest. Seitz said the pope thanked him without mentioning the demonstration, but the context was clear: “My recent words and actions on the events that are taking place in the country now” after Floyd’s killing.
Francis was not alone in making the Vatican’s views known.  
While the Holy See would be loath to be seen as picking sides prior to the U.S. election, its media operation has made clear its backing for peaceful protests, denouncing injustices suffered by black Americans and underlining its longtime support of King’s message.
Sunday’s L’Osservatore Romano newspaper featured three Floyd-related stories on its front page. The first was that 1 million people were expected to protest that day in Washington.
A second story was about a video showing two U.S. police officers shoving 75-year-old Martin Gugino, a white Catholic protester, to the ground in Buffalo. “Go watch it, please,” the article said.
Its third story was about a prayer service presided over by the highest-ranking American at the Vatican, Cardinal Kevin Farrell, who decried how America’s constitutional ideals were failing its black citizens.
In an interview, Farrell said he has spoken to Francis in the past about America’s race problems, which he saw up close as an auxiliary bishop in Washington. Farrell said Francis is well versed in King and American history.
Francis “knows what the principle was and he knows what the struggle was,” Farrell said.
Natalia Imperatori-Lee, a professor of religious studies at Manhattan College, said the Vatican’s message is having an effect on American Catholics.
“We are starting to see a kind of fissure emerge,” she said. “Whether that’s going to be long lasting or whether it is a sign of a paradigm shift, I think it’s too early to tell.”
A poll from the nonprofit Public Religion Research Institute last week found that the share of white Catholics holding favorable views of Trump had dropped by double digits since last year, registering 37% in the last week of May compared with 49% across 2019.  
The test, Imperatori-Lee said, will be if priests are still preaching about racism in six months. And beyond that: “I guess we’ll know if this works when Catholics go to the polls in November.”
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The World Health Organization is urging Pakistan to impose a new round of lockdowns as the number of new coronavirus infections there has soared over the last several days.   In a letter to health authorities in Punjab, Pakistan’s largest state, WHO representative Palitha Mahipala recommended officials adopt intermittent lockdowns of “two weeks on, two weeks off” and to double its testing capacity to 50,000 per day.   People sit in waiting area of the Benazir Hospital ignore social distancing, during a lockdown to contain the spread of coronavirus, in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, April 22, 2020.The Muslim-majority nation has reported a total of 113,702 confirmed COVID-19 cases, with well over 2,100 deaths, including a record 105 fatalities reported Tuesday.Mahipala said the number of confirmed infections have soared since several provinces began easing quarantine restrictions in early May.   Prime Minister Imran Khan has refused to impose a strict nationwide lockdown similar to other nations, arguing it will have a devastating effect on the economy, especially the poor.    In neighboring India, Manish Sisodia, the deputy chief minister of New Delhi, said the city could have as many as 550,000 COVID-19 cases by the end of July. The Indian capital has at least 29,000 confirmed cases, and Sisodia told reporters Tuesday that it would need an extra 80,000 beds if the current trends hold. Hospital staff carry the body of a person who died of COVID-19 to a morgue in Mumbai, India, May 29, 2020.India has the world’s fifth-largest number of cases, with more than 276,580 confirmed infections, including a record 10,000 reported Tuesday, with 7,745 deaths.In the United States, more than a dozen states have recorded their highest number of COVID-19 cases this week, with many concentrated across the western and southwestern states of Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and Utah.FILE – People gather on the beach for the Memorial Day weekend in Port Aransas, Texas, May 23, 2020.The increases come amid a loosening of coronavirus restrictions in recent weeks, including the annual Memorial Day holiday that signals the start of the traditional summer vacation season.  FILE – A man wears a face mask as he scans a code before entering the Wuhan Railway Station, in China’s central Hubei province on May 28, 2020.Meanwhile, the U.S. State Department says it will resume operations at its consulate in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, where the virus was first detected late last December.  The U.S. State Department withdrew consulate staff and their families in late January after the Chinese government put the city under lockdown to curb the spread of the virus.  Dr. Anthony Fauci has described COVID-19 as his “worst nightmare,” saying the disease spread around the world with surprising speed.    The New York Times, reporting Tuesday on Fauci’s speech to biotechnology executives, says Fauci warns that the pandemic “isn’t over yet,” despite many countries in Europe and the United States starting to ease restrictions.    Fauci said he was surprised at how fast COVID-19 spread after emerging from China in December.     Most efficiently transmitted diseases can become a pandemic between six months to a year. Fauci said this one took a month.    Also Tuesday, another expert epidemiologist, Maria Van Kerkhove of the World Health Organization, sought to clear up what she says are “misunderstandings” about her earlier comments on asymptomatic transfer of the disease — that is from people who have the virus but aren’t showing any symptoms.  FILE – An employee sprays disinfectant on Piazza Duomo in Milan during Italy’s lockdown aimed at curbing the spread of the COVID-19 infection, March 31, 2020.Van Kerkhove said Monday, “It still appears to be rare that asymptomatic individuals actually transmit onward” — a statement that contradicted the findings of other scientists who say there is lots of evidence that asymptomatic people can spread COVID-19.    She backed down from her statement Tuesday, telling reporters that asymptomatic spread is a “really complex question” and much is still unknown.    “We don’t actually have that answer yet,” she said, adding that her earlier comment was based on a few studies.    WHO’s emergencies chief, Dr. Michael Ryan, said “both symptomatic and asymptomatic individuals are part of the transmission cycle,” but that it was unclear how much each contributed to disease spread.    COVID-19 patients lie on beds in a field hospital built inside a gym in Santo Andre, on the outskirts of Sao Paulo, Brazil, June 9, 2020.Brazil is once again reporting coronavirus details on its official government website after the Supreme Court ordered it to restore such information for the public.    Justice Alexandre de Moraes said that dropping it from the internet had made it “impossible” for medical experts to monitor the spread of the disease and establish proper prevention.    Brazil has the world’s second highest number of coronavirus cases after the United States, and the third highest number of deaths after the U.S. and Britain.    Brazil’s far-right President Jair Bolsonaro has scoffed at the severity of COVID-19, calling it a “little flu” and mocking people worried about the disease as neurotics.   He has threatened to pull Brazil out of the WHO.   
