Twitter hack: FBI investigates major attack

The FBI has launched an investigation after hackers hijacked Twitter accounts of a number of high-profile US figures in an apparent Bitcoin scam.

"The accounts appear to have been compromised" to perpetrate cryptocurrency fraud, said the bureau, urging the public to be vigilant.

Elon Musk, Bill Gates and Joe Biden were among those hit in what Twitter said was a "co-ordinated" attack.

Their official accounts requested donations in the cryptocurrency.

"Everyone is asking me to give back," said a tweet from the account of Mr Gates, the Microsoft founder. "You send $1,000, I send you back $2,000."

Twitter hack: What went wrong and why it matters

What is Bitcoin?

The US Senate Commerce committee has demanded Twitter brief it about Wednesday's incident by 23 July.

Twitter said the hackers had targeted its employees "with access to internal systems and tools".

"We know they [the hackers] used this access to take control of many highly-visible (including verified) accounts and Tweet on their behalf," the company said in a series of tweets.

It added that "significant steps" had been taken to limit access to such internal systems and tools while the company's investigation continues.

The tech firm has also blocked users from being able to tweet Bitcoin wallet addresses for the time being.

The UK's National Cyber Security Centre said its officers had "reached out" to the tech firm. "We would urge people to treat requests for money or sensitive information on social media with extreme caution," it said in a statement.

US politicians also have questions. Republican Senator Josh Hawley has written to the company asking if President Trump's account had been vulnerable.

President Trump's account was not compromised, the White House said.

The chair of the Senate Commerce committee has also been in contact with Twitter.

"It cannot be overstated how troubling this incident is, both in its effects and in the apparent failure of Twitter's internal controls to prevent it," Senator Roger Wicker wrote to the firm.

One cyber-security expert said that the breach could have been a lot worse in other circumstances.

"If you were to have this kind of incident take place in the middle of a crisis, where Twitter was being used to either communicate de-escalatory language or critical information to the public, and suddenly it's putting out the wrong messages from several verified status accounts - that could be seriously destabilising," Dr Alexi Drew from King's College London told the BBC.

Emergency response

Twitter earlier had to take the extraordinary step of stopping many verified accounts marked with blue ticks from tweeting altogether.

Password reset requests were also being denied and some other "account functions" disabled.

By 20:30 EDT (00:30 GMT Thursday) users with verified account started to be able to send tweets again, but Twitter said it was still working on a fix.

South China Sea dispute: China's pursuit of resources 'unlawful', says US

China's pursuit of offshore resources in parts of the South China Sea is "completely unlawful", US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has said.

Mr Pompeo said he wanted to make clear that Beijing's "campaign of bullying to control" the disputed waters was wrong.

China said that the US "deliberately distorts facts and international law".

China has been building military bases on artificial islands in the region also claimed by Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam.

The countries have wrangled over territory in the South China Sea for centuries, but tension has steadily increased in recent years.

Beijing claims an area known as the "nine-dash line" and has backed its claim with island-building and patrols, expanding its military presence there.

Why is the South China Sea contentious?

Although largely uninhabited, two island chains in the area may have reserves of natural resources around them. The sea is also a shipping route and has major fishing grounds.

In its annual defence review, Japan said China's naval activities are a matter of grave concern, accusing Beijing of attempting to alter the status quo in the East and South China Seas.

What did Mr Pompeo say?

In a statement on Monday, Mr Pompeo denounced China's claims on the disputed Spratly Islands in the South China Sea, saying Beijing had "no legal grounds to unilaterally impose its will on the region".

He said the US, which has previously said it does not take sides in territorial disputes, rejected Beijing's claims to waters off Vietnam, Malaysia and Indonesia.

"Any [People's Republic of China] action to harass other states' fishing or hydrocarbon development in these waters - or to carry out such activities unilaterally - is unlawful," he said.

"The world will not allow Beijing to treat the South China Sea as its maritime empire."

How did China respond?

In a statement posted on Twitter, the Chinese embassy in Washington DC said the US state department "deliberately distorts the facts and international law including the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea".

It said America "exaggerates the situation in the region and attempts to sow discord between China and other littoral countries.

"The accusation is completely unjustified. The Chinese side is firmly opposed to it."

Significant risks with seemingly insignificant islands

Zhaoyin Feng, Chinese, Washington DC

Before now, the US had not taken sides on territorial disputes in the South China Sea.

