Prince of Wales and Emmanuel Macron to meet on quarantine exempt visit

The Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall will be the first Royal Family members to hold a major event during the coronavirus lockdown when they welcome the French president to the UK.

Charles and Camilla will meet Emmanuel Macron at their London home on 18 June.

They will mark the 80th anniversary of a famous speech by Charles de Gaulle.

Mr Macron will be exempt from a 14-day quarantine imposed on most people who travel to the UK, as a "representative of a foreign country on business".

A Clarence House spokeswoman said government guidelines on social distancing would be followed.

The royal couple will travel from Birkhall in Aberdeenshire, where they have been staying for almost three months, to Clarence House in London to attend the meeting.

Both had to self-isolate in March after Charles, 71, contracted coronavirus.

They have been carrying out royal engagements remotely - via video calls or recorded messages - and are said to be "pleased" to be welcoming Mr Macron to the country.

BBC news

UK’s Johnson says will not ignore anger over racial injustice

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has acknowledged the “cold reality” behind angry protests against racial injustice but warned he would not tolerate violence or the breaking of coronavirus distancing laws.

Demonstrations have broken out across Britain following the death of George Floyd in the United States, most of them peaceful, although clashes in London left 35 police officers hurt.

“We simply cannot ignore the depth of emotion that has been triggered by that spectacle of a black man losing his life at the hands of the police,” Johnson said in a statement late Monday.

The Guardian

France police to ban chokehold arrest as protest anger mounts

France said it would ban the controversial chokehold used to detain suspects after the death in custody of George Floyd in the United States intensified anger over the conduct of French police.

A wave of global protests in the wake of Floyd’s fatal arrest magnified attention on the 2016 death in French police custody of Adama Traore, a 24-year-old black man, and renewed controversy over claims of racism and brutality within the force.

France’s police watchdog said it had received almost 1,500 complaints against officers last year half of them for alleged violence.

After a string of protests in recent days, Interior Minister Christophe Castaner announced the chokehold method “will be abandoned”.

After George Floyd, pressure on Biden to pick black VP

George Floyd’s death and the resulting wave of rage against racism and police brutality may have changed the political calculus for US presidential contender Joe Biden, who faces pressure to pick a black female running mate.

Senator Kamala Harris, an early favorite, House Democrat Val Demings, and Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms have each spoken with passion about the unrest gripping the nation, but also from their own experience as black women in America.

Their odds have risen substantially on internet sites that feature betting on who will become the Democratic nominee’s vice presidential pick.

Nigeria’s Pete Edochie receives African Film Legend award at TAFF

For his role in the development of the film industry in Africa, legendary actor Pete Edochie, who turned 73 few months back, was recently honoured with the African Film Legend award at the just concluded African Film Festival (TAFF). 

The festival, which ran from June 2, through June 6, 2020, in Dallas, United States of America, was screened live online, making it the first ever virtual award.

Due to ravaging COVID-19 pandemic, Edochie was unable to attend the four-day festival. However, he didn’t miss anything as back home, as he followed proceedings online from his Enugu residence, and was presented with TAFF 2020 Living Legends Award Certificate by actress Patience Ozokwor popularly known as Mama G. Also, plans are underway for the festival founder and filmmaker, Kelechi Eke, to personally deliver Edochie’s trophy after the pandemic.

George Floyd: Trump 'generally' supports ending chokeholds for police

US President Donald Trump has said the controversial chokehold method for restraining some suspects should "generally speaking" be ended.

Some US police forces have moved to ban chokeholds since the outbreak of anti-racism protests sparked by the death of George Floyd, an African American.

Mr Floyd died after a white officer knelt on his neck for nine minutes.

Mr Trump said it would be a "very good thing" to ban chokeholds but they may still be needed in some situations.

The president's comments come with Democrats and Republicans in the US Congress trying to hammer out the details of a police reform bill - the proposed Justice in Policing Act of 2020.

Mr Trump told Fox News that the concept of stopping police forces using chokeholds sounded "so innocent, so perfect".

But he continued: "If a police officer is in a bad scuffle and he's got somebody... you have to be careful.

"With that being said, it would be, I think, a very good thing that generally speaking it should be ended," he said, adding that he might make "very strong recommendations" to local authorities.

The police officer who knelt on Mr Floyd's neck has been sacked and charged with second degree murder.

Black actor Alfred Fagon's statue attacked in Bristol

A statue of the Jamaican poet, playwright and actor Alfred Fagon has been doused with a bleach-like substance.

The monument in St Pauls, Bristol was erected in 1987 on the first anniversary of his death.

Mr Fagon was the first black person to have a statue erected in their honour in the city.

It is thought the attack happened overnight between Tuesday and Wednesday and was reported to police on Thursday.Avon and Somerset Police said it was liaising with Bristol City Council to establish ownership of the statue and to determine whether it had suffered any permanent damage.

It comes after Black Lives Matter anti-racism protesters tore down a statue of slave trader Edward Colston in Bristol on Sunday.

Who was Alfred Fagon?

He was born in Jamaica in 1937, the third of nine brothers and two sisters.

At the age of 18 he came to England to work on the railways before joining the army before moving to Bristol to work as a welder in the 1960s.

One of his first plays, No soldiers in St Pauls, explored the social tension between the police and the black community in 1970s Bristol.

His final role was in the BBC's Fighting Back, set in St Pauls, Bristol.

He died suddenly from a heart attack on 28 August 1986 outside his flat in Camberwell, London.

At the time police claimed they were unable to identify him and he was given a pauper's funeral.

The annual Alfred Fagon Award was named after him and is for playwrights of Caribbean or African descent, resident in the UK.

BBC news