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Global markets are on the rise Wednesday as investors wait to hear what steps the U.S. Federal Reserve will take to ensure a post-pandemic recovery.  In Asia, Tokyo’s Nikkei index finished the trading session up 0.1%.  In late afternoon trading on, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was essentially unchanged, while Shanghai’s composite index was down 0.4%.  In Sydney, the S&P/ASX was trading flat, the Sensex in Mumbai and Taiwan’s TSEC were both 0.7% higher, and the KOSPI in Seoul was 0.3% higher. European markets are off to a good start, with London’s FTSE index up 0.6%, the CAC-40 in Paris trading 0.8%, and the DAX index in Frankfurt up 0.9%.  In oil trading, U.S crude is selling at $38.10 per barrel, down 2.1%, while Brent crude is going for $40.48 per barrel, down 1.7%. The Dow Jones, S&P 500 and the Nasdaq are all trending upward in futures trading.   
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After more than 2 months of shutdown due to the coronavirus, Russia’s capital sprung back to life this week —  with city authorities lifting restrictions on most business closings and stay at home rules for Moscow’s 12 million plus residents.   Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin announced the policy shift Monday — arguing the city had made great progress against the virus, with the pandemic “slowly but surely” on the decline over the past few weeks.  “The struggle isn’t over. But nonetheless, I want to congratulate you with our latest victory and big step towards a return to normal life,” added Nail technicians wearing face masks and gloves perform manicure and pedicure for their clients in a nail bar in Moscow, Russia, June 9, 2020.“Why is it too fast? Some restrictions are in place, others will be lifted in the course of a week or two. It’s not a full cancellation,” said Peskov.   “Sobyanin used his authority and analyzing the situation on the ground…made the decision,” added Peskov.The Mayor’s Shift   The new rules mark a distinct turnaround for Mayor Sobyanin, who became — or was made — the face of the government effort to fight the pandemic early on.   It was left to Sobyanin — rather than President Putin — to introduce unpopular measures such as self-isolation requirements and a digital pass system strictly limiting movement around the city.    Supporters credited the mayor with keeping fatalities lower than comparatively large metropolises like New York and London — even as western media organizations have raised serious doubts over how accurately Russia counts its dead.  And there were plenty of gaffes, too.  An intrusive city tracking app went haywire and randomly fined residents. Sobyanin’s attempt to schedule walks for residents building by building was mocked widely as out of touch with reality.   Yet few could argue Sobyanin was not at least trying to stop the virus.  As recently as late May, Sobyanin insisted on strict guidelines for easing the coronavirus lockdown, arguing public safety could only be assured once new infection rates had fallen dramatically.  But by this week all that had changed.  The digital passes were gone. Beaty salons and barber shops were open.  Crowds were on the sidewalks.  Traffic was back at its usual hum. “Yesterday these roads were empty. Now look at all these people,” grumbled Roman, a taxi driver, who admitted he had largely ignored city requirements to wear a mask and gloves. “Why bother? They do it just to scare people,” he tells VOA. Indeed, Sobyanin may have simply have bowed to the inevitable: with summer weather temperatures arriving over the weekend, the mayor was in effect lifting restrictions that increasingly few were bothering to follow.  Either way, Muscovites appeared to welcome the change in policy and weather — with many ignoring ongoing requirements to wear a mask in public as they strolled city streets and gathered in groups outside.    Only surveying the crowds, some observers predicted an inevitable second wave of infections to come. “Hold this damn parade and damn vote at any price. And how many of you get sick or die, makes no difference,” wrote Echo of Moscow Radio’s ombudsman Anton Orekh in a scathing post about Moscow’s sudden return to normal. “There’s nothing to celebrate or be happy about,” added Orekh.  “If you can — stay home and take care of yourself three times more than before.” 
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One of Copenhagen Zoo’s giant pandas escaped from its enclosure early Monday and roamed the park before staff were able to sedate it and bring it back. Xing Er, a 7-year-old male who arrived at the zoo last year, was seen on surveillance video breaking out of the newly built, 160 million-kroner ($24.2 million) Panda House that also houses female panda Mao Sun. Zoo spokesman Bengt Holst said that on the video staff could see how “the male panda crawls up a metal pole, which is studded with three rows of electrical wires … and then crawls out into the garden.” He said the park now was looking at making changes to security around the enclosure “to ensure that it does not happen again. ” Zoo staff reacted “quickly and efficiently,” the animal was corned and sedated with a dart without being harmed, he said. Monday’s incident happened before the animal park opened to the public. “It doesn’t change the fact that we want to avoid that kind of situation in the future,” Holst said. The enclosure to house the pandas from China’s southwestern city of Chengdu, was inaugurated by Queen Margrethe and other dignitaries in April 2019. Beijing lends out pandas as a sign of goodwill. Any cubs born during the 15-year loan period are considered China’s property.   
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The European Union’s top diplomat said Tuesday that since the United States has already withdrawn from an international agreement curbing Iran’s nuclear ambitions, it can’t now use its former membership of the pact to try to impose a permanent arms embargo on the Islamic Republic.
The accord, which Iran signed with the U.S., Britain, Germany, France, China and Russia in 2015, has been unraveling since President Donald Trump pulled Washington out in 2018 and reinstated sanctions designed to cripple Tehran under what the U.S. called a “maximum pressure” campaign.  
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Kelly Craft have said that extending a permanent U.N. backed arms embargo against Iran is now a top priority for Washington.
But speaking to reporters Tuesday after talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell insisted that since the U.S. has pulled out of the nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, it can no longer claim to have a role in it.
“The United States has withdrawn from the JCPOA, and now they cannot claim that they are still part of the JCPOA in order to deal with this issue from the JCPOA agreement. They withdraw. It’s clear. They withdraw,” Borrell said.
