Black Lives Matter activist critical after shooting, :Sasha Johnson

Prominent Black Lives Matter activist Sasha Johnson is critically ill after being shot in the head, her party says.

The Taking the Initiative Party said she was being treated in intensive care after being “brutally attacked” in the early hours of Sunday.

The group said the attack, which happened in Peckham, south London, followed “numerous death threats”.

Police have not confirmed her identity but said at this stage there was no evidence the attack was targeted.

Officers said the 27-year-old woman was taken to a south London hospital with life-threatening injuries and have appealed for witnesses.

Police said at this stage there was no evidence to suggest it was a targeted shooting or that she had received any credible threats against her.

Imran Ayton, a friend of Ms Johnson’s, told the BBC doctors had carried out surgery on her fellow activist which had gone well and she was “now with her parents”.

She said Ms Johnson had been at a party or gathering when she was injured but she did not believe “she was the intended victim”.

“As far as I am aware… this incident is more related to rival gangs as opposed to her activism,” Ms Ayton said.

Detectives from the Met’s Specialist Crime Command have been conducting inquiries at the scene and the surrounding area and are pursuing a number of lines.

It is believed the shooting happened near a house where a party was taking place and a number of people may have been in the area, a Met Police statement said.

image caption Police said there was currently no evidence to suggest it was a targeted shooting

Det Ch Insp Jimi Tele said: “This was a shocking incident that has left a young woman with very serious injuries. Our thoughts are with her family who are being provided with support at this terribly difficult time.”

He added: “If you saw anything suspicious in the Consort Road area in the early hours of Sunday morning, or if you have heard information since that could help detectives, it is crucial that you get in touch.”

Ms Johnson, a graduate of Oxford Brookes University, has been a leading figure in the Black Lives Matter movement in the UK and is a member of the Taking the Initiative Party’s leadership committee.

‘Pray for Sasha’

In a statement on Instagram, the party said Ms Johnson was a mother of two and a “powerful voice” who had always been fighting for black people and against the injustices that surround the black community.

“Let’s all come together and pray for Sasha, pray for her recovery and show our support to her family and loved ones,” it said.

Black Lives Matters UK tweeted it was shocked by the shooting of “a young mother and fearless political campaigner who was at the forefront of many BLM protests last summer”.

It said that while she was not part of their own organisation,”she impressively founded a new Black-led political party and was dedicated to resist anti-Black racism”.

Announcing that a vigil would be held for her on Monday afternoon at King’s College Hospital, it added: “Any attempt to intimidate or silence her, is an attack on all of us.”

Additional reporting by Tim Stokes

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The Queen is ‘deeply upset’ by Harry’s ‘very personal’ attacks on her family

The Queen is said to be ‘deeply upset’ by what she considers a series of ‘very personal’ criticisms of her family by Prince Harry.

Royal sources say the Monarch has been shaken by Harry’s repeated comments since the devastating interview that he and wife Meghan gave to Oprah Winfrey in March.

One source said: ‘Harry’s grandmother has taken this very personally and is deeply upset by what Harry has said, in particular his comments about Charles’s parenting and suggesting his father knows no better because of how he was brought up. It has been a very upsetting time.’

The Mail on Sunday last week revealed mounting fury at Harry among palace aides – who called for the Duke and Duchess to give up their titles.

The anger is said to have grown further after his latest barbs during his appearance on The Me You Can’t See, his TV series about mental health.

The aides, already taken aback by Harry’s ‘shocking’ criticism of Prince Charles’s parenting skills – and by implication those of the Queen and the late Prince Philip – were stunned when he returned to the theme by suggesting his father had allowed him and Prince William to ‘suffer’ as children.

‘My father used to say to me when I was younger, “Well, it was like that for me, so it’s going to be like that for you”,’ he said, adding that efforts to get help for Meghan when she felt suicidal were ‘met with total silence or total neglect’.

