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Research about medical information

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© 2023 Healthline Media UK Ltd, Brighton, UK. All rights reserved. MNT is the registered trade mark of Healthline Media. Any medical information published on this website is not intended as a substitute for informed medical advice and you should not take any action before consulting with a healthcare professional. See additional information.

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Medical news and health news headlines posted throughout the day, every day

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The list of winners for the 95th Academy Awards.

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biography about the Kobe Bryant

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Former pro basketball player Kobe Bryant won five NBA titles with the Los Angeles Lakers while establishing himself as one of the game’s all-time greats. He died tragically in a helicopter crash on January 26, 2020.

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About Ellen

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Ellen Kathleen Pompeo (born November 10, 1969) is an American actress, director, and producer. One of the world's highest paid actors since 2017, she has made multiple appearances on the ' year-end lists. Pompeo is also the recipient of such accolades as a Screen Award, a Special Achievement in Entertaining by the National Italian American Foundation, and a nomination for a Golden Globe Award.

Born in Everett, Massachusetts, Pompeo moved to Miami and then to New York City, where she was discovered by a casting director who signed her for an advertisement campaign for L'Oreal. She made her screen debut with NBC's legal drama and then guest-starred in other television shows, including the comedy Strangers with Candy, the medical drama Strong Medicine and . Pompeo made her feature film debut in 1999 with the romantic comedy Coming Soon, and went on to play minor roles in films like In the Weeds and Mambo Café but found little success initially. A turning point came in her career in 2002, when she gained wide recognition for her starring role in Brad Silberling's drama Moonlight Mile.

Pompeo was then cast in ABC's popular medical drama Grey's Anatomy, and gained worldwide recognition for her portrayal of the title character Dr. Meredith Grey. The role on the long running series earned her a Golden Globe nomination and a Screen Actors Guild Award. The character became widely popular, making Pompeo one of the most renowned television actresses. In 2016, Pompeo was ranked fourth in the list of highest paid TV actresses by , with earnings of $14.9 million; she became the third highest paid female and the fifth highest paid actor overall in 2018 with earnings of $23.6 million. She was also the highest ranked actor from a drama series on the list.

Pompeo's other notable film roles include the comedy (2003), the superhero film (2003), the caper film (2004), and the comedy drama Life of the Party (2005). In addition to her acting career, she has directed two episodes for Grey's Anatomy and also founded a production company, Calamity Jane. Pompeo married Chris Ivery in 2007 and the couple have three children together.

Ellen Kathleen Pompeo was born in Everett, Massachusetts, on November 10, 1969, the daughter of Joseph Pompeo and Kathleen Pompeo. Her father was of Italian, English, and Irish descent, while her mother was of Irish ancestry. She was raised as a Catholic. Her mother died of a painkiller overdose when Ellen was five, and her father remarried soon after; he died on September 1, 2012.[better source needed ] In 2006, Pompeo said, "I think having my mother die at such a very young age - when she was 33 - I appreciate life so much." She has five older siblings: three sisters (Maureen, Kathleen and Suzanne) and two brothers (Joey and Dean). She was nicknamed "the pencil", and " stracciatella" ( gelato flavor). Pompeo worked as a bartender in Miami when she started dating her then boyfriend. Together, they moved to New York City in 1995 where she was approached by a casting director to appear in various ads for Citibank and L'Oreal.

Debut and further roles (1995-2004)

Pompeo's early work included adverts and small independent films. She made her television debut in 1996 by guest-starring in the NBC legal police drama, . She made her feature film debut in Coming Soon (1999), playing a small part. She made her second appearance in Law & Order in 2000, and then guest-starred on Strangers with Candy, Strong Medicine and . Pompeo then moved to Los Angeles in 2001. She participated in the movie Mambo Café with Thalía.

In 2002, Pompeo was selected by director Brad Silberling for a lead role in his film Moonlight Mile, playing Jake Gyllenhaal's character's sympathetic love interest. Jeff Vice of Deseret News while praising the cast made note of Pompeo's "extremely appealing" performance. Her performance was also considered worthy of an Academy Award by other commentators. Also in 2002, Pompeo appeared in the biographical crime drama film Catch Me If You Can and in 2003, she appeared in as Luke Wilson's love interest. She portrayed Jim Carrey's ex-girlfriend, Naomi, in the 2004 film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Although her scenes were cut from that film, she felt grateful that director Michel Gondry selected her for his film. She played the role of Karen Page, in 2003, Mark Steven Johnson Marvel Entertainment film , based on the Marvel Comics character.

