Volleys of gunfire. The sounding of taps. The folding of the American flag. These three moments are part of a final farewell for those who served their country. They are accolades reserved for veterans — military honors presented at a cemetery or memorial service. The honors are extended to anyone
The general election in Germany is just four months away and little time is left for Chancellor Angela Merkel to complete important projects. Acrimony is intensifying in Berlin.
Editor’s note: Twelve months on from the killing of George Floyd, The Economist is publishing a series of articles, films, podcasts, data visualisations and guest contributions on the theme of race in America. To see them visit our hub
POLITICIANS USE critical race theory (CRT) in much the same way that they use Keynesian economics: as cudgels in a propaganda campaign to advance their cherished political goals, with little regard for the actual philosophies at issue. CRT, a doctrine more caricatured than understood, rests upon the distinctly unradical claim that American institutions have systematically fallen short of the country’s egalitarian ideals due to practices that perpetuate racial hierarchies. It began in the 1970s as a way to analyse the intersection of American law and race; its creators were legal scholars such as Derrick Bell and Kimberlé Crenshaw. It has since expanded its purview to analyse American institutions more broadly.
Husband Charged With Killing Wife 11 Years Later: Officials
A St. Paul, Minnesota, man is facing murder charges about a decade after he claimed that his wife was killed by a home intruder.
Nicholas James Firkus, 38, was arrested Thursday and now faces second-degree intentional murder in the death of his wife, Heidi Firkus, who was shot and killed in April 2010, officials said in an arrest warrant that was unsealed Thursday. The warrant said Nicholas Firkus had allegedly told police an intruder broke into their home, the intruder grabbed their shotgun, and shot them both killing his wife and injuring him.
“Thirty-eight seconds into the call, as Heidi was giving dispatch her address, a noise similar to a gunshot was heard, Heidi stopped speaking, and the call went dead,” said the warrant, according to news reports. “Before the gunshot, there is no significant background noise on the call, nor does Heidi say anything that would suggest that an intruder had actually entered the