Despite the sustained attacks, Charles is understood to maintain hope of a reconciliation with his younger son.

‘I don’t think the Prince will cut his son off despite what Harry has said,’ one friend said.

‘Charles will want to engage, but it’s fair to say what Harry has said in both interviews with Oprah has been seen as very callous within the family. If Harry was to attack the Queen in a more personal way, Charles would close ranks with the Queen without a doubt and Harry would be out in the cold.’

The friend added: ‘Charles is such a gentle man and a dedicated father first and foremost. He’ll be feeling wretched. He wants to seek a reconciliation. He is not vindictive at all.’

It came as Ms Winfrey defended Harry’s decision to speak out, insisting he and Meghan were under no obligation to remain ‘silent’ despite their vehement demands for ‘privacy’.

Speaking on the Today morning TV show in America, she said: ‘You know, I ask for privacy and I’m talking all the time.

‘So I think being able to have a life that you are not intruded upon by photographers, or people flying overhead, or invading your life, is what every person wants and deserves – to not be intruded and invaded upon.

‘That’s what people are missing. Privacy doesn’t mean silence.’

One aide said last week: ‘They should put the titles into abeyance, so they still exist but are not used, like they agreed to do with their HRHs. They should just become Harry and Meghan.’

William relives his ‘dark days of grief’ after Diana died and says he found solace in wilds of Balmoral in deeply personal speech in Scotland, days after Bashir report and Harry’s new ‘truth bomb’

By James Gant and Harry Howard for MailOnline  

Prince William today relived his ‘dark days of grief’ after his mother Princess Diana died – just days after the BBC was condemned over Martin Bashir’s deceptions and Harry unleashed another ‘truth bomb’ attack on the Royals.

The Duke of Cambridge remembered how he had been at Balmoral when he heard of the death of his mother in 1997, but said he ‘found comfort and solace in the Scottish outdoors’ as he mourned.

But he said these ‘painful’ memories come alongside ‘great joy’ because it was in Scotland, at St Andrews’ University, that William met his now-wife Kate Middleton.

William today visited the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in Edinburgh on the second day of his Royal visit in his capacity as the Earl of Strathearn and Lord High Commissioner, a role appointed by the Queen.

There, he chatted with Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon about the dismal Scottish weather.

Later, Prince William joined first responders for a pint of beer in Edinburgh to watch the Scottish Cup final at a pub overlooked by Edinburgh Castle.

He also visited Extreme E this afternoon, a racing programme that sends electric SUVs to compete in remote parts of the world impacted by climate change.

Meanwhile, Her Majesty was welcomed on board Royal Navy flagship HMS Queen Elizabeth ahead of its operational deployment to the Indo-Pacific region.

It comes as the Royal Family’s relationship with Prince Harry ‘hangs by a thread’ after the Duke of Sussex dropped yet more nuclear ‘truth bombs’ – including the suggestion that Prince Charles had allowed his children to ‘suffer’.

The Duke of Cambridge remembered how he had been at Balmoral when he heard of the death of his mother in 1997, but said he ‘found comfort and solace in the Scottish outdoors’ as he mourned (Diana’s funeral, pictured)

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Prince William (pictured driving) also visited Extreme E today, a racing programme that sends electric SUVs to remote parts of the world impacted by climate change

In a speech earlier today, William said: ‘Scotland is a source of some of my happiest memories but also my saddest. I was in Balmoral when I was told that my mother had died.

‘Still in shock, I found sanctuary in the service at Crathie Kirk that very morning and in the dark days of grief that followed I found comfort and solace in the Scottish outdoors.

‘As a result, the connection I feel to Scotland will forever run deep. Alongside this painful memory is one of great joy because it was here in Scotland 20 years ago this year that I first met Catherine.

‘Needless to say the town where you meet your future wife holds a very special place in your heart. George, Charlotte and Louis already know how dear Scotland is to both of us and they are starting to build their own happy memories here too.’

