AP News in Brief at 6:04 a.m. EDT

Atlanta officer fired after fatal shooting of black man

ATLANTA (AP) — An Atlanta police officer was fired following the fatal shooting of a black man and another officer was placed on administrative duty, the police department announced early Sunday.

The moves follows the Saturday resignation of Atlanta Police Chief Erika Shields, who stepped down as the Friday night killing of Rayshard Brooks, 27, sparked a new wave of protests in Atlanta after turbulent demonstrations following the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police had simmered down.

The terminated officer was identified as Garrett Rolfe, who was hired in October 2013, and the officer placed on administrative duty is Devin Brosnan, who was hired in September 2018, according to a release from police spokesperson Sgt. John Chafee.

The police department also released body camera and dash camera footage from both officers.

More than 40 minutes elapses between the time Brosnan first knocks on Brooks' car door while he's in Wendy's drive-thru and when gunshots ring out; Rolfe arrives on scene about 16 minutes in. The shooting is audible in footage from Rolfe's dash camera and both officers' body cameras, but wasn't captured on any of the four recordings provided by police. Both body cameras fall off during the struggle that ensues when Rolfe moves to handcuff Brooks after speaking to him for about 20 minutes, although Brooks is briefly glimpsed being Tased before he's shot.

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Protesters in US call attention to deaths of more black men

Protests initially ignited by the May 25 death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police continued over the weekend, as anti-racism protesters in the United States sought to call attention to the deaths of two more black men and Black Lives Matter demonstrations unfolded in London and Paris.

Early Sunday, Atlanta police announced that an officer had been fired following the fatal shooting of Rayshard Brooks, 27, on Friday night, and another officer had been placed on administrative duty. Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms has called for the immediate firing of the officer who opened fire on Brooks at a press conference Saturday evening, where she also announced that she had accepted the resignation of Police Chief Erika Shields.

“I do not believe that this was a justified use of deadly force,” Bottoms said.

Roughly 150 protesters marched outside the Wendy's restaurant outside where Brooks was shot, reigniting demonstrations that had largely simmered in the Georgia capital nearly three weeks after Floyd, another black man, died after a white Minneapolis police officer pressed a knee to his neck.

The Wendy's was set aflame at one point Saturday night, although the fire was out before midnight. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation said that Brooks, who was seen on body camera video sleeping in a car blocking the Wendy's drive thru, failed a sobriety test and was shot in a struggle over a police Taser.

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China, Korea, Egypt report rise in virus cases as curbs ease

BEIJING (AP) — China reported its highest daily total of new coronavirus cases in two months on Sunday and infections in South Korea rose, showing how the disease can come back as curbs on business and travel are lifted.

Elsewhere, governments including Egypt, Ukraine and North Macedonia have reported their highest single-day totals of new infections since Friday. In the United States, case numbers are rising in some states as President Donald Trump pushes to reopen businesses despite warnings by public health experts.

The world is seeing more than 100,000 newly confirmed cases every day, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

China had 57 new confirmed cases in the 24 hours through midnight Saturday, the National Health Commission reported. That was the highest since mid-April and included 36 in the capital, Beijing, a city of 20 million people.

Beijing's cases all were linked to its biggest wholesale food market, which was shut down Saturday, the official China News Service reported, citing the city's disease control agency. It said 27 worked there and nine had direct or indirect exposure to it.

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Russia's low virus death toll still raises questions in West

MOSCOW (AP) — When Leonid Shlykov's father, Sergei, died in a Moscow hospital last month after 11 days on a ventilator, the death certificate listed the coronavirus as an underlying condition but not the actual cause of death.

“Yes, he was suffering from impaired kidney function and diabetes, but if it hadn’t been for COVID-19, he would’ve been alive,” the son wrote on Facebook. “If we had known the real number of infections and deaths … it would have helped us make the decision to hospitalize (dad) earlier.”

The way Russia counts fatalities during the coronavirus pandemic could be one reason why its official death toll of 6,948 is far below many other countries, even as it has reported nearly 529,000 infections, behind only the United States and Brazil.

The paradox also has led to allegations by critics and Western media that Russian authorities might have falsified the numbers for political purposes to play down the scale of the outbreak. Even a top World Health Organization official said the low number of deaths in Russia “certainly is unusual.”

Russian authorities have bristled at the suggestions.

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Yankee go home: What does moving troops out of Germany mean?

BERLIN (AP) — After more than a year of thinly-veiled threats to start pulling U.S. troops out of Germany unless Berlin increases its defense spending, President Donald Trump appears to be proceeding with a hardball approach, planning to cut the U.S. military contingent by more than 25%.

About 34,500 American troops are stationed in Germany — 50,000 including civilian Department of Defense employees — and the plan Trump reportedly signed off on last week envisions reducing active-duty personnel to 25,000 by September, with further cuts possible.

But as details of the still-unannounced plan trickle out, there's growing concerns it will do more to harm the U.S.’s own global military readiness and the NATO alliance than punish Germany.

The decision was not discussed with Germany or other NATO members, and Congress was not officially informed — prompting a letter from 22 Republican members of the House Armed Services Committee urging a rethink.