On Monday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov accused the Trump administration of unleashing a politically motivated campaign against Iran and he called for “universal condemnation” of the U.S. attempt to get the U.N. Security Council to impose a permanent arms embargo.
The EU sees the nuclear deal as a key pillar of regional and world security and has struggled to keep the pact alive despite U.S. pressure. Borrell is tasked with supervising the way the pact is applied and to help resolve disputes between the parties.
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Turkish police on Monday detained two journalists for questioning as part of an investigation into alleged “political and military espionage,” the state-run Anadolu Agency said.The two journalists — Ismail Dukel, the Ankara representative of TELE1 television channel, and Muyesser Yildiz of the OdaTV news website — were being questioned by anti-terrorism police, the agency reported.OdaTV said Yildiz, who has reported on military issues, was detained following a raid on her home. Police searched her house and confiscated electronic material, the website reported.Last month, authorities charged seven journalists — including two OdaTV editors and a reporter — with violating laws governing the intelligence agency, for stories on the death of an intelligence officer who was reportedly killed in Libya. The journalists will go on trial later this month.The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists ranks Turkey among the top jailers of journalists worldwide, alongside China and Saudi Arabia.As many as 85 journalists and other media workers are currently in jail under Turkey’s broad anti-terrorism laws, according to the Turkish Journalists Syndicate, including many who were detained in a crackdown following a 2016 coup attempt.Turkey maintains that the journalists are prosecuted for criminal acts and not for their journalistic work.Separately, prosecutors issued warrants to detain 149 people — most of them former police officers — for alleged links to a network led by U.S.-based Muslim cleric, Fethullah Gulen.Anadolu Agency said 74 people, including six former police chiefs, were being sought by prosecutors in the western province of Balikesir, 42 were sought be authorities in northwestern Bursa province while 33 of the suspects were detained in Gaziantep, near the border with Syria.Turkey blames Gulen’s network for the failed 2016 coup. About 77,000 people have been arrested and around 130,000 others, including military personnel, have been dismissed from state jobs in the ongoing crackdown on Gulen’s network.Gulen, who has been in self-imposed exile in the U.S. since 1999, denies involvement in the coup attempt, which killed about 250 people and injured around 2,000 others.
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Thousands of fitness enthusiasts flooded the streets of Argentina’s capital, Buenos Aires, Monday night after the city government gave its approval for people to exercise outside between 8 p.m. and 8 a.m. as it begins to ease restrictions on containing the coronavirus. Joggers and bike riders banned from outdoor activities for more than two months because of the COVID-19 pandemic moved through night, with the aid of extra police on the streets. The relaxation of the quarantine Monday also marked the reopening of some retail businesses in Argentina, even as President Alberto Fernandez extended the quarantine in Buenos Aires and several other jurisdictions mostly impacted by the COVID-19 virus until June 28. Fernandez said social distancing, and the use of face masks will remain mandatory for the entire country. So far, Argentina has confirmed more than 23,000 COVID-19 cases and nearly 700  deaths. 
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With France confined to fight the virus, a video circulated online in April showing a young man lying on the bloody ground next to two police officers — and quickly set off protests in struggling neighborhoods around the Paris region.
Sometime before, the man had been on a motorcycle. Then, he crashed into a suddenly opened police car door. Whether the door was opened on purpose or not is unclear, but what was clear was the anger the video sparked. A protest that night in the town of Villeneuve-la-Garenne led to others in a dozen Paris suburbs and similar neighborhoods around France in the ensuing days.  
The relationship between police and marginalized residents of France’s low-income neighborhoods, many of whom are Arab or black and trace their roots to former French colonies, has long been tense. Safety measures intended to curb the spread of COVID-19 further empowered police — but also empowered community activists using apps or online sleuthing to track and challenge what they see as an abuse of police power.  
George Floyd’s death in the U.S. has resonated especially loudly in places like Villeneuve, one of many banlieues, or suburbs, where poverty and minority populations are concentrated in France. Floyd-related protests against police violence and racial injustice have been held around France, and more are planned for Tuesday evening.
In a pivotal moment for modern France, rioting engulfed the country for three weeks in 2005 after two boys who were running from police, Zyed and Bouna, were electrocuted while hiding in an electric generator in the Paris suburb of Clichy-sous-Bois. A state of emergency was declared and almost 3,000 people were arrested.
Despite billions of euros in government improvement programs for the banlieues since 2005, tensions with police persist, and the deaths of other young men periodically rekindles anger. Protesters marching in solidarity with Floyd notably called for justice for Adama Traore, whose death in police custody in 2016 is still under investigation.
“The anger (in those neighborhoods) is so present and police impunity so frustrating that we don’t need much for it to blow up,” said Ilyes Ramdani, editor-in-chief of the Bondy Blog, which was founded in 2005 to tell the stories of young black and Arab French people in the banlieues.
Under France’s strictest virus lockdown measures, from March 17-May 11, the government restricted people’s movements to a kilometer (half-mile) around their homes and required that anyone leaving their homes carry a signed paper stating why. Punishments included fines starting at 135 euros (about $150), or even prison.
On the first day punishments were doled out, 10% of the fines given in the entire country were given in the region of Seine-Saint-Denis on Paris’ northern edge, where unemployment is twice the national average, almost one person out of three is an immigrant, and many others are the descendants of immigrants.
Government officials defended the fines as necessary to fight the virus in a region with especially high infection rates.
But police union leader Yves Lefebvre lamented that the lockdown measures “again made the police a repressive tool.”
“Public services have deserted these neighborhoods,” and police are the only presence left, which “necessarily leads to confrontation,” he said.
Lefebvre, general secretary for Unité SGP Police-Force Ouvrière union, said trust has been broken because “police only enter those neighborhoods to restore order.”
The Villeneuve incident is being investigated by prosecutors and by the French state police watchdog agency, which said it received 166 citizen reports of problematic police behavior and seven formal complaints of police abuse during the 54 days of France’s coronavirus lockdown.