The Duke of Cambridge earlier met the First Minister at the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in Edinburgh on the second day of his Royal visit

Prince Charles is ‘deeply hurt’ by his son’s latest accusations as the Royals ‘struggle to understand what he hopes to achieve’ with his continued barrage of attacks.

The Prince of Wales’ ties with his youngest son are ‘at their lowest ever point’ and he is sad he was again painted as the villain in the Duke of Sussex’s latest explosive sit down with Oprah Winfrey.

The 72-year-old ‘is at a loss about what to do’ but also ‘frustrated he cannot respond publicly’ to Harry’s blitz of accusations over his parenting style.

In his latest attack, part of a series on mental health for Apple TV+, Harry suggested Prince Charles had allowed his children to ‘suffer’ when it came to the media because of his own negative experiences.

He also accused the monarchy and the media of attempting to ‘smear’ his wife, the Duchess of Sussex, in the run-up to the couple’s bombshell interview with Miss Winfrey in March.

Buckingham Palace and Clarence House were last night retaining what sources described as a ‘dignified silence’ on the claims.

Elsewhere the Royals were having to deal with heartbreaking revelations about the BBC’s cover-up of Martin Bashir’s Princess Diana interview in 1995.

The Corporation is facing growing calls to pay compensation to whistleblowers who raised concerns about the way its interview with the Princess of Wales was obtained.

It is under intense pressure after the damning report by Lord Dyson found it covered up the ‘deceitful behaviour’ of journalist Bashir.

Prince Harry’s interview follows the Queen mourning the loss of one of her new puppies, five-month-old Dachshund-corgi cross Fergus, just one month after Prince Philip’s death on April 9.

The Prince of Wales’ ties with his youngest son are ‘at their lowest ever point’ and he is sad that he was again painted as the villain in the Duke of Sussex’s latest explosive sit down with Oprah Winfrey. Pictured: At the Invictus Games in 2014

The Queen was welcomed on board Royal Navy flagship HMS Queen Elizabeth ahead of its operational deployment to the Indo-Pacific region.

The £3 billion warship, with eight RAF F35B stealth fighter jets on board, will depart later on Saturday for Asia accompanied by six Royal Navy ships, a submarine, 14 naval helicopters and a company of Royal Marines.

Her Majesty was greeted by the ship’s commanding officer Captain Angus Essenhigh, and Commodore Stephen Moorhouse, commander of the UK Carrier Strike Group, as she arrived by helicopter on board the aircraft carrier at Portsmouth Naval Base.

Her tour follows a visit by Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Friday.

The 28-week deployment will cover 26,000 nautical miles travelling through the Mediterranean to the Red Sea, then from the Gulf of Aden to the Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean to the Philippine Sea.

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Italy investigators probe why cable car brake ‘didn’t work’

STRESA, Italy (AP) — The investigation into Italy’s cable car disaster that killed 14 people will focus on why the lead cable snapped and why the emergency brake didn’t engage and prevent the cabin from careening back down the mountain until it pulled off the support line and crashed to the ground, the lead prosecutor said Monday.

Verbania Prosecutor Olimpia Bossi outlined the contours of her investigation based on what she said was objective, empirical fact of what occurred: “The brakes of the security system didn’t work. Otherwise the cabin would have stopped,” she said. “Why that happened is naturally under investigation.”

Bossi spoke to reporters as the lone survivor of Sunday’s horrific tragedy, a 5-year-old Israeli boy living in Italy, remained hospitalized in Turin in intensive care with multiple broken bones.

The Israeli foreign ministry identified him as Eitan Biran. His parents, younger brother and two great-grandparents were among the dead, the ministry said, correcting an earlier statement that had included Eitan among the victims.

Italian media identified all the other victims as residents of Italy.

The disaster, in one of the most picturesque spots in northern Italy — the Mottarone mountaintop overlooking Lake Maggiore and other lakes near Switzerland — raised questions anew about the quality and safety of Italy’s transport infrastructure.

