Hello.
Democrat Mary Peltola has won the special election for the sole U.S. House seat in Alaskabecoming the first Alaskan native to sit in the House after defeating candidates including Republican Sarah Palin.
Peltola, 49, who is Yup’ik, is also the first woman to hold the seat and the first from her party to hold it in more than half a century. During the campaign, she highlighted her support for issues such as abortion rights. She will serve the remaining months of the late Republican U.S. Representative Don Young’s term until the general election in November.
Palin, the state’s former governor, had Donald Trump’s backing and hoped to make a political comeback. Along with Peltola and the other Republican candidate, Nick Begich, she will run for a two-year term in November.
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How much did Peltola win? The race was determined by a ranking vote ranking, placing the Democrat in first place with 51.5% to Palin’s 48.5%.
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Why was there a special election? The poll came after Young, who had held the seat for 49 years, died in March aged 88.
Ohio officer kills 20-year-old black man within seconds of opening his bedroom door
An Ohio cop with decades of experience shot and killed a black man a second after opening his bedroom door on Tuesday morning.
Columbus Officer Ricky Anderson was attempting to serve the man, identified as 20-year-old Donovan Lewis, with a warrant for his arrest. Lewis was unarmed and the murder was caught on police body camera.
Lewis was being apprehended for improper handling of a firearm, assault and domestic violence. Police Chief Elaine Bryant said Anderson fired when Lewis appeared to raise his hand while holding on to something. A vape pen was found on the bed next to him.
The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation has taken over the investigation.
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How many people were killed by the police in 2022? According Mapping police violence, officers have killed 391 people so far this year. Black people were 2.9 times more likely to be killed by police than white people in the United States, he said.
China’s treatment of Uyghurs could be a crime against humanity, says UN human rights chief
China’s treatment of Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang Province could constitute crimes against humanity, the outgoing UN human rights commissioner said, accusing Beijing of committing “serious human rights violations”.
Released just 11 minutes before the end of her term, Michelle Bachelet’s damning report has been hailed by human rights organisations, with the Uyghur Human Rights Project lobby group calling it “a game-changer for the international response to the Uyghur crisis”.
China has put an estimate 1 million Uighurs and other minority groups in internment camps, which he calls training centers, over the past five years. There were credible allegations of torture, forced abortion and sterilization, according to the UN report.
The Chinese government, which tried until the last moment to stop publishing the reportsaid in an official response that it was “based on misinformation and lies fabricated by anti-China forces”.
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The average rate of steriliif we per 100,000 people in the whole of China was just above 32; in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, it was 243notes the report.
In other news…
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A plaque commemorating the Ku Klux Klan is set to be removed from the West Point Science Center, said a congressional panel. The The naming committee made the recommendation although the matter is outside of its purview as the KKK was formed after the Civil War.
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Two of Donald Trump’s lawyers could become witnesses or targets in the obstruction probe related to the criminal investigation according to legal experts.
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Boston Children’s Hospital received a bomb threat on Tuesday evening after weeks of harassment by far-right groups who have targeted the hospital for working with transgender youth. A deminer was sent but nothing was found.
Stat of the Day: ‘Supermajority’ of up to 80% of Americans support climate bills
While a staggering 66-80% “supermajority” of voters support climate policies such as a Green New Deal and carbon taxes for fossil fuel companies, voters massively underestimate public support for climate action. The average person in the United States estimates that only 37-43% of the public supports such policies. Republicans have been particularly pessimistic about the importance others place on tackling the climate emergency.
Don’t miss this: ‘Speak out against pushbacks, you are an enemy of Greece’, says refugee hero
Once celebrated as a Greek hero, Iasonas Apostolopoulos faces daily death threats online and has been accused by the Prime Minister’s Office of ‘insulting Greece’ for to denounce the illegal refoulement of asylum seekers. Apostolopoulos was told last year he would receive a medal for his work rescuing refugees off the coast of Greece, but was later told it had been withdrawn, with media suggesting the reversal was the result of government pressure. “If love of country means accepting the killing of refugees on our border, then I’m proud to be a traitor,” he said.
Last Thing: Why Japan’s War on Records Might Turn Out to Be Another Flop
Japan’s Digital Minister Taro Kono tweeted on Wednesday that he had “declared war on floppy disks” by an attempt to drive out largely obsolete technology of the country’s bureaucracy. Businesses are still required to use diskettes for 1,900 government-related procedures such as submitting claims. Japan is not alone here: the US Air Force replaced in 2019 the floppy disks it used to manage its nuclear arsenal.