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Five former police officers have been charged with murder over the death of a black driver who was allegedly beaten up after a traffic stop.

Tyre Nichols, 29, died in hospital three days after the confrontation in the city of Memphis, Tennessee, on 7 January.

Bodycam footage of the altercation is expected to be released on Friday evening.

A lawyer for the Nichols’ family who has seen the footage said he was used as “a human pinata”.

Joe Biden, the president, called for any protests to be peaceful after the charges on Thursday.

Nichols, a father of one, was arrested after he was stopped for reckless driving, police said, before he was allegedly beaten by the officers for three minutes.

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The mother of Tyre Nichols asks ‘What happened to the humanity?’

The five black officers involved in the arrest were sacked after a police investigation found they used excessive force or failed to intervene and help him.

They are Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Emmitt Martin III, Desmond Mills Jr and Justin Smith, who are between 24 and 32.

Cerelyn Davis, the Memphis police chief, has asked for calm when the video footage is made public.

“I expect you to feel what the Nichols family feels,” she said. “I expect you to feel outrage in the disregard of basic human rights.”

A photo of Tyre Nichols at his memorial service in Memphis. Pic: AP
Image:
A photo of Tyre Nichols at his memorial service in Memphis. Pic: AP

David Rausch, the director of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, said he was sickened by what he saw in the police body-worn camera videos.

“What happened here does not at all reflect proper policing,” he said. “This was wrong. This was criminal.”

Steve Mulroy, the district attorney, said the five officers have been charged with second-degree murder, aggravated assault, aggravated kidnapping and official misconduct at a news conference on Thursday.

He said that after Mr Nichols was stopped in his car, there was “an altercation” and officers used pepper spray on him.

Mr Nichols fled on foot.

“There was another altercation at a nearby location at which the serious injuries were experienced by Mr Nichols,” Mr Mulroy said.

The Memphis police department said in an initial statement that an ambulance was called because Mr Nichols “complained of having a shortness of breath” and that he was taken to hospital in critical condition.

Mr Mulroy said he would not comment on the legality of the initial traffic stop.

He said the investigation would continue and he would not rule out additional charges.

Second-degree murder will go a considerable distance in meeting public expectations

America has been here before.

A black man dead at the hands of police officers, with the brutality captured on camera.

Rodney King and George Floyd are just two names that define a deadly dysfunction in the institution that exists to protect and serve.

Now add Tyre Nichols – 29 years old, a father and family man who worked at FedEx and enjoyed skateboarding. “Nobody’s perfect,” said his mother RowVaugn, “But he was damn near”.

We are told the events leading up to his death are contained in a video lasting an hour, multiple angles of what has been trailed as a savage assault. A lawyer for the Nichols family spoke of him being beaten “like a human pinata”.

The Friday night release of the footage is shrouded by a sense of dread, given its potential to ignite violent street protest of the sort seen in the wake of the 2020 killing of George Floyd.

In Memphis, they are aware of the danger.

It explains why the build-up to the release of the footage has been choreographed around charges for the police officers involved.

In a place where the public demands accountability, laying charges of second-degree murder will go a considerable distance towards meeting expectations.

Charges of murder in the second degree accuse the officers of knowingly killing Mr Nichols.

Does it make a difference that the five men in uniform were black? Perhaps. Time will tell if, and how, that plays into the wider public response.

President Biden framed it thus: “Tyre’s death is a painful reminder that we must do more to ensure that our criminal justice system lives up to the promise of fair and impartial justice, equal treatment and dignity for all.

“We also cannot ignore the fact that fatal encounters with law enforcement have disparately impacted black and brown people.”

It is a matter of power and its abuse. The latest episode will soon be laid bare – and Memphis is braced.

President Biden said: “Outrage is understandable, but violence is never acceptable.

“Tyre’s death is a painful reminder that we must do more to ensure that our criminal justice system lives up to the promise of fair and impartial justice, equal treatment and dignity for all.”

