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Large demonstrations have taken place in at least 30 cities across the US following the death of a black man in police custody.

Curfews have been ordered in cities across the US to try to stem unrest sparked by George Floyd’s death.

Largely peaceful protests later turned violent in many areas, with cars and buildings set alight and riot police using tear gas and rubber bullets.

President Donald Trump urged “healing” over the death of 46-year-old George Floyd but said he could not allow mobs to dominate.

Derek Chauvin, an ex-police, officer has been charged with murdering George Floyd in Minneapolis.

The 44-year-old white man is due to appear in court on June 1.

In video footage, Derek Chauvin can be seen kneeling on George Floyd’s neck for several minutes on May 25. George Floyd repeatedly says that he is unable to breathe.

Three other officers present at the time have also since been sacked.

The Floyd case has reignited US anger over police killings of black Americans. It follows the high-profile cases of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Eric Garner in New York and others that have driven the Black Lives Matter movement.

One of the cities worst affected by unrest is Los Angeles. California Governor Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency in the city and activated the National Guard – the reserve military force that can be called on by the US president or state governors to intervene in domestic emergencies.

LA City is under a 20:00 to 05:30 curfew. Numerous shops have been looted, including on the famous retail avenues, Melrose and Fairfax, while overhead footage showed fires burning. Earlier police fired rubber bullets and hit protesters with batons. Hundreds of arrests have been made.

Mayor Eric Garcetti said this was “the heaviest moment I’ve experienced” since the riots in 1992 that were sparked by the acquittal of police over the beating of Rodney King.

Image source: Wikipedia

Black Lives Matter: Minneapolis Protesters Clash with Police over George Floyd’s Death

Eric Garner death: Thousands protest in Staten Island over police chockhold death

In New York, video showed a police car driving into a crowd of protesters. Mayor Bill de Blasio said the situation was not started by the officers, but Congress Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said his comments were unacceptable and he should not be making excuses for the officers.

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot imposed a 21:00 to 06:00 curfew until further notice, saying she was “disgusted” at the violence.

In Atlanta, protesters remained on the streets after the curfew began, damaging property and vehicles. Dozens of arrests were made.

One city that has seen less violence is where George Floyd died. Some 700 National Guard officers are aiding police in Minneapolis and they acted quickly to enforce the curfew imposed there. The Star Tribune said the action had so far headed off the unrest of the previous night.

For the second day running, a large crowd of protesters taunted National Guard officers outside the White House in Washington, DC. If they had breached the fence, President Trump said they would have been “greeted with the most vicious dogs, and most ominous weapons, I have ever seen”.

In under-curfew Philadelphia, 13 police officers were hurt and at least 35 arrests made as stores were looted, police cars torched and buildings defaced.

San Francisco is the latest to impose a curfew, announced by Mayor London Breed for 20:00 local time on Sunday, after looting and violence.

Indianapolis was one of the cities that had seen peaceful protests during the day turn violent later. At least one shooting death has occurred, but police said no officers had discharged weapons.

Overnight curfews have also been declared in Philadelphia, Miami, Portland and Louisville, among other cities, although many were simply ignored.

Liberia has imposed a night-time curfew in a bid to halt the deadly Ebola outbreak.

In addition, it has quarantined an area of the capital Monrovia.

President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf said the curfew would be from 21:00 to 06:00 local time.

She said all movement would be blocked in and out of the West Point area.

Meanwhile, three doctors with Ebola who started taking experimental drug ZMapp last week showed remarkable signs of improvement, a Liberian minister said.

Liberia has imposed a night-time curfew in a bid to halt the deadly Ebola outbreak

Liberia has imposed a night-time curfew in a bid to halt the deadly Ebola outbreak (photo AP)

Information Minister Lewis Brown said the drug was given to one Nigerian and two Liberian doctors who had caught Ebola while helping to save the lives of other victims of the virus.

In a radio broadcast, the Ellen Johnson Sirleaf blamed her government’s failure to bring Ebola under control on the public’s disregard for the advice of health workers and disrespect for official warnings.

Liberia already imposed a state of emergency earlier this month, but the number of deaths from the disease has continued to climb.

A mob attacked a health centre in West Point on Saturday, during which 17 suspected Ebola patients went missing.

Ebola has no known cure but the World Health Organization (WHO) has ruled that untested drugs can be used in light of the scale of outbreak in West Africa.

Since the beginning of the year, 1,229 people have died of the virus.

It is transmitted by direct contact with the body fluids of an infected person.

Initial flu-like symptoms can lead to external haemorrhaging from areas such as eyes and gums, and internal bleeding which can cause organ failure.

Ebola outbreak began in Guinea and has since spread to Liberia, Sierra Leone and Nigeria.

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Missouri Governor Jay Nixon has declared a state of emergency in Ferguson, the St Louis suburb where black teenager Michael Brown was shot dead by police last week.

Jay Nixon also said a curfew would run from midnight local time until 05:00 AM in Ferguson.

The move comes after a week of violent clashes between heavily armed local police and protesters.

Michael Brown, 18, was shot dead on a street in Ferguson on August 9.

Governor Jay Nixon said that although many protesters were making themselves heard peacefully, he would not allow a handful of looters to endanger the community.

Missouri Governor Jay Nixon has declared a state of emergency in Ferguson, the St Louis suburb where black teenager Michael Brown was shot dead by police

Missouri Governor Jay Nixon has declared a state of emergency in Ferguson, the St Louis suburb where black teenager Michael Brown was shot dead by police

“We must first have and maintain peace. This is a test. The eyes of the world are watching,” he said.

“We cannot allow the ill will of the few to undermine the good will of the many.”

Jay Nixon also said the Department of Justice was bolstering its investigation of the shooting.

Missouri State Highway Patrol Captain Ron Johnson, who is in charge of security in Ferguson, said 40 FBI agents were going door-to-door to gather information about the incident.

Ron Johnson gave a joint press conference with Governor Nixon at a church in Ferguson, where they were repeatedly interrupted by angry locals.

On Friday, police released CCTV footage that it said showed Michael Brown stealing from a convenience store and intimidating its owner.

Michael Brown’s family said they were “beyond outraged” by the video, criticizing what they said was a police attempt to “justify the execution-style murder”.

Police later said that the officer who shot Michael Brown did not know he was a robbery suspect.

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Egypt’s government has decided to lift the state of emergency and the night-time curfew.

The move came two days earlier than expected, after a court ruling.

The state of emergency and the night-time curfew were introduced on August 14 after security forces forcibly ended sit-ins in support of ousted Islamist President Mohamed Morsi.

The measures had been due to last a month, but the government extended them for two more months on September 12.

The state of emergency and the curfew were lifted with effect from 16:00 local time.

Egypt's government has decided to lift the state of emergency and the night-time curfew

Egypt’s government has decided to lift the state of emergency and the night-time curfew

This followed the ruling by the administrative court that said the decree extending the measures should only be effective for two calendar months.

The army-backed government said it would abide by the verdict.

The state of emergency and the 01:00-05:00 curfew had allowed the authorities to make arrests without warrants and search people’s homes.

Many people had also blamed the curfew for a fall in business in Cairo – at a time when the government was trying to create jobs and revive the economy.

The measures were introduced after hundreds of people died following the clearing of the pro-Morsi camps in the capital.

Mohamed Morsi, the country’s first democratically elected president, was ousted by the army in July following widespread demonstrations against his rule.

Egyptians lived under a state of emergency – which gives extra powers to the security services – for more than three decades, until President Hosni Mubarak was forced from power amid mass protests in 2011.