Grey's Anatomy and other works (2005-present)

Pompeo landed her first major role in 2005 on the ABC medical drama series Grey's Anatomy, created by Shonda Rhimes. She has played the title character and series' protagonist, Meredith Grey, a surgical intern at the fictional Seattle Grace Hospital since the show's pilot episode. Grey's Anatomy was a breakout hit in 2005 and was well received by television critics. At the time of the show's inception, Pompeo received positive feedback for her performance, with s Diane Werts writing, "star Ellen Pompeo's newly minted Dr. Grey conveys such substance that you simply can't stop watching."

Pompeo signed a new contract for Grey's Anatomy in 2011 that increased her salary to US$200,000 per episode; she was subsequently named the eighth highest paid TV actress in 2012, earning $9 million. The contract would have her involved with the show until its 12th season. Under her renewed deal of 2013, she earned $350,000 per episode, with additional payment from syndication. At this point, she was ranked fourth in the list of highest paid television actresses again in 2015, in the Forbes list, with the earnings of $11.5 million. Pompeo's contract with the company expired again at the end of the twelfth season along with the other original cast members, and she signed a new one with an increased paycheck. She held on the fourth spot in Forbes' list in 2016, bringing in $14 million, a 32% increase in the earnings from 2015.

With the increasing popularity of the show, Pompeo garnered worldwide reputation among television viewers. Her performance has garnered her five People's Choice Award nominations, with three wins. At the 37th People's Choice Awards, she was nominated against Dempsey and Oh in the Favorite TV Doctor category, and the following year, she garnered a nomination in the Favorite TV Drama Actress category, an award that she has won thrice at the 39th, 41st and the 42nd People's Choice Awards. Pompeo has been nominated for several other awards for her performances in the show. She and the Grey's Anatomy cast won Best Ensemble in a Television Series at the 2006 Satellite Awards. During the following year's ceremony, she was named Best Actress in a Television Drama Series. She was among the Grey's Anatomy cast members awarded the Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series accolade at the 13th Screen Actors Guild Awards, and received nominations in the same category in 2006 and 2008. Pompeo received a Best Performance by an Actress in a Drama Series nomination at the 64th Golden Globe Awards - the program won Best Drama Series at the same ceremony. In 2007, Pompeo and the female cast and crew of Grey's Anatomy received the Women in Film Lucy Award, which honors those "whose work in television has positively influenced attitudes toward women."

In 2007, Pompeo was honored by the National Italian American Foundation for her achievement in entertainment at a black-tie gala in Washington, D.C. In the same year, show-business awards reporter Tom O'Neil commented that Pompeo was overdue for an Emmy Award nomination for her role in Grey's Anatomy. The view was echoed by later critics, including Mary McNamara of the Los Angeles Times who suggested that Pompeo, "who has worked very hard and against all narrative odds to make Meredith Grey an interesting character at last" should have received a nomination at the 61st Primetime Emmy Awards. During the twelfth season of the show, Western Gazette's Alex Hawnkings gave Pompeo credit for carrying the show and re-iterated it was time for her to finally win an Emmy Award. Readers of O'Neil's awards website, The Envelope, included Pompeo in their 2009 nominations for Best Drama Actress in the site's Gold Derby TV Awards.

On October 27, 2011, Deadline Hollywood reported that Pompeo had launched her own production company called Calamity Jane which sold its first project to ABC, an untitled show about female agents on the Secretary of State's security detail Pompeo appeared in the music video of , a song from the fifth studio album (2014) of her close friend American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift. The music video was directed by Joseph Kahn, and filmed in Los Angeles on April 12, 2015, but is set in London. The music video premiered on May 17, 2015, at the start of the Billboard Music Awards. Each actor chose their character's name. Swift plays Catastrophe who is training for her revenge against a close friend Arsyn, played by Selena Gomez. The other characters in the video are shown in succession, some in training with Catastrophe and Pompeo plays one of them named Luna.

