Accusations that indeed no longer is that exploiting coronavirus lockdowns to clear land undisturbed and. If the very end of the story. United at last parents finally meet their so to get children whod been stranded in the ukraine due to coronavirus restrictions. Just one day after george floyd was laid to rest his brother has testified at a congressional hearing looking at racial inequality and Police Violence in the United States alone as floyd called his brothers death a modern day lynching in broad daylight and those politicians to stop the pain i did jocasta reports from washington. Philonous cloyd travel directly from his brothers funeral in houston to the u. S. Capitol george call for help and he was ignored please listen to the couch im making to you now to the cause of our family and the cause ringing out the streets across the world people of our backgrounds genders and races have come together to demand change House Democrats have proposed sweeping legislation to Reform Police departments in the wake of George Floyds death that includes increasing Police Accountability for officer misconduct and Banning Police chokehold. Im tired im tired of. Pain you feel when you watch Something Like this when you watch a big brother who do looked up to for your whole life da da big of was my what we saw in minnesota the slow torture is murder of george floyd by a uniform officer was an outrage and a tragedy where we have seen since then millions of americans marching in the street to demand justice and call for reforms it has been an inspiration now its got a 7 in 10 americans now say floyds death is part of a systemic problem of police brutalizing and killing black americans defund the police has become a rallying cry for those demanding reform but the meaning of the phrase is nuance to most defunded the police means shifting some money from Police Departments to social services but to the far left any means abolishing police altogether republicans have seized on that extremist interpretation warning of an arcade they know it is pure insanity to defund the police and the fact that my democrat colleagues wont speak out against this crazy policy is just out frightening. Senate republicans are drafting their own proposal for Police Reform likely to include requirements for more bias training but the immunity officers enjoyed from civil lawsuits will likely remain intact the 2 parties competing ideas may reach a stalemate potentially resulting in nothing yet they the protesters have already made clear they wont accept that outcome they say if Congress Takes no action then voters will at the polls in november. Castro aljazeera washington. Well after giving his testimony george fords brother joined a black lives matter protests in washington for this ford walked with demonstrators who were marching in front of the white house protesters promising to keep the rallies going until meaningful change happens. When democrats and republicans in Congress Work on rival plans for Police Reform the white house says its finalizing its own mike hanna has more from washington d. C. While the white house is still to inform any change in policy there has been discussions among Administration Officials for the president to make some kind of announcement to clarify exactly what the white houses position is on Police Reform now those discussions have been ongoing there is a possibility that the president may bring up some new policy when he meets with African American religious and Law Enforcement leaders in dallas and thursday his officials are saying that this might be an occasion for him to express exactly what he feels but what he has ruled out at this particular point is a central part of what the democrats are talking about in congress and that is things like moving the liability for police changing the statute under which they are given a qualified liability for acts of violence president has ruled that out already saying that that would be unfair to Police Officers so not very clear at this stage exactly how the impact of the last few weeks of protest has the impact it has had on the white house but we do expect and Administration Officials are saying that there will be some clarity there will be a firm a policy emerging in the next few days. The Minneapolis Police department is breaking off talks with the state police union the departments chief says as part of planned reforms in the wake of george lloyds death material says the Union Contract and needs to be restructured to provide more transparency this is further examining those 6 significant matters. That touch on such things as Critical Incident protocol or use of force the significant role that supervisors play in this department and also the discipline process to include both grievances and arbitration. And i believe i speak for my chief peers here in the state of minnesota as well as across our country that there is nothing more debilitating to a chief from an Employment Matter perspective that when you have grounds to terminate an officer for misconduct when youre dealing with that 3rd Party Mechanism that allows for that employee to not only be back on your department but to be patrolling in your communities the number of corona virus infections continues to rise across brazil which has now got more daily deaths than any country in the world despite this shops and the reopening of sao paulo and Rio De Janeiro nationwide 1274. 00 deaths were recorded in the last 24 hours bringing the total to more than 39000. 