 
Under pressure to act, Interior Minister Christophe Castaner pledged Monday to ban police chokeholds and said more officers will be equipped with cameras to help ensure that identity checks don’t lead to discrimination against minorities.
Frustrated activists are taking matters into their own hands.  
At the start of the lockdown, Sihame Assbague, an anti-racial profiling activist and journalist, started to collect reports of police harassment, citing “a multiplication of police violence videos on social media.”
She’s cross-referencing and verifying about 40 cases, most of them from videos she’s received. “I don’t expect much from the state or public authorities, but what I know is they respect strength. That’s why it’s important to organize,” she said.
Amal Bentounsi, whose brother Amine was shot in the back and killed by the police in 2012, founded a group to support families of victims and provide legal help to bring abusive police to court. The officer who killed her brother was sentenced to a five-year suspended prison sentence — a rare legal victory for families like hers.
In March, Bentounsi and three other families launched an app called Emergency-Police Violence designed to record abuses.
“The idea is for people to develop the habit of filming, not to make buzz, but to create a tool for citizens to contradict the police’s version of events and dissuade police who will be filmed” from abusing their authority, Bentounsi said.  
Users can record arrests live, and the videos are directly uploaded onto the app’s server so they can be salvaged if the phone is seized or broken.
Since March, the app has been downloaded more than 30,000 times.  
Their group wants to encourage people to press charges, even if chances of conviction are slim, Bentounsi said. The government says numbers of police abuses “aren’t big enough for it to be an issue. We want to change that. Because if there are no charges, there are no statistics.”
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Asian markets were mostly higher Tuesday as Wall Street’s big gains the day before gave investors hopes of a beginning of a post-pandemic recovery. The S&P/ASX in Sydney ended Tuesday’s session 2.4% higher to lead the region, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng is up 1% in late afternoon trading.  The Shanghai Composite index is up 0.6%, while both the KOSPI index in Seoul and Taiwan’s TSEC index is 0.2% higher.   Tokyo’s Nikkei index finished 0.3% lower for the day, while Mumbai’s Sensex is fluctuating. FILE – The German share price index DAX graph is pictured at the stock exchange in Frankfurt, Germany, April 8, 2020.But European markets are off to a slow start Tuesday.  The FTSE in London is down 1.5%, while both the CAC-40 in Paris and Frankfurt’s DAX index are down 1.6%. Oil markets are also down Tuesday, with U.S. crude selling at $37.79 per barrel, down 1%, while Brent crude is selling $40.47 per barrel, down 0.8%. The Dow Jones, S&P 500 and Nasdaq are trending lower in futures trading, despite all three markets finishing Monday’s trading day with solid gains.  The S&P 500 climbed back to its pre-pandemic levels, while the Nasdaq, which heavily tracks the technology sector, closed at a record high, despite news that the U.S. had officially fallen into a recession.  
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Former World Athletics’ Chief Lamine Diack was in a Paris courtroom Monday as a corruption trial opened against him. The case involves a Russian doping scandal. Eighty-seven-year-old Lamine Diack seemed relaxed as he made his court appearance Monday, sporting a dark grey suit. Arguments in the case were originally due to start in January, but postponed when new documents containing testimony from his son and co-defendant were submitted to the court. Lamine Diack is the former head of World Athletics – which was once known as the IAAF. As head of the IAAF from 1999 to 2015, Diack was once one of the most powerful figures in world athletics. Today, he lives under house arrest in Paris, charged with corruption and money laundering.  Prosecutors allege Diack solicited millions of dollars to cover up Russian doping tests.  Some of the money allegedly went to finance Macky Sall’s 2012 presidential campaign in Senegal. Sall won the election.  If found guilty, Diack faces up to 10 years in prison.  Diack denies wrongdoing. The trial is being held in Paris as the alleged money-laundering happened on French soil.  One of Diack’s lawyers, Simon Ndiaye, told reporters that people were unfairly lashing out against his client without any precise elements to back up their accusations. Ndiaye said Diack’s accusers have forgotten others surrounding the ex-chief. His client’s only concern, Ndiaye said, was to defend the IAAF and preserve its financial resources.  One of Diack’s sons, Papa Massata Diack, also faces corruption among other charges. He remains in Senegal, which has refused to extradite him, and will be tried in absentia. Four others are also on trial.  Briton Sebastian Coe replaced Diack as the association’s head. He is trying to rebuild trust in athletics and has introduced changes in how sport is governed. 
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Guyanese opposition candidate Irfaan Ali is expected to be sworn in as president.  Preliminary tallies published by Guyana’s elections commission shows Ali, of the People’s Progressive Party, won a recount of votes in March’s presidential election following accusations the count was compromised.  The president of the small South American country, David Granger, had claimed victory despite international observers saying the vote count was unfair.  The recount vote is expected to be certified by the end of the day on Tuesday. President Granger’s A Partnership for National Unity + AFC party secured 31 seats in the legislature, but Ali’s PPP party has a majority with 33 seats in the 65-seat legislature. Political observers believe the contested election may reignite tensions between Afro-Guyanese and those of Indian descent, with each group maneuvering to control of the country’s oil production profits. 
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Mexico President Andrés Manuel López Obrador is attempting to allay any suspicions about his health after a high-ranking member of his administration he’d recently been in contact with was infected with the coronavirus.  Lopez Obrador told reporters Monday, that he is fine and that he will not get tested because he doesn’t have symptoms.  He said, Zoé Robledo, director of Mexico’s social security system, is now in quarantine after testing positive following an appearance at an event in the Tabasco state capital of Villahermosa, with the president’s security cabinet. In response to critics López Obrador had been traveling too much recently, promoting the reopening of the country, he is considering a video conference rather than a White House visit when the new free trade agreement with the United States and Canada takes effect July 1. The president said, he is following the recommendations of the doctors, which everyone should follow regardless of their position. Mexico is among the leaders in Latin America, with more than 120,000 confirmed coronavirus cases and more than 14,000 deaths. 