Pompeo has expressed her lack of interest in acting after Grey's Anatomy ends its run. In a September 2011 interview, she said, "I definitely feel myself transitioning. I don't find acting terribly empowering." Since then, Pompeo has been involved in other projects as a producer and had also made her directorial debut with a Grey's Anatomy episode, from the thirteenth season. On August 2014, it was announced that Pompeo was developing two dramas with ABC Studios - an adaptation of Rachel Carey's 2013 novel Debt for ABC Family, and an untitled female police drama for ABC. Pompeo is also involved with a Spanish thriller Motivos Personales with the London-based company, New Media Vision.

Pompeo renewed her contract for Grey's Anatomy in January 2018, agreeing for two more seasons; she became the highest paid actress in a television drama series, earning more than $20 million a year with the new deal. She received a sum of $575,000 per episode under her new contract and was promoted to the rank of producer for the series, which was estimated to earn her a separate $6 million to $7 million annually. She was also listed as co-producer for the Grey's Anatomy spinoff titled " Station 19" and received office space for her production company, Calamity Jane at Walt Disney Studios. She wrote a piece on the issue of the gender pay gap and her new contract with ABC, which was featured as the cover story for the January 2018 issue of The Hollywood Reporter. Forbes ranked Pompeo as the third highest female and the fifth highest actor overall on its 2018 list of highest paid TV actors on television; she had estimated earnings of US$23.5 million.

Pompeo met Chris Ivery in a Los Angeles grocery store in 2003. They began dating after 6 months of friendship and got married in 2007, with the New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg as the legal witness to the ceremony. Their first child, a daughter, was born in 2009. In 2014, a second daughter was born with the help of a gestational surrogate. In 2016, she announced the birth of a third child, a son.

Pompeo heavily criticized media reports suggesting that she suffered from an eating disorder, calling the media irresponsible for promoting such rumors. In a 2007 issue of Los Angeles Confidential Magazine, she said that she was worried about the young girls who look up to her: "I don't want them to think I starve myself or don't eat, and that to be like me that's what they have to do."

Pompeo along with Shonda Rhimes, and the leads of Rhimes' ABC Thursday line-up shows , How to Get Away With Murder, Kerry Washington and Viola Davis, appeared in an ad campaign for the 2016 US election supporting Hillary Clinton, comparing her to the protagonists of those series. In the video, the actresses note that Olivia Pope, Annalise Keating and Meredith Grey are "brilliant" and "complex" women who fight for justice and give voice to the voiceless. Rhimes, Davis, Pompeo, and Washington each take turns speaking as they praise the presidential candidate and conclude: "Our characters are on television; the real world has Hillary Clinton." Clinton responded to the video with a tweet saying, "Talk about a power lineup. Thank you for being on this team!"

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Ellen Kathleen Pompeo (born November 10, 1969) is an American actress, director, and producer. One of the world's highest paid actors since 2017, she has made multiple appearances on the ' year-end lists. Pompeo is also the recipient of such accolades as a Screen Award, a Special Achievement in Entertaining by the National Italian American Foundation, and a nomination for a Golden Globe Award.

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Tooth Extraction: Procedure, Aftercare & Recovery

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Tooth extraction may be necessary if a natural tooth is badly decayed or damaged. This dental procedure eliminates bacteria and improves oral health.

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Want to color your hair on your own? Check out these 13 crucial tips from experts first.

All products featured on Allure are independently selected by our editors. However, when you buy something through our retail links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

If you'd sooner shave your head than dye your own hair at home, we feel you - coloring your hair takes time and money. Plus, there is so much room to make a mistake (especially if it's your first time doing so) that you could spend months trying to fix. It's intimidating, to say the least. But, on the other hand, the salon can be expensive, so the inclination to save your hard-earned coins and pick up a dye brush yourself is totally understandable.

There are a lot of factors to consider when you're dyeing your own hair: choosing the right hue (and getting it to show up properly), placing the color in the right spots, using the right tools for the job. And don't get us started on the after-care. But don't worry - all you need to get your at-home dye job right is a little patience (remember to always go slowly) and a bit of guidance from some folks who know what they're talking about.

Like Lauryn Hill said back in 1998, "it could all be so simple." And we don't know about y'all, but we'd also rather not make it hard. Life is tough enough! So, with the help of some experts, we came up with 13 at-home hair color tricks, hacks, product recommendations, and tips, so the once-laborious act of doing your own color can turn into the best, easiest spa day ever.

The three keys to success? Make sure you're comfortable (a pair of these luxe PJs should do the job), have everything you need (we've got you there below), and aren't pressed for time. Now, get into the best insider at-home hair-color tricks and tips for achieving salon-worthy results.

