After vowing Monday to deploy military force to restore order in states that fail to “dominate” unlawful demonstrations, President Trump on Tuesday all but ordered New York City to request help from the National Guar

The ex-officer, Derek Chauvin, is now being defended by Eric Nelson of the Halberg Criminal Defense firm, according to Marsh Halberg, the firm's chief executive. Chauvin's legal representation is being provided by the Minnesota Police and Peace Officers Association (MPPOA) which draws from a panel of about a dozen attorneys, which includes both Nelson and the lawyer he replaced, Tom Kelly of Kelly & Jacobso

Twitter said this isn't the first time that users linked to Identity Evropa have created fake accounts to spread "hateful content.&quo

Hong Kong pro-democracy protesters defied a ban against gathering at a park to commemorate Thursday's anniversary of China's deadly Tiananmen crackdown, with tensions seething in the financial hub over a planned new security law. The semi-autonomous city had for three decades seen huge vigils to remember those killed when China's communist leaders deployed its military into Beijing's Tiananmen Square to crush a student-led movement for democratic reforms. This year's vigil was banned, with authorities citing coronavirus restrictions on group gathering

On Wednesday morning, New York Police Department Commissioner Dermot F. Shea tweeted a low-resolution video of an unidentified officer picking up blue plastic crates on a city street corner. The crates, which appeared to be filled with chunks of masonry, had apparently been left next to a garbage can near Avenue X and West 3rd Street in Gravesend, a neighborhood by the water on Brooklyn’s south end that’s been largely untouched by the protests elsewhere in the borough and the city."This is what our cops are up against: Organized looters, strategically placing caches of bricks & rocks at locations throughout NYC," Shea wrote. On Wednesday afternoon, the White House included that clip in a video compilation of footage it claimed showed “Antifa and professional anarchists... invading our communities.”But Shea didn’t explain why organized looters would have left bricks in a quiet, mostly residential Brooklyn neighborhood, and conversations with people who work and live in the area suggest the NYPD’s Twitter bulletin threatened to stoke tensions for no reason.Cops Reclaim New York in Massive Show of ForceAn officer in Sector B of the 61st Precinct, which covers Gravesend, said he could not explain or discuss the details of the brick discoveries. NYPD coordinators for the neighborhood did not respond to requests for comment. A detective at the Office of the NYPD Deputy Commissioner, Public Information said he did not know anything about the incident. “The city is going through an unprecedented issue with looting and protesting,” he told The Daily Beast. “The normal people who would answer your questions are out trying to protect the city. So that’s why you’re not getting answers to your questions.”In the week of protests since the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police, cops and politicians alike have been quick to point to “organized looters” and “outside agitators” fomenting unrest. But the claims often come with little evidence, and seem to buckle under scrutiny. Last week, after NYPD vehicles were filmed driving into a crowd of protestors, Mayor Bill De Blasio claimed that “a small set of men… came to do violence in a systematic organized fashion.” And there have been reports of protesters throwing bricks at police in New York. But New York City Council Member Mark Treyger, who represents the Gravesend area, disagreed with the idea that external troublemakers were making mischief in his turf. In a phone call with The Daily Beast, Treyger said he became aware of the discovery of containers of suspect materials at two locations in his district when a constituent messaged him over social media, and that he confirmed the finding with the 61st Precinct. However, Treyger said that the NYPD acknowledged to him the containers might simply contain construction