“The threats posed by Russia have not lessened, and we believe that signs of a weakened U.S. commitment to NATO will encourage further Russian aggression and opportunism,” Rep. Mac Thornberry of Texas wrote in a letter to Trump with his colleagues. Sen. Jack Reed, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, slammed Trump's move as “another favor” to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

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As US seethes over race, Trump calls out 'evil of slavery'

WEST POINT. N.Y. (AP) — As the nation continues to grapple with its racial past, President Donald Trump urged West Point's graduating class Saturday to “never forget” the legacy of soldiers before them who fought a bloody war to “extinguish the evil of slavery.”

Trump's appeal to remember history came as his own relationship with the military is under strain from the unrelenting criticism he and Pentagon leaders have faced over their response to protests that erupted after George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis.

It also came hours after Trump made what amounted to a rare concession for him: He rescheduled a campaign rally planned for Tulsa, Oklahoma, on June 19. The day marks the end of slavery in the U.S., and Tulsa was the scene of a fiery white-on-black attack in 1921.

“What has historically made America unique is the durability of its institutions against the passions and prejudices of the moment,” Trump told more than 1,100 graduates at an unusual outdoor ceremony held during a pandemic. “When times are turbulent, when the road is rough, what matters most is that which is permanent, timeless, enduring and eternal.”

In the past two weeks, Trump has yelled at Defense Secretary Mark Esper for publicly opposing his call to deploy active-duty troops to quell the protests stemming from the killing of Floyd, who was black, by a white Minneapolis police officer.

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S Korea urges North to uphold deals amid rising animosities

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea on Sunday convened an emergency security meeting and urged North Korea to uphold reconciliation agreements, hours after the North threatened to demolish a liaison office and take military action against its rival.

There’s concern that North Korea could turn to provocation to bolster its internal unity and wrest outside concessions as nuclear talks with the United States remain deadlocked. Observers say North Korea desperately needs sanctions relief in the face of harsh U.S.-led sanctions and the coronavirus pandemic.

South Korea’s national security director, Chung Eui-yong, held an emergency video conference with ministers in charge of security and military generals on Sunday morning to discuss the latest situation on the Korean Peninsula and the government’s possible steps, the presidential Blue House said in a statement.

The Unification Ministry, which handles relations with North Korea, later said that both Koreas must strive to abide by all agreements they have reached. The Defense Ministry said separately it closely monitors North Korea’s military and maintains a firm military readiness.

Both ministries said the South Korean government “views the current situation as grave.”

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Venezuela demands release of businessman connected to Maduro

MIAMI (AP) — Venezuela on Saturday demanded the release of a government-connected businessman who was detained in Cape Verde on U.S. corruption charges, calling his arrest an illegal act of aggression by the Trump administration aimed at piling new hardships on the crisis-wracked oil nation.

Alex Saab's arrest Friday while en route to Iran was a major blow to President Nicolás Maduro's government. U.S. officials believe he holds many secrets about how the socialist leader, his family and top aides allegedly siphoned off millions of dollars in government contracts amid widespread hunger in the oil-rich nation.

It was unclear how American authorities, who had been targeting the Colombian businessman for years, finally caught up with him. The Justice Department declined to comment as did Saab’s American lawyer, Maria Dominguez.

A person familiar with the situation said the 48-year-old Saab was detained in the Atlantic Ocean archipelago when his San Marino-registered jet made a refueling stop on a flight to Tehran, where he was believed to be negotiating deals to exchange Venezuelan gold for Iranian gasoline. The person was not authorized to discuss the matter and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Flight tracking data shows the aircraft, which the once globe-trotting Saab had used in the past, departed Friday from Venezuela's capital, Caracas.

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18 dead, 189 hurt as tanker truck explodes on China highway

BEIJING (AP) — A tanker truck exploded on a highway in southeastern China on Saturday, killing 18 people and injuring at least 189 others, authorities said.

The explosion caused extensive damage to nearby buildings. One photo showed firefighters hosing down a row of buildings with blown-out facades well into the night.

The truck carrying liquefied gas exploded around 4:45 p.m. on the Shenyang-Haikou Expressway south of Shanghai in Zhejiang province, the official Xinhua News Agency said, citing local authorities.

A second explosion followed when the truck fell onto a factory workshop, Xinhua said.

The Wenling city government information office said on its social media account that houses and workshops collapsed and 189 people were treated at six hospitals.

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Baseball players say talks futile, tell MLB to order return

NEW YORK (AP) — Major League Baseball appears headed to its shortest season since the 1870s.

Continuing a contentious back-and-forth in a bitter dispute over pay, baseball players told the commissioner's office on Saturday night that additional talks to start the season during the coronavirus pandemic are pointless and said owners should order a return to work.

The union’s action might lead to a season of about 50 games rather than the 82 initially proposed by MLB. The Major League Baseball Players Association could respond by filing a grievance that would be heard by arbitrator Mark Irvings, arguing players are owed hundreds of millions of dollars in damages due to a shorter season.

Overall, this all could spark lengthy litigation over money and a renewal of the sport's labor wars. It could even prompt some star players to sit out.

“It unfortunately appears that further dialogue with the league would be futile,” union head Tony Clark said in a statement. “It’s time to get back to work. Tell us when and where.”