The US state of Georgia has ordered an inquiry after its primary election was marred by claims of voter suppression.

Within minutes of polls opening on Tuesday, long queues formed in the city of Atlanta, with some residents waiting hours to cast their vote. Some areas also reported shortages of the new voting machines and a lack of back-up paper ballots. Voters were choosing candidates for November’s general election, for which the primary is seen as a preview.

US President Donald Trump and his Democratic challenger Joe Biden are expected to compete hotly for Georgia in the forthcoming battle for the White House. Nevada, South Carolina, West Virginia and North Dakota also voted on Tuesday amid the coronavirus pandemic and unrest unseen since the 1960s. Voting sites saw queues grow immediately after opening on Tuesday, in part because of social distancing. But the delays were also due to severe technical issues that made it impossible for some locations to cast any ballots.Atlanta’s Democratic Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms took to Twitter in the morning to report that residents across the city and some suburbs were turning up to find that voting machines “are not working”.(BBC)…[+]

Chicago saw its deadliest day in at least 60 years last month, with 18 killings within a 24-hour period on 31 May.

The violence occurred as protests over George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis also spurred rioting and looting in the Windy City. Over the last weekend in May – a three day holiday – 85 people were shot and 24 killed, according to the University of Chicago Crime Lab. Most of the victims were black.

The dead and injured include students, parents and middle-aged workers, according to the data published in the Chicago Sun-Times. “We’ve never seen anything like it, at all,” senior research director Max Kapustin told the newspaper, noting that the Crime Lab’s data only goes back as far as 1961. “I don’t even know how to put it into context,” he said. “It’s beyond anything that we’ve ever seen before.” Mr Kapustin added that protests over Mr Floyd’s 25 May death in police custody may have distracted Chicago Police Department (CPD) resources from normal patrol duties.(BBC)…[+]

Daniel Radcliffe hopes JK Rowling’s comments about gender will not “taint” the Harry Potter series for fans. In a statement posted on an LGBT suicide prevention charity website, the actor said: “Transgender women are women.

“Any statement to the contrary erases the identity and dignity of transgender people.” JK Rowling had been criticised for tweets taking issue with the phrase “people who menstruate”. Radcliffe said this was not about “in-fighting” and added he felt “compelled to say something” because Rowling was responsible for the “course his life has taken”.

Writing on The Trevor Project’s website he said he was sorry to anyone whose “experience of the [Harry Potter] books has been tarnished”.

“If these books taught you that love is the strongest force in the universe… that dogmatic ideas of pureness lead to the oppression of vulnerable groups; if you believe that a particular character is trans, non-binary, or gender fluid, or that they are gay or bisexual; if you found anything in these stories that resonated with you and helped you at any time in your life – then that is between you and the book that you read, and it is sacred.(BBC)…[+]

Thousands of Americans are taking to the streets to protest about racism – many for the first time in their lives. Why has this particular tragedy struck such a chord?

George Floyd is not the first African American whose death in police custody sparked protests. There were also rallies and calls for change after Tamir Rice, Michael Brown and Eric Garner were killed by police.

But this time seems different, with the response more sustained and widespread. There have been demonstrations across the US – in all 50 states and DC – including in cities and rural communities that are predominantly white.

Local governments, sports and businesses appear readier to take a stand this time – most notably with the Minneapolis city council pledging to dismantle the police department. And the Black Lives Matter protests this time seem more racially diverse – with larger numbers of white protesters, and protesters from other ethnicities, standing with black activists. (BBC)…[+]

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte says his attitude to Black Pete – a Christmas character traditionally played by a white person in black face paint – has undergone “major changes”. He said he used to be among those who argued that “Black Pete is just black”, accepting the Dutch tradition.

But now he expects the tradition to die out, he told the Dutch parliament. He was speaking after Dutch protests triggered by the death of George Floyd in police custody in Minneapolis. Thousands rallied in Amsterdam and Rotterdam earlier this week in solidarity with US demonstrations over the unarmed black man’s death. For years anti-racism campaigners in the Netherlands have been protesting over Black Pete (“Zwarte Piet” in Dutch), seeing the tradition as an offensive relic of colonial times. Supporters, meanwhile, argue that it is a harmless part of Christmas celebrations enjoyed by children.(BBC)..[+]

Another senior former military officer has denounced President Donald Trump’s threat to use troops to suppress ongoing protests in the US. The ex-Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman, Gen Martin Dempsey, told National Public Radio that Mr Trump’s remarks were “very troubling” and “dangerous”.