debris. The councilman said that he had not seen protests in the area or any signs of organized looting—and pointed out that at least one set of the containers were found near a construction site, suggesting that the bricks came from there. He called his conclusion “simple math.” "There is literally a construction site and construction fencing and signage. And they found five or six containers of what appears to me to be construction debris,” Treyger told The Daily Beast. “I believe that [Shea’s] tweet about my district is not responsible. Because he did not give the full set of facts and the full picture, especially when his own department says the discovery was still under investigation,” Treyger added, warning that such rumors could cause division in the racially diverse neighborhood. “The police commissioner needs to be very mindful with his words, because they could incite violence.”The commissioner’s claims about the crates in Gravesend were especially remarkable because they were nowhere near the locus of protests Tuesday, which is when five employees of local businesses told The Daily Beast the bins were removed.Employees at two businesses—Knapp Pizza II and New Fortune Wine & Spirit—on the block in question told The Daily Beast police had removed the crates on Tuesday morning. Meanwhile, Tuesday’s protests in Brooklyn were centered closer to the Barclays Center, nearly five miles away. A woman who asked to be identified only as Sabrina R. said that the medical offices next to the apparent site of the bins did have security cameras, but that they were blocked from a view of the corner. An employee at nearby New Fortune Wine & Spirit said they had heard about the bricks, but had seen no protest. She said that while the store was outfitted with security cameras, that they belonged to the landlord, who could not be reached by press time.Violent Social-Distancing Arrest Videos Go Viral, Putting NYPD on DefensiveAt Smart Choice Pharmacy, which sits across from the site where the crates appeared to be collected, a staff member told The Daily Beast the street has been very quiet. “We haven’t seen anything like that,” she said. “It was very quiet yesterday. We didn’t see anything like that… There was no protest in Gravesend last night.” An employee at the Dunkin Donuts across the intersection from the site in question told The Daily Beast they had not noticed the bricks at all. An NYPD spokeswoman told the Daily Beast no complaint report had been filed about the containers. “No one called it in to complain,” she said. “It wasn’t taken as a complaint report… Because it’s not a crime. [The crates were] just left there.”In a media availability Wednesday morning, Commissioner Shea discussed the issue with Mayor De Blasio. “So in terms of the tweet today, unfortunately it’s not an isolated incident,” Shea said. “That was two locations, one was in Brooklyn, one was in Queens, where pre-staged bricks are being placed and then transported to quote unquote peaceful protests—which are peaceful protests—but then used by that criminal group within to sow fear.” Shea did not provide any details on the incident in Queens or specify how NYPD had come to the conclusion that the debris containers were associated with protests, given that no major protests had been reported in that area. He did concede that they might have come from construction sites. “We’ve had construction sites burglarized in recent days in Manhattan,” Shea said. “It’s interesting. Construction site burglary is not that uncommon, but during a riot it’s interesting what was taken—bricks.” Shea also mentioned a pattern of protestors throwing water bottles filled with cement at police officers, but did not provide specific instances of when such incidents had occurred, or evidence that any of those had been  “an orchestrated attack.” “I do believe that the police commissioner needs to be clear in his messaging that this debris was found near a construction site,” Council Member Treyger said. “And as of this afternoon, I have not heard of organized looting in my district.”Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn mor