Transport Minister Enrico Giovannini visited the site Monday and announced a commission of inquiry to investigate the “technical and organizational causes” of the disaster, while prosecutors will focus on any criminal blame.

Giovannini told reporters in Stresa, the lakefront town at the foot of the Mottarone peak, that the aim of the investigative commission would be to “ensure this never happens again.”

The transport ministry said a preliminary check of the cable line’s safety and maintenance record show that the whole lift structure underwent a renovation in August 2016, and that a full maintenance check was performed in 2017 and more inspections last year.

In November and December 2020, other checks were performed on the cables themselves, including magnetic inspections on the primary cables of the lift: the cable that pulls the cabin up the mountain, the support cable that holds the car and the rescue cables. In December another visual check was performed, the ministry said.

The mayor of Stresa, Marcella Severino, quoted witnesses as saying they heard a “loud hiss,” apparently when the lead cable snapped. She said the cabin reeled back down the line until it apparently hit a pylon and then plummeted to the ground. It rolled over two or three times before crashing into trees, she said.

Some of the bodies were thrown from the car and were found amid the trees, rescue workers said.

In on-camera comments to LaPresse news agency and other reporters in her office, Bossi noted that the emergency brake had engaged on the other cable car that was traveling in the opposite direction, down the mountain.

She said the possible crimes that are being investigated are multiple manslaughter, attempted manslaughter and an “attack on public transport.” She acknowledged the transport crime was an unusual hypothesis, but justified it by recalling that a cable car up and down a mountain is a form of public transportation.

The funicular line is popular with tourists and locals alike to scale Mottarone, which reaches a height of 1,491 meters (4,900 feet) and overlooks several picturesque lakes and the surrounding Alps of Italy’s Piedmont region. The mountain hosts a small amusement park, Alpyland, that has a children’s rollercoaster, and the area also has mountain bike paths and hiking trails.

It only reopened a few weeks ago after Italy’s wintertime coronavirus lockdowns lifted, and officials hypothesized that families were taking advantage of a sunny Sunday to visit the peak and take in the view.

The mayor declared a day of mourning for Stresa, which like tourist destinations around the country had suffered from COVID-19 lockdowns that not only slashed foreign tourism but cut local day-trip visits by Italians.

The Israeli foreign ministry identified the five Israelis killed as Eitan’s parents, Amit Biran and Tal Peleg-Biran, an Israeli-born couple studying and working in Pavia. Biran’s Facebook page identifies him as a medical student at the University of Pavia.

Their 2-year-old son, Tom Biran, died at the scene, as were Peleg-Biran’s grandparents, Barbara and Yitzhak Cohen. The ministry said they had arrived in Italy on May 19 to visit their granddaughter and great-grandchildren.

Amit Biran’s sister, Aya, wasn’t involved in the crash and was at the bedside of Eitan at Turin’s Regina Margherita hospital, the foreign ministry said, adding that other family members were flying to Italy from Israel to join her.

In a tweet Tuesday, Italy’s national firefighting squad said they were cheering for Eitan even as they mourned the others: “Forza Eitan (Go Eitan), all the firefighters are with you.”

The head of intensive care at the Turin hospital, Dr. Giorgio Ivani, said Eitan was sedated and intubated after surgery to repair his broken bones. An MRI scan was planned for Monday to assess any brain injury, though hospital officials have noted that he was conscious when he arrived.

Among the other victims were an Italian researcher, Serena Consentino, and her Iranian-born companion, Mohammadreza Shahaisavandi, according to a statement from Italy’s National Council of Research, where Consentino had a research grant.

Also killed at the scene were Vittorio Zorloni and his wife, Elisabetta Persanini. Their 6-year-old son, Mattia, died at Regina Margherita after multiple efforts to restart his heart, hospital officials said.

