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Malala Yousafzai graduates from Oxford
Malala Yousafzai has celebrated completing her degree at Oxford University by sharing photos of herself covered in cake and spending time with her family. The female education activist studied for a bachelor’s degree in philosophy, politics and economics at Lady Margaret Hall.
Sharing a post on Instagram to mark her academic achievement, she wrote that it is “hard to express my joy and gratitude right now”. Yousafzai informed her 1.3 million followers that she doesn’t know “what’s ahead” in her life as of yet, but “for now, it will be Netflix, reading and sleep”.
The Nobel Prize laureate shared two photographs on the social media platform, the first of which shows her covered in cake and confetti, as part of traditional Oxford University graduation celebrations. In the second picture, Yousafzai sits at a table surrounded by her family, with a cake in front of her decorated with the message, “Happy Graduation Malala”.
Police force refers itself over video of black man being arrested
A police force has referred itself to an independent watchdog over a video showing a black man shouting “I can’t breathe” while being arrested. The family of Simeon Francis, 35, believe excessive force was used by Devon and Cornwall Police during his arrest in Exeter in July 2019.
The father-of-one died in police custody in Torquay on 20 May 2020 after being arrested by officers from the same police force. A preliminary post-mortem did not find a cause of death and the Independent Office for Police Conduct is now investigating both incidents.
Mr Francis’s family lodged a complaint with Devon and Cornwall Police on Wednesday after they were made aware of a video filmed by a passerby during his arrest in July 2019. In the footage, Mr Francis is surrounded by about 10 officers who push him against a wall before bringing him to the ground. Mr Francis can be heard complaining that he can’t breathe and accusing the officers of being racist.
He was arrested again shortly before 1am on 20 May this year in Cowley Bridge Road, Exeter, and transported by police van to Torquay police station – about 20 miles away – where he was booked into custody at about 3am. Mr Francis was found unresponsive in his cell later that day and pronounced dead at about 6pm.
Man beaten with hammer in ‘racist attack’
A man has been beaten with a hammer and other weapons by three assailants as he lay in bed in Dungiven, Northern Ireland, in what police are treating as a racially motivated hate crime.
The attackers forced entry into the man’s upstairs flat and hit him around the head, body and legs, shortly before midnight on Thursday. He was taken to hospital where he received medical treatment.
“This was vicious attack on a defenceless man in his own home,” Detective Inspector Peter McKenna said. Police said the attackers were “described as white males in their mid-20s with local accents and all three had their faces covered with scarves”.
Attacks on emergency workers up 24% on last year
Attackers on emergency service workers have jumped by almost a quarter during the coronavirus crisis and violent protests, figures suggest. Provisional data from all 43 territorial forces in England and Wales shows assaults on emergency services workers rose by 24 per cent amid a string of coughing or spitting attacks, where Covid-19 has been used as a threat, as well as disorder during protests triggered by the death of George Floyd in the US.
A National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) report published yesterday said: “These offences are recorded in relatively low volumes and it is thought the 24 per cent rise may be driven by increases in common assaults on police constables, including suspects spitting on officers while claiming to be infected with Covid-19. The latest rise follows an increase of 14 per cent reported last month and will include some assaults related to disorder in the wake of public protests in early June.”