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Construction workers in Paris dangled from ropes and used saws to cut through the charred tangled remains of metal scaffolding as they resumed restoration work on Notre Dame cathedral. Fire nearly destroyed the centuries-old structure in April 2019. The coronavirus outbreak suspended work rebuilding the church in March.Huge towers of metal scaffolding erected before the fire — as part of a renovation — melted into a maze of tubes and pipes and must be cut away before any more work on the building can continue — 40,000 pieces of metal weighing as much as 200 tons must be carefully lifted out, which is expected to take three months.  Workers prepare to remove damaged scaffolding elements from the remains of the damaged roof of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, June 8, 2020“It’s a bit like open-heart surgery because we are in the middle of the cathedral between the transept and its heart, precisely where the spire crashed,” Christophe Rousselot said. He heads a charity collecting funds to help pay for the restoration.  The fire burned through the roof and destroyed the spire, but the main bell towers, walls, and most of the ceiling survived as well as many of the relics inside the church. Engineers cannot enter the cathedral to inspect its vaults until the fused scaffolding is removed. Once the scaffolding is gone, a temporary roof will be put up and the restoration work will begin. French President Emmanuel Macron has said he hopes the cathedral will be restored and ready for visitors again by 2024, when Paris hosts the Summer Olympics.  
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Black Lives Matter protests erupted for a second weekend in cities across Europe, fuelled by deep-rooted anger over a perceived lack of understanding of colonial history. The demonstrations originally broke out in solidarity with protests in the United States over the death of a 46-year-old black man, George Floyd, while in Minneapolis police custody. In recent days, protesters in Britain and other European states have increasingly focused on racial inequality in their own countries. In the city of Bristol, in western England, protesters tore down a statue of 17th-century slave trader, Edward Colston, on Sunday, amid cheers from thousands of demonstrators.  The bronze statue was rolled through the city streets and dumped into the harbor, where Colston’s slave ships used to dock after returning from Africa and the Americas. The monument had long been a divisive symbol: a tribute to a man who built schools and hospitals in the city, but who enslaved tens of thousands of black Africans, shipping them across the Atlantic. A banner is taped over the inscription on the pedestal of the toppled statue of Edward Colston in Bristol, England, June 8, 2020.The Bristol City Council estimates that up to 20,000 enslaved men, women and children died on board Colston’s ships. In recent decades, there have been several petitions among Bristol residents to have the statue removed, but the council could not agree on a course of action.  “We have to walk these streets and see that statue of Colston every day, that’s what it means,” said Jasmine, a black woman from Bristol who joined the protest Sunday. “That statue is a kick in the face to all black people, it’s a disgrace. Now look at it, now look at it. Gone, gone, him gone.’’ The toppling of the statue mirrors similar debates in the United States, where activists have demanded the removal of statues honoring Confederate-era figures. Last week, the governor of the U.S. state of Virginia announced that a The Mayor of Bristol, Marvin Rees, speaks to the press in Bristol, England, June 8, 2020.Bristol Mayor Marvin Rees — the first directly elected black mayor in Britain — told VOA that the protesters had legitimate concerns.“We have a city to run and we need to have order,” Rees said. “But if you fail to understand these kind of events, then you create the conditions for more and bigger types of events like these in the future. It’s a very significant, symbolic act, but it doesn’t deliver the affordable homes, the job opportunities, the educational opportunities, the access to the professions, political power, economic power, that actually underpins race inequality.”The British government takes a very different view. Home Secretary Priti Patel labeled the statue’s destruction as “sheer vandalism.” “It’s right actually the police follow up on that and make sure justice is taken,” Patel told reporters Monday. Protests erupted in several other cities across Britain over the weekend. Tens of thousands of people marched on the U.S. Embassy in London.Fiona Collins echoed the views of many in the crowd: “I’m sick of having to explain to my children that because they’re black, they have to act a certain way, they have to behave this way, they have to work 10 times harder to get anywhere in life and I’ve had enough of it.” There were violent clashes between some demonstrators and police in the capital. Twenty-two officers were injured, including a policewoman who fell from her horse after it bolted, striking a traffic signal. The riderless horse trampled a protester.  Prime Minister Boris Johnson wrote on Twitter that the demonstrations had been “subverted by thuggery.”People have a right to protest peacefully & while observing social distancing but they have no right to attack the police. These demonstrations have been subverted by thuggery – and they are a betrayal of the cause they purport to serve. Those responsible will be held to account.
— Boris Johnson #StayAlert (@BorisJohnson) June 7, 2020 In Glasgow, Scotland, activists changed the names of streets linked to slave traders. In Belgium, protesters defaced a statue of King Leopold II, who oversaw the killing of millions of Congolese during colonial rule. The targeting of such monuments has rekindled calls for government action to remove symbols that glorify those involved in colonial repression and slavery. However, many British lawmakers have criticized the destruction of the Colston statue in Bristol and claim the monuments are an important reminder of a dark and complicated history.  Ben Bradley MP of the ruling Conservatives wrote on Twitter: ‘If we start to judge historical figures by 21st century standards, we’ll find that quite a few folks weren’t that nice… almost as if they didn’t know any better.’ If we start to judge historical figures by 21st century standards, we’ll find that quiet a few folks weren’t that nice… Almost as if they didn’t know any better 🤔
— Ben Bradley MP (@BBradley_Mans) June 7, 2020Opposition Labour leader Keir Starmer criticized the toppling of the statue but said that it should have been taken down by authorities many years ago.  Many others say that statue’s razing has done far more to educate Britons about black oppression, a history that for many resonates deeply today.  