Four years after an international tribunal in The Hague ruled that China's claims in the region have no legal basis, the US has for the first time officially made its stance clear. But why now?

Last week, China and the US held naval exercises in the area at the same time - a rare phenomenon indicating rising tensions.

In the bigger context, the Trump administration has pledged to overturn what it says is 40 years of policy failure with regard to China. Washington has recently criticised Beijing on issues ranging from its handling of the coronavirus pandemic, to human rights violations against Muslim minorities in Xinjiang and how it has dealt with pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong.

But it was China's land reclamation projects in the South China Sea that prompted the rest of the world to reassess Beijing's international ambitions.

And the stakes in the region are incredibly high. In these seemingly insignificant island chains and reefs, there are growing risks of military conflict between the world's two most powerful countries.

Mr Pompeo said the US stood "with our South-East Asian allies and partners in protecting their sovereign rights to offshore resources," adding that this position was "consistent with their rights and obligations under international law".

What's behind the South China Sea dispute?

The sea, home to vital shipping lanes, has in recent years become a flashpoint for tensions between China and other nations which claim sovereignty over two largely uninhabited island chains, the Paracels and the Spratlys.

China claims the largest portion of territory, saying its rights go back centuries. The area is rich for fishing and is thought to have abundant oil and gas reserves.

The US has long been critical of what it says is China's militarisation of the region and routinely angers Beijing with "freedom of navigation" missions.

In August 2018, a BBC team flew over the disputed South China Sea islands in a US military plane. In a radio communication, the pilots were warned to leave the area "immediately" in order to "avoid any misunderstanding".

The United States is 'looking at' banning TikTok and other Chinese social media apps, Pompeo says

Hong Kong/Washington (CNN Business) The United States is "looking at" banning Chinese social media apps, including TikTok, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Monday.

Pompeo suggested the possible move during an interview with Fox News' Laura Ingraham, adding that "we're taking this very seriously."

Pompeo was asked by Ingraham whether the United States should be considering a ban on Chinese social media apps, "especially TikTok."

"With respect to Chinese apps on people's cell phones, I can assure you the United States will get this one right too, Laura," he said. "I don't want to get out in front of the President [Donald Trump], but it's something we're looking at."

Washington's top diplomat added that people should only download the app "if you want your private information in the hands of the Chinese Communist Party."

TikTok did not immediately respond to a request from CNN Business for comment.

Pompeo's remarks come during a time of heightened tensions between the United States and China, which have spilled over into several arenas including national security, trade and technology.

TikTok — which is owned by Beijing-based startup Byte Dance — has been repeatedly criticized by US politicians who accused the short-form video app of being a threat to national security because of its ties to China. They allege that the company could be compelled to "support and cooperate with intelligence work controlled by the Chinese Communist Party."

TikTok has said previously that it operates separately from Byte Dance. It says its data centers are located entirely outside of China, and that none of that data is subject to Chinese law. US user data is stored in the United States, with a backup in Singapore, according to TikTok. A spokesperson for the company told CNN Business in May that it thinks the national security concerns are "unfounded."

TikTok has exploded in popularity in the United States and other western countries, becoming the first Chinese social media platform to gain significant traction with users outside of its home country. It was downloaded 315 million times in the first three months of this year, more quarterly downloads than any other app in history, according to analytics company Sensor Tower.

This is a developing story and will be updated. Sherisse Pham contributed reporting.

Hong Kong: US passes sanctions as nations condemn new law

The US House of Representatives has approved new Hong Kong-related sanctions, after Beijing imposed a security law that was condemned by countries around the world.

The measure, which was passed unanimously, penalises banks that do business with Chinese officials.

It will have to be approved by the Senate before going to President Trump.

Critics say China's law ends freedoms that were guaranteed for 50 years when British rule ended in 1997.

"The law is a brutal, sweeping crackdown against the people of Hong Kong, intended to destroy the freedoms they were promised," said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the passing of the law was a "clear and serious breach" of the 1985 Sino-British joint declaration.

• Why people are scared of Hong Kong's new law

Under this declaration, Hong Kong was handed back to China in 1997, with certain freedoms guaranteed for at least 50 years under the "one country, two systems" agreement.

The UK has offered residency, and then citizenship, to up to three million Hong Kongers.

But on Thursday China threatened "corresponding measures" to block the citizenship plan.

"If the British side makes unilateral changes to the relevant practice, it will breach its own position and pledges, as well as international law and basic norms," said the Chinese Embassy in the UK.

