(Reuters) – Twitter users will be able to appeal account suspensions and be evaluated under the social media platform’s new criteria for reinstatement, starting Feb. 1, the company said on Friday.

Under the new criteria, which follow billionaire Elon Musk’s purchase of the company in October, Twitter accounts will only be suspended for severe or ongoing and repeat violations of the platform’s policies.

Severe policy violations include engaging in illegal content or activity, inciting or threatening violence or harm, and engaging in targeted harassment of other users, among others.

Twitter said that going forward, it will take less severe action, in comparison to account suspension, such as limiting the reach of tweets that violate its policies or asking users to remove tweets before continuing to use the account.

In December, Musk came under fire for suspending accounts of several journalists over a controversy on publishing public data about the billionaire’s plane. He later reinstated the accounts.

AP Photo/Andrew Harnik

• President Biden released a statement on the Memphis police killing of Tyre Nichols on Friday.
• The City of Memphis released four different graphic videos related to the incident.
• One video shows officers beating Nichols for minutes on end.

President Joe Biden spoke out on Friday moments after the release of several videos showing police officers brutally beating Tyre Nichols, who died from his injuries.

On Friday, The City of Memphis released four separate videos related to events surrounding the arrest and beating of Nichols, who died three days after being beaten during a traffic stop on January 7.

Biden said in a statement that he was “outraged” by what he saw. 

“Like so many, I was outraged and deeply pained to see the horrific video of the beating that resulted in Tyre Nichols’ death,” Biden said. “It is yet another painful reminder of the profound fear and trauma, the pain, and the exhaustion that Black and Brown Americans experience every single day.”

The videos show five police officers ganging up on Nichols, who initially complied with police during the traffic stop but later flees on foot. One video shows officers taking turns punching, kicking, and kneeing Nichols and kneeling on him before he becomes unresponsive and is taken away in an ambulance.

On Thursday, the five officers were indicted on second-degree murder charges.

Biden offered condolences to the Nichols family, who he spoke with on Friday, and called on Congress to pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act.

“I spoke with RowVaughn Wells and Rodney Wells, Mr. Nichols’ mother and stepfather, this afternoon. There are no words to describe the heartbreak and grief of losing a beloved child and young father,” Biden added.”My heart goes out to Tyre Nichols’ family and to Americans in Memphis and across the country who are grieving this tremendously painful loss.”

Haven Orecchio, Insider

• Memphis police released footage of five officers beating Tyre Nichols, who died three days later.
• Protesters gathered in Memphis on Friday evening, chanting “no justice, no peace.”
• Content note: This story describes police brutality and death and contains graphic videos.

‘It could have been me’ a truck driver tells Insider

MEMPHIS, Tennessee — Speaking from the driver’s seat of an 18-wheeler trying to merge onto I-55, truck driver Mark told insider he was running out of fuel.

He didn’t know that he’d run into the protest. If he did, he said, he would have left later.

A Black man, he said he doesn’t fault the protestors and would “possibly” be out with them if he was from here. He’s on his way to Oklahoma with 1,400 miles left.

“It could have been me,” he told Insider. “It’s not the first and it won’t be the last.”

Tyre Nichols video: Body cam footage showing brutal police beating by 5 Memphis police officers releasedA portrait of Tyre Nichols is displayed at a memorial service for him on Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2023 in Memphis, Tenn. Nichols was killed during a traffic stop with Memphis Police on Jan. 7.

Adrian Sainz/AP Photo

MEMPHIS, Tennessee — The Memphis Police Department released disturbing footage Friday evening showing the brutal beating of Tyre Nichols, with Memphis and other major US cities bracing for protests and civil unrest.

The violent footage, from police body cameras and stationary cameras, was released on the department’s Vimeo page.

“You guys are really doing a lot right now,” Nichols is heard saying to the officers at the start of the videos, which were released in four parts. “I’m just trying to go home.”