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The U.S. Department of Justice issued a formal request to question Britain’s Prince Andrew as part of the government’s ongoing investigation into possible co-conspirators of convicted sex offender, Jeffrey Epstein, according to a law enforcement official.The formal action comes after federal prosecutors alleged that Andrew, known as the Duke of York, failed to respond to earlier Justice Department inquiries about his friendship with Epstein, who was found dead of an apparent suicide while in jail last August awaiting charges of sex trafficking and sexual abuse.In November, Queen Elizabeth’s second son stepped down from public duties due to the scandal over his friendship with Epstein and allegations that he had sexual encounters with a 17-year-old girl about 20 years ago.Investigators have not accused Andrew of any wrongdoing, and he has said that he would help “any appropriate law enforcement agency with their investigations if required.”FILE – This March 28, 2017, file photo, provided by the New York State Sex Offender Registry, shows Jeffrey Epstein.Andrew has denied having sex with Virginia Roberts Giuffre. She alleges Epstein forced her to have sex with the prince and that the encounters happened in London, New York and the U.S. Virgin Islands.Despite the pledge to cooperate, in March, U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman said the prince had provided “zero cooperation” to the FBI and “shut the door on voluntary cooperation.” Berman said his office is “considering its options.”Andrew’s lawyers hit back at these claims Monday, suggesting that U.S. prosecutors were seeking publicity rather than the royal’s cooperation.”The Duke of York has on at least three occasions this year offered his assistance as a witness to the DOJ,” said Blackfords, the London-based law firm representing Andrew, in a statement.”Unfortunately, the DOJ has reacted to the first two offers by breaching their own confidentiality rules and claiming that the Duke has offered zero cooperation. In doing so, they are perhaps seeking publicity rather than accepting the assistance proffered,” the statement said.The request, initiated by federal prosecutors in the Manhattan U.S. Attorney’s office, is part of a mutual legal assistance treaty (MLAT) request, an agreement to gather and exchange information in criminal investigations between two counties, submitted to Britain’s Home Office, according to the source.If the MLAT request is approved, U.S. prosecutors could potentially force Andrew to go to court to provide evidence under oath.Prosecutors have vowed to continue the investigation, bringing renewed attention to several prominent people in Epstein’s orbit, including Andrew and socialite Ghislaine Maxwell.Maxwell faces several lawsuits and has denied all allegations against her.  
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France’s interior minister announced Monday police will no longer conduct chokeholds that have been blamed for multiple cases of asphyxiation and prompted new criticism after George Floyd’s death in the U.S.At a news conference in Paris, Interior Minister Christophe Castaner said “the method of seizing the neck via strangling will be abandoned and will no longer be taught in police schools.”Immobilization techniques where officers apply pressure with their knees on prone suspects, as officers did in Floyd’s case, are used in policing around the world and have long drawn criticism. French lawmakers have called for such practices to be banned.FILE – People protest against the death of George Floyd who died in police custody in Minneapolis, next to the U.S. embassy in Paris, France, June 1, 2020.Castaner spoke out as the country’s government comes under increasing pressure to address brutality and racism within the police force. France has seen several protests over the past week sparked by Floyd’s death last month, which has stirred anger against racism and police brutality around the world.The interior minister said the move is not just a reaction to recent events but comes after months of work by the commission on police procedures.He added that stricter punishments would be implemented on cases of racism inside the police forces, whereby disciplinary processes such as suspensions would be followed by criminal proceedings. Castaner called racism an “abject evil” that has no place in French society.Three days after Floyd died in the custody of police in Minneapolis, Minnesota, another black man writhed on the tarmac of a street in Paris as a police officer pressed a knee to his neck during an arrest. 
 
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Germany’s Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer said Monday she has received no official confirmation on the reported U.S. decision to withdraw more than a quarter of American troops stationed in Germany. The Wall Street Journal reported last Friday that U.S. President Donald Trump had ordered the Pentagon to reduce the number of U.S. troops in Germany by 9,500 to 25,000. The New York Times reported Saturday that U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper had approved the move. During the news conference in Berlin, Kramp-Karrenbauer said the German government had only seen the news reports and could not speculate further on what might happen. She did add the “the presence of United States soldiers in Germany serves the overall security of the NATO alliance.”. A US military aircraft takes off from the US Airbase Ramstein, Germany, June 7, 2020. According to various media outlets, the US wants to reduce the number of soldiers stationed in Germany by up to 9500.Currently there are 34,500 American service members permanently assigned in Germany as part of a long-standing arrangement with America’s NATO ally. Kramp-Karrenbauer said American soldiers have integrated well and have become a real component of German society. The reported troop withdrawal would be in keeping with Trump’s “America First” overall foreign policy and his often-stated belief that U.S. allies must shoulder more of the burden for their own defense. 
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Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian says he and his family have recovered from the coronavirus.Pashinian said on Facebook that he and his family members tested negative Monday for a second time in as many days.Pashinian announced that he was infected a week ago, adding that he probably contracted the virus from a waiter who brought him a glass a water at a meeting without wearing gloves and later tested positive for the virus.Armenia has so far reported over 13,000 infections, including 211 deaths, among its population of nearly 3 million.  