Meanwhile, a 24-year-old man from Hong Kong - suspected of stabbing a police officer during Wednesday's protests - has been arrested on a plane while trying to flee to London.

The suspect, known only as Mr Wong, was detained on the plane moments before it set off.

• UK asylum for ex-consulate worker 'tortured in China'

China said the security law was necessary to stop the type of protests seen in Hong Kong during much of 2019.

And despite condemnation in the West, more than 50 countries, led by Cuba, supported China at the UN this week.

What does the US law say?

The Hong Kong Autonomy Act imposes sanctions on banks that do business with Chinese officials who are involved in cracking down on pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong.

Ms Pelosi said the law was an "urgently needed response to [China's passing] of its so-called 'national security' law... which is purpose built to dismantle democratic freedoms in Hong Kong".

• What if the US removes Hong Kong's special status?
• US imposes visa restrictions on Chinese officials

Before the bill was signed, the US had already began eliminating Hong Kong's special status - halting defence exports and restricting the territory's access to high-technology products.

Last year, the US had also signed into law the Human Rights and Democracy Act, supporting pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong.

What have other countries said?

The UK said it will offer up to three million Hong Kong residents the chance to settle there and ultimately apply for full British citizenship.

Australia is also "actively considering" offering safe haven to Hong Kong residents - with Prime Minister Scott Morrison saying there were proposals that will "soon be considered by cabinet".

Japan was among the other countries that spoke out against the law, calling it "regrettable".

"It will undermine trust for the principle of 'one country, two systems'" said Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi.

European Council President Charles Michel said it "deplored" the law - adding that it had a "detrimental effect on the independence of the judiciary and rule of law".

And Canada changed its travel advice to Hong Kong, saying the new law "increased the risk of arbitrary detention on national security grounds and possible extradition to mainland China".

Yesterday, a senior Chinese official slammed foreign critics, saying Hong Kong's affairs were "none of your business".

Have all countries been critical?

No. At the United Nations this week, Cuba - on behalf of 53 countries - welcomed the law.

Speaking at the 44th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council, it said: "Non-interference in internal affairs of sovereign states is an essential principle enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations.

"We believe every country has the right to safeguard its national security through legislation, and commend relevant steps taken for this purpose."

Huge Nevada wildfire turns Las Vegas sky red in pictures

A wildfire raging in Mount Charleston, Nevada, has sent up a large plume of smoke visible from nearby Las Vegas.

The fire started as a 10-acre (four hectares; 0.04 sq km) brush fire on Sunday afternoon.

By the early evening local parks officials said it had engulfed about 5,000 acres (20 sq km).

Ray Johnson, US Forest Service fire prevention officer, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that the wind was too strong for firefighters to work safely.

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The American Red Cross of Nevada has opened an evacuation centre in a local primary school for residents of Mount Charleston.

It is not known what caused the fire.

Trump targets foreign workers with new visa freeze

US President Donald Trump has extended a pause on some green cards and suspended visas for other foreign workers until the end of 2020.

High-skilled tech workers, non-agricultural seasonal helpers, au pairs and top executives will be affected.

The White House said the move will create jobs for Americans hurting economically due to the pandemic.

But critics say the White House is exploiting the coronavirus pandemic to tighten up immigration laws.

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3. Trump's 'wealth test' begins for US immigrants

Who's affected?

In a briefing for reporters, the administration said the freeze, in place through the end of the year, would impact about 525,000 people.

That includes an estimated 170,000 people blocked by the decision to extend a ban on some new green cards - which grants permanent residence to foreigners. The White House first announced it was halting those visas in April, an order that had been set to expire on Monday.

§  Trump signs immigration green card suspension

Existing visa holders are not expected to be affected under the new restrictions announced on Monday.

The order also applies to H-1B visas, many of which are granted to Indian tech workers. Critics say these visas have allowed Silicon Valley companies to outsource American jobs to lower-paid foreign employees. Last year, there were about 225,000 applications competing for 85,000 spots available through the H1-B visa programme.

The order will suspend most H-2B visas for seasonal workers, including those in the hospitality industry, except those in agriculture, the food processing industry and healthcare professionals.

The order will restrict J-1 short-term exchange visas, a category that includes university students and foreign au pairs who provide childcare. Professors and scholars are not included in the order. There will be a provision to request exemptions.

