A policeman involved in the killing of a black woman in the US state of Kentucky will be fired, city officials announced. Breonna Taylor, 26, was shot as she slept when officers entered her flat in Louisville on 13 March during a drugs investigation. Mayor Greg Fischer said Brett Hankison, one of three officers involved, will lose his badge.

Ms Taylor’s name has become a rallying cry at global anti-racism protests. The other officers have been placed on administrative leave amid an investigation. Mayor Fischer did not provide more details regarding the decision to fire Mr Hankison, citing a local law.”Unfortunately, due to a provision in state law that I very much would like to see changed, both the Chief and I are precluded from talking about what brought us to this moment, or even the timing of this decision,” he said.(BBC)…[+]

Human rights campaigner Malala Yousafzai has expressed her “joy and gratitude” after finishing her final exams at Oxford University. The 22-year-old, who survived a shot to the head by Taliban soldiers, studied politics, philosophy, and economics.

Tweeting earlier, she said: “I don’t know what’s ahead. For now, it will be Netflix, reading and sleep.” Ms Yousafzai was attacked for saying girls should be allowed to stay in education. She was shot in the head, neck and shoulder while travelling home from school after writing an anonymous diary about life under the extremists. After recovering from her near-fatal injuries, she and her family relocated to Birmingham.

In 2014, she became the youngest person ever to win the Nobel Peace Prize, at the age of 17. Three years later she accepted a place to study at Lady Margaret Hall at Oxford. Ms Yousafzai tweeted two pictures as she announced the news that she completed her degree. In one, she is celebrating with her family in front of a graduation cake.

The other was taken after a “trashing”, a tradition at the university where students are covered with food and confetti after completing their exams.(BBC)…[+]

A US Air Force sergeant with links to the far-right Boogaloo Bois movement has been charged with the murder of a federal security officer in California, the FBI says. Steven Carrillo is accused of killing David Patrick Underwood outside the courthouse in Oakland during Black Lives Matter protests last month. He was already charged with the murder of another officer eight days later.

Damon Gutzwiller was killed in an ambush near Santa Cruz on 6 June. Mr Carrillo, who is stationed at Travis air force base, was arrested during a subsequent confrontation. He appears to have used his own blood to write various phrases on the bonnet of a car he stole, the FBI said, including “boog” and “stop the duopoly”. “Boogaloo” is a term used by extremists to reference a violent uprising or impending civil war in the US, the FBI said. Adherents of the loose grouping known as Boogaloo Bois, which some liken to a militia, are anti-government and often carry assault weapons.(BBC)…[+]

The uncle of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has been sentenced to four years in prison by a Paris court for money-laundering. Rifaat al-Assad was convicted of embezzling Syrian state funds to buy homes and offices worth €90m (£80m) to build a French property portfolio. The 82-year-old former vice-president denies any wrongdoing. His lawyers say he will appeal.

His property assets in Paris and London will be seized, the court ruled. Assad, who was hospitalised with internal bleeding in France in December, was not in court for the ruling. His London property is believed to be worth €29m (£26m).  He was once the second most powerful man in Syria – the military commander at the right hand of his brother Hafez, who led Syria from 1971 until his death in 2000. Rifaat is known as the “Butcher of Hama” by some Syrians because of his alleged role in the bloody suppression of an anti-government uprising in the city in 1982 but he has denied any responsibility for the massacre. Between 10,000 and 20,000 people are estimated to have died.

Since 1984, when he led a failed coup against his brother, Rifaat has mostly lived in exile in France and Spain. After Hafez died in 2000, Rifaat proclaimed himself his brother’s legitimate successor. But Bashar became president.

When Syria descended into civil war in 2011 he called on his nephew to step down.(BBC)…[+]