The beating occurred during a traffic stop in Memphis’ Hickory Hill neighborhood on January 7. Nichols, who was 29, died of his injuries three days later. Authorities said Nichols had been stopped by the officers and accused of reckless driving, but Memphis Police Chief Cerelyn J. Davis has since said the department has not found proof to substantiate the reckless driving allegation.

Memphis officials and others with access to the video had warned the public of the gruesome nature of the footage in advance of its release on Friday. 

READ FULL STORY

Protesters gathered in Memphis ahead of the video release saying they didn’t need to see the footage because they knew ‘it was murder’People in Memphis protest the death of Tyre Nichols, who was fatally beaten by police officers.

Haven Orecchio, Insider

MEMPHIS, Tennessee — Protesters gathered at Martyrs Park in Memphis, Tennessee, around 6 p.m. local time on Friday evening as the city braced for the release of graphic body camera footage that shows several police officers fatally beating Tyre Nichols.

Demonstrators said they didn’t need to wait for the video — they already knew Nichols’ death was murder.

Five officers have been charged with second-degree murder.

Approximately hundreds of protesters blocked a long line of 18-wheelers on Old Bridge, chanting “You take our lives, we’ll take your money” and “no justice, no peace.

Sherri, a Memphis native, told Insider her 28-year-old Black son moved to Germany, and she’s glad he’s out of the country and away from cops in Memphis. She said she was pulled over on Thursday night and was nervous.

When an officer asked her why she was anxious, she responded: “Not all interactions end this way.” 

Vanguard

• Investors should consider moving cash into the market right now, according to Vanguard’s global head of investor research and policy.
• Retail investors are trading less, which suggests a “stay the course” stance and more upbeat economic outlook, Fiona Greig explained. 
• In her view, investors can capitalize on the current landscape by increasing their savings rate and leaning more into employer-sponsored retirement accounts.

Investors are increasingly holding their positions in the market despite volatility, and that points to optimism for the broader economic outlook, according to Vanguard’s global head of investor research and policy, Fiona Greig.

There has been lower retail trading activity recently, and that willingness to maintain positions suggests a more upbeat view for stocks, she told Insider in an interview.

“Yes, there’s been volatility, but the longer-term outlook [investors] have for the stock market is stable,” Greig said. “So unless they have a particular need to liquidate or pull out, investors are really staying the course, and I think that’s good news.”

In a Thursday note from Vanguard detailing investor behavior trends, data shows that investors in December expected stock returns in the next 12 months of 2.7%, up from a five-year low of 0.6% in October but still more pessimistic than a year ago.

And investors’ expectations for returns over the next 10 years has been relatively stable, dipping to 7% last month from 7.2% in October, reinforcing Greig’s view that near-term market tremors haven’t yet deterred the majority of investors. The numbers show it’s still a buy-and-hold environment.

Investors have turned a bit less anxious about short-term stock returns, as of December 2022.

Vanguard

“One way to read this is that rate hikes are priced in,” Greig said. “Look at December’s rate hike, it was a non-event in markets. That suggests to me that markets are expecting a moderation strategy for the Fed. There’s some lower expectations for stock market returns in the short term, but we see pretty clear expectations and optimism for returns in the next 12 months, and even 10 years.”

Ramp up savings rates for 2023

Climbing optimism indicates it could be a good time to consider moving cash into markets, which could be done with minimal risk and at a low cost, according to Greig. She said right now there’s an opportunity to increase your savings rate and ramp up the allocation of funds.

“I would make sure to take advantage right now of employer-sponsored retirement plans,” she said. 

The investment strategist added that it’s important not to let volatility spook you into changing your strategy or shedding positions. Choppiness should be expected after a brutal year like 2022, she explained, and the ongoing debt ceiling standoff could bring further uncertainty.

“Stay the course,” Greig said. “Don’t let volatility and short-term fluctuations cause you to pull out unnecessarily.”