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Thousands of people took to the streets of European cities Sunday to show their support for the Black Lives Matter movement, with protesters in the English port of Bristol venting their anger at the country’s colonial history by toppling a statue of a 17th-century slave trader. Demonstrators attached ropes to the statue of Edward Colston before pulling it down to cheers and roars of approval from the crowd. Images on social media show protesters appearing to kneel on the statue’s neck, recalling the death of George Floyd in Minnesota on May 25 that has sparked worldwide protests against racism and police violence. Floyd, a black man, died after a white Minneapolis police officer pressed a knee on his neck even after he pleaded for air while lying handcuffed on the ground. The statue met with a watery end as it was eventually rolled into the city’s harbor. It wasn’t the only statute targeted on Sunday. In Brussels, protesters clambered onto the statue of former King Leopold II and chanted “reparations,” according to video posted on social media. The word “shame” was also graffitied on the monument, reference perhaps to the fact that Leopold is said to have reigned over the mass death of 10 million Congolese. Protesters also defaced the statue of former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill in central London, crossing out his last name and spray painting “was a racist” underneath. They also taped a Black Lives Matter sign around its mid-section. The day’s demonstration in London had begun around the U.S. Embassy, where thousands congregated — most it seemed wearing masks against the coronavirus — to protest Floyd’s brutal death and to shine a light on racial inequalities at home. “Everyone knows that this represents more than just George Floyd, more than just America, but racism all around the world,” said Darcy Bourne, a London-based student. The protests were mainly peaceful but for the second day running there were some scuffles near the offices of Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Objects were thrown at police. Police have sent reinforcements and calm appears to have been restored. Protesters also threw objects at police down the road outside the gates of Parliament, where officers without riot gear formed a line. They were reinforced by riot police who quickly ran toward the scene. London Mayor Sadiq Khan said violence was “simply not acceptable” and urged those protesting to do so lawfully while also maintaining social distancing by remaining two meters (6.5 feet) apart. But most demonstrators didn’t heed that call, particularly in front of the U.S. Embassy. A protest against racial inequality in Bristol, Englan, June, 7, 2020.Police said 14 officers were injured Saturday during clashes with protesters in central London that followed a largely peaceful demonstration that had been attended by tens of thousands. Hundreds of people also formed a densely packed crowd Sunday in a square in central Manchester, kneeling in silence as a mark of respect for George Floyd. In Hong Kong, about 20 people staged a rally in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement on Sunday outside the U.S. Consulate in the semi-autonomous Chinese city. “It’s a global issue,” said Quinland Anderson, a 28-year-old British citizen living in Hong Kong. “We have to remind ourselves despite all we see going on in the U.S. and in the other parts of the world, black lives do indeed matter.” Hundreds of demonstrators took to the streets in downtown Rio de Janeiro to protest against racism and police killings of black people on Sunday. The protesters weren’t just joining protests against Floyd’s death in the U.S., but also denouncing the killing of black people in Rio’s favelas. The most recent case was João Pedro Pinto, 14, who was inside his house on May 18 in Sao Gonçalo, a city in Rio’s metropolitan area, when police chasing alleged drug traffickers shot into the house. The protesters on Sunday carried banners reading “Black mothers can’t stand crying anymore.” In Sao Paulo, another demonstration ended with clashes between a small group of protesters and the police. Several dozen demonstrators took part in a Black Lives Matter protest held in Tel Aviv’s central Rabin Square. Many wore blue surgical masks but did not observe social distance guidelines. A rally in Rome’s sprawling People’s Square was noisy but peaceful, with the majority of protesters wearing masks. Among those present was 26-year-old Ghanaian Abdul Nassir, who is studying for a master’s in business management at one of the Italian capital’s public universities. “It’s quite unfortunate, you know, in this current 21st century that people of color are being treated as if they are lepers,” Nassir said. He said he occasionally has felt racist attitudes, most notably when riding the subway. “Maybe you’re finding a place to stand, and people just keep moving (away) and you’ll be, like, ‘What?’” Nassir said: “We’re strong people but sometimes everyone has a limit.” At one point, the protesters, most of them young and some with children or siblings, took the knee and raised a fist in solidarity with those fighting racism and police brutality. In Italy’s financial capital, Milan, a few thousand protesters gathered in a square outside the central train station Sunday afternoon. Many in the crowd were migrants or children of migrants of African origin. In Spain, several thousand protesters gathered on the streets of Barcelona and at the U.S. Embassy in Madrid. Many in Madrid carried homemade signs reading “Black Lives Matter,” “Human rights for all” and “Silence is pro-racist.” “We are not only doing this for our brother George Floyd,” said Thimbo Samb, a spokesman for the group that organized the events in Spain mainly through social media. “Here in Europe, in Spain, where we live, we work, we sleep and pay taxes, we also suffer racism.” 
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The killing of another black teenager by Rio de Janeiro police last month was, based on the numbers, unremarkable – one of hundreds gunned down every year by some of the world’s deadliest cops. But the fallout has surprised many. Brazil’s Supreme Court last week banned raids by Rio police during the COVID-19 pandemic and Sunday saw nationwide marches against right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro, as U.S. demonstrations and a global debate over racial violence by police has spurred a reckoning in Brazil. A studious 14-year-old who talked of becoming a lawyer, João Pedro Matos Pinto spent the afternoon of May 18 playing with friends around his uncle’s backyard pool in São Gonçalo, a gritty suburb of the Rio state capital. When police helicopters began circling close overhead, the frightened boys rushed inside, João Pedro’s mother and uncle told Reuters. Heavily armed police stormed the home, throwing a grenade inside and spraying the structure with gunfire. One of the bullets hit João Pedro in the torso, killing him. “When you enter a community shooting, it’s as if everyone in the community is a criminal. It’s as if nobody good lives here,” said Rafaela Coutinho Matos, mother of the slain boy, in an interview. Authorities told her family the death was an accident, she said. They said helicopters spotted a man they thought was the target of a police raid hopping over a fence near the pool. In a statement, Rio state police said detectives had opened an investigation into the incident and three officers had been suspended. Brazil’s federal police, which also participated in the operation, did not respond to a request for comment.A homeless man makes a victory sign during a protest against racism and hate crimes during a Black Lives Matter demonstration in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Sunday, June 7, 2020.Such tragedies are commonplace in Rio, where a notoriously violent police force killed 1,814 people last year, according to official statistics. They killed 606 more in the first four months of 2020. Many killings of unarmed black