00 and. The governor of the addition it will face impeachment proceedings for alleged graft wilson with still is being investigated for the overpriced purchases of ventilators and other covert 19 medical supplies and why the state the federal police also raided the Government Palace of pot of state and the governors home over some of the allegations i asked one of those in one that said it is and he says the fraud investigations are politically charged. So this is 2 investigations against 2 state governors in brazil both on opposite ends of the political spectrum the governor of the state of Rio De Janeiro will. Of the right wing used to be an ally of president john doe and the governor of the Northern State of. Butter by you all of the left wing Workers Party both have been accused by the Supreme Court of misusing state funds to buy equipment used in the treatment of the corona virus both the virulently denied those charges what both men despite being politically opposed have in common is they both support measures to try to contain 19 virus to put measures into place. To have lockdowns courage people to do social distancing both of them vocally opposed to the flagrant measures imposed by president job also now road to get people back to work to attend rallies in his support to not wear masks he has criticized both men both men have criticized him so this is a big case. Big issue between both sides both men have claimed these cases against a politically motivated president by job also naro has said he will go out after more people who misuse state funds some fear that is just a way to remove his political opponents which he of course being mentally denies so a very political case in the meantime the number of deaths in brazil continues to rise the number of people infected in the country continues to rise its now one of the worst affected countries in the world after the United States and the United Kingdom and it doesnt look as though its going to reach its peak anytime soon environmentalist and brazil are warning the criminals are taking advantage of the pandemic to clear large parts of the. Amazon rain forest despite a heightened military presence satellite images suggest the amount of forest lost is already higher than the whole of 2019 and it was one of the worst years on record. Reports from bogota. From the sky the clear patches of land look like exposed wounds in the otherwise lush rain forest this video was filmed recently over the colombian amazon illegal roads reach ever deeper into the forest well fires clear the land making space for cattle raising agriculture in coca fields. Environmentalists are sounding the alarm they say drugs mafia illegal loggers and land borders are taking advantage of colombias coronavirus lock down to burn the forest and develop the land then hindered. A new study shows the rate of deforestation in the 1st 4 months of the year could be higher than that of the whole of 2019. The context of this is land grabbing there is clearly a relationship between the deforested areas and big capital interested in taking over these lands mostly forest reserves a digitas lands National Parks the pandemic is helping but also the worsening security in these areas and the inability of forces is to blame. And the situation is even worse across the border in brazil where huge fires the stride large swaths of the jungle last year since coming to office president. Promise to open the amazon to business enabling the raising of public land and empowering loggers and land hoarders. In april environmental minister. Shocked many by saying that the pandemic was an opportunity to further reduce the forestation restrictions while attention was focused elsewhere. While both a matter of fire 3 senior officials for carrying out operations against illegal miners. This environmental official was attacked by illegal loggers in part a state after a truck with timber was stopped us hackled and struck in the face with a glass bottle this is actually the main cancer of the 1st station in the amazon right now is the. Feeling of. We need to change that to be able to demonstrate that the government is aware of the big. Under pressure to brazilian government recently dispatched thousands of troops to the amazon to address the problem but only for a month critics fear it will not be enough to stop vested interests from exploiting a Health Crisis to destroy one of the most important environments in the world i listen that im. Cleanup crews of the site of a Massive Oil Spill in Russias Arctic region say it could take years to get the job done more than 20000. 00 tons of diesel has leaked from a power plant its now seat into an environmentally frontal lake the disaster started at the end of may when a fuel storage tank failed the director of the power plant has been arrested along with 2 engineers ecologists say the spill will cause extensive damage. Still ahead on aljazeera confronting the past monuments to the confederacy face a reckoning. On what next for u. S. Troops in iraq talks begin on a potential easing of the American Military presence there. Hello weve got lots of hot sunshine across the middle east as we should do some places the cloud into Western Areas the saudi arabia sunshine pretty much all the way and its all sunshine today for the most about 47 celsius in baghdad 48 there in q. A. To me getting up to 44 degrees here in doha still a temperature as you go on through friday perhaps a little more of a