Mr Trump’s current and former defence secretaries have also spoken out. On Monday, the president threatened to deploy the military to “quickly solve” the unrest if states failed to act. Mainly peaceful protests have spread across the US since the death of African-American George Floyd in police custody last month.

While demonstrations over Mr Floyd’s death appear to be simmering down in the nation’s capital, the White House’s security perimeter has expanded in recent days. Police used batons and tear gas to clear protesters from nearby Lafayette Park on Monday, and have since erected high fences around the White House.(NU)…[+]

EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier has accused the UK of “backtracking” on its commitments in the latest round of post-Brexit trade talks. He said no “significant progress” had been made this week, and insisted the UK “respect” negotiation rules.

But the UK said the talks had been “positive” and it remained “committed to a successful outcome”. The two sides are opposed over issues including fishing rights, competition rules and police cooperation. This week’s discussions – held online – were seen as the last chance to make progress on these ahead of a summit that is expected take place later this month, involving Prime Minister Boris Johnson and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.The UK has until the end of June to ask for the “transition period” – during which the country stays in the single market and customs union – to be extended into next year. But Mr Johnson has ruled this out.(BBC)…[+]

The Gambia has demanded a “credible” investigation after the son of a diplomat was shot dead by US police.

Thirty-nine-year-old Momodou Lamin Sisay was shot after a car chase in Georgia on Friday morning, according to the preliminary investigation by Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI). He was pronounced dead on the scene. The police said he had produced a  gun. The shooting comes amid widespread protests after a US police officer killed George Floyd last week. 

Georgia investigators said that at approximately 03:49 in the morning, a police officer in Snellville, Georgia attempted to stop his vehicle but the vehicle did not stop, and a pursuit ensued. “Officers approached the vehicle and gave verbal commands for the driver to show his hands. The driver did not comply… the driver pointed a handgun at the officers. Officers fired at the driver and pulled back to take cover behind their patrol vehicles,” investigators said.

A Swat team was called and “during the standoff, the driver pointed his weapon and fired at the SWAT officers. One GCPD SWAT officer fired his weapon”, they added. Lare Sisay, the victim’s father who works at the United Nations, said the police did not do enough to peacefully resolve the situation, and also disputed that he had a gun, according to local media.(BBC)…[+]

Wildlife officials in India are investigating the death of a pregnant elephant after it ate a pineapple containing firecrackers. The incident in Kerala caused outrage after a forest official posted about the death on social media.

It’s unclear if it was an accident, who planted the explosives or why. The animal spent days in pain before dying.

Vets tried but failed to save her. India has some 27,000 wild elephants and another 2,500 in captivity. The Kerala forest department said on Thursday that “several suspects” were being questioned in connection with the incident. It earlier said there was no “conclusive evidence” to link the death to firecrackers. Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar said the government had taken a “serious note of the killing” and tweeted that it would investigate.(BBC)…[+]

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has declared a state of emergency after 20,000 tonnes of diesel oil leaked into a river within the Arctic Circle. The spill happened when a fuel tank at a power plant near the Siberian city of Norilsk collapsed last Friday. President Putin expressed anger after discovering officials only learnt about the incident two days later. The plant is owned by a subsidiary of Norilsk Nickel, which is the world’s leading nickel and palladium producer. And in a televised video conference on Wednesday, Mr Putin lambasted the head of the company over its response.

“Why did government agencies only find out about this two days after the fact?” he asked the subsidiary’s chief, Sergei Lipin. “Are we going to learn about emergency situations from social media?” The region’s governor, Alexander Uss, had earlier told President Putin that he became aware of the oil spill on Sunday after “alarming information appeared in social media”. It has contaminated a 350 sq km (135 sq mile) area, state media report. Mr Putin has ordered an investigation into the accident and a manager at the power plant has since been detained.(BBC)…[+]