5: 

Minnesota: 5 Black Lives Matter Protesters Shot by White Suspects

In Minneapolis, Minnesota, five Black Lives Matter protesters have been shot and wounded. They say the shooters were white supremacists, at least one of whom was wearing a mask. The protesters were gathered at an encampment outside a police precinct where they have been protesting the police killing of unarmed African-American Jamar Clark. Activists say the white supremacists opened fire after a group of protesters attempted to herd them away from the encampment. Jie Wronski-Riley described the shooting to the Minneapolis Star Tribune.

Jie Wronski-Riley: “Then it was like they turned around and then they just like started shooting, and at first I wasn’t sure, I was like, are they shooting firecrackers? Because it was so loud and there was all this sulfur or whatever, and then it was like, the person right next to me on my left went down, the person on my right went down, and I was like, [expletive], they are actually shooting at us, they are shooting bullets at us.”
Activists said police took a long time to respond to the shooting and then used mace on bystanders.

Democracy Now!

4: 

Govt defends social housing shortage

In the year to June, the Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) received 3000 enquiries from people seeking emergency housing – double the number it was getting five years ago.

The bureau has called on the government to do more to ensure there is a safety net for those in desperate need of housing.

CAB chief executive Kerry Dalton said vulnerable families in need of emergency housing faced big delays.

“There’s people who have gone to get help with social housing, or are on the Social Housing Register, and they have to wait for that – and, in the meantime, they’re sent away and they’re often left in a situation where they don’t have a roof over their head,” she said.

“We’ve seen people living in cars, having applied for social housing six months ago, with children.”

Green Party co-leader Metiria Turei said the spike in desperate New Zealanders needing homes reflected a failure of government policy.

“Social agencies like Citizens Advice Bureau, like Salvation Army, have all had to take on the burden from government failure,” she said.

“The only solution to this is government needs to have a very intensive programme of building new state houses, social houses, that’s affordable for New Zealand families.”

RNZ

3: 

Was Your Ex-Boyfriend an Undercover Police Spy? Some British Women Don’t Yet Know

It’s been a story of broken hearts, decimated trust, and a lengthy and determined quest for the truth. On Friday, seven more British women received payouts from London’s Metropolitan Police for being deceived into relationships with undercover officers engaged with gathering information on activist groups over two and a half decades.

Along with the undisclosed settlement, the women received an official apology. Yet one of them also pointed out to VICE News that there are likely still many women who don’t yet realize that they were in relationships with men who didn’t really exist.

“Thanks in large part to the courage and tenacity of these women in bringing these matters to light it has become apparent that some officers, acting undercover while seeking to infiltrate protest groups, entered into long-term intimate sexual relationships with women which were abusive, deceitful, manipulative, and wrong,” Met Police Assistant Commissioner Martin Hewitt said.

In his statement, Hewitt also agreed it was “irrelevant” whether the undercover men had feelings for the women or not.

“I acknowledge that these relationships were a violation of the women’s human rights, an abuse of police power and caused significant trauma. I unreservedly apologize on behalf of the Metropolitan Police Service… Sexual relationships between undercover police officers and members of the public should not happen.”

Vice News

2: 

US coalition strikes in Syria ‘killed 250 civilians’

At least 3,952 people have been killed in the US-led coalition’s campaign against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group in Syria, according to a monitoring group.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said on Monday the death toll included a total of 250 civilians.

The air strikes occurred in the period between September 2014 and November 23, 2015, SOHR said.

The US announced the formation of the coalition against ISIL in Syria and Iraq in September 2014 which then included 28 countries. It now includes 65 countries.

Among those killed were 66 children below the age of eight, and 44 children above the age of 18.

At least 3,547 ISIL fighters were killed in air strikes on Hama, Aleppo, Homs, Hasaka, Raqqa and Deir Az Zor.

The air strikes also killed 136 al-Nusra Front fighters.

Aljazeera

1: 

Putin calls Turkey ‘accomplices of terrorists’ after Russian jet shot down

• Turkey says its jets have shot down a warplane near Syrian border
• Russia says an SU-24 fighter jet was shot down over Syria
• Putin’s spokesman calls it ‘a very serious event’
• Turkey releases radar images of the jet over its airspace
• Nato to hold extraordinary council meeting on Turkey’s request

The Guardian