Cop: We help all, even racists
The black director of South Carolina’s public safety agency said yesterday that he was surprised a photo showing him helping a white man wearing a racist T-shirt went viral. But he is hoping it will be a catalyst for people to work towards overcoming hatred and violence. Leroy Smith said the photo, taken at a Ku Klux Klan rally on Sunday, captured “who we are in South Carolina” and represents what law enforcement is all about: helping people “regardless of the person’s skin colour, nationality or beliefs”. The photo, taken by Governor Nikki Haley’s spokesman, shows Smith leading the unidentified man, who is suffering from the heat, to shade at the top of the Statehouse steps for treatment. The man has a swastika on his T-shirt. The photo shows just the hand of black Columbia Fire Chief Aubrey Jenkins, who was helping. The North Carolinabased Loyal White Knights of the KKK held a rally to protest against the removal of the Confederate flag from Statehouse grounds a week earlier. succumbed to injuries he received on the night of July 13-14. The three migrants had tried to board a ferry before entering the tunnel where they were hit by an electric charge. At least four people have died in and around the tunnel entrance . Africa The former dictator of Chad and his supporters were led shouting from the court at the start of his trial yesterday. Hissene Habre, 72, is accused of planning the torture and murder of tens of thousands of people and is the subject of the first
Leroy Smith (left) hopes the viral picture will inspire others. universal jurisdiction trial, held in Senegal, of an African leader. The former dictator, who ruled Chad from 1982 to 1990 and denies any knowledge of atrocities, had said he would boycott the trial, heard by the newly created Special African Chamber — but he was marshalled into the Dakar court by custody officers. In the dock, he shouted out: “Down with imperialists! It is a farce by rotten Senegalese politicians! African traitors! Valet of America!” He was then removed. The prosecutor said statements had been taken from more than 2000 people, and legal teams had visited mass grave sites.
Liberia has discharged its last four Ebola patients, leaving the west African nation with no known cases of the deadly tropical fever. The two men and two boys — part of a cluster of six new confirmed cases — were released from the ELWA II clinic in Monrovia yesterday after making a full recovery. Liberia was declared free of transmission on May 9, six weeks after the funeral of its last case. But a 17-year-old died in the coastal county of Margibi at the end of last month after passing the virus on to five others, one of whom died. Caught smoking by Street View A British husband who told his wife he had quit smoking was caught out after being snapped by Google Street View. Julie Ryding, from Leasowe, Merseyside, became suspicious over her husband’s doctor-enforced health drive when she found wrappers in his car. After hearing the Street View car had been round, she checked their street on the web tool — only to find husband Donald, 58, smoking on the drive. “You can’t believe the trouble he caused that day,” Mrs Ryding said. “He still smokes, but he has cut down . . . When Street View launched, they didn’t blur out faces, but there was no need to with him, he was covered by a cloud of smoke anyway.”