1. Don't trust the model on the box of hair dye

Sure, the woman smiling on the front of the box looks beautiful, but the color of her hair is a fantasy. "The color always ends up lighter than the model's hair on the packaging," says colorist Dana Ionato of the Sally Hershberger Downtown salon in New York City. "The developer in at-home permanent dyes is very strong - stronger than the ones we use in the salon - so it lifts the color and makes it lighter than what you see on the box." Instead, look at the little swatch at the top of the box - it's a better representation of how the hue will actually look on your hair.

2. Know when to go lighter - or darker

The rule is as follows: For permanent dye, choose a color a smidge darker than what you want because of the strong developer, says Ionato. With semipermanent dye, however, err on the lighter side of the color you're looking to achieve. "Semipermanent formulas don't have a developer, meaning they get darker and darker the longer you leave them in your hair," says Ionato. "It's safer to choose a color that's a bit lighter from the get-go."

3. Buy two boxes of hair dye

If your hair is past your shoulders, or shoulder-length and extremely coarse, use two boxes of the same shade to ensure full coverage. Just make sure to mix the dyes in a glass or plastic bowl - a metal one will oxidize the dye and cause it to change color.

4. Consider your hair texture

Hair texture matters just as much when dyeing your hair as it does when cutting it. "Coarse, curly, or frizzy hair sucks up color faster and will become cooler-toned when you dye it, so it will look ashier, or slightly bluish," says Ionato. "Fine to medium hair textures don't absorb color as easily and will become a slightly warmer tone when you add dye, meaning it will have orange, red, or copper undertones."

So what does that mean for you when you're standing in the aisle at the drugstore? If your hair is frizzy or curly, pick a color that's warm (golden, copper, bronze), but a little lighter than your natural hair color; if your hair is fine and straight, choose cooler shades (champagne, beige) that are slightly darker than your natural color.

5. Touch up your roots without staining your scalp

"If you're just doing your roots, I'd recommend putting coconut oil or a deep conditioning mask on the mid-shaft and ends to help preserve any lightness or any dimension that you have on the hair," says NYC-based colorist Rachel Bodt. Runoff from rinsing out your roots can stain the rest of your hair, so she suggests creating a coconut oil barrier to keep dye from dripping down through the rest of your hair. She also suggests adding Vaseline around the hairline to prevent dye from staining your scalp.

6. Rethink your hair dye tools

If you're an unnatural blonde, box dyes won't hide the dark roots of your highlights, since they're meant to adjust hair color by only a shade or two, says colorist Marie Robinson, the founder of Marie Robinson Salon in New York City. "Get an at-home bleach kit, like Clairol Born Blonde, instead, and use a spooley to apply to just the highlights' roots." The makeup tool disperses bleach evenly and precisely, so you're less likely to end up with "hot" (hairstylist speak for "orange") color.

If you have grown-out highlights on top of base color, apply hair color to your roots, then use a wide-tooth comb to feather the dye slightly over the start of your highlights, says Nikki Lee, a colorist and founder of Nine Zero One salon in Los Angeles. "That'll soften the harsh lines a bit." She recommends using a shade of dye that matches your roots or is just a smidge lighter.

7. Consider spot-treating gray hair

If you're targeting grays, you don't have to dye your whole head. "If you have a gray headband along your hairline, get a semipermanent dye and only color that area," says colorist Rita Hazan, the founder of Rita Hazan Salon in New York City. It may mean working strand by strand, adds Robinson, who suggests using an eye shadow brush for extra precision.

8. Section, section, section

To avoid patchiness, create a middle part that runs to the back of your head and split the hair into four sections - two in front of the ears and two in back. "Be organized about the application," says Brooke Jordan, head stylist with The Bird House salon in NYC. "People can miss spots, or don't know how to get the back." To prevent this, use clips to create four sections and work through them front to back.

9. Add shampoo to your hair dye

If your ends are very dry and you're dyeing your entire head, don't put dye on your ends. Instead, three minutes before you're supposed to rinse, add two squirts of shampoo into the dye left in the bottle. Shake it up and apply the mixture to your ends. "It dilutes the dye but still gives you a pinch of color and shine," says Louis Licari of the Louis Licari Salon in New York City.

