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BTS made a Fans match band’s $1m donation to Black lives matter
Supporters of K-pop superstars BTS have matched a $1m (£787,000) donation by the group to the Black Lives Matter movement.
US-formed Black Lives Matter campaigns to stop violence and systemic racism towards black people.
It has put forward rallies in the US to protest over the killing of African-American George Floyd by a white police officer on 25 May in Minneapolis.
The death has sparked an international outcry and global protests.
On Saturday Bit Hit Entertainment, which manages BTS, said the band had donated $1m to the Black Lives Matter movement, according to Variety and Yonhap news agency.
“We stand in solidarity with black ARMY. They’re an important part of our family. And we stand with black people everywhere. Your voices deserve to be heard.”
BTS’s social media following is known for its support and activism and had already organised online protests in support of Black Lives Matter.
Source___BBC
Drake and Ariana Grande’s record label will stop using the term ‘urban’ as it describe music of black origin
Republic Records, one of the most vigorous record labels in the US, will stop using the word “urban” to describe music of black origin.
The company, which is accommodation to Drake and Ariana Grande, says it will no longer use the term to describe “departments, employee titles and music genres”.
“We encourage the rest of the music industry to follow suit,” it added.
The term is often considered to be a generalisation that marginalizes music by black artists.
“‘Urban’ is a lazy, inaccurate generalisation of several culturally rich art forms,” radio presenter DJ Semtex told the magazine Music Business UK in 2018.
“I despise the word,” he added. “I know artists that do hip-hop, grime, or rap. I don’t know anyone that does urban music.
“The connotation of the word doesn’t hold a positive weight,” agreed Sam Taylor, a senior vice president at Kobalt Music, in an interview with Billboard in 2018.
“It’s downgrading R&B, soul and hip-hop’s incredible impact on music.”
This term was created back in the mid-1970s, when black New York radio DJ Frankie Crocker coined the phrase “urban contemporary” as a label for the eclectic mix of songs that he played – which covered everything from James Brown to Doris Day.
At the time, the label didn’t carry negative connotations but, after being shortened to “urban” it started being used as a catch-all for music created by black musicians – effectively lumping them into one category, regardless of genre.
Republic Records considered the growing irritation around the term in a statement announcing it would remove the word from its company vocabulary.
Credit___BBC
Derek Chauvin coming in court for the first time two weeks after George Floyd’s death
The third and final tribute service for George Floyd will be held Monday in Houston, where he grew up and lived before moving to Minneapolis, where he died at the hands of a police officer.
Ex-Minneapolis officer Derek Chauvin, who pressed his knee on Floyd’s neck for nearly nine minutes as the man begged for his life, will make his first court appearance in today’s afternoon.
Chauvin was arrested last month and charged with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. Last week, prosecutors added a second-degree murder charge.
The other three officers involved in Floyd’s death — Thomas Lane, J. Alexander Kueng and Tou Thao — were charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder and aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter.
Floyd’s death outraged two weeks of global protests that saw some of the largest crowds yet over the weekend.
While the earlier days of unrest included buildings on fire and looting, protests have since remained mostly peaceful. As thousands marched daily in cities including Minneapolis, Atlanta and Los Angeles, mayors introduced nightly curfews to keep protesters off the streets — most of which have now been lifted.
Source___CNN
Joe Biden hits a turning point that Hillary Clinton never did: 50%
Regularly when we look at polling we talk about margins. For example, former Vice President Joe Biden leads President Donald Trump by 7 point margin in an NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll out on Sunday. What that can miss, however, is that Biden’s close to 50% (49%), while Trump isn’t anywhere close (42%) in the poll.
In reality, if you look at the average of live interview polls released since last Sunday, Biden manages to eclipse 50% (51%). That is, he has a majority for now. This is a key milestone that shouldn’t be undersold.
In the past US history, in comparison to now, Biden might win the upcoming election if Trump don’t look up.
His campaign is coming at an interesting speed and his supporters do not seem to look lazy at all.
Credit___CNN
American police shoot, kill and imprison more people than other developed countries.
And it won’t be a surprise to know that, 99% of thoes killed, shoot and imprisoned are all blacks.
Here’s the data
Source___CNN
Nigeria Military Operation Kills 70 Bandits, Cattle Rustlers In Kaduna Forest
The military in Nigeria today said not less 70 bandits and cattle rustlers have been killed in Kachia forest, Kaduna state after an operation they conducted on Friday.