The Nichols family watched the police footage on Monday with their lawyer, Ben Crump, who compared the beating to the 1991 assault by police on Rodney King in Los Angeles that was captured on video and prompted mass protests and police reforms.

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“He was defenceless the entire time. He was a human pinata for those police officers,” Antonio Romanucci, Mr Crump’s co-counsel, told reporters.

Mr Crump said Nichols’ last words heard on the video were of him calling for his mother three times.

Each of the five sacked officers had served in the department for between two and a half and five years, and were dismissed from the force last Saturday.

The officers could not be reached for comment.

Blake Ballin, a lawyer representing Mills, said at a news conference that the former officer was “devastated to find himself charged with a crime”.

Ballin was joined by William Massey, representing Martin. Both former officers intended to plead not guilty, their lawyers said.

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Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs scheduled for release from prison in 2028

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Sean 'Diddy' Combs scheduled for release from prison in 2028

Sean “Diddy” Combs is expected to spend around three years in prison, federal inmate records show.

The 55-year-old music mogul was given a 50-month sentence and a $500,000 fine earlier this month for flying people around the US and abroad for sexual encounters, including his then-girlfriend and male sex workers, in violation of prostitution laws.

According to Sky News’ US partner NBC News, his expected release date is 8 May 2028, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

Prosecutors had pushed for Combs, serving his first criminal conviction, to serve 11 years in prison.

Combs, who has been detained since his arrest in September 2024, was acquitted on more serious charges of racketeering and sex trafficking.

He pleaded not guilty and maintained his innocence.

‘Disgusting, shameful and sick’

Combs, who told a federal district court in New York he admitted his past behaviour was “disgusting, shameful and sick”, is set to appeal the conviction and sentence.

During a seven-week trial, four days of testimony was heard from Cassie, now Cassie Venture Fine, who told the court she was coerced and sometimes blackmailed into sexual encounters with male workers.

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Jurors were also shown video clips of Combs dragging and beating Ms Fine in a Los Angeles hotel hallway, following one of those encounters.

She submitted a letter to the judge, ahead of the sentencing, calling Combs a “manipulator” and would fear for her safety if he was immediately released.

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Trump raises tariffs on Canada by 10% in response to Reagan advert

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Trump raises tariffs on Canada by 10% in response to Reagan advert

Donald Trump has announced he will be raising tariffs on imports of Canadian goods by an extra 10% because of an anti-tariff advert aired in Ontario.

The advert used the words of former US president Ronald Reagan to criticise US tariffs.

A furious Mr Trump on Friday cancelled “all trade negotiations” with Canada.

Doug Ford, Ontario’s premier, said he would pull the advert from Monday, but it continued to run over the weekend, including during the first World Series game between the Toronto Blue Jays and Los Angeles Dodgers.

Mr Trump wrote in a post on his Truth Social platform: “Their Advertisement was to be taken down, IMMEDIATELY, but they let it run last night during the World Series, knowing that it was a FRAUD.

“Because of their serious misrepresentation of the facts, and hostile act, I am increasing the Tariff on Canada by 10% over and above what they are paying now.”

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TV advert deepens trade rift between Trump and Canada

Mr Trump claimed the advert misrepresented the position of Mr Reagan, a two-term president and a beloved figure in the Republican Party.

Mr Reagan had used much of his 1987 address, featured in Ontario’s ad, spelling out the case against tariffs.

Mr Trump said the advert was intended to influence the US Supreme Court ahead of arguments scheduled for next month which could decide whether the president has the power to impose his sweeping tariffs.

It was not immediately clear when the 10% hike would come into effect, or whether it would apply to all Canadian goods.

Canada – which is America’s closest ally, and one of their biggest trading partners – has been hit hard by US tariffs, and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has been trying to work with Mr Trump to lower them.

Mark Carney and Donald Trump. File pic: Reuters
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Mark Carney and Donald Trump. File pic: Reuters

More than three-quarters of Canadian exports go to the US, and nearly 3.6bn Canadian dollars (2.7bn US dollars) worth of goods and services cross the border daily.