A young couple, Silvia Malnati and Alessandro Merlo, were killed while Malnati’s brother stayed down in town and frantically tried to call her, Italy’s La Stampa newspaper reported, quoting the brother.

Another couple, Roberta Pistolato and Angelo Vito Gasparro were celebrating Gasparro’s 45th birthday. La Stampa said Roberta texted her sister in Puglia right before the tragedy: “We’re going up in the funicular. It’s paradise here.”

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St. Paul Officer Who Let Police Dog Maul Black Man Sentenced To 6 Years In Prison

A federal jury found Brett Palkowitsch guilty of kicking Frank Baker and letting a police dog attack him after Baker was mistaken for a robbery suspect.

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — A federal judge sentenced a former St. Paul police officer Friday to six years in prison for kicking a suspect and allowing a police dog to maul him.

Brett Palkowitsch, 33, apologized through tears during the sentencing hearing before U.S. District Judge Wilhelmina Wright, Minnesota Public Radio reported. He said he would be willing to put himself in front of future officers to make sure “they know right from wrong, and how quick it can happen, and make sure it never happens again.”

A federal jury in 2019 found Palkowitsch, who is white, guilty of kicking Frank Baker, a Black man, and letting a police dog maul him in 2016 after Baker was mistaken for a robbery suspect. Baker suffered seven broken ribs and collapsed lungs.

Baker said he forgives Palkowitsch but wouldn’t accept his apology. He said he still has trouble breathing.

“We’ve got this COVID-19 going on, and my lungs are messed up, so it’s like I’m a prisoner in my own home,” Baker told the radio network. “I can’t go out because I’m primed to catch anything because of my lungs.”

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Max Mosley: Privacy campaigner and ex-motorsport boss dies at 81

 

Former motorsport boss Max Mosley, who later became a privacy campaigner, has died aged 81.

Ex-Formula 1 boss Bernie Ecclestone said it was “like losing a brother”.

Mr Mosley served three terms as president of motorsport’s governing body the FIA from 1993 to 2009.

He also campaigned for tighter press regulation after winning £60,000 damages from the News of the World when it wrongly published a story alleging he had attended a Nazi-themed orgy.

Mr Mosley, in his role as FIA president, led widespread reforms of safety procedures in Formula 1 following the death of Ayrton Senna in 1994.

Mr Ecclestone added: “He did, a lot of good things not just for motorsport, also the [car] industry. He was very good in making sure people built cars that were safe.”

Current FIA president Jean Todt said in a tweet he was “deeply saddened” by the news, adding that Mr Mosley “strongly contributed to reinforcing safety on track and on the roads”.

Meanwhile, a spokesman for F1 described Mr Mosley as “a huge figure in the transition” of the sport.

Privacy campaign

Mr Mosley – the son of 1930s British fascist leader Sir Oswald Mosley – took his privacy action against Sunday tabloid the News of the World in 2008 over the paper’s story.

The newspaper had secretly filmed him with five prostitutes and later published a front-page story.

A judge ruled there was no substance to the allegation that there had been a Nazi theme to the sex party and found that his privacy had been breached. The High Court also said the article was not in the public interest.

Although Mr Mosley was awarded damages, everyone had learned the details of his sexual preferences, and he argued money alone could not restore his reputation.

He went on to seek reform of celebrity privacy laws, making a bid in 2011 for newspapers to warn people before exposing their private lives.

His case was unsuccessful, but it led Mr Mosley to use some of his family fortune to support victims of the Fleet Street phone-hacking scandal.

He also backed the independent press regulator Impress through a family charity, which Mr Mosley set up in his son Alexander’s memory, after he died in 2009.

Mr Mosley said in 2011 that the story had a “very bad effect” on Alexander, whose death was ruled as being due to non-dependent drug abuse.

Impress chief executive Ed Procter said Mr Mosley improved access to justice for victims of press misconduct and put “his own resources behind efforts to ensure that these issues will not be forgotten”.

