Germany: A German government agency tasked with providing unbiased political information has launched a website suggesting that the US government staged the 9/11 attacks and that aircraft contrails are poisonous — to show how illogical conspiracy theories are. The Federal Agency for Civic Education said that the mock videos on the website are aimed at people who don't pay much attention to traditional media. The site — called "Wahre Welle TV," or True Wave TV — is designed to encourage consumers of online information to critically question what they see or read online. To make clear the videos are not meant to be taken literally, each episode ends with the words "don't believe the crap" and links to additional resources.
United States: A man who lives in the north Minneapolis neighbourhood where police fatally shot a black man says he heard officers yell, "Drop the gun!" multiple times before a series of gunshots. After the shots stopped, Robert Lang then came out from behind his garage and saw a man lying in a pool of blood at the end of his driveway, with a gun just a couple of metres away. Lang says he then saw an officer approach and kick the gun away from the person on the ground. Authorities are investigating after 31-year-old Thurman Blevins of Minneapolis was shot and killed by police after a foot chase in an alley. But some people who say they saw the shooting unfold said Blevins didn't have a gun. Authorities say the shooting was caught on officers' body cameras, but the video hasn't been released.
Colombia: Authorities in Colombia say they have identified the remains of three Ecuadorean press workers who were kidnapped while reporting in a restive border region. The Ministry of Defence announced that three bodies recently discovered have been confirmed as those of Javier Ortega, Paul Rivas and Efrain Segarra. Their bodies will be turned over to Ecuadorean officials. The employees of the newspaper El Comercio were investigating a rise in drug-fuelled violence along the Colombia-Ecuador border when they disappeared in March. Authorities later confirmed they had been killed and said former rebels with the disbanded Farc were responsible.
United States: The US Supreme Court said it won't weigh in on the case of a teenager convicted of rape and murder whose story was documented in the Netflix series Making a Murderer. As is typical, the justices did not explain their decision declining to take the case. The justices' decision leaves in place a lower court ruling against Brendan Dassey. He was 16 when he confessed to Wisconsin authorities that he had joined his uncle in raping and murdering photographer Teresa Halbach before burning her body in a bonfire. Dassey's lawyers, however, say he's borderline intellectually disabled and was manipulated by experienced police officers into accepting their story of how Halbach's murder happened. They wanted his confession thrown out and a new trial.
Afghanistan: An Afghan official says a Taliban suicide bomber has attacked a base in eastern Afghanistan, killing eight police. Fared Dehqan, spokesman for the provincial police chief in Kunar province, says four other police were wounded. He says the bomber was able to enter the base and detonate his payload among the security forces. An investigation has been launched into the apparent security breach.
Venezuela: The European Union banned travel and froze the assets of 11 senior Venezuelan officials, including new Vice-President Delcy Rodriguez, pressing the nation's leaders to hold fresh elections and return to democratic rule. The people "listed are responsible for human rights violations and for undermining democracy and the rule of law in Venezuela," EU headquarters said. Rodriguez responded, saying the sanctions against her driven by "racist" and "warmongering" policies of the "old imperial world." European leaders have not targeted President Nicolas Maduro, focusing on those around him. The sanctions, which also target the army chief and a top military intelligence officer, bring the total number of Venezuelan officials under EU sanctions to 18.
Germany: A Berlin court convicted a 19-year-old Syrian of serious bodily harm and slander for attacking a man wearing a Jewish skullcap in the German capital in April. The 21-year-old victim, an Arab Israeli who said he wore the Jewish kippa, or yarmulke, in a show of solidarity with his Jewish friends, filmed his attacker whipping him violently with a belt while shouting "Yahudi!" — Jew in Arabic. Berlin's regional court sentenced the defendant, who wasn't named due to privacy rules, to four weeks of juvenile detention, which he has already served while awaiting trial.
-AP