Hours into the mandatory curfew in Washington, D.C., several police officers were recorded engaging in peaceful dialogue with protesters. While remaining in opposition to the extended protests over George Floyd's death, one officer appeared to commiserate with protesters' desire to seek chang

The event will commemorate the man whose death in US police custody has sparked huge protest

A 2018 report recommended just tha

North Carolina could not guarantee the Republicans full use of convention facilities in Charlotte because of the spread of coronaviru

The scanner broadcast people saying, "Shoot those motherf---ers," and "Run them over," referring to protester

New York City will remain under curfew through Sunday after another night of looting that marred largely peaceful protests over an African-American man's death in police custody in Minneapolis. Shopkeepers and cleaning crews swept glass from shattered windows and boarded up storefronts in midtown Manhattan on Tuesday morning, one of the areas worst hit by the looting. After ransacking luxury stores in SoHo on Sunday night, looters targeted the shopping district at the city's heart on Monday, including Macy's iconic flagship department store in Herald Squar

State epidemiologist Anders Tegnell said if Sweden had had the knowledge it had today, its response would have likely been harshe

"Many people in Hong Kong fear that their way of life — which China pledged to uphold — is under threat," Johnson sai

Police in the U.K. have asked the public for help in tracking the movements of a 43-year-old German man identified as the main suspect in the mysterious disappearance of Madeleine McCann.Madeleine vanished from a hotel apartment in Praia da Luz on Portugal’s Algarve coast in May 2007, while on holiday with her parents and twin siblings.It is the first time British police have identified a key suspect, and senior police officers described the breakthrough to the U.K.’s Telegraph as “significant.” Friends of Kate and Gerry McCann told the newspaper it was the biggest development to date in a case often described as the most scrutinized missing persons case in modern history.Scotland Yard said in a statement that detectives had identified the 43-year-old German man, currently in prison in Germany on unrelated charges, as a suspect following a 2017 appeal on the 10th anniversary of Madeleine’s disappearance. New Break in Maddie McCann Case Centers on Killer PedophileOn Wednesday, they appealed for help from the public in tracking the German man’s movements around the Algarve during the time Madeleine went missing.The man, whose name was not released due to German privacy laws, lived on and off in the Algarve between 1995 and 2008. At the time of Madeleine’s disappearance, he was 30 years old and was living in a camper van in the area.“He received a 30-minute phone call in Praia da Luz, the resort where the McCanns were on holiday, just an hour before the 3-year-old girl vanished,” the statement said.Police are trying to track down the man on the other end of the phone call and took the unusual step on Wednesday of releasing the Portuguese mobile phone number the suspect was using as well as the number of the person who called him.Police also released images of the distinctive VW camper the suspect was living in, and a 1993 Jaguar saloon car that the suspect owned and re-registered in Germany under another person’s name the day after Madeleine went missing. The Jaguar stayed in Portugal despite the man re-registering it in Germany. Scotland Yard said he was driving the camper around Praia da Luz in the days before Madeleine’s disappearance and had been living it in for days or weeks.Madeleine’s disappearance almost 13 years ago garnered an extraordinary amount of interest globally and led to a high-profile—but largely fruitless—search for answers.There has never been any trace of Madeleine since she vanished and no arrests have been made. British tabloids subjected the McCanns to vicious and baseless allegations of being involved in their daughter’s disappearance—however investigators have maintained that it was a criminal act by a stranger.In a statement, Kate and Gerry McCann said they welcomed the appeal and thanked police. “All we have ever wanted is to find her, uncover the truth and bring those responsible to justice. We will never give up hope of finding Madeleine alive but whatever the outcome may be, we need to know, as we need to find peace.”Detective Chief Inspector Mark Cranwell, who leads the task force set up by U.K. police to investigate the disappearance, said: “While this male is a suspect we retain an open mind as to his involvement and this remains a missing person inquiry.“A similar public appeal for information was due to be made on German television on Wednesday. The suspect was described by police as white and in 2007 was believed to have been six feet tall, aged between 25 to early 30s, with short blond fair, a slim build, and fair skin. Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn mor

The European Union and China have agreed to postpone a summit planned for this fall because of the coronavirus pandemic, German officials said Wednesday. Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke by phone with Chinese President Xi Jinping and later with European Council President Charles Michel to discuss the Sept. 14 meeting, due to be held in the German city of Leipzig and seen as a key moment in EU relations with China. The European Union has tried to position itself as a mediator between China and the United State

Police arrested black business owners and good Samaritans who were defending a neighbouring store from alleged looters, despite a reporter’s pleas.The arrest was broadcast live on Fox 11 as reporter Christina Gonzalez described the situation unfolding on the street outside a Van Nuys, Los Angeles, liquor store on Monda

Washington on Wednesday ordered the suspension of all flights by Chinese airlines into and out of the United States after Beijing failed to allow American carriers to resume services to China. The US action, which takes effect June 16 but could be implemented sooner if President Donald Trump orders it, applied to seven Chinese civilian carriers, although only four currently are running service to US cities including Air China and China Eastern Airlines, the Department of Transportation (DOT) said. US air carriers sharply reduced or suspended service to China amid the COVID-19 pandemi

"In short, we oppose in the strongest terms the use of the U.S. military to impede the First Amendment rights of Americans," the senators wrot

Tropical Storm Cristobal is the third named storm of the 2020 hurricane season, which began Monday. It's forming in the Gulf of Mexic