Hacked Off, which was set up in response to phone-hacking, said it was thanks to Mr Mosley’s “courage and generosity that the movement for a more ethical press remains so effective today”.

And media lawyer Mark Stephens, who represented phone-hacking victims, described Mr Mosley as “effectively the author of modern privacy law”.

A sporting life

Born in London on 13 April, 1940, Mr Mosley studied physics at Christ Church, Oxford, and later turned to law and became a barrister.

After a brief career as racing driver in the late 1960s, in which he rose to race in Formula 2, he co-founded the racing car constructor March in 1970 with Robin Herd, Alan Rees and Graham Coaker – the company name formed from the initial letters of their surnames.

The company won its first three Formula 1 races in 1970 and later diversified into other forms of motorsport, but by the end of 1977 Mr Mosley had left the company to work full-time in motorsport politics.

He joined forces with Bernie Ecclestone at the Formula 1 Constructors’ Association (FOCA) and the two fought a bitter political war for control of the sport with the governing body, then called FISA, in 1980 and 1981.

The arguments were finally settled with the so-called Concorde Agreement, which essentially set up the structure of the sport that remains in place to this day – FOCA, later to be renamed F1, held the commercial rights, while FISA controlled the rules.

image caption Max Mosley at his wedding to Jean Taylor in London in 1960

Mr Mosley left motorsport in 1982 to work for the Conservative Party but returned four years later to become president of the FISA manufacturers’ commission.

He used the role as a springboard to launch a bid for the presidency of FISA in 1991. Mr Mosley then became president of its parent body the FIA, the international automobile federation, when the two were merged in 1993.

He quickly established a modus operandi as a president who was proactive, provocative and controversial.

In 1993, he instigated a ban on driver aids such as traction control and active suspension against the wishes of the teams. And his combative approach, in which he used a vast intellect to devise clever strategy and often Machiavellian tactics, continued over his near two-decade stay in his role.

His biggest challenge came a year later, when Ayrton Senna was killed in an accident at the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix that was broadcast live around the world – just 24 hours after Austrian driver Roland Ratzenberger died in a crash during qualifying for the same race.

As a global sporting icon, and an almost God-like figure in his native Brazil, Mr Senna’s death raised serious questions about safety in Formula 1, and world leaders contacted Mr Mosley questioning the sport’s position.

Recognising the threat to the sport’s existence, Mr Mosley introduced a series of changes to the cars, setting in motion a new approach whereby the safety of the drivers and spectators was central to the ethos of motorsport and attempts were made to constantly improve it.

In this, he was backed by Mr Ecclestone, and supported by the FIA medical delegate Professor Sid Watkins and the FIA F1 director Charlie Whiting. Together they changed the face of the sport.

image caption Max Mosley became a prominent privacy campaigner after winning his 2008 legal action

As FIA president he also turned his attention to road cars, and was central in introducing the Euro NCAP crash testing programme.

This required manufacturers to meet minimum safety standards in their cars for the first time and has played a significant role in reducing the number of deaths in road accidents.

Teams’ revolt

But the longer Mr Mosley remained in situ, the more F1 teams began to become uncomfortable with what they saw as an authoritarian and arbitrary approach, along with sometimes questionable methods and motives.

Mr Mosley’s reputation with the F1 teams was badly damaged by his deal to remove the TV rights to F1 from Foca and sell them on a 100-year lease to Mr Ecclestone’s companies for what many considered to be a paltry one-off figure of $360m in 1995.

His antagonistic style of running the sport continued through the 2000s and the beginning of the end of his time at the FIA came with the News Of The World’s story.

He survived the initial outcry but when in 2009 he tried to introduce a budget cap into F1, the big teams had had enough.

The latest of many political fights began, and this time Mr Mosley lost. The major teams and car manufacturers threatened to set up a rival championship, and to bring them back into the fold Mr Mosley had to agree not to seek a further term as president when his latest one expired in October 2009.

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