breeze pushing through a breeze coming in from the northwest wind picking up some little dust and sand into southern areas of iraq pushing into kuwait they might just be that shower just around the southern end of the red sea joining up with the showers that we have across ethiopia eritrea you can see the seasonal rains there pushing their way right the way across into the gulf of guinea southern areas of nigeria seeing some very heavy downpours over the next couple of days to get a little drier just around the horn of africa say yes southwest the monsoon pushes thats a wetter weather over towards that western side of in the brights and clear and sunny here for the most part although Western Areas of kenya could just see some lively showers got some wet weather making its way into south africa the member the 1st cold front of the season sweeping through wet and windy weather for cape town all the cool so the temperatures no higher than 13 celsius without running gradually making its way further east. Throughout history human kind has come together to prevail in our darkest moments this is a moment for pretty much the opposite for hiding laying low saving humankind by really really not getting near it every generation has its moment where individual sacrifice makes way for the good of those who come after this one is ours. George you know just were a reminder of our top stories at this hour the brother of george floyd has testified at a congressional hearing looking at racial inequality and Police Violence in the u. S. Philonous freud called his brothers death a lynching and urged politicians to do more. In this joint black lives matter protesters in washington d. C. Immediately after the hearing demonstrators are promising to keep the rallies going until meaningful change happens. Brazil continues to reopen despite recalling more daily coronavirus day related deaths in any country in the world 1274. 00 were reported in the last 24 hours bringing the total to more than 39000. Symbols of colonial history of facing a reckoning around the world and the us people are especially turning their anger on statues of Christopher Columbus this effigy in minneapolis is one of several to be torn down columbus is increasingly remembered for his legacy of violent colonialism and cruel treatment towards Indigenous Peoples speaker of the house of representatives nancy pelosi says confederate statues should be removed from the Capitol Building they honor men who took up arms in order to preserve slavery in the south during the American Civil War may be the most powerful woman in america but she lacks the Legal Authority to remove the 11 statues of confederate figures. In modern portsmouth virginia protesters took matters into their own hands they destroyed part of this monument to the confederacy one persons reportedly been seriously injured after a statue fell on them. U. S. Tech giant amazon says its banning the police from using its facial recognition tool for the year theres been growing concerns the Technology May lead to unfair treatment of black people and says it hopes this can give Congress Time to impose appropriate rules for the ethical use of facial recognition the tech company has long defended the polices use of real time Surveillance Technology but a reform bill proposed by democrats a means to ban it. But if you go to a Public Policy analyst at the toning fronting a foundation she says all Government Agencies should be banned from using any kind of facial Recognition Technology technology itself is incredibly harmful you know one year is not going to make a difference and also any type of Reform Congress could pass in one year is not going to change the fact that this technology in the hands of a criminal Justice System that is very flawed is still going to end in invasive surveillance and then all the high end over policing of already vulnerable communities Face Surveillance threatens a lot of the 1st member texans we have here in the United States in terms of chilling free Speech Assembly you are much less likely to attend a protest to participate in politics even maybe go out and campaign for a candidate of your choice if you think that there might be cameras around that are going to say in your scan your face and identify you immediately people might be a much less willing to get involved in the political process we advocate for a full band of government use a base for an asian because you know no matter how much its improved no matter how much its reformed the ability for the government to track your faith as you move through society is not something thats going to become less invasive or is something thats going to become less of a hindrance to civil liberties. An inquiry has been ordered in the u. S. State of georgia after its primary election was mauled by technical glitches and claims of Voter Suppression people queued for hours to cost their votes and some areas reported shortages of new Voting Machines logical hague has more. In the stifling heat and in the pouring rain they waited for hours to simply cast a vote even for state that has a long history of Voter Suppression and election issues this was a massive failure since 1130 whats up now its 230. 00 there were going on that 4 hour we just hear this every single election cycle and theres constantly. For suppression thats going on because we dont have enough polling locations and we dont have enough machines that are and certain neighborhoods georgia spent more than 1000000