10. Let your hair down

You know how the models in the commercial always have their dye-coated hair artfully twisted up into a bun? Don't do that. "The color won't be even when you rinse it out," says Ionato. "Leave it down until the timer rings." Get yourself a hair coloring gown ( Amazon has four packs for under $20) so that you have something you don't mind getting a little bit of dye on - you definitely don't want to mess up any clothes you actually care about in the process.

11. Add water

Before you rinse out the color, sprinkle a little water on your head and mush your hair around with your hands for a few seconds. "It emulsifies the dye and moves it all around so you don't end up with any lines or streaks," says Ionato.

12. Tweak the results

After your hair is dry, if you're unhappy with the color, you can mute it by applying a deep conditioner to damp hair. Then cover your head with plastic wrap and a hot, damp towel. Leave on for 20 minutes (at 10 minutes, blast your head with a blow-dryer), then shampoo and condition your hair. If you're still not happy with your shade, well, it looks like you'll have to head to a salon when you can.

13. You must condition when you're done

"If you skip the conditioner step, it leaves the cuticle open and the color keeps working," says Ionato. "So don't be surprised if you end up with much darker hair than you wanted." Don't throw away the conditioner in the kit, and if you do, make sure to use a deep conditioner in the shower after you rinse out the dye.

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More on hair dye:

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Sophia Panych, Leah Prinzivalli, and Dianna Mazzone

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How to Dye Your Hair At Home - and Not Screw It Up

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These 13 at-home hair color tricks, hacks, tips, and techniques from colorists will leave you with a brilliant, glossy, and vibrant new hair color. We asked two hair experts to weigh in on the best tips and tricks to dye your own hair at home.

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From the streets of Minneapolis to the favelas of Rio de Janeiro, unlawful use of force by police can end in death, injury, and devastation.

As we've seen too many times, in the USA and elsewhere, sometimes police kill or seriously injure people during arrests fuelled by racism.

In countless other cases, police are quick to use force in response to protests or demonstrations. Throughout 2019 and 2020, Hong Kong police have repeatedly deployed weapons like tear gas and rubber bullets in an unlawful way against protesters.

All too often, officers who kill or injure people after using force unlawfully are not brought to justice.

That's why it's so important to know what your rights are, and to know what police are, and aren't, allowed to do.

We need to make sure that police stop using force against the law, and that those who kill unlawfully are brought to account - no more excuses.

Previous Next

WHAT IS "POLICE BRUTALITY"?

The term "police brutality" is sometimes used to refer to various human rights violations by police. This might include beatings, racial abuse, unlawful killings, torture, or indiscriminate use of riot control agents at protests.

WHY IS POLICE BRUTALITY A HUMAN RIGHTS ISSUE?

At its worst, unlawful use of force by police can result in people being deprived of their right to life. If police force is unnecessary or excessive, it may also amount to torture or other ill-treatment.

Unlawful force by police can also violate the right to be free from discrimination, the right to liberty and security, and the right to equal protection under the law.

ARE POLICE ALLOWED TO KILL PEOPLE?

There are strict international laws and standards governing how and when police can use force - particularly lethal force.

The UN Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials (BPUFF) is the key international instrument that deals with police use of force.
The most important thing to remember is this: it is the utmost obligation of state authorities, including police, to respect and protect the right to life.
Under international law, police officers should only ever use lethal force as a last resort. This means when such force is strictly necessary to protect themselves or others from the imminent threat of death or serious injury, and only when other options for de-escalation are insufficient.

Many killings by the police that we have seen around the world clearly do not meet this criteria.

In the USA, George Floyd, Michael Brown, Breonna Taylor, Eric Garner and too many other Black people who have been killed by police were unarmed.

During protests in Iran in November 2019, police shot and killed hundreds of protesters who posed no risk, including at least 23 children.

And in the Philippines, witnesses have described seeing police shoot poor people who were suspected of using or selling drugs as they were on the ground begging for mercy.

WHAT ABOUT NATIONAL LAWS?

For example, Mexico's new National Law on the Use of Force does not limit use of lethal force to situations where it is necessary to protect the lives of others. It does not require that officers use the minimum level of force to resolve a situation.

In the USA, nine states have no laws at all on the use of lethal force by law enforcement officers.

Often countries shut down the doors of justice domestically and victims have to rely on international tribunals to seek truth, justice and reparations.

