Earlier this week, a music news website published a list of 37 “white power” bands which were being streamed online.

Less than 48 hours later, Spotify announced they had removed some of the bands from its service in America.

The Swedish company says it is also considering taking down the other named artists on the list.

However, many of the artists in question are still available for streaming in the UK.

Newsbeat has contacted Spotify but it hasn’t confirmed whether they’d be removed in other parts of the world.

“The music in our catalogue comes from hundreds of thousands of record companies and aggregators all over the world, and those are at first hand responsible for the content they deliver,” they said in an official statement.

“Spotify takes immediate action to remove any such material as soon as it has been brought to our attention.”

“We are glad to have been alerted to this content – and have already removed many of the bands identified today, while urgently reviewing the remainder.”

Spotify also gave a second statement to Billboard magazine, which outlined its stance on offensive music.

“Illegal content or material that favours hatred or incites violence against race, religion, sexuality or the like is not tolerated by us,” it said.

The artists named in Digital Music News’s recent article include British artists, including Coventry band Skinfull, a group of middle-aged men who “say whatever we want regardless of who we may offend”.

Artists removed from Spotify had very low numbers of subscribers and play counts on the service.

Earlier this week, Reddit removed its “Physical Removal” sub-Reddit (a section of the website) because of its alt-right content.

In 2014, iTunes removed music with white supremacy messages from its download service after the Southern Poverty Law Centre (a service which monitors hate groups in America) raised the issue.

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Source: BBC

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Mr Bannon once headed the far-right Breitbart News, seen as both a major channel for nationalism and key in helping Donald Trump win election.

But Mr Bannon told Prospect magazine: “Ethno-nationalism – it’s losers”.

Questions surround Mr Bannon’s future, with President Trump refusing to say if he had confidence in him.

Mr Trump is reportedly under pressure to fire Mr Bannon, who in his role has enjoyed direct access to the president and whose influence has been seen in decisions like the US withdrawing from the Paris climate accord.

At a news conference this week Mr Trump would only say “we’ll see” when it came to Mr Bannon’s future.

Mr Trump is under fire for his response to the clashes between far-right and counter protesters in Charlottesville, Virginia, in which he blamed “both sides” for the violence.

In his interview, Mr Bannon was asked if there was a connection between his policy of economic nationalism and the white nationalism seen in Charlottesville.

“Ethno-nationalism – it’s losers,” he said. “It’s a fringe element. I think the media plays it up too much, and we gotta help crush it, you know, uh, help crush it more.”

“These guys are a collection of clowns,” he added.

Mr Bannon has distanced himself from “ethno-nationalism” before, telling the New York Times his interest in nationalism stems from wanting to curb the negative effects of globalisation.

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Source: BBC

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The tweet, the first in a series of three, quoted Nelson Mandela and was accompanied by a picture of Mr Obama smiling with a group of children from different racial backgrounds.

It has been liked almost three million times since it was posted on 13 August following the attack in Charlottesville, Virginia.

The milestone was reached at approximately 01:07 GMT, Twitter told the BBC.

It overtook a tweet posted by Ariana Grande expressing condolences after the Manchester terror attack in May.

‘Taught to love’

Over three tweets, Mr Obama quoted a passage from Mr Mandela’s autobiography, The Long Walk To Freedom.

“No one is born hating another person because of the colour of his skin or his background or his religion,” the quote reads.

“No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin or his background or his religion…” pic.twitter.com/InZ58zkoAm

— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) August 13, 2017

“People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.” than its opposite.”

The picture shows Mr Obama in 2011 visiting a day care centre in Bethesda, Maryland.

It was taken by the then-White House photographer, Pete Souza.

Since President’s Trump election win, Mr Souza has been posting topical images on Instagram, mostly highlighting Mr Obama’s approach to the presidency in comparison to his successor.

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Source: BBC

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The move allows local authorities to request additional resources if needed, the police department says.

Thousands of people are expected to join the “Unite the Right” rally against plans to remove a statue of a pro-slavery US Civil War general.

Far-right demonstrators and counter-protesters have clashed.

Two people have been reportedly injured.

Riot police have been deployed and fired tear gas against the white nationalists. Police said arrests were being made after a declaration of unlawful assembly at Emancipation Park.

The far-right protesters are angry about the planned removal of a statue of Gen Robert E Lee from Charlottesville. Lee commanded the Confederate forces in the US Civil War of 1861-65.

The BBC’s Joel Gunter in Charlottesville reports that police have not yet interrupted clashes between the rival demonstrators, adding that it had been “extremely violent” so far.

Charlottesville has become a focal point for white nationalists after the city council voted to remove a statue of General Lee.

On Friday, the group waved torches and chanted “White lives matter” as they marched through the University of Virginia in the city. Charlottesville mayor Mike Signer condemned the march as a “parade of hatred”.

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Source: BBC

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