Philando Castile death: Police officer found not guilty

A Minnesota police officer who shot dead a black man during a traffic stop has been found not guilty.

The verdict sparked protests in the city of St Paul, where demonstrators temporarily blocked main roads.

Jeronimo Yanez shot Philando Castile after stopping his car in Falcon Heights last July in an incident live-streamed on Facebook by his girlfriend.

Speaking on Friday, his mother Valerie said the verdict proved "the system continues to fail black people".

The case - one of a series of deaths of black men and boys at the hands of US police - prompted widespread outrage.

About 2,000 people marched through St Paul after the verdict, blocking traffic and commuter trains while chanting: "Yanez guilty."

Diamond Reynolds' video, which showed him covered in blood as an officer pointed his gun at him, was viewed by millions around the world.

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She said afterwards her boyfriend had been reaching for his licence when he was shot by the policeman.

Officer Yanez, 29, was charged with second-degree manslaughter in November.

It was the first time a police officer had been charged with the death of a citizen in Minnesota, according to Judge Glenda Hatchett, who represented Mr Castile's family.

Officer Yanez told the court he was afraid for his life and said Mr Castile did not follow his orders - but prosecutors argued Mr Castile was courteous and non-threatening.

After 30 hours of deliberation on Friday, he was cleared of second-degree manslaughter and two felony counts of intentional discharge of a dangerous weapon for endangering the safety of Ms Reynolds and her daughter, four.

Valerie Castile told reporters outside the courthouse: "I'm mad as hell right now. Yes, I am.

"The system continues to fail black people."

She added: "I am so disappointed in the state of Minnesota. My son loved this state, my son loved this city and this city killed my son."

But Earl Gray, who was representing officer Yanez, told Reuters news agency "justice was done".

"We're very happy," he said. "Yanez was innocent. He was just doing his job."

However, Officer Yanez will not be returning to work for the City of St Anthony police department.

A statement on the city's website said it had "concluded that the public will be best served if Officer Yanez is no longer a police officer in our city".

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Michael Phelps to race a great white shark as part of Discovery Channel's 'Shark Week'

Michael Phelps, the most successful Olympian of all time, will race against a great white shark as part of a television show due to air in July.

A press release from the Discovery Channel promises that "the world's most decorated athlete takes on the ocean's most efficient predator".

Phelps, 31, has 23 Olympic swimming gold medals and retired after Rio 2016.

The American has a top speed of six miles per hour in the water, whereas a great white can reach 25mph.

Will it be Phelps v Shark in a pool?

"Phelps v Shark: Great Gold v Great White" will form part of the channel's "Shark Week" which begins on 23 July.

What form the race will take "is anyone's guess" according to Tooni Mahto from the Australian Marine Conservation Society.

She told BBC Radio 5 live "it is a forgone conclusion as to who is going to come out on top".

But she added: "We can all be fairly certain it's not going to be Michael Phelps versus a great white shark in an Olympic-size swimming pool.

"I'm assuming it's going to be looking at the human body in water compared to a creature that's evolved over millions of years and is perfectly adapted to its marine environment."

BBC NEWS

Hutt River 'micronation' leaders lose Australian tax battle

It's been a turbulent year for His Royal Highness Prince Leonard I.

The 91-year-old self-proclaimed ruler of the Principality of Hutt River in Western Australia, abdicated power in February.

Now a court has ruled that he and one his sons must pay A$3m (£1.8m; $2.3m) in unpaid taxes.

The judge in the case dismissed their claims to sovereignty over their 18,500-acre farm as having "no legal merit or substance".

The Principality of Hutt River, 500km (300 miles) north of Perth, says it seceded from Australia in 1970, though the government does not acknowledge this

Self-proclaimed Prince Leonard Casley declared independence after a dispute with the government over wheat quotas.

The farm, which has a population of about 30, created its own tax system and laws and issues its own currency, stamps and passports.

Tourists can pay a few dollars for a visa and a personal tour of the site, which is bigger than the Vatican, Monaco and Nauru, but is not recognised by any government.

The Australian Tax Office has long been chasing the prince and his son, Arthur Casley - known as Prince Wayne - for overdue taxes.

In 1977, the farm briefly declared war on Australia over one demand for payment.

'It is all gobbledygook'

The latest case alleged that Prince Leonard failed to pay income tax between 2006 and 2013. A similar claim was made against his son.

On Friday, the Supreme Court of Western Australia sided with the tax office, and ordered Prince Leonard to pay A$2.7m, while Prince Wayne was ordered to pay A$242,000.

"Anyone can declare themselves a sovereign in their own home but they cannot ignore the laws of Australia or not pay tax," Justice Rene Le Miere said

"It is not sensible or a proper use of judicial resources to recite and analyse all of the defendants' utterances masquerading as legal submissions," he said.

"It is all gobbledygook."

Prince Graeme, who took over as ruler in February but was not implicated in the case, said he was "disappointed" by the court's decision.

"We're a fully independent country," he told the BBC. "We don't believe the income was earned within the Australian jurisdiction."

He suggested that an appeal may be lodged on grounds of human rights violations due to the "mental torture" caused by repeated court cases.