In 2011, Amnesty raised concerns about the lack accountability in France for the deaths in custody of Ali Ziri, Mohammed Boukrourou, Lamine Dieng, Abou Bakari Tandia and Abdelhakim Ajimi, all men from ethnic minority backgrounds. After struggling to get justice in France, three of these cases were referred to the European Court of Human Rights, which has so far found that French police violated Ali Ziri's right to life, and that their treatment of Mohammed Boukrourou constituted inhuman and degrading treatment.

WHAT CAUSES POLICE BRUTALITY?

In countries with high rates of killings by police, there is often a combination of factors including inadequate laws, racial or other forms of discrimination, insecurity or conflict, and entrenched impunity.

Governments who routinely trample on other human rights like freedom of expression and peaceful assembly often authorize heavy-handed police responses to protests and demonstrations. We've seen this recently in Iran, Iraq, Sudan, Hong Kong and Nicaragua.

Impunity for killings by police often leads to a deadly cycle of violence. In Brazil for example, officers routinely kill people who pose no threat - mostly young Black men - safe in the knowledge that these killings are rarely investigated or prosecuted.

HOW MANY PEOPLE HAVE DIED AT THE HANDS OF THE POLICE?

It's hard to get reliable figures on killings by police because many governments do not collect or publish this data.

The Small Arms Survey says that in each year between 2007 and 2012, an estimated 19,000 people were killed during 'legal interventions' (encounters with police).

Most of the available data refers to specific countries or time periods, and are often estimates by NGOs or human rights groups.

Here are some examples:

In 2019 police in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, killed 1,810 people - an average of five per day

In 2019, Kenyan police killed 122 people

Between October 2019 and January 2020, police in Iraq killed around 600 protesters

Between 2015 and 2018, over 500 people were fatally shot by the police in Jamaica, and over 300 shot and injured

Around 1000 people are killed by police in the USA every year.

Case study: Nakiea Jackson

In 2014, Nakiea Jackson was shot dead by police in Kingston, Jamaica, while he was working at his job as a cook. Police had been looking for an alleged crime suspect and Nakiea fit the broad description, though there was nothing to link him to any crime. Since then, Nakiea's family and witnesses in the case have suffered intense intimidation from police as they have sought justice.

POLICE BRUTALITY AND RACISM

International human rights law strictly prohibits all forms of discrimination. No one should be treated differently by law enforcement because of their race, gender, sexual orientation or gender identity, religion or belief, political or other opinion, ethnicity, national or social origin, disability, or other status. Everyone has the right to equal treatment under the law.

Yet racism and other forms of discrimination are built into law enforcement and justice systems around the world; from racial profiling and discriminatory police checks, to selective enforcement of drug policies and broad application of anti-terror laws.

In the UK, Amnesty International has documented how the Gangs Matrix, a racially biased database used by London's Met Police, criminalizes and stigmatizes young Black men. Many people have been labelled as suspected gang members for reasons as trivial as the music they listen to or the videos they watch online.

Once on the Gangs Matrix, individuals are targeted for stop and search operations by police, while the stigma of being associated with a 'gang' can make it harder to find jobs, housing or education.

In 2018, the Information Commissioner's Office found the Gangs Matrix was potentially breaking data protection laws and failed to distinguish between victims of crime and offenders, and some limited reforms have been introduced.

Case study: France

According to the French Ombudsman, young men perceived as North African or Black are 20 times more likely to be subject to identity checks by the police.

Following the introduction of emergency laws in France in 2015, police carried out thousands of discriminatory raids and house arrests, mostly targeting Muslims. Police burst into mosques, forced open doors, and sometimes handcuffed or pointed firearms at people, some of whom were targeted solely on the basis of their religious beliefs.

In July 2016 Adama Traoré, a young Black man, died in police custody after being arrested during an identity check and pinned to the ground by three law enforcement officials. Adama's family is still waiting for justice.

More examples of discrimination in policing

LGBTI people around the world are subjected to routine harassment and abuse by police.

In 2017, for example, authorities in the Russian republic of Chechnya unleashed a wave of attacks on people believed to be gay or lesbian. Dozens of gay men in Chechnya were abducted and tortured. Many were killed at secret detention sites.

In the Dominican Republic, sex workers, and especially trans women who are sex workers, face appalling abuse at the hands of police including rape, beatings and humiliation.

Killings of Black people in the USA

On 25 May 2020, George Floyd, a 46-year old Black man, died after a police officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota kept his knee on his neck for nearly nine minutes.