men, or children, come and go with relatively little protest or media attention. Yet anger at João Pedro’s death and other recent complaints of police brutality are boiling over in Brazil against a backdrop of widespread U.S. demonstrations after the May 25 death of George Floyd in police custody. Supreme Court OrderOn Friday, hundreds gathered outside the São Gonçalo city hall, chanting “No justice, no peace!” in Portuguese. Many focused their ire on Bolsonaro and Rio Governor Wilson Witzel, both far-right politicians that have encouraged police to kill more criminals. Witzel, a former judge, said a surge in police killings under his watch “isn’t difficult to justify.” Also on Friday, Supreme Court Justice Edson Fachin issued an order prohibiting police raids in Rio’s cinderblock slums, known as favelas, until the worst of the COVID-19 outbreak subsides. The order, which made reference to João Pedro’s death, allows raids only under “exceptional circumstances” with prior approval by state prosecutors. On Sunday, anti-racism marches in major Brazilian cities brought out the largest crowds of anti-Bolsonaro protesters since the pandemic arrived in March. In the capital Brasilia, demonstrators in masks carried “Black Lives Matter” banners emblazoned with João Pedro’s name. Public safety expert Ignacio Cano said that such fallout from a police killing was unprecedented, suggesting that news from the United States had heightened sensitivities in Brazil. “It’s sad in a way that part of Brazilian society has to look at the U.S. to realize that the problem exists at home,” said Cano, a professor at Rio de Janeiro State University. “And the media is giving a lot more coverage now after the George Floyd case than they would otherwise give to the recurrent cases of executions in favelas.” At Friday’s protest in São Gonçalo, black college student Mykaella Moreira echoed demands for human rights that have taken center stage in the United States as well. “We can’t accept this genocidal state, which thinks we can die for nothing,” Moreira said. “We are also people. We also have a right to live.” São Gonçalo is patrolled by Rio’s 7th military police battalion, the state’s most deadly police force, public records show. In October, Reuters published an investigation into the death of Brayan Mattos dos Santos, a 19-year-old who was also the unintended victim of a raid here. This year, police in the area are set to break their own grim record, having killed 103 people in the district in the first four months of 2020. In March, police here set a monthly record, killing 33 people, according to public data. Although whites make up half the population in Rio, they account for only 12% of police killings, according to data obtained by Reuters last year under a freedom of information request. João Pedro was studious, devout and went nowhere without family, said his mother Rafaela. On the day he was killed, Rafaela said the boy was visiting his cousin about a kilometer away to play by the pool. She learned that João Pedro had been injured when her husband entered the family home in a panic, saying their son had been shot and taken to a hospital by helicopter. It was nearly a full day until she learned his fate. “He was a loving boy,” said Rafaela. “A boy who had dreams.” 
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For someone who died nearly three centuries ago, Edward Colston has become a symbol for the Black Lives Matter movement in Britain. The toppling of his statue in Bristol, a city in the southwest of England, on Sunday by anti-racism protesters was greeted with joyous scenes, recognition of the fact that he was a notorious slave trader — a badge of shame in what is one of Britain’s most liberal cities.  Demonstrators attached ropes to the statue before pulling it down. Footage of the moments after the statue crashed to the ground saw hundreds, if not thousands, of local Bristolians, in ecstasy.  Images on social media showed protesters then appearing to kneel on the neck of the statue for eight minutes, recalling how George Floyd died in Minneapolis on May 25. The statue was then rolled into the nearby Bristol Harbor — again to rapturous scenes.  Police said officers have launched an investigation and are looking for those who “committed an act of criminal damage.”  Bristol Mayor Marvin Rees said the removal of the statue would “divide” opinion, but added that it was “important to listen to those who found the statue to represent an affront to humanity and make the legacy of today about the future of our city, tackling racism and inequality.” The symbolism of the statue’s demise can’t be overstated not least because the bridge overlooking its new resting place is named Pero’s Bridge, after Pero Jones — an enslaved man who lived and died in the city in the latter part of the 18th century.  Colston, who was born in 1636 to a wealthy merchant family, became prominently involved in England’s sole official slaving company at the time, the Royal African Company, and Bristol was at the heart of it. The company transported tens of thousands of Africans across the Atlantic Ocean, mainly to work the sugar plantations in the Caribbean and cultivate the tobacco fields that were burgeoning in the new North American colony of Virginia. Each enslaved person had the company’s initials branded onto their chest.A protest against racial inequality in Bristol, Englan, June, 7, 2020.Bristol, as an international port, was at the center of the slave trade and benefited hugely financially — not just shipbuilders and slavers, but also investors like Colston, who would buy a stake in the triangular slave voyage between England, West Africa and the Caribbean. The bronze memorial, which had been in place since 1895, had been the subject of an 11,000-strong petition to have it removed. Residents, including the city’s big community that hails from the Caribbean, are ashamed of what Colston represents. Colston has been a figure of huge controversy in Bristol with attempts made to rename Colston Hall, the biggest music venue in the city among many efforts to “decolonize” the city.  Colston gave a lot of money to local charities and that helps explain why his name dons so many public buildings in the city, including educational and economic institutions. Britain formally abolished the slave trade in 1807 by an Act of Parliament but slavery itself was only formally outlawed in British territories in 1834. Overall, more than 12 million Africans are estimated to have been exported to the New World, of whom around 2 million are believed to have perished en route. The watery end of the Colston statue wasn’t the only historic sculpture to have been targeted by protesters. In London, protesters defaced the base of the statue of former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill outside Parliament, crossing out his last name and spray painting “was a racist” underneath. They also taped a Black Lives Matter sign around its mid-section. Thousands joined a Black Lives Matter rally in Brussels, where protesters clambered Sunday onto the statue of former King Leopold II and chanted “reparations,” according to video posted on social media. The word “shame” was also graffitied on the monument, reference perhaps to the fact that Leopold is said to have reigned over the mass death of 10 million Congolese. A bust of Leopold’s in the city of Ghent has also been defaced, daubed in red paint and covered with a cloth scrawled: “I can’t breathe.” Leopold’s ruthless early rule over Congo from 1885 to 1908 is notorious for its brutality when the Congo Free State was practically his personal fiefdom. After Leopold handed over Congo to the Belgian state, the tiny nation continued to hold sway over an area 80 times its size half a world away, until independence in 1960.  And in Virginia, Gov. Ralph Northam has pledged to remove the Gen. Robert E. Lee statue, and city leaders have committed to taking down the other four Confederate memorials along Richmond’s prestigious Monument Avenue. 
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