BBC NEWS

Vanuatu president Baldwin Lonsdale dies after heart attack

The president of Vanuatu, Baldwin Lonsdale, has died after a heart attack at the age of 67.

Mr Lonsdale, an Anglican priest, had been leader of the Pacific archipelago since September 2014.

The Vanuatu Daily Post said he died suddenly in the capital Port Vila shortly after midnight on Saturday.

Australia's Governor-General Peter Cosgrove said Mr Lonsdale "served the people of Vanuatu with dignity and humility, and was much loved".

While president, Mr Lonsdale oversaw the vast rebuilding of parts of Vanuatu after Cyclone Pam left an estimated 75,000 people homeless in March 2015.

In October the same year, he vowed to clean up corruption in Vanuatu after a scandal involving his deputy.

Speaker Marcellino Pipite was one of 14 MPs - half of the country's parliament - convicted of giving and receiving corrupt payments over a vote of no confidence in a previous government.

He went on to pardon himself and the other 13 MPs while Mr Lonsdale was out of the country, a pardon the president then rescinded on his return.

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Vanuatu - Key facts

• Population: 278,000 (2016)
• Languages: Bislama, English, French
• GDP: $773m (£605m)
• Life expectancy: 75.1 (women); 71.8 (men

BBC NEWS

Qatar's Al Jazeera Twitter account back after suspension

The Arabic-language account of Al Jazeera has been restored on Twitter after being suspended due to what the network called "an organised campaign".

The account, with just under 12 million followers, was suspended for an unspecified reason early on Saturday.

Al Jazeera is the flagship broadcaster for Qatar, which is under pressure from its Gulf neighbours. They accuse the emirate of links to terror groups.

The account was restored by early afternoon Qatar time.

Twitter's rules state that an account can be suspended for three main reasons: because it is posting spam, because it has been hacked or compromised, or because it "engages in abusive behaviour, like sending threats to others or impersonating other accounts".

It is highly unusual for an account with as many followers, belonging to a national broadcaster, to be suspended.

A senior editor on the website wrote that there had been an "on going storm of mass reporting" of the account - of Twitter receiving significant numbers of complaints at the same time.

Accounts for Al Jazeera's different language services, as well as its Arabic-language breaking news account, had remained online.

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Saudi Arabia has led moves to isolate the gas-rich emirate since earlier this month. Riyadh sealed its border, closed its air space to Qatari Airways and - along with Bahrain, the UAE and Egypt - severed diplomatic relations.

The countries, as well as US President Donald Trump, have accused Qatar of destabilising the region through its alleged support of extremist groups and links to Iran. Qatar has denied funding terror groups.

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Even before the recent row grew, Al Jazeera had found itself in the crosshairs of Qatar's neighbours.

Its website was blocked by Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt and Bahrain in late May.

On closing the broadcaster's offices this month, Saudi Arabia said it promoted terrorist "plots", supported Houthi militias that Saudi Arabia is fighting in Yemen, and had attempted to "break the Saudi internal ranks".

Al Jazeera says it is "not partisan to any ideology, group or government".

BBC NEWS

John Avildsen, Oscar-winning director of Rocky, dies aged 81

John G. Avildsen, the Oscar-winning director of Rocky and The Karate Kid, has died at the age of 81.

Avildsen's son Anthony told US media the filmmaker had died of pancreatic cancer at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.

Rocky - starring Sylvester Stallone as a rags-to-riches boxer - became the highest grossing film of 1976, despite having a relatively low budget.

It won an Oscar for best picture, as well one for Avildsen as director.

Stallone, who wrote the film, led the tributes to its director, posting on Instagram: "R. I. P. I'm sure you will soon be directing Hits in Heaven- Thank you , Sly."

Avildsen directed the box-office winner The Karate Kid, released in 1984, as well as The Karate Kid Part II in 1986 and The Karate Kid Part III in 1989.

He also guided Jack Lemmon to his only best actor Oscar for his role in the 1973 film Save the Tiger.

"Throughout the decades, his rousing portrayals of victory, courage and emotion captured the hearts of generations of Americans," Paris Barclay, president of the Directors Guild of America, said in a statement.

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Egypt Hisham Barakat killing: 30 sentenced to death

A court in Cairo has recommended the death penalty for 30 people convicted of involvement in the killing of Egypt's top public prosecutor.

Hisham Barakat was assassinated in a car bomb attack in June 2015.

He was the most senior state official to be killed by militants in recent years.

Mr Barakat had sent thousands of Islamists to trial since the overthrow of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood-backed government in 2013.

Hundreds of Islamists were sentenced to death or life imprisonment, as part of a crackdown on supporters of the banned group.

Egypt blamed the Brotherhood and Gaza-based Hamas militants for Mr Barakat's killing, although both groups have denied they were involved.

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Last year the Interior Ministry released a video showing several men confessing to the killing, and saying they went to Gaza for training from Hamas. Some of them later denied the allegations in court and said they had been tortured.

The court's recommendations will now be sent to Egypt's highest religious authority, the grand mufti.

All death sentences have to be sent to the grand mufti for his opinion on whether they should stand. But even when the grand mufti gives his approval, convictions are still open to appeal.

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