Military spokesman, Major General John Enenche, said the operation, which combined ground and air offensives, was carried out by troops of Operation Thunderstrike in conjunction with troops of 312 Artillery Regiment and Local Vigilantes.
According to Enenche, military operatives “pursued the bandits through Gidan Maikeri village in Chikun LGA into the forest” and “their location was identified and consequently engaged by Nigerian Air Force helicopter gunships.”
Troops are still going around the forest, searching for the remaining bandits.
“As a matter of security concern, people in this general area should report those with sudden and suspicious injuries to the security forces,” the military statement signed by Enenche said. “This is to ensure that the escapees are mopped up.”
Kaduna, the same as much of northern Nigeria, is presently struggling with an infestation of armed bandits.
Source___Channels TV
Biden clinches Democratic nomination for 2020 secured as he stand against Trump in the upcoming Election
Joe Biden said on Friday he had secured the delegates needed to clinch the Democratic nomination and face Donald Trump in November’s US presidential election amid a pandemic, economic collapse and civil unrest.
“Folks, tonight we secured the 1,991 delegates needed to win the Democratic nomination,” the former vice president said on Twitter. “I’m going to spend every day fighting to earn your vote so that, together, we can win the battle for the soul of this nation.”
In US, a candidate needs at least 1,991 delegates to secure the nomination, with Biden crossing the threshold late on Friday after seven states and the District of Columbia held presidential primaries earlier in the week.
Biden now has 1,995 delegates, with contests still to come in eight states and three US territories.
“It was an honour to compete alongside one of the most talented groups of candidates the Democratic party has ever fielded – and I am proud to say that we are going into this general election a united party,” Biden said on Friday in a statement.
Source___Aljazeera
Minneapolis tributes George Floyd by serving food to those in need
An appeared food pantry; a ruiner who covers up oath; an abandoned hotel that takes in homeless individuals and protesters. In between the news headlines that have thrust Minneapolis, Minnesota, into the United States national spotlight is a community that has come together to honour George Floyd by helping those in need.
Dozens of tents surroundedby piles of donated food, hygiene supplies, first-aid supplies and other goods line a field in Saint Paul, which neighbours Minneapolis, the city where Floyd was killed in late May.
“People are hurtin because of George[‘s] situation … And if George Floyd would have had justice from the beginning our stores would be up. If politicians, and lawmakers, and the legal world would take our lives seriously, this wouldn’t happen,” said Shay Webbie, a local comedian, who started the Saint Paul pop-up food pantry.
What ar first is seen as one tent with two tables now covers an entire field with more than a half dozen tents and trailers. Similar initiatives can be seen across Saint Paul and Minneapolis.
Many volunteers help with the Saint Paul food pantry – known on Facebook as ShayCares – and anyone in need can pick up supplies, no questions asked.
Source___Aljazeera
India pass Italy in Covid-19 cases amid easing of lockdown
India has confirmed close to 10,000 new cases of Covid-19 in the past 24 hours, taking its toll above that of Italy with drastic speed.
The country now has the sixth-highest number of confirmed cases in the world, 236,657. There have been 6,649 deaths.
The health system in Mumbai is on the verge of collapse while hospitals in the capital, Delhi, are reportedly running out of space.
For the moment, shopping centres, places of worship, restaurants and offices will be allowed to reopen from Monday.
For weeks, India’s relatively low Covid-19 numbers had baffled experts. Despite the dense population, disease and underfunded public hospitals, there was no deluge of infections or fatalities.
In spite of the fact that India has the sixth highest number of cases, it is 12th in fatalities, according to statistics from Johns Hopkins University.
Squat testing rates shows the former, but not the latter. The hope – which also encouraged the government to lift the lockdown – was that most of India’s undetected infections would not be bad enough to require hospitalisation.
But the toll of rising cases shows that the country could simply be witnessing a late peak in cases, experts say.
Source___BBC
George Floyd death: Crowd rallies in Australia for Black Lives Matter Movement
Dozens of people have been protesting across Australia in support of the Black Lives Matter movement.
The marches were triggered by the death of African American George Floyd in police custody.
Nonetheless, protesters were also highlighting the mistreatment and marginalisation of Australia’s Aboriginal people.
Protesters were also on standby to against a ban in Sydney but it was reverse at the last minute by a court of appeal.
Rallies have also been organised in Brisbane, Melbourne, Hobart, Adelaide and elsewhere.
They have been held in high spirits with no reports of major unrest, although there were tense scenes later in the evening at Sydney’s Central Station.
Source___BBC
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