L visas for managers and other key employees of multinational corporations will also be suspended.

What's the reaction?

The aim is to get "the best and the brightest" and "the most value for our economy", a senior official said on the background call.

Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, which favours restrictions, told AP news agency: "This is a bold move by the Trump administration to protect American jobs."

But the American Civil Liberties Union said: "It's the exploitation of a pandemic to reshape immigration law, while superseding Congress."

The new policy is also opposed by many businesses, which rely on foreign workers.

"As the economy rebounds, American businesses will need assurances that they can meet all their workforce needs," the Chamber of Commerce wrote in a letter this month warning against new restrictions.

"To that end, it is crucial that they have access to talent both domestically and from around the world."

Corona virus: Brazil becomes second country to pass 50,000 deaths

Brazil has become the second country, after the US, to register more than 50,000 deaths from Covid-19.

It comes amid growing political unrest and days after the country confirmed more than one million corona virus infections.

Experts warn that the peak of the outbreak in Brazil is still weeks away.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has recorded the biggest one-day increase in cases, with the Americas responsible for most of the new infections.

Of the 183,000 new cases reported in 24 hours, more than 60% were from North and South America, the agency said.

However, the growing outbreak did not stop thousands of supporters and opponents of Brazil's far-right President Jair Bolsonaro from taking to the streets in rival protests on Sunday.

Anti-government demonstrators are calling for Mr Bolsonaro to be impeached. It follows the arrest on Thursday of a former aide and family friend who is accused of corruption.

His supporters say Congress and the Supreme Court are trying to curb his powers.

Mr Bolsonaro has also been heavily criticised for his response to the coronavirus outbreak. He has opposed lockdowns and openly disagreed with advice from his government's own health ministry.

On Sunday, the ministry announced that 641 more deaths had been registered in the past 24 hours, taking the total to 50,617. Over the same period, it also registered more than 17,000 new infections.

Only the US has fared worse, with 2.2 million cases and nearly 120,000 deaths.

§  Brazil becomes second country to hit one million cases

Mr Bolsonaro argues that the economic impact of the measures will be much bigger than the virus itself, a position shared by many. But his overall approach to the crisis has led to the resignation of two doctors as health minister.

There was no national lockdown, but states and cities adopted their own measures. After months of restrictions, some are slowly being lifted, even though infection levels remain high.

There is still concern that the health system will be unable to cope in some places, and that the disease is spreading faster in deprived neighborhoods and remote areas, such as indigenous communities, where access to adequate care is difficult.

As well as the pandemic, Mr Bolsonaro is facing a growing political crisis. He is under investigation for allegedly trying to interfere with the police for political motives, which he denies, while the Supreme Court is carrying out two separate inquiries into his allies.

On Sunday, police in the capital, Brasilia, kept rival groups apart as they marched outside Congress and the Supreme Court buildings.

Other large gatherings took place in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.

Pilot killed as US fighter jet crashes in North Sea fog off Yorkshire coast

The pilot of a US fighter jet that crashed into the North Sea off the Yorkshire coast was found dead last night, after a difficult search and rescue operation.

The US air force plane, a F-15C Eagle, had been flying in formation with three other jets from the 48th Fighter Wing when it plunged into the waves at about 9.40am yesterday. Conditions were foggy, making the drill and the subsequent search and rescue mission harder.

The jet crashed about 85 miles off Flam borough Head, south of Scarborough in North Yorkshire.

Colonel Will Marshall, commander of the 48th Fighter Wing, also known as Statue of Liberty Wing, said he was “hopeful that our Liberty Wing airman will be located and recovered”.

Killing of black man in Atlanta puts spotlight anew on police, as prosecutors contemplate charges against officer

Atlanta’s top prosecutor said his office will decide this week whether to bring charges against the police officer who shot Ray shard Brooks, a black man whose killing outside a Wendy’s on Friday sparked a fresh wave of protests against police violence in the Southern city and added fuel to nationwide anger over racial injustice.

Family members on Sunday recalled Brooks as a good father who was getting his life back together when he was shot and killed in a confrontation with Garrett Rolfe and another Atlanta police officer after a DUI stop.

Public outrage mounted across the country over the weekend, as demonstrators in New York, Los Angeles and other cities and towns took to the streets for the latest in a wave of protests prompted by last month’s killing of another black man, George Floyd, in the custody of Minneapolis police.

