News
Protests after Black man killed by police in Atlanta
Demonstrators have taken to the streets in Atlanta in protest against the fatal shooting by police of a Black man who had fallen asleep in his car while waiting in line at a fast food drive-through south of downtown.
The Friday night incident comes at a time of heightened tension over police brutality and calls for reforms across the United States following the May 25 death of George Floyd in Minneapolis after a police officer kneeled on his neck for nearly nine minutes.
Police had been called on 27-year-old Rayshard Brooks for sleeping in a car blocking the drive-through lane of a Wendy’s restaurant on Friday night. After Brooks failed a field sobriety test, the officers attempted to place him into custody, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigations (GBI), an independent agency that has been asked by the Atlanta Police Department to investigate the killing.
According to the GBI, Brooks resisted arrest and a struggle ensued, leading an officer to deploy a Taser.
When the Taser did not work, Brooks reportedly tried to take it from the officer. A second officer then tried to use a Taser on Brooks, but it had no effect, Atlanta Deputy Police Chief Timothy Peek told reporters after the incident. During the tussle, Brooks was shot and later died at a local hospital.
The GBI said in a statement it was investigating reports “that the male subject was shot by an officer in the struggle over the Taser”.
A crowd of demonstrators gathered at the scene of the shooting on Saturday.
The president of the Georgia NAACP, the Reverend James Woodall, has called for the firing of Atlanta Police Chief Erika Shields, according to the Atlanta Journal Constitution newspaper.
The GBI said it was reviewing video footage of the incident taken by witnesses. That video, which was posted on social media, shows Brooks on the ground outside his car, struggling with two police officers. The shooting later occurs out of frame.
Atlanta was among many large US cities where large crowds of protesters have taken to the streets in recent days.
Gerald Griggs, a lawyer and vice president of Atlanta’s NAACP chapter, estimated there were 150 people protesting at the scene as he walked with them on Saturday afternoon.
“The people are upset,” Griggs said. “They want to know why their dear brother Rayshard Brooks was shot and killed when he was merely asleep on the passenger side and not doing anything.”
Even though Brooks struggled with officers, Griggs said, “they could have used nonlethal force to take him down”.
Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard said his office has also “launched an intense, independent investigation of the incident”.
Stacey Abrams, the Georgia Democrat who gained national prominence running for governor in 2018, tweeted on Saturday of the shooting that “sleeping in a drive-thru must not end in death”.
“The killing of #RayshardBrooks in Atlanta last night demands we severely restrict the use of deadly force,” Abrams’s tweet said. “Yes, investigations must be called for – but so too should accountability.”
The officers involved in the shooting were not immediately identified.
SOURCE: NEWS AGENCIES
News
Ghana-Colombia strengthens ties through diplomatic engagement
In an important diplomatic engagement, the Colombian Ambassador to Ghana H.E. Daniel Garces Carabali paid a courtesy call on the Minister for the Interior, Muntaka Mohammed-Mubarak, at his office in Accra to discuss some key areas of collaboration.
The meeting focused on pressing issues, including security, decongestion of Ghana’s prisons, prison reform programmes, training programmes, improving the welfare of prisoners and enhancing disaster management in the country.
The courtesy call underscores the growing bilateral ties between Ghana and Colombia, building on previous engagements, such as the visit of the Colombian Vice President to Ghana in 2023.
The meeting demonstrates the commitment of both nations to fostering cooperation and addressing shared challenges.
News
Ghana to host African Catholic Journalists from August 10
The Union Catholique Africaine de la Presse (UCAP), also known as the African Catholic Union of the Press, in collaboration with the Catholic Association of Media Practitioners-Ghana (CAMP-G), is set to host its prestigious Triennial Congress from August 10 to 17 August, 2025.
The programme would be held at the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA), Legon, Accra, Ghana.
This landmark event, the most significant gathering of Catholic journalists in Africa, will bring together media professionals, researchers, and experts in digital technology from across the continent and beyond.
The theme for the Congress is: “Balancing Technological Progress and the Preservation of Human Values in the Age of Artificial Intelligence.”
Congress Highlights
The UCAP Congress 2025 will feature discussions and deliberations on critical issues arising from or related to integral human development, particularly within the framework of Artificial Intelligence (AI).
Some of the key sub-themes to be addressed include:Corporate Social Responsibility in Managing the Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Human Values, Deploying AI in Eco-friendly Business Start-ups in Africa: Opportunities and Challenges, Technology and the Reprogramming of Social Reality, Distortion of Reality in Social and Digital Media, Ecological Education and Action Against Unsustainable Exploitation of Natural Resources, and Media and the Promotion of the Recommendations of the Synod on Synodality in Africa.
Participants will include media professionals from both ecclesiastical and lay organisations, media researchers and academics, representatives from the Vatican, government agencies, NGOs, civil society, and the digital technology sector.
Objectives of the Congress
The primary goal of this Congress is to strengthen the capacities of media professionals and educate the public on the necessity of preserving human values amid rapid technological progress. Specific objectives include; Training 100 media practitioners in Artificial Intelligence and emerging technologies, with a focus on balancing innovation and human values.
This will include promoting ethics and bioethics in technical research and technological innovations through media.
Advocating for human values such as respect for life, human dignity, charity, solidarity, and human rights and assessing the impact of technological progress to better understand the challenges, risks, and opportunities presented by AI will be part of the objectives.
UCAP is a continental organisation dedicated to promoting communication within the Catholic Church and its partners in Africa. With a mission to foster spiritual growth, collaboration, and responsible journalism, UCAP works to spread the Gospel, uphold human values, and support developmental initiatives across Africa and beyond.
UCAP is an independent, autonomous, non-political, and non-profit organisation comprising African Catholic journalists, communicators, academics, researchers, and institutions in various media fields.