This horrific killing sparked widespread protests across the USA and beyond, calling for the officers involved to be held accountable and systemic change in policing more broadly.

George's death came in the wake of a series of acts of racist violence against Black people that illustrates astounding levels of violence and discrimination. The police in the USA commit human rights violations at a shockingly frequent rate, particularly against racial and ethnic minorities, and especially Black people.

Protesters want the US justice system to be fundamentally reformed to end the deadly police violence that ravages communities of colour, particularly Black communities, across the country.

Not one US state complies with international law and standards on the use of lethal force by police.

In the USA, the majority of deaths at the hands of police are the result of an officer using a firearm.

In many cases, officers have shot people multiple times, indicating use of force that was neither necessary nor proportionate. Michael Brown, for instance, who was unarmed, was shot six times.

According to Mapping Police Violence, in 2019 Black people were 24% of those killed by the police, despite being only 13% of the population.

A 1996 law authorized the US Department of Defence to provide surplus equipment to law enforcement agencies. This has resulted in police having equipment designed for military use to be deployed at protests.

Stopping police abuses in the USA

Civil society organizations have long been calling for police reform in the USA. These critical steps could make everyone safer:

Congress and all 50 states should pass laws to limit the use of lethal force by the police

The Department of Justice should collect and publish detailed, disaggregated data on people killed by police

All cases of police use of lethal force should be thoroughly, independently, impartially and transparently investigated, and those found responsible should be brought to justice

The Department of Justice should conduct oversight of law enforcement agencies that have violated human rights

ACCOUNTABILITY

Nobody is above the law - especially those who have a duty to uphold it.

All cases of police use of lethal force should be subject to a thorough, independent, impartial and transparent investigation and if the evidence indicates that the killing was unlawful, the police officer responsible should be criminally prosecuted.

But Amnesty has documented how police officers who unlawfully kill or injure people often get away with it.

There are lots of reasons why this happens. In some cases, police and security forces threaten the judiciary, witnesses or survivors, pressuring them to drop charges. Other times, there are laws enacted to provide the police with immunity or otherwise obstruct justice, even if they act against the law - in Brazil for example.

In the Philippines, President Duterte ordered police forces to kill anyone they believe to be connected to the drugs trade when he assumed office in June 2016 and pledged to protect security forces from prosecution. When the President sanctions murder and promises immunity, accountability is almost impossible.

POLICING PROTESTS

Governments have an obligation to ensure that everyone can enjoy the right to freedom of peaceful assembly, including through protests.

There are clear international guidelines for police conduct during protests:

It is the role of police to facilitate peaceful protests. If tensions arise, they have a duty to de-escalate them.

If some protestors engage in violent actions, this does not turn the otherwise peaceful protest into a non-peaceful assembly. Police should ensure those who remain peaceful can continue protesting.

Acts of violence by a small minority do not justify indiscriminate use of force.

If use of force is unavoidable to secure the safety of others, police must use the minimum force necessary

The decision to disperse a protest must be a last resort - when all other less restrictive means have proven to be unsuccessful.

Tear gas or water cannons to disperse a protest should only be used if people can leave the scene. They may only be used in response to widespread violence and where more targeted means have failed to contain the violence.

Firearms should NEVER be used to disperse a crowd.

SOLUTIONS

Every country has its own domestic laws and there is no one-size-fits-all prescription for making them fairer and safer.

Amnesty International's detailed guidelines on the use of force by law enforcement set out clearly how police and other security forces around the world can improve their laws, policies and practices.

Some of the key recommendations are:

The power of the police to resort to the use of force and firearms must be adequately regulated by law

The "protect-life" principle must be enshrined in law - lethal force may only be used for protecting against an imminent threat of death or serious injury

Where use of force by the police has resulted in injury or death, there must be a prompt, thorough, independent, and impartial investigation. Those responsible must be brought to justice in fair trials

During protests, police should be guided by their duty to facilitate peaceful assemblies, and their starting point should not be the use of force

People in detention have the same rights as everybody else when it comes to lethal force

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Police brutality is a global problem and it needs global solutions.

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Brontë Wittpenn/The Chronicle

People who received the bivalent COVID-19 booster when it first became available more than six months ago may wonder whether it's time to roll up their sleeves again. The mantra of public health officials throughout the pandemic has been for individuals to maintain their immunity levels by staying up to date on vaccinations.

But no one seems to know what happens next.