According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the Fulton County Medical Examiner’s Office determined Sunday that Brooks suffered organ damage and blood loss from two gunshot wounds, and that his official cause of death was “gunshot wounds of the back.”

Also on Sunday, Senate Republicans outlined a legislative proposal to enact police reforms — their answer to a sweeping bill introduced last week by House Democrats.

Brooks’ father, Larry Barbine, told The Washington Post in an interview from his Toledo home that the family was in shock, unable to accept that his son had been killed just as his life seemed to be going better than it had in years.

“I can’t understand why it happened like that,” Barbine said of the shooting. “I heard of his passing on Saturday. Not his passing, his murder. I’m just devastated.”

In an interview with “CBS This Morning” two days after her husband’s death, Tomika Miller, Brooks’ widow, called for the officers involved to be prosecuted.

“I want them to go to jail. . .. If it was my husband who shot them, he would be in jail,” Miller said in the interview, which will air in full Monday morning. “He would be doing a life sentence. They need to be put away.”

According to a preliminary report by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, officers were dispatched Friday night to a Wendy’s in Atlanta on a complaint about a man parked and asleep in the drive-through. The officers performed a sobriety test on the man, later identified as Brooks. When Brooks failed the test, officers attempted to put him in custody. The response escalated, and Brooks grabbed an officer’s stun gun and began running away.

Video of the encounter appears to show Brooks turning back toward the officer and pointing the Taser at him, at which point the officer is seen drawing a weapon from his holster and firing at Brooks.

Paul Howard, the Fulton County district attorney, told CNN on Sunday that a decision on whether to bring charges in the case will be made “sometime around Wednesday.”

“He did not seem to present any threat to anyone,” Howard said of Brooks. “The fact that it would escalate to his death seems unreasonable.”

The police department has fired Rolfe, the officer who shot his gun, and pulled the other officer, Devin Brosnan, off street patrols. Atlanta Police Chief Erika Shields resigned Saturday.

Efforts to reach Rolfe and Brosnan by phone on Sunday were unsuccessful. Vince Champion, Southeast regional director of the International Brotherhood of Police Officers, said the union is providing legal services to the officers but declined to make the lawyers available for an interview and said he was speaking for the officers.

He said he did not have much background on the officers and could not opine on whether the shooting was justified because “we have no investigation.”

“Unlike the district attorney, the former chief of police and the mayor, I don’t base my facts and do things just on one video,” Champion told The Post. “I do investigations, as I’ve done all my life as a police officer, and I get both sides of the story.”

Champion was critical of the decision to terminate Rolfe within 24 hours of the shooting, arguing that it was made to “pander” to rioters and that it denied the officer his due process rights.

And he said that after the chief’s resignation, officers in Atlanta now feel they have “nobody on their side.”

“We are in a Catch-22 between both sides at this point,” Champion said. “We’ve got the citizens that we depend on not liking us, we’ve got the administration and the government that we depend on not liking us. . .. We welcome changing, we always do. It’s the cities and counties that don’t want to pay for it.”

The University Avenue Wendy’s where Brooks was shot was in flames Saturday after a day of protests that continued into Sunday. Authorities announced a $10,000 reward for information about who started the fire.

Dozens of signs and bouquets of flowers lined the fence around what used to be the restaurant’s outdoor seating area. Protesters stood on the tables holding signs and chanting “Say his name!” and “Ray shard Brooks!” Spray-painted tributes on the walls read “RIP Ray shard.” And just before 5 p.m., a group of bikers pulled into the parking lot blasting anti-police songs by the 1990s rap group NWA.

Rolfe, the officer who shot Brooks, was hired in 2013, while the other officer, Brosnan, was hired in 2018, according to the Atlanta Police Department.

Rolfe was assigned to the department’s High Intensity Traffic Team, a special operations unit aimed at reducing alcohol- and drug-related traffic violations. Members of the team are “specially trained and equipped to detect and process alcohol and/or drug-impaired drivers,” according to a police department document, although it was not immediately clear whether the unit was still in operation.

In May 2019, Rolfe was awarded a silver pin for making between 50 and 99 DUI arrests within a year, the department said in a Facebook post at the time.

Rolfe was one of four officers accused of making a false arrest in March 2015. The Atlanta Citizen Review Board, which investigates allegations of police misconduct, ruled the claim against him as not sustained, meaning there was insufficient evidence to support a finding of misconduct, according to a document on the review board’s website. The allegation against one of the other officers involved was sustained, with the board recommending he receive additional training.

