Rankin County, MS: 6 white former officers plead guilty in torture of two Black men – National & International News

Rankin County, MS: 6 white former officers plead guilty in torture of two Black men.

Maui wildfire death toll at 96 with only 3% of area searched.

Niger junta to try deposed president for treason.

NATIONAL NEWS

Rankin County, MS: 6 white former officers plead guilty in torture of two Black men

Five former Ranking County Sheriff’s deputies and one former Richland Police officer have pleaded guilty to charges from the January home invasion during which two Black men were tortured for hours before one was shot in the mouth. Charges from Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch’s office came after the men had already pleaded guilty to federal charges in the case.

Under the state charges, Joshua Hartfield, the former Richland officer, would serve no jail time. The other five would serve between five and fifteen years in prison. The judge does not have to accept these sentencing recommendations. The state sentences would run concurrently with whatever federal sentences they receive, which they will learn in November.

On January 24 this year, the six white law enforcement officers, who called themselves “the Goon Squad”,  invaded a home occupied by Michael Corey Jenkins and Eddie Terrell Parker. The officers subjected Jenkins and Parker to hours of torture, repeatedly tasing them, attempting to use a sex toy on them, and waterboarding them among other things, according to the federal indictment.

Jenkins and Parker were apparently targeted by the Goon Squad because a neighbor complained that Parker was living in a house with a white woman. The woman was a childhood friend of Parker’s, paralyzed since she was 15, who Parker was helping to care for.

Th Goon Squad were also involved in several other violent incidents with Black men in recent years. Two of the Black men died and another was left with life-altering injuries.

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Maui wildfire death toll at 96 with only 3% of area searched

Rescue workers are still combing the smoldering remains of the town of Lahaina where a quick moving wildfire devastated a largely wooden-built historic district popular with tourists. About 2700 structures were lost, leaving thousands homeless. Most survivors are still without power and many do not have clean water.

As of this writing, 96 people have been confirmed dead, making this the deadliest wildfire in the US for over 100 years. The death toll is still likely to climb much higher. Hundreds are still missing and only 3% of the affected area has been searched.

Residents seem to have been caught completely unaware by the intense and fast-moving blaze. No warning sirens sounded and residents say they didn’t receive an emergency services text, as they are supposed to when dangers arise. Maui had been experience power and other service outages, and some authorities have said this may have been the reason there was no warning. State authorities are investigating the fire and the official response to it.

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INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Niger junta to try deposed president for treason

For weeks after a military junta seized power in the West African country of Niger, concerns have grown for the deposed president Mohammed Bazoum. Bazoum has been kept under strict house arrest with members of his family since the coup. An adult daughter of his living in France has said she believes Bazoum is being deprived of adequate food.

Now the leaders of the junta say they plan to try Bazoum for “high treason” and for undermining the security of the state. He is accused of having conspired with “local and foreign accomplices” in a plot for international military intervention against the junta. Apparently they are using messages he’s sent to foreign mediators during his detention as evidence. Bazoum could be put to death if convicted.

Meanwhile, Niger’s standoff with neighboring former allies continues. ECOWAS, a bloc of West African state, issued an ultimatum two weeks ago, calling on the junta to put Bazoum back in power or face a possible invasion. The deadline came and went and the junta shut down its airspace. They have since been appealing to their citizens, claiming that they are under siege.

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