Many Canadian products have been hit with a 35% tariff, while steel and aluminium face rates of 50%.

Energy products have a lower rate of 10%, while other goods covered by the US-Canada-Mexico Agreement are exempt. That trade agreement is slated for review.

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Mr Trump negotiated the deal in his first term but has since soured on it.

The US president and Mr Carney will both attend the ASEAN summit in Malaysia which started on Sunday, but Mr Trump has said he has no intention of meeting Mr Carney there.

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Trump’s Venezuela drug bust shows he’s either misinformed or has another motive

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Trump's Venezuela drug bust shows he's either misinformed or has another motive

The world’s largest aircraft carrier is steaming towards the Caribbean supported by the rest of its “carrier group” to add even more muscle to the US forces already threateningly close to Venezuela.

The question is simple – is this really all about President Trump‘s war on drugs in South America?

I doubt it. A sledgehammer to crack a nut isn’t even in it.

There are a few reasons to doubt the American government’s stated aim of wiping out these so-called “narco terrorist” gangs threatening the US from Venezuela, even after one takes out of the equation the sort of equipment the military is deploying – which isn’t what they would need for effective drug smuggling interdiction.

While the president acknowledges that the synthetic opioid fentanyl is a huge killer in the US (which it is) and is supplied by drug gangs (which it is), to blame Venezuela for fentanyl production is simply incorrect.

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Is Trump tackling cartels or trying to ‘control’ Venezuela?

Mexican cartels produce fentanyl with precursors largely supplied from China, and it is from Mexico – America’s neighbour – that the fentanyl is smuggled directly into the United States across its southern border.

Venezuela isn’t involved in this fentanyl business in any meaningful way, and I know this because I have reported from the Sinaloa cartel’s fentanyl production labs in Mexico.

The Mexican cartels are very proud of their business, and from my experience covering this story over the years, when the drugs cartels are proud of something, and it makes them a lot of money – which fentanyl does – they don’t share the market with anyone, and certainly not with Venezuela.

President Trump is right that Venezuela is now a large supplier of other illegal drugs, especially cocaine, but they come from countries like Colombia, Peru, and Bolivia, which are the largest producers of the coca leaf in the world (the coca leaf is what cocaine is made from).

The world's largest aircraft carrier USS Gerald R Ford. Pic: Reuters
Image:
The world’s largest aircraft carrier USS Gerald R Ford. Pic: Reuters

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Venezuela, which borders Colombia, is largely a transit country to the Caribbean in the same way that Ecuador, which also borders Colombia, is a transit country to the Pacific.

Sailors work on a Venezuelan Navy patrol boat off the Caribbean coast. Pic: Reuters
Image:
Sailors work on a Venezuelan Navy patrol boat off the Caribbean coast. Pic: Reuters

Neither Venezuela nor Ecuador are significant drug producers.

The drugs enter Venezuela overland, primarily from Colombia, and then mainly leave the country from ports on the northern coast of the country – and these are the departure points of the boats the US government has recently targeted and destroyed, along with the crews on board.

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Hegseth: US forces strike ‘narco-terrorists’

President Trump claims these boats from Venezuela are heading to the United States, but in reality they are mainly heading to the nearby islands of Trinidad and Tobago, and from there they largely go to West Africa and Europe – mostly Spain and Portugal.

Drugs heading to America either pass through Mexico over the border into the US or are transported via the Pacific Ocean route through countries like Ecuador. In this instance, Venezuela isn’t involved.

Read more: Inside Pablo Escobar’s home city where drugs are readily available

It’s widely accepted the two most exported drugs from South America are cocaine and marijuana – and the volume of production is staggering.

But the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the US says that synthetic opioids like fentanyl are responsible for most overdose deaths there – and fentanyl is not produced in South America, whatever the president says.

So one can only conclude he is either mistaken and misinformed, or he has another motive. I suspect it is the latter, and that regime change in Venezuela is top of the list.

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