By Aloysius Uche Ordu

On Monday, January 30, the Brookings Africa Growth Initiative (AGI) will launch its annual flagship report, Foresight Africa.

Since we launched the previous edition of Foresight Africa in January 2022, our world has changed remarkably. Russia invaded Ukraine—an unanticipated event that roiled the global economy and sent food, fuel, and fertilizer prices sky high. Sanctions on Russia resulted in trade and logistical bottlenecks, which added more pressure on already strained supply chains. The U.S. Federal Reserve and other major central banks’ unrelenting efforts to tame inflation ushered in a new era of high interest rates and aggravated several countries’ ability to settle their international financial obligations. Meanwhile, the uneven recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic continued to feature in headlines across Africa and elsewhere. The combination of fragility in parts of the African continent and adverse weather conditions dampened economic growth in the region in 2022.

With these external and internal headwinds, it is easy to be pessimistic about Africa’s prospects. Yet, time and time again—as we have seen in the case of the Ebola crisis, HIV/AIDS crisis, and now the COVID-19 pandemic—Africa has proved resilient. We must be conscious of the danger of a single story—especially as many African countries will continue to fare well, despite the odds. Indeed, even though the region is unlikely to be fully out of the woods in 2023, the Economist Intelligence Unit forecasts overall growth of 3.2 percent. Medium-sized economies, such as Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Kenya, will drive much of this growth—with predicted growth rates of 5 to 7 percent in the year ahead. On the other hand, the region’s economic powerhouses (South Africa, Nigeria, and Egypt) are expected to record slower growth.

Despite these obstacles, I open this year’s edition on an optimistic note, bearing in mind Africa’s resilience and demonstrated capacity to weather severe headwinds. This optimism is buoyed by several factors: an enhanced collaboration that culminated in operationalization of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA); the coming together of African institutions (the African Union, Africa CDC, United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, African Export-Import Bank, and others) to secure funding for vaccines; and the region’s rapid adoption of technological innovations to address practical problems—as evidenced by the innovative digital services that boomed during the pandemic.

Being cognizant that there have been few moments in history where the world has experienced such a multitude of successive shocks, going into 2023, we see renewed solidarity and collaboration emerging across Africa to address the confluence of crises. I and the Africa Growth Initiative team are therefore excited to feature Africa’s newfound solidarity on this year’s cover. This is visually represented by ribbons flowing together and moving in the same direction, underpinned by a common purpose. The vibrant colors and ethnic texture in the ribbons embody the continent’s diversity, dynamism, and action toward a future together for the greater good of all Africans. Moreover, in sharp contrast to previous editions, this year’s report includes brand new themes based on feedback from policymakers on education and skills and cities and urban development. We are also proud that women account for a significant proportion of our contributors—and as we did last year, we have dedicated a full chapter to gender, specifically the gender dimensions of Africa’s economic recovery, and what strategies policymakers should be attuned to in order to close the gender gap.

As with every iteration of Foresight Africa, we aim to capture the top priorities for the region in the year ahead, offering recommendations for supporting Africa at a time of heightened global turbulence. We hope that Foresight Africa 2023 will promote dialogue on the key issues influencing development policy and practice in Africa throughout this year. Such ideas will ultimately provide sound strategies for expanding the benefits of economic growth to all Africans in the years ahead.

We will continue to incorporate the feedback we receive from our readers and lead the debate on Africa’s priorities through high-level convenings, impactful research, actionable policy briefs, and timely commentaries.

You can use #ForesightAfrica to follow the debate on Twitter or send your thoughts to @BrookingsGlobal to be part of the conversation.

Finally, we hope that you will join us for our launch event on Monday, January 30.

      

Netflix

• Ex-“Game of Thrones” star Gwendoline Christie was excited to play something opposite of Brienne. 
• Her character in Netflix’s “Wednesday” was crafted as subversion of a “Hitchcock heroine.”
• Christie told Vogue in an interview that costume designer Colleen Atwood made her feel “celebrated.”