The bivalent boosters were engineered to guard against the original coronavirus strain and recent BA.4/5 omicron subvariants. Even with a batch of recent studies showing that the protection they afford wanes after a few months, there is no apparent timeline for the next round of shots in the U.S.

To the contrary, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is so far standing firm on its recommendation for only one bivalent booster shot for all Americans. Unlike health authorities in some other countries, the agency has offered only vague clues about what's ahead in the fight against the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus.

Advisers to the CDC suggested last month that based on available evidence, older people and those with weakened immune systems will likely require a single COVID-19 shot once a year, probably in the fall. They made no new recommendations for most adults and children, nor have they said anything about shots between now and then.

Dr. Eric Topol of Scripps Research called the ambiguity a "problem."

It's "troubling for people who never had COVID and are at an advanced age, that there's no plan until next fall to do something about it," Topol told Dr. Bob Wachter, UCSF's chief of medicine, in a webinar last week.

So far the coronavirus has shown no distinctive seasonal pattern, although that may be changing with more recent subvariants and as immunity levels have risen in society as a whole. Unlike flu, which circulates in the U.S. during late fall and winter, COVID-19 waves have occurred year-round until now.

Last March, before the rollout of the bivalent boosters, the CDC recommended that those who were immunocompromised or over age 50 receive an updated shot four months after their previous dose.

While more than 81% of the U.S. population has had at least one vaccine dose, only 16.2% of those eligible - roughly 53.6 million people - have received the latest boosters authorized in August. In California, about 25% of residents have received the bivalent dose. Millions more around the country haven't had a booster for a year or more.

"Because of lack of demand, it's all coalescing around the seasonal push," said Peter Chin-Hong, an infectious disease doctor at UCSF.

That's still a considerable number of people left wondering what to do. In a recent survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation, 15% of all adults, or more than 38 million Americans, said they are waiting on guidance about getting another booster.

The initial shots from Pfizer and Moderna - called the primary series - target the strain of the virus that first emerged in 2020. The updated boosters launched last fall were tweaked to target omicron relatives that had been dominant.

Federal health officials say that many Americans now have sufficient preexisting immunity against the coronavirus because of vaccination, infection or a combination. The CDC and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said in January that the baseline of protection should be enough to move to an annual booster against the latest strains in circulation and make COVID-19 vaccinations more like the yearly flu shot.

To Chin-Hong, that sounds like a reasonable plan.

"The immune force field is so big now and we have so many tools, hopefully, it mitigates the damage," he said. "I think we will see bumps in cases, but hopefully we won't see a big bump until next winter. With another shot, my hope will be it's timed with the flu shot."

Ultimately, FDA officials say moving to an annual schedule would make it easier to promote future vaccination campaigns, which could ultimately boost vaccination rates nationwide.

Officials from the California Department of Public Health say they will update state guidelines based on recommendations from federal agencies.

Those who are immunocompromised or at high risk for disease - in a tough spot after the FDA last month pulled its authorization of Evusheld, a preventive monoclonal antibody treatment for COVID-19 - may consider getting a sixth shot now at their local pharmacy, said Topol.

But that's not an official recommendation, and doctors are taking a wait-and-see attitude.

Other places are taking a more proactive stance. The U.K. this past week announced a plan to offer vulnerable people an additional COVID booster shot this spring, targeting those 75 and older and residents of care homes, plus immunocompromised people aged 5 and over. The program is intended to "bridge the gap" to a planned booster program in the fall so that the most vulnerable will have protection through the summer.

No such plan exists in the U.S.

With the national COVID-19 pandemic emergencies set to expire on May 11, federal officials say the next round of vaccines will likely hit the commercial market once the doses are reformulated to combat the next coronavirus lineage.

Experts continue to debate whether younger, healthier people would need a COVID-19 booster every year.

"Protection against hospitalizations and deaths remains pretty high," Topol said, adding that the bivalent booster helps lift that protection level to the 85% to 90% range. "But we don't have any data for that sixth shot. It would be nice if we had some actual evidence, and we don't right now."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Reach Aidin Vaziri: avaziri@sfchronicle.com

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Why no one is telling you when to get the next COVID booster shot

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People who received the bivalent COVID-19 booster when it first became available more than six months ago may wonder whether it's time to roll up their sleeves again. The mantra of public health officials throughout the pandemic has been for individuals to maintain their immunity levels by staying up to date on vaccinations.