Friday’s shooting has drawn national attention. Stacey Abrams, who narrowly lost in her bid for Georgia governor in 2018, said protesters were right to demand accountability and should continue to push for change until meaningful reforms are made.

“There’s a legitimacy to this anger. There’s a legitimacy to this outrage. A man was murdered because he was asleep in a drive-through, and we know that this is not an isolated occurrence,” she said on ABC News’s “This Week.”

Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) noted that Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms had acted swiftly in the wake of the shooting. Scott said it was hard to parse whether the police had used excessive force.

“The question is, when the suspect turned to fire the Taser, what should the officer have done?” he said on CBS News’s “Face the Nation.”

Lawyers for the Brooks family have said that Brooks was celebrating his daughter’s birthday earlier that night. Brooks had been looking forward to the party all week, according to Barbine.

“The night he got killed, he had had a few drinks and he was heading back. He had called me and he was telling me about the birthday party, and how he was glad to be with the kids. I asked him, ‘How are you and your wife coming along?’ and he said, ‘I’m back in good graces.’ And I told him, ‘That’s where you need to be,’” Barbine said.

Brooks was born and raised in Atlanta. He had some troubled years, Barbine said, but had recently settled down, straightened out his relationship with his wife, and was getting into a routine of working hard and showing up for their kids.

Kiara Owens, Brooks’ 26-year-old half-sister, said in an interview that Brooks worked in construction and traveled for the job, working gigs in Ohio, Mississippi, Texas and Florida. He had no real permanent residence for this reason, often staying in hotels or with family friends while in Atlanta, she said.

“I don’t fully fault the officers, I don’t fully fault my brother,” she said of the shooting. “Everyone was just trying to make it home that night.”

Bottoms announced Saturday that Interim Corrections Chief Rodney Bryant would take over leadership of the department as interim chief until a permanent replacement is found.

Bryant spent a long career in law enforcement, and held several high-level leadership roles in the Atlanta Police Department before retiring from it in April 2019 and later taking a role as acting head of the Atlanta City Detention Center. Bottoms said former chief Shields would remain with the department in a still-undetermined role.

 Amid the mounting calls for change at the national level, Senate Republicans plan to release a proposal on Wednesday that addresses officer misconduct, training and tactics, and a system for local departments to better report cases in which officers’ actions result in serious injury or death, two of the legislation’s authors said Sunday.

Scott and Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.), who have been working on the GOP’s answer to a bill released by House Democrats last week, both endorsed a ban on chokeholds Sunday. But while Scott stressed on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that both chambers of Congress and the White House “want to tackle the issue,” it is not clear whether such a ban will appear in the GOP bill.

In a bid to hold individual officers more accountable for their actions, the House Democrats’ proposal includes a provision to change the doctrine of “qualified immunity,” making it easier to sue officers who “recklessly” violate civil rights, whether or not they did so with intent. Scott called that provision a nonstarter.

“The president sent the signal that qualified immunity is off the table. They see that as a poison pill on our side,” Scott said on “Face the Nation.” “So we’re going to have to find a path that helps us reduce misconduct within the officers. But at the same time, we know that any poison pill in legislation means we get nothing done.”

Protests continued in several cities over the weekend. In New York, thousands of demonstrators dressed in white marched Sunday to draw attention to violence against black transgender people.

In California, activists and local authorities have demanded investigations into the hanging deaths of two black men in recent weeks.

On Saturday, Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger requested that California Attorney General Xavier Becerra investigate the death of Robert Fuller, a 24-year-old black man who was found hanging from a tree last week near city hall in Palmdale, about an hour north of downtown Los Angeles.

Becerra’s office did not respond to a request for comment Sunday. According to the Los Angeles County medical examiner-coroner’s office, a decision on the cause of Fuller’s death has been deferred pending additional investigation.

More than 215,000 people have signed a petition demanding a full investigation, and at a briefing by city authorities on Friday, local residents questioned why Fuller’s death was originally classified as a suicide.

Authorities are also investigating a separate incident in which Malcolm Harsch, a 38-year-old black man, was found hanging from a tree near a homeless encampment in Victorville, about an hour east of Palmdale, on May 31.

The San Bernardo County Sheriff’s Department is conducting a death investigation but told the Victorville Daily Press on Saturday that no foul play is suspected.

An online petition for a probe into Hirsch’s death had garnered more than 16,000 signatures as of Sunday night.