A.M. Links: Fifth Night of Protests in Ferguson, Mo., U.S. Says Yazidis Mostly Rescued From Mount Sinjar, Next Step Toward Robot Revolution Taken

Protesters in
Ferguson, Missouri demonstrated for a fifth straight night
against the police shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown over the
weekend, with police remaining mostly calm. The State Highway
Patrol has assumed responsibility for monitoring the protests and
is also overseeing the local police force. Vigils were alo held for
Michael Brown in 90 cities, with protests over Brown’s killing, and
local incidents of police brutality, in places like
New York City,
Washington, DC, and
Baltimore. The
Department of Justice has begun to interview witnesses to the
shooting. The
Ferguson Police Department plans on releasing the name of the
cop who killed Brown later today. An “Anonymous” group on Twitter
released a name yesterday, but it was of a police dispatcher in

St. Ann, Missouri, whose stepmother now fears for his
life.
Most of the Yazidis trapped by the Islamic State on
Mount Sinjar in Iraq have escaped through a corridor set up by
Kurdish and Yazidi fighters. After Special Forces conducted a recon
mission at the mountain, the United
States says there are less refugees left there than previously
believed and said it was unlikely that the U.S. would launch a
mission to rescue them.
Yazidi leaders dispute this, saying there are at least 10,000
refugees left on the mountain. Iraqi Prime Minister
Nouri Al-Maliki, meanwhile, finally agreed to hand over power
to his nominated successor.
Two leaders of the pro-Russian separatists in eastern
Ukraine have resigned as Ukraine’s armed forces appear to be
gaining the upper hand in the conflict. A convoy from Russia
purporting to carry humanitarian aid to Ukraine is parked on the
Russian side of the border.
David Gregory will be replaced by
Chuck Todd as host of NBC News’ Meet the Press.
Major League Baseball’s chief operations officer,
Rob Manfred, was selected as baseball’s newest
commissioner.
Scientists at
Harvard have developed miniature robots that can swarm by the
thousands, displaying how simple complex self-organizing behavior
can be.