“Game of Thrones” star Gwendoline Christie played Larissa Weems in Netflix’s hit series “Wednesday,” a character whose sleek style was a far cry from Brienne of Tarth’s armor. While breaking down 10 of her fashion looks for Vogue, Christie praised the hit show’s costume designer for making her feel incredible.

“I was overwhelmed to have the opportunity to work with Colleen Atwood,” Christie said. 

Atwood and Christie were on the same page from the start when it came to Larissa’s visual aesthetic. Atwood thought the look should be inspired by “The Birds” star Tippi Hedren, and Christie had already been dreaming up a ruthless “Hitchcock heroine” style.

“Colleen and I had these wonderful fittings where she has a laser-like mind,” Christie said. “She always made me feel celebrated. She made me feel that my body was beautiful — that I was beautiful, that I wear clothes well, and that my ideas were welcome and relevant.”

Christie said she had felt ready to play a character that was the total opposite of Brienne of Tarth in “Game of Thrones,” who was often looked down upon for her looks and desires to be a woman and a knight. 

Gwendoline Christie as Brienne of Tarth in HBO’s “Game of Thrones.”

hbo.com

“That character was having to overcome a lot of shame regarding the way society treated the character,” Christie said. “But this is a character who is bold and assured and proud.

While reflecting on her TV costumes and red-carpet looks along with her runway appearances, the 6’3″ star said people in the fashion world have welcomed her much more quickly than in Hollywood.

“It took a long time for me to feel embraced by the acting industry, but the fashion industry did embrace me,” Christie said. “For everything about me that society said didn’t work. For everything about my loudness, my opinions, my sense of humor, my desire to change and transform, and simultaneously demand to take up space with the body I was born into. 

You can watch the full video on Vogue’s YouTube channel. The first season of “Wednesday” is now streaming on Netflix.

The city of Memphis released shocking, graphic video footage on Friday of the violent encounter between Tyre Nichols, a 29-year-old Black man, and the five police officers charged with murder in his beating death after a traffic stop earlier this month.

One video clip shows officers dragging Nichols from the driver’s seat of his car as he yells, “Damn, I didn’t do anything … I am just trying to go home,” then force him to the ground as they order him to lay on his stomach and squirt him in the face with pepper spray.

Nichols then breaks free, scrambles to his feet and sprints away down a road with officers chasing him on foot; at least one fires a stun gun at him.

A separate video shows a subsequent struggle after officers catch up with Nichols again, and are beating him. Two officers are seen holding him down as a third one kicks him and a fourth delivers blows with what appears to be a rod before another punches Nichols.

Nichols is heard repeatedly screaming, “Mom! Mom!” as he struggles with officers. His mother has said her son was only about 80 yards (meters) from home when he was beaten. A stretcher is seen arriving 19 minutes after the first emergency medical personnel get to the scene.

The four segments of highly anticipated footage from police body-worn cameras and a camera mounted on a utility pole were posted online a day after the officers were charged with second-degree murder, assault, kidnapping, official misconduct and oppression.

The officers, all Black, had already been dismissed from the police department last Saturday following their Jan. 7 confrontation with Nichols after pulling him over.

He succumbed to his injuries and died three days later while hospitalized.

Memphis police chief Cerelyn Davis and lawyers for Nichols’ family who watched the video with his relatives before it was released, warned that the images were brutal and likely to cause outrage, while appealing to the public for calm.

“You are going to see acts that defy humanity,” Davis told CNN in describing the footage.

As the video first appeared and was being aired on CNN and other news outlets, television images showed a large group of protesters gathering in Memphis, shouting, “no justice, no peace” and carrying signs that said “The people demand: End Police Terror.” The demonstrators appeared to be blocking traffic at one point on Interstate 55.

