Manus Island detention centre closing down with refugees still inside

Barbed Wire Prison

source: The Guardian
published: 5 July 2017

The Manus Island detention centre is being shut down around refugees and asylum seekers while they are still living in it.

Refugees inside the centre reported on Wednesday that immigration officials have said they will cut the power from the Charlie compound on Friday, forcing out refugees still living there.

The entire Manus camp is being progressively shut down, with the Australian and Papua New Guinea governments insisting it will be closed and emptied by 31 October.

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Michael Brown’s family reaches settlement in wrongful-death lawsuit

Michael Brown
Michael Brown

source: CBS News
published: 20 June 2017

A federal judge on Tuesday approved a settlement in the wrongful-death lawsuit filed by the parents of Michael Brown, an unarmed, black 18-year-old whose fatal shooting by a white police officer nearly three years ago in Ferguson, Missouri, set off months of protests.

Financial details of the settlement approved Tuesday by U.S. District Judge E. Richard Webber were not disclosed. Anthony Gray, the attorney for Brown’s parents, declined comment, as did Ferguson Mayor James Knowles III.

Michael Brown Sr. and Lezley McSpadden sued the city, former Police Chief Tom Jackson and former police officer Darren Wilson in 2015.

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Philando Castile’s skin color ended up being a death sentence

Philando Castile
Philando Castile

source: Democracy Now!
published: 19 June 2017

Black Lives Matter protests are continuing in the Twin Cities after a Minnesota police officer was acquitted Friday in the killing of Philando Castile, an African-American man who was shot five times during a traffic stop last year.

His girlfriend filmed the aftermath and streamed it live on Facebook. We speak to civil rights lawyer Nekima Levy-Pounds, the former president of the Minneapolis chapter of the NAACP, who is now running for mayor of Minneapolis.

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