Civil rights attorney Ben Crump, representing Nichols’ family, called earlier in the day for the city police department to disband its SCORPIONS unit, a squad that is supposed to focus on violent street crime and to which at least some of the officers involved were assigned.

“No mother should go through what I am going through right now, no mother, to lose their child to the violent way that I lost my child,” Tyre Nichols’ mother, RowVaughn Wells, said on Friday.

U.S. President Joe Biden said he was “outraged” and “deeply pained” after watching the Memphis video.

The footage was likely to transform Nichols, the father of a 4-year-old described as an affable, accomplished skateboarder who recently enrolled in a photography class, into the next face of the U.S. racial justice movement.

Raised in Sacramento, California, Nichols moved before the coronavirus pandemic to the Memphis area, where he lived with his mother and stepfather and worked at FedEx, taking a break each day to come home for a meal prepared by his mother.

Nichols’ family and President Joe Biden have appealed for protests to stay peaceful in Memphis, a city of 628,000 where nearly 65% of residents are Black. Schools were scheduled to close early and Saturday morning events were canceled.

Biden spoke with RowVaughn Wells and Rodney Wells, Nichols’ stepfather, on Friday afternoon to express his condolences, the White House said, adding that it was coordinating with relevant government agencies in case protests turn violent.

Nichols’ death marked the latest high-profile instance of police officers accused of using excessive force in the deaths of Black people and other minorities in recent years. These have been publicly condemned as systemic racism in the U.S. criminal justice system.

Protests under the banner of the “Black Lives Matter” movement against racial injustice erupted globally following the May 2020 murder of George Floyd, a Black man who died after a white Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for more than nine minutes.

Antonio Romanucci, another lawyer for Nichols’ family, told National Public Radio in an interview on Friday that Nichols was a strong supporter of the Black Lives Matter movement and “basically died for his own cause.”

U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland on Friday announced a federal civil rights investigation into Nichols’ death, while law enforcement agencies in some major cities, including New York, Atlanta and Washington, said they were preparing for possible protests following the video’s release.

Police have described the circumstances of Nichols’ arrest in vague terms. Even Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy, who sought the officers’ indictment, was circumspect when announcing the charges.

After Nichols was pulled over for reckless driving, “an altercation” ensued in which officers doused him with pepper spray, and Nichols tried to flee on foot, Mulroy said. “There was another altercation at a nearby location at which the serious injuries were experienced by Mr. Nichols.”

Davis said her department has not yet been able determine whether there was probable cause for the officers to pull Nichols over for reckless driving, a traffic stop which set in motion the violent events that followed.

Crump said the speed at which the criminal charges were brought against the officers – fewer than three weeks after Nichols’ death – should be a standard for police-involved killings.

In some other high-profile cases, such as the police killing of Laquan McDonald in Chicago in 2014, more than a year elapsed before the release of police video and the filing of charges.

Crump compared the encounter to the 1991 videotaped beating of Black motorist Rodney King by four police officers whose subsequent acquittal of criminal charges sparked days of riots in Los Angeles.

Records show Justin Smith, Desmond Mills Jr., Emmitt Martin III, Demetrius Haley and Tadarrius Bean, who were fired along with one other officer after Nichols’ death, were released on bond after they were booked into the Shelby County Jail on Thursday morning.

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President Joe Biden said he was “outraged” and “deeply pained” after watching a violent encounter between Tyre Nichols, a 29-year-old Black man, and the five police officers charged with murder in his beating death after a traffic stop earlier this month.

“Like so many, I was outraged and deeply pained to see the horrific video of the beating that resulted in Tyre Nichols’ death,” Biden said in a statement.

He added the Nichols’ families deserves a swift, full and transparent investigation.

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David Auerswald

Nonresident Senior Fellow

Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security
Transatlantic Security Initiative

Defense Policy
Europe & Eurasia

The Transatlantic Security Initiative, in the Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security, shapes and influences the debate on the greatest security challenges facing the North Atlantic Alliance and its key partners.

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